Thomas Garfield "Gar" Knutson, (born May 4, 1956) is a lawyer and former member of the Parliament of Canada, as well as a former Cabinet Minister in the Government of Canada. Gar Knutson holds a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

(MBA) degree from the

Richard Ivey School of Business Ivey Business School is a constituent unit of the University of Western Ontario, located in London, Ontario, Canada. Ivey offers full-time undergraduate (HBA), MBA, MSc, MFE and PhD programs and also maintains two teaching facilities in Toronto ...

at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

, as well as a B.A. in History. Following University, Gar graduated with a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

(LL.B) degree from the

University of Windsor , mottoeng = Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge , established = , academic_affiliations = CARL, COU, Universities Canada , former_names = Assumption College (1857-1956)Assumption University of Windsor (1956-1963) , type = Public universi ...

. He attended high school at the Jesuit

Brebeuf College School Brebeuf College School (Brebeuf College, BCS, or Brebeuf) is a publicly funded Roman Catholic all-boys high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada endorsed by the Jesuits of Canada. Founded by the Jesuits in 1963, it is part of the Toronto Catholic Di ...

in Toronto. In the 1993 federal election, he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Elgin—Norfolk Elgin (also known as Elgin—Norfolk) was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1935 to 1997. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1933 from parts of Elgin West and Nor ...

riding as a candidate representing the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. He was re-elected in the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and

2000 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2000. Africa * 2000 Ethiopian general election * 2000 Ghanaian presidential election * 1999–2000 Guinea-Bissau general election * 2000–01 Ivorian parliamentary election * 2000 Ivorian preside ...

to the re-organized riding of

Elgin—Middlesex—London Elgin—Middlesex—London is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. It was created in 1996 from Elgin—Norfolk, Lambton—Middlesex, and London—Middlesex r ...

. He served as Parliamentary Secretary to

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

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 Elgin-Middlesex-London Conservative candidate Joe Preston in the 2004 election. Shortly afterwards, Knutson joined

Borden Ladner Gervais Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (abbreviated as BLG) is a leading, full-service law firm in Canada. With almost two hundred years of history going back to the 1823 founding of McMaster Gervais, it now has offices in Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Ottaw ...

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
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

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knutson, Gar 1956 births Living people Lawyers in Ontario Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Politicians from Toronto University of Western Ontario alumni University of Windsor alumni Members of the 26th Canadian Ministry Members of the 27th Canadian Ministry University of Windsor Faculty of Law alumni