HALIFAX - Elizabeth May says it's not an exaggeration to describe her performance in this week's federal leaders' debates as a "make or break" moment for her and the Green party.
The former environmental activist, who has made a name for herself as an energetic campaigner with a refreshing off-the-cuff style, said her lack of political polish will give her an edge in the two televised debates.
"I've never been accused of being staged or dull," she said in an interview Monday while en route to the airport outside Halifax.
"I've been promising the networks better ratings. ... I'm not someone who rehearses and gives prepared and pre-packaged sound bites masquerading as policy."
May said the debates in 2004, 2005 and 2006 were deadly dull because the main players were so well coached and rehearsed.
"My main goal in the debates is that we get past the negative spin and packaging and start having a reasonable and civil discussion on really important issues."
Viewers can expect May to steer the debate toward the issue of climate change.
At the centre of the Green party platform is an ambitious plan to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions by taxing polluters and giving tax breaks to consumers and the companies that reduce carbon output.
The Green leader had to fight to be included in this week's French and English debates, slated for Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
The consortium of TV networks staging the debates had originally agreed to keep her out when some of the other party leaders insisted she be excluded.
But May's rivals changed their minds amid a public backlash that left them smarting.
May said it would be unwise for the other leaders to wilfully ignore her during the debates.
"I think that will fail," she said. "The Canadian people are the reason I'm in the debate. ... That would be a poor strategy on their part."
May said she will use her "spontaneous, from-the-heart" approach to disarm the other debaters, and she took aim at NDP Leader Jack Layton and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
She said Harper's policies are at odds with a majority of Canadians, and she accused Layton of abandoning sound climate policies to pander to the "knee-jerk reaction that high fuel prices are a bad thing."
But she was less harsh when speaking about Liberal Leader Stephanie Dion, describing his platform as "second-best" when compared with the Green platform.
Both Harper and Layton have accused May of being a closet Liberal. Harper argued that he shouldn't have to debate two people from the same party.
For her part, May has admitted the main plank in her platform -- the Green Tax Shift -- is similar to the Liberals' Green Shift document, introduced before the election.
As well, she repeated her admiration for Dion's leadership on environmental issues when she unveiled the Green party's platform in Halifax on Sept. 17.
"When the leader of the official Opposition goes out on a limb and takes a position that involves more political courage than any previous leader of a mainstream political party, I'm not going to take cheap shots," she said at the time.
"I will say the concepts are very similar. Our plan is better."
As well, May and Dion agreed in April 2007 not to nominate rival candidates in each other's ridings because both are so committed to battling climate change.
Meanwhile, the bookish Liberal leader said Monday that the debates will let Canadian voters see the real Stephane Dion and not the caricature portrayed in Conservative ads that describe him as an out-of-touch academic.
"Up to now, they have seen on their TVs a Stephane Dion that does not exist, the one that Stephen Harper wants to describe to us," Dion told CTV's Canada AM.
