SPP WATCH
Integrate This! is about challenging the Security and ProsperityPartnership of North America (SPP), an executive-level pact between the governments and corporate sectors of Canada, the United States and Mexico, which has never been debated publicly or voted on in any of the three countries. There are over 300 initiatives in the SPP aimed at harmonizing North American policies on food, drugs, security, immigration, manufacturing, the environment and public health.
As well as regular SPP updates, the site is full of reports, interviews and multimedia presentations critical of what's often called the "deep integration" of North America. News updates will be posted here regularly and archived into the seven categories on the left. The site is updated regularly so visit often, or sign up for regular updates above.
Photo: Council delivers 10,000 Stop the SPP petitions during the August 2007 Montebello Leaders' Summit.
Credit: Christina Riley
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News alert: The Free Trade Agreement of the Americas reborn?
September 26, 2008
Posted by Andrea Harden
President Bush met with leaders and officials from 11 countries in the Western Hemisphere on Wednesday, September 24th in New York to launch the ‘Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas’ initiative. Canada is joined by the U.S., Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Peru in this initiative. All have free trade agreements with the U.S., or one pending before Congress. In a Washington Post article, Bush hails the initiative as, “a forum where leaders can work to ensure that the benefits of trade are broadly shared.” (more...)
CD Howe Institute backs Canada-EU deal and deep integration through NAFTA renegotiation
September 24, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
Alan Alexandroff, who recently co-wrote a CD Howe Institute paper on NAFTA titled 'Still Amigos', writes in today's Globe and Mail that, "As Canada readies for a massive free-trade negotiation - perhaps starting as early as Oct. 17 - many hope the talks between Canadian and European officials could eventually result in a wide-ranging agreement. Such an EU-Canada agreement could even exceed NAFTA's scope by guaranteeing the free movement of skilled labour, free exchange of services and competitive public procurement." (more...)
Transfer of Federal Labs
A Blueprint for Dismantling Public Science
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
Communications Magazine > Vol. 34, No. 2, Summer 2008
On June 6, 2008, the Treasury Board released the long-awaited report of the Independent Panel of Experts studying the transfer of federal government laboratories to academia and/or the private sector. Following up on the government’s intentions outlined in the 2007 federal budget, the panel identified five “early candidates” for transfer. The first two will be Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Canadian Cereal Research and Innovation Laboratory in Winnipeg, and Natural Resources Canada's Geosciences Laboratory in Ottawa. (more...)
Pastor says new president will "probably discard the SPP"
August 26, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
Professor Robert A. Pastor, a leading proponent of North American integration, writes in the July/ August 2008 issue of 'Foreign Affairs' that, "The April summit meeting (in New Orleans) was probably the last hurrah for the SPP. The strategy of acting on technical issues in an incremental, bureaucratic way, and of keeping the issues away from public view, has generated more suspicion than accomplishments. The new president will probably discard the SPP." (more...)
Ambassador Wilson's Ode to Integration; North American Forum speech posted to embassy website
August 8, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Ambassador Michael Wilson’s speech to the 2008 North American Forum has made its way to the embassy’s website. The elite, closed-doors gig took place this year in Washington, D.C. from June 15 to 17. (more...)
Energy integration agenda hits speed bump: Mexicans vote in favour of public ownership
August 8, 2008
Posted by Andrea Harden
In a major rebuke to the Mexican government’s integrationist plans, on July 27th over 80 percent of voters rejected President Calderon’s plans for Mexico’s nationalized energy sector. This vote which brought out large numbers of people is significant. It demonstrates a clear opposition to the market-based energy integration between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada being pursued by the North American Energy Working Group (NAEWG) under the auspices of the secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). (more...)
Canada to host 8th Defence Ministerial of the Americas
August 6, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
The Defence Ministerial of the Americas will meet in Banff, Alberta this September 2-6, 2008. It is the eighth time the group has met since 1995, when civilian and military leaders from the Western Hemisphere gathered in Williamsburg, Virginia to discuss “a broad range of security issues in an atmosphere of open dialogue and mutual confidence,” according to the U.S. State Department website. But it will be the first time the ministerial has happened in Canada. (more...)
