Thread: SPP--INTEGRATE THIS! A Citizen’s Guide to Fighting

DEEP INTEGRATION
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INTEGRATE THIS! A Citizen’s Guide to Fighting Deep Integration

Dear Concerned Citizen,

Deep integration between Canada and the United States is not a theory or a fear – it is a reality. For several years now, task forces, working groups, commissions, coordinating committees and cross-border consultations have been working to harmonize Canada-U.S. programs and procedures. This has led to an incremental and systematic harmonization of Canadian and American regulations and standards governing health, food safety, and all aspects of the environment.

This harmonization process has been central to the demands of the big-business community in Canada. They contend that the only way to secure trade across the border and continued access to the U.S. market is to merge trade and border policies, including all regulatory, environmental and inspection systems. The Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), an organization that lobbies the government on behalf of Canada’s largest corporations, argues that because the economies of the two countries are now so integrated, our domestic laws are essentially redundant.

Those pushing for deep integration are looking at a common customs union, as well as harmonizing existing policies, standards and regulations to a common norm. Combined with joint Canada-U.S. inspection and security procedures, this would essentially wipe out the Canada-U.S. border. This push will lead to the privatization of our health care system, the loss of control of our resources and further compromises in trade deals like what we saw with the softwood lumber dispute.

But there is hope. We can work together to demand that the Canadian government stop taking its cues from big business and put a moratorium on deep integration initiatives.

This is not a call to put up borders around Canada. Nor is it an announcement of presumed moral superiority with respect to our neighbours. What I believe, and what the Council of Canadians believes, is that Canada must decide if it is in our interest to forge deeper economic, foreign policy, social and resource ties with the United States under its most aggressive government in modern history, or if we are going to stand with moderate countries and people around the world to form a counterweight.

This booklet includes background information, key demands and suggestions of how you can get involved in the fight against deep integration.

Make your voice heard.

Maude Barlow
National Chairperson, The Council of Canadians

INTEGRATE THIS! A Citizen’s Guide to Fighting Deep Integration Tool Kit (PDF 839kB)
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Eliminating “Unecesary Barriers”

The NACC was born in mid-June this year, its vague mandate announced with little fanfare in the press by Stephen Harper, George W. Bush and acting Mexican president Vicente Fox. The allbusiness council is composed of 30-odd CEOs (at least 10 from each country), who are to meet regularly to set priorities for the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America.

The goal of the SPP has been superficially reported as an increase in the security and prosperity of North America by means of strengthening co-operation between Canada, Mexico and the United States in a number of areas, including immigration, security, trade and transportation. In fact, it contains hundreds of provisions and “demands” that will affect everything from food and drug regulations to immigration policies to the creation of joint energy plans and a common foreign policy. The real goal of the SPP is no less than the integration of the Canadian and U.S. economic and security policies, and the process is being pursued without public knowledge or debate.

But the media don’t seem interested in the progress of the SPP, nor of the NACC, which was created so that business could direct this continental integration. For instance, the U.S. State Department announced in an August 14 press release that the NACC was meeting the next day to discuss ways “to cut red tape or eliminate unnecessary barriers to trade in North America,” and to set priorities for the SPP. The discussion concerned the future of Canada within North America, and yet not one Canadian journalist thought to contact the Canadian delegation to the NACC and ask what they talked about.

All the Ugly Details

Luckily, the Council of the Americas has been keeping track of NACC meetings and posting minutes on its website (www.americas-society.org). So despite the media silence we know, for instance, that the August 15 NACC meeting was chaired by Ron Covais of Lockheed Martin. We know that the Mexican delegation agrees with the U.S. on the priorities these unelected CEOs should set for the three countries, priorities that include energy integration, regulatory harmonization, and workforce mobility.

We also know that in its upcoming meetings, the NACC will give a lot of attention to the broader issue of “how to forge a more cohesive North American approach to the continent’s relationship with the rest of the world as it relates to trade, competitiveness and security issues.” They are talking about a common foreign and international trade policy for North America, and they are talking about it behind closed doors, with no public input.

Digging further on the Council of the Americas website we find out that the NACC goes back at least to January 2006, where public and private leaders from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. met in Louisville, Kentucky, to discuss objectives for the SPP. According to the minutes of that meeting, participants agreed that the future of the integration process depends on the “creation of a genuine constituency of North America.” This will require “buy-in” from legislators who have been left out of the process so far, as well as governments that recognize “the importance of business issues to the overall social welfare” and that empower “the private sector to engage substantively and pragmatically on trade and security issues without undue deference to political sensitivities.”

So the NACC was apparently created to bypass the democratic process and to let corporate leaders in all three countries come together and set the conditions under which they do business within North America. That’s more than we know about the Bilderberg Group. And it’s more than enough of a reason to demand that we disband the North American Competitiveness Council and cease all talks leading toward deeper integration between Canada and the U.S, including the Security and Prosperity Partnership summit planned to take place in Canada next spring. That’s what the Council of Canadians is demanding.

While few Canadians would reject collaboration with the U.S. on common security and defence concerns, Canada must retain the ability to form our own foreign and economic policy based on assessment of our own best interests. Without public access to the NACC, what guarantee is there that the CEOs won’t sell off our ability to govern for the sake of their own financial gain?

http://link.toolbot.com/209.104/22699