Election campaigns, with their platforms’ hypotheticals, bring out a lot of magical thinking. As The Globe and Mail editorial board put it this week: the fiscal frameworks in both the Liberal and Conservative costed platforms are “built on sand.”

So please indulge me while I share some fantastical thinking of my own.

After the English-language leaders’ debate, when the official sparring was over but the cameras still rolling, there stood Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre, chatting civilly – even, dare I say, warmly.

For two hours, we had watched four leaders debate ideas with varying degrees of integrity, intelligence, passion and even humour.

And I thought: what if we could draw on all of these leaders’ skills for the betterment of this country, rather than be satisfied with the familiar horse-race approach to elections and the combative manner of governance? Leading with all we’ve got seems especially appealing as we navigate the uncharted territory of having both our economy and sovereignty threatened by the United States.

How much stronger could Canada be if politics wasn’t merely a partisan........

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