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The actor and director Anjela Magpantay discusses the show she’s performing in it is for when you meet me, a mainstage presentation at the Hold On Let Go Festival (04, 07 February 2026), with Joseph Planta. Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Anjela Magpantay joins me now. She’s created and will be performing it is for when you meet me, a mainstage presentation for the Hold On Let Go Festival. The two performances are Wednesday, 04 and Saturday, 07 February 2026 at the Russian Hall on Campbell Street. I’ll ask Anjela about the show, which looks at the Filipino cultural phenomenon of gift giving, pasalubong, especially from Filipinos abroad to relatives and loved ones back home. Anjela also looks at the ubiquitous Balikbayan box, the large cardboard box that is packed to the brim with toiletries, canned goods, clothes, towels and other sundries and shipped to The Philippines. The piece is an audience-interactive show. Visit www.holdonletgo.ca for tickets and information. Anjela Magpantay is a first-generation Canadian originating from the Philippines, who graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BFA in Theatre Performance. She has worked internationally as a performer and collaborator, and has worked as an assistant director. She was interim artistic director of rice & beans theatre in 2025. We spoke last week. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Anjela Magpantay; Ms. Magpantay, good morning.  The post Anjela Magpantay first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The artistic director of Music on Main David Pay previews the Second Annual Big Bang Festival (Sunday, 15 February 2026), with Joseph Planta. Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   David Pay joins me again. The artistic director of Music on Main is on to preview their Second Annual Big Bang Festival. It’s a great way to spend the Sunday on Family Day Weekend, 15 February 2026 in and around the Roundhouse Community Centre. I’ll ask David about what to expect, as there are free events, as well as ticketed events, those are $5. The turnout last year was good, and I’ll ask David to reflect on what there’s to do for kids and non-kids alike, all having to do with music and art. Visit www.musiconmain.ca for more. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, David Pay; Mr. Pay, good morning.The post David Pay first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The playwright and actor Mark Crawford discusses his play The Golden Anniversaries, which has its Western Canadian premiere at the Arts Club Theatre’s Granville Island Stage (22 January-15 February 2026), with Joseph Planta. Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Opening tomorrow night, Wednesday, 28 January 2026 is the latest Arts Club Theatre Company production, The Golden Anniversaries. It’s the Western Canadian premiere of the comedy-drama by Canadian playwright Mark Crawford. He joins me now to preview the show, and the moving and humorous portrait of a couple celebrating fifty years of marriage, and what might he have wanted to impart to an audience as a result. In the show, starring Peter Anderson and Eileen Barrett, Glen and Sandy are about to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary, but Sandy has cancelled the party at the cottage, and kicked him to the curb. He wants to talk and as the show unfolds we’re witness to laughter, reflection, regret, tenderness, and an honest reckoning. Mark Crawford is an actor and playwright whose work includes the plays Stag and Doe, The Birds and the Bees, The New Canadian Curling Club, The Gig, and Boys, Girls, and Other Mythological Creatures. The website for more is at www.markcrawfordplays.com. The show at the Granville Island Stage has been in previews since last week, opens tomorrow, and runs until 15 February 2026. Visit www.artsclub.com for tickets and information. We spoke this past Thursday, with Mark joining me from his home in Stratford, Ontario. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Mark Crawford; Mr. Crawford, good morning.  The post Mark Crawford first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The author Lindsay Wong discusses her new novel Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies (Penguin, 2026), with Joseph Planta. Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies by Lindsay Wong (Penguin, 2026). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Lindsay Wong joins me again. She’s just published a new novel, Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies. It’s often funny, as well as horrifying in some parts. The book follows Locinda Lo, an MFA dropout living in Vancouver with six roommates and zero job prospects. She’s got a heavy debt load, and at the same time has to save her grandmother and sister. She might as well be dead, and to escape life, she’s signed up to be a corpse bride, to be sold to the highest bidder. She’s got training, which we follow her through, where she’s got to prepare for being a bride in the afterlife. The book looks at the ghosts, real and imagined. We can’t escape our past and that haunts a lot of the book, especially in how Locinda and the other characters comport themselves. I’ll ask Lindsay about the book, and the world of curses that she illuminates and illustrates throughout. It’s fascinating stuff to think one could curse somebody else, and what that could mean for oneself in the present and the afterlife. The burden on women especially is something that one reads about in the book, and it’s culturally imposed as well, which makes the writing of this novel subversive as well as engaging. Lindsay Wong is the author of the critically acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling memoir The Woo-Woo, which was a finalist for Canada Reads 2019. It won the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, which in full disclosure, I sat on the judging panel for. It was also longlisted for the Leacock Medal. In 2023, she published a short story collection Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality, which she first appeared on the program with, and was shortlisted for the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes. She’s also written a YA novel My Summer of Love and Misfortune. She holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia, and an MFA in literary non-fiction from Columbia University. She teaches creative writing at the University of Winnipeg. Visit www.lindsaywongwriter.com for more. The new book is published by Penguin. We spoke one week ago, with Lindsay joining me from Toronto. