OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be talking taxes today as he continues to campaign around the Toronto area, seeking to mine the vote-rich belt which circles the city itself.

He'll start his day in Vaughan, just north of Toronto, campaigning with his newest MP, former Ontario top cop Julian Fantino, who won the riding in a byelection last fall.

Harper wants to hold the seat, which was a steal from the Liberals, and he plans to go after a Liberal proposal to roll back corporate tax cuts. He's also likely to propose sweeteners for the Tax Free Savings Accounts which were announced in the 2008 budget.

The accounts allow people to pile up tax-free interest and the Tories say 4.7 million Canadians are believed to have accounts. But a study done last fall said many Canadians remain confused about how the program works.

Harper finishes his day with a rally in Hamilton just a dozen or so blocks from a competing town hall meeting featuring Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.

The Liberal leader has a morning appearance at a seniors' residence in Laval, Que., where he'll outline promises to improve the pension system.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May makes a rare foray out of the Vancouver Island riding where she's running to formally launch the Green platform in Toronto.

Jack Layton of the NDP is at a community centre in Surrey, B.C., this morning. He then crosses to Vancouver Island, where he'll campaign with local candidates in Courtenay and Nanaimo before an evening rally in Esquimalt.

Harper has been trying to fend off questions about Tory organizers ejecting people from campaign events over suspicions that they support rival parties or groups.

The prime minister suggested it was a question of space.

But the RCMP piped up Wednesday with a pointed reminder to Mounties guarding party leaders that their job is policing, not politics.

"RCMP members assigned to the security details for party leaders have been reminded of their responsibilities," said the note from spokesman Sgt. Greg Cox.

The RCMP's mandate does not include managing public access to private events, Cox noted. He said the force is solely responsible for the security of the party leaders.

The note didn't mention the Conservatives by name, but it was offered in response to questions about whether the party was using police officers to eject people from events.

Grit candidate has links to white supremacist group

Ignatieff had troubles of his own when the NDP revealed that a Liberal candidate in a no-hope northern Quebec riding had links to a white supremacist group.

The Liberals quickly jettisoned Andre Forbes, the candidate in Manicouagan.

Ignatieff spent his day in Quebec's Eastern Townships, which has been a Liberal desert for years. He found himself immersed in local issues.

Meanwhile, Layton went on the attack against Harper and the Tories, warning that they will put medicare at risk.

"Canadians should be very, very worried," he said.

He was pitching a recycled proposal for a national home-care program.

The program, which the NDP have been pushing since 2005, would provide money to help keep seniors at home and out of hospitals and long-term care facilities.