Is Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion planning to win an election using Labour Party leader Kevin Rudd as a role model?

Australia seems to have become something of a role model for Canadian politicians.

Indeed, Dion acknowledges his risky decision to make a carbon tax the cornerstone of the upcoming Liberal platform was influenced, at least in part, by the example of Kevin Rudd. The Labour leader won last November's election in Australia, promising bold action on climate change.

"The Labour party has been elected with a courageous platform of climate change," Dion said in a recent interview. "It can be done."

It can be done in an environment of stable gas prices.  Here is a chart I put together showing Canadian gas prices.  Australian gas prices would have followed the same pattern.

When the Australians went to the polls, they had seen gas prices stable for over six months.  Indeed, the overall trend was slightly down.  There was room for a carbon tax in the minds of voters who were somewhat concerned about the environment but unsure what to do about it.

A carbon tax would have appealed to these people.  But voting for a carbon tax, they would have felt that they had done something positive for the environment, without actually doing anything, like recycling more or buying a hybrid car.

Stephane Dion is hinting that he would force a fall election.  Based on the extrapolation, we could see gas prices of $1.60 or $1.70 or more.  Official with OPEC are predicting the same thing:

OPEC President Chakib Khelil predicted that the price of oil will climb to $170 a barrel before the end of the year, citing the dollar's decline and political conflicts.

"Oil prices are expected to reach $170 as demand for fuel is growing in the U.S. during the summer period and the dollar continues to weaken against the euro,'' Khelil said today in a telephone interview. The leader of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries also serves as Algeria's oil minister.

Not only would the backdrop for this Canadian election be six months of increasing gas prices, but we might not be at the end of the climb.  Stephane Dion would be arguing for a massive tax applied to everything to punish us for using fuel (either directly or through the purchase of goods and services) as we are struggling to buy what minimum fuel we need to get to work, work that earns us money that will already be spent mostly on fuel.

Canadian apples and Australian oranges.  I can't see how the Kevin Rudd experience in Australia in 2007 can offer any useful lessons to a tax-happy Canadian politician in 2008.

But the really weird thing is that none of this is mentioned in the article.