Joseph Planta is the host of the Planta: On the Line podcast at TheCommentary.ca. He has served on two BC and Yukon Book Prize juries (2018 and 2026), and is a noted collector of books and buttons. 

The interview program Planta: On the Line, which began in August 2004 has featured over two thousand interviews with notable individuals in politics, journalism, and the arts. His collection of political memorabilia and ephemera has been featured on CBC Radio’s On the Coast, CKNW, and the West End Journal. He has discussed his work as interviewer with CBC Radio’s Early Edition, BC BookLook, Vancouver is Awesome, People Doing Things, Delicioso, and Over 40 in Vancouver. 

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; and in 2014, he made This is That’s list of 100 Most Influential Canadians Under 100. 

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

(July 2026)