UofT's MA is a research intensive 1 year program. You won't be TAing, as those positions are reserved for PhD students to help fund them. You're pretty unlikely to get departmental funding unless you apply through SSHRC. A year can be a way to pick up some valuable skills, but it's hard to build high quality relationships with faculty. That said, I know a few people who have used UofT's MA program as a stepping stone to PhD programs all over (including placements in Harvard's Gov department), or as a means to pick up some data analyst skills that placed them well in the private sector. In a way, you get what you put into it but it's a massive department. You might find yourself vying for the attention of your advisor, and living in a really expensive city with no funding (and thus, for most people, needing to work on top of a demanding 12 month program).
