Norman Penner
Canadian politician (1921–2009)
Norman Penner (February 21, 1921 – April 16, 2009) was professor emeritus at York University, a writer and historian, a war veteran, and a former activist in the Communist Party of Canada and the Labor-Progressive Party who broke with the party as a result of the events of 1956.
Biography
Penner was the son of Jacob Penner, a leading member of the Communist Party and popular Winnipeg alderman. He graduated from high school in 1937 and then worked from 1938 to 1941 as the full-time officer for the Winnipeg branch of the Communist Party.
He enlisted in the Canadian Army in 1941 and served overseas during World War II as a signalman. When he returned home in 1947, he became an organizer in Toronto for the Labor-Progressive Party as the Communist Party was then known. He ran in the 1951 Ontario election in York South and the 1953 federal election in York South finishing with 877 and 755 votes respectively. He also ran for reeve of York Township in the 1954 and 1955 municipal elections, coming in third and fourth place, respectively.
He broke with the party in 1957 as a result of the Soviet invasion of Hungary and Nikita Khrushchev's Secret Speech the previous year, events which caused the disillusionment of many party members.
After leaving the party he worked for several years as a salesman in the electrical heating business. In 1964, he decided to go back to school part-time and enrolled in political science at the University of Toronto at the age of 41 going on to earn a BA, MA, and PhD.
Penner was hired as a lecturer at York University's Glendon College in 1972 and soon became a professor and head of the political science department, continuing to teach until 1995.
The public source identifies “Norman Penner” as canadian politician (1921–2009). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Norman, Penner and Canadian.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7052689. VIAF identifies the subject as 36957399. The Library of Congress control number is n83200027. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1921, 2009, 1956 and 1937.
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This entry incorporates text from “Norman Penner” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.