Seats - unofficial results (CBC)

Liberal - 169 | Conservative - 144 | Bloc Québécois - 22 | NDP - 7 | Green - 1

I can tell you exactly where they floundered.  Two areas.

I met Jagmeet several times while working at the party's national headquarters.  Despite his tailored image, he's a casual guy, even walking around in bare feet, which I guess suits the left-wing party.  He can set the room on fire when he wants to, but the real Jagmeet in my interpretation is soft spoken -- he even snuck up behind me and unintentionally scared the living shit out of me on more than one occasion.  He signed a copy of his book Love and Courage for me and misspelled generosity, which I thought was endearing.  He had the overwhelming support of his party, having sprung onto the federal scene out of Queen's Park in Toronto.  He is, without question, a smart, capable leader.

The party had a comprehensive policy and platform, except in one area: foreign policy.  They supported Palestine in the war in Gaza, increasing immigration and family reunification, and broadly adopted noninterventionism as an ideal.  But, no mention of military, international aid, trade policy, involvement with the United Nations or NATO, or Canada-U.S. relations.  People would ask about those parts of the party's policy and I would have nothing to tell them.  Because they didn't exist.  They were not considered.

Of course, when the U.S. President imposed sweeping tariffs against Canada and most of the world affecting three quarters of our foreign trade portfolio, it became the leading election issue.  It became as much a referendum on what to do about Donald Trump as it was an election.  

The NDP was caught with its pants down.  It had no policy to point to.  Nobody knew what the party's positions were.  There wasn't a plan to begin with, let alone a reaction to this abrupt change in international dynamics.  It was, therefore, weak compared to the quite-prepared Liberals and the Conservatives.

And that international-relations void should be shocking for a party that prides itself on welcoming a global community within Canada's borders, for a party that is headed by a visible minority wearing a turban.  It just didn't dip its toe in that policy area.

Well, now, it will have to.

But there's another area where the NDP fell short, with critical results.  When it came to political messaging, all along the campaign and well before it, the party was laser focused on one thing: attacking Justin Trudeau.  They didn't make their messaging about the Liberal Party which would have been better, but this weird little rich boy named Justin.  

So when Trudeau stepped aside, the NDP lost all the equity it had built up in the hate-Trudeau movement.  They were knocked on their asses and back at square one.

Those two failures were responsible for a weak-as-can-be proposition to voters.  Who was better suited to defend against threats from Donald Trump, the experienced Liberals having solved their Trudeau problem in the eyes of the public, or the NDP that doesn't have a foreign policy?

So, the NDP got what they got and if they learn anything from this experience, then I guess it's for the best.  Nothing is certain in politics, and you have to be ready to twist and adapt to whatever changes may come.  Have no kink in the armor.

But, take heart, social democrats. The future has a spark of hope.

I have my eye on the feisty MP Leah Gazan of Winnipeg who survived the deluge.  While there's no word on any intent to run for the party's leadership, she reminds me more than a little bit of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the United States and I think she has the fire in her belly to inspire people and lead a revamped, reinvented NDP to a strong opposition status.  

Maybe more.