The referendum on continued student funding for QPIRG is important, because QPIRG—the Quebec Public Interest Research Group ­—has been a key campus organization at McGill advancing alternative ideas on environmental, political, and social issues.

The need to explore alternative ideas has always been important, but perhaps never more so than now. The federal election last May put in place the most right-wing government in Canada’s history. With inequality rapidly increasing, and environmental problems now threatening the very viability of the planet, it is essential that the mainstream agenda be challenged and held up to scrutiny.  

Universities have a particularly important role to play in this, as places of critical thought, inquiry, and activism. Public Interest Research Groups, which operate on campuses across the country, help bring a badly-needed focus to social justice and environmental concerns, thereby expanding the debate and raising challenges to the established order.

As the media seems to move ever farther to the right, and real public debate seems to be ever shrinking, QPIRG (and the other PIRGs across the country) provide a small but vital space for keeping meaningful democracy alive.

—Linda McQuaig

Toronto