CALGARY — Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and his Alliance opponent traded verbal barbs Friday over a controversial Alliance ad campaign that linked government policies to child hospital deaths.

Klein predicted the ads will backfire on the upstart right-wing challengers.

"Albertans don't like those kind of tactics,'' said Klein.

"And I shouldn't be providing advice to the Alliance party but I will. It's very gratuitous: don't use negative advertising, don't use negative approaches. It's only going to hurt you.''

The Alliance's new mailout brochure campaign features a picture of an infant and suggests Klein's Tories are partially to blame for statistics that show the province has Canada's highest infant mortality rate.

"More mistakes than any other province. 283 babies died,'' reads the pamphlet.

"Ralph Klein's real plan for health care: Pay More. Wait Longer.''

Alliance Leader Randy Thorsteinson said the Tories are just defensive because they are embarrassed over poor performance on health care, which includes long wait lists for help.

"I know the premier is upset with the ad that we're running because it's shining a light on his horrific record in health care and it has to be fixed. It's the number 1 issue in the province,'' said Thorsteinson, who was campaigning in Slave Lake.

"If Ralph Klein won't talk about health care, we're going to make him talk about health care because we will make it the issue in this election.''

Klein has said he will consult Albertans after the election on proposed changes to improve the health system but doesn't want to hijack that discussion by talking about health on the campaign trail.

Thorsteinson has said he is disturbed by a recent Statistics Canada report that showed the infant mortality rate in Alberta was at 7.3 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2002, the latest statistical year.

The national average was 5.4.

Klein said the rate is high because the province reports all infant deaths, including babies who weigh under 500 grams and are stillborn.

"We report infant mortalities that we needn't report under the rules of the World Health Organization,'' said Klein.

Earlier this week, Health Minister Gary Mar also stressed that Alberta has a high number of young mothers giving birth, a high number of multiple births through in vitro fertilization and a high number of young mothers who smoke.

The Liberals also focused on health care Friday.

Speaking at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in downtown Edmonton, Leader Kevin Taft said a Liberal government would roll all tobacco revenue into a special fund to promote healthy lifestyles.

"This will transform the tremendous health costs associated with smoking into the foundation of a healthier Alberta,'' said Taft.

The Liberals' $200-million platform also includes hiring more doctors and nurses, making midwives a core part of the health-care system and establishing a pharmacare program to help Albertans pay for the rising cost of prescription drugs.

At a parking lot in west Edmonton on Friday, NDP Leader Brian Mason stood flanked by four mini-vans to say if his party formed a government, it would hit the gas on a public auto insurance plan similar to those in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Right now the average family pays $816 per year for auto insurance in Saskatchewan and $972 in Manitoba but $1,695 in Alberta, he said.

"The Tory plan for car insurance is like going 100 kilometres an hour down a dead-end street,'' said Mason.

The New Democrats estimate it would cost about $50 million to set up a public insurance system in Alberta.

Mason said premiums for the average driver would drop 35 per cent under such a plan.

But an insurance industry spokesman said a public system would pose huge startup costs and have other disadvantages.

Jim Rivait of the Insurance Bureau of Canada said drivers can't sue for pain and suffering in public systems, and benefits wouldn't be as good.

"Wage and income compensation would be far better under a private system because you get your full wage and income,'' Rivait said.