Former prime minister Jean Chretien joined Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff at a rally Wednesday night in Toronto in hopes of reviving a limping campaign just days before election day.
Chretien showed that he hasn't lost his political edge in retirement, taking potshots at the Conservative government and the surging NDP party, to the delight of the partisan crowd.
He slammed the Conservatives' spending plans, specifically the F-35 purchase for its unknown eventual cost and the plan to build massive prisons despite the crime rate dropping.
"We'll have planes without engines and prisons without prisoners," he said.
"Tonight I'm here to say the Liberal party has a plan, the Liberal party has a team and the Liberal party will change things."
Chretien had words for the NDP as well.
"I checked the program of the NDP. Nobody had read it until a few days ago," he said, stopping to chuckle for a moment. "It doesn't add up."
The Liberals hope Chretien, who led the Liberals to three straight majorities, can prevent even more voters from abandoning the Grits. Recent polls show the Liberals have sunk to third place nationally.
"Jean Chretien will say what we know he'll say, which is, 'I led three majority governments. I got the public finances of our country back in order. I dug us out of the Mulroney hole, and Michael Ignatieff will dig us out of the Harper hole,"' Ignatieff told reporters Wednesday morning during a campaign stop in Sault Ste. Marie.
"That's what he's going to say."
After the rally, Ignatieff will head to Quebec for a final trip through the province before Monday's vote.
The Liberals took out a full-page ad in the Montreal newspapers Wednesday to send a message to Quebec voters that the Liberals are committed to respecting Quebecers and their interests. The Liberals have been losing ground there to the NDP, who have emerged as the top federalist choice among voters in the province.
"I am committed to forming a government that respects Quebec's culture and identity," reads the ad, which is an open letter from Ignatieff to Quebecers.
"A government that will support Quebec's artists and promote its culture abroad; a government that cares about young people, gender equality, and the environment. A government that will make you proud on the world stage.
"I will lead a government that practises the federalism of respect. Our plan to support families does not infringe on provincial jurisdiction. We will work with Quebec on the issues that matter to you."
Earlier Wednesday, Ignatieff said he is determined to stay the course for the remainder of the campaign, despite his party's slip in the polls.
"I think we've run a campaign that we're proud of, it's making progress," the Liberal Party leader told CTV's Canada AM from Winnipeg Wednesday morning, dismissing the significance of the NDP's surging poll results.
Rather than interpreting the New Democrat's rising fortunes as his party's downfall, Ignatieff said Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the one who should be worried.
"I think that we're in the middle of a sea change," Ignatieff said, describing his campaign-trail encounters with Canadians who've told him they want Harper's Conservatives out.
"And now the question is: Who can actually replace Stephen Harper with compassionate, fiscally responsible government on the 2nd of May. Mr. Layton has never formed a federal government in the history of Canada. We've run the country for most of the 20th century. We know how to do it."
But when he was pressed to envision the lay of the political landscape after voting day, Ignatieff conceded he has "great respect" for Layton's NDP.
"I'm happy to work with the NDP, not in coalition, but side-by-side, project-by-project, and I think we can get great government for Canadians," he said.