Harper launches major assault on food safety, fires government scientist; regulatory harmonization blamed
August 1, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
The extent of Harper’s current assault on Canada’s food and drug inspection system is about to dwarf any previous concerns we had with the regulatory harmonization of pesticide residues. The Prime Minister is simultaneously eliminating funding for BSE testing for Canadian producers, offloading federal research facilities to the private sector and academia, and firing government scientists who dare stand up against this widespread deregulation for the sake of corporate profits. (more...)
What’s good for U.S. energy security is good for the SPP
August 1, 2008
Posted by Andrea Harden
A recent U.S. statement confirms the ongoing push for greater North American energy integration that leaves Canada wide open for the worst of an energy gold rush. In addressing the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in Washington DC, Daniel Sullivan (Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs) calls for more energy integration and dependence on market-based solutions in the face of rising oil and gas prices and the havoc this is wreaking on the U.S. economy. (more...)
Majority of Canadians would renegotiate NAFTA, says Angus Reid poll
August 1, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
You’d never know it from the lengths our federal and provincial governments are going to in defence of NAFTA, but most Canadians think we should renegotiate the free trade and investment pact, says a new poll by Angust Reid. (more...)
Plan Mexico, SPP about “armouring NAFTA,” says Avi Lewis
August 1, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Journalist and human rights activist Avi Lewis, commented on Plan Mexico and the Security and Prosperity Partnership this week on U.S. radio program Democracy Now. (more...)
Put on the EDL brakes
The Globe and Mail
August 1, 2008
Stuart Trew, Letter To The Editor
From the speed at which provinces are introducing so-called enhanced driver's licences, you'd think they were a universally acclaimed technology (Passport Alternative Approved In Sask. - B.C. and online editions, July 31). But as a public forum in Toronto this month showed, there is much skepticism among Canada's privacy commissioners, consumer groups and the public. (more...)
Industry Week magazine contrasts European vs. SPP approach to chemicals regulation
July 21, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
A new article in Industry Week magazine offers an interesting and brief explanation of Europe’s new chemicals regulation laws (the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) legislation), and how they differ from the North American approach being developed through the Security and Prosperity Partnership. (more...)
"Any harsh treatment endured by Khadr is Canada's responsibility," says lawyer Kuebler
July 17, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
As reported by CTV this week, new documents and video footage “suggest Canada was aware of the harsh treatment that Canadian terror suspect Omar Khadr was being subjected to in Guantanamo Bay at the hands of U.S. military interrogators.” But Prime Minister Harper still says the government knew nothing and has no intention of interfering, or in asking that Khadr be allowed to return to Canada. (more...)
'Compete to Win' report says SPP too slow; promotes creation of a Canadian Competitiveness Council to set economic policy priorities
June 26, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
The federal government’s Competition Review Panel wants to scrap the ban on bank mergers, “lighten up its foreign ownership restrictions of uranium and airline assets, and liberalize the telecommunications industry,” according to the Globe and Mail today. (more...)
Canadians should hope for an Obama presidency and the reopening of NAFTA
June 23, 2008
Posted by Gordon Laxer, Parkland Institute
John McCain's visit to Canada on Friday was a preview of just how important the issue of renegotiating the North American free-trade agreement will be in this fall's U.S. presidential election. The prospect of a Barack Obama presidency has sparked a lot of "will he or won't he" worry in Canada. You can feel the fear of the business-as-usual crowd trying to reassure themselves that Mr. Obama won't really reopen NAFTA. (more...)
Canadians Reject McCain's NAFTA Plea - Continental Movement for Renegotiation Grows
June 20, 2008
Posted by Dylan Penner
On Friday, June 20, the Council of Canadians held a mock press conference and protest outside Ottawa’s Chateau Laurier, where Republican Senator John McCain spoke to an elite audience of Canadian corporate executives about the benefits of NAFTA. (more...)
