HALIFAX - Liberal Leader Stephane Dion is depicting his would-be government as a team effort, and that of rival Stephen Harper as a one-man show.
The governing Conservatives squandered a $12-billion surplus in just two and a half years, Dion told the Halifax Chamber of Commerce in a speech Thursday.
Harper doesn't seem to grasp that Canadians expect their prime minister to act in times of severe economic hardship, said Dion, who assailed the prime minister and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's "laissez-faire, I-don't-care" approach to the ongoing financial crisis.
"It's certainly a good idea to wake up, but it's too little, too late for Mr. Flaherty and Mr. Harper," Dion told a news conference after his speech.
"They were accusing others of panic when others were telling them to do something, and to have a plan. They have no plan, and it's too late for them."
Dion pledged to work closely with Canadian banks, regulatory agencies, economic experts and the Bank of Canada as part of his "action plan" for the first 30 days of a Liberal government.
But in the same breath, he attacked NDP Leader Jack Layton for proposing "re-regulation" of the Canadian banking system.
"It's not for politicians to direct the banks in Canada; Mr. Layton failed to understand that," Dion said. "It's (also) not for ministers to be inept and unable to do anything; Mr. Flaherty failed to understand that."
Dion was also forced to defend his Green Shift carbon-tax proposal, which has been going over like a lead balloon in Atlantic Canada.
He wouldn't be campaigning on it if he didn't think it would work in every part of Canada, he added.
"If I'm proposing it, it's because I'm convinced that it's good for Nova Scotia."
Dion said a Liberal government would focus on creating "well paid jobs, good jobs, green jobs, new jobs" in Canada.
He also dismissed Layton's economic plan as a "job killer" that the NDP would finance with "monopoly money."
