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The SPP became so mired in politics, with nationalist lobbies on both sides of the border raising a stink, U.S. President Barack Obama killed it on coming to office. (Vancourver Sun)
'Buy American' a priority at 'three amigos' summit The global recession, climate change and the controversial Buy American program will be front and centre Sunday when North American leaders meet for two days of top-level talks in Guadalajara.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper joins U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon Sunday to forge a joint path forward for clean energy and continental might against competing global powerhouses. The annual gathering, dubbed the “three amigos” summit after it debuted in 2005, is designed to craft a multi-year framework for security and prosperity for North America in the face of an international financial crisis.
This time, though, the security and prosperity partnership and its streamlining of regulations is taking a back seat as the three leaders focus on the recession that has rocked the economies of all three countries. Harper is expected to take a strong stand against protectionist measures such as the U.S. Buy American plan which has hit some Canadian exporters hard.
The Guadalajara summit comes only a few weeks after Canada angered Mexico by slapping visa requirements on Mexican visitors – a move designed to stem the growing tide of Mexicans claiming refugee status in Canada.
Fighting the H1N1 flu virus, developing a common position on climate change and battling the growing problem of drug trafficking will also be on the agenda. (Edmunton Sun)
US to discuss trade, drugs with Mexico and Canada "The bottom line is that what affects our bordering neighbors has the potential to affect us all, so we want to be certain that we have the tightest and best possible cooperation," said National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones during a White House briefing with the news media.
The summit -- a part of the three nations' Security and Prosperity Partnership -- was established five years ago by leaders who are no longer in office, said Maureen Meyer, a Mexico expert at the Washington Office on Latin America, which promotes human rights and democracy in the region. (London Guardian)
Toward a New Frontier Improving the U.S.-Canadian Border For the United States and Canada, however, it is also vital for national prosperity, for each is the other’s largest trading partner, and much of that trade is in intermediate goods that support the bi-national production of finished products, most notably autos (Brookings Institution)
Bioterrorism Evidence Evidence that an international corporate criminal syndicate, which has annexed high government office inside the United States, is intent on carrying out a mass genocide against the people of the United States by using an artificial (genetic) flu pandemic virus and a forced vaccination program to cause mass death and injury and depopulate America in order to transfer control of the United States to WHO, the UN and affiliated security forces (UN troops from countries such as China, Canada, the UK and Mexico etc) (Jane Bürgermeister)
Top 25 of 2009: # 2 Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA Leaders of Canada, the US, and Mexico have been meeting to secretly expand the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with “deep integration” of a more militarized tri-national Homeland Security force. Taking shape under the radar of the respective governments and without public knowledge or consideration, the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)—headquartered in Washington—aims to integrate the three nations into a single political, economic, and security bloc.
The SPP was launched at a meeting of Presidents George W. Bush and Vicente Fox, and Prime Minister Paul Martin, in Waco, Texas, on March 31, 2005. The official US web page describes the SPP as “. . . a White House-led initiative among the United States and Canada and Mexico to increase security and to enhance prosperity . . .” The SPP is not a law, or a treaty, or even a signed agreement. All these would require public debate and participation of Congress.
The SPP was born in the “war on terror” era and reflects an inordinate emphasis on US security as interpreted by the Department of Homeland Security. Its accords mandate border actions, military and police training, modernization of equipment, and adoption of new technologies, all under the logic of the US counter-terrorism campaign. Head of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, along with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Finance Carlos Gutierrez, are the three officials charged with attending SPP ministerial conferences. (Project Censored)
The Fraser Institute: Harper Government Must Move Quickly to Establish a Relationship With a Barack Obama Administration For the past several years, Canada and the U.S. have been moving to integrate markets in the two countries, initially under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and more recently through the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). The ability for transactions to occur freely across the border has been a key engine of Canadian growth in the past two decades. In 2007, Canada's trade with the United States amounted to 67 per cent of its overall trade, or 40 per cent of GDP. But these gains could disappear if the new U.S. administration embraces more protectionist policies. "Given Obama's expressed hesitation for free trade agreements and his promises to seek more labour and environmental conditions in agreements such as NAFTA, Canada will likely face more than security demands from the new administration in bilateral negotiations on deepening trade," Moens said. (Market Wire)
Canada Votes: Top 5 Issue Groups on Facebook
The Federal electoral campaign on Facebook is not only centered on parties, politicians and leaders – issues of common interests are also a central part of online political discussion.
