Layton's plan would also include loan forgiveness for medical professionals who practise family medicine for at least 10 years and offered help to health professionals willing to practise in rural areas.
The overall plan is what the party proposed in the 2008 campaign, but this time would cost $35 million less a year ($165 million versus $200 million), the CBC's James Cudmore reported. The NDP attributes the difference to the "fiscal framework" in 2011 compared with 2008.
Layton made the health-care announcement during a campaign stop at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont.
Campaign energy questioned
The NDP leader was asked afterward by reporters about a perceived lack of energy in his campaign, with fewer events each day than the Liberals and Tories, and a sense that it lacks pizzazz compared with previous NDP campaigns. The issue was raised Friday in a Globe and Mail article, which questioned whether campaign's easier pace might account for its slip in recent polls.
Layton, who is recovering from a bout with cancer and recent hip surgery, denied any lack of zing in the campaign compared with previous years.
"I think we're just being very reasonable and measured," he said, challenging reporters to find their own explanations.
Elsewhere in the campaign Friday, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May was expected to pick up an endorsement from Linda Keen, the former head of Canada’s nuclear safety watchdog, at a videoconference Friday afternoon.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was touting his party's economic track record at a campaign event in Dieppe, N.B., Friday morning.
