Saying she doesn't want a "quick and easy way out," Green party Leader Elizabeth May formally announced on Sunday that she wants to challenge the foreign affairs minister in the next federal election in his own riding.

She told a crowd of supporters in Antigonish, N.S., that she will seek her party's nomination in Central Nova to contest the seat currently held by Peter MacKay.

Elizabeth May finished second in a federal byelection held last fall in the Ontario riding of London North-Centre, winning 26 per cent of the popular vote.
(CBC)

May finished second in a federal byelection last fall in the Ontario riding of London North-Centre, winning 26 per cent of the popular vote. When the general election is called, however, she said she wants to represent voters in Central Nova.

"I think the history of this area and the importance of Atlantic Canada, the importance of Nova Scotia, the importance of Central Nova needs to be raised at the national level — and I just don't want the quick and easy way out."

She said what promises to be a "very interesting" race has a "David and Goliath" aspect to it, and she conceded that polls show it's not the best choice for her.

"It's uphill, but I think I can do it," May said. "I've been talking to lots of people in the riding, and there's a sense that there's a mood for change. I'm not afraid of taking this on."

In the last federal election, MacKay's winning margin was 3,300 votes.

The Green party received 4.5 per cent of the popular vote in the January 2006 election, and its candidate in MacKay's riding of Central Nova tallied less than two per cent of the vote.

May said that while MacKay is a friend and a "nice guy," he's also in Stephen Harper's cabinet. She said that during the Conservatives' time in office, Canada's foreign affairs policy has "shifted dramatically" to mirror U.S. policy.

Asked about May's decision to run on MacKay's turf, Liberal MP Garth Turner told CBC News that "she's more or less said, 'I'm not going to be in the House of Commons' "

May, chosen party leader last August, currently lives in Ottawa, but became a force for environmental causes as a young adult in Cape Breton, N.S.

When she was in her 20s, she formed the Small party — the predecessor of today’s Green party — and ran against then Liberal deputy prime minister Allan MacEachen in the old riding of Cape Breton Highlands-Canso, which included Antigonish.

“Nova Scotia is where I began my lifelong vocation as an activist and political campaigner," she said. "It is entirely fitting that I now come back here to launch my first full campaign as leader of the Green Party of Canada,” May said.

She said she will officially seek the nomination for Central Nova on April 10 in New Glasgow, N.S.