The result of a modern debate is always something of a blur. But what this year's encounters underlined is that this election is primarily about both two very different candidates for prime minister and two very different ideas of what the greatest threat to the country actually is.

Giancarlo Zorrilla attended a campaign rally for the first time in his life in March. It was a rainy night near Vancouver — typical weather for Canada’s west coast — but that wasn’t stopping the 29-year-old Canadian from seeing Pierre Poilievre speak.

A snap election defined by economic anxiety and annexation threats is now a two-man race about who can stand up to the president.