Conservative Leader Stephen Harper announced a tax break of up to $750 for first-time home buyers Monday but chanting protesters managed to partly shift the agenda to the situation in Canada's manufacturing sector.
Harper, speaking in Kitchener, Ont., said the tax break would help ease the burden on Canadians looking to buy a house.
"The Conservative government will give first-time home buyers a tax credit of up to $5000 on the closing costs of the purchase of a new home," Harper said Tuesday.
"That means a savings of up to $750 when you file your tax return."
During Harper's news conference, 10 to 15 members of the Canadian Auto Workers union could be heard protesting in the background about the loss of jobs in the manufacturing industry.
"Hey, Harper! Come on out and face us!" yelled a man into a scratchy megaphone. "Don't worry about it, Harper! You'll be on the unemployment line soon enough!"
Michael Devine, president of CAW Local 444, said there has been tremendous job losses in the manufacturing sector in the Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph areas since the Tories took power.
"The reason we're out here today is to get through to Mr. Harper and get through to the Conservative government that the manufacturing job loss is very severe in southern Ontario," Devine told Â鶹´«Ã½net.
Harper said he understands there have been job losses in the area but, overall, he said there has been more job creation.
"We're not trying to tell people we can subsidize a job that is under pressure," he said.
"What we can do is work with business to help make the investments to transform those jobs into jobs that will be jobs of the future in a competitive, global economy."
Opposition attacks
NDP Leader Jack Layton attacked Harper in a speech outside a John Deere plant in Welland, Ont., that is slated to close -- throwing 800 people out of work.
Layton accused the Tories of allowing large corporations to cut jobs and move them out of Canada.
"You deserve a prime minister who will make jobs for working people a priority in this country," Layton said Tuesday. "A prime minister who will put you and your family first."
Layton promised that his government would invest $100 million a year in skills training and the manufacturing sector.
He also vowed to reform employment insurance for workers and tradespeople to provide greater access to full- and part-time training.
Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion also took aim at Harper Tuesday during a press conference in Halifax.
"He's saying, 'Don't worry, be happy.' In his words, 'There is no bloodshed,"' Dion said of Harper.
"Well, tell that to the hundreds of people who lost their jobs at Ford last week. The hundreds who lost their jobs at John Deere."
With files from The Canadian Press
