Security and Prosperity Partnership

Taken from a letter sent to all the constituents of the Kootenay region

from Alex Atamanenko, Member of Parliament, BC Southern Interior



All for them and none for us

U.S. Gains the Most under Security and Prosperity Partnership



On August 20-21 Stephen Harper welcomed George W. Bush and Mexico's President Felipe Calderon to Montebello, Quebed, to discuss the progress of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a continental initiative launched in 2005 by Canada's than Prime Minister, Paul Martin at the famous 'Three Amigos Summit' in Waco, Texas. The deal is mainly about turning Canada and Mexico's resources into 'continental resources' for the benefit of the U.S. and big business interest.

The sole advisory body to the SPP process is the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), an elite body of 33 corporate giants, ten from each country with 3 more fro the U.S., charged with fulfilling the vision of the North American Heads of State. With no mandate whatsoever from the citizens of any of the three countries, they have been moving swiftly toward establishing a continental resource pact, a North American security perimeter as well as common agricultural, health, and environmental policies.

Detailed information has been difficult to obtain even for most Members of Parliament. Heavily censored documents obtained by the NDP through access-to-information requests led to only more questions.

Under a deliberate strategy to further avoid public scrutiny civil society groups such as labour unions, human rights and environmental organizations have been restricted from these discussions entirely. It was this exclusion that galvanized thousands of protesters to descend on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and in Montebello, Quebec during the summit, in a mobilization that was finally able to bring this secretive agenda into the public spotlight.

With a dizzying array of 300 policy initiatives, this agreement if implemented would affect virtually every aspect of our lives. The architects of this continental arrangement would have us believe that the SPP is simply about tweaking existing regulations between our three countries so that in the even of another 9-1-1 or other catastrophe, security crackdowns won't cripple cross-border trade. A closer look at what is on the table reveals a much deeper agenda.

Documents that were leaked to the Council of Canadians revealed that bulk water exports are being discussed as part of the SPP under the name 'Future of North American Environment 2025'. What's worrying is that under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), water is defined as a commodity and under the proportional sharing clause, once we start to export a resource, we cannot stop or decrease the percentage regardless of our own needs. A priime example of this clause can be seen with our oil exports; as long as it lasts we must forever ship out 62% of our oil and 56% of our natural gas production to the U.S., as we import90% of Quebec and Atlantic Canada's needs and 40% of Ontario's.

Energy integration is a key SPP priority. Alarmingly, Canada is the only industrialized nation with absolutely no national energy strategy and no emergency oil reserves of our own. Constrast that with the U.S. who is doubling its own emergency stash and now expect us to provide them with a five-fold increase in the rate of production from the Alberta tar sands. It is clear that Canada's government, whether Liberal or Conservative, have long been submitting to Washington's demands to provide the U.S. with its energy security while steadily giving away any possibility of ensuring our own. http://www.polarisinstitute.org/Energy

Another example which illustrates the effects of the SPP agenda is the effort to harmonize pesticide regulatations by increasing the allowable limits, in most cases to that of the States. This comes at a time when U.S. scientists and regulators have come out fighting against the brazenly overt corporate and political influence being wielded over the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) they claim is making them nothing more than industry lapdogs. It seems to me that it is most unwise to align ourselves with this failed regulatory system at a time when standards are so obviously plummeting under George Bush's regime.

I would like to assure you that I and my colleagues will be intensifying the fight, alongside civil society groups and labour unions, to put the brakes on this secretive Secruity and Prosperity Partnership, until there is a meaningful public consultation followed by full debate and a vote in Parliament.

http://www.canadians.org/integratethis/

Alex Atamanenko

Member of Parliament

BC Southern Interior

Ottawa

Room 525 Confed Bldg.

House of Commons

Ottawa, ON

K1A 0A6