TORONTO — The name Aviva Levy isn’t synonymous with provincial power politics, but  the 22-year-old Torontonian will nevertheless be rubbing shoulders with the powers-that-be at Queen’s Park for the better part of the next year.

Aviva Levy

Levy – who graduated from McGill University this summer with BA in Canadian studies and sociology – was recently one of 10 Canadian young people selected for this year’s Ontario Legislature Internship Program (OLIP).

OLIP provides MPP backbenchers  with assistants and provides interns with exposure to the daily inner workings of the Legislature. It also gives them the opportunity to “supplement their university training through regular academic discussions and by writing an academic paper on a topic of their choice.”

Levy, the 10-month-long program’s sole Jewish intern this year, told The CJN  that being part of OLIP is a personal thrill.

“Working at Queen’s Park is like a poli-sci nerd convention,” she laughed, referring to the way she and her nine OLIP colleagues have marvelled at their good fortune ever since starting the program last month.

And to all those friends and acquaintances who’ve told her that politics is boring and unimportant, her message to her peers is simple, “You should care [about provincial politics], because it directly affects you.”

She said she’s been a political junkie ever since she was a child. It’s little wonder, considering her mother, Sylvia Bashevkin, is a renowned author and professor of political science at the University of Toronto and a former president of the Canadian Political Science Association.

“My mom always cautioned me about partisan politics,” Levy said. “She effects change through academia in her courses on women and politics. I hope to do the same, outside academia.”

Levy said her ultimate aim is to work in Ontario’s civil service, though she’s unsure which ministry suits her best.

“I’m learning by trial and error which  ministry I’d like to work for,” she said, adding that once she’s completed the 10-month OLIP program, she’ll be enrolling in political science graduate studies at U of T.

While at McGill, Levy was a founding member of the Political Issues Club. She also studied at the University of Haifa in Israel and has worked for both the Ontario Ministry of Government Services and the Ministry of Transportation in the summers of 2007 and 2009, respectively. Additionally, she worked for Elections Ontario in the last provincial election and has been an active member of the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee since 2006.

A non-partisan organization, OLIP was established in 1975 and is administered by the Canadian Political Science Association. It’s supported by a financial grant from the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

University graduates from across Canada can apply for the program, and Levy encourages anyone interested in pursuing a career in politics to do so.

“Recent grads should all apply,” she said. “The OLIP stipend isn’t taxed and we get free travel to other legislatures… and at the end of the program we go to the U.K. to meet interns.”