Most of the prominent issue groups on Facebook were created before the start of the campaign. For instance, "I'm against the text message cash-grab", the top group in our sample with 36,855 members, was created in early July 2008. The top issues are varied, from text messaging and the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, to Bill C-484, Arts funding and the release of Omar Khadr from Guantanamo. The "Department of Culture" is the only Facebook group started during the election, growing in membership as arts and culture funding emerged as a major issue in the campaign. (CBC)
Corporate Canada declines: Some call it treasonous but however you regard the hollowing out of Canada's corporate sector be assured it continues. To takeover numbers worth some $835 billion and swelling since 1985 to around 11,000 Canadian corporations, we may soon add the venerable Alberta-based TransAlta Utilities. Some call it treasonous but however you regard the hollowing out of Canada's corporate sector be assured it continues. To takeover numbers worth some $835 billion and swelling since 1985 to around 11,000 Canadian corporations, we may soon add the venerable Alberta-based TransAlta Utilities.
What's remarkable is how LS Power Equity Partners (LS Power) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) didn't consider a takeover sooner. As a major generator of coal, gas and wind energy whose forerunner Calgary Power Company was founded by W. Max Aitken in 1903, TransAlta Utilities has 50 such assets located around the world with the majority located in Alberta where it also supplies most of the province's power. In addition, LS Power already has nine per cent of TransAlta's common stock and owns power generation assets all over the U.S. Adding to the mix, GIP specializes in infrastructure investments worldwide while its owners -- Credit Suisse and the world's sixth-largest company, General Electric -- are providing the financing, though for all their riches, they don't explain why the $7.8 billion they are offering is only a fraction of what it would cost to build such assets from scratch. (Canada.com)
Watching the waistline--the thickening of the Canada-U.S. border: the difficulty of convincing the United States that Canada can September 11, 2001, was a seminal date in the young 21st century. The attacks on and collapse of the World Trade Centre in Manhattan was the seed from which grew America's preoccupation with the security of its homeland above all other national policy objectives. Canadians were justifiably proud of their immediate response to this crisis faced by their neighbour and closest ally. They opened their homes to thousands of air travels forced to land on Canadian soil and rallied in impressive numbers on Parliament Hill that same week to visibly demonstrate our nation's support. Within three months of the attacks, both countries issued the Canada-U.S. Smart Border Declaration, leading to the Canada-U.S. Smart Border Accord in 2002--aimed at improving security and border efficiency. In the aftermath of 9/11, however, Canada acquired a new imperative in its vitally important relationship with the United States--trust in a secure 49th parallel is a condition precedent for trade and further trade liberalization between both countries.
Almost seven years later, it is clear that the historical low-maintenance approach to managing the border is over. Security trumps trade for Canada's largest trading partner. This has contributed to what is commonly referred to as the "thickening" of the Canada-U.S. border, characterized by increased wait times, direct border crossing fees, additional and duplicative border programs, inconsistent regulations, and increased inspection times. (Entrepreneur)
Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America home page (archive) Joint Statement
Prime Minister Harper, President Bush and President Calderón North American Leaders’ Summit
April 22, 2008
SPP Background
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) was launched in March of 2005 as a trilateral effort to increase security and enhance prosperity among the United States, Canada and Mexico through greater cooperation and information sharing.
This trilateral initiative is premised on our security and our economic prosperity being mutually reinforcing. The SPP recognizes that our three great nations are bound by a shared belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic institutions.
The SPP provides the framework to ensure that North America is the safest and best place to live and do business. It includes ambitious security and prosperity programs to keep our borders closed to terrorism yet open to trade.
The SPP builds upon, but is separate from, our long-standing trade and economic relationships. It energizes other aspects of our cooperative relations, such as the protection of our environment, our food supply, and our public health.
