The NDP became Liberal Light in the last couple of elections. And that basically pushes them down in terms of relevancy - after all, with first past the post if you don't want Conservatives the better vote is liberal, and if you don't want liberals the better vote is conservative.

What the NDP really does need to do, is shift towards being the party of the working class. Leave the social issues alone and basically state "government should stay out of your bedroom, while providing the regulations necessary to ensure you have the financial stability to pursue your wants.". In effect: People should be shown respect and dignity as people. Push for health care reforms, push for universal dental/eyecare. Push for reforming the welfare and low income support models. Reform the tax codes to help the most hard hitting.

The reality is, we don't have an economically conservative party right now. What we have is NeoLiberal and NeoLiberal extreme and both are bad. We have governments that are creating policies that result in dependency, instead of providing the foundation for personal agency. And if the NDP wants to win the election, they need to take that reality and go all in on it. And what that means is more or less leaving social issues alone.