Harper issues Tory platform

TORONTO, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Tuesday offered up an $8.7 billion, four-year plan to help the country weather the economic storm.

The Conservatives' platform includes a previously announced proposal to cut the diesel tax in half over the coming four years at a cost of about $566 million per year, adding $200 million to the Strategic Aerospace and Defense Initiative and $200 million to the Automotive Innovation Fund over the same period, and abolishing tariffs on imported machinery and equipment at a cost $345 million.

Speaking at the Canadian Club at Toronto's Sheraton Centre, Harper disputed those who maintain "unless a plan is brand new, it's not a plan."

"But the truth is the opposite," Harper asserted. "If you are making it up in response to the latest news, or the latest change in the stock market, then it is obvious you really don't have a plan."

The Tories also propose backing off a plan to withhold tax credits from movies deemed offensive, while supporting passage of legislation that would eliminate early release for serious criminal offenders.

Opposition parties roundly dismissed the Conservatives' ideas as inadequate and coming too late in the election cycle.