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thecommentary.caRod MickleburghThe journalist and author Rod Mickleburgh discusses the new memoir he co-wrote John Horgan: In His Own Words (Harbour Publishing, 2025), with Joseph Planta.
John Horgan: In His Own Words by John Horgan with Rod Mickleburgh (Harbour Publishing, 2025).
Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: John Horgan
Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:
I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.
Rod Mickleburgh joins me again. After John Horgan resigned as premier of British Columbia in 2022, Mr. Mickleburgh began interv...
2025-11-0334 minthecommentary.caRod MickleburghThe journalist and author Rod Mickleburgh discusses the new memoir he co-wrote John Horgan: In His Own Words (Harbour Publishing, 2025), with Joseph Planta.
John Horgan: In His Own Words by John Horgan with Rod Mickleburgh (Harbour Publishing, 2025).
Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: John Horgan
Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:
I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.
Rod Mickleburgh joins me again. After John Horgan resigned as premier of British Columbia in 2022, Mr. Mickleburgh began interv...
2025-11-0334 min
RedeyeJohn Horgan: In His Own WordsJohn Horgan: In His Own Words is a memoir that leads readers through pivotal parts of Horgan’s life and his years as premier of British Columbia. Horgan worked closely with journalist Rod Mickleburgh to share his life story. Rod Mickleburgh speaks about John Horgan and the book with Redeye’s Ian Mass.
2025-10-1417 min
The PulseJohn Horgan; "In His Own Words" & Saving Hamilton Marsh"Send us a text about this episode!"This Episode Features:(00:00) Rod Mickleburgh, veteran BC journalist and co-author, reveals never-before-heard stories from his collaboration with John Horgan on the late premier's memoir. Mickleburgh conducted final interviews from Horgan's hospital bed in Germany, capturing candid reflections about the premier's year at Ocean Falls Pulp Mill, his famous bus rides from Victoria to Sooke, his collaborative approach with the Green Party, and what made him different from typical politicians.(00:00) Ceri Peacey, of the Hamilton Wetlands and Forest Preservation Society, discusses...
2025-10-1447 min
Mornings with SimiFull Show: Believing in happiness, Nukes on the Moon & Horgan's wordsDo young people believe they can find happiness in Canada?
Guest: Erin Anderssen, Writer for the Globe and Mail
Should Canada put Nuclear Reactors on the moon?
Guest: Daniel Sax, founder and CEO of the Canadian Space Mining Corporation
John Horgan in his own Words Releases this week
Guest: Rod Mickleburgh is a former labour reporter for the Vancouver Sun and Province and a senior writer at The Globe and Mail for more than twenty years.
Should BC ban Non-Stick Cookware?
Guest: Julia house, owner...
2025-10-1350 min
Hotel Pacifico"John Horgan: In His Own Words” with Rod Mickleburgh + Maria DobrinskayaHotel Pacifico was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as FortisBC, and BCGEU.This week, Geoff and Mike welcome veteran journalist and author Rod Mickleburgh, co-author of “John Horgan: In His Own Words”, which was formally launched this week. Together, they reflect on Premier Horgan’s career and legacy, as well as the candid thoughts he shared while working on the memoir in his final year. In the Strategy Suite, Mike and Geoff are joined by Maria Dobrinskaya, former BC director of the Broadben...
2025-10-091h 20
The Jas Johal ShowCandid memoir celebrates the legacy of John HorganCandid memoir celebrates the legacy of John Horgan
GUEST: Rod Mickleburgh, co-author of John Horgan: In His Own Words
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2025-09-1317 minThe Jas Johal ShowIllegal Airbnb listings, the week that was in politics, registering your fireplace and celebrating the life of John HorganCondo owners stumped by illegal Airbnb listings and surprise guests
GUEST: Peter Meiszner, ABC Vancouver City Councillor
The Week That Was in Politics - Polls show Eby’s approval down, Rustad way down
GUEST: Keith Baldrey, Global B.C Legislative Bureau Chief
Why Metro Vancouver should abandon fireplace registrationGUEST: Bill Tieleman, director of the B.C Coalition for Affordable Dependable Energy (CADE)
Candid memoir celebrates the legacy of John Horgan
GUEST: Rod Mickleburgh, co-author of John Horgan: In His Ow...
2025-09-1356 min
BC TodayAir Canada flight attendant contract dispute ends after four-day work stoppageGuest host Dan Burritt speaks to CBC reporter Johna Baylon from YVR about what passengers, the airport authority is saying as the Air Canada contract dispute ends with flight attendants. Dan also talks to labour journalist Rod Mickleburgh about what government intervention and this new deal means for future labour disputes.
