OTTAWA -- During his regular workouts on a stationary bike, Jack Layton will occasionally listen to Tommy Douglas speeches on his iPod.
But with national support for the party of Mr. Douglas stagnating, some on the Canadian left want Mr. Layton to do more than listen: They want him to start speaking the language of traditional New Democrats.
Since his election in 2003 as the New Democratic Party's sixth leader, the media-savvy Torontonian has moved it to the centre and shaved off its more controversial policies.
The goal was as simple as it was lofty: Replace the Liberals as the alternative government to the Conservatives. However, some are now wondering whether the NDP has lost its way.
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Poll numbers for the party are consistently lower than the 17.5-per-cent support in 2006 in the last federal election. This week's by-election results showed NDP support dropping in three of the four ridings.
"People don't need another Liberal Party, and that's my criticism," said Murray Weppler, who was the top aide to NDP leaders David Lewis and Ed Broadbent.
"We're not talking about any of the serious issues that affect the average Canadian any more. We're talking about ATM fees," he said, blaming part of the problem on what he sees as the news media's lack of interest in social issues such as homelessness.
Former Saskatchewan NDP premier Allan Blakeney speaks highly of Mr. Layton's performance as leader, but offered similar advice.
"Broadbent and Lewis and Douglas and Coldwell always put forward a kind of communitarian ideology, whether one wants to call it [that]," he said, listing three former NDP leaders and M. J. Coldwell, who formed the party's precursor, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. "I think that unless the New Democrats hold out a vision of a significantly modified capitalism, then we find it difficult to differentiate ourselves from the Liberals."
Mr. Blakeney said this is particularly important for the NDP when the Liberals are in opposition, where they tend to crowd New Democrats by campaigning from the left.
"I, for my part, would like to see them [the NDP caucus] holding forth on a somewhat more overarching or united communitarian statement," he said. "A little more emphasis on the 'child poverties' and the 'no-one-left-behinds' and the need for a national daycare."
Mr. Blakeney acknowledges that large numbers of western farmers have moved away from such issues, becoming "quite right of centre" in their views. Pollsters and other observers say socialist views have faded across Canadian society, presenting clear risks for the NDP in dusting off its more class-based language.
From the Waffle movement of 1969 to 2001's New Politics Initiative, NDP leaders have long dealt with challenges from the party's left. Mr. Layton quieted grumblings from the left at the party's convention last year, when he endorsed an immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan.
Despite the polls, Mr. Layton enjoys solid and widespread support within the party and his caucus. Part of that is because he has taken the party to 30 seats from 13 and has inserted himself into the political consciousness of Quebec.
Lesser known, however, is his commitment to consulting every corner of the party's grassroots. From provincial leaders, to candidates, to political leaders on campus, Mr. Layton spends virtually every free moment canvassing NDP supporters. Further, he scolds his Ottawa staff if they have not shown similar zeal.
Mr. Layton shrugs off this week's by-election results, saying NDP supporters weren't motivated to turn out because the ridings were easy wins for the Liberals.
He also bristles at recent comments arguing that the results show he should ease his attacks on the Liberals, saying less than 10 per cent of his comments take aim at them.
"I'm not going to change something that isn't happening," he said.
He did say the fact that the NDP finished in a virtual tie with the Green Party in three of the four by-elections means he has more work to do to persuade voters his party is a better environmental choice.
Alan Whitehorn, a political-science professor who specializes in socialism and the NDP at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, said the Green support may also hold a lesson about the NDP's tactics.
In urging voters not to go Liberal, Mr. Whitehorn said, the party may forget to explain why they should vote NDP.
"The more you engage in negative advertising, the more you may risk that the voters say, 'A plague on all your houses. I'm going to vote for somebody else,' and who's there?" he asked. "In some ways, the Greens are a potential location for people who are fed up with old-style politics."