OTTAWA—Linda McQuaig, well-known author and Star columnist, is announcing on Tuesday that she is vying to be the New Democratic Party candidate in the Toronto Centre byelection.

It’s a decision prompted by what McQuaig said is a “particularly interesting moment” in Canadian politics right now and what she sees as the right time to “not just be on the sidelines commenting, but to jump in and try to actually bring about change.”

McQuaig now becomes the third journalist to take the leap into what’s shaping up to be a hotly contested race — within political parties and between them.

She is running for the NDP nomination against Jennifer Hollett, who worked for Much Music, CBC and CTV. And about a week ago, international author and journalist Chrystia Freeland announced she would be seeking the Liberal nomination in the race to fill Bob Rae’s old seat in Parliament.

Freeland and McQuaig, in fact, have covered similar, but not identical terrain in their recent books — both focused on the gap between rich and poor. Freeland’s is titled Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else. McQuaig’s 2013 book, her ninth, is called The Trouble With Billionaires.

McQuaig said she would look forward to an election contest that put these books’ themes at the centre of political discussion. “I could not be happier. This is an issue on which I’ve been writing for years. I would just love to see a debate on these issues.”

Rae, the former premier and interim Liberal leader, officially stepped down on July 31, which means that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has until the end of January 2014 to set the date for the byelection.

McQuaig said that this political foray is a natural next step for someone who’s always written with a strong point of view.

“I have had a great career that I’ve enjoyed thoroughly,” McQuaig said. “I’ve really spent years writing and commenting and speaking out publicly on issues that really concern me. So this is an opportunity to take that to another level.”

McQuaig’s journalistic career has included writing for Maclean’s magazine, The Globe and Mail and a stint in the late 1990s with the early National Post newspaper, even though its then-owner, Conrad Black, had once described her as a “weedy” leftist.

McQuaig said her journalistic career has given her some experience with handling criticism, and she’s not afraid to debate her views.

She said she believes the 2015 election is shaping up to be a choice between the Liberals and the New Democrats on who will lead in the “post-Harper” era and if that is indeed the case, Toronto Centre could be an interesting portent of things to come.

And she recognizes that the prevailing winds in Toronto Centre and beyond may favour new Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, but McQuaig said that NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is her clear choice.

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“When it comes to issues, performance, brains, just sheer effectiveness, just has (Trudeau) totally beat,” she said. “What’s important to me is that Mulcair and the NDP is more progressive.”

Still, McQuaig said she’s entering the contest with her eyes wide open about Toronto Centre’s continuing reputation as a Liberal stronghold.

“Even if the odds are tough, I became irresistibly attracted to the challenge and excitement of it.”