David Sweet

For other people named David Sweet, see David Sweet (disambiguation).

David Sweet MP
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Flamborough—Glanbrook Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale (2006-2015)
Incumbent
Assumed office January 23, 2006
Preceded by	Russ Powers
Chair of the Conservative Party of Canada Parliamentary Caucus
Incumbent
Assumed office November 5, 2015
Preceded by	Guy Lauzon
Chair of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science & Technology
In office September 30, 2010 – August 2, 2015
Minister	Tony Clement Christian Paradis James Moore
Preceded by	Michael Chong
Personal details
Born	(1957-06-24) June 24, 1957 Kingston, Ontario
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Almut Sweet
Residence	Hamilton, Ontario
Profession	business consultant, real estate broker

David S. Sweet (born June 24, 1957) is a Canadian politician who began serving his first term of office in January 2006. He is a former CEO of Promise Keepers Canada.

Political career

Sweet was born in Kingston, Ontario. In 2004, he defeated sitting Liberal-turned-Conservative MP John Bryden for the Conservative Party nomination in the riding of Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale. In the 2004 election, Sweet placed second to former Hamilton city councillor Russ Powers (Liberal). In the January 2006 election, he defeated Powers.

On June 22, 2006, Sweet obtained the unanimous consent of the House of Commons for a motion awarding honorary Canadian citizenship to the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso. His Holiness was the 3rd person to receive such an honour by the House of Commons, after Nelson Mandela in 2001.

Sweet makes an annual Members Statement in the House of Commons each June to recognize Scleroderma Month in Canada, saying on June 1, 2006,"If there is a note of passion in my voice, it is because my own family has had to deal with the devastating effects of scleroderma. My mother passed away from complications of this disease and cancer." The environment, Veterans Week and seniors have been among the other topics addressed by Sweet in the House of Commons.

On February 10, 2011, Sweet introduced a Private Member's Bill, Bill C-620, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (parole review and victim impact statement) which was debated only once, on March 23, 2011, before the 40th Parliament was dissolved for the 2011 General Election.

Sweet is chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, a role he has held since September 30, 2010. He also serves on the Steering Committee of the Canadian Parliamentary Committee to Combat Antisemitism Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA). He also served on the CPCCA's Inquiry Panel which released a public report on July 7, 2011. [4]. In November 2012, Sweet received the 2012 Humanitarian Award from the Hamilton Jewish Federation for his work on CPCCA and in speaking out against racism.

Sweet has served on three Parliamentary Committees: The Veterans’ Affairs Committee, the Public Accounts Committee and the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. On February 17, 2009 he was elected Chair of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which he served on since he was elected in 2006. Sweet also served as Vice-Chair of the Public Accounts Committee.

Sweet voted to reopen the issue of same-sex marriage on December 16, 2006 in order to "restore the traditional definition of marriage".

During his tenure, Sweet has presented a number of petitions to Parliament on varied topics. On May 14, 2009, Sweet presented two petitions to the House of Commons. "Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions I would like to table. The first on employment insurance. Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from 200 individuals asking the government to recognize its obligations under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and to particularly focus on the right to life. Since 1969 there has been no law to limit abortion in Canada. They are asking the government to enact legislation to the protect the life of the unborn." On October 26, 2009, Sweet presented the House with a petition of 100 signatures, including constituents. "Mr. Speaker, I have a petition here signed by 100 signatories who want to draw the attention of the House to the fact that there has been no legislation regarding abortion and life for the last 40 years. They would like to draw the attention of the House to the fact that legislation is needed in order to protect life from the time of conception until natural death. It is my pleasure to present this to the House."

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2015: Flamborough—Glanbrook
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Conservative	David Sweet	24,136	43.5	-11.9	–
	Liberal	Jennifer Stebbing	21,669	39.1	+22.2	–
	New Democratic	Mike DiLivio	7,773	14.0	-8.79	–
	Green	Dave Allan Urquhart	1,870	3.4	-0.76
Total valid votes/Expense limit			55,510	100.0		$211,904.70
Total rejected ballots			220	–	–
Turnout			55,730	70.2	–
Eligible voters			78,865
	Conservative hold		Swing		-17.05
Source: Elections Canada

Canadian federal election, 2011: Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Conservative	David Sweet	30,240	51.25	+4.75
	Liberal	Dave Braden	14,594	24.74	-2.35
	New Democratic	Nancy MacBain	10,956	18.57	+1.54
	Green	Peter Ormond	2,963	5.02	-4.08
	Libertarian	Anthony Giles	170	0.29	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Jamilé Ghaddar	77	0.13	-0.13
Total valid votes/Expense limit			59,000	100.00
Total rejected ballots			193	0.33	+0.03
Turnout			59,193	69.38	+2.68
	Conservative hold		Swing		+3.55

Canadian federal election, 2008: Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Conservative	David Sweet	26,297	46.5%	+7.4%	$69,185
	Liberal	Arlene MacFarlane-VanderBeek	15,322	27.1%	-7.4%	$42,231
	New Democratic	Gordon Guyatt	9,632	17.0%	-4.3%	$44,859
	Green	Peter Ormond	5,149	9.1%	+4.7%	$21,445
	Marxist–Leninist	Jamilé Ghaddar	148	0.3%	+0.1%
Total number of valid votes			56,548	99.7%
Rejected ballots			170	0.3%
Total number of votes			56,718	100%

Canadian federal election, 2006: Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Conservative	David Sweet	24,530	39.1%	+4.5%
	Liberal	Russ Powers	21,656	34.5%	-5.2%
	New Democratic	Gordon Guyatt	13,376	21.3%	+0.4%
	Green	David Januczkowski	2,767	4.4%	-0.4%
	Independent	Ben Cowie	303	0.5%	-
	Marxist–Leninist	Jamilé Ghaddar	112	0.2%	-
Total number of valid votes			62,744	99.9%
Rejected ballots			175	0.1%
Total number of votes			62,919	100%

Canadian federal election, 2004: Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	Russ Powers	21,935	39.7%
	Conservative	David Sweet	19,135	34.6%
	New Democratic	Gordon Guyatt	11,557	20.9%
	Green	David Januczkowski	2,636	4.8%
Total number of valid votes			55,263	99.5%
Rejected ballots			252	0.5%
Total number of votes			55,515	100%

External links

• David Sweet website
• David Sweet – Parliament of Canada biography