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The publisher Scott McIntyre discusses his new memoir A Precarious Enterprise: Making a Life in Canadian Publishing (ECW Press, 2025), with Joseph Planta. A Precarious Enterprise: Making a Life in Canadian Publishing byScott McIntyre (ECW Press, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: A Precarious Enterprise Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   I’ve had a unique perch these last twenty-one years doing the program, seeing the various books that have published in this country, and the publishers themselves. A new memoir sheds more light on the process and the experience of being a publisher. In A Precarious Enterprise: Making a Life in Canadian Publishing, Scott McIntyre recounts the heady days of publishing books when he started working in books in the late 1960s. As he chronicles the rise of independent Canadian publishers like Jack McClelland’s McClelland & Stewart, where he worked early in his career, to the founding of his own house Douglas & McIntyre, he chronicles the fall of the independents, as well as booksellers. In his nearly forty years at Douglas & McIntyre, they published some two thousand books, becoming one of Canada’s largest and most respected houses. And as one reads, the author was always at the heart of the enterprise. You read about how a publisher obtains a book, and the sort of money involved, and the interpersonal relationships that invariably need to be cultivated; and in some cases, personal friendships that develop. You get insights as to the process of publishing something of high quality, and how one goes about promoting and selling the thing. Mr. McIntyre, who joins me now, highlights the memorable bestsellers, some that were even at the centre of the national conversation soon after they were released. This book is full of great stories, and is published by ECW Press. Scott McIntyre is a member of both the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia. For over forty years, he has worked in publishing, and fought for more supportive publishing policy, even shaping a groundbreaking UNESCO treaty that enshrines the principle of cultural diversity within international law. He joined me from here in Vancouver earlier this month. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Scott McIntyre; Mr. McIntyre, good morning. The post Scott McIntyre first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The award-winning journalist and writer Linden MacIntyre discusses his bestseller An Accidental Villain: A Soldier’s Tale of War, Deceit and Exile (Random House Canada, 2025), with Joseph Planta. An Accidental Villain: A Soldier’s Tale of War, Deceit and Exile by Linden MacIntyre (Random House Canada, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: An Accidental Villain Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Linden MacIntyre joins me again. He’s just released a new biography, An Accidental Villain: A Soldier’s Tale of War, Deceit and Exile. It’s a compelling and fascinating biography of the little-known Sir Hugh Tudor. He was a junior officer in the Boer War, and went on to  distinguish himself in the First World War as a senior officer, rising to the rank of Major-General. In 1920, old friend Winston Churchill calls on Tudor to serve in Ireland. As Minister of War in Lloyd George’s cabinet, Churchill thinks Tudor could resist the threat to British colonial authority posed by the Irish rebels. Soon, Tudor’s police force, the Black and Tans employ death squads and inflict brutal reprisals against the IRA, as well as Sinn Fein politicians. This all culminates on 21 November 1920, Bloody Sunday, when the Black and Tans slaughter Irish football spectators. Tudor didn’t have a diary or letters that might explain his actions or suggest his motives. That’s what makes Mr. MacIntyre’s new book so compelling. He goes through the archives and the diaries and letters of Tudor’s contemporaries to try and piece through this consequential life. Later in Tudor’s life, he makes his way to Newfoundland. This third act, if you will, provides more intrigue, not to mention family drama. I’ll get Linden to tell us more, about getting to know Tudor, finding out about his life and times, and answering some of the questions as to why Tudor ended up in Newfoundland. Was it to leave his wife and children behind? Was it for other love? Was it simply for business? Was it to dodge assassination attempts? And what happened when it was rumoured assassins might have sought Tudor in his later years in St. John’s. Linden MacIntyre is the award-winning and bestselling author of multiple novels including the Giller Prize winning The Bishop’s Man. He’s won many awards for his distinguished career as a broadcast journalist. He spent twenty-four years as a co-host of the fifth estate. The book is already a Number One bestseller, published by Random House Canada. We taped this interview in late August. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Linden MacIntyre; Mr. MacIntyre, good morning.The post Linden MacIntyre first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