North American Forum 2008 agenda released
June 19, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Teresa Healy, a researcher with the Canadian Labour Congress, has acquired the agenda for the 2008 North American Forum (NAF), which took place in Washington, D.C. this week, bringing together 75 personally invited policymakers and business leaders to discuss North American integration behind closed doors. (more...)
Civil liberties coalition launches website to monitor government abuse of terrorist watchlists
The following press release is taken from www.travelwatchlist.ca, a research project led by the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group and its partners to document incidents where travellers have been unfairly targetted by government watchlists in Canada and the United States. (more...)
Where is Michael Wilson's North American Forum speech?
June 18, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
It took over a year for Stockwell Day to release the speech he gave to the invite-only North American Forum (NAF) in Banff Springs, Alberta in September 2006. Will we have to wait as long to see what Canadian Ambassador Michael Wilson told this year’s private event in Washington? (more...)
U.S. threatened “thickening the border” without firm copyright reform from Canada, says Michael Geist
June 17, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
Michael Geist writes in today's Ottawa Citizen that in its pressure on the Canadian government to change our copyright laws, the U.S. administration made threats about “thickening the border” if it didn’t get its way. (more...)
The Future of Mexico's Oil: Social action to stop the energy grab!
June 17, 2008
Posted by Manuel Perez-Rocha
In Mexico, as in the U.S. and Canada, citizens and democrats wish to “close the revolving door between the executive branch and K street (corporate) lobbying …” Mexicans are currently mobilizing to stop the deeply undemocratic practice of lobbyists [writing] national policies. (more...)
Canadian ambassador to address fourth annual North American Forum in Washington
June 17, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Wilson, will address the secretive invite-only North American Forum gathering today (June 17, 8:30 a.m.), according to a press release from the World Affairs Council forwarded to Integrate This! by Teresa Healy of the Canadian Labour Congress. (more...)
Alberta can’t handle tar sands expansion, says new report
June 16, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
A new report out of Alberta today says the province “should not approve more oilsands upgraders near Edmonton until the province has a solid plan to limit the huge volume of fresh water they will use and to better manage the pollution they will produce,” according to CTV. (more...)
Plan to allow airlines to police themselves should not be allowed to fly
June 13, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
The web news resource PublicValues.ca focuses this week on the issue of airline safety, an area of public policy set to be harmonized across the continent through the Security and Prosperity Partnership. (more...)
Prentice releases “made in America” copyright legislation; only business groups happy
June 13, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
It received praise from the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the music and film industries, and other business groups, but Jim Prentice’s new copyright legislation, which he tabled this week in the House of Commons, is getting the thumbs down from musicians, privacy advocates and consumer groups. (more...)
McCain to dine and whine about NAFTA in Ottawa
June 13, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
Republican Senator John McCain, the man who may be George Bush’s successor in the White House, wants to speak in Canada about free trade. But it doesn’t appear that he’ll be speaking to Canadians – not directly at least – but rather to an elite audience of some 350 business leaders and policy makers in Ottawa. (more...)
Canada, Mexico and U.S. governments continue SPP transportation talks in Meech Lake
June 12, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Transport ministers from Canada, the United States and Mexico met in Ottawa and Meech Lake this week “to explore future enhancements to North America's transportation system and shared perspectives on the challenges of infrastructure renewal,” according to a Transport Canada press release on Tuesday. (more...)
Canada’s beef industry wants to adopt weaker U.S. feed ban rules
June 4, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
According to a Canadian Press article this week, Canada’s beef industry is pressuring the Canadian government to adopt weaker U.S. feed ban rules. (more...)
Ontario working on provincial ID card with Homeland Security approval
June 4, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Mere weeks after learning that Quebec will be producing “enhanced driver’s licences” (EDLs) by years end to cooperate with U.S. border security demands, Canadian Press reports this week that Ontario will offer similar provincial ID cards for non drivers. (more...)
Premiers Charest and Doer to address 2008 NASCO conference; progress made to Ontario-Quebec trade corridor
June 4, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Quebec Premier Jean Charest will give the closing address to the 2008 NASCO conference starting today in Guanajuato, central Mexico, and is expected to describe his vision for continental economic integration, according to La Presse canadienne today. Manitoba Premier Gary Doer will give an opening address to the conference, giving the annual meeting to discuss North American trade corridors a distinctly Canadian feel. (more...)
