What would be the greatest political debate of all time? Or just this election?

As part of the promotional efforts for Monday’s leaders debate, all five moderators were asked to answer some debate-themed questions — favourite moments from past faceoffs between Canadian leaders, for instance.

One of the questions called upon us to pick any two people, living or dead, anywhere in the world, who we would like to see in debate.

Here’s what I answered: I’d like to see any of the current federal leaders in Canada, at their present age, debating their younger selves.

When you think about it, that’s been a running theme of this federal election for many of the political leaders — matching the politicians they are today with the people they were in their past.

Justin Trudeau, the 47-year-old vying to keep his job as prime minister, could confront the 20-something man who found it amusing to dress up in blackface or brownface in his exuberant youth. Beyond just asking him what he was thinking, the Liberal leader of today could tell the younger Trudeau just how wrong his dress-up preferences were. The younger one could remind the older one that the same caution should be applied to clothing choices during prime ministerial trips to India.

Andrew Scheer, the 40-year-old Conservative leader, could have it out with the rookie MP who stood in the Commons in 2005 and said that same-sex marriage wasn’t really marriage — more like calling a dog tail a dog leg. The older Scheer could tell the younger Scheer that Canada and the world were already in the midst of a transformation about notions of marriage and equality in the early 2000s, and these sentiments wouldn’t age well.

The older Scheer could also warn the younger Scheer that his dual Canada-U.S. citizenship would come up in 2019, so perhaps he might want to figure out what to do about it, or at the very least practise judicious silence on dual citizenships of other political figures.

Jagmeet Singh, also 40, hasn’t been haunted as much by his past in this campaign as he has been informed by it. How interesting would it be to see the current NDP leader in debate with his younger self, talking about racism he was experiencing then and now? It would be a peek into a Canada that maybe has changed a lot — or maybe not so much.

Green Leader Elizabeth May, 65, could talk to the young staffer she was in Brian Mulroney’s government in the 1980s, and the two women, younger and older, could argue over whether it is better to fight the climate fight from within the public service or out on the campaign ramparts.

Maxime Bernier, the 56-year-old leader of the People’s party, need only debate the man he was a couple of years ago, running as the favourite to win the Conservative leadership and speaking out against anti-immigration opponents. Maybe a debate between Bernier circa 2017 and Bernier today would enlighten us as to why this longtime Quebec MP has become — within a scant year or so — a rallying force for intolerance within the ranks of the right.

When the history of this 2019 election is written, we may get some learned speculation on why background checks have become a dominant part of the campaign conversation. Not a day seems to go by when leaders aren’t forced to reconcile with their own pasts.

It could be that digital technology has just made it easier to go dredging through the annals of history and that strangely, in a digital age, there’s more openness and transparency about political personalities than about government policy.

Talking about leaders’ pasts may also be easier than talking about the planet’s future, which is why Campaign 2019 has not really turned into the climate change election that many predicted this one would be.

Do leaders’ pasts really matter nowadays? Clearly Donald Trump’s past didn’t haunt him when he was elected president of the United States three years ago. But then again, nothing about Trump fits with what we think we know about politics — he rarely is called to explain how his acts of today fit with what he said or did a few days before.

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There is no “biography” section in the themes for Monday’s English-language leaders debate. The five of us moderators onstage will preside instead over themes such as climate, affordability, populism, Canada and the world, and Indigenous issues.

But somehow I suspect that the recurrent questions will arise about leaders’ pasts and present. It would be riveting TV to see two leaders at each podium: their current selves and their past selves.

Susan Delacourt is the Star’s Ottawa bureau chief and a columnist covering national politics. Reach her via email: sdelacourt@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt

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