VANCOUVER - NDP Leader Jack Layton is grabbing a dangling thread in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's election campaign as the economy appears to go sour.
Seeking to undermine Conservative support in the key battleground of British Columbia, Layton accused Harper of abandoning working families in tough economic times.
"I'll tell you the problem with Stephen Harper's do-nothing attitude: you pull one thread and the whole sweater unravels -- and it's the working people of Canada who get left out in the cold," he said.
"That's why the time has come to throw Stephen Harper out."
The prime minister has failed to protect pensions, savings and homes, while doling out billions in corporate tax cuts, he told party supporters in Vancouver.
"Don't you think it's time we had a prime minister who wasn't a Scrooge to working families and their kids, while being Santa Claus to the banks and the oil companies?" Layton said.
Recent polls suggest Harper's repeated reassurances about the economy haven't had the desired effect among voters and that the Tories are slowly slipping away from majority government territory.
Layton is hoping to build on that momentum, while dispelling the notion that his party can't be trusted to steer the country through the turbulent times ahead.
"Our prime minister has been trying to say for months, and right up to today, that everything is fine, nobody needs to worry about anything and no action is required," he said.
"I think he's wrong. I think we need a prime minister who says action will be taken."
Layton said he won't raise personal taxes or the GST, and won't spend the country into a deficit. But an NDP government won't reward banks that gouge consumers either, he said.
Instead, a Layton government would roll back corporate taxes to pre-Conservative government levels, but will make strategic investments in companies who create jobs, Layton said.
Layton also targeted the Liberals' proposed carbon-tax plan, casting it as an ineffective and unfair strategy to address climate change.
It's part of the NDP siren song to Liberal and Green voters, calling on them to unite under the NDP banner to defeat the federal Tories.
"Let's come together and defeat Stephen Harper by supporting New Democrats in this election," he said.
Layton delivered the address in Vancouver-Kingsway, the riding of Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson, which has traditionally swung between the Liberals and NDP.
Emerson, who is not seeking re-election, won the seat in 2006 as a Liberal before crossing the floor to the Tories.
Both the NDP and Liberals are counting on the furor over Emerson's defection to help them in the Oct. 14 vote.
