By Harlan Tufford, University of Toronto
No institution is more crucial to the development of a healthy civil society than the modern university. We, the brightest minds of our generation, have been assembled together at the most formative years of our lives (save infancy) so that we may absorb as many new thoughts, concepts, and ideas as possible. Following this, we are to return to the world at large, where we will begin to articulate these abstract notions into concrete change, or so the theory holds. Within the confines of the West, no institutionalized experience will hold a greater sway over our perception of the world, and in particular, our perception of politics. As such, it is crucial that our university facilitate a political forum capable of dialogue that is as introspective as it is far reaching.
Here at the University of Toronto, we pride ourselves on the vast scale with which we treat political life. From the Munk Debates to the International Relations Society, from OXFAM to our two UN organizations, UofT is a truly international campus, and we as students strive to attain a global focus in our studies. While this is undoubtably a rewarding attitude to take, we must avoid neglecting the more immediate aspects of political life in Canada. Consider UofT’s current selection of Canadian, on-campus political clubs. Although all of Canada’s major political parties have representative organizations on campus, these clubs fail to foster the same atmosphere of ideological exchange and debate found in the more internationally oriented campus societies; they function only within their party’s ideological constraints. This disparity is an unfortunate sign for our school’s civil society.
That a gap between the local and the international exists at all is particularly surprising when one considers how well suited the University of Toronto is to more immediate political engagement. The Legislative Assembly of Ontario is, after all, quite literally on campus (Queen’s Park, the home of the Legislature, has been leased from the University of Toronto to the Ontario government for the last 150 years, with a scant 849 remaining on the contract). One would expect, given the legislature’s singular proximity to the campus, a thorough appreciation of provincial politics from our alma matter. Instead, however, POL 336H, UofT’s sole Ontario politics class, has not been taught once within recent memory, nor will it be taught this year, at a time when Ontario’s identity within Canada, and indeed within North America, is undergoing a period of unprecedented change. An understanding of Ontario’s future is crucial to predicting the course of Canada, and if our university wishes to maintain its national, as well as international, significance, it should ensure that her graduates are prepared for life in a changing country.
Of course, as anyone who attends York University could tell you, UofT students have far more immediate reasons to take an interest Ontario politics. The recent strike at York, the longest ever at a Canadian English-speaking university, was sparked by the expiration of the agreement between York’s administration and teaching union. Likewise, the contract between our own university’s administration and UofT’s CUPE Local 3902 expires on August 31, and while negotiations continue between the two parties, a strike remains a possibility. Should a strike emerge along the lines of the recent York incident, jurisdiction to end the strike will fall to the Ontario government.
As most know, the York strike ended on January 29, when Premier Dalton McGuinty briefly called the house out of its winter recess and enacted back to work legislation. Whether you agree the NDP, who feel that the legislature acted too soon, or the Conservatives, who feel that the Legislature should have ended the strike months earlier, or the Liberals, who feel the legislation was enacted when the time was right, no sooner and no later, the decision was a significant one, and it has the potential to effect each and every student at the University of Toronto.
Whether or not a strike occurs in the near future, the Province of Ontario will continue to hold imperium over the university and her students. The University of Toronto Model Parliament, burgeoning organization that it is, offers an excellent way to introduce oneself to this political arena, as well as providing a introspective forum to exchange and articulate thoughts and concerns regarding current affairs in this corner of the world. Of course, campus organizations aside, I would once again like to stress to all of my fellow students, the Legislature is literally on campus. Just walk through the front doors and watch the debates; stay for ten minutes or a whole day, but go. If we, as a student body, choose to pursue an active interest in the politics of our province, we will have a greater say over not just the future of our school, but the future of our society, as well.
