THOROLD, Ont. - NDP Leader Jack Layton went to the heart of Ontario's devastated manufacturing sector Sunday, touring towns half-emptied by the exodus of industry and high-paying jobs.
With two days left before the election, Layton implored disillusioned voters to give New Democrats a chance.
"Right across southern Ontario, working families are really struggling, a lot have lost their jobs, hundreds of thousands," he said following a rally in the hotly contested riding of Essex, outside of Windsor, Ont.
"Communities are starting to really hurt."
He said Stephen Harper "simply doesn't care" and has failed middle class families in Ontario -- a voting group the Conservatives have coveted.
"He has no comprehension of what hundreds of thousands of them are going through."
The loss of well-paid jobs, the struggle to make ends meet and the meltdown of the stock market have strained the middle class beyond the breaking point.
"And most recently they saw their RRSPs disappearing before their eyes and he tells them to go off and invest in the stock market; what planet is he living on?" Layton said following a rally Sunday night in Thorold, Ont.
His appeal to look at the NDP was over and over on a marathon bus trip up Highway 401 that hit seven communities and 12 ridings in one day.
The New Democrats have promised help for manufacturing workers and they hope it will boost their chances in communities throughout southwestern Ontario.
The tour started in Windsor, Ont., the city with the highest unemployment rate in the province where auto-parts manufacturing plants have been struggling to stay open.
GM Canada has announced it intends to close its Windsor transmission plant in two years, a move that will eliminate 1,400 jobs.
Layton said the federal government should be doing more to help the auto industry switch to green-car technology.
The federal government has announced it will provide up to $80 million in aid to the Ford Motor Co. of Canada to reopen a mothballed plant in the city, where it is expected to make more fuel efficient cars.
To add to the uncertainty, there are reports that General Motors and Chrysler are involved in merger talks because the ongoing global credit crisis could crush them next year.
About 2,000 people marched on Sept. 28 to protest the loss of manufacturing jobs in nearby St. Thomas, a community that has lost 4,000 manufacturing jobs over the last couple of years.
"I'm asking you to work until you drop," Layton urged campaign workers in the town of 40,000.
"I've been to far too many plants that have been shut down. Whether it's manufacturing or forestry, up and down Highway 11; along Highway 17; all along Highway 401 you'll find people out of work, who are proud contributors to their community."
Early last month, John Deere announced it was closing its Welland plant -- costing 800 jobs -- after operating in the city for 100 years.
"It shouldn't surprise anybody that we're spending time in communities where jobs have been lost and where our prime minister didn't care to think about those families and the impact," Layton told reporters early in the day.
Since 2003, roughly 400,000 manufacturing jobs have been slashed, most of them in Ontario.
As Layton spoke in St. Thomas, some supporters held a T-shirt that read: Built in Canada, It Matters.
The Conservatives argue that the economy is replacing lost employment with new jobs, but Layton argued those new positions are often part time and not high paying.
In London, he told a cheering crowd of 200 that Harper has "lost touch" with the concerns of real people.
Layton's bus was greeted in the city by placard waving supporters who thanked him for opposing the extradition of war resisters to the U.S., and another woman who implored him to seek a coalition government to stop the Conservatives.
"I want a government that represents at least 50 per cent of Canadian voters," said Margaret Hoff, a former professor at Fanshawe College.
"We don't want a government that's elected by 35 per cent of the voters. That is not democracy."
Layton said an NDP government would start to repair the economic damage by negotiating fair-trade deals and implementing a "Buy Canadian" program.
He said he believes the long weekend will benefit the NDP because the economy will likely dominate dinnertime conversation.
"Families are going to be getting together, they're going to be thankful for what they have, but they are also very worried about what the future holds," he said.
Layton said people will have their jobs, their homes, their pensions and their savings on their minds and such serious reflection can only benefit the NDP.
