Maria Babbage, THE CANADIAN PRESS

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VANCOUVER - Jack Layton conjured the ghosts of Depression-era politics, accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of following the footsteps of an ill-fated predecessor, former Conservative prime minister R.B. Bennett.

"Mr. Harper's response to the clouds gathering over our real economy is to say that we don't need to care about manufacturing, we don't need to care about forestry," the NDP leader said Tuesday following release of the Tory platform.

"Mr. Harper's response to the crisis in the banking system is to say that everything is fine, nothing needs to change, and there are no problems.

"R.B. Bennett couldn't have said it better himself in 1930."

It wasn't the first time opposition parties have likened Harper to long-dead politicians whose names invoke one of the worst periods in Canadian history - the down-and-dirty dustbowl era of the 1930s.

Earlier in the campaign, Liberal Bob Rae dismissed the Conservative leader as "Herbert Hoover in the blue sweater" - referring to the former president who failed to lift the United States out of the Great Depression.

Bennett was much maligned for establishing military-run relief camps across the country, where unemployed, unmarried men worked for pennies a day.

Layton dismissed suggestions that his remarks were a ploy to turn voters to the left-leaning NDP by heightening fears that their jobs and savings could disappear as the economic storm spreads across the globe. Nor would he utter the dreaded D-word.

"I believe that people are worried right now about the state of the economy," he said.

"I would be very surprised to find anybody who wasn't. And what they're looking for is an approach that's going to take strong decisive action to address the phenomenon that is evident to everybody, which is that the economy is in a very difficult time right now by virtually every measure."

The Tory platform - released just a week before voters head to the polls - fails to address the severe financial problems the country now faces, Layton said.

Nor does it offer anything to Canadian families who are worried about their pensions, savings and jobs, he added.

The Tory gives $100 million a year over four years to hard-hit manufacturers, while promising to slash tariffs on imported new machinery that the Conservatives say will save industry $345 million a year.

That's just a fraction of the $50 billion in tax breaks Harper has doled out to the country's wealthiest corporations, Layton said.

The New Democrats would freeze those cuts and funnel the extra money toward improving services for ordinary families, he said.

"Years of deregulation, of recklessness and irresponsibility under conservative governments on both sides of the border have left the economy in a situation where we see their actions coming home to roost," he said.

"And the greedy are being consumed by their greed and gambling with our savings."

He vowed Tuesday to work with all parties in the next Parliament to come up with a plan to protect Canada's economy from the widening credit crisis.

New regulations for financial institutions and a plan to boost the economy should be introduced in the next federal budget, which needs to happen in the next 100 days, he added.

Layton has spent the last two days in the key battleground of British Columbia, trying to dispel the notion that the NDP can't be trusted with managing the economy.

Speaking on a radio show in Vancouver, Layton was grilled by callers about his own economic platform, asking him if his plan to kill tax breaks would hurt banks already battered by the credit crisis.

Layton has repeatedly railed against the big banks, saying they're gouging consumers with sky-high service fees.

For all his bank-bashing, the NDP leader was caught red-handed in enemy territory Tuesday, emerging from a TD Bank branch - apparently after making a withdrawal.

He was soon whisked away from reporters by NDP staff into his waiting minivan.

The NDP have consistently placed second in the B.C. polls, but the key to building on their current 10 seats in the province lies in their ability to convince Liberal doubters and Green voters to unite under the New Democrat banner.

Earlier in the day, Layton passed out flyers to bleary-eyed commuters emerging from a busy Skytrain station in downtown Vancouver, hoping to steal votes from Liberal incumbent Hedy Fry.

Joined by local candidate Michael Byers, Layton flashed a bright smile to passing commuters, asking for their support in next week's vote.

Some shook Layton's proffered hand as they got off the escalator, while others welcomed a hug or a manly shoulder bump.

Layton even provided autographs - one to a man distributing a free newspaper with Layton's picture splashed across the front.

But many commuters avoided any eye contact as they bustled past the media throng awaiting them at the top of the escalator.

Layton's smile fell flat with a few irritated voters.

"You're blocking the way," said one woman as she hurried away.

"We'll back up a touch," Layton cheerfully replied.