OTTAWA — New Democrat Leader Jack Layton came out with guns blazing but his sights set low Tuesday, abandoning the traditional rallying cry of an NDP government for the more modest goal of bolstering the party's ranks in the House of Commons.

In the 2004 campaign, Layton urged voters to send the New Democrats back to Ottawa as the governing party; this time around, he appears prepared to embrace his role as kingmaker.

"Our goal is to increase significantly the number of NDP members of Parliament," Layton told a news conference shortly after Prime Minister Paul Martin dropped the writ, setting a date with voters for Jan. 23 and kicking off Canada's first winter campaign in more than 25 years.

"I think we've shown with NDP MPs in the House, good things happen."

Layton said his support for Martin's government changed what was a paralyzed Parliament and helped to make it work for Canadians.

Layton pointed to his party's role in helping to craft the federal budget, which temporarily halted corporate tax cuts and put more money into post-secondary education and social housing, among other things.

The $4.6-billion revision to the Liberal government's initial fiscal plan - party officials have since dubbed it the NDP budget - put Layton under the political spotlight as he entered into an uneasy alliance with Martin.

That alliance came crashing down Monday when the NDP joined the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois in toppling the minority Liberals in a historic non-confidence vote, 171-133.

After Tuesday's formal dissolution of Parliament, Martin turned on his former ally, painting Layton as a spendthrift.

"Jack Layton thinks government should do everything, even if it puts at risk the nation's finances," he said outside of Rideau Hall.

At the NDP's first rally of the campaign, Layton fired back, saying some 140,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost on the Liberal watch.

"If Mr. Martin says he wants to run on the Liberal record, I say, bring it on," Layton told about 100 cheering, sweaty supporters who crammed into a posh Ottawa restaurant to hear their leader.

Martin lost Layton's support earlier this month when he refused to accede to the NDP leader's demand that the Liberals take steps to prevent what he considers the proliferation of privatized health care.

Alberta and Quebec are potential electoral wastelands for the NDP and the party is also struggling to reorganize on P.E.I. and in Newfoundland and Labrador.