INTEGRATE THIS! Challenging the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America

“We recognize and embrace citizen participation as an integral part of our work together in North America. We welcome the contributions of businesses, both large and small, and those of civil society groups, non-governmental organizations, academics, experts, and others. We have asked our Ministers to engage in such consultations as they work to realize the goals we have set for ourselves here in Guadalajara.”

“The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) is no longer an active initiative and as such this website will act as an archive for SPP documents. There will not be any updates to this site.”

When the Council of Canadians set up its Integrate This! website in October 2007 to challenge the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), few had heard of the secretive executive agreement aimed at integrating North American policy in more than 300 areas. Few, that is, beyond a blue chip advisory panel made up of North America’s largest corporations intent on perpetuating and intensifying an unsustainable trade model that sidelines serious environmental, labour, health and security concerns. The SPP was about fortifying NAFTA and defending it against alternative economic models that put people and the environment first.

According to business and media commentators who had access to the SPP talks, momentum for the “deep integration” of North America’s various security, regulatory, citizenship and immigration, environmental and labour regimes died off when former U.S. President George W. Bush left office. Obviously the SPP was not as robust as its proponents had thought if it could not survive a transition in the U.S. government. More importantly, commentators now acknowledge that public opposition to “deep integration” talks have made the SPP politically poisonous. Transparency has been promised, as shown by U. S. President Obama’s statement that he would re-start the North American dialogue with “the active and open involvement of citizens, labour, the private sector and non-governmental organizations.”

The fifth North American Leaders' Summit took place in Guadalajara, Mexico from August 9 to 10, 2009. As in previous years, The Council of Canadians was there to push for this promised transparency and accountability, and to oppose any attempts to restart the failed SPP dialogue that puts corporate interests ahead of the people of North America.

On August 9, 2009, over 1,000 people marched through downtown Guadalajara during the North American Leaders' Summit to protest the expansion of NAFTA through the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, and to demand an immediate renegotiation with full public participation in Mexico, Canada and the United States.

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On November 27, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson tabled legislation that would transform designated U.S. police and security agents into peace officers equal to the RCMP “in every part of Canada” during joint maritime border operations. As if holding the RCMP accountable for its officers’ actions isn’t hard enough, nothing in the new legislation should make Canadians feel comfortable that any complaints against U.S. agents operating on Canadian territory will be dealt with swiftly or fairly. (more...)

Trinational corporate lobby – the North American Competitiveness Council – may not survive the death of the Security and Prosperity Partnership

We know the Security and Prosperity Partnership did not survive the 2009 North American leaders summit that took place August 9 and 10 Guadalajara, Mexico. What we don’t know for certain is whether the trinational corporate advisory group tasked with informing and directing SPP priorities – the North American Competitiveness Council – will continue to inform North American priorities in the years to come. (more...)

At President Obama's first North American Summit in August, the leaders of the three nations avoided any mention of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or its offshoot, the Security and Prosperity Partnership, in their joint statement. Although the trade pact was the origin of these annual meetings, the negative results of NAFTA have made it more of an embarrassment than a political asset. (more...)

"The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) is no longer an active initiative and as such this website will act as an archive for SPP documents. There will not be any updates to this site." -Disclaimer from the U.S. government's SPP website. (more...)

President Obama has wrapped up a two-day visit to Mexico for talks with Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The three leaders met in Guadalajara to discuss issues including immigration reform, trade, Mexico’s drug war, the crisis in Honduras, and the swine flu outbreak. It was Obama’s first official summit under the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. On the campaign trail, Obama had promised to open up NAFTA to renegotiations. But he’s backed off that pledge since taking office, blaming the global economic meltdown. Guests include Manuel Perez Rocha and Laura Carlsen. (more...)

Guadalajara, Jal.- To demand that the heads of state of Canada, Stephen Harper; the United States, Barack Obama, and Mexico, Felipe Calderon, immediately reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and start an energy [R]evolution, this Saturday, Greenpeace activists climbed the Minerva Monument and put a banner that read “Real Leaders Back Clean Energy”. (more...)

