John Nater


John Nater is a Canadian politician. He is currently serving as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Perth—Wellington in the House of Commons of Canada.

Education and early life

Nater was born in Logan Township, and raised on a family pig farm. He attended Carleton University from 2003 to 2007 and earned a bachelor's degree in public policy and administration. After graduation, he subsequently received a master's degree in public policy at Queen's University in 2008. During this time Nater volunteered and later became special assistant to MP Gary Schellenberger.

Municipal Politics

In the 2010 Ontario municipal election, Nater was elected to the Council of the Municipality of West Perth as a representative for the Mitchell Ward. During his time on municipal council Nater served as chair of the Environmental Services Committee. In 2014 the committee began a project to build a new water tower in Mitchell.
He did not run for re-election in the subsequent municipal election, as he planned to seek the Conservative nomination for Perth-Wellington, vacated due to the impending retirement of long-serving MP Gary Schellenberger.

Federal Politics

2015 Election

Nater won the nomination, and was elected in the 2015 Canadian Federal Election with 22,255 votes.

42nd Canadian Parliament

From February 17, 2016 to September 18, 2017 Nater served as Vice Chair of the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages. During this time he was critical of the Liberal Government's decision to nominate Madeleine Meilleur as Official Languages Commissioner. Nater frequently called the nomination partisan and questioned the Liberal Government's appointments process.
During the 42nd Canadian Parliament Nater earned a reputation as an expert on Parliamentary Procedure.
On March 23, 2017 Nater made an intervention in the House of Commons on the Question of Privilege raised a day earlier by Lisa Raitt and Maxime Bernier. Nater argued there was sufficient grounds for a Prima Facie question of privilege. On April 6, 2017 Speaker Geoff Regan ruled there was. However, during debate on the motion following the ruling the Liberal MP Alexandra Mendès moved a motion to proceed to orders of the day, ending the debate and with it the opportunity to address a violation of Members' rights.
On April 7, 2017 Nater made another intervention asking the Speaker to revive the previous motion. Citing extensively from previous speakers rulings and the rules of parliamentary procedure Nater argued that the Government's motion to move to orders of the day during a debate on a motion of privilege "is an extremely dangerous precedent that denies members their fundamental right to vote"
On April 11, 2017 Regan ruled in favour of Nater and invited him to once again move a motion to refer the issue to the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.
On August 30, 2017 Nater was named Official Opposition Shadow Secretary for Interprovincial Trade and the Sharing economy.
On September 19, 2017 Nater was named a member of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.
On January 28, 2019 Nater introduced a bill to amend the Criminal Code. Inspired by a criminal incident in Stratford, the intention of the bill was to better protect young people and people with disabilities from sexual exploitation.

2019 Election

In the 2019 Canadian Federal Election Nater was re-elected with 25,622 votes, finishing more than 10,000 votes ahead of the second place Liberal candidate.

43rd Canadian Parliament

On November 28, 2019 Nater was named Deputy House Leader of the Official Opposition.

Electoral record

Academic

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