Congratulations to the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. It would be helpful, sometime in your busy week ahead, if you could please explain why it was appropriate for the country to wait two months for your accession to have an opportunity for parliament to express its will about holding a general election.

One inevitable result of any federal or provincial election in this country is that someone (at least) will try to compare the total “popular vote” against the outcome determined by each respective riding and therefore the whole contest. You know, it is possible to make a clear and compelling case for various electoral reform schemes without stoking further cynicism in the disappointed half of the electorate. You know who you are.

Here is the Toronto Star’s Vinay Menon on Ontario’s incumbent premier (and proof that it is possible to say nice things about people you disagree with and, may actually not even like):

I get that Ford is a polarizing figure in these parts. Anytime I say anything nice about the man, my wife glances at me as if I’m petting a scorpion. But Ford deserves credit for jumping into this trade war abyss with his metaphorical fists clenched toward the American cameras.

Speaking of, Laura Stone’s interview with Ontario Trade Representative David Paterson in the Globe and Mail is the best thing I read all week. It put me in mind of the famous catchphrase from Douglas Adams’s Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (minus the large, friendly letters).

Hat tip to the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal for continuing to weaponize such a basic but blunt word. Sometimes the best instrument is a blunt one.

Like you, I also want my hour back.