KELOWNA, B.C. -- Tom Mulcair is touting the NDP's disaster response plan as he tries to win votes in British Columbia's wildfire-ravaged southern Interior.
The region is home to the province's prized wine industry and destructive fires have forced scores of residents to evacuate their homes this year.
The NDP leader spoke at a rally Monday night in Penticton, where he repeated his promise to restore funding to the Joint Emergency Preparedness Program.
He's set to talk about tourism, wineries and stopping wildfires in B.C. during a tour of Summerhill Winery in Kelowna this morning, and is also expected to react to Statistics Canada's release of second-quarter GDP figures, which are anticipated to show negative growth.
Mulcair took the opportunity Monday night to take a shot at Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who he accused of flip-flopping on a number of issues including the deficit.
The NDP leader said Trudeau criticized the Conservative government just a few weeks ago when the Parliamentary Budget Officer said it would run a deficit.
"Then last Friday, he announced that he was going to run $10-billion deficits year after year and said that I wasn't spending enough," Mulcair said.
"Then on Sunday, he sent John McCallum out to hold a press conference to say that I was spending too much. I'll let you work it out, because I know that I can't."
He also accused Trudeau of changing his position to vote in favour of the Conservatives' anti-terrorism legislation Bill C-51 and to oppose the NDP's plan to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Mulcair is promoting his plan to increase training and equipment for natural disasters amid one of the worst wildfire seasons in recent memory in B.C.
"Just up the road in Oliver, there are 235 men and women fighting a wildfire that would cover almost half the area of downtown Vancouver," he told the Penticton crowd.
"They deserve a partner in government that will ensure they have access to proper resources and training."
