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Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has moved to trump the Tories with a promise to double the Harper government's $1,200-a-year child care allowance and restore the court challenges program abolished by the Conservatives.

The announcements, which repeat pledges in the Liberal Green Shift plan, counter a new Tory ad that claims Mr. Dion would cancel the taxable, $100-per-month benefit introduced by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper.

Mr. Dion kicked off Day 3 of the election campaign in Montreal by promising to double the child-care cash for low-income Canadians and add $350 to the annual credit for all families. He also vowed to end the Conservatives' “fend-for-yourself” style of government.

“This is the Canada he wants to build . . . fend for yourself, the federal government should not have to help you. We will not accept this kind of Canada,” Mr. Dion said.

“Stephen Harper's laissez faire-I-don't-care approach is not only damaging our economy, it's damaging the fabric of our society.”

The court-challenges program, he said, is critical to a healthy democracy and Canada's system of checks and balances.

He said Mr. Harper's approach denies all but the rich access to the courts and full protections under the Charter.

“Any government that is afraid to have its own laws challenged in court ought to take a second look at the soundness of those laws.”

Meanwhile Green Party Leader Elizabeth May stood by her assertion that Mr. Dion would make a better Prime Minister than Mr. Harper, but added the best leader of all is herself.

The Greens upped the ante in its fight for a berth and the Oct. 1 and 2 leaders debate, vowing to file a complaint with the CTRC broadcast regulators.

The Greens argue they meet the broadcasting consortium's previously mentioned criteria of having at least one MP now that Independent MP Blair Wilson recently joined the Greens, and said the other parties are running scared.

“Mr. Harper is terrified of facing me face to face on a debate stage,” Ms. May said. “He thinks he can handle the other leaders. He knows where they're coming from. He knows the NDP strategy is more focused on destroying the Liberal Party than taking him on.”

And over at the Tory camp, Tuesday morning started much like Monday, albeit a little bit later.

The party's bid to set the day's agenda was moved to 8 a.m., after the previous day's 6 a.m. start-up was largely ignored by media, but the message was much the same.

The Conservatives launched another attack on Mr. Dion, and claiming the Liberals would take a child care payment away from parents.

Mr. Dion hit back with his pledge to increase child care and restore the court challenges program, which is a national non-profit program established in 1978 with the aim of helping minority linguistic groups.

The program was expanded in 1982 and again in 1985 for others seeking equality under Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Conservatives first killed the program when in power in 1992 but the Jean Chrétien Liberals reinstated it in 1994.

In one of its first acts after coming to office, Mr. Harper's minority Tories axed the program in September 2006, saying it was not providing good value. The government said it would save taxpayers almost $3-million a year.

Mr. Dion said the Liberals would not only reinstate the program but double its budget to $6-million annually “for a richer Canada, a fairer Canada, a greener Canada.”

Mr. Harper, he said, does not believe Canadians should have access to public funds. The program, he noted, has helped linguistic minorities, the disabled, women and gays.

“He doesn't think the disabled should have access to court challenges unless the disabled is rich. . . . All this to save $3-million.”

Mr. Harper is in Manitoba and Ontario today, while Mr. Dion is in Quebec and Ontario and New Democrat Leader Jack Layton is in Saskatchewan and Ontario.