New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair continues to ramp up his rhetoric against the Liberals — his main rivals for the support of Canadians desiring a change in government — and his frustration is now extending to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.

“I respect Kathleen Wynne as the premier of Ontario. I just wish that people who keep trying to come up with excuses for the Liberals’ opposition to things like child care would realize that you shouldn’t be ransoming support for one political party on the on the backs of families who desperately need affordable child care,” Mulcair said Thursday in an interview with the Star.

“Here in Toronto, it’s $2,000 a month for an infant in child care. That’s $24,000 a year. We’re proposing to lower that radically and I think that’s something that most families want. I don’t think they should be held to ransom. I just don’t think they should be told, well, ‘you have to vote for Justin Trudeau’, which means that you won’t get your child care,” Mulcair said when asked about his relationship with Wynne, who has made no secret of her desire to see Trudeau be the one to move into 24 Sussex Drive.

The New Democrats entered this long election campaign as unlikely front-runners, allowing Mulcair to make the argument to Canadians who desire change after nearly a decade under Conservative Leader Stephen Harper that they, and not the Liberals, have the most credible chance to defeat him Oct. 19.

The public opinion polls have since challenged that narrative, as NDP support is sliding, even in their stronghold of Quebec, where the so-called Orange Wave swept them into Official Opposition status in 2011, and the Liberals are appearing to pick up the anti-Harper vote, especially in Ontario.

Mulcair dismissed a question asking him to assess what has gone wrong with his campaign.

“The only party that is standing up for real change is the NDP. We have the confidence that we can replace Stephen Harper and start repairing the damage he has caused. Canadians have the confidence. They know we’ve got experience. We can do it. Watch us go,” he said.

The past few days have seen the reappearance of re-emergence of ‘Angry Tom’ — he prefers the term ‘passionate’, he said, while staffers referred to the ‘Harper Fighter’ — as Mulcair promises to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership over clauses affecting dairy farmers and auto manufacturers. And, on Thursday, Mulcair said he was “appalled” to read a report in a Toronto newspaper that indicated the Prime Minister’s Office had earlier this year halted the processing of Syrian refugees.

That passion was evident in the interview Thursday as Mulcair responded to questions about the tough slog he would face implementing his biggest campaign promise — one million child care spaces costing no more than $15 a day — as it relies on the provinces to kick in 40 per cent of the funding.

“I think that Justin Trudeau believes that because the Liberals couldn’t do it, it can’t be done. So they spend their days trying to imagine scenarios where something might break down. I spend my days trying to think of all the good things we could do to help families, including affordable quality child care. I am going to maintain that optimism that we are going to get that result,” Mulcair said.

Mulcair also defended the NDP’s decision to commit to running a balanced budget in its first year, and rejected the idea that he had accepted the premise, promoted by Conservatives, that not running a deficit is a litmus test for good governance, or, on the flip-side, that his platform is not as progressive as the deficit-financed one promoted by Trudeau.

“Look at the NDP’s tradition. Tommy Douglas brought in 17 balanced budgets in a row and was able, based on that rock-solid foundation, then to bring in quality, affordable, universal, public health care for everyone in Saskatchewan and it became the Canadian model,” Mulcair said.

“We don’t want a flash in the pan on child care. We want something that’s solid, long-term and that will be there for years to come,” Mulcair said.