Nater had his victory officially confirmed just before 10:30 at his election party in Mitchell at the Mitchell Golf Club, arriving just after 10:45 to address the many supporters and local politicians who gathered to congratulate him. Nater won the riding in 2015 with 43 percent of the vote, and his winning margin was much higher this time, as he secured well over 16,000 votes at the time of writing, with Pirie Mitchell of the Liberals the next closest with just over 8,100 (you can find the results for all three Midwestern Ontario ridings right here on our website: https://blackburnnews.com/midwestern-ontario/2019-federal-election-results-midwestern-ontario/).
Nater says it was a hard fought campaign but he believes he and his team were able to win the riding again because they refused to rest on their laurels from the 2015 election.
"Our team didn't take anything for granted. So, we worked hard from day one, and before the campaign even began. We knocked on a lot of doors, we came to people's communities, we came to events, we made sure that we heard what people were thinking on the ground, listened to the views that they were expressing to us, and tried to take action on the concerns that mattered to them."
In terms of moving forward with a Liberal minority government, Nater says he will continue to focus on his priorities from the last 4 years.
"Whether it's rural infrastructure, rural broadband, support for families, those are things I'm going to be focusing on whether it's a majority or minority. I look forward to working with the government on issues we can share common ground on, and I think that's what people expect of us."
Nater says it will be about finding compromises with the ruling party. With Perth-Wellington being a massive agricultural centre, Nater says he wants to help find better ways to have programs address the needs of farmers and farm families, and grow their interests around the world.
"We also have to be working hard on the international side of things to make sure that we have a diversity of markets so that when challenges, especially what we've seen with China, come to a head, we have a diversity of markets where our local agricultural producers can continue to be shipping our products internationally."
Right now, Nater says that isn't happening enough and it has to change. Finally, Nater says he has a number of other key issues he wants to get to work on first thing in the morning, when he will begin working on a letter to send to the Prime Minister addressing local concerns in Perth-Wellington.
"Focusing on things like affordability, supporting local infrastructure, supporting rural broadband, and also one of the things I'm looking forward to doing as well is re-introducing my private members bill to better protect young people and persons living with disabilities from exploitation."
Perth-Wellington locals celebrate at Conservative MP John Nater's election night party in Mitchell at the golf course following the announcement that Nater had once again won the riding. October 21st, 2019 (Photo by Ryan Drury)
