Ray Pennings
Ray Pennings co-founded Cardus in 2000 and currently serves as Executive Vice President, working out of the Ottawa office. Ray has a vast amount of experience in Canadian industrial relations and has been involved in public policy discussions and as a political activist at all levels of government. Ray is a respected voice in Canadian politics, contributing as a commentator, pundit and critic in many of Canada’s leading news outlets and as an advisor and strategist on political campaign teams.
Bio last updated July 27th, 2021.
Articles by Ray Pennings
No Politician Is Above Politics
By Ray Pennings
March 27, 2014
He surely doesn't need a civics lesson to remind him that our system is one where voters in ridings elect legislators to a parliament and the executive responsibilities of government fall to the leader of the party that can maintain the confidence of the legislature First, the mayor's comment implies that somehow the premier has a direct personal mandate from the voters and that the party and caucus are inappropriately making closed-door decisions regarding the province's future
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The Chance to Speak Up
Ray Pennings
March 24, 2014
Did the Minister seriously consider the different nature of a Catholic school in making her decision and was the logical implication that no religious school could ever teach a religiously-based equivalency of this curriculum? Is this indeed the minimal impairment of the freedom of religion rights o...
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Part of the Problem with Politics is You
Ray Pennings
March 20, 2014
The sort of castigation that dominated my social media feed last evening regarding the legacies of both Premier Redford and Minister Flaherty reminded me that the problem of contemporary politics is as much a problem of citizenship as it is of leadership Premier Redford is not a witch whose politica...
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Taxes Are Good, but Charity's Better
Ray Pennings
March 12, 2014
The argument for this deduction is that the charity is doing a public good and hence, deserves public support With a 30 percent credit in place, a taxpayer who decides to donate $100 to a charitable organization is concluding that a greater good will come from $170 given to the government and charit...
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Conversation Changes for Social Conservatives
Ray Pennings
March 5, 2014
The question is whether social conservatives can resist their anger, "turn the other cheek" towards their cultural conquerors, and embody a culture of forgiveness and grace in a context where these are in such short supply ...
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Remembering Dad
Ray Pennings
February 19, 2014
Dad was able, by God's grace, to live a faithful life of service that made the gospel plausible Whatever they did with the witness Dad provided, they were given a living testimony through his life that God's grace is real and that life can, in the midst of all of the brokenness, be lived to God's gl...
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In Praise of Ritual
Ray Pennings
February 12, 2014
Yesterday, as has been the case for most recent budgets, I was privileged to receive an invite to that lockup and witnessed the process in which think-tankers, industry association representatives, and other interested stakeholders are given a 90-minute sneak peak of the budget documents ...
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Non-Partisan Politics
Ray Pennings
February 5, 2014
A quick check of the definitions on page 123 of the Senate Rules confirmed that a "recognized party" was "a caucus consisting of at least five Senators who are members of the same political party Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau reframed the Canadian Senate debate last week by announcing that the 32 Li...
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Dignity of Work
Ray Pennings
January 22, 2014
But one part that really interests me is the needed refocusing of Canada's construction workforce—the contributions of those Canadians who make construction their vocation ...
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Rediscovering Liberal Principle?
Ray Pennings
January 8, 2014
He lamented that Liberals have engaged the past few decades maintaining "a steadfast ideological commitment not to maintain steadfast ideological commitments," suggesting a renewed commitment to freedom, fairness, equality, and sustainability as the touchstones for the appeal of Canadian liberalism ...
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Advent Hope
Ray Pennings
December 18, 2013
Corporately, we try to apply justice, responsibility, freedom, dignity, and community to the issues of today.
But without the birth, life, and death of one Jesus of Nazareth, 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, our work would be nonsensical ...
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Jumping out of the Private-Public Box
Ray Pennings
December 11, 2013
Yet Coyne then uses a sweeping contrast, highlighting church groups as a specific example of private organizations who "wish to remain private, separate, and apart from the public square Political parties are not purely private organizations, of the kind who wish only to remain private, separate and...
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Reforming Political Institutions
Ray Pennings
December 4, 2013
Tuesday morning, Wellington-Dufferin MP Michael Chong introduced his Private Members' Bill to reform the relationship of MPs to their parties and leaders, and to embed caucus rights within the processes of the House of Commons Chong deftly avoided the traps set for him but as long as political cover...
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Rob Ford, the Media, and the Three Cs
Ray Pennings
November 29, 2013
Compare the media and public conversations regarding Clinton and Ford, and the only logical conclusion is that we've since become a society of prudes, ready to impose our morality on those who lead us The police chief holds a media conference and makes public "a deluge of salacious details" that hav...
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Caricatures and Blame Games
Ray Pennings
November 15, 2013
It's as much about helping those who are not poor feel better, delegating their compassion through government programs For those on the conservative side of the spectrum, the political dimensions of poverty have not always been handled well ...
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Muddled in the Middle
Ray Pennings
November 6, 2013
Homo dependicus is hardly a slogan that they would admit to, but is likely to be the premise around which they appeal to middle class voters Therefore, instead of a raft of policies that require voters to think of themselves either as poor or benevolent to others who are poor, the NDP policy platfor...
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Does Successful Leadership Require Distasteful Characteristics?
Ray Pennings
October 29, 2013
But, as low voter turnout and other markers of cynicism will indicate, in our living memory Canada has not had a successful Prime Minister (success being defined as longevity here) who shied away from exercising distasteful character traits in order to cut through a difficult situation and ultimatel...
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Diminishing Religion
Ray Pennings
October 9, 2013
There was a time when religion was rightly understood to be part of a basic human identity, and it was seen as a mark of a society's liberal tolerance that religious confession could be freely expressed without fear of marginalization The fact that Loyola would reference what Catholic doctrine might...
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Too Soon to Tell?
Ray Pennings
October 2, 2013
Bebbington convincingly provided evidence that historians have either ignored or skewered data regarding the contribution of religious motivations and how an appreciation for the role of religion changes our take on this history Would they regard the role and influence of religion in North American ...
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Experiencing Every Square Inch of God's Theater
Ray Pennings
September 25, 2013
Last week's Comment interview reminded me of why I prefer John Calvin's metaphor of the world as the theater of God's glory over other metaphors that are often utilized when discussing Christian cultural engagement Still Calvin's choice of this metaphor is helpful in thinking through what it means t...
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Mixing Journalism and Politics
Ray Pennings
September 18, 2013
The nomination of two profile journalists as candidates in the Toronto Centre by-election has revived the debate about whether journalists should enter politics Given Canada's "long and rich tradition" of this, it's noteworthy when even Toronto Star columnists are raising "ethical issues" that four ...
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Talking Hell in Public
Ray Pennings
September 11, 2013
What I do know, however, is that the hell that evil deserves, whether committed by notorious sinners or more refined sinners, has been paid for and grace and forgiveness are freely offered However, even though religious references to hell are relatively rare, casual and popular references to hell se...
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Power and Common Good: Squaring the Smiths
Ray Pennings
August 23, 2013
Jamie Smith, on the other hand, considers Daniel's influence exercised over people who clearly did not like him (hence the attempt to repurpose him as lion food) as the exercise of official power and the tool of government Christopher Smith uses power in a very personal way, focusing on the personal...
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Loyola's Freedom of Religion
Ray Pennings
August 2, 2013
The application of Charter protection regarding freedom of religion and whether that applies only to natural persons or also to institutions (such as a high school based on a religious order) The ERC purpose is straightforward: "The new program, which reflects the preference of the majority of Quebe...