Two of our recent stories brought great results for people who asked us to get involved.

The owners of float plane company Saltspring Air - who came to us with concerns over the Olympic security plan - got what they wanted from Ottawa, after we questioned Transport Minister John Baird and the story was featured on the National.

Plus - an accused break and enter artist is now facing several charges - after a national Go Public story spurred the RCMP to take action, in a case they initially said they weren't able to solve.

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I'm happy to say I no longer have to tell people Go Public only does B.C.-based stories.
We are expanding across the country.

Starting mid-October, Go Public will be a regular feature on the National.

That means - as of now - we are inviting people from all parts of Canada - with stories that should be revealed - to write in to gopublic@cbc.ca.

Your voices are getting stronger!

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How I wish every company or organization we do stories on would be transparent and accountable - by answering our questions fully.

It makes a world of difference for viewers and readers. When mistakes are made or problems brought to light - they at least see the accountable party taking ownership. Of course, it also makes for a more comprehensive and balanced story.

Even within legal and privacy constraints, there is almost always SOMETHING they can say. And they should. We are their conduit to the public - and the public deserves better than "no comment".

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I am struck by the number of people who wrote in on our story about huge tax bills on "phantom income" to say 'tough luck - you should have known better".

After talking to people affected by this - then seeing those sentiments - I guess I am missing something.

When hard-working people - some of whom earn mid-range salaries - are having to sell their homes or cash in life savings to pay taxes on income they didn't realize - I figure it's worth questioning and reporting.

Especially given that people like Shannon McLeod say no one - not even her accountant - explained all the tax implications of exercising employee stock options. She would have never dreamed that investing in the company - and sticking with it even when the stock went down - would slap her with a tax bill on the (long gone) higher stock price.

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A consistent pattern shows up in the paper trail about Irvin's Leroux long and sorry tax fight with the Canada Revenue Agency - over a million dollar auditing mistake that cost him his business and his home.

Email correspondence shows - even though two ministers of the crown and his MP were working to get him a settlement - over a two year period - CRA bureaucrats always seemed to have the final say.

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The sorry situation at the run-down 20-unit condo complex in Maple Ridge is just the latest example I've seen of a perpetual problem that doesn't get solved - despite numerous entities getting involved.

Northumberland Court has been an eyesore and a (drug) crime hub for years. The majority of the units (15) are owned by a landlord who rents them out to welfare recipients - charging $400 to $450 a head per person, per month. The province sends the welfare payments directly to the landlord, Jack Athwal, instead of to the tenants.

People or agencies involved with or affected by the constant problems with this place include:

The District of Maple Ridge council (plus officials and inspectors), the local RCMP detachment, the local fire department, the provincial government (welfare dept), the appointed administrator for the strata, the property management company, at least one dedicated community group, the owners of the other (5) condos and numerous neighbors.

Despite all this concern and involvement - the drug dealing, prostitution and violence carries on - while welfare money (from taxpayers) continues to flow to Athwal (although he says he hasn't got his $8700 welfare rent payment for April yet).

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Stories involving potentially abused or neglected children in foster care are among the toughest to tackle.
Paul and Zabeth's quest to get their three children back - a little girl aged 19 months and two boys aged 3 and 4 - is no exception.

First of all - of course - it is an emotionally-charged topic for all concerned. But, what really makes these stories among the most difficult is the absolute lack of information available from the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD). This ministry is never supposed to tell us anything about specific cases - period.

Don't get me wrong - I understand why confidentiality is crucial when it comes to kids - and I am not advocating any breach of that. However, that leaves reporters unable to get or tell the whole story. Sadly, that often means the stories go untold.

In this case, our reporting was complicated further - because the MCFD did give us information - but with the the tacit understanding that we would not report it.

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When I first heard what happed to Joel Borsteinas at the U.S. border, I knew if he went public there would be a big reaction. There always is - to any story about the American border.

Even so, the huge response to our web story - and the calls we got to the CBC newsroom - still took me by surprise.

