[08-May-06] Council challenges Ambassador Wilkins on continental integration plan


MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2006

Council challenges Ambassador Wilkins on continental integration plan

Ottawa - The Council of Canadians has a message for Ambassador David Wilkins who will be speaking today to Canadian businesses involved in the security industry about the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership. The organization plans to present the Ambassador with a letter expressing its strong opposition to the deal negotiated in Cancun by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, President Bush and Vincente Fox.

“The Canadian public was not consulted and there has been no parliamentary debate on this plan developed by our governments behind closed doors,” says Brent Patterson, director of organizing at the Council of Canadians. In Cancun, only representatives of large corporations were allowed to sit at the table with the three leaders. “We are taking this opportunity to let the American government know how Canadians outside the big business community feel,” says Patterson.

The organization is part of a larger movement of civil society organizations across Canada who have expressed concerns about the harmonization of Canadian domestic and foreign policies with those of the United States. From November 2004 to March 2005, the Council of Canadians toured the country to consult Canadians of all walks of life on the issue of continental integration. A report of their findings was released in October 2005.

“Increasing public disapproval of foreign policy initiatives such as the mission in Afghanistan shows that the majority of Canadians, unlike Stephen Harper, do not want our country engaged in the so-called war on terror,” says Patterson. “We do not share Bush’s vision of global security and the Canadian government has failed to represent the interests of the general Canadian public in its meetings with the U.S. government.”

The public advocacy group hopes Ambassador Wilkins will take its message to Washington.
http://www.canadians.org/display_docume ... &catid=377


Hope they keep it up too!