Key Accomplishments Since August 2007
April 22, 2008 (Security And Prosperity Partnership Of North America)
In this interview Janet Eaton provides an overview of the origins, structures and impacts of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), a NAFTA
plus initiative within a 'security' fortress America framework which is being executed, beneath the radar screen of public, Parliamentary and Congressional scrutiny, by executive levels of government with advice from big business. Impacts discussed include human rights and civil liberties under attack on the 'security' side and downward regulatory harmonization, tar sands and energy implications, NAFTA super corridor impacts, the environment as loser under both NAFTA and the SPP, loss of jobs, and attempts to privatize Mexico's Pemex, among other things, on the so- called prosperity or trade side of the arrangement. (Global Research)
On April 8, President Felipe Calderon dropped a political bomb on the Mexican political scene. The Senate received an executive initiative that would fundamentally change the structure and operations of the oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). Key operations of the state-owned enterprise would be taken over by private companies.
In the reform proposal, Calderon and his National Action Party (PAN) took care to avoid calling for modifying the Mexican Constitution. National ownership of petroleum is a touchstone of nationalist pride in Mexico since President Lazaro Cardenas expropriated private companies on March 18, 1938. At that time, citizens fed up with the arrogance and voracity of foreign oil companies supported the expropriation by donating everything from live chickens to family jewels to pay compensation and regain control of the resource. The Mexican Constitution is very clear about who owns Mexican oil: "The nation has direct dominion over all national resources of the continental platform ... (including) petroleum and all solid, liquid, or gaseous hydrocarbons ..."
The president announced the "energy reform initiative" as an administrative packet to save Pemex from a deep financial and operational crisis. To these neoliberal administrators, the only way out of this crisis is to turn to the private sector. According to the Calderon government, Mexican citizens and politicians must now acknowledge that Mexican administrators are incapable of rising to the lucrative challenge at hand, Mexican scientists can't provide the needed technology, and Mexican consumers prefer public services in foreign hands.
That line will be a hard sell, given the history of the oil industry in Mexico and current trends in Latin America. (Counter Punch)
From rust belt to innovation zone Here is a tonic for what ails North America's depressed industrial heartland.
"The opportunity is real for the Great Lakes region to forge a new economic leadership position and serve anew as a model for world economic and social innovation," says the Brookings Institution.
The Washington think-tank, respected for its solid, non-partisan research, has just released a report entitled The Vital Connection: Reclaiming Great Lakes Economic Leadership in the Bi-National U.S.-Canadian Region.
Its lead author, John Austin of the University of Michigan, argues that Ontario, Quebec and the 12 American states in the Great Lakes basin can build a bright economic future, provided they shake off their despondency and recognize the assets they've been overlooking. (Toronto Star)
Public/Private Partnerships: Government-Sanction Monopolies During the first years of the Clinton Administration in the early 1990s, there was much fanfare about a new policy to “reinvent government.” It was sold as a way to make government more efficient and less costly. It would, said its proponents, “bring business technologies to public service.”
Pro-business, anti-big government conservatives were intrigued. The backbone of the plan was a call for “public/private partnerships” (PPPs). That sounded like their kind of program. Government, they said, would finally tap the tremendous power of the entrepreneurial process and the force of the free market into making government more effective and efficient. It sounded so revolutionary and so American.
Today that “reinvention” has evolved into the policy known as Sustainable Development and much of it has been embraced by the “free-trade” movement which advocates open borders, free trade zones and one-size fits all regulations and currencies and the use of public/private partnerships. Many of the biggest proponents of the policy are conservative and libertarian think tanks.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the first of the “free trade” policies to use the concept of public/private partnerships as a major tool to drive policy. The program was sold simply as a means to expand markets for American industry and agriculture beyond U.S. borders into Canada and Mexico, thereby offering American business and workers “better jobs, better wages and more exports.” However, NAFTA has brought about much more than unencumbered trade. It is creating great change in the economic order of the nation.
