Nater wins fourth consecutive term as opposition MP for Perth-Wellington

Flanked by his family, John Nater thanks his campaign volunteers and supporters for helping him win his fourth straight term as Perth-Wellington’s member of parliament at the Mitchell Golf and Country Club April 28.

By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With 221 of 222 polls reporting by Tuesday morning, Conservative incumbent John Nater has been elected member of parliament for Perth-Wellington and will serve his fourth consecutive term as a member of the opposition party.

With a more than 70 per-cent voter turnout in the riding – 63,683 of 90,016 registered electors – Nater received 33,850 votes or roughly 53 per cent. Liberal candidate David Mackey trailed with 25,892 votes or nearly 41 per cent of the total turnout, and the NDP’s Kevin Kruchkywich had 2,875 votes or 4.5 per cent of the vote by Tuesday morning. People’s Party of Canada candidate Wayne Baker rounded out the pack with 1,066 votes or 1.7 per cent of the vote by Tuesday morning.

“It is my great honour and with great humility that I thank the people of Perth-Wellington for re-electing me to serve as your member of parliament and voice in Ottawa,” Nater said after national news outlets called his victory in the riding. “It is a responsibility that I do not take lightly and one that I will cherish for as long as I have the honour of serving in this office.”

Nater was introduced by his young daughter, Ainsley, before an enthusiastic crowd of campaign volunteers and supporters at his election-night party at the Mitchell Golf and Country Club in West Perth. He thanked his campaign team for their time and effort visiting residents door-to-door and making countless phone calls asking for their support.

“Obviously, I’m honoured and humbled to be elected. It’s a great honour to continue to serve the people of Perth-Wellington. It looks like my vote total went up a little bit, so hopefully that’s a reflection of my service to the community and my hard work that I’ve tried to do for all the people across Perth-Wellington,” Nater said.

While Nater claimed another decisive victory in the traditionally blue riding of Perth-Wellington, across the country, the election results were a little more mixed as the Liberals held on with another minority government. Speaking with reporters after his victory speech, Nater underscored the importance of Canadians coming together now that the election is over in defending our country and our economy from existential threats south of the border.

“I think, if anything, we’ve seen the last few months Canadians more united than we’ve ever seen in our history. We’ve seen a lot more Canadian flags throughout our communities, flags waving, proud to be Canadian, so I think we need more of that. We need to promote our country, promote our history, promote our economy, promote all things Canadian,” Nater said.

“I think if anything positive comes out of this, it’s a real effort now by Canadians to celebrate Canada, to shop local, to shop Canadian. You see people, literally, looking at products and seeing where they’re coming from. That would have never happened if we hadn’t had this existential crisis.”

With the Liberals holding onto a minority government, the balance of power now rests with the Bloc Quebecois which, as of Tuesday morning, had 23 seats in parliament compared to the NDP’s eight seats. Nater, who now has three terms as a member of the opposition party, said he plans to continue working across party lines to serve Perth-Wellington residents as best he can.

“It’s working with each other, building those bridges, having those personal connections,” Nater said. “I’ve had the great honour of working with all political parties building strong relationships. I always say folks should watch less of Question Period than other parts of the day (on Parliament Hill) because there are other meaningful ways (that we work together) than in 45 minutes of Question Period.”