The Vancouver Sun just had this article. Again I personally think this is a reason we should unite the bioregion and say fuck off to NAFTA, CAFTA, SPP and any idea of a North American Union (new Axis of Power)

article:


Will Canada become the 51st state?

The Security and Prosperity Partnership: what it's all about and
what it could mean for Canadians


Kelly Patterson, CanWest News Service

Published: Saturday, August 18, 2007
To some, it is a "corporate coup d'etat," a conspiracy by big
business to turn Canada into the 51st state by stealth. Others see
it as a plot to destroy the U.S. by forcing it into a North American
union with "socialist Canada" and "corrupt Mexico."

It is the Security and Prosperity Partnership, a sprawling effort to
forge closer ties among the three nations in everything from anti-
terrorism measures to energy strategies to food-safety and pesticide
rules.

Launched two years ago by then prime minister Paul Martin, President
George W. Bush and his Mexican counterpart, Vicente Fox, at the so-
called Three Amigos summit in Waco, Tex., the SPP grew out of
concerns that security crackdowns would cripple cross-border trade.


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Font: ****With juggernauts such as China and India looming on the
horizon, the three countries agreed they had to act fast to stay
competitive. Now the SPP has grown into a mind-boggling array of
some 300 initiatives, involving 19 teams of bureaucrats from all
three countries.

INTEGRATION BY STEALTH

Its stated mission is "to keep our borders closed to terrorism yet
open to trade" by fostering "greater co-operation and information-
sharing" in security protocols and economic areas such as product
safety.

Little known in Canada, the accord, if implemented, could affect
almost every aspect of Canadian life, from what drugs you can access
to whether you can board a plane and even what ingredients go into
your morning cornflakes.

While you may not have heard of the SPP, you may have heard about
some of the controversies it has sparked: Canada's adoption of a no-
fly list, negotiations to lower Canada's pesticide standards to U.S.
levels or fears the deal will lead to bulk-water exports.

Liberal leader Stephane Dion charged Friday that, "under the veil of
secrecy," Harper has let the Americans run roughshod over Canada,
covertly using the SPP to impose a U.S. agenda on Canada. That's not
what the Liberals intended when they signed the deal, which was
meant to give Canada a stronger voice in Washington, not turn it
into an"imitation" of the U.S., he says.

Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians says it is big business
that is calling the shots, pushing aggressively for the
harmonization -- and downgrading -- of everything from security
norms to food standards, in a move that will lead to
the "integration by stealth" of the three nations.

"Canadians would be shocked" if they knew the true scope of the SPP,
says Barlow, whose Ottawa-based organization represents about
100,000 members.

Fringe groups such as the Canadian Action Party and the Minutemen in
the U.S. go further, arguing the SPP is a plot to sweep all three
nations into a North American union.

"Where are they getting this stuff?" says Thomas d'Aquino, head of
the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, which helped launch the
SPP.

"This is a very nitty-gritty, workaday initiative" to make trade
safer and more efficient through such steps as expanding border
crossings and information-sharing programs on plant and animal
safety, he says.

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continued:

Will Canada become the 51st state?
The Security and Prosperity Partnership: what it's all about and
what it could mean for Canadians
Kelly Patterson, CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, August 18, 2007
Other SPP projects are no-brainers, such as plans to cooperate in
fighting West Nile virus and flu pandemics.

As for fears of a North American union, "anyone who believes that is
smoking something," says d'Aquino.

This weekend, the debate hits the headlines across the nation as the
three heads of state and their advisers converge on Montebello,
Que., 60 kilometres east of Ottawa, for the SPP's third annual
summit.


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Font: ****Thousands of protesters are also expected to descend on
the area, hoping to confront the "Three Banditos" about a deal they
say is a secretive sellout to the cowboy capitalism and militarism
of the superpower to Canada's south.

"We always hoped from the outset we could broaden it beyond
security," says Roland Paris, a University of Ottawa professor who
worked as an adviser in the Privy Council Office when the SPP was
launched. He adds that the SPP's architects hoped the "regular high-
level meetings" would help "overcome bureaucratic inertia."

SOVEREIGNTY UNDER FIRE

But they also helped big business and its government allies bypass
both the public and Parliament to push through a host of
controversial changes without debate or scrutiny, critics charge.
They say the accord has enshrined and fast-tracked a longstanding
effort to quietly harmonize Canadian programs with those of the U.S.
in everything from military policy to food and drug standards.

"The SPP is an unacceptable, closed-door process with enormous
implications for Canadians," says NDP trade critic Peter Julian.

Roland Paris scoffs at charges the SPP is a grand design. If
anything, he says, it is a timid collection of piddling efforts that
has become bogged down in bureaucratic red tape.

"This is not a political vision of the future of the continent. If
it were, it would be worth the fuss."

Defenders of the SPP dismiss concerns about regulatory change as
fear-mongering, saying the accord aims only to cut out minor,
needless variations between the three countries.

The goal is to end the "tyranny of small differences" that can turn
the border into a theatre of the absurd, says John Kirton, a
University of Toronto professor and expert in the environmental
effects of free trade.

If fact, the SPP could dramatically raise standards across North
America, proponents say, because it promotes information-sharing
among the three countries.

Scientists would swap data on everything from car safety to new
chemicals, enabling regulators to better evaluate products and react
more quickly to public health threats.

The SPP also includes projects with obvious benefits for all three
nations, such as reducing sulphur in fuel and air pollution from
ships, and coordinating efforts to curb plant and animal diseases.

All three governments insist that the three nations remain sovereign
under the SPP: If Canada doesn't like the way the U.S. does
something, it can go its own way.

But NDP trade critic Julian is not so sure. He worries about the
effect regulatory convergence will have in the future.

If, for example, Canada wants to pass new rules to deal with
greenhouse gases, it could mean "Canada would have to go to
Washington and lobby for the kinds of standards and protections they
want," he says.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007