BC Treaty Commissioner and former BC Liberal MLA and cabinet minister George Abbott discusses his new book Unceded: Understanding British Columbia’s Colonial Past and Why It Matters Now (Purich Books, 2025), with Joseph Planta. Unceded: Understanding British Columbia’s Colonial Past and Why It Matters Now by George M. Abbott (Purich Books, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Unceded Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.  A compelling and important book of the year is the newest from George Abbott. Unceded: Understanding British Columbia’s Colonial Past and Why It Matters Now is a well-researched, highly readable narrative of the relationship that the government has had with Indigenous peoples. Mr. Abbott, who joins me now, chronicles over 150 years of BC-Indigenous relations, providing necessary history as well as his own perspective after many years as a member of the Legislative Assembly, and a cabinet minister in the Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark governments. The book provides the background on landmark Supreme Court decisions, as well as the land claims process, whether it’s the Nisga’a or Tsawwassen treaties. George Abbott is a BC treaty commissioner, and a former BC Liberal MLA and cabinet minister. He is an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Victoria, and the author of Big Promises, Small Government: Doing Less with Less in the BC Liberal New Era. I’ll ask George about his work on the BC Treaty Commission, as well as its future, what with various criticism about its usefulness. And though he’s been part of the commission for several months now, he had been proposed as chief commissioner over a decade ago by the last BC Liberal government, only to have the appointment yanked from under him shortly before assuming his seat. I’ll ask about that, and why the treaty process is ideal compared to going to courts. This new book is published by Purich Books, which is an imprint of UBC Press. We spoke last Friday, with George joining me from Victoria, BC. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, George Abbott; Mr. Abbott, good morning.  The post George Abbott first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The award-winning broadcaster Scott Oake discusses his memoir For the Love of a Son: A Memoir of Addiction, Loss, and Hope (Simon & Schuster, 2025), with Joseph Planta. For the Love of a Son: A Memoir of Addiction, Loss, and Hope by Scott Oake (Simon & Schuster, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: For the Love of a Son Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   One of the more moving and inspiring books of the year is the Number One bestseller For the Love of a Son: A Memoir of Addiction, Loss, and Hope. It was released to great notices this past spring. In the book, the popular broadcaster Scott Oake writes honestly and candidly about his son Bruce’s struggle with opioid abuse. It’s a battle that Bruce lost in 2011 at the age of twenty-five, but it’s one that has since inspired Scott, his late wife Anne, and their son Darcy, the celebrated illusionist, to do what they can to help others. In the wake of their grief, they launched the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, where in Winnipeg, they’ve been lauded for their revolutionary treatment facility staffed by peers, addicts and alcoholics in recovery. The book discusses the challenges at finding the land, raising the money, and breaking ground for this facility, challenges that also include political ones. The book does a tremendous job in chronicling the cycles of addiction. What Bruce, as well as Anne and Scott go through as a family is a struggle, one that has successes but also failures. You see how those with addictions struggle with wanting or asking for help, and when you add the epidemic of addiction throughout the country, not to mention the world, very often getting help is a struggle, least of all financially. The lesson in this book is that, Bruce, even with a family where they had the means to get detoxed and treatment, it wasn’t always a guarantee. Throughout the book you get to know Bruce, he’s not a statistic, but he’s somebody who was a funny, charismatic kid, who found community growing up in boxing and rap music. I’ll ask Scott about what all this has been like for his family, and what sustains him today despite the grief of mourning Bruce, and losing the family’s matriarch, Anne, who died in 2021. Scott Oake is the award-winning CBC Sports, Sportsnet, and Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster. His weekly After Hours, after the late hockey game on Saturday night, is a popular must-view show not just for hockey fans, but for folks like me who enjoy a good interview. Scott’s skill at storytelling is great to watch throughout the NHL season. He has covered Canada’s biggest sports moments, including the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, and the CFL. He is on the Media Roll of Honour of the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, and is a Member of the Order of Manitoba, and Order of Canada, which he was invested with in Ottawa this past Canada Day. 100% of the after-tax royalties of this book, co-written with Michael Hingston, will be donated to the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre. The book is published by Simon & Schuster. I spoke to Scott in mid-August. