From a practitioners' point of view, the crucial problems with government policy concerned funding that was limited, unstable, and restricted to instructional costs; and overburdened staff whose time was often consumed by securing funding.93 Practitioners' coalitions were set up in part to address these problems. The Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy was formed in 1978; its publication, Starting Out, came to be distributed throughout the province. The first provincial literacy conference was held in 1984, and the Ontario Literacy Coalition was organized in 1986. The attractiveness of coalition-building was significantly enhanced by the promise of a positive government response,94 as reflected in a variety of reports.

A 1985 report by the Toronto Board of Education, The Right to Learn,95 recommended literacy programming in both school boards and community programs. A 1986 Continuing Education Review Project observed that "Current control mechanisms could be made to be more permissive of innovation in ABE,"96 including by permitting direct funding to a variety of agencies, including other institutions, employers and private providers.

Ontario, like other provinces forced to assume greater responsibility for adult training by cutbacks in federal training purchases, underwent a general revamping of its training policies in 1986. A new "strategy," aimed to enhance productivity and competitiveness, included "basic literacy and numeracy skills essential to further training or employment."97 As part of the same effort, Ontario announced a government plan for literacy.98 Both "citizenship" and "employment and economic growth" were designated objectives for literacy activity. There was to be not only "broad access to general literacy programs," but also "customized programs to meet specific needs of defined target groups." Target groups specified included women, seniors, natives, francophones, youth, and immigrants. A "lead ministry," Citizenship and Culture, was identified; the lead has subsequently bounced to Skills Development in 1987, and to Education in 1988. In addition to these three Ministries, Colleges and Universities, and Correctional Services, were also involved. An interministerial co-ordinating committee was established, but has lapsed.99

93 Atkinson, "Ontario Literacy Project."
94 In 1985 the Minister of Citizenship and Culture announced funding for library programs and "urged literacy groups to lobby the government (her ministry in particular) to point out needs and to suggest areas of action." Atkinson, "Ontario Literacy Project," 14.
95 The Right to Learn: The Report of the Work Group on Adult Literacy for the Board of Education for the City of Toronto, Toronto Board of Education, 1985. Also see Budd L. Hall, Marianne Williams and Brenda Rolfe, "Reading the World: Literacy and the City of Toronto," Discussion paper prepared for the Work Group and Advisory Committee on Adult Literacy of the Board of Education for the City of Toronto, 1985.
96 Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities, Project Report: For Adults Only, Continuing Education Review Project, 1986.
97 Ontario Ministry of Skills Development, Breaking New Ground: Ontario's Training Strategy, 1986, 32.
98 "Ontario Government Plan for Adult Basic Literacy," 1986.
99 Wagner, Analphabétisme de Minorité ..., 375.