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Lindsay Wong; Professor Wong, good morning.The post Lindsay Wong first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The artistic director of The Improv Centre Alan Pavlakovic previews The Heat: An International Improv Comedy Showcase (27-31 January 2026), with Joseph Planta. Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   The Heat: An International Improv Comedy Showcase returns to Granville Island’s Improv Centre this week. Starting Tuesday, 27 January to 31 January 2026, five improvisation groups from here and around the world exhibit their talents. There’s Michelle Impro and Teresa & Folusho from Great Britain; Second Breakfast from New Zealand, Dumb John from Chicago, and a team from the Improv Centre here. It’s the third year, and it’s always fun to get a preview of what to expect during this week. Joining me now is Alan Pavlakovic, the artistic director of the Improv Centre, a job he’s had since September. I’ll ask Alan about The Heat, and these companies that come from elsewhere, and what it’s like for an improv artist from here to learn from these talents. I’ll also ask Alan about making improv accessible not just for artists but audiences. That’s what the Improv Centre, through The Heat has done, making improv something worth making a night out of. Visit www.theimprovcentre.ca for tickets and information. We taped this interview last Wednesday. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Alan Pavlakovic; Mr. Pavlakovic, good morning. The post Alan Pavlakovic first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The author, playwright, podcaster and filmmaker Mark Leiren-Young discusses his new book Greener Than Thou: Surviving the Toxic Sludge of Canadian Ecopolitics (Sutherland House, 2025), and more, with Joseph Planta. Greener Than Thou: Surviving the Toxic Sludge of Canadian Ecopolitics by Mark Leiren-Young (Sutherland House, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Greener Than Thou Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Mark Leiren-Young joins me again. He’s just published a new book, Greener Than Thou: Surviving the Toxic Sludge of Canadian Ecopolitics. It’s the latest in the Sutherland Quarterly series of essays on current affairs, which you can buy individually or as an annual subscription. Mark writes candidly and hilariously about the state of Green politics in Canada, with a fine precis of the NDP’s relationship with environmental policy over the last quarter century. We get a sense of what it was like within the Green Party of Canada as they worked to elect their first Member of Parliament, and subsequently a couple more, though there was a defeat and a defection. Through it all, the lead character in all the drama is Elizabeth May, the party’s leader, former leader, and current leader. It’s either like the party can’t quit her, or she can’t quit the party. You’ll have to read Mark’s book to decide. As well, you’ll have to read the book to figure out how the Green Party itself has become a sort of cult of personality, and whether that’s May herself personally, or it was always the Green Party to begin with. It’s easy to read the book and get cynical about politics, but it’s clear that Mark’s gone through the experience with his idealism intact. What has taken a hit though is environmental policy through the discourse of Canadian politics. It’s easy to dismiss the Green Party of Canada as a viable political party, but that shouldn’t mean environmental issues shouldn’t be discussed during election campaign periods as well as between. Mark Leiren-Young is an author, playwright, filmmaker, and host of the Skaana podcast. He received the Leacock Medal for humour for his memoir, Never Shoot a Stampede Queen, among many other accolades for his writing and filmmaking. His Substack is at www.leirenyoung.substack.com. He teaches writing at the University of Victoria, and makes his sixth appearance on the podcast.  He is always a welcome guest, as you’ll see there’s nothing we can’t talk about, including having a hit play running in New York off-Broadway, and the Vancouver Canucks. We spoke last Friday, with Mark joining me in person. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Mark Leiren-Young; Mr. Leiren-Young, good morning.  The post Mark Leiren-Young first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The historian and author Derek Hayes discusses his new book Coastal Connections: A History of British Columbia Ferries and Passenger Ships (Harbour Publishing, 2025), with Joseph Planta. Coastal Connections: A History of British Columbia Ferries and Passenger Ships by Derek Hayes (Harbour Publishing, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Coastal Connections Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Derek Hayes joins me again. The award-winning historian and photographer has recently released a new book Coastal Connections: A History of British Columbia Ferries and Passenger Ships. It’s an engaging overview of the ferries and ships that sail the coast, connecting the mainland to the island, as well as island to island in some cases. The book is replete with archival photographs as well as recent ones. There’s also artwork and ephemera that’s a wonderful view into BC Ferries and all the other companies that service and serviced this province. And it’s not just BC Ferries that’s covered in the book. There’s Union Steamships, Canadian Pacific, Black Ball Ferries, and Harbour, some that still exist. Derek Hayes is the renowned historian and author of multiple books including the bestselling Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest. Trained as a geographer at the University of Hull in England, and the University of British Columbia, he worked for a time as a planner with the Vancouver City Planning Department. He was also a columnist for Fine Books & Collections magazine for several years. Visit www.derekhayes.ca for more. This new book is from Harbour Publishing. We spoke just twelve days ago. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Derek Hayes; Mr. Hayes, good morning.The post Derek Hayes first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The podcaster and historian Craig Baird discusses his new book Canada’s Main Street: The Epic Story of the Trans-Canada Highway (Sutherland House, 2025), with Joseph Planta. Canada’s Main Street: The Epic Story of the Trans-Canada Highway by Craig Baird (Sutherland House, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Canada’s Main Street Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.    Craig Baird joins me now. The creator and host of the Canadian History Ehx podcast, which can also be heard here on CKNW, has recently published Canada’s Main Street: The Epic Story of the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s his first book, and it’s an engaging book as to how the highway that crosses Canada came about. There were adventurers who set out to traverse Canada in the early part of the twentieth century, as well as politicians who were advocating for their respective provinces, or just playing politics. The book covers those as well as the visionaries, and how a sense of Canada came about from it. I’ll ask Craig about the book, the impetus to write it, and his work as a public historian. I’ll ask about the inspiration he derives from Pierre Berton and more. Visit www.canadaehx.com for more. This new book is from Sutherland House. We spoke last week, with Craig joining me from Edmonton. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Craig Baird; Mr. Baird, good morning.  The post Craig Baird first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The historian and writer J.D.M. Stewart discusses his new book The Prime Ministers: Canada’s Leaders and the Nation They Shaped (Sutherland House, 2025), with Joseph Planta. The Prime Ministers: Canada’s Leaders and the Nation They Shaped by J.D.M. Stewart (Sutherland House, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: The Prime Ministers Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   The new book from J.D.M. Stewart, The Prime Ministers: Canada’s Leaders and the Nation They Shaped, is a very fine overview of the men and one woman who have served as Prime Minister of Canada. It’s a book that looks back, but it’s very much of today in that we can look back at the time and tenure of each of the twenty-four prime ministers through how decisions turned out or how we might have evolved as a country. The book doesn’t cancel out certain prime ministers, in fact it contextualises each as to their achievements and errors. The book follows in the great tradition of assessments of prime ministers, books written by historians like Jack Granatstein, Norman Hillmer, Michael Bliss, or Robert Bothwell, and in Mr. Stewart’s hands the history is far from boring. J.D.M. Stewart is a writer, historian, and one of the country’s foremost experts on Canadian prime ministers. He taught high school history over a thirty-year teaching career. His previous book Being Prime Minister is one of my favourite books, and one that makes for engaging, even fun reading about politics. He is also a commentator that appears regularly at The Hub, The Literary Review of Canada, and The Globe and Mail, where a lot of us first got to know his name from the letters to the editor page; I think other than the late Eugene Forsey, James is one of its most frequent correspondents. This book is published by Sutherland House. We spoke last Wednesday, with James joining me from Toronto. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, J.D.M. Stewart; Mr. Stewart, good morning.  The post J.D.M. Stewart first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The comedian, writer and podcast host Mark Malkoff discusses his new book Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan’s Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend (Dutton, 2025), with Joseph Planta. Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan’s Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend by Mark Malkoff with David Ritz (Dutton, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Love Johnny Carson Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Back in 2014, Mark Malkoff, who joins me now, took his interest, even obsession with Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show to another level, by starting The Carson Podcast, that delved into nearly every aspect of the late night television legend and how Carson and the show remade television and popular culture. With outstanding guests,known and unknown, over the next eight years, Mark brought an insider’s view into how the show was made, and what Carson was really like. He remains over twenty years after his death one of the more fascinating figures in show business, who leaned into stereotypes in the press as to his personality. For somebody so visible in the public eye, he remains so interesting, and Mark has captured so much of Carson and his legacy in a new book, Love Johnny Carson: One Obsessive Fan’s Journey to Find the Genius Behind the Legend. It’s such a wonderful read, because if you’re a fan of Carson and his version of the Tonight Show, you get all the good stories about what made the show appointment television. And if you’re a fan of Mark’s podcast, it’s wonderful revisiting the stories of the colourful people, including those behind the scenes, who intersected with Carson’s. I’ve already gotten the book a couple of times as Christmas gifts for people I know, who still love Johnny Carson as much as Mark does. Mark Malkoff is a comedian, writer, and podcast host. He has been featured on Today, Good Morning America, CNN, NPR’s Weekend Edition, and more. He wrote the book with the noted writer David Ritz. Visit www.markmalkoff.com for more, and of course www.carsonpodcast.com for all the episodes of his show. This new book is published by Dutton. We spoke last week, with Mark joining me from New York City. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Mark Malkoff; Mr. Malkoff, good morning.The post Mark Malkoff first appeared on thecommentary.ca.