2025-08-1936 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEp 32: Behind the Seams - Garment Workers in BCFor most of the 20th century, garment workers—mostly women—sewed, pressed and wove fabric on factory assembly lines throughout the Lower Mainland, before the domestic industry began to decline with globalization. This episode features an interview with Anne Marshall, a garment worker who became an organizer and business agent for the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) in Vancouver beginning in the 1940s. We also hear from Esther Peters who worked at Vancouver's West Coast Woolen Mills. She became a shop steward and then president of the Textile Workers Industrial Union of BC. Theme song: "H...
2025-07-2830 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEp 31: Conductorettes - The First Women to Drive TransitThis podcast episode tells the story of the "conductorettes" - the women who worked as streetcar conductors in Vancouver during World War II when many men were overseas fighting fascism. The conductorettes were part of a strong union, the Amalgamated Transit Union, which ensured they had the same rights, privileges, and wages as the men. The union played an important role in supporting the women, including helping one get her job back after she was fired for becoming pregnant.Featured are interviews with three former conductorettes - Pearl Wattum, Vilma Westerholm, and Edra McLeod - who describe...
2025-05-2029 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEp. 30. Taking a Stand: Union Solidarity Against Apartheid in South AfricaUsing interviews from the B.C. Labour Heritage Centre's Oral History Project, the Canadian Anti-Apartheid Activist History Project, and a retired BCGEU (BC General Services Union) activist, this episode tells the impressive story of international solidarity by B.C. union members who worked tirelessly in support of those fighting to end South Africa’s heinous apartheid system. Starting in 1976, until the first free election in 1994, actions by citizens and labour shaped attitudes and responses to apartheid that resonate decades later. Featured are interviews with Jef Keighley, Cathy Walker, Colleen Jordan and Randy Pearson, along with music from the Total Ex...
2025-03-0935 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEp. 29 - Kitimat Wildcat 1976On June 3, 1976 simmering discontent at the Alcan smelter in the northern B.C. community of Kitimat turned into a full-scale revolt. Some members of independent union CASAW (Canadian Association of Smelter and Allied Workers) staged a wildcat strike after being pushed too far by the company. They were soon joined by 1,800 others. Twice the union members rejected their executive’s recommendation to return to work. 150 RCMP officers in riot gear and flanked by dogs and shotguns arrested the union’s leaders, charges were laid and fines levied against the union. It was the first major job action in Canada again...
2024-12-1128 min
COMMONSWORK 3 - Bitter HarvestThe creation of the Canadian Farmworkers Union, as it would come to be called, was the first step in a struggle that continues to this day.Because even now, farmworkers have far fewer rights than almost any other class of worker. And even today, the men and women who grow our food are subject to horrific working conditions and racial discrimination.But to understand why the situation remains so bad, we need to go back in time to a moment when there was progress and hope. A moment when it looked like things...
2024-04-0334 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEp. 25: A Struggle Too Long: Paul Robeson Sings at Peace Arch ParkThis episode features two larger than life historical figures: Harvey Murphy, regional director of the International Union of Mine Mill and Smelter Workers Union and Paul Robeson, Black American superstar known around the world for his powerful singing voice and a fearless crusader for peace, universal justice and an end to racial discrimination in the United States. This was the cold war era, and the US government had Robeson pegged as a dangerous radical. Prevented from entering Canada to attend the union’s convention in Vancouver, Murphy arranged for a massive concert at Peace Arch Park, about 50 km...
2024-02-2523 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEp. 24: Tatsuro Buck Suzuki: Community advocate, union activist, environmentalistWe celebrate the life of Tatsuro 'Buck' Suzuki, who spent his life advocating for the West Coast fishing community, first as a young liaison between Japanese Canadians and an industry dominated by Whites, then as a strong trade unionist, and finally, as an early environmental activist, fighting to protect salmon habitat. Included are recordings of Buck Suzuki made by the City of Richmond Archives in the 1970s, a few years before he died. We also spoke with Lorene Oikawa. Her father was Buck's cousin, yet she called him 'Uncle Buck'. Oikawa has carried on his legacy of trad...
2024-02-0534 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEp 23: Teamster Diana Kilmury: B.C.’s Tough and Fearless Truck-Driving WomanIn this episode of On the Line, we present a compelling tale of British Columbia's Diana Kilmury, a bold and fearless truck driver who became immersed in the murky male dominated world of the Teamsters Union back in the days when women behind the wheel of big trucks were as scarce as generous employers. She took on both sexist attitudes on the job and a union that was then, in the United States, riddled by corruption, with a top down leadership that was closely connected to organized crime and crushed any challenge to the way the union was run...
