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Why Canadians should worry about the new SPP trade pact

'We are quite right to ask, to demand to know, exactly what is going on here.'

By Larry Brown
National Secretary-Treasurer
National Union of Public and General Employees

Ottawa (22 August 2007) - What’s all the fuss about this ‘SPP’ – the Security and Prosperity Partnership between Canada, the US, and Mexico?

After all, government officials from the three countries downplay the whole concept, and no less a figure than Tom d’Aquino, of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), has said the issues discussed at the SPP are "quite important but frankly quite boring. They're not terribly exciting."

Prime Minister Harper made the talks at Montebello sound pretty innocuous: "In Montebello, we will discuss, among other things, the competitiveness of our businesses, energy and the environment, the efficiency of our borders and our preparedness for emergencies and disasters," he said in outlining the list of topics to be discussed.

Granted, at first blush that all sounds as dull as Mr. d’Aquino would have us believe it is.

On the other hand, President Bush has a different list of topics on the agenda: "enhancing global competitiveness, safety of food and products, sustainable energy and the environment, smart and secure borders, as well as energy management." (Food safety and energy management must be among the “other things” that Mr. Harper mentioned.)

So why the protests? Why the high level of anxiety among people in all three countries about the SPP?

Here’s a few reasons.

First, the official descriptions of the SPP are a bit more comprehensive than our esteemed leaders are now acknowledging.

When U.S. President George W. Bush, then-Prime Minister Paul Martin and former Mexican President Vicente Fox met in Waco, Texas, in 2005 and agreed to pursue a wide range of goals under the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), they promoted it as being designed to streamline everything from food and drug safety standards to counter terrorism measures.

Prime Minister Harper met with the same two presidents in Mexico a year ago. They issued a statement celebrating the SPP as, “a framework for us to advance collaboration in areas as diverse as security, transportation, the environment and public health.”

Somehow, collaborating with Mr. Bush on either the environment or health care doesn’t seem like the world’s best idea. Anyone who thinks we should collaborate with the U.S. on health care, for example, should run, not walk, to see the movie SiCKO.

The SPP website describes the partnership’s proposals as “ambitious security and prosperity programs to keep our borders closed to terrorism yet open to trade.... The SPP builds upon, but is separate from, our longstanding trade and economic relationships.”

The three governments have established SPP Prosperity Working Groups. The working groups established cover the following wide list of services:

● Movement of Goods
● Energy
● Environment
● E-Commerce & Information
Communications Technologies
● Financial Services
● Food and Agriculture
● Transportation
● Health

These are some pretty important issues, one would think.

The Security and Prosperity Partnership seeks to harmonize untold aspects of our continental life. It is difficult to fully analyze the proposal because so much of it is being discussed solely in private. We do know that the SPP is designed to streamline everything from food and drug safety standards to counter terrorism measures.

Boring? Not even close.

Secondly, the SPP is a classic case of government by and for big business. When the SPP was announced, the three governments also announced the creation of the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) “to fully incorporate the private sector into the SPP process.”

In reality, the NACC represents big business from the three countries. It is a group of 30 CEOs from each of the three North American countries, representing some of the biggest corporations in the world. Most of the Canadian representatives are members of D'Aquino's CCCE group of senior business leaders.

The SPP website says: “Increasing private sector engagement in the SPP by adding high-level business input will assist governments in enhancing North America’s competitive position and engage the private sector as partners in finding solutions.”

The website adds that these "consultations occur at many levels." However, everyone else can submit their ideas to the website – where they will no doubt receive due consideration, as long as they stick to the prescribed topics of “ways to cut red tape and eliminate unnecessary barriers to trade in the areas covered by the working groups” – while the NACC meets regularly with the three top North American political leaders and with senior government officials to advise them directly on the SPP.

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives couldn’t ask for more.

Thirdly, the SPP is designed to misinform the public. On February 7, 2007, the Ottawa Citizen reported that: “Canadian, U.S. and Mexican politicians discussed using ‘stealth’ to overcome public resistance to the integration of the three countries when they held a confidential meeting last year." The quotation was contained in documents released under U.S. Freedom of Information laws.

In September 2006, a forum in Banff was attended by an interesting mix of defence department and senior government officials, including ministers, and business leaders. Media were excluded, even though federal cabinet minister Stockwell Day gave a speech. He refused to reveal the contents of his talk. One assumes that he received his public salary on that day, but his thoughts were available only to big business leaders and defence officials.

Former Finance Minister John Manley was among those at the meeting and he saw no problem with public officials meeting privately. The Citizen quoted Manley as saying the forum was “not part of a nefarious plan to yield sovereignty to the U.S.... It was just some informed private citizens and government officials having a conversation.”

Lockheed Martin executive Ron Covais, also present at the forum, told Maclean’s magazine, in reference to the SPP talks, “We’ve decided not to recommend any things that would require legislative changes, because we won’t get anywhere.” The main avenue for changes would be through executive agencies, bureaucrats and regulations, he said, adding: “The guidance from the ministers was, ‘Tell us what we need to do and we’ll make it happen.’”

