Thread: Bush and Harper sharing the same agenda on SPP

Good to see some more Canadians are waking up to their plan.

http://www.thestar.com


Their agendas are alike, so what are they really up to, asks Linda McQuaig


Jul. 9, 2006. 01:00 AM
LINDA MCQUAIG


If ever there was a guy who looked more like a "Stephen" than a "Steve," it would be our current Prime Minister.

But when you're the most powerful guy in the world, it's your call. So, to George W. Bush, our Prime Minister is evidently going to be just plain "Steve." That much was established during Harper's first visit to the White House last week.

It's hard to know what to make of that. Michael Brown was just plain "Brownie" when he got blamed — and then dumped — for Washington's handling of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

Whether or not there's any genuine warmth between Bush and Harper — the subject of endless media speculation — there's a clear convergence of interests.

Both men are ideological conservatives in the Reagan-Thatcher mould. Both have their political base in the booming, oil-soaked West. Both are extremely friendly to powerful corporate interests, particularly Big Oil.

So the question isn't how well these two ideological soulmates get along, but, rather: What are they up to? With their agendas so neatly meshed, and so fully in line with that of the corporate world, who's going to defend the interests of the non-corporate world, or what used to be called "the public interest?"

One thing we know Harper and Bush are up to is further integrating our economies. Under something called the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), they're redesigning our economies to reduce the regulatory power of government and enhance the power of business. And who better to make up the new rules than business itself?

Accordingly, last March, they turned to business leaders from the U.S., Canada and Mexico to come up with plans for more fully integrating our economies. The SPP process, which seeks to deepen the integration set out in NAFTA, began under Paul Martin, but has accelerated under Harper.

One key area of interest is further energy integration, something enormously appealing to U.S. corporate interests who want to push forward the development of Alberta's oil sands and consolidate their guaranteed access to this vast resource.

SPP documents refer to the "North American energy market" and "North American energy security" — making no distinction between Canadian and U.S. energy supplies and security.

This is fine with both U.S. and Canadian business interests. Of course, much of the "Canadian" energy business is U.S.-owned. But where is the public interest in all this? Is Canadian energy security being sacrificed to ensure U.S. energy security?

What about the environmental impacts on Canada?

Even former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed, a Conservative, has called for a moratorium on oil sands development, questioning the environmental and social costs and whether Alberta is getting enough money from the energy companies.

It would be nice if we had a Prime Minister who would stand up for the Canadian public interest, even if that meant a little more distance between the president of the United States — and Steve.


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Linda McQuaig is a Toronto-based author and commentator. lmcquaig@sympatico.ca.

Good to see some more Canadians are waking up to their plan.

Brian,
It's interesting you mention that.

My company has at least 30 or so employees in each Canadian provience, and they are just as upset about the North American Union plan.
I talk to most of my fellow Canadian workers on a daily basis, and the impression I received from them is that the Canadian people are just as upset about the NAU, as the American people are regarding the current immigration issues.

It is nice to know that there are a growing number of Canadians who realize what the SPP truly means.

As far as oil and electricty generation goes, I believe the current day robber barons are scrambling, like mad, to cash in on the soon to be obsolete commodities that built their wealth. I also suspect that these same elite are already hunkered down deciding how wind rights, ect., are going to be divided, and regulated, among themselves.