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Scott Oake; Mr. Oake, good morning.The post Scott Oake first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The journalist and author Marjorie Simmins discusses her new memoir In Search of Puffins: Stories of Loss, Light and Flight (Pottersfield Press, 2025), with Joseph Planta. In Search of Puffins: Stories of Loss, Light and Flight by Marjorie Simmins (Pottersfield Press, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: In Search of Puffins Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   I first encountered Marjorie Simmins in 2016, when she emailed me after it had been suggested by mutual friends that she be in touch. She and her beloved Silver Donald Cameron were making their way west in late 2016 to winter in the milder climes of Metro Vancouver from where they made their home in the east, in Nova Scotia. Both Don and Marjorie are originally from Vancouver. I was delighted to have both Marjorie and Don on the program, as soon as they motored their way across the country. They both came into the office at home to chat, first Marjorie on a book of hers, and Don on one of his, and then we did one with the two of them. I saw firsthand their affection and respect for one another, not just as married people but as writers. And it was lovely seeing how they supported one another. I look up from my desk now at a photograph from that sunny November day, a selfie of the three of us. It’s with the warmth of that memory that I sat at my desk recently, looking up at that photo on the wall from time to time, as I read Marjorie’s latest book In Search of Puffins: Stories of Loss, Light and Flight. The book looks at Marjorie and Don’s story, their love, their life together, and the loss after Don’s death at the height of COVID in June 2020. Don’s still around, as you’ll read, certainly throughout the book, he’s like a character, a voice through the book, guiding Marjorie, or giving her a laugh. The book is also great at illustrating grief and how hard it is to navigate. Marjorie during Don’s final days, and how she goes about to a new chapter in her life is damn near heroic. Marjorie joins me again, and I’ll ask her about how she finally got writing again, especially finishing this book. I’ll ask her about wanting to move back to Vancouver, but how she found that unfeasible. There’s a lot in this book, a lot that’s useful, but a lot that’s just worthwhile as Marjorie is a great writer; in some parts of the book, it reads as poetic. The website for more is at www.marjoriesimmins.ca. This new book is from Pottersfield Press. We taped this interview nearly two weeks ago, with Marjorie joining me from Truro, Nova Scotia. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Marjorie Simmins; Ms. Simmins, good morning. The post Marjorie Simmins first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The writer and singer-songwriter Rodney DeCroo discusses his new book Night Moves: The Street Photography of Rodney DeCroo (Anvil Press, 2025), with Joseph Planta. Night Moves: The Street Photography of Rodney DeCroo by Rodney DeCroo (Anvil Press, 2025). Click to buy this book from Anvil Press: Night Moves Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Rodney DeCroo joins me now. The author, poet, singer-songwriter has just published a new collection of photographs. It’s a collection that largely reflects the world that Mr. DeCroo sees in East Vancouver. It’s often ironic, whimsical, serious, tense, but always real. The images he captures with his camera, largely self-taught, evoke a Vancouver that’s not what people immediately see when they Google for images of Vancouver. This is the Vancouver that’s on Commercial Drive, or Main Street. This isn’t Kerrisdale or Kits, Yaletown or Champlain Heights. It’s a Vancouver that’s trying or barely trying to make ends meet, that’s crushed by the world around us. The evocative photographs feature people as they go about trying to get to work in the heat, in the snow, and since it’s Vancouver, the rain. Sometimes there are photographs of people just taking a rest on the curb or the bus stop bench, or guys shooting the shit at a coffee shop on The Drive. I’ll ask Mr. DeCroo about this collection, how he goes about taking pictures, and more. Rodney DeCroo is the author of two previous books of poetry Allegheny, BC, and Next Door to the Butcher Shop. Also, a well-known, touring singer-songwriter with eight albums to his credit. His solo plays Stupid Boy in an Ugly Town and Didn’t Hurt have toured across Canada and the US. The full title of the book is Night Moves: The Street Photography of Rodney DeCroo. It’s published by Anvil Press. The foreword is written by Mike Usinger. I talked to Rodney nearly two weeks ago. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Rodney DeCroo; Mr. DeCroo, good morning.   The post Rodney DeCroo first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The journalist and author Tom Hawthorn discusses his new book Play Ball! The Amazing Stories and Captivating Characters Who Have Made Baseball a Winning Ticket in Vancouver for Over 100 Years (2025), with Joseph Planta. Play Ball! The Amazing Stories and Captivating Characters Who Have Made Baseball a Winning Ticket in Vancouver for Over 100 Years by Tom Hawthorn (2025). Click to buy this book from The BC Sports Hall of Fame: Play Ball! Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Tom Hawthorn joins me again. He’s just published a new book, Play Ball! The Amazing Stories and Captivating Characters Who Have Made Baseball a Winning Ticket in Vancouver for Over 100 Years. It is a tough book to put down, because Tom with his ability to weave together great stories about colourful characters on and off the field, terrific archival photos, along with his skill at providing the reader with the historical and cultural context within which the baseball he writes about take place, make for not just a beautiful book for the coffee table, but a splendid resource for the sports fan, or a Vancouver history buff. With a foreword by Jim Robson, we get a sense of baseball’s endurance in Vancouver, and this is all despite the popularity of lacrosse, the BC Lions, and then the Vancouver Canucks throughout the twentieth century and now. The book also charts baseball’s development, relationships with leagues higher up in the pecking order through to Major League Baseball. Also, we see Vancouver’s own growth and development. I found particularly poignant, Tom’s recounting of the various ballparks that once stood throughout Vancouver. And of course, Nat Bailey Stadium, Capilano Stadium before that, plays a central role in the book. It’s a ballpark that Tom loves, and a lot of people, who’ve played here or visited here, or live near, just love. As Tom says, the book was commissioned by Jake Kerr and Jeff Mooney, the former owners of the Vancouver Canadians, and it also chronicles how baseball has continued to play a major part as a brand in the community. And that’s largely thanks to Kerr and Mooney and all their efforts not just with the club and their relationship with the Toronto Blue Jays, but with the upgrading of the facilities at Nat Bailey Stadium. Tom Hawthorn is a Victoria-based journalist and author. He is a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail. He has written several acclaimed books, including Deadlines, and The Year Canadians Lost Their Minds and Found Their Country, which he’s appeared with on the program when they came out. The book is available at Nat Bailey Stadium, another good reason to go to a Canadians game, as well as at the BC Sports Hall of Fame, where they do mail orders as well. We taped this interview earlier this week, with Tom joining me from Victoria, BC. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Tom Hawthorn; Mr. Hawthorn, good morning.   The post Tom Hawthorn first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

Marking the twentieth anniversary of the program, Joseph Planta makes remarks and offers answers to questions sent in by friends and listeners. Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   It was in August 2004 that I started the show. The word podcasting hadn’t come into vogue just yet. I taped the interviews over the phone and put the recording on the website, and people had to stream them. Just over twenty years later, I’m still at it, and though I might sometimes, rarely, complain about the work that goes into the show, I can’t think of anything as fulfilling an endeavour as this. To get to talk to very worthwhile people about their lives, their work, their experiences, their ideas, their ruminations on nearly every sort of topic imaginable has often been fun, as well at times an incredible privilege.   When I hit ten years doing the show, I said I’d had more years behind me than ahead of me. I just kept on doing it, and every season brought about something new, something I probably couldn’t have imagined twenty years ago. I was going to do a clip show, you know, take a bunch of clips from some of the boldfaced names that have been on the show over the years. I may do just that another year, another anniversary. When I came back from summer break last fall, I went into taping shows from practically the week after signing off last May. I like pre-taping interviews, which is also a great privilege especially when a book’s weeks or even months away from being in stores. So, I really didn’t have time to assemble clips for a best-of show. And frankly, how could I choose from twenty years and over two thousand, three hundred shows. How do you choose between the multiple Pulitzer Prize winners, Emmy and Oscar winners, Tony winners, and members of the Order of Canada? And how do you have enough time to give a plausible overview of what’s gone on from my desk the last, what’ll be twenty-one years in August.  I will take my usual summer break, and return for the 22nd year of the show in late September. I’ve already got half a dozen names in the hopper for the fall, and that’s encouraging. I’m still a little surprised that there are those willing, sometimes wanting to talk to me. And then there are those that don’t. I’m not particularly upset about those but I’m furious about those that don’t even take the time to say no. Life has a way of sorting things out, because there’s been more than a couple of people who’ve ended up asking to come on the show years later.  I didn’t want to sign off for the year, and let the anniversary pass without expressing my thanks to all those who’ve deigned to appear on the program. Having been interviewed, I can’t imagine why people would subject themselves to my questioning. Nevertheless, I figured I owe a few answers, and put out a call on social media last week soliciting questions. I’ve got them printed off and I’ll begin to answer them shortly. But I should note, other than the guests themselves, there’s a group of people who are instrumental in getting guests on the show that require acknowledgement. The great publicists over twenty years I’ve encountered outnumber the not-so-great ones. They’re often the person I talk to before and after I speak to the guest, and they’re practically saintly for reassuring me that the interview will go well, especially if I might have a doubt or two. And there are publicists I talk to on a regular basis that they’re in touch more frequently than most relatives or friends at this point. I’d like to name them all, but I’m afraid I’ll forget somebody. The good publicists will know before I do that a guest will be good on the show. For that discerning judgment, I am grateful, as listeners should.  