Art supplies, beachside walks and a town hall: Inside the bruised NDP's attempts to rebuild

On the coast of Vancouver Island, the remaining NDP members of Parliament came to do some soul-searching.

The seven survivors — the "mighty seven" as they sometimes jokingly call themselves — gathered in the quaint coastal community of Parksville, just north of Nanaimo, for a caucus retreat last week ahead of the fall sitting in the House of Commons.

These types of multi-day meetings are meant to help political parties regroup and strategize before returning to Ottawa.

And there's a lot the NDP had to figure out over the summer.

In the smallest boardroom the hotel had, designed for "intimate gatherings," according to its website, a facilitator was brought in for the day to work with the MPs. They were armed with markers and other art supplies.

The 'mighty seven' NDP caucus held their