“This story is a reminder of the good that is taking place every day in governments across the country.”<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
He could have easily been describing my family\u2019s journey with my brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not much will be written about this initiative in the papers or talked about in the media. And undoubtedly there may be some who read this piece and think I\u2019m just \u201cpatting myself on the back\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But this is a story that needs telling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beyond being exciting for the many families it will benefit, there is a broad point worth making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vast majority of stories these days about politics and government focus on negatives. The latest scandal. The longest delays. The largest funding mishaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And all of these are important. We need these stories to hold our governments accountable about the use of our scarce taxpayer dollars and the efficacy of our institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we also need to hear the good. Without the positives, it becomes easier and easier to view our political system as unresponsive, incompetent, or alien to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story is a reminder of the good that is taking place every day in governments across the country. A tale of the government ecosystem at work: stakeholders, staff, civil servants, and politicians coming together to tackle a problem and try a solution. It may or may not succeed, time will tell. I\u2019m betting on the former. Regardless, it will serve to bring hope to families that need it. These challenges aren\u2019t simple, and we need to be willing to try solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so, when a new budget comes out, take some time to move past the narrative and reflect on the passion, drive, and commitment that goes into those documents and initiatives. And, most importantly, take some time to celebrate the small victories included within. You\u2019ll find countless examples of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are the stories of our democracy in action. And that\u2019s worth celebrating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The vast majority of stories these days about politics and government focus on negatives. The latest scandal. The longest delays. The largest funding mishaps. But we also need to hear the good. Without the positives, it becomes easier and easier to view our political system as unresponsive, incompetent, or alien to us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2523,"featured_media":26034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","_custom_css":"","_custom_scss":""},"categories":[14,37],"tags":[],"hub_format":[2],"thefutureofnews":[],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2523"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26028"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub_format?post=26028"},{"taxonomy":"thefutureofnews","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehub.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thefutureofnews?post=26028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}