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NDP Leader Jack Layton promised Monday to reverse $50-billion in Conservative corporate tax cuts if elected prime minister, saying the cuts were the Conservative government's "only real priority" during its time in office.

"I think Canadian companies should stop being paid to send Canadian jobs to other countries," Mr Layton said.

The NDP leader has blasted the tax cuts previously, but made his promise to reverse the cuts explicit during a rally in Hamilton Monday morning. The promise to reverse corporate tax cuts was one of several economic policies released by the NDP on Monday, as the party fights for a larger share of Canada's deeply fractured left-wing vote.

Mr. Layton also promised to subject foreign takeovers of Canadian companies to more stringent tests, scrutinizing job protection, head-office location and the promotion of research and development in Canada.

There is growing evidence that the NDP, like the other major parties, is picking up on polls showing that the economy is of equal or greater concern to Canadians than the environment. Indeed, reversal of the corporate tax cuts was one of two NDP promises today that will likely set the stage for a week of campaigning dominated by economic issues.

Betting that the next American President will want to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement – essentially a bet that democratic hopeful Barack Obama will win the presidential race and then follow through on pre-election talk about renegotiating the deal – Mr. Layton outlined a number of trade policy priorities that will shape how an NDP government would approach such talks.

The priorities include giving Canada greater say over its own energy resources, giving foreign investors less rights to challenge Canadian laws, correcting the agreement's "deeply flawed" dispute resolution mechanisms and requiring strong labour and environmental standards in every trade deal Canada signs.

Asked how such negotiations would go if Republican John McCain – a staunch proponent of NAFTA – is elected president, Mr Layton said: "I can imagine it would be more challenging."

Mr. Layton also floated the idea of negotiating a trade deal with the European union, something Canadian and European officials are currently already working on; preliminary talks are expected to start in Montreal on October 17, three days after the federal election.

Reacting to the morning's pledge from Conservative Leader Stephen Harper to extend life sentences to young serious offenders, Mr. Layton said the scheme doesn't address the real issues behind criminality.

The NDP leader said lowering crime rates require more police officers, handgun controls (which the NDP is proposing), a stronger witness protection program and more youth programs to keep kids out of gangs.

"I have yet to meet anyone" who thinks the key to lowering crime rates is publishing the names of young offenders, Mr. Layton said.

Mr. Layton also used the occasion of the Liberals' policy platform unveiling to take a shot at Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion; a rarity, as the NDP leader has so far focused almost his attacks on Mr. Harper.

'We're used to Liberals abandoning their promises after elections," Mr. Layton said, in reference to Mr. Dion's talk last week about the Green Shift plan not being the central part of the Liberal platform. “But it's a whole new thing to see them debating in public about doing so before election day.”

However Mr. Layton was peppered with questions from reporters about the Liberals, after he refused to explicitly close the door on the possibility of a coalition between the Liberals and his own party in order to keep the Conservatives out of power.

Mr. Layton dodged more than half a dozen questions on the possibility, saying he would work with whatever parliament Canadians decided on.

Mr. Layton's refusal to rule out such a coalition is in contrast to his remarks before a boisterous crowd of supporters in Hamilton Monday, where he increasingly framed the election as one between the NDP on the left and the Conservatives on the right, with the Liberals nowhere to be seen.

"Stephen Harper or I will be in charge at the end of the day," he said.

Week 3 of the campaign

• MAP ARCHIVES: Days 1-3, Days 4-7, Week 2.