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NDP Leader Jack Layton is vowing to eliminate poverty in Canada by 2020 as part of his party's $51.6 billion election platform.

Unveiling the New Democrats' plan for governing today in Toronto, Layton pledged a new $17 billion child benefit plan that will reward families up to $400 a month per child.

"The New Democrats' child benefit will give every middle-class and working family in Canada a raise," he said.

"Our priorities are those of the kitchen table, not just the boardroom table."

As first disclosed by the Star, families with a household income of $38,000 or less would receive $400 a month per child.

Those making less than $188,000-a-household would get $250 a month per child.

And families earning more than $188,000 a year would receive $100 a month per child.

Unlike the current Conservative $100-a-month per child baby bonus policy, the money wouldn't be taxed.

The NDP would also extend the eligibility threshold from the existing cut-off – currently when a child turns six – to 18 years old.

Layton's 57-page platform document boasts a slew of other measures designed to eliminate poverty within 12 years, including a minimum wage of $10 that would be indexed to inflation.

A New Democratic government would introduce a Poverty Elimination Act, setting firm reduction targets and make the government accountable for meeting those goals.

A progress report would have to be tabled every five years.

The NDP wants to reduce child poverty by more than 50 per cent and the overall poverty rate by more than 35 per cent in the first five years.

A new poverty elimination office, to be part of Human Resources Development Canada, would assume overall responsibility for helping the poor.

The NDP defines the poverty line as Statistics Canada's "low income cut-off" or LICO, which calculates the income level at which a family may be in dire straits because it has to spend a greater portion of its income on shelter, food, and clothing than an average family. The LICO measurement varies, depending where in Canada a family resides.

Layton's platform goes on to address Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's quest for a fair deal from Ottawa by promising to reform Employment Insurance (EI).

The party says it is "working towards" ensuring Ontario workers qualify for the same EI benefits as other Canadians.

McGuinty, who is remaining non-partisan in the Oct. 14 election despite being a Liberal, complains that the average unemployed worker here is shortchanged by $4,630 a year due to rules that unfairly penalize Ontarians.

Overall, the province's unemployed are out $2.1 billion, excluding the additional $478 million in training programs unavailable here.

On the environment, the NDP is promising a cap-and-trade system similar to that being promoted by the Western Climate Initiative of 11 U.S. states and four provinces, including Ontario and B.C.

Unlike the Liberals' controversial Green Shift program, which will tax what Canadians burn more than what they earn, the NDP believes its scheme will reduce carbon production by creating incentives to business to curb greenhouse gas emission.

Layton said most of Europe and both U.S. presidential hopefuls, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, support such trading.

Every dime from the planned "carbon auction" – starting at $2.5 billion in 2009-10 to $6 billion in 2012-13 – will be reinvested in green programs such as alternative energy promotion, public transit, and conservation measures.

On foreign affairs, the NDP says a $600 million "peace dividend" from withdrawing Canadian troops from Afghanistan will be realized in the first year, rising to $1.1 billion per year through 2011.

The New Democrats say their platform would cost $51.6 billion compared with $94.5 billion for Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion's plan.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has yet to release a manifesto, but the NDP estimate that his tax cuts and campaign promises would have a $48 billion impact on the federal budget, although that price tag is expected to rise.

The NDP, which is promising balanced budgets, maintains it can pay for its commitments by cancelling Harper's corporate tax cuts, including raising the rate from 19 per cent back to the previous 22.12 per cent.