# John Williamson (Canadian politician)

John S. L. Williamson MP (born January 30, 1970) is a Canadian politician who represents the riding of New Brunswick Southwest in the House of Commons of Canada as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He was first elected in the 2011 Canadian federal election, and served until his defeat in 2015. In 2019, he won his seat back by defeating the Liberal incumbent Karen Ludwig and was re-elected in 2021.

## Education

Williamson graduated from Fredericton High School, and then McGill University with a degree in economics and political science. He later went on to receive a master's degree in economic history at the London School of Economics.

## Arms

Mr. Williamson is an heraldic heir, entitled to inherit a coat of arms. .

## Early career

Williamson joined the National Post as an editorial writer and was a founding member of the newspaper's editorial board (1998-2001) before moving on to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation in September 2002. After opening up the organization's Toronto office, as provincial director for Ontario, he was promoted to federal director in January 2004. He remained in this position until his departure from the CTF in September 2008.
In 2009, Williamson was hired by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to become director of communications in the PMO and oversaw government-wide communications. He stepped down in 2010 in order to prepare his campaign after deciding to run in the 2011 Canadian federal election, and was succeeded as director of communications by Dimitri Soudas.

## Member of Parliament

As a Member of Parliament, Williamson has focused on issues relating to protecting taxpayer funds from waste and corruption, development of natural resources, crime reduction, and protecting firearms ownership.

### Policy positions
#### Sunshine lists

Williamson has called repeatedly for the creation of a federal Sunshine list that would publish the salary information of public servants who earn over $100,000 per year, as is done in some provinces. For example, Williamson seconded Brent Rathgeber's Private Member's Bill C-461 when the bill was first introduced and then upon reintroduction. This bill would have required the public disclosure of the names and salaries of every federal employee earning in excess of $188,000. Williamson suggested that the threshold should be set at $157,000, the rate of pay of MPs at the time.

#### Bill C-30

On multiple occasions, Williamson has spoken up against his own government policies, such as Bill C-30, a bill that ignited controversy about online anonymity and was eventually withdrawn.

#### Natural resource development

Williamson is also responsible for creating public calls for an oil pipeline from Alberta to Saint John, New Brunswick that would carry undistilled petroleum product to the east and across the St. Lawrence River for refining at the J. D. Irving plant.

#### Opposition to Bev Oda's travel expenses

On June 1, 2012 a story about Williamson's dismay in regard to International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda's travel expense claims surfaced in a CBC article. Williamson stated that he had brought the claims up in a caucus meeting but would not specify what he said due to caucus confidentiality. A member of his staff did, however, mention it could be taken in context of Williamson's past days as the National Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

### Warawa affair

In March 2013 Williamson joined several backbench Conservative MPs in speaking to a point of privilege launched by MP Mark Warawa to the Speaker. Williamson advocated to increase the freedom of individual MPs to speak in the House of Commons by encouraging the Speaker to recognize any MP who wishes to make a Member's statement and also to pose a question in Question Period. The practice of the Speaker up to that point had been to recognize MPs who were allocated speaking spots by each party's leadership.

### Chair of Public Accounts Committee

On March 1, 2022, Williamson was elected Chair of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
Under Williamson, the Public Accounts Committee studied a wide range of issues, most notably the outsourcing on government contracts related to ArriveCAN, the investigation into conflicts of interest at Sustainable Development Technology Canada, and audits of the government's COVID-19 programs.
On December 27, 2024, Williamson used his ability as chair to schedule a committee meeting on January 7, 2025, to discuss "a motion of non-confidence in the Liberal Government." However, the day before the scheduled meeting, Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament, cancelling all business of the House, including scheduled committee meetings.

### Canada-China Committee

In 2019, two scientists, Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were escorted out of the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg and had their security clearances revoked. Four months prior, Qui had sent samples of deadly viruses, inclusing Ebola and Henipah, to China without proper authorization. This led to investigations by the RCMP and CSIS.
Having previously served on the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations, Williamson was selected to be the Conservative member on an ad hoc committee to examine documents relating to the NML, along with Liberal MP Iqra Khalid, Bloc Quebecois MP René Villemure, and NDP MP Heather McPherson.
On February 19, 2024, the ad hoc committee sent their report to the house leaders of each recognized party in the House of Commons, stating that "the majority of the PHAC material should be lifted," and "[t]he information appears to be mostly about protecting the organization from embarrassment for failures in policy and implementation, not legitimate national security concerns, and its release is essential to hold the Government to account." The mostly unredacted documents were tabled on February 28, 2024.
According to the documents, Qiu had "intentionally" worked to the benefit of the People's Republic of China, "without regard for the implications to her employer or to Canada's interests." It also noted her "reckless judgement regarding decisions that could have impacted public safety and the interests of Canada."

### Bills sponsored

Throughout his tenure as MP, Williamson has sponsored two pieces of legislation, both in the 41st Parliament.
Bill C-518, Protecting Taxpayers and Revoking Pensions of Convicted Politicians Act, would have removed pensions from politicians convicted of certain offences in the Criminal Code.
Bill C-519, Ending Gasoline Tax on Tax Act, would have prevented the GST and HST from being levied on provincial or federal excise taxes levied on fuel.

