Margaret Hillyard Little concerns herself with welfare and the difficulty of receiving it as a single mother. She describes the Canadian welfare reform in terms of its effects on the individual, claiming that it both reduced the amount and made it much more difficult to obtain. She pinpoints the Conservative government as the cause behind the difficulties and notes how the behavior is a continuation of a historical trend of disdain for the poor. Neoliberal tendencies can be seen in the manner in which the reform has enabled this mistreatment.
The welfare requirements in the story were instilled by a national organization that formed to replace a former program as it was dismantled. According to Little, the new legislation removed federal welfare funding and allowed provinces to modify the requirements for eligibility or deny support to people for several reasons. Furthermore, Little notes that neoliberalism assumes everyone has an equal ability to compete, and so it was a logical move to require that single mothers work or search for jobs before they could receive aid. However, the approach disregards a variety of impairments and favors able people without obligations, thus excluding many categories that need welfare.
The influence of neoliberalism can be seen in the shift of the government to decentralized welfare systems and the new requirements. The demand for people to show a willingness to work before they qualify for the programs can be seen as individualism. Lastly, while welfare in Canada is not privatized, it is not federally subsidized, either. Ultimately, the shift to neoliberalism has not had a positive influence on marginalized population groups, especially after the relatively helpful welfare state period.