NDP will 'watch your back,' Layton says of consumer protection plan

25.09.2008 16:04 Shopping - Source: cbc.ca

An NDP government would create a federal consumer protection minister as part of its plan to "stop the ripoffs and watch your back," party leader Jack Layton pledged on Thursday.

Campaigning in British Columbia for the Oct. 14 election, Layton also targeted Liberal Leader Stphane Dion and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell over the Green Shift proposal and the existing provincial carbon tax, calling both "unfair for ordinary working families."

He also lambasted Conservative Leader Stephen Harper for allowing the B.C. carbon tax to be implemented, while insisting the NDP's environmental plan would target "big polluters" and create incentives to "radically" reduce carbon production.

In his appeal to voters outside a Kamloops gas station, Layton said his government would also create an investigation and prosecution office to probe consumer complaints of collusion by gas companies and "stop the big oil giants from gouging you at the gas pump."

Layton is aiming to bolster his party's support in B.C., a day after Harper campaigned in the province. Polls suggest the two parties are neck-and-neck in the province's key ridings.

All eyes on U.S. bailout plan

Harper begins Thursday in Victoria, where he is expected to speak about his own consumer protection plan, and about how he is the best candidate to deal with any economic downturn, said the CBC's Julie Van Dusen, who is covering the election.

He will later travel to Edmonton for a rally in the evening.

The federal party leaders are expected to address concerns over Canada's economy and the planned financial bailout plan in the U.S., Van Dusen said.

"Each leader will have to articulate a response — a prescription to deal with the nervousness that's building up in terms of jolting the Canadian economy," she said.

Dion is set to spend his day in Quebec, where he will talk about the manufacturing sector and the economy.

"He'll be talking about the fact that he has a plan in his platform to deal with an economic downturn in terms of manufacturing whereas the Conservatives aren't into helping those sectors," said Van Dusen.

Dion will be in Quebec City before travelling to Trois-Rivires later in the day.

Green Leader Elizabeth May's whistle stop rail tour is also expected to arrive in Montreal on Thursday.

For the second day in a row, Bloc Qubcois Leader Gilles Duceppe will spend a full day campaigning in Montreal.

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