Biography

Dennis Gruending is an Ottawa-based writer, blogger and a former Member of Parliament. He has worked as a print and television journalist and radio host and has written six well-received books.

His latest, published in October 2011, is Pulpit and Politics: Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life. In it, Dennis examines the growing competition between religious progressives and conservatives for power and influence in Canadian politics.

His anthology Great Canadian Speeches was a best seller and The Ottawa Citizen described it as a history of Canada as seen from the podium. He has also written biographies of Emmett Hall, whose Royal Commission recommended medicare for Canada, and of former Saskatchewan premier Allan Blakeney.

Prior to serving as an MP, Dennis spent four years as Director of Information for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in Ottawa in the 1990s.

He holds an Honours degree in English literature from the University of Saskatchewan and a Masters degree in journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa. He and his partner Martha Wiebe are parents to two adult daughters.

Dennis is a guest columnist for The Hill Times newspaper and also the author of an award wining blog Pulpit and Politics.