The model for all who want to push the NDP to the market is British Prime Minister Tony Blair. His stated project is to "modernize" the Labour Party.
In reality he is trying to switch "New Labour" into a clone of the US Democratic Party, breaking the links to the labour movement and opening the doors wide to big business.
"The Third Way", or Blairism as it has come to be known, is a capitulation to the ideas of "free market" capitalism.
In a document co-authored with Germany's Gerhard Schroeder, entitled "Europe: The Third Way", Blair states: "We support a market economy, not a market society."
Much of the document is an effort to bolster this rhetorical distinction, painting the possibility of a kinder, gentler market capitalism.
"Decent public services are a vital concern for social democrats," Blair states, "but social conscience cannot be measured by the level of public expenditure."
How convenient. This allows Blair to feel good about himself while he continues the cuts to jobs, services and living standards that were the hallmark of 18 years of Thatcherite Tory rule.
Blair has appointed the rich and powerful of Britain's business to top bureaucratic positions.
No wonder he writes: "We want a society which celebrates successful entrepreneurs just as it does artists and footballers -- and which values creativity in all spheres of life."
In the two years of New Labour's government, British bosses' salaries have soared. In 1998, CEO's average pay rose 26%.
"World class performance must be rewarded with world class pay," says the New Labour minister of trade and industry.
Meanwhile, workers' pay has stagnated.
Blair claims to be a champion of education.
Before their election, Labour's Robin Cook stated: "We have no plans to introduce tuition fees for students."
Within weeks of the election Labour did what Thatcher's Tories never dared: imposed tuition fees. That has put college and university out of the financial reach of thousands of students, and will condemn others to mountains of debt, just as it does in Canada.
Under New Labour, school class sizes are rising, and standardize testing has been introduced.
New Labour has made good on one election promise: to reduce the waiting lists for treatment from the National Health Service.
They did this by no longer recognizing the period that thousands of patients wait between being referred by their GP and being seen by a specialist.
These patients are waiting to get on the waiting lists.
Along with "Welfare To Work" programs -- workfare -- Blair has introduced an act to root our "Incapacity Fraud." This is a way of forcing injured or handicapped workers into work that is unsuitable for them or which would make their ailments worse over time.
The Blair/Schroeder manifesto is full of fawning worship of "supply side" economics.
"Sound public finance should be a badge of pride for social democrats," they write, attempting to make fiscal conservatism seem benign.
That means tax cuts for the rich and big business, and services cuts and attacks on living standards for workers.
"Modernized" New Labour is looking more like old-fashioned neo-conservatism every day.