My political preference would be some form of Green/Conservative Coalition Government. I know, this sounds crazy, but hear me out!
I am what you would call a "Progressive Conservative", I am fiscally conservative but believe strongly in a lot of social issues i.e. Indigenous reconciliation, LGBTQ+ rights, pro-choice, etc. In those cases, I like what the Green Party is saying a lot.
I also think that we have a duty to look after the environment and believe in ethical/responsible business practices and that means doing our best for the environment; however, we also can't destroy our economy. I believe there are some compromises that can be made though and that the Green Party and Conservative Party could actually work well together. I very much liked that Elizabeth May said she would support Canadians using Canadian oil and ween us off foreign oil. For that to happen, we need pipelines so there is already some compromise that could happen there. Likewise, I think a fairly significant portion of taxes the Government generates from oil royalties should go towards Green Initiatives.
I like large portions of the Green Party Foreign & Defence Platform particularly the focus on banning foreign importation of oil and cancelling the AFV deal with Saudi Arabia. As well, I think the Greens would actually beef up our military in certain respects, particularly in light of this piece from their platform:
The security and defence of the nation is a fundamental responsibility of any sovereign government. Not since the end of the Cold War 30 years ago has global security seemed so precarious. Contributing to this is the disruption being caused by climate change – referred to by military analysts as a threat multiplier. This will only worsen as the Earth heats up, including in Canada.
One thing I didn't like was that they would recommend banning autonomous weapon systems, that like the Anti Land-Mine Treaty is militarily stupid and I would strongly advise against doing that. I suspect this would be quickly stricken from their policy if they ever had the opportunity to form part of a government and again, compromise could be sought.
For any of this too happen though, the Greens would need to become significantly stronger than they are at present. Not going to happen this election but could it in the future? I think there is a lot in the Green platform that Rural Conservative Voting Canadians (who honestly have the most to lose from Climate Change) could like from the Green Party Platform. All this being said, I know it is a crazy idea but it could just be a match made in heaven.
