Abstract

How is it that three labour market projects, each striving for the same objective, providing similar services and operating under comparable economic conditions could produce completely divergent outcomes? Canada's Older Worker Pilot Project Initiative (OWPPI) was a joint federal-provincial program introduced to reintegrate older displaced workers into employment. While the federal government set the parameters and provided the bulk of the funding, the provincial governments were responsible for overseeing projects' implementation. This was outsourced to organizations at the local level. This study focuses on three projects in three different provinces: British Columbia, Newfoundland and Quebec. Despite their similarities, their results were distinct; one successful, one a failure, and one in the middle of the two. It argues that the key difference was the effectiveness of inter-organizational coordination that took place between the administrators at each level, from the federal to the provincial to the local. The relationship between the federal and provincial government in labour market policy is framed by a separate agreement with each province. This project explores the impact of that relationship on relations between project coordinators involved in the implementation of the OWPPI. It argues that the most successful project achieved its outcomes as a result of a strong working relationship between the provincial and local coordinators. The findings speak to the ability of the federal government to work in partnership with the provincial and local levels in an effort to address important policy problems such as Canada's ageing workforce.