Not Counting Canadians: Canadians want a say in the Security and Prosperity Partnership

Canadians want a say in the Security and Prosperity Partnership

86% of Canadians agree that the Security and Prosperity Partnership agreement should be debated and submitted to a vote in Parliament

of Canadians agree that the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) agreement should be debated and submitted to a vote in Parliament.

So why does the Harper government continue to block access to SPP details and discussions to all but a hand-picked group of corporate executives who have been granted VIP access to annual trilateral summits like the April 2008 meeting in New Orleans? Our Prime Minister and his NAFTA counterparts have displayed nothing short of contempt for democracy and the parliamentary process. They and the 10 Canadian CEOs on the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) – a 30-member permanent corporate advisory body to the SPP – have been acting on trilateral policies in secret and without a democratic mandate from the various peoples of North America.

Canadians are shut out of the process: According to an article in Le Devoir on March 22, 2008, a co-ordination committee, which was promised by the leaders of all three NAFTA countries after the Montebello SPP summit in August last year as a means of informing the public on regulatory policy harmonization, has not been created.

Corporations are drafting new laws: SPP documents acquired through access to information requests show that there is pressure on Canada’s various departments to put the corporate NACC recommendations into practice. “The message below from the SPP Secretariat concerns the final recommendations of the NACC and once again we are being asked to respond under very tight deadlines,” says one email, in which a Canada Border Services Agency employee is asked to comment on six corporate requests affecting border issues.

Exclusive VIP access to annual summits: The NACC is also the only group to receive regular debriefing sessions from government officials working on the SPP. On March 19, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Council of the Americas held an “off-the-record debriefing” on the February 27, 2008 meeting of SPP ministers and NACC member CEOs in Los Cabos, Mexico. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez addressed the meeting, which was “limited to companies, sectoral associations, local chambers of commerce, and stakeholders.”

Civil society is ignored: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told journalists on April 8, 2008 that this exclusive corporate sector involvement implies that civil society is being consulted on the SPP. “[The SPP] also has permitted the leaders to engage the public – the private sector and civil society through the North American Competitiveness Council,” she said. “And they look forward to, again, engaging that council, because, obviously, trade and prosperity and a good life for the people of North America is not just the work of governments alone.”

Without a true and open public debate, there is no mandate for the sweeping regulatory and policy changes proposed in the SPP. Canadians clearly feel they and their elected representatives should have more input into Canada’s place within North America. That’s what democracy is for, isn’t it?

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