For historical institutionalist scholarship,partisanship's impact on public policy is mediated by institutions;however there is disagreement about whether globalization has alteredthis nexus. In view of the importance of labour market policy for theequity and efficiency objectives of left– and right–wingparties, it is particularly significant as a domain for testingpartisanship's continuing relevance. This article examines the linkbetween partisanship and policy outcomes, using the case of labourmarket policy in Ontario during the 1990s as its point of reference. Itconcludes that, in relation to three selected aspects of this field,institutions affected left– and right–wing partisan agendasquite differently, but that globalization has not transformed thisrelationship in recent years. Because of inter–sectoralinstitutional variations, this conclusion cannot be extended to otherpolicy domains without further research.