B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell has a few things in common with former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney.

Both were elected leading right-wing parties, but each has refused to allow themselves to be dragged into supporting socially conservative causes. Neither of them would be seen in public opposing abortion.

Campbell and Mulroney have both enjoyed extraordinarily close relationships with one of B.C.'s most influential capitalists -- Peter Brown, chairman of Canaccord Capital Corp.

Both were incredibly cosy with other corporate interests as well.

Both steadfastly refused to introduce campaign-finance reform, which would reduce the influence of the corporate sector on public policy.

Mulroney met regularly with U.S. presidents and pursued free trade with the Americans, giving them easier access to our energy supplies.

Campbell had meetings with the de facto U.S. president, Dick Cheney, hooked B.C. into the western grid, and didn't oppose U.S. takeovers of B.C. energy companies. This also made it easier for Americans to have access to B.C. energy supplies.

Campbell and Mulroney both claimed to be fiscally conservative, but each allowed public spending to grow enormously during their terms.

Campbell and Mulroney both appear to have devoted a lot of time to selecting the right wardrobes for the television cameras.

Both professed a deep concern about aboriginal issues rather late in their political careers.

Mulroney helped create the British Columbia Treaty Commission and launched the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy, enraging right-wing non-Native gillnetters and seiners.

In recent years, Campbell has backed the $5-billion Kelowna accord, new treaties, and a supposed "new relationship" with First Nations people.

In perhaps the most unusual coincidence, both Mulroney and Campbell also started speaking out vociferously about environmental issues late in their careers.

In 1992, Mulroney pledged full support for the Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biodiversity, which were agreed to at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Some 15 years later, Campbell pledged a war on greenhouse-gas emissions in a speech to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities.

In his second term, Mulroney also introduced a new tax that was widely applauded by economists as a sensible alternative to the old hidden 13.5-percent Manufacturers' Sales Tax.

Mulroney's Goods and Services Tax was transparent, and only stood at seven percent when it was introduced on January 1, 1991. The public loathed the tax.

In Premier Campbell's second term, he has decided to impose a new revenue-neutral carbon tax. It will begin today at $10 per tonne, adding 2.4 cents to a litre of gasoline.

The tax has been applauded by environmentalists and some economists, who say it will be offset by income-tax cuts and rebates. So far, it has gotten a thumbs-down from the public.

Mulroney's GST was the primary reason why his party was nearly obliterated in the 1993 federal election, notwithstanding the popularity of his tax among economists.

Campbell's carbon tax could deliver a similar fate to the B.C. Liberals, despite how popular this measure is with environmentalists.

Mulroney's chief opponents in the Liberal Party of Canada under Jean Chretien promised to axe the GST if they were elected. 

The federal Liberals broke that promise after they saw how much revenue it brought into the treasury.

The GST helped the Liberal government eliminate the deficit, ensuring two more majority governments under Chretien.

The B.C. Liberals' chief opponents, the NDP under Carole James, are promising to eliminate the carbon tax.

If James and Co. can do the same thing with the carbon tax and Campbell that Chretien did to Mulroney (and his successor Kim Campbell) and his hated GST, the NDP could pull off an upset victory in the 2009 B.C. election.

Stranger things have happened in politics.

H.L. Mencken once wrote that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

If the NDP can win the 2009 election by focusing all of its attention on a relatively small, revenue-neutral carbon tax -- rather than on the wholesale giveaway of B.C. energy resources under Campbell's B.C. Liberals -- then Mencken's quote could just as easily be applied to B.C.'s political culture.