Joseph Planta is the founding editor of TheCommentary.ca.  He is also the host of the Planta: On the Line interview program, which since August 2004 has featured nearly 1,600 interviews with notable individuals in politics, journalism, and the arts.

He began writing The Joseph Planta Commentary column in 1999, distributed via e-mail.  The column regularly discusses current affairs and culture, as well as also features political opinion pieces, occasional theatre reviews, and interviews.  In 2003, TheCommentary.ca was created, featuring Planta’s column.  It is now the exclusive home of the Planta: On the Line program.

Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Planta attended Sir Charles Dickens Elementary and Sir Charles Tupper Secondary schools.  He subsequently attended Langara College and the University of British Columbia.

He is a serviceable interviewer and on-air conversationalist.  Off-air, he is often a curmudgeon, and sometimes outright mercurial.  He has vast interests, as evidenced by his varied guests over the years, though he shows no discernable aptitude in one particular subject.  He has never written a book, though he has interviewed numerous international and national prize-winning and bestselling authors.  And contrary to fact, misinformation, and/or outright deception he has not received the Order of Canada, nor has he been nominated for any notable awards.  In high school however, he did receive the Walter Matthau Award.

Planta lives in Vancouver, Canada.  He can be reached via e-mail at editor@thecommentary.ca.

(April 2018)