Now, to the questions:  The post The Twentieth Anniversary Show first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The journalist and author Alan Haig-Brown discusses his new book Raincoast Chronicles 25: m̓am̓aɫa Goes Fishing (Harbour Publishing, 2025), with Joseph Planta. Raincoast Chronicles 25: m̓am̓aɫa Goes Fishing by Alan Haig-Brown (Harbour Publishing, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: m̓am̓aɫa Goes Fishing Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   Alan Haig-Brown joins me again. In a new book, he takes us to when he was a teenager in the 1960’s. He hadn’t quite finished high school, but found himself married into a fishing family. The Assu family had been fishing for generations, and since Alan was married to Herb and Mitzi Assu’s daughter Vicki, he found himself working on a fishing boat. It’s often tough work, and Alan recounts it all in Raincoast Chronicles 25: m̓am̓aɫa Goes Fishing. He’s got marvelous stories that provides insight as to what it’s like to make a living as the Assu’s did on the water. You get a sense of what it’s like navigating British Columbia’s west coast; and Herb did that without radar, the fishery resource as it was, and the challenges of life on a fishing boat in such close quarters. It really is a loving look at this formative time in Alan’s life, as he’d go on to work as an educator and then editor of the Westcoast Fisherman, and founding Westcoast Mariner and the Westcoast Logger. The book comes alive with Alan’s stories of adventure, and the occasional misadventure aboard the Assu boat. We also get a sense of the times, the relations that Indigenous peoples had with the commercial fishing industry, as well as how Alan found his way into this family, being a white guy. The book also comes alive with the photographs of Alan’s former wife Vicki Assu Robbins. Taken aboard and from the boat, you see what life was like on the coast over fifty years ago now. Alan Haig-Brown seined salmon and herring until 1973, and served for eleven years as coordinator of Indigenous education in the Cariboo-Chilcotin. A noted international marine journalist, Alan’s award-winning books for Harbour Publishing, which publishes Raincoast Chronicles 25, include Fishing for a Living, The Fraser River, and Still Fishin’, which he was on this program with in 2010. He divides his time between Bangkok, Thailand, and New Westminster, BC where he joined me from last week. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Alan Haig-Brown; Mr. Haig-Brown, good morning. The post Alan Haig-Brown first appeared on thecommentary.ca.

The marketing executive Pete Crighton discusses his memoir The Vinyl Diaries: Sex, Deep Cuts, and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy (Random House Canada, 2025), with Joseph Planta. The Vinyl Diaries: Sex, Deep Cuts, and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy by Pete Crighton (Random House Canada, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Vinyl Diaries Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta: I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.   When Pete Crighton came of age in the 1980s, he lived in fear of being found out by friends and schoolmates. Being gay then felt like a death sentence, and living in the shadow of HIV/AIDS could have meant death as well. The balm to his pain was and remains music. In his new memoir The Vinyl Diaries: Sex, Deep Cuts, and My Soundtrack to Queer Joy, Mr. Crighton, who joins me now, talks about the music that meant a lot to him growing up, that he revisits regularly, and looks for meaning in from time to time. That’s a great lesson in the book, that anything worth its salt, music, literature, art itself, relationships, need to be cared for, listened to rigorously. It’s music that he’s shared with lovers and other strangers, and he does so in this book that often reads as a curated playlist. The book also chronicles how he struggles to make sense of his sexuality, how he entered two long-term monogamous relationships, and how they eventually failed. In his early forties, as hook up culture’s rise thanks to apps on one’s phone surrounds our society, Pete goes through a mid-life sexual awakening. He writes about that with great candour in the book. Frankly, his honesty in the book is refreshing, and the unapologetic way he finds love in all its forms could be seen as inspiring. It’s worked for him. Pete Crighton has worked as a marketing executive in the arts for many years. He’s studied comedy at Second City, graduating from their Conservatory Program in improv, scene writing, and performance. He sings in the Dolly Parton choir, The Tennessee Mountain Homos. This new book is published by Random House Canada. He joined me from Toronto last week. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Pete Crighton; Mr. Crighton, good morning.  The post Pete Crighton first appeared on thecommentary.ca.