Greg Joyce, THE CANADIAN PRESS

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BURNABY, B.C. - Federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day used auto theft as the theme Tuesday to tell British Columbians his government will get tough-on-crime, but the NDP was in his sights as much as car thieves.

In a brief speech, Day attacked car thieves and said conditional sentencing - essentially house arrest - would be substituted for bars under a Conservative government.

Several times Day in his speech and in a brief news release blamed "Jack Layton and the Ottawa NDP" for thwarting the Conservatives' desire to imprison car thieves.

The news release and a sign attached to his podium mentioned the NDP, which has never come close to forming a government in Canada, while ignoring the federal Liberals.

"The message is to zero in on a small but destructive group of people, and that is the people who steal cars, here and across country," said Day, citing an Insurance Corp. of B.C. study that showed about 80,000 vehicles were stolen in B.C. between 2003 and 2007.

A few years ago B.C.'s solicitor general said that Surrey, B.C., was the car theft capital of North America. A police bait car program has since been successful in reducing the number of thefts.

"It is not, as (NDP Leader) Jack Layton and others would say simply a joy-riding situation," said Day, speaking in the NDP-stronghold riding of Burnaby-Douglas.

Recent polls suggest the NDP are surging while the Liberals are stagnating.

A recent Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll suggested the NDP had 19 per cent in popular support overall, up five points from the start of the campaign - and within striking distance of the Liberals, who remained stagnant at 23 per cent.

In the campaign, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has resurrected an old Tory promise of pledging to do away with conditional sentencing for a wider range of violent crimes, and property offences such as house break-ins and car theft.

The Conservatives have already managed to pass a law requiring automatic jail time for most violent offences, but the opposition stripped out property crimes and lesser violent offences.

Day, who is running in the Okanagan-Coquihalla riding, said Layton and the NDP have thwarted Tory efforts to send car thieves to jail, having it removed from a bill banning conditional sentencing for some crimes.

Day denied that his focus on the New Democrats has anything to do with polling. He said he's been focusing on the NDP since the Conservatives came to power.