2023-11-2739 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 22: Darshan Singh Sangha: A Human Spirit that Transcended BoundariesThis episode chronicles the exploits of someone who made a huge contribution to the early organizing efforts of the International Woodworkers of America and campaigned relentlessly for justice for South Asians like himself during the 1940s. That man is Darshan Singh Sangha. Yet few British Columbians outside the province's large South Asian community know anything about him. It's a captivating story that stretches from the Punjab where he was born, to Canada and then back to India. The episode includes a rare CBC Radio news report from the IWA's 1946 March on Victoria.Host: Rod Mickleburgh
2023-09-1925 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 21: Construction Unions, the False Creek Rumble and Expo 86We look at the valiant efforts during the 1980s by B.C.'s unionized building trades to fight off the anti-union Social Credit government determined to break their hold on major construction projects in the province. It all came to a head in the run-up to Vancouver's World's Fair—Expo 86—and the building of the fair itself.Cheered on by fanatical anti-union contractors, the provincial government wanted to open the door to non-union contractors who bid on and won major projects that previously would have been built using union labour. Through the voices of union leaders of the da...
2023-07-0426 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 20: Grit and Working-Class Solidarity: B.C. Workers Respond to the 1919 Winnipeg General StrikeThis episode highlights a remarkable but relatively unknown chapter of working-class solidarity. While waves of sympathy strikes to support the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike took place across Canada, the most pronounced of these was in Vancouver, B.C. Even after workers returned to their jobs, 325 women telephone operators stayed out for another two weeks.This was a time of unsurpassed working-class consciousness and resistance, the likes of which Canada had not seen before, nor since.You will hear from Vancouver's legendary firebrand socialist William Pritchard who spent a year in Manitoba's Stoney Mountain Penitentiary for making...
2023-04-0519 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 19: Union Maids in Action - The 1918 Steam Laundry Strike A five-month long strike in 1918-1919 by Vancouver laundry workers, most of whom were women, is told through the words of one of its leaders. Ellen Goode began working in a steam laundry at 15, toiling over 10 hours a day, sometimes 60 hours a week. She and her fellow workers formed a union in 1918. In September 1918 they went on strike. Supported by the rest of the union movement in Vancouver, they gave as good as they got, going after strikebreakers and doing whatever else was necessary to prevail. Workers ended their strike in early January 1919. But that wasn't the end...
2023-01-3122 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 18: How Many Deaths Will It Take? Remembering the Canadian Farmworkers UnionThis is the inspiring tale of a group of dedicated individuals who took up the cause of BC’s Fraser Valley Farmworkers who toiled in dreadful, unregulated conditions in the 1970s and ‘80s. It is a saga with death and violence and courageous union organizing. Drawing upon interviews from the University of the Fraser Valley’s South Asian Institute Union Zindabad! Project, led by the BC Labour Heritage Centre, we hear from those who saw the many wrongs taking place in the fertile fields and vowed to do something about it. It was a social movement as much as a unio...
2022-11-2533 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 17: Asbestos - A Lethal LegacyThis episode looks at the grim toll taken by exposure to carcinogenic fibres of asbestos. Because it often takes decades for diseases such as mesothelioma - a cancer caused by asbestos exposure - to develop, its legacy is ongoing. We’ve known about these dangers for decades, yet the widespread use of asbestos continued long after its lethal properties were beyond dispute. It routinely found its way into a startling range of construction materials and, ironically, safety products. In September 2022, the BC Labour Heritage Centre officially dedicated a remarkable memorial to the victims of asbestos. The Asbestos Memori...
2022-09-2023 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 16: The Union Archive That Almost Didn't Make ItIn 2019, former members of the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) along with community historians opened the IWA Archive in Lake Cowichan BC. Located at the Kaatza Station Museum, the IWA Archive is near the home of the first IWA local in the province. The Museum also houses the fabulous Wilmer Gold Photo Collection. The founding convention of the IWA took place in Tacoma Washington in 1937. Its first President was Harold Pritchett from British Columbia, who was also the first Canadian to lead an i...
2022-07-0527 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 15: Smelter WarsThe workers at the lead-zinc smelter in Trail, British Columbia have a long history of overcoming formidable obstacles to unionization. Contentious politics, a company union and two World Wars are some of the issues discussed in this episode. We talk to Ron Verzuh whose new book Smelter Wars: A Rebellious Red Trade Union Fights for its Life in Wartime Western Canada (University of Toronto Press, 2022) has just been published. We also listen to archived interviews with two men who worked in the smelter in the early 1900s and remembered Ginger Goodwin who...