B.C.-Washington State “enhanced driver’s licences” are “very invasive,” says Ontario privacy official; Province to hold public hearings July 16
June 2, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
According to the Montreal Gazette today, “While Quebec's privacy commission is being kept in the dark on a proposed enhanced driver’s licence (EDL), or Permis de conduire plus, Ontario’s Information and Privacy commissioner, who has been part of the EDL process in that province since 2006, is calling a public forum on the issue for July 16.” (more...)
NAFTA+ business plans hurting Mexican workers, says journalist
June 2, 2008
Posted by Stuar Trew
An essay in the Fort Worth, Texas Star-Telegram this weekend by Mexican journalist Anne Vigna describes the impact NAFTA has had on workers in her country. While uglier than Canada’s free-trade history with the United States, the reality is similar in many ways. (more...)
Does Ignatieff support a Canadian energy strategy?
June 2, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
In his Globe and Mail column today, Lawrence Martin asks how much sense it makes that “energy-abundant” Canada imports 40 per cent of its oil from foreign markets. He also reports that Liberal Michael Ignatieff is wondering the same thing. (more...)
NORTHCOM, Canada Command release fraction of new Canada-U.S. military pact
May 30, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) has posted portions of a Civil Assistance Plan, signed with Canada Command on February 14, to its website, although it appears to be missing as many as 23 annexes – there is reference to an Annex W – that are still classified. (more...)
Life, Liberty, Water: An article in Yes! Magazine by Maude Barlow
May 28, 2008
As climate change and worldwide shortages loom, will people fight over water or join together to protect it? A global water justice movement is demanding a change in international law to settle once and for all the question of who controls water. (more...)
Canada ducks for cover on copyright; plans to sign ACTA without parliamentary approval
May 28, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Canada is under significant pressure from the U.S. government and the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), among other business groups, to reform its copyright legislation. International documents leaked to the press last week indicate that the Harper government is preparing to sidestep Parliament by signing a NAFTA-like international treaty that would radically change what types of currently legal activity will be cracked down on and by whom. (more...)
Quebec to become third province to offer enhanced driver’s licences
May 22, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
According to an article in the Montreal Gazette last weekend, SPP-linked enhanced driver’s licences (EDLs), “raise the spectre of multiple databases carrying surprising amounts of information on citizens.” (more...)
U.S. environmentalist Robert Kennedy again warns Canada about bulk water exports
May 23, 2008
Posted by Meera Karunananthan
U.S. environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr. is again warning Canada that the U.S. is thirsty for northern water, and he’s urging Canadians to pressure the government to enact tougher laws banning bulk water removals. (more...)
Canada doing the "dirty work" for the U.S. at cluster bomb talks, says Jody Williams
May 23, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
Jody Williams, the founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, writes in the Globe and Mail today that, "At the current 12-day conference to negotiate an international treaty banning cluster munitions, diplomats and observers alike are wondering what has happened to Canada's independence (because Canada) now appears to be doing the dirty work for the United States to weaken the cluster munitions treaty (now being negotiated in Dublin)." (more...)
Vancouver Olympics to be “the largest security operation in Canadian history”
May 22, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
We know from SPP documents that Olympic security for the 2010 Whistler Games is being coordinated with Mexican and U.S. military forces. This week, the National Post reported that the Canadian Forces will be there with tanks and other goodies. (more...)
Canada’s commitment to deeper integration with U.S. out of whack with public opinion, according to Canada West Foundation poll
May 22, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
A Canada West Foundation poll, which was reported in some newspapers as indicating Canadian support for eliminating so-called inter-provincial trade barriers, reveals distaste in western Canada for the negative impacts of international free trade agreements. (more...)
Harper government kills proposed GM labelling law while potentially criminalizing health products in Bill C-51
May 6, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson and Stuart Trew
Harper talks a good line on food safety but his actions prove he cares less about your health than corporate priorities.