Fourthly, the SPP is a disturbing mixture of government officials, big business, and the defence departments and defence industries. The initiative may be a secret to most Canadians, but not to the select few, and what an interesting crew they are!

Consider who attended the secret Banff meeting.

From Canada:
Stockwell Day, Federal Minister of Public Safety
General Rick Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff
Gordon O’Connor, then Minister of Defence
Perrin Beatty, President, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters
Thomas d’Aquino, Canadian Council of Chief Executives
Roger Gibbins, Canada West Foundation
Richard L. George, Suncor Energy Inc.
Peter Harder, Deputy Minister, Foreign Affairs
Fred Green, Canadian Pacific Railway
James Kinnear, Pengrowth Corporation
Sharon Murphy, Chevron Canada

From the United States:
Donald Rumsfeld, Former U.S. Defense Secretary
Rick Covais, President, Lockheed Martin
Admiral Tim Keating, U.S. Navy, Northern Command
James Schlesinger, former Secretary of Energy and Defense
Dan Fisk, Senior Director, National Security
Maj. Gen. Mark Volcheff, Director, Plans, Policy and Strategy, NORAD
Clay Sell, Deputy Secretary of Energy

From Mexico:
Geronimo Gutierrez, Deputy Foreign Minister
Vinicio Suro, Pemex, Mexican National Oil Co.
Eduardo Medina-Mora, Secretary of Public Security

What should be made of such exclusive and private meetings by this select group of stakeholders? Perhaps the old adage that “the business of government is business” needs to be updated to “the business of government is business, especially the defence industry.”

We are quite right to ask, to demand to know, exactly what is going on here when we have these things happening: governments are being directed by the biggest corporations in the three countries; there are secret meetings between our government leaders, the defence industry, and the corporate sector; and there is stealth planning to avoid public scrutiny.

The only thing surprising here is that more Canadians aren’t demanding that the whole process be opened up to public scrutiny. But then that’s the whole point of keeping the process secret, isn’t it? NUPGE

Larry Brown is National Secretary Treasurer of the 340,000-member National Union of Public and General Employees, one of the largest unions in Canada.

 

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Police accused of using agents provocateurs in Montebello

'They were there to deliberately cause trouble.' - Dave Coles, CEP president

Ottawa (23 Aug. 2007) - Did the police plant agents provocateurs among protestors at this week's Montebello summit to make demonstrators look bad and deflect criticism away from the Harper government's controversial trade policies? A lot of people think so.

Trade was the major issue at the two-day summit attended by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.S. President George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Specifically, the three leaders talked about the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP).

Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), is convinced the police planted agents to stir up trouble on behalf of the government and he has a damning video to support his suspicions.

For his part, Harper smirked at Montebello when asked about the protesters, dismissing them as "sad."

Dirty work for Harper?

The video, now being viewed around the world on You Tube, shows three masked 'protesters' - one with a rock in hand - apparently ready to clash with riot police.

None of the men look like demonstrators and, when confronted by Coles, they refused to remove their masks. Moreover, the three were wearing boots identical to those of the police officers they were supposedly challenging - in this case the Surete du Quebec.

Conveniently, as tensions rose between the men and other protestors, uniformed police intervened to 'arrest' them and whisk them safely away. The men were not arrested and no explanation was given of who they were or where they went.

"I accused them of being police, and every time I yelled at them that they were police, you could tell by their facial expressions that they were really troubled," Coles told CTV Newsnet Wednesday.

The Quebec force denied using secret agents and so did the RCMP but few who were there, or who have seen the video, believe them.

Coles said the men were "not young kids" and he is sure what their role was. "They were there to deliberately cause trouble, to give the police a chance to try and get rid of these young kids that were exercising their right to protest peacefully," he said.

He is demanding an investigation of the incident by Harper's office in Ottawa and the office of Quebec Premier Jean Charest in Quebec City. "We have proof that the three individuals who were 'arrested' after being exposed as 'agents provocateurs' were, in fact, members of the Quebec police force," he said in a statement.

Footnote: On Aug. 23, the Surete du Quebec, the provincial police force, finally admitted it had 'undercover' officers at Montebello. However, the force said in a statement the infiltrators did not "act as instigators or commit criminal acts." Yet the issue of who approved their shady presence remains an open question, especially given that it was Stephen Harper's summit and he has had a penchant from his first days as prime minister of enforcing his personal stamp on virtually everything related to his government. Does anyone seriously believe the Quebec force was acting on its own - with the knowledge and cooperation and approval of federal authorities?

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring that our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE

 

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Is this what we are headed towards in the US , Canada and Mexico ? Is this the first step in the North American Union ? The government has a Myth Vs. Fact about this topic . Question everything , communicate , gain knowledge , bring the power back to the working class . Or just forget about what is being discussed here and go back to American Idol .

 

Fraternally,

Joe

 

"Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed citizens to change the world. Indeed, it has never been done otherwise." - Margaret Mead