2022-05-0940 min
PolitiCoastEp 280: Greatest BC Premier Bracket ChampionshipFrom 34 premiers down to two. Over the past several months we've been pitting BC's premiers against one another to find the greatest. Inevitably we were headed to this conclusion: Social Credit titan WAC Bennett and the NDP legend Dave Barrett.To make the case for these two premiers, we invited experts in the two premiers, people who literally wrote the books on them. David J Mitchell, author of WAC Bennett and the Rise of British Columbia, presents the case for Bennett. Rod Mickleburgh, co-author of The Art of the Impossible, argues for Barrett.Vote
2022-03-111h 01
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 14: The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car PortersAs Black History Month comes to a close, On the Line marks the occasion with a fascinating look back at the history of train sleeping car porters, almost all of whom were Black. It's a story that has only recently started to be told, and combines the history of Black employment in Canada, unionization and the fight for dignity and equality. We examine those long lost days mostly through the voice of Warren Williams, whose Uncle Lee was in the forefront of the drive to organize Sleeping Car Porters in Canada. Warren is the current President of CU...
2022-03-0326 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 13: Relief Camps of the Great DepressionFeaturing archival audio interviews and labour songs of the time, this episode examines the so-called "Dirty Thirties" or "The Great Depression" and the forced labour relief camps the Federal Government of Canada set up in response. We include a special focus on a little known relief camp that was a mere hop, skip and a jump from downtown Vancouver, BC, in North Vancouver. This is the story of the Blair Rifle Range and other relief camps in B.C.Learn more: labourheritagecentre.ca/blair-rifle-range/FEATURED MUSIC: Theme song: "Hold the Fort" - Arranged & Performed by...
2022-02-0825 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 12: The Battle of Blubber Bay, BC, 1938An epic confrontation just before WWII between mine workers fighting for justice and an arrogant company with authorities in their hip pocket. This is the story that has come to be known as The Battle of Blubber Bay.Once a whaling station on Texada Island, Blubber Bay, British Columbia was home to an enormous open-pit limestone mine on the north end of the island. Starting just after the turn of the century, workers - many of them Chinese - had toiled away in the 250-ft deep pit. An obstinate mine manager and a wage cut motivated them to...
2021-12-0819 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 11: Chinese Farmers of "Celery City", Armstrong BCThe small community of Armstrong, BC, just north of Vernon in the province's Interior, was once "the Celery Capital of Canada". Armstrong's early agricultural success owes much to the hard working Chinese immigrants who cultivated the city's fertile bottomlands. As many as 500 Chinese labourers lived in huts and bunkhouses in Chinatown in the winter, growing crops including celery, cabbage, lettuce and potatoes to be shipped across Canada. They faced restrictive immigration laws, a prohibitive head tax and were prevented from owning land; despite these obstacles, Chinese "market gardens" and their workers were an integral part of British Columbia's labour...
2021-10-0518 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 10: 'Pins & Needles' - A 1930's Garment Workers' MusicalAfter a brief summer break, On the Line is back with more BC labour history! In September 1938, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) brought their theatrical musical hit “Pins and Needles” to Vancouver, BC, where it played to glowing reviews. Among the audience were trades union members of all kinds and noted labour artist Fraser Wilson.The cast were all ILGWU members from New York garment factories, or as The Province newspaper reviewer called them “just plain, simple, common, ordinary everyday men and women who work hard for their living.” This is their st...
2021-08-2417 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 9: Indigenous Longshoremen & the I.W.W.This edition of On the Line takes note of Indigenous History Month in June with a different aspect of BC's Indigenous history: one that is not very well known. We examine the contribution of Indigenous workers to the port of Vancouver, particularly in the first half of the 20th century, largely through the voices of those who worked the waterfront - and it's a union story, too. In 1906, the independent Lumber Handlers Union was established as local 526 of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.), with most of the 50 or 60 members being Indigenous. This is their story.
2021-06-2922 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 8: Uniting Woodworkers Across Ethnic DividesMay is Asian Heritage Month; last month was Sikh Heritage Month. Both groups are justly celebrated for their contributions to the fabric of BC. At the same time, they also suffered many years of exploitation and discrimination, much of it in the workplace. For many reasons, including the racist policies of many unions, they were very hard to organize - but one union, the International Woodworkers of America (IWA), met the challenge head-on. This is the story of three remarkable Asian organizers - Roy Mah, Darshan Singh Sangha and Joe Miyazawa - specifically hired by the IWA in the...