As reported by Greenpeace Canada on Thursday: “A private member’s bill giving consumers the right to know if the food sold in Canada contains genetically engineered (GE) ingredients was defeated in the House of Commons today by a vote of 101 to 156." (more...)
Children’s rights groups ask Harper to reconsider his stance on the repatriation of Omar Khadr
May 13, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
The International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association and a group of organizations dedicated to the protection of the rights of the child have sent a letter to Stephen Harper calling on the Canadian government “to intervene immediately in the case of Omar Khadr and request his repatriation to Canada without further delay.” (more...)
Prentice tries to reconcile “security” and “prosperity” at Council of the Americas annual meeting
May 9, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson and Stuart Trew
On May 7, Industry Minister Jim Prentice, who is also the minister responsible for pipelines, was in Washington to address the 38th Council of the Americas Annual Meeting. This is the group that acts as the U.S. co-secretariat, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC). (more...)
Questions about military cooperation pact with U.S. still unanswered
May 8, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Since the story broke this February that the Canadian Forces had signed a troop-sharing agreement with the U.S. army for cross-border disasters and other incidents, Canadians have been asking questions of the government but getting little information in response. (more...)
U.S., industry and NACC push to change Canada’s copyright laws continue
May 8, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Industry Minister Jim Prentice will table a new copyright law at the end of the month that is expected to ape what critics call overly restrictive U.S. intellectual property policy. While the rule changes have been in the pipes since the Paul Martin Liberal days, the industry push to have them enacted has only strengthened with the Security and Prosperity Partnership. (more...)
Environmental, civil society coalition urges U.S. government keep dirty fuel ban; Canadian politicians want it ditched
May 8, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson and Stuart Trew
The Natural Resources Defense Council sent a letter to U.S. Senators this week urging them to oppose amendments to the 2008 National Defense Authorization Bill that would repeal a major environmental initiative to ban the purchase of dirty fuel from sources like Alberta’s tar sands. (more...)
The SPP keeps U.S. tanks full – an op-ed by the Council of Canadian
May 7, 2008
Brent Patterson
The following op-ed by Brent Patterson, director of campaigns and organizing with the Council of Canadians, appeared in today’s Windsor Star: (more...)
Bill C-51 and the SPP
May 6, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
A key initiative within the Security and Prosperity Partnership calls for the, "Identification and appropriate adoption of best practices in maintaining the safety, efficacy and quality of pharmaceutical products." (more...)
“Plan Mexico” counter-productive and militaristic, says new report tying it to the SPP
May 6, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
While Canada has its own bad security deals with the United States – joint no-fly lists, common biometric ID cards, cooperation with a draconian detention and deportation system for migrants – U.S. Congress is about to authorize a doozy with Mexico that has critics sounding alarm bells. (more...)
Dead birds and water shortages in boomtown Alberta
May 2, 2008
Posted by Meera Karunananthan
By now the whole world knows about the 500 ducks that died after landing in one of Syncrude’s toxic tailing ponds in Northern Alberta. The tragedy occurred just after the province had put aside $25 million in public relations cash to convince the White House that tar sands crude was environmentally friendly. (more...)
NAFTA’s legacy? Census data shows widening income gap despite promises of continental integration
May 2, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Last week, at the close of the fourth SPP summit in New Orleans, Prime Minister Harper issued a joint statement with Presidents Bush and Calderon that reaffirmed their commitment to the NAFTA trading model despite fresh criticism of free trade in all three countries. (more...)
Nothing new from the Disaster Summit but dangerous SPP initiatives live on
April 29, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
The media and business consensus following last week’s Security and Prosperity Partnership summit in New Orleans is that the trilateral meeting didn’t produce anything significant. While this is partly correct – no new initiatives were announced – the ones we’re stuck with are bad enough. And while we learned a few new things about the SPP’s progress since Montebello, very few of the details ended up in the news. (more...)
