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John Nater (born February 14, 1984) is a Canadians politician. He is currently serving as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Perth Wellington in the House of Commons of Canada.
Nater became interested in legislative politics at a young age. At age 14 he purchased 160 bound copies of Ontario Hansard from former Perth MPP Hugh Edighoffer at an auction sale.
Nater earned degrees as a Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management from Carleton in 2007, as well as a Master of Public Administration from Queen's University in 2008. 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.
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.
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 his Conservative colleague Lisa Raitt. Nater argued there was sufficient grounds for a prima facie question of privilege. On April 6, 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, Official Opposition leader Andrew Scheer named Nater to be Shadow Minister for Interprovincial Trade and the sharing economy.
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 of Canada. 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.
On September 8, 2020, O'Toole named Nater to be Shadow Minister for Rural Economic Development. During this time Nater was actively critical of the Liberal record on rural internet service.
In late 2020 Nater opposed the potential construction of a factory by the Chinese company Xinyi Glass . Nater cited the loss of farmland, environmental damage, and the continued crackdown by Beijing on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong as his reasons for opposing the construction. The plans for the factory with withdrawn in early 2021.
During the 2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, Nater endorsed Jean Charest, former premier of Quebec and cabinet minister during the premierships of Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell, and was among four Conservative MPs to sign an open letter asking Charest to run. In the contest Charest came second to Pierre Poilievre. On October 12, 2022, when Poilievre named his new shadow cabinet, Nater was not included.
In October 2022, Nater returned to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs and was elected Vice Chair. He was involved in the committee hearings on Chinese government interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections and the 2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution.
In September 2023 Nater moved to Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts. During this time he focused on reviewing reports of the Auditor General of Canada including the critical ArriveCAN report.
From March 2022 to May 2023, Nater worked with Ontario Senator Robert Black to pass Bill S-227, the Food Day Canada Act, in honour of Wellington County food activist Anita Stewart
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