OTTAWA, ONTARIO, April 2, 2003 - The Council of Canadians strongly condemns the US Ambassador, Paul Cellucci, for raising the spectre of deteriorating US-Canada relations to extract energy concessions from our governments. Cellucci has again called for increased energy integration as he continues to publicly chastise the Canadian position on the unsanctioned attack on Iraq. He is in effect calling for implementation of the discredited Bush Continental Energy Plan as he spoke this afternoon at a luncheon hosted by the Association de l’industrie électrique de Québec.

Since first publicly censuring Canada for its stance on the Iraqi invasion, the US Ambassador has consistently tied the US disappointment with Canada to a call for greater continental energy integration. In every subsequent speech, Cellucci has used the issue of Canada’s lack of involvement in the war to forward his primary agenda, which is securing Canadian support for the Bush Energy Plan.

"This is a classic bullying tactic, Cellucci is using threats of a trade backlash because of our anti-war stance, but the implication is that if we hand over our energy, we may still get away without a drubbing, said Anil Naidoo, Campaigner with the Council of Canadians. It’s like we’re in fourth grade again: it reflects the new schoolyard subtlety of America’s foreign policy. Sadly, it seems to be working on our CEOs who are off on their own “Washington Peace Mission” next week."

Since giving last week’s speech at the Economic Club of Toronto, Cellucci has gone to the heart of the BC oil and gas region and is now in Quebec, Canada’s largest electricity exporter. Canada is already part of a continental energy agreement for oil and gas, through NAFTA. Article 605a of that agreement, states that Canada cannot reduce the amount of energy going to the US without also reducing our own consumption. This currently guarantees the US 60% of our production, and more as the export ratio continues to climb.

"With the recent backtracking on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the US is even more desperate to consolidate it’s energy imports, said Naidoo, the next phase is to try and ensure deregulation and integration of our electricity grid as well as harmonization of our regulatory policies. If we don’t push back, we will continue to see increasing prices, greater market volatility, and damage to our economy; as Canadians are forced to bid, in a weaker currency, against US consumers, for our increasingly dwindling energy resources."

Canada’s other NAFTA partner, Mexico, in article 25 of their Constitution, maintains control of energy resources and has secured an exemption from NAFTA’s energy chapter. The Council of Canadians has called on the Canadian government to abrogate NAFTA’s energy clause (notwithstanding the whole agreement) and keep energy out of all future trade agreements, reject further integration through Bush’s Continental Energy Plan, and implement a program for transition from fossil fuels to cleaner, renewable sources of energy.

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