Less than a week after Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau wooed Toronto voters with a speech on civil liberties in an age of terror, Thomas Mulcair delivered a very different appeal to Canada’s most populous city, arguing the NDP is best positioned to deliver on kitchen-table issues like commute times, child care and housing.

The New Democratic leader focused relentlessly on Toronto in the campaign-style speech at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre Sunday, building a case for how NDP policies on public transit, daycare and the minimum wage would benefit residents of the GTA.

The address was peppered with references to Toronto neighbourhoods like Parkdale and the Beach, as well as to the 905 municipalities where many analysts believe the federal election will be won or lost.

Mulcair himself emphasized the region’s electoral importance.

“With just a handful more NDP seats right here in Toronto, we can defeat Stephen Harper and get Canada on track,” he said.

“From Oshawa to Oakville, from Scarborough to Streetsville, from Newmarket to the Toronto Islands, tell your neighbours that better transit is possible; tell them that quality affordable child care is just an election away; that affordable housing, help for new Canadians and small business is within reach.”

Among Mulcair’s Toronto-centric promises were: 164,000 new GTA daycare spots over eight years; a $15 federal minimum wage he said would help close the city’s income gap; and $90 million a year for transit in the region.

MORE: NDP’s Thomas Mulcair stakes his party’s claim to the urban agenda: Hume

The Quebec native noted that Toronto’s commute times, averaging about 80 minutes, are among the longest in the industrialized world, longer than those of London, New York or Los Angeles.

Mulcair said he would meet with Mayor John Tory on Monday, with transit at the top of their agenda.

Though the speech was dense with policy and dry in tone, the NDP leader couldn’t resist taking a few oblique jabs at his political opponents, alluding to “the damage that Stephen Harper has done” and to criticisms of Trudeau’s relative political inexperience.

“Whether it’s meeting with premiers to work on the future of our federation, or world leaders to discuss economic opportunities or terrorist threats, being prime minister is not an entry-level job,” Mulcair said.

Apart from a few nods to replacing “the politics of fear” with “hope and optimism,” Mulcair largely avoided the controversies around terrorism, free speech and Islam that have been roiling Canadian politics.

Trudeau, by contrast, waded hip deep into questions of religion and freedom when he spoke to the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel last Monday.

“Fear is a dangerous thing,” Trudeau said. “Once it is sanctioned by the state there is no telling where it might lead. It is always a short path to walk from being suspicious of our fellow citizens to taking actions to restrict their liberty.’’

On Sunday, it was left to Toronto District School Board trustee Ausma Malik, who preceded Mulcair onstage, to mention Bill C-51, the Conservative government’s proposed anti-terrorism legislation that critics warn will unnecessarily expand police powers and undermine civil liberties.

Malik accused Trudeau of a “failure of leadership” for supporting the bill despite his stated reservations about its possible impact.

“What is the point of electing Liberals in the first place?” she said to raucous cheers.

Although he held fire on the issue in Toronto, Mulcair joined a protest against C-51 in Montreal Saturday, during a national day of action against the bill. The demonstrators marched on Trudeau’s riding office.

“Tom Mulcair is not afraid of standing up for his principles,” Malik told roughly 1,300 supporters at the convention centre. “He’s not afraid to back up his convictions with actions. He’s not afraid to take on Stephen Harper and win.”

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With files from Donovan Vincent

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