ACTION ALERT: Tell the PM that Canadians oppose the SPP

April 15, 2008

As Stephen Harper prepares to attend the North American leaders’ summit on the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) in New Orleans next week, a new Environics Research poll shows that Canadians disagree with key elements of North American integration.

The poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians highlights:

* 87% of Canadians agree that Canada should be able to set its own independent environmental, health and safety standards and regulations even if it could limit trade with the United States. And yet the SPP commits Canada to widespread regulatory convergence which has already resulted in Canada adopting weaker standards, most recently through consumer product legislation.

* 89% of Canadians agree that Canada needs an energy policy that protects Canadian supplies and the environment even if it means placing restrictions on exports and foreign ownership. But the SPP calls for greater energy integration and a fivefold expansion of the environmentally destructive tar sands project in Alberta.

* 88% of Canadians want a national water policy that recognizes clean drinking water as a basic human right and that also bans bulk water exports. But at an SPP-related meeting in Calgary last year, commissioned by all three governments, the issue of bulk water exports was firmly on the table.

* 86% of Canadians feel there should be an open, public debate on the SPP, and that the agreement should be brought to Parliament for a vote. Yet four years after the launch of the SPP there has been no public consultation or any parliamentary debate.

TAKE ACTION

Write to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and your Member of Parliament and join the Council of Canadians' call for public consultation and parliamentary debate on the SPP and an end to all talks aimed at promoting continental integration between Canada and the United States.

For additional background on the Security and Prosperity Partnership, please go to http://www.canadians.org/integratethis/.

To read the Toronto Star report on this Environics poll, please go to http://www.thestar.com/article/414557.

Brent Patterson, Director of Organizing and Campaigns, The Council of Canadians

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SEND YOUR LETTER NOW:

Subject
Recipients	pm@pm.gc.ca; Dion.S@parl.gc.ca; Layton.J@parl.gc.ca; Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca
Compose your letter in the box below.
Prime Minister, As a member of the Council of Canadians, I am calling on you to stop talks on the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, including the upcoming leaders’ summit on April 21-22 in New Orleans. I am opposed to the SPP, which includes the no-fly list (the SPP states, "Develop comparable standards and procedures...for passenger screening"); pesticide residues (it says, "Work to resolve differences in pesticide maximum residue limits that may be barriers to trade."); the tar sands (it calls for, "Greater economic production from the oil sands"); and civil rights (it calls for, "sharing of terrorist watch list data and the establishment of appropriate linkages between Canada, the United States and Mexico.") Recent Environics polling indicates that Canadians reject the SPP agenda: * 87% of Canadians agree that Canada should be able to set its own independent environmental, health and safety standards and regulations even if it could limit trade with the United States. * 89% of Canadians agree that Canada needs an energy policy that protects Canadian supplies and the environment even if it means placing restrictions on exports and foreign ownership. * 88% of Canadians want a national water policy that recognizes clean drinking water as a basic human right and that also bans bulk water exports. * 86% of Canadians feel there should be an open, public debate on the SPP, and that the agreement should be brought to Parliament for a vote. I also believe that the North American Competitiveness Council should be disbanded. Corporations such as Manulife Financial, Home Depot and Wal-Mart should not be dictating economic policy between Canada and the United States. I urge you to keep the promise you made in your Throne Speech in 2006 that "significant international treaties will be submitted for votes in Parliament." I believe that the Security and Prosperity Partnership should be subject to public hearings, as well as brought to the House of Commons for a full debate and vote. I look forward to your response. Sincerely, (your name)
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