Jack Layton making a major policy announcement this morning outside a Toronto Transit station:

New Democrats will increase the Gas Tax Transfer to the full five cents per litre requested by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Right now – year one. No long Liberal phase-in. No time for Paul Martin to break his word once more. Right now – five cents a litre – up from a cent and a half today.

This will give municipalities another 1.4 billion dollars to work on sustainable transportation – such as public transportation in the cities and better roads in rural areas. For Toronto, this would mean more buses. More streetcars. Better service. Cleaner air. But the only way to get it is to vote NDP.

See the full speech here.