It’s a tale of two post-mortems: The Tories lost their shot at power, the New Democrats lost the balance of power.

But a month after their shared election defeats, the second-place PCs and third-place NDP have taken two different paths — Tory catharsis versus New Democrat denial — on two distinct timelines.

Within days of their June 12 debacle, the Progressive Conservatives caucused at Queen’s Park and spoke out. MPPs told Tim Hudak he was done as leader, sent his brain trust packing, and promised voters they were ditching his policies.

The PCs didn’t just kick off a leadership race, they launched a renewal and rebuilding process. Tory MPPs are looking and sounding like they’ve been liberated from past burdens — self-critical, but also self-deprecating.

Not the New Democrats, who have sounded more self-righteous and less self-aware than their rivals.

Andrea Horwath kept her caucus at bay for two weeks, working the phones to suss out dissent. When she finally emerged from the NDP’s Leader Protection Program, she seemed not only in denial but triumphal.

Her hubris was too much for grassroots New Democrats and caucus veterans from Toronto. Now, the last two surviving Toronto New Democrats in the legislature are belatedly having their say.

Cheri DiNovo vented her frustrations this week on the Torontoist website, describing the NDP campaign as “a debacle from the beginning, from day one.” Peter Tabuns echoed her cri de coeur, calling on the party to hold an open and candid discussion about what went wrong — without retribution.

But when caucus met again Tuesday, DiNovo, a United Church minister, was told to take another vow of silence.

Her chilly reception stands in sharp contrast to the way Tories treated one of their own in similar circumstances: When MPP Todd Smith told Hudak he had to go immediately, both in public and in a PC caucus meeting, he was hailed for speaking from the heart — and speaking truth to power.

No one in caucus is calling on Horwath to resign. The campaign was a wash — with three ridings lost in Toronto and three gained elsewhere — leaving the party a distant third (with 21 seats in the 107-seat legislature).

While the seat count is unchanged, the NDP’s policy platform underwent a sea change: Its traditional social justice roots were cast aside in pursuit of “middle class” voters. By stressing anti-tax crusades, tax cuts, tax credits and budget cuts, Horwath personified pocketbook populism — and pandering.

For many progressive voices in the party, it was too much to bear: Horwath had been silent on a minimum wage last year; and she’d ditched a left-leaning Liberal budget offering a public pension plan, plus wage increases for home care and child-care workers (long sought by unionists and New Democrats).

“Many of our supporters — who voted Liberal — saw more progress in the Liberal budget than they saw in our platform,” DiNovo said. “That was a core mistake.”

When 34 progressives with deep roots in the party protested in a letter to Horwath during the campaign, they were denounced by NDP attack dogs. (They bark reflexively when frightened — especially on Twitter, where New Democrats can be the angriest and nastiest partisans.)

The campaign continued to veer off course — not just operationally, but ideologically. It wasn’t just the centrist drift, but the outright pursuit of Progressive Conservative voters that crossed a line.

In the aftermath of DiNovo’s public criticisms, a more contrite Horwath confirmed this week that she is changing her staff — and changed her tone. Where last month she was “proud of the achievements,” this week she scaled back the bravado by acknowledging the “bittersweet” reality in Toronto.

The political reality for all caucus members is sinking in. The spring election they triggered has deprived them of the balance of power, leaving the party destabilized and demoralized.

With the Liberals enjoying a majority for the next four years, the NDP leader has lost her leverage in the legislature. Over the next four months, she must regain her legitimacy within the party.

Horwath faces an automatic leadership review this November that remains a wild card. In a 2012 review, at the height of her popularity, she won 76 per cent of convention votes — a comfortable margin over the traditional 66 per cent benchmark that raises red flags for all party leaders.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The ground has shifted since then. Delegates will have seen a Forum Research poll last week showing 35 per cent of voters believe Horwath should resign, versus 43 per cent wanting her to remain (21 per cent had no opinion). Her personal popularity has tumbled since last summer, from 50 per cent to 28 per cent today (versus 41 per cent for the incumbent Premier Kathleen Wynne).

While there is no obvious successor waiting in the wings, Horwath needs to persuade New Democrats that she has a recovery plan. And that she can recover her old persona as the happy warrior she once was, before she became her own worst enemy.

Martin Regg Cohn’s provincial affairs column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. mcohn@thestar.ca , Twitter: @reggcohn

Read more about: