The shift from a Keynesian welfare state and the Canadian Assistance Plan to a neoliberal governance and the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) model in the 1980s and 1990s and then the implementation of the current Poverty Reduction Strategy has had numerous implications for poverty in Canada. With a focus on single mothers in Canada, this article will assess the impact of each of these policy shifts to determine whether or not poverty has in fact been reduced.