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The NDP is portraying the Liberals as lazy and entitled as it tries to reclaim its position as the strongest competition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Emerging from a three-day caucus retreat in Edmonton, the NDP is attempting to seize the spotlight from Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.

Fisheries and Oceans critic Robert Chisholm said the Liberals have failed to hold the Conservatives feet to the fire and are merely waiting to get elected.

When theyre in opposition, they dont work all that hard, said Chisholm, the NDP MP for Dartmouth-Cole Harbour.

They dont seem to raise too much of a fuss because they have this sense of confidence that, well, eventually people will want to fire these guys out and then well just take our turn.

The NDP needs to reverse the trends of the past two years to have a chance of winning the 2015 federal election.

The Liberals have led all parties in the polls since Trudeau was elected leader in 2012. In Nova Scotia, the Liberals swept an NDP majority government out of power. In British Columbia, an NDP party that looked like a shoo-in unexpectedly fell to the Liberal incumbents.

In Toronto, the Liberals seized the former NDP stronghold of Trinity-Spadina in a byelection when Olivia Chow vacated her seat to run for Toronto mayor. (Chow, after starting strong, now also lags behind in the polls.)

Most frustrating for the party is that it has fallen to third place in the polls, despite leader Tom Mulcairs widely praised performance as chief inquisitor in the House of Commons.

On Thursday, there was the unusual sight of Mulcair echoing Conservative attack points regarding Trudeaus relative inexperience.

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NDP planning to fight Liberals for opposition spotlight