Dennis Gruending is an Ottawa-based writer and blogger and a former Member of Parliament. He has worked as a print and broadcast journalist and as a radio host for the CBC. He has written or edited eight books including the best-selling Great Canadian Speeches. His most recent publication is Speeches That Changed Canada. His two biographies are of former Saskatchewan premier Allan Blakeney, and of Emmett Hall, the Supreme Court judge whose Royal Commission recommended Medicare for Canada. Dennis holds an Honours degree in English literature from the University of Saskatchewan and a Masters in journalism from Carleton University. He posts regularly to his two blogs: Pulpit and Politics and Great Canadian Speeches.