It is little understood by the general public how public/private partnerships can be used, not as a way to diminish the size of government, but in fact, to increase its power. These bonds between government and private international corporations are a double—edged sword. They come armed with government’s power to tax, enforce policy or enforce eminent domain. At the same time, the private corporations use their wealth and extensive advertising budgets to entrench the policy into our national conscience. (Canadian Free Press)
Trade the talk of summit, but controversy looms: Bush meets with North American leaders this week in New Orleans With free trade issues looming large in the race to replace him, President Bush this week convenes his final North American Leaders' Summit, focusing on trade, economic and security issues with counterparts from Mexico and Canada.
Bush is hosting Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in New Orleans for a two-day conference starting today. It is the fourth annual meeting of a summit that first convened in 2005 in Waco.
"We'd like to enhance and strengthen an already dynamic and strong relationship, to deepen the cooperation by building on the common interests of our citizens," said Dan Fisk, senior director of Western Hemisphere Affairs for the National Security Council. "The North American relationship works; we believe it works well for all three countries, but we also believe we can make it work better." (Houston Chronicle)
Montebello summit police face ethics complaint: Head of CEP union alleges officers disguised as protestors violated ethics code A union leader has filed a complaint with the Quebec Police Ethics Commissioner regarding the conduct of police officers disguised as protesters at last summer's North American leaders summit in Montebello, Que.
Dave Coles, head of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, took part in the demonstration in August where three Sûreté du Québec officers dressed in black clothing and with bandanas over their faces were filmed carrying a rock and pushing through a line of riot police despite protesters' attempts to stop them.
At a news conference Tuesday, Coles said he hopes the complaint he filed Friday will achieve two goals.
"One is that we get to the bottom of who sent them in and why. Why were police sent in to disrupt a legitimate protest? I think Canadians need to know that. It's an affront against democracy," he said. (CBC)
Protect Canada's water, Ottawa urged Warning that most Americans see Canada as that "great green sponge up north," four organizations plan to issue a plea today to the Conservative government to protect the nation's water before it's too late.
A study authored by the Polaris Institute, a public policy group, and obtained by the Star challenges "myths" about Canadian abundance and describes how the country lost control of its water to U.S. interests under the terms of binding trade deals, including the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Moreover, while U.S. Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama recently raised the spectre of Washington renegotiating NAFTA for its benefit, this report – done in co-ordination with the Canadian Labour Congress – underscores that Ottawa has the option of abrogating the deal if it can't establish control over water. (Toronto Star)
Secretary of Economy Eduardo Sojo Garza-Aldape, Secretary of the Interior Juan Camilo Mourino Terrazo, Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff in Los Cabos, Mexico, on February 27-28, 2008, to discuss the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). (Marketwire)
Mexican Campaign Against NAFTA Finds Its Focus: Hundreds of thousands are organizing against NAFTA and its encroaching powers. Some of the 300,000-plus protesters marched against the increasing price of corn, pesticides, and fertilizer. Some marched against the secretary of agriculture. Some marched to get a free lunch. There were marchers against genetically modified organisms (GMO). But at the other end of the march was a contingent of tractors, which had traversed the country to make a dramatic procession down the Avenida Reforma, that sported pro-GMO stickers sponsored by Monsanto.
Despite these various and sometimes divergent interests, the Mexican campaign against NAFTA is finding a focus. One of the best attended sessions of the recent Mexico Social Forum was on the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a so-called "NAFTA-plus" closed-doors agreement stirring concern throughout Canada, the United States, and Mexico that the most undemocratic corporate domination is yet to come. The SPP needs to be on the radar of citizens of all three countries because it ties the issues together into a particularly sinister package. Security, natural resource control, militarization as a response to the drug war, the abandonment of small farmers, and links between NAFTA and immigration are all now brought together within the SPP -- and within the social movements that oppose it. (Alter Net)
WeAreChange confronts Mexico's ex-President Vicente Fox Luke Rudkwowski of WeAreChange interviews Vicente Fox about the treasonous NAFTA superhighway and the goals of the power elite to eliminate the sovereignty of all nations including the great U.S.A. into a corporate Global Union, beginning with the Eu (We Are Change)
Wrong Paul: Fantasy, fallacy and factual fumbles from the Republican insurgent. Ron Paul doesn't have much of a chance of winning the Republican nomination, but he persists with his well-funded campaign and even talks of turning it into a permanent "Revolution" that will continue far beyond 2008.
