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In the months since its calamitous election campaign, the NDP — a party that prides itself on, and largely defines itself by, perpetually demanding accountability of other parties — has carefully avoided holding its own leader to account.

As far as I can tell, no one inside the NDP hierarchy in Ottawa has paid any price (beyond a little humiliation) in the wake of the painful thrashing the party received on October 19.

Tom Mulcair remains the bruised, diminished leader of a rump caucus reduced to playing third-string in the House of Commons and acting, yet again, as the self-proclaimed parliamentary conscience of Canada. (The line the NDP trots out every time it gets trounced in a federal election — that it’s the Western Hemisphere’s most moral party — is getting stale.)

Sure, Mulcair has made noises about how he takes personal responsibility for squandering the NDP’s historic opportunity to actually win a federal election. But from my distant perch in Toronto, Mulcair’s mea culpa sounds about as convincing as Ezra Levant does when he tells people he’s a journalist now.

Look, if Mulcair truly accepted blame for the NDP’s disastrous showing, don’t you think he would have taken the proverbial walk in the snow by now? Ottawa did record its largest one-day snowfall ever earlier this week. Opportunity knocks, Mr. Mulcair.

Instead, the NDP leader — depending on which day you catch him — either points a not-so-subtle finger at his campaign advisors for not letting Mulcair be, you know, Mulcair, or suggests that a media-manufactured controversy over the hijab torpedoed the party’s flawless strategy.

And what’s happened to the preening know-it-alls behind Mulcair who took to Twitter before the election to deride the critics who dared question their strategic acumen, and confidently predicted they were poised to win the whole enchilada? Like their boss, they seem to have escaped blowback for the shellacking they took.

Maybe it’s coincidence, maybe it’s karma, but since McGrath’s arrival, Premier Notley’s approval rating has been in freefall. Maybe it’s coincidence, maybe it’s karma, but since McGrath’s arrival, Premier Notley’s approval rating has been in freefall.

Take Anne McGrath, the party’s former national director. Recall that in the lead up to the election, McGrath spent a lot of time and energy trying to snuff out potentially prickly ‘bozo eruptions’ by, in part, banning high-profile NDP stalwarts from contesting nominations in NDP-friendly places like British Columbia.

McGrath promptly got out of Dodge before the party could hold her to account, taking up a new job as Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s deputy chief of staff. Maybe it’s coincidence, maybe it’s karma, but since McGrath’s arrival, Notley’s approval rating has been in freefall and the premier was made a national laughingstock after her people tried to ban Levant and his minions from legislature media events. (How do you turn a stunt-addicted charlatan most journalists can’t stand into a freedom-of-the-press martyr? Take a bow, New Democrats.)

Mulcair’s former principal secretary, Karl Bélanger, also got what amounts to a promotion. Late last month, Bélanger took over McGrath’s old job as the NDP’s national director. In making the announcement of Bélanger’s appointment, NDP President Rebecca Blaikie said in a media release that Bélanger “is the natural choice to help the party face the challenges of the coming months.”

Couldn’t the NDP have cast a much a wider net? Is this a political party or a private club? Bélanger’s career arc suggests the kind of favouritism the NDP loves to denounce in other parties.

Then, of course, we heard this week what everyone capable of reading a poll knew months ago — that Mulcair and his wonky brain trust ran a woefully uninspired, defensive campaign while ceding the “progressive” mantle to Justin Trudeau and the Liberal party.

Call me a cynic, but I’m convinced that this so-called “review” was simply a way for the brass at NDPHQ to let loyal, deeply disappointed New Democrats vent a little spleen, while giving their leader some breathing room before he has to contemplate that walk in the snow.

Surely Mulcair knows that when columnists like Jeffrey Simpson — whose approval he and his handlers once coveted — start raising doubts about his ability to hang onto the gig, the curtain’s about to fall.

The questions about Mulcair’s future will be resolved in April when the NDP holds its convention in Alberta. Mulcair says he needs 50 plus 1 to stay on as leader, while Blaikie says it’s more like 70 per cent.

Good luck bridging that divide. Regardless, if Mulcair does get shown the trap door, his inner circle should take the fall with him.

Andrew Mitrovica is a writer and journalism instructor. For much of his career, Andrew was an investigative reporter for a variety of news organizations and publications including the CBC’s fifth estate, CTV’s W5, CTV National News — where he was the network’s chief investigative producer — the Walrus magazine and the Globe and Mail, where he was a member of the newspaper’s investigative unit. During the course of his 23-year career, Andrew has won numerous national and international awards for his investigative work.

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