Roland Tanner (Page 2)

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.

Election volunteer

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In: Regional, Roland Tanner, You're Wrong About ...

There is no party like a victory party that actually happens after a victory. Especially if the previous one was in the 1940s.

But hardly any Canadians take an active role in local party politics beyond voting. Doing so leaves parties exposed to special interest groups, wealthy donors and the small number of unrepresentative people who come forward to pick leaders and choose party direction. Is it any wonder we don’t feel they reflect our priorities?Read More …

Image of Paul Sharman, Burlington Ward 5 councillor

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In: Burlington, Halton, Roland Tanner

Burlington’s Ward 5 Councillor, Paul Sharman, has slammed Council’s decision to place a rainbow crosswalk at the junction of Fairview Street and Drury Lane, immediately outside Halton Catholic District School Board’s head office.

In a series of tweets between Thursday evening and Saturday, Sharman labelled the decision ‘petty opportunism’ and ‘completely disrespectful of a highly regarded institution. Read More …

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In: Featured, Halton, Roland Tanner, Special

COVID-19 reached the Nepali Himalayas late, but the effects reached it early, and will likely continue for years after the rest of us have returned to something we can call ‘normal’.

Halton resident Adrian Gordon is working to help the people who have helped him over five decades as they face the nightmare of COVID-19 variants and incomes that have disappeared.Read More …

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In: Burlington, Local, News, Roland Tanner

The members of Burlington’s Ontario Liberal riding association selected Mariam Manaa to be their candidate for the 2022 election last night.

The contest was between Manaa and Andrea Grebenc, Chair of the Halton District School Board, and the result may be considered an upset with the little-known Manaa emerging the winner against an opponent with an established local profile who had won two previous elections.Read More …

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In: Burlington, News, Roland Tanner

Three of Burlington’s seven member council have issued a strongly worded rebuttal that appears to be a response to a message sent at 6:40am this morning by Mayor Marianne Meed Ward via her Twitter account. The tweet tacitly stated that three unnamed councillors, who could be deduced to be Councillors Lisa Kearns (Ward 2), Shawn Stolte (Ward 4) and Paul Sharman (Ward 5), had voted against additional Rainbow Crosswalks in Burlington.Read More …

Two Types of History

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In: Authors, Burlington, Featured, Hamilton, Opinion, Regional, Roland Tanner

Statues are not history, and few things are more boring to historians than statutes of Victorian worthies … right until the moment they are pulled down.

Among the hysteria about “cancelling Canada’s history”, millions are learning important facts about Canada’s past. So is it history the statue-defenders want to protect? Or a mythological past that hides the brutal truths?Read More …

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In: Burlington, Halton, Roland Tanner

Rumours about who will run in the 2022 provincial election in Burlington have begun to heat up as at least three people have announced their intention to seek the nomination to run against Progressive Conservative incumbent Jane McKenna. Who is eventually chosen to be candidate will be decided by local riding association members, and the Liberals appear headed for a contested nomination where multiple candidates face off in a contest for member support.Read More …