We've given his statements little attention until now. But here we look at some of his more outlandish claims:
* Paul claims that a secret conspiracy composed of the Security and Prosperity Partnership and a cabal of foreign companies is behind plans to build a NAFTA Superhighway as the first step toward creating a North American Union. But the NAFTA Superhighway that Paul describes is a myth, and the groups supposedly behind the plans are neither secret nor nefarious.
* Paul says that the U.S. spends $1 trillion per year to maintain a foreign empire and suggests that we could save that amount by cutting foreign spending. Paul gets that figure by including a lot of domestic programs that he isn't planning to cut, like the U.S. Border Patrol and interest payments on the debt.
* Paul has run television ads touting an endorsement from Ronald Reagan, but he fails to mention that, in 1988, Paul wanted "to totally disassociate" himself from the Reagan administration.
The problem with Paul's claim is that there are no plans to build a NAFTA Superhighway. Or a North American Union, for that matter. And while the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America does exist, it's just a boring bureaucracy.
Like many conspiracy theories, this one is a mixture of fact and fiction. That scary-looking map, with lines that rumor suggested were drawn to scale, is the product of an actual group called North America's SuperCorridor Organization (NASCO), which is a consortium of public and private entities. But contrary to conspiracy theorists, the map does not show a new highway. Those bright blue lines show only I-35 and I-29 – interstates that already exist. On its Web site, NASCO says it and some of the local governments along I-35 have been referring to that route as the "NAFTA Superhighway" for years. NASCO advocates improvements to existing roads, but is not lobbying for, or planning to build, any new thoroughfares. (Newsweek)
NAFTA Superhighway Mid Continental Corridor is under way The American Presidential candidates are discussing the existence of what is contained in the Manitoba Speech from the Throne and the Albertan North American Trade Corridors map. Americans concerned about their country losing sovereignty in a North American Union are circulating YouTubes contrasting the reality of the Speech, and Map, to the words of those denying the Superhighways' existence.
Though our political system differs, Canadians will do well to watch the influence of these contributions from Canada as Americans select their next president. Will the person selected be following the denial policy of President Bush or charting a different course? (The Canadian)
Highway To Hell? Ron Paul's worked up about U.S. sovereignty. Ron Paul wants you to be scared. There's a conspiracy in the land—what he calls a "conspiracy of ideas"—to give up America's sovereignty. It's a shadowy scheme that begins with the NAFTA "superhighway," a road as wide as several football fields that will link Mexico, the United States and Canada. "They don't talk about it and they might not admit it," Paul said at the CNN-YouTube presidential debate last week. He didn't say exactly who "they" are, but perhaps one can guess. "They're planning on [taking] millions of acres … by eminent domain," warned the prickly libertarian. But elected government officials aren't acting alone. There's "an unholy alliance of foreign consortiums and officials from several governments" pushing the idea, Paul wrote in October 2006. "The ultimate goal is not simply a superhighway, but an integrated North American Union—complete with a currency, a cross-national bureaucracy, and virtually borderless travel within the Union."
Only it's not true. The main purveyor of this broad conspiracy theory is Jerome Corsi, coauthor of "Unfit for Command," the book that helped Swift Boat John Kerry's presidential ambitions. His latest offering is "The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger With Mexico and Canada," which became a best seller on The New York Times's business list this summer. Corsi plays on growing nationalist fears. He sees a scenario in which a North American Union is born and shares a currency, the "amero." Even some right-wing standard-bearers regard the fears as over-blown. Jed Babbin, editor of the conservative newspaper Human Events, says: "I guess there are people who believe in [the plan for a North American Union]. But there are people who believe in Bigfoot." "The evidence is out there," says Corsi.
