Speaking in his hometown of Windsor, Ont., Mr. Martin laid out a "forward looking and very responsible" platform that has a price tag of about $40-billion over five years. About $12-billion of the plan is for contingencies, leaving about $26-billion to $28-billion for promises. The largest item will be the $9-billion-plus for health care announced last week.
"This is a country of great opportunity, and our plan is about providing all Canadians with the means to share in those opportunities," Mr. Martin said in prepared comments. "As a people, we know what we can do and we know how to do it - we just want to get on with it. This platform represents what we will deliver as we work to achieve our goals."
The 60-page platform, entitled Moving Canada Forward, includes a five-year, $5-billion major child-care plan — called the Foundations Program — which will hold up Quebec's $7-a-day daycare scheme as a model for the rest of the country.
The Liberal platform also calls for a new Peace and Nation-Building Initiative that would increase military spending, adding 5,000 members to the 60,000 already in the Canadian Forces and 3,000 new members for the 15,500-member Armed Forces reserve.
Mr. Martin said the Liberals will continue its funding commitment to fight HIV/AIDS around the world and develop a strategy to reduce or forgive foreign debts owed by poor countries.
Other elements of the Liberal platform include quadrupling the objectives of the Wind Power Production Incentive and work to increase consumer demand for wind power.
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"We're asking Canadians to choose, in this election, what kind of Canada they want," Mr. Martin said. "As Liberals, we believe in a Canada that is generous and just, prosperous and proud. We are eager to play a progressive, positive role in helping to create the Canada we all want."
The latest Ipsos-Reid poll shows the Liberals just four percentage points ahead of the Conservatives nationally. The Liberals' current 34-per-cent support is the lowest since Mr. Martin took office in December, and five points less than the party enjoyed as recently as mid-May.
NDP Leader Jack Layton dismissed the Liberal platform before Mr. Martin had even finished speaking, saying he had heard most of the promises before.
"The Liberals promised most of this in previous platforms," he said. "They had three terms and ten years to pursue these priorities."
"I've been travelling all across this country, and what Canadians are saying in every community I've visited is that they don't trust Liberal promises anymore, and don't think this government deserves a fourth term."
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