Roland Tanner

Roland Tanner, PhD, is publisher and editor-in-chief of The 905er.

Since 1993 Roland has had multiple careers as a bookseller, academic historian, author, co-founder of TannerRitchie Publishing, and programmer and web application developer for businesses and non-profits across Ontario.

After emigrating to Canada from the UK in 2003, he spent over a decade as an activist and volunteer for provincial and municipal causes. In these roles he twice playing contributed to citizen advisory committees tasked with recommendations for reform of citizen engagement processes in Burlington. In 2018-2020 he acted as a co-chair of Engaged Citizens of Burlington. Roland admits the grand total of measurable change achieved by this decade of municipal volunteering is probably nil.

Prior to establishing The 905er in 2020, Roland was a member of and volunteer for the Ontario Liberal Party, acting at various points as a riding president and regional VP on the executive of the OLP. Roland sought municipal office at the October 2018 election, running for the vacant Burlington Ward 2 council seat. He did not win.

Roland has given up all party affiliation and political ambition in order to establish The 905er, and is a passionate believer in the need for non-partisan, cross-partisan and post-partisan cooperation between progressives of all stripes.