OTTAWA - Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff took a down day. Jack Layton took advantage.

With his principal rivals taking a break, the New Democrat leader had the campaign stage to himself Saturday as he unveiled a $103-million package of improved benefits for retired and disabled veterans of the Canadian Forces.

Joining Layton at the podium in Dartmouth, N.S., was Col. Pat Stogran, a former veterans ombudsman and an outspoken critic of the way the Conservative government treats those who have gone to battle for Canada.

An NDP government would stop clawing back money from veterans who receive more than one government benefit, said Layton, who also promised to restore the Service Income Security Insurance Plan for retired and disabled veterans.

Layton also committed himself to a public inquiry into toxic chemical defoliation at the Canadian Forces base in Gagetown, and a new program to help veterans find work in construction and ship-building.

The Dartmouth rally marked Layton's eighth straight day of campaigning for the May 2 federal election. He's already crossed the country once, a pace aides hope will highlight his recovery from prostate cancer therapy and recent hip surgery.

The rally was an important one for the New Democrats, who hope to recapture the riding of Dartmouth-Cole Harbour from the Liberals. They have a star candidate in Robert Chisholm, a well-known former provincial NDP leader.

On Sunday, it will be Ignatieff's turn in the spotlight as the Liberals reveal their full platform at an "interactive" town-hall meeting in Ottawa. The event will be streamed live over the Internet and Ignatieff will take questions from cyberspace and the Twitter-verse.

Ignatieff has already announced some big-ticket promises in Week 1, including a student-aid program to help pay for college or university, help for people caring for sick relatives, more child-care and early learning spaces more money for poor seniors and measures to improve pensions.

Sunday will see more social policy planks. They will include college and university funding for war veterans, aboriginal health measures, proposals on holistic health and prevention and a chunk of money for affordable housing.

There's also a policy on transportation infrastructure in Montreal.

While Ignatieff has stressed social measures in the opening week of the campaign, Harper has been hitting the political side of things.

He opened his campaign with dark predictions about a reckless opposition coalition that would seize power if the Tories don't win a majority.

He kept up that ominous drumbeat day after day and finished the week with a pledge to phase out per-vote subsidies for political parties. It's an issue that nearly cost him his government when he first broached it in 2008.

This time, he's linking the subsidy -- $2 for every vote -- to the repeated elections of recent years. The parties don't have to raise money for campaigns, he said, they just cash the government cheques.

Harper hopes the promise will resonate with those who don't like seeing taxpayers' money funnelled to politicians.

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe played local politics for most of his first week of campaigning, shuttling up and down the Montreal-Quebec City corridor. He was doing much the same on Saturday.

Green party Leader Elizabeth May was door-knocking Saturday on Salt Spring Island on the B.C. coast after a see-saw week of campaigning.

The decision by a consortium of broadcasters to keep her out of the televised leaders' debates was a blow. But the decision, and her angry response, kept her in the limelight for most of two days, a boon for any small-party leader.