2021-05-2429 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 7: Bea Zucco's Fight for Silicosis CompensationApril 28th marks Canada's annual Day of Mourning. Of course, industrial accidents are not the only risk workers face; occupational diseases, brought on by hazardous workplace conditions, have also claimed a terrible toll. One of the worst has been silicosis, a coating of the lungs by deadly silica dust inhaled by generations of hard-rock miners. To mark this month's Day of Mourning, we bring you the story of Bea Zucco: a third generation pioneer from Grand Forks, BC and a miner's wife. Ordinary in so many ways, and yet absolutely extraordinary in her determination to see justice prevail and...
2021-04-0721 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 5: The 1921 New Westminster Teachers' StrikeIn this episode, we look back one hundred years to Valentine's Day, 1921. On that traditional day of romance, a group of courageous public school teachers in New Westminster, BC did the unthinkable: they went on strike. Their walkout had a lasting, positive impact on teachers across the province for years to come. There would not be another strike by a teachers local in the province for 53 years. This is their story.What led these teachers, most of them young women, to take their bold action was a familiar situation that continued to plague teachers for decades - a...
2021-02-0127 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode. 4: The Vancouver Island Coal StrikeFrom the 1870's on, the coal miners of Vancouver Island had fought strike after strike to force the hardnosed coal barons to recognize a union. Thanks to strikebreakers, blacklists, anti-union courts and the forces of so-called law and order, they lost them all. Finally, in 1911, the miners invited in the tough, experienced and deep-pocketed United Mineworkers of America (UMWA) to make one last all-out attempt to bring the mine owners to heel.What started as a flare-up over safety quickly sparked into a conflict that was the most protracted, violent and hard-fought strike in BC's long labour history. I...
2021-01-0523 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 3: The 1983 Tranquille OccupationOn July 19, 1983, members of the BC Government and Service Employees Union, better known as the BCGEU, learned that the large Tranquille Institution in Kamloops, British Columbia would be shut down. For the 600 BCGEU members at the site, many of whom had worked with the residents for years, this was simply unacceptable. They decided to take matters into their own hands.A hand-painted union flag was raised, locks were changed, managers evicted, and the workers took control. The unprecedented worker occupation lasted for 22 days. It was the first action to be taken under the banner...
2020-11-0230 min
On the Line: Stories of BC WorkersEpisode 2: The 1931 Fraser Mills StrikeNearly 90 years ago, in the dark years of the Great Depression, union membership and the number of strikes in B.C. fell dramatically; but every now and then, against all odds, workers took a stand. It happened in September 1931 at the Fraser Mills Lumber plant on the shores of the Fraser River in Maillardville, now part of Coquitlam. A diverse group of rank-and-file workers set aside their racial divisions and came together to fight for better wages, better working conditions and basic respect as human beings. This is their story.FEATURED MUSIC:Theme song: "Hold...
2020-10-0523 min
The Pulse on CFROInterview: Rod Mickleburgh (journalist & former 1970s Coop Radio host) - 15 Apr on CFRO The PulseInterview clip from CFRO The Pulse, your independent reporting from Vancouver's front lines - weekdays from 7-8 am, on Vancouver Co-op Radio 100.5fm, and at thepulse.coopradio.org. Reporters and co-hosts: David P. Ball and Meixi Tan(Produced by Laurence Gatinel and Bryan McKinnon. Theme song 'Iodine' used by generous permission of Hannah Epperson: hannahepperson.ca)
2020-04-1516 min
CANADALANDEp. 245 - The Last Labour ReporterSara Mojtehedzadeh may very well be Canada's last full-time labour reporter. This past fall, as the Toronto Star's work and wealth reporter, Mojtehedzadeh went undercover for a month at Fiera Foods—a factory in Toronto where a temp agency worker was recently killed. Her month-long stint led to Undercover in Temp Nation, an explosive year-long investigation into the company. Her and Brendan Kennedy's reporting is exemplary, but its kind is nearly extinct. In a time when robust coverage of unions and 'workplace issues' is scarce, and sporadic-at-best labour stories are relegated to the business section, inv...
2018-09-2439 min
Labournauts PodcastOn the LineCarlos sits down with Rod Mickleburgh, Journalist and Author of “On the Line” and Phillip Legg, Board Chair of the Community Savings Credit Union. They talk about the process it takes when writing a book like this one, the role Community Savings Credit Union played in supporting this venture, the history of militant unionism in British Columbia and much more! To find more information about the book or purchase it, just follow this link ➡️ https://bc-labour-heritage-centre-store.myshopify.com/collections/books/products/on-the-line-a-history-of-the-british-columbia-labour-movement Or find it anywhere you find your books ☝🏼✊🏼 📚
2018-08-3040 min