From left to right, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Liberal Leader Mark Carney, New Democratic Leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet participate in the English-language federal leaders' debate in Montreal, on April 17.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

There were any number of questions asked this week at the French and English federal leaders debates, but the most fundamental one went unasked, and unanswered: Why are we here?

In other words, what is the purpose of the federal debates, a quasi-institution made all the more institutional in recent years by the arrival of the Leaders’ Debates Commission, set up by the Trudeau government ahead of the 2019 campaign?

We would argue that the purpose is singular: to provide voters a window to peer through in order to better inform their decision on who would make the best prime minister. All other considerations, including kind but misguided attempts to include parties with no chance of victory, are secondary.

Which brings us to the increasingly farcical........

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