Harper out of batteries on energy issues
April 24, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
At the end of this week’s Security and Prosperity Partnership Summit in New Orleans, Prime Minister Harper said that, "Canada really is confident that the next President will also understand the importance of NAFTA, and the importance of the commercial relationship between the United States and Canada.” (more...)
U.S. states may seek Great Lakes water
April 24, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
As reported by Michael Oliveira of the Canadian Press yesterday, “Parched U.S. states could start ‘water wars’ in the years ahead and fight for access to Great Lakes resources as they become more desperate to meet growing needs, Canadian and American experts said Wednesday at a water conference.” (more...)
"Don't leave us!" begs NACC, "Don't worry," respond Bush, Harper and Calderon
April 22, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew in New Orleans
Oh what a depressing summit this was for the North American Competitiveness Council. Like last August, the all-corporate advisory body to the SPP has just tabled a "report to leaders" outlining its hopes and dreams for continental integration in 2008. Unlike last year, there's nothing new in this one beyond a sense of desperation that, for all the CEOs have achieved in public policy setting, the SPP's days are numbered. (more...)
Joint statement by Three Amigos speaks for itself
April 22, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson
Highlights from the 'Joint Statement by President Bush, President Calderon, Prime Minister Harper'. (more...)
Tour of New Orleans shows widespread government neglect
April 21, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew in New Orleans
Standing on old concrete foundations buried in overgrowth, it was hard to believe the expanses of green dotted with unused houses used to be a thriving community. But that was before Hurricane Katrina hit in the summer of 2005. Reconstruction in the Lower Ninth Ward has been slow to non-existent. (more...)
CNN Coverage of the SPP Summit in New Orleans, featuring Maude Barlow
April 21, 2008, in New Orleans (more...)
Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, talks with CTV NewsNet
April 21, 2008, in New Orleans (more...)
People’s Summit off to a dramatic and energetic start
April 21, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew in New Orleans
As barricades went up in parts of New Orleans' business district yesterday to protect the SPP meeting from scrutiny, two very different meetings were taking place close by. (more...)
"High priests" of deep integration working on new post-SPP agreement with government
April 21, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew in New Orleans
We saw it coming but now it looks conclusive: Canada's deep integration nuts are working on a post-SPP agreement that will strike Mexico out of the equation. (more...)
Amnesty International slams SPP secrecy in letter to Bush, Calderon and Harper
April 21, 2008
Posted by Pierre-Yves Serinet
Amnesty International has sent Prime Minister Harper and his U.S. and Mexican counterparts a letter condemning the secrecy behind the SPP and demanding that it be brought to each country's respective legislatures “to facilitate meaningful public debate.” (more...)
The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), Round Four
April 16, 2008
Posted by Bruce Campbell (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)
As the NAFTA leaders and their big business counterparts gather in New Orleans a few days from now for the fourth North American Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summit, it is worth reflecting on its role in North American integration. (more...)
CEP files official complaint against “agents provocateurs” in Montebello
April 16, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Dave Coles, the CEP president who unmasked a police officer posing as a rock-wielding protestor at Montebello last August, has filed an official complaint with the Police Ethics Commissioner about the use of agents provocateurs by the Sureté de Québéc. (more...)
Is the tar sands’ water supply protected by NAFTA?
April 16, 2008
Posted by Meera Karunananthan
Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, is warning Albertans that the government “could be forced to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to foreign-owned oilsands companies under NAFTA if a drought forced the province to ration water,” according to an article in the Edmonton Journal. (more...)
NACC member Chevron moves in on Mexico’s public oil and gas sector
April 10, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Chevron Corp, a member of the North American Competitiveness Council, has “submitted proposals to tap oil and natural-gas reserves in Mexico amid declining output from the second-biggest crude-producing nation in the Western Hemisphere,” according to Bloomberg this week. (more...)
North American ID card in the works through SPP
April 10, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff met with Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day in Ottawa this week to discuss progress on the Security and Prosperity Partnership. (more...)
Liberals must vote no to Harper’s immigration reforms
April 9, 2008
The group No One Is Illegal has issued an action alert asking citizens to contact their MPs (particularly Liberal MPs) to urge them to vote no to a series of amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). (more...)
