Allen Garr is a journalist, author, and journalism instructor based in Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada. Garr is well-known in the city for his editorials covering civic politics

Government and politics of Vancouver

Vancouver, unlike other British Columbia municipalities, is incorporated under a unique provincial statute, the Vancouver Charter. The legislation, passed in 1953, supersedes the Vancouver Incorporation Act, 1921 and grants the city more and different powers than other communities possess under...

 in the weekly Vancouver Courier

Vancouver Courier

The Vancouver Courier is a Canadian semiweekly local newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia by Postmedia Network Inc. Currently, it is Canada's largest distributed community newspaper, with a weekly distribtuion of 265,000...

newspaper. He is the author of Tough Guy: Bill Bennett

Bill Bennett

William Richards Bennett, PC, OBC , commonly known as Bill Bennett, was the 27th Premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia 1975–1986. He is a son of the former Premier, W. A. C. Bennett. He was a 3rd cousin, twice removed, of R.B...

 and the taking of British Columbia (Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1986, ISBN 0-919493-77-7), a book about the British Columbia Social Credit Party

British Columbia Social Credit Party

The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing political party of British Columbia, Canada, for more than 30 years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election...

. Garr graduated from Simon Fraser University

Simon Fraser University

Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...

 in 1968 and has since been a political commentator in various Canadian media outlets, including a five-year stint with the Vancouver Province newspaper and a decade with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

's television news. He was an instructor in the journalism program at Langara College

Langara College

Langara College is a public degree-granting college in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada which serves approximately 20,000 students annually through its university, career, and continuing studies programs...

.