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Justin Trudeau kicked off his election campaign in Vancouver by promising to fight for the middle class, while cutting perks for the richest Canadians.

“When the middle class does well, so does the entire country,” the Liberal leader told a crowd of reporters and supporters Sunday.

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Just hours after Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked for the dissolution of Parliament to touch off an 11-week election campaign, Trudeau charged that the Conservative leader has failed his country.

“We are working harder and harder to make ends meet, but falling further and further behind. Those few who have done well have done very, very well, but for the middle class, and those hoping to join it, the truth is that folks today are more likely to fall out of the middle class than they are to join it,” Trudeau said.

His plan to reverse that trend hinges on cutting off the universal child care benefit for “millionaires” and raising taxes on the wealthiest Canadians.

“After all, they’ve had a pretty good 10 years,” he joked.

His party’s economic plan would leave nine out of 10 Canadians in better financial shape than they would be under either the Conservatives or the NDP, Trudeau claimed.

“A family with two kids, making $90,000 a year, will get $2,500 more, tax free. Low-income families will see 315,000 kids lifted out of poverty,” he promised.