How many writers does it take to run for a Toronto Centre byelection seat? The answer is three, but which writer will get the voters’ ‘x’ on election day? 

Stephen Harper has set federal byelections to be held on Nov. 25 in Toronto Centre for former Liberal leader Bob Rae’s seat which is empty after Rae’s resignation in July. Toronto’s election is being closely watched due to who is running.

Three writers are running for the City Centre seat: Chrystia Freeland (Liberal), Linda McQuaig (NDP), and John Deverell (Green). The PC Party chose lawyer, Geoffrey Pollock; and Travis McRae (Pirate Party) withdrew  for personal reasons.

All writer candidates were approached for this story, only McQuaig responded.

McQuaig, Canadian journalist and author on income inequality, spoke to The Dialog about decreasing public funding for higher education and unpaid intern programs.

“I find it alarming just how high student tuition is these days and how much debt students are expected to carry,” said McQuaig. “Each year we get richer and richer as a society, but we’re told we can afford less and less. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s bullshit. The money is being diverted to the top one per cent and there’s less money for people like students and it’s wrong on so many different levels.“

“If people can’t access education, it diminishes the ability of the individual to participate in a democratic society and look after their own interests. To me post-secondary education is a public good, it shouldn’t be just regarded as a training ground to churn out people to populate the elite of society,” said McQuaig.

Talking about unpaid internships she referred to her own experience, “In the seventies, while at U of T, I was able to work one day a week and get paid for it reporting for the Globe & Mail and when I graduated I went straight into a full-time job there.”

“The idea that now students are paying huge amounts of money and they’re expected to do work for free that businesses traditionally paid for is highly exploitive,” said McQuaig. “The fact that they are allowed to do it by government through loopholes in labour laws and universities make it a requirement. This makes government, business and universities complicit in the exploitation of students.”