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This week, Trump gets a chance to reprise that appearance 鈥� metaphorically 鈥� when he will be a lurking presence during the two big leaders鈥� debates in the Canadian election.

The president has been making walk-on roles throughout the first three weeks of the campaign. The debates on Wednesday and Thursday night will force the question, yet again, over whether it鈥檚 Liberal Leader Mark Carney or Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre who will be dealing with Trump after the election on April 28.

Mainly, that鈥檚 a character test, as so much of leaders鈥� debates tend to be. As my colleague Tonda MacCharles has reported, the policy differences between Carney and Poilievre have been shrinking throughout the Trump-tariff disruption of politics in this campaign.

One, maybe not-so-slight difference lingers. Carney has said flatly that the old Canada-U.S. relationship is over, while Poilievre, who has ratcheted up his rhetoric against Trump, still seems to hold out hope that relations could be set back on track.

Both will be expected to show that they can be simultaneously tough and diplomatic; worldly but domestically focused, prepared for Trump鈥檚 taunts but not rattled by them.

This business of dealing with Trump鈥檚 taunting presents some challenges for Carney and Poilievre; who both have displayed a certain prickliness to criticism.

As former prime minister Justin Trudeau said in a 2018 interview with me, when I asked about Trump鈥檚 Twitter rant against him earlier that year, the art of dealing with Trump often requires turning the other cheek.

鈥淎s satisfying as it might be to sort of let it rip in public or respond to personal attacks or personal comments with personal comments, does that help me do my job? Does that help Canadians? No. So I put that aside,鈥� Trudeau said.

So that adds another dimension to the eternal, if cliched quest for the 鈥渒nockout punch鈥� in this week鈥檚 debates. Not only will Poilievre and Carney be looking for ways to put their opponent back on his heels, they will be hoping for a chance to say to the viewing audience: 鈥淟ook, is this a guy who can keep his cool around a hotheaded president?鈥�

They鈥檙e also likely to trade accusations over who Trump would regard as the weaker of the two leaders; the one he can walk all over. Poilievre has already turned this into a campaign standard, saying Trump wants Carney because he can walk all over him. It鈥檚 also become fodder in Conservative ads.

Abacus Data, in a recent poll, asked respondents who Trump would rather have at the helm of Canada after the election. The results were almost evenly divided, with 39 per cent saying Carney and 36 per cent saying Poilievre.

But the poll didn鈥檛 delve deeper into whether respondents鈥� choices were meant as a compliment or an insult. Liberal supporters, for instance, might have given Carney as an answer because they think Trump will continue to treat their leader respectfully, but they also might have been tempted to say Poilievre because they regard him as a Trump ally.

Abacus conducted this survey among 1,900 Canadians from April 3 to 8. Because respondents were surveyed online, the poll cannot be considered truly random. A comparable random sample of the same size would have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

There will be 鈥� and should be 鈥� more to this week鈥檚 debates than just Canada-U.S. relations. Canadians are still preoccupied with affordability, housing and health-care issues. But Trump鈥檚 tariff threats have bled into rampant anxiety about the economy and what it will do to a country where costs for housing and groceries have been ridiculously on the rise.

For the two main rivals, these debates are their best chance to introduce themselves to a wide swath of Canadians. You have to go back more than 20 years when this country last held a debate with two main contenders doing their first turn on the leaders鈥� stage. (That was Paul Martin and Stephen Harper in the 2004 campaign.)

The pressure is intense. Carney has to live up to the lead he鈥檚 acquired for the Liberals in the repeated waves of polling during this campaign. For Poilievre, this may be his best chance to recover from the slide the Conservatives have been suffering in those same polls.

And Trump鈥檚 hovering presence only raises the stakes. Like Clinton, the leaders may be tempted to say 鈥渂ack off, you creep,鈥� but that鈥檚 probably not in anyone鈥檚 scripts for this week鈥檚 all-important debates.