The comedian Peter Sellers acting in the role of Inspector Clouseau has always been one of my investigative heroes. So, using Clouseau-like sleuthing skills, I think I have finally figured out what Stephen Harper must have meant in the recent Canadian election debate when he warned of an “international movement” presenting “a very serious menace to this planet, including to this country.”

I respectfully submit the following as evidence:

With the next three statements, made in recent days by separate individuals in three different countries, I ask you this question: What is the common thread?

“It would be absolutely foolish for us not to go after this group before they come after us.”

“This is the threat of our generation, the battle of our generation and the fight that we’re going to have.”

“They’re coming after us. We may not feel we are at war with them, but they are certainly at war with us.”

(Drum roll, please …)

And the answer is … conservative prime ministers!

These were words uttered recently by 1) Stephen Harper, Canada; 2) David Cameron, United Kingdom; and 3) Tony Abbott, Australia.

Their similarities are revealing. What links these three leaders, apart from their common ideology, is a remarkably identical — and extreme — approach to the challenges of today’s Middle East. In fact, there are growing signs that these politicians, all comrades in arms, are quietly working from the same playbook.

After all, the formula is simple: Wildly exaggerate the actual threat. Inflame the rhetoric. Blame Muslims. Brush aside issues of human rights. And strap in — while the votes flow your way. It is a clever way to distract voters from more immediate and genuine threats, such as climate change and the economy.

In my view, if this doesn’t fit the criteria of an “international movement” posing “a very serious menace to this planet,” I don’t know what does.

It is true this isn’t what these leaders actually had in mind. In the Aug. 6 election debate, Harper, for example, talked of a “violent, jihadist movement that … is a threat to the entire region and a threat to the entire globe.”

In a major speech last month, Cameron identified “Islamist extremist terrorism” as a “threat to our way of life and to peace and stability in our own country.” He went on to offend British Muslims by suggesting that too many of them supported the “jihadists.”

Abbott, who describes fellow conservative Stephen Harper as his “mentor,” went even further with remarks in late June: “The death cult is regularly admonishing its supporters and sympathizers around the world to kill.”

Not surprisingly, all three countries have enacted similar laws to curtail freedom of movement and speech, redefine citizenship and dramatically increase police surveillance powers. This is not unlike what happened after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 when governments worldwide exploited these attacks to turn the screws on their political opponents.

It was actually an Australian law that inspired Harper’s claim this week that Canadians have no right to travel to regions of the world controlled by terrorist groups. If re-elected, he promised to crack down on what he called “terror tourism.” But this idea was widely condemned by opposition groups and refugee organizations.

It serves the interests of political leaders — such as Harper, Cameron and Abbott — to stoke fears about the “Islamist threat.” It allows them to evade more genuine challenges to their leadership. And, too often, their nation’s news media serve as an uncritical echo chamber for their claims.

But a global survey published last month by the Pew Research Center in the United States provides an important perspective. While people in Canada, the United States, Western Europe and Australia regard the so-called Islamic State as the issue that most concerns them, countries in the developing world — such as Latin America, Africa, Asia — regard climate change as the greatest threat.

Even in Turkey, where the terrorist group is found in neighbouring Syria, more people regard climate change as a greater threat than the Islamic State.

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This shows what we, sadly, already know to be true. The politics of fear often works, and political parties know that. As voters in Canada, we should remember that when we go to the polls on Oct. 19.

Inspector Clouseau will be watching.

Tony Burman, former head of CBC News and Al Jazeera English, teaches journalism at Ryerson University. Reach him @TonyBurman or at tony.burman@gmail.com .

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