John Nater

John Nater MP
Member of Parliament for Perth—Wellington
Incumbent
Assumed office October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Gary Schellenberger
West Perth Municipal Councillor
In office December 1, 2010 – December 1, 2014
Constituency	Mitchell Ward
Personal details
Born	1984 West Perth, Ontario
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Justine Nater (m. 2013)
Children	3
Residence	Mitchell, Ontario
Alma mater	Carleton University (2007) Queen's University (2008)

John Nater MP (born 1984) 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 (now part of the Township of West Perth), and raised on a family pig farm. While attending Carleton University, he worked as a volunteer intern for MP Gary Schellenberger, and later became his special assistant.^[1] He later became an executive assistant to MPP Randy Pettapiece.^[2] He also worked as a grievance analyst with the Correctional Service of Canada and policy analyst at the Treasury Board of Canada.^[3]

Nater earned degrees as a Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management from Carleton in 2007,^[4] as well as a Master of Public Administration from Queen's University in 2008.^[3][5] From 2012 to 2014, he was a Lecturer at King’s University College. When nominated to run for MP in November 2014, he had been a PhD candidate at Western University in political science.^[2]

Municipal politics[]

In the 2010 Ontario municipal election, Nater was elected to the West Perth council 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.^[6]

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,^[2] and was elected in the 2015 Canadian federal election with 22,255 votes (42.9%).^[7][8]

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.^[9] 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.^[10]

During the 42nd Canadian Parliament Nater earned a reputation as an expert on Parliamentary Procedure.^[11]

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.^[12]

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" ^[13]

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.^[14]

On August 30, 2017 Nater was named Official Opposition Shadow Secretary for Interprovincial Trade and the Sharing economy.^[15]

On September 19, 2017 Nater became 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.^[16]

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.^[17]

43rd Canadian Parliament[]

From November 28, 2019 to September 2, 2020 Nater served as Deputy House Leader of the Official Opposition.^[18]

On September 8, 2020 Nater was named Shadow Minister for Rural Economic Development.^[19]

Electoral record[]

Further reading[]

Academic[]

• Brock, Kathy L.; Burbidge, Matthew P.J.; Nater, John L. (2010). "13: A Resilient State: The Federal Public Service, Challenges, Paradoxes, and a New Vision for the Twenty-First Century". In Dunn, Christopher (ed.). The Handbook of Canadian Public Administration (2nd ed.). Toronto: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19542983-1.
• Spicer, Zachary; Nater, John L. (2013). "Legislative Dissent without Reprisal? An Alternative View of Speaker Selection". The Journal of Legislative Studies. 19 (4): 505–525. doi:10.1080/13572334.2013.812356. S2CID 143769225.

References[]

External links[]

• "John Nater, M.P." johnnater.ca.
• "Members of Parliament: John Nater". parl.gc.ca.
• "Phd Students: John Nater". WesternU.ca. Department of Political Science, Western University.
• "How it all started for John Nater (BPAPM '07)". carleton.ca. Arthur Kroeger College, Carleton University. 18 July 2017., drawing from Aiello, Rachel (10 July 2017). "How a farm boy from Logan Township became one of the biggest procedural nerds in the House". The Hill Times. Ottawa.