Like all good conspiracies, the NAFTA superhighway is a strange stew of fact and fiction, fired by paranoia. There is a big road planned. It's called the Trans-Texas Corridor. The idea was unveiled in 2002 by GOP Gov. Rick Perry. And it's true the corridor was originally designed to be 1,200 feet wide, including a highway for vehicles, railway lines, petroleum pipes, electricity and water lines and broadband fiber optics. (It's since been scaled back slightly.) A considerable swath of Texas land, perhaps as much as a half-million acres, will be taken by eminent domain. (Newsweek)
Que. provincial police spent $7 million on Montebello summit: One of a number of police and security forces ensuring protection at the Montebello summit bringing together North American leaders this year, the Quebec provincial police spent over $7 million on the event alone CanWest News Service has learned. One of a number of police and security forces ensuring protection at the Montebello summit bringing together North American leaders this year, the Quebec provincial police spent over $7 million on the event alone CanWest News Service has learned.
On Aug. 20 Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon convened in the Quebec town some 80 kilometres east of Ottawa for a two-day summit as part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The initiative aims to deepen the integration of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Security was both tight and expensive, especially as a three-metre high fence was raised to surround Chateau Montebello where the meetings took place, to keep hundreds of protesters away.
A number of local, provincial and federal police forces participated in the security effort on land, water and in the air, and for just one of them the bill climbed over $7 million according to an audit obtained by CanWest News Service through Quebec's access to information legislation. Figures for the others are not yet available.
According to documents obtained from the audit bureau of the Surete du Quebec, $7,192,635 was spent by the provincial police force to help secure the event, most of it to make sure enough manpower was available. A total of $4,589,965 went to cover overtime during the summit and another $1,416,303 covered lodging, transportation and catering costs. (Canada.com)
Critics oppose unified North America Critics of a security partnership among the United States, Mexico and Canada are concerned that such measures might someday lead to a unified North America.
As the three governments discuss the Security and Prosperity Partnership initiative to improve international relations, opponents of the measure say such negotiations could lead to the formation of a North American Union of more than 440 million people, The Arizona Republic said Wednesday. (UPI)
Pros and Cons Regarding a "North American Union" If it hadn’t happened in my own backyard, I might have missed it. Humbling, but true. It’s been reported by other news sources by now, but since it did occur so close to home I’ll share my angle….
Inasmuch as I’ve been following the actions of globalists for almost thirty years, it may surprise that I’ve only taken to writing with regularity fairly recently. The reason for this is that their machinations of late have become more audacious and their effects apparent (i.e., the Amnesty bill, the Mexican trucking “experiment” and the SPP, Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, all of which have been unpopular with the majority of Americans, but have strangely taken shape anyway – or come damn close). (Mexidata.info)
EPA Releases List of High-Volume Chemicals The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released the first set of Hazard Characterizations on 101 High Production Volume (HPV) chemicals. These characterizations are based on EPA’s scientific review of the screening-level hazard, or toxicity, data that was submitted by the U.S. chemical industry through EPA’s HPV Challenge Program or other information previously collected by the agency.
The HPV Challenge Program challenged companies to provide the public with basic health and safety data on chemicals that are manufactured in excess of a million pounds a year. The hazard characterizations include a summary of the data submitted, EPA’s evaluation of the quality and completeness of the data, and an assessment of the potential hazards that a chemical or chemical category may pose. EPA will combine this information with human and environmental exposure information collected from EPA’s Inventory Update Reporting to develop a risk characterization and, based on that review, determine if additional action is needed to ensure the safety of the HPV chemicals’ manufacture and use. (Web Wire)
North American leaders do little to advance NAFTA Two years ago, President Bush agreed with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to set up a so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership to look at ways of deepening the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that links their countries.
Some detected a conspiracy to create a North American Union. They can relax: Talks last week at Montebello, a Canadian resort near Ottawa, among Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderón were "practical," according to the host. For example, Harper revealed that time had been spent discussing standardizing labels for jelly beans.
Officials in all three countries have worked on similar attempts to harmonize rules on everything from food to how to respond to health scares and tainted imports. This is useful, no doubt, but so small-scale as to be almost invisible, which worries some people. (Star Tribune)
North American Leaders Conclude Talks About "NAFTA On Crack" A summit of North American leaders has concluded in Montebello Quebec. On Tuesday President Bush praised NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.
* President Bush: "And I think we made some good progress towards eliminating barriers and to harmonizing regulations to a point where more prosperity will come to be."
