National Post: Jack Layton used to boast about being a socialist. "I'm proud to call myself a socialist. I prefer it by far to democratic socialist," he said in an interview seven years ago. Yet when I posed the same question yesterday, he was less strident. "I'm not into labels, but I prefer the description 'social democrat.' I am the leader of Canada's social democratic party and proud of it," he said. He sounded like former British Labour leader Tony Blair, who also preferred the "social democrat" tag. This is appropriate, since the NDP is making its own break with socialism. Mr. Layton is preparing for his own "Clause Four Moment" -- a shift he hopes will symbolize the metamorphosis of an old 20th-century socialist party into a vibrant 21st-century social democratic party.
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