While trade and investment flows did increase, NAFTA did not create more net trade-related jobs and those that it did were very often less stable, with lower wages and fewer benefits. Instead, increased trade largely benefited the corporate elite in all three countries. Income inequality has also grown in the region. We believe that the trade liberalization and investors’ rights provisions contained in NAFTA were an important contributor to these results. (more...)

The following letter was sent to North American leaders today by four civil society networks, including Common Frontiers, to which the Council of Canadians is a member. Groups in Mexico delivered a version of the letter directly to the U.S. and Canadian embassies in Mexico City this morning. (more...)

No one asked them what they thought but the CEOs formerly known as the North American Competitiveness Council are telling us anyway. The NACC released a third report today on the eve of the Guadalajara leaders’ summit August 9-10. “No matter what form the partnership may take, we encourage governments to continue to consult with the private sector in all three countries,” they write. “The NACC stands ready to provide advice and assistance to governments as they work together to strengthen the security and prosperity of North America.” I’m sure they do. Question is whether those governments will let them back in. (more...)

A press briefing today hints again at the possibility North American leaders will drop only the name “SPP” when they meet in Guadalajara for the fifth annual leaders’ summit this weekend. Calling the meeting an “opportunity for the leaders to engage on a broad range of issues that are important to North America hemispherically and globally,” one U.S. official says “this is the first time they’re going to get together as a group to focus on these issues and not be as narrowly focused as the SPP.” (more...)

Legislators urge the renegotiation of NAFTA with the participation of civil society, labour and Legislatures
It is imperative that our governments now recognize that trade is not an end unto itself, but a means to sustainable development. The Task Force on Renegotiating NAFTA, comprised of legislators from Canada, Mexico and the U.S., are seeking a new fair trade model for North America, based on social and economic justice within a framework of sustainable development. (more...)

Though Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have done everything to maintain the status quo on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), President Barack Obama has promised to "push the restart button" on several trade deals. While it's debatable how much his administration actually differs from its predecessor in these areas, trade activists remain hopeful that Obama will stick to his promises to renegotiate NAFTA and reconsider its expansion through the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). (more...)

Friends in the U.S. tell us the Security and Prosperity Partnership has been dismantled as a formal project but that some of the working groups will continue. The news is based on a conversation with a Commerce Department official who was responsible for coordinating the trilateral initiative under Bush Jr. The official also said the North American leaders summit in Guadalajara will be coordinated by the National Security Council (NSC) as opposed to the Commerce Department as in previous years. (more...)

Obama should rename the SPP, set up two speeds on integration with Canada and Mexico, says new report

In what might be the first of the expected pre-SPP summit (August 9 and 10 in Guadalajara, Mexico) policy suggestions for North American relations, long-time Canada-U.S. commentator Chris Sands of the Hudson Institute has produced a new report for the Brookings Institution and Canadian International Council called “Toward a New Frontier: Improving the U.S.-Canadian Border.” Sands released the report in Toronto this week. Among other things, it calls on Obama to rename the Security and Prosperity Partnership, include labour, environmental and human rights groups on an equal footing to the private sector, and move on SPP priorities more slowly with Mexico than with Canada. (more...)

ACTION ALERT: Demand a say in North America's future

The next North American leaders summit – where Canada, the United States and Mexico have met to discuss progress on the Security and Prosperity Partnership – will take place August 9 and 10 in Guadalajara, Mexico and Canadians know almost nothing about it. (more...)

The American Leaders Summit, August 8-11, Guadalajara, Mexico

July 7, 2009
Posted by Brent Patterson

The Guadalajara Reporter reports that, “Several Mexican newspapers are reporting that U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Guadalajara next month to take part in the North American Leaders’ Summit. Although the White House has not confirmed the reports, the stories suggest that intensive preparations for the visit have already started, including the dispatching of a U.S. delegation to tweak the agenda and set schedules for the August 8 to 11event. …The U.S. State Department website confirms that summit will be held August 8-11 in Mexico but does not specify a location.” (more...)