Green Party Leader Elizabeth May explaining her federal budget vote on November 17. Backstory below.

By Elizabeth May

November 22, 2025

Let’s face it, with 343 MPs in this Parliament and one Green Party seat, I had not imagined that any vote might be so tight that my single “yay” or “nay” could hold sway. Then, based on a combination of minority math and political machination, the knife-edge vote on Mark Carney’s first budget on November 17th came along and the balance of power, it seemed, was suddenly up for grabs.

Former British Columbia Green MLA and interim party leader Adam Olsen, a deeply wise young man from Tsartlip First Nation, always preferred the term “balance of responsibility.” I embrace that notion.

Greens are grassroots, so we don’t see power as something to hoard; we want to distribute it, share it. If this were a Lord of the Rings saga, we would be the right Hobbit to be stuck carrying the One Ring. We may want to wear the damn ring, but we can be trusted not to.

Last Sunday, I was called by Bob Fife, respected Globe and Mail journalist and possessor of all the best scoops. He told me that, by his count of how many NDP and Conservative MPs planned to abstain to avoid an election no one wanted, the vote count was 171 for the budget to 171 MPs against.

I explained to him the balance of responsibility — without the Lord of the Rings analogy.

At that point, I did not know how I was going to vote. After weeks in negotiations — chats and meetings formal and informal — I had nothing in my hands to remedy a budget I simply hated. And the vote was in 24 hours.

I called the Prime Minister’s senior staff and the Minister of Canadian Identity (also responsible for nature) Steven Guilbeault, my former Greenpeace colleague, with whom I have worked since 1992. Many others had been talking to me, but PMO Deputy Chief of Staff Braeden Caley and Steven were the people I contacted Sunday night. I sent the same basic message by text, email and voice mail: “What’s up?”

My efforts had included other cabinet ministers, especially Finance Minister Francois Phillipe Champagne, Government House leader and Minister of Transportation Steve MacKinnon, and the prime minister himself (in a brief corridor chat in which we exchanged ideas and emails) as well as assorted PMO officials.

My first suggestions were for actual amendments to the budget. These would have been relatively easy to do in the first few days after the budget was passed and before the first votes on amendments and sub amendments from the Official Opposition and Bloc Quebecois. Those ideas were discussed and countered.

Running out of time and as a gesture of goodwill, on Friday November 7, the Liberals gave me an additional question in QP so that Minister Champagne could confirm support for funding for the nature agenda. I told them ahead of time that no matter what answer I received it would not come close to what I needed to change my budget vote from a “no” to a “yes.”

That day, I made the hard decision that I could not travel to Belém Brazil for COP30. I had my accreditation, flights booked and a place to stay. I had been working with other elected Greens from around the world on our COP30 agenda. But it was clear: I could not travel to Brazil and get back for the vote unless I could imagine that being at COP30 for 36 hours made any sense.  I notified all my contacts in the budget negotiation that I was staying in Canada and would be available to try to find some compromise.

By Sunday night, I knew Saskatchewan had won the Grey Cup, but I’d heard nothing more about our proposal. By Monday morning, I’d received nothing but emoji code — including one “fingers-crossed’ and a happy face.

While at home in my riding, I had several public events and asked everyone how they wanted me to vote. Overwhelmingly, people told me they did not want an election.

Once I was not going to be at COP20, an opportunity arose. I had sent regrets for the BC Greens first convention with their new leader, 25-year-old Emily Lowan, in Vancouver. I now decided to attend.

A PMO staffer I’ve worked with in the past reached me and said that Braeden Caley had traveled with the PM to the announcement of a new Major Project in Kitimat (another fossil fuel project I oppose, by the way!). Maybe we could meet in Vancouver? So, in the same hotel where the BC Greens were holding the convention, my husband John Kidder, a former federal Liberal who had known Braeden when he was a Young Liberal and I met to see if anything was possible. We three talked for hours.

Over the next day or so, we shared emails and ideas. We had developed a serious proposal for the PM to give solid commitments — to climate, to nature, to Reconciliation — in response to a question from me on Monday afternoon in Question Period. We shared it with other members of Cabinet. Would it fly? We all liked the idea, but what did the Mark Carney think?

Late Sunday, I still had no answer. I sent a round of messages — “What’s up?” The reply was that we all had to wait, because Carney was at the Grey Cup game in Winnipeg and could not give any of us an answer until the game was over.

Possessed by a sudden interest in football, I turned on the television. By Sunday night, I knew Saskatchewan had won the Grey Cup, but I’d heard nothing more about our proposal. By Monday morning, I’d received nothing but emoji code — including one “fingers-crossed’ and a happy face.

I was on tenterhooks going into QP. I had three scenarios running through my head: first they would NOT give me a question — all offers negated, so I vote “no”; scenario 2, they give me a question, but the PM does not rise to answer and I get some half-baked commitments from a different minister, so do I abstain, or still vote no? And scenario 3, the Liberals give me a great spot in QP to pose a tough question to the PM AND he rises to answer my question, AND lands a great answer with firm commitments to climate, nature and Reconciliation and I go out to the foyer and tell the media I will vote yes.

It was a nail-biter — and if you’re reading this, you likely know what happened.

Here is the first draft from Hansard. (Where it says “some members- oh oh” —  that was the roar of rage from Conservative benches as the PM was standing to answer my question).

Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, PV): Monsieur le Président, ma question s’adresse au premier ministre.

Can the Prime Minister agree that it is a deficiency in the budget that our legally binding Paris commitments are not mentioned? Can he confirm here on the floor of this House that in passing this budget, the government is committed to holding to as far below 2°C as possible, to funding climate adaptation, to delivering on the nature strategy and continuing to engage in meaningful Indigenous Reconciliation?

Right Hon. Mark Carney (Prime Minister, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank—

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

The Speaker: I will have to ask the Prime Minister to start from the top.

The right hon. Prime Minister has the floor.

Right Hon. Mark Carney: Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for her advocacy of the Youth Climate Corps, which is in this budget and which this House can vote for. It can vote for the future of this country.

This budget puts us on the path for real results for climate, for nature and for reconciliation. I can confirm to this House that we will respect our Paris commitments for climate change, and we are determined to achieve them.

I can confirm with this House that consistent with our Kunming-Montreal commitments, the nature strategy will be released in the coming weeks.

We will build this country strong, sustainable and pure for future generations.

I went out to the foyer to declare how and why I would vote. I knew the number crunching was intense. With the additional complexity of voting apps, knowing who was voting with certainty would help avoid an election by miscount.

That’s the story of my escape from holding the ring. The rest, as they say, is history.

Policy Contributing Writer Elizabeth May is leader of the Green Party of Canada.