Our government believes one of the real successes of our reform has been our placements, which have allowed people on welfare to acquire new work skills, gain valuable job experience, get work references, and find paid jobs. Our government intends to see through on our commitment to double the number of placements by 2002 so that more people will have the opportunity to participate and benefit from workfare. One of the reasons I m confident we ll reach our target is that the Harris government is now leading by example. One of the biggest problems with workfare in the past was the lack of leadership from the Ontario Public Service. The next point in our five-point action plan and another key Blueprint commitment is caseworker training.
Effective caseworkers are essential to our welfare reform initiatives.
It s caseworkers who are on the ground each day, working with participants, helping them get the skills they need to break down the barriers to employment. We know the job of a caseworker has changed a lot in six years. It used to be all they did was hand out cheques. Now, they have the tools to give welfare recipients the hand up they need to move from welfare to work. The great news is caseworkers are excited about their jobs again.