NDP Leader Tom Mulcair in Windsor today

Federal NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has promised to kick start manufacturing and breathe oxygen into small- and medium-sized businesses.

Mulcair's campaign-style Ontario Tour for Change swings into Windsor later this afternoon.

He'll meet privately with supporters sometime after 3 p.m. and then participate in a public rally at the Fogolar Furlan Club at 7 p.m.

Prior to arriving in Windsor, Mulcair appeared on CBC Radio's Windsor Morning early Wednesday a day after meeting with the Canadian Manufacturing and Exporters Association.

While on Windsor Morning, he promised manufacturers "a tax credit for innovation" and an "accelerated capital cost credit." He said the policies would allow manufacturers to modernize their plants.

Windsor, noted for manufacturing, particularly in the auto sector and tool and die industry, has been been number one or two in the country in unemployment for years.

"What we need is a federal government that believes in a role to kick start the manufacturing sector across Ontario," Mulcair said.

The NDP leader claims the country has lost 260,000 manufacturing jobs under a Conservative government.

According to analysis of long-run trends in manufacturing prepared for Industry Canada and obtained by CBC News under the Access to Information Act, there has been a net loss of 212,000 manufacturing jobs in Ontario and 97,000 in Quebec since 2004..

Earlier this year, the federal government said its policies have created 1.2 million "net new jobs" since the 2008.

Mulcair also promised a small business tax cut of between nine and 11 per cent. He said it would allow small businesses to increase staff.

"We tend to think of the large business. But it's in fact, in Canada, the small and medium businesses that are the job creators," he said. "The ones that can use a bit of oxygen are the small and medium business."

$15 daycare

Mulcair again promised to create one million daycare spots at a cost of $15 a day, each. He said they would be paid for by a corporate tax increase and the cancellation of the Conservative income splitting tax policy.

The reiteration of the promise comes days after Canadians received a retro-active increase to the universal child care benefit from the Conservative government.

Income splitting, the increased universal child-care benefit and the child-care expense deduction saves families with children an average of $1,140 per year in taxes, the government says.

At the same time, the Department of Finance says income splitting will cost the treasury about $2 billion per year over the next five years.

A federal election is scheduled for Oct. 19.

Right now both of Windsor's federal seats are held by the NDP's Brian Masse and Joe Comartin. Conservative Jeff Watson is the MP for Essex.

Before coming to Windsor, Mulcair will be in Brunner, Ont., and Chatham.