Conservative leader Stephen Harper stopped in on Vancouver Island Wednesday, following his Liberal and NDP rivals to some of B.C.’s hot contests in the last week before the Oct. 14 federal election.

Harper’s visit was an apparent bid to shore up cabinet minister Gary Lunn. Lunn has held the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding since his Reform Party days in tight three-way races, but the late withdrawal of the NDP candidate has boosted the chances of former Green and current Liberal Briony Penn. Recent polls show the Conservative lead slipping nationally as a worldwide financial crisis has pushed environmental issues from the headlines.

Harper used a stop at a downtown Victoria hotel to promise new funding for medical residency spaces at hospitals, and a $5 million fund to encourage Canadian doctors to return home from the U.S. and other countries.

But his main theme for his speech was to emphasize how his government “weatherproofed” Canadian banks before the current turmoil, by eliminating government support for zero-down mortgages and tightening bank rules.

In a speech in Toronto Wednesday, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion blasted Harper for his earlier comment that plunging stock markets create “buying opportunities,” suggesting he is out of touch with ordinary people.

“He doesn’t realize that as Canadians we worry about our savings, our jobs,” Dion said.

Harper invoked his own mother, who is worried about her investments and gives him “quicker updates on the stock market than I get from the Department of Finance.” Most ordinary people don’t make sudden moves in response to stock market fluctuations, and neither should governments, he said.

“The opposition is trying to talk people into policies, like a carbon tax, like general tax hikes on business, or like pulling out of the government entirely as the Bloc would do,” Harper said. “They are trying to use pessimism and panic to get people to choose things that are not in those people’s interest.”

NDP leader Jack Layton headed from B.C. to Alberta and Saskatchewan for Wednesday’s campaign stops. In Edmonton he vowed to “re-regulate the banks, and make sure no one is gambling with your savings.”

Harper said the economic turmoil is no time for instant plans.

“Maybe I’m criticized because I will stand back, but surely to God, people want a prime minister who will stand back from panic in the market and make good decisions,” he said.