View source for Gar Knutson

{{Short description|Canadian politician and lawyer}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name             = Gar Knutson
| honorific-suffix = [[Queen's Privy Council for Canada|PC]], [[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]], [[Business Administration|MBA]]
| image            = 
| order            = Secretary of State for Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East
| term_start       = 2002
| term_end         = 2003
| predecessor      = New position
| successor        = Position abolished
| order2           = Minister of State for New and Emerging Markets
| term_start2      = 2003
| term_end2        = 2004
| predecessor2     = New position
| successor2       = position abolished
| order3           = Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
| term_start3      = 1998
| term_end3        = 2000
| predecessor3     = [[Rey Pagtakhan]]
| successor3       = [[Joe Jordan (politician)|Joe Jordan]]
| order4           = [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Member of Parliament]] <br /> for [[Elgin—Norfolk]]
| term_start4      = 1993
| term_end4        = 1996
| predecessor4     = [[Ken Monteith]]
| successor4       = Riding abolished
| order5           = [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Member of Parliament]] <br /> for [[Elgin—Middlesex—London (federal electoral district)|Elgin—Middlesex—London]]
| term_start5      = 1996
| term_end5        = 2004
| predecessor5     = New riding
| successor5       = [[Joe Preston (politician)|Joe Preston]]
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1956|5|4}}
| birth_place      = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]]
| death_date       =
| death_place      =
| profession       = lawyer
| party            = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] 
| spouse           = 
| residence        = 
| religion         =
| footnotes        =
}}

'''Thomas Garfield "Gar" Knutson''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC}} (born May 4, 1956) is a lawyer and former member of the [[Parliament of Canada]], as well as a former [[Cabinet of Canada|Cabinet Minister]] in the Government of Canada.

Gar Knutson holds a [[Master of Business Administration]] (MBA) degree from the [[Richard Ivey School of Business]] at the [[University of Western Ontario]], as well as a B.A. in history.  Following University, Gar graduated with a [[Bachelor of Laws]] (LL.B) degree from the [[University of Windsor]]. He attended high school at the [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] [[Brebeuf College School]] in Toronto.

In the [[1993 Canadian federal election|1993 federal election]], he was elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] as the [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Elgin—Norfolk]] riding as a candidate representing the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Party]]. He was re-elected in the [[1997 Canadian federal election|1997]] and [[2000 Canadian federal election|2000 elections]] to the re-organized riding of [[Elgin—Middlesex—London (federal electoral district)|Elgin—Middlesex—London]].

He served as Parliamentary Secretary to [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Jean Chrétien]] from 2000 to 2002. In 2002, he was named Secretary of State for Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and served as Minister of State for International Trade from 2003 to 2004 under Prime Minister Paul Martin. Gar was defeated by the [[Conservative Party of Canada|Elgin-Middlesex-London Conservative]] candidate [[Joe Preston (politician)|Joe Preston]] in the [[2004 Canadian federal election|2004 election]]. Shortly afterwards, Knutson joined [[Borden Ladner Gervais]] LLP, Canada's largest law firm, practicing in the area of government relations and public policy. Knutson spent 13 years at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, from 2005 to 2018, leaving to start his own boutique law firm, [https://knutsonlaw.ca Knutson Law].

Knutson attempted to stage a political comeback in the 2007 Federal Liberal nomination in the riding of [[Ottawa—Orléans]], but lost to former MP [[Marc Godbout]].

==External links==
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=8138}}

{{Martin Ministry}}
{{Chrétien Ministry}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knutson, Gar}}
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Ontario]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Politicians from Toronto]]
[[Category:University of Western Ontario alumni]]
[[Category:University of Windsor alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the 26th Canadian Ministry]]
[[Category:Members of the 27th Canadian Ministry]]
[[Category:University of Windsor Faculty of Law alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]