OTTAWA - NDP Leader Jack Layton is turning the tables on the Harper government over taxes, calling on the Tories to show warmth to Canadians by removing the GST on home heating as winter approaches.

And Layton is threatening to target Conservative MPs in Ontario and British Columbia in the next election for supporting the unpopular harmonized sales tax that went into effect in July.

The tactic is an ironic twist on Stephen Harper's successful use of the GST issue in his first campaign four years ago, when he rode to victory on the promise to cut the sales tax by two percentage points.

Layton unveiled the ideas in a speech before the party's national council in Ottawa on Sunday, and got enthusiastic cheers from the faithful for his efforts.

During the address, Layton singled out the 44 Tory MPs from Ontario and 21 from BC -- the two provinces that imposed the HST in July -- who voted in favour of the new tax.

"There's no question those MPs are going to have some explaining to do," he told reporters after the speech.

Layton said the government can't evade ownership for the tax, even though it was imposed by the provinces, since Ottawa has been pressing provinces to harmonize their sales taxes with the federal GST, even offering billions of dollars in inducements. The resulting HST imposes taxes on many items previously not covered under the provincial version, including services such as hair cuts, phone bills and dry cleaning.

"This is his tax, it would not have happened without the Stephen Harper initiative. He can run but he can't hide from this one," he said.

A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty responded that the average Canadian family has seen its tax bill lessened by almost $3,000 since the Conservatives came to power in 2006.

"The NDP has voted against and opposed every tax cut we introduced, including cutting the GST to five per cent on every purchase Canadians make, including home heating," said Flaherty's press secretary Annette Robertson in an email.

Trying to establish that the NDP is not the "tax-and-spend" party it is constantly accused of, Layton said the one tax he would cut immediately is the five per cent GST on home heating.

The New Democrat government in Nova Scotia has introduced a similar measure.

In B.C., the provincial government introduced a rebate for residential heating costs, meaning the HST hasn't affected heating bills there. The rebate means consumers only pay the five per cent GST on home heating.

Layton said many Canadians have not yet recovered from the recession and will be hard-pressed to pay for heating this winter, particularly since the HST has added to rising costs in Ontario. He said energy costs in that province have risen 17 per cent in the last six months.

"This is Canada, home heating is a basic need. You shouldn't have to miss a meal or cut off your cable in order to be able to heat your home," he said.

A party official said the measure would cost Ottawa's treasury about $700 million.

Layton also called for the restoration of the ecoEnergy retrofit program that offered householders an incentive to make their homes more energy efficient, at a cost the officials estimated would be under $200 million a year.

Asked about the impact on the $50-billion budget, Layton said the issue is about which taxes need cutting. He said he would cut taxes on struggling Canadians, while the Conservatives are cutting taxes on profitable corporations.

Under Flaherty's schedule, business taxes will be reduced a further 1.5 percentage points on Jan. 1 at a cost of about $1.8 billion.

The NDP have called for a roll-back on corporate tax cuts of the past few years.