TORONTO - Ontario's Liberals will announce an election platform Monday focusing on jobs and the economy and positioning Dalton McGuinty as the only leader who can be trusted to steer the province in the right direction.

Campaign co-chairman Greg Sorbara described the election blueprint Friday as "a serious platform for serious times."

"The notion of going forward together is part and parcel of just about every single word that is in that platform," Sorbara told a news conference just days before the campaign toward the Oct. 6 election is slated to begin.

Party sources said the platform will be designed to position Premier McGuinty as the only viable leader for Ontario, and the Liberals as the only party that can keep the province on track as it once again faces uncertain economic times.

The document will also build on the themes McGuinty laid out in a campaign-style speech to the party faithful in July. Those included offering solutions for the economic and social challenges Ontario will face over the next decade -- from an aging population to demands for more efficient government and public services.

The Liberals are the last party to release an election platform. Sorbara says organizers decided to wait until close to when the campaign kicks off because "in politics, timing is everything."

"One of the very important parts of our platform is the work that we have been doing over the course of the past eight years," he said.

"When an election comes, that's the time to present the proposals on the foundation of the work of the past eight years, for the next four years and the next decade."

McGuinty has so far promised service guarantees for services such as renewing a driver's license as well as GO Transit, and an expansion of a program that provides up to eight weeks of unpaid leave for people caring for a sick family member.

The Liberals have also made several education announcements this week, but Sorbara said all areas will be addressed in the platform.

Major election promises from the Progressive Conservatives include boosting health-care funding by $6.1 billion over four years, forcing prisoners to perform manual labour and taking the HST off hydro and home heating.

The NDP has also promised to scrap the HST on those bills, as well as to phase out the provincial portion off gasoline.

All three party leaders will have a chance to defend their platforms during the televised leaders' debate, scheduled for Sept. 27, just nine days before the vote.

The Liberals also said Friday the party has now nominated all of its 107 candidates, including 42 women.

That's an increase from the 38 women nominated in the previous election, and shows the party's commitment to have half the candidates in ridings held by the opposition be women, Sorbara said.

The Progressive Conservatives, who have also nominated all of their candidates by now, have 24 women running.

For the NDP, 36 out of 105 candidates nominated so far are women.

The Liberals' platform drops on the same day as the annual Labour Day parade, which the provincial New Democrats have dedicated to their late federal leader, Jack Layton.