Nathaniel (Nate) Erskine-Smith is the Member of Parliament for Beaches-East York.
He sits on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) as past president. In his role as President, he has represented Canada at parliamentary conferences around the world.
His speeches in the House of Commons and interventions at committee can be found ici.
Nate regularly attends events around Beaches-East York, volunteers his time in support of local charitable activities, and visits local schools to talk to young Canadians about the importance of participating in the democratic process.
Nate became the M.P. on October 19, 2015, after a successful grassroots open nomination in December 2014.
In June 2016, CBC News’ Aaron Wherry wrote about the importance of independence in the House of Commons, and Nate’s relatively independent streak.
In July 2016, Althia Raj from the Huffington Post wrote a longer profile piece in which Nate explained his voting record, and general philosophy on free votes.
And in September 2016, the Star’s Susan Delacourt wrote about his work in parliament, and the idealism he brings to the job.
Nate has strong roots in Beaches-East York, where he was raised and has lived most of his life. Nate attended Bowmore and Malvern, grew up playing baseball at Ted Reeve and Stan Wadlow, and his parents Sara Erskine and Lawrence Smith are well respected local teachers. Nate lives in the riding with his wife Amy, a chef and nutrition professor at George Brown College, and the director of the supper club program at Gilda’s Club Greater Toronto. They have two sons, Mackinlay, born in 2016, and Crawford, born in 2019.
Before politics, Nate was a lawyer at a commercial litigation firm downtown Toronto. He supplemented his practice with volunteer legal work for a range of clients and causes, which included fighting public interest matters in court, and research for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
He obtained his B.A. (Politics) and J.D. (Law) from Queen’s University, where he pitched for the varsity baseball team. After working at a large Bay Street law firm and being called to the bar, Nate obtained his B.C.L. (Master of Laws), with distinction, from the University of Oxford where he studied political philosophy and constitutional law, and pitched for both the University and City baseball teams.