### Committee work

As an MP, Williamson has served on the following committees:
* Procedure and House Affairs (June 3, 2011 - January 31, 2012, September 20, 2012 - January 28, 2013)
* Health (June 13, 2011 - January 31, 2012)
* Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Standing Committee on Health (September 21, 2011 - January 31, 2012)
* Official Languages (January 31, 2012 - September 20, 2012, October 22, 2013 - January 27, 2014, January 30, 2014 - August 2, 2015, October 6, 2020 - August 15, 2021)
* Foreign Affairs and International Development (January 31, 2012 - September 20, 2012, September 20, 2012 - September 13, 2013)
* Public Accounts (January 28, 2013 - September 13, 2013, February 28, 2022 - January 6, 2025)
* National Defence (October 22, 2013 - January 27, 2014, January 30, 2014 - August 2, 2015)
* Special Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 20, 2020 - June 18, 2020)
* Special Committee on Canada-China Relations (January 15, 2020 - August 18, 2020, October 6, 2020 - August 15, 2021)
* Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development (December 13, 2021 - February 25, 2022)
* Liaison (March 1, 2022 - January 6, 2025)
* Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (May 5, 2022 - January 6, 2025)
* Subcommittee on Committee Budgets of the Liaison Committee (June 5, 2024 - January 6, 2025)

### Controversies

On April 5, 2012, following the Senate vote to scrap the long-gun registry, Williamson quoted Martin Luther King Jr. saying "free at last, free at last", accompanied by cheers by other Conservative MPs.
On March 8, 2015, the media reported that Williamson made this remark about the Temporary Foreign Workers Program: "It makes no sense to pay 'whities' to stay home while we bring in brown people to work in these jobs." Williamson later apologized on Twitter for his "offensive and inappropriate language".
In April 2012 Williamson visited Toronto restaurant owner, Naveen Polapady, who was charged by Toronto Police with assault causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon and administering a noxious substance (a reference to the thrown spices) after allegedly defending his property from a repeated thief using spices from his kitchen. Williamson was quoted as saying "[l]ike a lot of Canadians, when I heard this story I was outraged and concerned that once again the Toronto Police had targeted the wrong individual" referring to the previous case of David Chen who had been charged when he apprehended a thief who had been stealing from his Chinatown store.

## Electoral record

vte2021 Canadian federal election: New Brunswick Southwest :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | Conservative | John Williamson | 18,309 | 50.0 | +0.8 | $75,984.11 |
| | Liberal | Jason Hickey | 8,750 | 23.9 | -1.6 | $51,273.87 |
| | New Democratic | Richard Trevor Warren | 4,893 | 13.4 | +5.2 | $814.71 |
| | People's | Meryl Sarty | 3,090 | 8.4 | +5.3 | $6,020.69 |
| | Green | John Reist | 1,587 | 4.3 | -9.2 | $3,397.49 |
| Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | 36,629 | 99.4 | – | $105,371.47 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 239 | 0.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 36,868 | 67.4 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 54,730 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | +1.2 |
| Source: Elections Canada |||||||
vte2019 Canadian federal election: New Brunswick Southwest :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | Conservative | John Williamson | 19,451 | 49.15 | +10.59 | $88,037.67 |
| | Liberal | Karen Ludwig | 10,110 | 25.54 | -18.38 | $77,377.08 |
| | Green | Susan Jonah | 5,352 | 13.52 | +8.57 | $7,039.17 |
| | New Democratic | Doug Mullin | 3,251 | 8.21 | -4.36 | $0.00 |
| | People's | Meryl Sarty | 1,214 | 3.07 | - | $5,133.77 |
| | Veterans Coalition | Abe Scott | 200 | 0.51 | - | $0.00 |
| Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | 39,578 | 100.00 | | |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 301 | 0,75 | +0.17 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 39,879 | 74,46 | +0.21 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 53,556 |
| | Conservative gain from Liberal | Conservative gain from Liberal | Swing | Swing | +14.49 |
| Source: Elections Canada |||||||
vte2015 Canadian federal election: New Brunswick Southwest :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | Liberal | Karen Ludwig | 16,656 | 43.92 | +30.36 | $58,390.36 |
| | Conservative | John Williamson | 14,625 | 38.56 | -18.10 | $115,782.35 |
| | New Democratic | Andrew Graham | 4,768 | 12.57 | -10.74 | $14,930.22 |
| | Green | Gayla MacIntosh | 1,877 | 4.95 | -0.15 | $1,331.74 |
| Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | 37,926 | 100.00 | | $198,596.97 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 220 | 0.58 | -0.01 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 38,146 | 74.25 | +9.54 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 51,376 |
| | Liberal gain from Conservative | Liberal gain from Conservative | Swing | Swing | +24.23 |
| Source: Elections Canada |||||||
vte2011 Canadian federal election: New Brunswick Southwest :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | Conservative | John Williamson | 18,066 | 56.64 | -1.68 | $46,347.59 |
| | New Democratic | Andrew Graham | 7,413 | 23.24 | +6.69 | $7,703.67 |
| | Liberal | Kelly Wilson | 4,320 | 13.54 | -6.03 | $25,159.26 |
| | Green | Janice Harvey | 1,646 | 5.16 | -0.40 | $7,546.35 |
| | Christian Heritage | Jason Farris | 450 | 1.41 | – | $2,698.60 |
| Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | Total valid votes/expense limit | 31,895 | 100.0 | | $81,201.04 |
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 188 | 0.59 | -0.01 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 32,083 | 64.71 | +3.54 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 49,578 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | Swing | -4.18 |
| Sources: |||||||