Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is hinting that a Liberal government would guarantee a loan for Newfoundland and Labrador's multi-billion dollar Lower Churchill hydroelectric mega-project.
"We have talked favourably about a loan guarantee because it lowers the costs of borrowing money, it will lower the eventual (production) rate cost for electricity in Newfoundland and Labrador," Ignatieff told reporters in Halifax before boarding a plane to go to a St. John's evening rally.
"We think that's in the national interest."
Stephen Harper promised a $4.2-billion federal loan guarantee for the project during a campaign stop in St. John's last week.
A federal loan guarantee would lower the borrowing costs on the $6.2 billion project, which would dam the Lower Churchill River and build underwater transmission lines to the Maritimes and the eastern United States.
Quebec has argued that the promise gives Newfoundland a competitive advantage in the hydroelectric export market.
On Monday, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty attacked Harper's pledge, saying Ontario's tax dollars shouldn't be subsidizing electricity rates in other provinces.
"Ontarians should understand 40 per cent of the federal government's money comes directly from Ontarians," said McGuinty. "So when Prime Minister Harper pledges specific aid to another part of Canada for a specific multibillion-dollar project, 40 per cent of that money is coming from Ontarians."
Earlier, Ignatieff announced a plan Monday to provide Canadian Forces veterans with four years of full funding to attend college or university, upon leaving the military.
Ignatieff announced the policy in Halifax at the start of the second week of the federal election campaign.
He said the plan makes the priority "vets, not jets," referring to Harper's plan to spend billions on fighter jets.
The Veterans' Learning Benefit would cost $120 million over two years. It would cover not just tuition, but books, accommodations and living costs for veterans returning to school after completing their military service.
"There can be no more fitting tribute to the service of our Canadian Forces than to guarantee that they have full support to go to college, university or technical training after they complete their service," Ignatieff said in a release.
If a veteran couldn't use the benefit, as a result of their service in the Canadian Forces, their spouse could do so.
The Liberal leader has made education the centrepiece of his campaign platform, announcing last week a Liberal government would provide between $1,000 and $1,500 per year for every Canadian student going to post-secondary education, up to four years.
"The most important thing a federal government can do to help the economy . . . is to get us the best trained and educated workforce in the world," Ignatieff said. "That's why the (Liberal education plan) is essentially a job strategy."
Ignatieff unveiled the full Liberal platform on Sunday.
The plan has come under some attack because it doesn't have a specific job strategy such as retraining, CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported Monday.
"They have an $8-billion spending plan and when you press them on then jobs picture, (Ignatieff) continues to say over and over, ‘We are investing in the future' but there is no money for retraining people," Fife told CTV's Power Play.
After the announcement in Halifax on Monday, Ignatieff headed to St. John's, N.L. for an evening event in the province where his party took six of seven seats in 2008.
NDP Leader Jack Layton started his day in Toronto, with a morning announcement focusing on his party's pension platform.
Layton said his party, if elected, would gradually double the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans, allowing Canadians to contribute their own savings to their plans.
The NDP would also change bankruptcy laws to protect pensioners and those on long-term disability when their employer declares bankruptcy.
Layton said he would also pump $700 million per year into the federal Guaranteed Income Supplement, a move he said would lift all Canadian seniors out of poverty. Layton had pressured the Conservatives to include such a measure in their failed federal budget in March.
Harper was in the riding of Welland, Ont., where the Conservatives are hoping to recapture the NDP-held seat.
Both Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe continue to hit the hustings closer to home on Monday.
After a news conference in Victoria, B.C., May is expected to take her campaign to Sidney before opening her campaign office in Saanich. Duceppe, meanwhile, is scheduled to spend the day at a series of stops northeast of Quebec City, including meetings with Bombardier union officials in La Pocatiere and a tour of construction firm in Riviere-du-Loup.
The federal election is set for May 2.
