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
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 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. [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,Official Opposition leader Andrew Scheer named Nater to be Shadow Minister 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 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. [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-placed Liberal candidate. [17]
43rd Canadian Parliament
From November 28,2019,Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer appointed Nater the Official Opposition Deputy House Leader to work under Opposition House Leader Candice Bergen (politician). [18] Nater held the position until September 2,2020 when new leader Erin O'Toole replaced him with Karen Vecchio.
On September 8,2020,O'Toole named Nater to be Shadow Minister for Rural Economic Development. [19] During this time Nater was actively critical of the Liberal record on rural internet service. [20]
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. [21] The plans for the factory with withdrawn in early 2021. [22]
44th Canadian Parliament
On November 9,2021,Nater was named Shadow Minister for Canadian Heritage. [23] During this time Nater was critical of the Liberal Government's Online Streaming Act . Nater was also involved in the Heritage Committee work on the Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal.
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. [24] In the contest Charest came second to Pierre Poilievre. On October 12,2022,when Poilievre named his new shadow cabinet,Nater was not included. [25]
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. [26]
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 [27]
2025 election
Nater won his second re-election campaign in the 2025 Canadian federal election,increasing his share of the vote for the third consecutive election.
45th Canadian Parliament
On May 29,2025 Members of the House of Commons unanimously selected Nater to be Assistant Deputy Speaker and Assistant Deputy Chair of Committee of the Whole succeeding Carol Hughes (politician) of the New Democratic Party of Canada who did not seek re-election to the House of Commons. [28]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
