The NDP’s election debrief has been released just days before their big policy convention, in which Thomas Mulcair will need to convince delegates there to let him stay on the job. Little of what was in the report was new, other than name-checking all of the various internal bodies, committees and commissions who were consulted and who have work ahead of them. There were a couple of things that did stand out for me, however. The big one was about communication:

There were many frustrations shared about our internal communications during the campaign. Members, particularly local campaign managers, felt that the reporting from the ground had no effect on the strategic decision-making happening in the central campaign. What was being felt door-to-door was not being communicated, being miscommunicated, or went unheard. Members feel this impeded the ability of the central campaign to shift strategy when necessary.

The party has centralised a whole lot since 2011, and that was certainly reflected. That said, with everyone in the report saying that their local campaigns went great, it does smack a little bit of buck-passing to the central campaign. There were a few other points raised, such as the lack of a Quebec-specific offer, that they were not nimble enough in reacting to attacks from other parties, and that they didn’t adequately prepare for the niqab debate (but everyone was proud of their principled position, which confuses me a bit since the position wound up being that this was a court decision rather than the fact that we don’t tell women what to war in Canada). Glaringly absent in the report was the share of blame placed on Mulcair. In fact, he was barely mentioned at all. This was the closest it got:

We heard disappointment from members who felt that decisions about the strategy employed in the debates led to a situation in which our leader’s full capabilities — as demonstrated in the House of Commons over the previous years — were not on display. Across the country, we heard that our party activists did not understand why we refused to participate in some national debates.

While he wrote the big mea culpa letter taking responsibility, that’s not reflected in their actual debrief, which makes me a bit suspicious. And let’s face it – he had a big part in that, from his demeanour, to his inept slogan of “good, competent public administration,” to his poor debate performance, to the fact that his lack of the same kind of charisma that Trudeau exhibited did weigh in on people’s decisions. I’m left to wonder if the fact that they didn’t include criticisms of his performance in the report because it goes against the party’s solidarity mindset, or if it’s a kind of whitewashing of the record in advance of the leadership review vote. Suffice to say, it doesn’t make the report feel as forthcoming as it could or should be.

Good reads:

• Scott Brison promised some changes coming to Access to Information soon, but a full review of the Act won’t happen until 2018.
• There is some confusion around John McCallum’s insistence that privately sponsored Syrian refugees will be processed, but his department is cagey.
• There were some encouraging GDP numbers from January. Still, it’s just one month’s worth of figures. Economists’ reactions here.
• Trudeau was in Washington talking trade in advance of nuclear safety, and sounded like the TPP is probably going to happen.
• There are plenty of calls for a major review of the tax system, with its proliferation of boutique credits and the like.
• Newfoundland argues that it’s its turn for a seat on the Supreme Court, but that could bump up against Trudeau’s commitment for bilingual judges.
• Dave Perry explains the lamentable state of military procurement in Canada.
• Michelle Rempel talks about transformational leadership in politics.
• There has been so much ketchup stupidity in the last few weeks that Colby Cosh’s reality check is a necessary read.

Odds and ends:

Parliamentarians are getting a small raise. Cue the cheap outrage!

The PM’s national security advisor retired, while a new Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council was appointed.

We don't need a "fearful, cover-your-ass" culture in the public service, @scottbrison said today. #cdnpoli #ottnewshttps://t.co/tMgcSLoZE0

— CBC Ottawa (@CBCOttawa) March 31, 2016

https://twitter.com/mikepmoffatt/status/715520794391142400