Green party Leader Elizabeth May ruled out forming a coalition government with the Liberals or the NDP Monday, but has set four conditions for her party to provide support to them if they find themselves in a minority position after the Oct. 19 election.

In return for helping either of the parties form a government, May said the Greens want an end to the current “first-past-the-post” electoral system, substantial movement on climate change action, the repeal of Bill C-51 anti-terror legislation and a substantial reduction of the Prime Minister’s Office budget.

Speaking to the The Vancouver Sun’s editorial board, May said she increasingly believes people are so angry at the power control politics of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper that Canada will be faced with a minority government situation on October 20. She believes the Greens have a realistic shot at winning about 12 seats in the 338-seat Parliament, perhaps forming a balance of power.

That situation could be the basis for a collaborative form of government not seen since Lester B. Pearson’s Liberal minority governments of the 1960s were supported by the NDP, she said. Those governments brought in health care, the Canada Pension Plan program and the student loan program.

May said she has already talked to Liberal leader Justin Trudeau about co-operating, but that NDP leader Thomas Mulcair won’t take her calls.

“I am not floating a coalition, I am floating the idea that we can work together after the election,” she said. “I don’t want to be in a coalition. I’ve told both my friends in the NDP who will talk to me, and the Liberals, up front, I am not looking for a cabinet seat in any of their governments. I don’t want it.

“I’d rather continue to have the Green caucus in opposition, holding their feet to the fire, operating for responsible government and changing the tenor of Parliament by making it more respectful and reducing heckling.”

May said the Liberal and NDP leaders are already on record as saying they want election reform and more substantial action on climate change, so what she’s asking for in a minority situation is not a big deal.

May said she’s keeping the Governor General’s telephone number in her pocket in order to “facilitate a discussion” about who should form a government, but she ruled out the idea of working with the Conservatives.

Harper’s Prime Minister’s Office is a “dangerous” abuse of Canadian government powers and has to be reigned in, May said. Its $10 million budget should be cut to $1 million, but May would be satisfied for now if it was cut in half.

“It doesn’t exist in our Constitution. It doesn’t exist in legislation, it’s not part of our system of government. And Stephen Harper has essentially eliminated cabinet government. His cabinet ministers are nothing more than public relations spokespersons for policies developed in the PMO,” she said.

“This much power in the hands of one person is not our system of government, and it is really dangerous.”

May also decried party apparatchiks who are less interested in what’s good for Canada than in keeping their leaders in power.