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SPP Summit - New Orleans
April 21-22, 2008

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August 19-21, 2007

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March 31 to April 1, 2007

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Not Counting Canadians: The Security and Prosperity Partnership and public opinion

From April 7–10, 2008, the Council of Canadians commissioned Environics Research Group to conduct a survey of Canadians to find out how they feel about the major SPP policy directions and initiatives, including North American regulatory convergence, energy integration with the United States, bulk water exports, and the adoption of U.S.-style security measures in Canada. We also asked whether such a wide-reaching trilateral agreement should be brought to Parliament for a debate and vote.

Download the full report, Not Counting Canadians : The Security and Prosperity Partnership and public opinion (PDF 1.78 MB), or follow the links below:

87% of Canadians agree that Canada should maintain the ability to set its own independent environmental, health and safety standards, even if this might reduce cross-border trade opportunities with the United States. And yet the Harper government is committed to an SPP policy of regulatory harmonization in the areas of consumer product safety, food and drugs, and the environment.

89% of Canadians agree that Canada should establish an energy policy that provides reliable supplies of oil, gas and electricity at stable prices and protects the environment, even if this means placing restrictions on exports and foreign ownership of Canadian supplies. And yet the Harper government is committed to a “market-based” policy of energy integration with the U.S. through the SPP’s North American Energy Working Group.

88% of Canadians agree that Canada should adopt a comprehensive national water policy that recognizes clean drinking water as a basic human right and also bans the bulk export of fresh water. And yet bulk water exports to the U.S. are on the table in SPP discussions.

48% of Canadians do not feel that Canada should harmonize its security policies with the United States, even if this affects our trading relationship. It was the only question on which Canadians were divided. And yet the 2008 Federal budget committed millions of extra dollars to SPP security initiatives anyway.

86% of Canadians agree that the Security and Prosperity Partnership agreement should be debated and submitted to a vote in Parliament. Yet four years later, the debate is nowhere to be seen.

Canadian preferences for policies that run counter to the key SPP priorities listed above show conclusively that Prime Minister Harper does not have a democratic mandate for pursuing this agenda in secretive trilateral talks like the upcoming North American leaders summit in New Orleans. The government must cease all further SPP talks and debate the agreement fully and openly before submitting it to Parliament for a vote.

The Council of Canadians’ five demands for the SPP »

You can help stop the SPP! A citizen’s guide to fighting the Security and Prosperity Partnership »

View the full Environics poll results, Surveying Canadian attitudes towards trade issues and the SPP

For more information about the Council of Canadians, or its campaign against the SPP, please sign up to receive updates above or call us at 1-800-387-7177.

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