Busting Paranoid Right-Wing Fantasies of Dissolving the Mexico-U.S.-Canada Borders
April 9, 2008
Posted by Manuel Pérez Rocha and Sarah Anderson
This month, President Bush will host the leaders of Canada and Mexico to advance the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a project Lou Dobbs has predicted will "end the United States as we know it." (more...)
North American foreign ministers meet in Washington for pre-SPP talks
April 8, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier met with his counterparts, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa, in Washington, D.C. today “to prepare the work for a leaders meeting that will take place in New Orleans,” according to a statement. (more...)
Khadr’s U.S. trial unlawful, admits Bernier, but Harper won’t bring him home
April 8, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
Prime Minister Harper’s stubborn refusal to save Omar Khadr from the injustice of a Guantanamo Bay show trial became even harder to grasp today as we learned that Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier has agreed the process is unlawful. (more...)
Will Canada shove Mexico out of the SPP?
April 7, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
There appears to be an elite consensus forming around a C.D. Howe Institute proposal to ditch the trilateral SPP model for a more meaningful bilateral trade agreement with the United States. (more...)
SPP groupies launch public relations assault prior to New Orleans summit
April 4, 2008
Posted by Brent Patterson and Stuart Trew
With three weeks to go until the Security and Prosperity Partnership leaders summit in New Orleans, the usual suspects have launched a barrage of policy papers to try and sway the public agenda towards even deeper economic and security integration than has been proposed to date. Meanwhile, International Trade Minister David Emerson has gathered the provinces to develop a consensus on Canada’s NAFTA position should the United States force a renegotiation after the November presidential election. (more...)
SPP leaders ditch token effort at public outreach, writes Le Devoir
March 28, 2008
Posted by Denis Salter (Council of Canadians Montreal chapter activist)
Prompted by an interview with the Minister of Industry, Jim Prentice, about the workings of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, Hélène Buzzetti published an article last week in Le Devoir (March 22-23) entitled, “Adieux aux promesses de Montbello” (‘Kiss Montebello promises good-bye’). (more...)
Feds infringed Khadr’s Charter rights with Guantanamo interrogation, say lawyers
March 27, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
The extent of Canadian government complicity in torture, partly exposed during the Maher Arar Commission over the past two years, is becoming even more apparent with the U.S. show trial of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr. (more...)
Conservatives turn people into cargo with “just-in-time” immigration reforms
March 20, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
“The federal Conservatives are moving to give the Immigration Minister more power to control the number and type of people allowed into the country – and the speed with which they are welcomed here,” wrote the Globe and Mail on March 15. (more...)
Joint RCMP-Homeland Security “Shiprider” pilot project to be made permanent
March 20, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
The Department of Public Safety is reporting today that a joint RCMP-Homeland Security pilot project, which put U.S. security agents on Canadian maritime patrols and vice versa, will be made permanent. (more...)
Canadian, Mexican and U.S. legislators plan simultaneous motions to block the SPP
March 20, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
According to an NDP press release last week, elected representatives in all three NAFTA countries “have agreed to file simultaneous legislative motions to stop further implementation of the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) process, imposed undemocratically on our three nations, and to open up the process that has taken place behind closed doors to instead have a transparent review and scrutiny within their respective legislatures.” (more...)
Partnership not dead by far, says Fraser Institute, which calls on Canada to “expand and speed up the SPP”
March 18, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
In an effort to demonstrate that the best defence is a good offence, a new Fraser Institute report by Alex Moens and Michael Cust, argues that the Canadian government must “expand and speed up the SPP goals,” and make a priority of “rebranding the SPP talks… as well as explaining the specific objective of the talks to the public” at the next summit in New Orleans this April or risk the trilateral partnership losing much of its momentum. (more...)
EPA discusses North American toxics harmonization at GlobalChem conference
March 18, 2008
Posted by Stuart Trew
More evidence today that the business-friendly SPP (like NAFTA, upon which it is built) poses an increasing risk to global as well as continental public interest policy. (more...)
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