NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair kicked off the second half of the federal election campaign by rallying union workers and vowing to end the Conservative government’s “unprecedented attacks against organized labour.”

As thousands gathered in downtown Toronto to march in the annual Labour Day parade, Mulcair delivered a speech to a few hundred people in Nathan Phillips Square in which he promised to bring “real change to Ottawa.”

Standing at a podium beneath a banner for Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, Mulcair depicted Stephen Harper’s Conservative government as an enemy of organized labour, charging that it has enacted back-to-work legislation “never seen before in Canada,” and “completely skewed the collective bargaining process” by passing a controversial law that requires unions to disclose their finances.

With many Canadians returning to work from summer holidays, the election campaign is expected to kick into high gear this week, ahead of the Oct. 19 vote. Mulcair declared that the implementation of NDP policies like $15-a-day child care and a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage was “just six weeks away.”

“On Oct. 19, together, watch us work to build a fairer society, to create opportunity, to remove inequality,” he said.

The square was less than half full when Mulcair began his speech shortly before 9 a.m. Once he was done he made his way to a parade truck at University Ave. and Queen St. W. and delivered a second version of the same remarks to a more energetic audience.

As members of the postal workers union looked on, he also promised to reverse cuts to Canada Post home delivery.

The NDP leader will be getting major union help in his quest to replace Harper as prime minister. Unifor, which boasts 305,000 members across the country, is set to launch an anti-Harper offensive in an effort to deny the Conservatives a fourth term in office. The strategy will see the union urge its members to support NDP incumbents and to vote strategically against the Conservatives in ridings the New Democrats didn’t win in 2011.

After addressing the crowds, Mulcair told reporters that he believes Unifor and the NDP are natural allies.

“The labour movement has always worked for the same things the NDP has always worked for,” he said, citing reducing inequality and “creating opportunity” as common goals.

“So it’s not surprising to see a lot of organized labour getting behind the only party that’s always been there, standing shoulder to shoulder with labour in Canada, which is the NDP.”

Mulcair also responded to Justin Trudeau’s call for the federal leaders to hold an all-party meeting on the Syrian refugee crisis. The Liberal leader issued an open letter to his counterparts on Sunday night asking that they “put partisanship aside” and “ensure we are doing all we can to help Syrian refugees.”

“It’s important to talk with other leaders, and that’s the type of thing I was calling for last week when I said we should be a little bit less partisan and start concentrating on helping people who are in desperate need,” Mulcair said.

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But he did not commit to meeting with all the other leaders, saying, “the person making those decisions is the prime minister.”

Mulcair said his chief of staff had reached out to Harper to start a conversation about the crisis. The NDP is pushing for the government to appoint a Syrian refugee co-ordinator to speed up Canada’s resettlement of migrants from the war-torn country.

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