With the economic news darkening by the day, a new poll by The Canadian Press Harris-Decima suggests the Liberals are a mere four percentage points behind the slumping Tories, with the NDP holding steady.

Emboldened, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and the NDP's Jack Layton took turns Wednesday slamming Harper for suggesting Canadians could take advantage of the stock market bloodbath to scoop up bargains.

"It just shows how out of touch this Conservative government is with the hard-working families of this country, with the pensioners of this country who are worried about their future, and it shows that he doesn't care," Layton told supporters in Edmonton.

Dion blasted the government for it's "do-nothing" approach in times of crisis and urged Canadians to give him a chance.

"With an election less than a week to go, Canada's economy is facing significant challenges," he told a business audience in Toronto.

"Stephen Harper has done nothing to face this challenge ... he has failed the most important test of a leader."

Harper's cool, steady-hand approach has struck a discordant note with many Canadians who have seen the Toronto stock market drop 17 per cent just in the past eight days, wiping out billions of dollars from their pensions and savings.

Despite a modest rebound Wednesday, it's not clear where the bottom lies.

In a highly unusual move, the Bank of Canada joined with central banks in Europe and the U.S. to cut short-term interest rates by half a percentage point Wednesday.

It was clear signal from a respected, sober institution that all is not well in Canada.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund called for a co-ordinated international response, warning that the world "is entering a major downturn in the face of the most dangerous financial shock ... since the 1930s."

The IMF did say, however, that Canada would fare better than the U.S., although growth rates for both countries will be low this year and next.

Harper defended his approach at a press conference in Victoria, arguing that a prime minister cannot show alarm in uncertain times and referencing his mother to show he feels Canadians' pain.

"I use my mother as an obvious example because ... she's the person closest to me who's most worried about the stock market these days. And believe me, I get quicker updates from her on the stock market than I do from the Department of Finance," he said to laughs.

Dion has vowed to put in place a 30-day economic action plan if elected, and the NDP has promised to roll back corporate tax cuts to spend on job creation.

Dion received a boost from an unlikely source for his promise to call an urgent meeting of premiers and experts on the economy. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach echoed the call for a special meeting of premiers on the issue.

And in an open letter, 80 economists, most left-leaning, called on Ottawa to take a more activist role in stimulating the economy even if it means going into deficit.

"Complacent expressions of faith in our 'fundamentals,' and other varieties of economic denial, will not protect Canadians from the coming storm," they warned.

The Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll shows Canadians have been paying attention to the economy and beginning to express concern.

Forty per cent of respondents said the economic uncertainty is affecting their voter preference. And for the first time, the much-pilloried Dion edged ahead of Harper on the personal leadership question.

Overall, the Tories remained at 31 per cent for the second straight day, while the Liberals edged up to 27 per cent, followed by the NDP at 20 and the Greens at 12.

The survey also shows the Tories melting away in the two biggest electoral battlegrounds which are key to their re-election hopes. The party trailed the Liberals by eight points in Ontario and were running third in Quebec - 15 points behind the Block and seven points behind the Liberals.

"The numbers show little doubt that the Liberals have been having better success, the Conservative campaign has taken a serious hit, while the NDP remains an important wild card," said Bruce Anderson, president of Harris-Decima.

The rolling sample represents 1,278 interviews conducted Saturday through Tuesday and is considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Against that backdrop, Harper said his government had showed foresight and prepared Canada for the shocks and dismissed the opposition policies as cynical and dangerous.

"The opposition are trying to use pessimism and panic to get people to choose things that are not in those people's interests," he told reporters in Victoria.

Harper said Wednesday's rate cut demonstrated the willingness of banks internationally to deal with the situation.

He added that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will support calls for a G-8 summit on the crisis at a meeting in Washington on Friday.

Earlier, Flaherty told reporters Canada's banks are not as vulnerable as their international peers to the financial turmoil.

"We've had a couple of financial institutions in Canada that ran the risk of falling outside the capitalization requirements," he said. "We required them ... to maintain the appropriate capital requirements and raise capital as necessary, which was done months ago."