Romina Maurino, THE CANADIAN PRESS

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TORONTO - The New Democrats have a real chance of coming into the forefront after months of economic turmoil, federal and provincial party leaders said Sunday, arguing more people will turn to the left-leaning party after suffering through the consequences of "unregulated greed."

"The events that we've seen unfold over the last six or seven months remind us all once and again how much the people of Ontario and how much the people of Canada need a political movement like the NDP," outgoing Ontario leader Howard Hampton told a cheering crowd of party members, staff and labour activists during his last major address as leader.

"For us, it's not winning at any cost, for us it's not about us, it's not about our egos. It's not having power just so that we can have power - it is about fighting for the right things."

The party, Hampton said, has come a long way since he took over as leader more than a decade ago.

"We have not had success at every turn of the road ... but we have started to win back some of the political capital that was ours through the '70s and the '80s and into the '90s," he said.

The NDP hasn't been the ruling party in Ontario since former Premier Bob Rae took the reins in 1990. Rae presided over one of the most challenging periods of the province's history, inheriting a $700-million deficit and at one point projecting a record deficit of $9.1 billion.

But Hampton said the NDP has been winning more seats federally, and will win more because of the economic crisis that has been crippling the manufacturing and financial sectors worldwide.

"Look where unregulated greed has gotten us. Look at where all those who say greed is good and greed should be the basis of our economy, and then the basis of our society, look where the hell that's gotten us and what's going on in the world today."

He said federal party leader Jack Layton is right to challenge the ruling federal Conservatives for failing to offer any real stimulus to boost the sagging economy.

Layton is working on a coalition between New Democrats, the separatist Bloc Quebecois and Liberals to defeat the Harper government, saying it doesn't take the economic crisis seriously enough.

"We do have to send a message to Stephen Harper and the Conservatives that at a time when governments around the Western world are worried not just about a recession but the possibility of a depression, we cannot afford to have a federal government that wants to play simple, petty, partisan politics with people's lives," Hampton said.

Layton himself congratulated Hampton for his time as leader, speaking at the leader's levee in Toronto over the phone.

He said the NDP will stand up against Harper's policies and take actions that people can get behind.

"We need a major engagement by government, a major stimulus package and yet we got nothing," Layton said.

"The NDP is steadfastly for working families and against Harper's wrong-headed, inept policies, and we're going to deliver bold and strategic actions for Canadians that people can get behind, exactly like Howard Hampton would like us to do."

Four candidates are in the race to replace Hampton when he steps down in March: Peter Tabuns, former head of Greenpeace Canada, Hamilton's Andrea Horwath, party veteran Gilles Bisson and former East York Mayor Michael Prue.

All of the candidates have promised to work on rebuilding the party leading up to the next provincial election in 2011.