President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon met in Montebellow to discuss an expanded version of NAFTA known as the Security and Prosperity Partnership. Canadian activist Jaggi Singh said "The Security and Prosperity Partnership is, in brief, NAFTA on crack combined with the fear and paranoia of Homeland Security policies." The three leaders also discussed border issues.
* Mexican President Felipe Calderon: "We all want secure borders. We all also want efficient borders, borders that will allow a border crossing of those who build, who contribute and of course prevent border crossings of those who damage our societies, organized crime, drug trafficking and and illegal markets."
In other news from the Canadian summit, protesters are accusing police of using undercover agents to provoke violent confrontations during the meeting. (Democracy Now)
Analysis: Border issue to dominate summit Business leaders from the United States and Canada hope the North American summit in Montebello, Quebec, this week will put efforts to integrate the two nation’s border control systems back on track.
“The issue” of talks about a pilot project for a single frontier checkpoint where both U.S. and Canadian entry and exit formalities can be completed “will be part of the conversation,” Steven Nesmith, a former U.S. Commerce Department official now working as a lobbyist on border issues, told United Press International. He said the information came from U.S. officials involved in preparations for the summit.
A Canadian official, Susan Cartwright, confirmed to reporters at a pre-summit briefing last week that the pilot -- called the land pre-clearance project -- was one of several border issues that “would likely be discussed” at the bilateral meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President George W. Bush Monday.
The breakdown last April of talks about the pilot, mooted for the Peace Bridge -- which joins Fort Erie in Canada and Buffalo in New York state and is one of the busiest border crossings in the world -- has become something of a lightning rod for critics of the Department of Homeland Security, which pulled the United States out of negotiations on the issue after almost three years of talks.
Christopher Sands, an analyst at the Hudson Institute, said that the “very aggressive” U.S. attitude to security was also evident in the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership -- the trilateral process of keeping “our borders closed to terrorism yet open to trade,” according to its Web site.
“The security part is a little different (from the prosperity agenda), it’s very U.S.-driven,” he said. “It’s basically just a matter of the U.S. setting the standards and then getting the Canadians and the Mexicans to sign up.”
“That’s why they feel a little pushed,” he added, of Canada and Mexico. (UPI)
In Depth Security and Prosperity Partnership: SPP FAQs To hear some people talk, the Security and Prosperity Partnership meetings are nothing to get worked up about.
Thomas D'Aquino, of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, has said the issues discussed at the SPP are "quite important but frankly quite boring. They're not terribly exciting."
David Bohigian, the American assistant secretary of commerce for market access and compliance, told the magazine The Nation that the SPP is mostly concerned with bureaucratic minutiae and standards harmonization.
"For instance, in the U.S., we sell baby food in several different sizes; in Canada, it's just two different sizes," he told the magazine.
But if it's all boring bureaucracy and baby food jars, why are thousands of protestors expected to show up in Montebello, Que., a small town halfway between Ottawa and Montreal, for the third leaders' meeting under the SPP?
Who is opposed to the SPP?
Opposition to the SPP exists in all three countries and on either end of the political spectrum.
Progressive groups, particularly in Canada, say the SPP amounts to Canada's deep integration with the United States.
The Council of Canadians says the SPP is anti-democratic, makes Canadians less secure and ties Canada to the U.S. "war on terror." The Council is also concerned about the SPP discussions about bulk water exports from Canada to the U.S.
The NDP has said it has concerns about the SPP's "lack of transparency and democratic oversight." NDP trade critic Peter Julian has tabled a motion calling for public consultations and full Parliamentary oversight of the SPP.
On the Canadian government's website about the SPP, some of the agreement's accomplishments are listed:
* Initiatives that make it easier to ship goods across the border.
* Strategies to limit the impact of disasters and allow for a more co-ordinated international response and a faster recovery.
* International co-operation on intelligence, law enforcement, transportation security and border management to help reduce criminal activity and terror risks.
* Reduction of transit times by 50 per cent at the Detroit-Windsor gateway, the largest border crossing point between Canada and the U.S.
Not listed is a planned "harmonization" of pesticide limits between Canada and the U.S., which would raise the acceptable level of pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables.
The SPP's 2006 prosperity report identified "differences in pesticide maximum residue limits" as "barriers to trade." (CBC)
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