RED ROCK, Ont. -- The Green Party isn't looking to form government after this next election, its leader admits.
Canadians might be skeptical that a party with two seats in the last Parliament could take 180 this October.
"We would agree with that skepticism quite frankly," Elizabeth May said while taking in the Live from the Rock Folk Festival in Red Rock this weekend.
Instead, May wants to see her party gain enough seats to become the balance of power in a minority government.
Like deputy leader and Thunder Bay-Superior North incumbent Bruce Hyer, May said she'll work with anyone in order to tackle national policies that should already be in place like pharma-care.
More Green MPs would mean more pragmatism in the house, she said.
"There are lots of issues where there's really no excuse for not finding ways to work together in parliament instead of this constant bickering and worse than bickering, heckling and abuse," she said.
May doesn't want to see another nasty, squabbling and fractured parliament but she's seeing a lot of attack ads out there so far during the campaign, something she thinks is appalling especially when those ads are subsidized by taxpayers.
"Their purpose is to reduce voter turnout," she said.
On the Ring of Fire, wants to see the federal government contribute its fair share.
"There's no reason not to have smart regional planning that also engages First Nations," she said.
May said the Greens have concrete plans for massive investment in infrastructure and ways to tackle the skilled-trades gap that will get that work done.
"We need an army of skilled trades," she said.
