From 1985 to 2000, in an unprecedented development in Canadian politics, three different parties governed the province of Ontario, each for a five-year period. Each party sought to reform the province’s welfare program in keeping with its ideological position. The authors demonstrate the manner in which welfare policies interacted with prevailing economic and labour market conditions to create dramatic fluctuations in the number of welfare recipients. The analysis shows that governing parties generally sought to match policies to economic conditions, but were often unable to do so because of their ideological stance or because of policies inherited from the previous government. The authors’ findings also reveal that it was in fact the New Democratic Party, after 1992, that initiated a restrictive policy of welfare benefits and eligibility, a policy direction continued by the Progressive Conservative Party once it assumed power in 1995.