The Greens released their platform today – smartly trimming down their previous 160 page policy document to a slick 8 pages (including pictures!).

Although I know they’d disagree, from my view it appears the Greens are trying to stake out the left of the spectrum. While the Dippers have become a lot more populist and mainstream under Layton in a bid to replace the Liberals on the left, the Greens seem to be waving the flag on idealism in a bid to replace the NDP as the conscience of Canada. The NDP of old would have certainly been supportive of environmental taxes and a GST hike – not any more. A lot of the language about pulling out of NAFTA and NATO is also very retro-80s NDP.