Several people wrote in or called to say the same thing had happened to them. That they were also accused of stealing American jobs and refused entry - many at the same border crossing - Sumas.

Which made me wonder why we in the media haven't heard more about this until now.

Then I noticed how many people wanted to tell their story - but were scared to have their names made public. Scared to speak out about the world's most powerful democracy (USA) - which promotes free speech like no other.

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The story about the parents trying to get their three children back from foster care is heartwrenching - no matter what the outcome or who is right or wrong.

The Ministry of Children and Family Development suspects - based on a doctor's assessment - that their youngest child was shaken while she was in their care. The parents say they never shook their baby girl - and they now have assessments from several other doctors who agree.

I think the biggest injustice here - no matter what really happened - is the fact that this case is taking so long to resolve.

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This week's story made me think about how vulnerable many Vancouverites are - those of us with condos.

Ten years ago, everyone was scared of leaky condos. Now it's leaky condos, PLUS overleveraged condos, 'taxpayer on the hook' condos (athlete's village), empty downtown condos (economy tanking), 'half-built then construction stops' condos (blight) and - the most widely feared - 'we paid too much' condos.

Craig Fraser's 'lost over a repair fight' condo gives us a whole new scenerio to fear.

Several people at CBC stopped me - when they heard about the story - to ask if it is really true that a judge can allow your (paid for) condo sold - without your consent.

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Several parkade attendants told us breathing in exhaust from a nearby McDonald's restaurant made them sick.
They said they wanted us to do a story. As one put it, "the whistle needs to be blown."

Only one of them is in the story, though.
The rest said they were scared of the camera, scared of losing their job, or just too busy.

One who agreed to be interviewed either didn't show up or cancelled with me several times.
Even the worker who wrote to us with the story originally wouldn't talk.

That left one young maverick - health and safety rep Jim Mulally - to reluctantly speak for all of them.

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Long-time Hepatitis C sufferers - trying to collect on the Harper government's two-year-old promise for compensation - tell me one of most frustrating things is, the deal seems rigged - to need lawyers every step of the way.

They needed them to get a settlement from the govenment.

Now, many need those same lawyers to get their money, because the terms of the settlement - written by lawyers - is too complicated for the average person - them - to understand.

And one legal bill doesn't cover it.

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On the dark underbelly of this week's story lies tough questions:

Was racism a factor in how B.C. treated the young Rwandans?
Would the government have found a family to adopt all four of them, if they were from, say, Bosnia?

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Almost everyone I interview who has a bad experience with a company says they don't want money - they just want to make sure the same thing never happens to anyone else.

Not allergy sufferer Kristin Gardiner. She almost died after she ate a parfait that Starbucks told her was nut free. She's a single mom making minimum wage - and she wants money for the pay she lost while recovering.

How very un-Canadian.

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The lack of response from the Vancouver police department to this week's story made me think about our relationship with them - how lopsided it sometimes is.

Why is it when we want to ask them about a situation - where they are being criticized - they refuse? We always show up at their (numerous) news conferences and give them a lot of air time - some might say too much.

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This week's story was a toughie. A serious issue - aviation technicians exposed to toxic chemicals at work. What made it tough, though, was going up against the general bias out there - against workers who claim to be sick.

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People keep stopping me to talk about the David Messina story...also shaking their heads about why he talked to me. I must say, I always appreciate it when people talk to us - including him!

More often than not, I can't get the whole picture because people won't give us an interview. So good on him.

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My chance to tell the stories behind the stories - and see what you have to say back.
Welcome to our Go Public blog.

I'll post weekly - try to write colourful stuff - not go off on wild tangents - and - most of all - interact with you.
Every Go Public story we do has at least one back story - here's where I'll share them.

This week - I'm still scratching my head after meeting David Messina - the fake landlord who "rents" downtown condos - from unsuspecting owner/investors - who think he's the tenant - then "sublets" them for cash to foreign students. The catch is - he doesn't pay his rent and keeps subletting rooms even after being evicted.

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