Posted on 06/09/2007 7:22:27 AM PDT by ovrtaxt
| The Plan to Disappear Canada | |
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'Deep integration' comes out of the shadows.By Murray Dobbin, Vancouver If the machinations going on in this country regarding so-called "deep integration" were instead a communist conspiracy to take over the country (you will, of course, have to try hard to imagine this) the news media would be blaring the story. Pundits would pontificate, editorialists would erupt, security forces would be unleashed. Instead, a virtual conspiracy to make the country disappear through assimilation into the U.S. gets barely a mention. But news of the scheme -- formally called the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) -- is finally breaking out of the secret chambers of the ruling elite and the federal government. This is both good news and bad. It's good that ordinary citizens are finally getting a glimpse of the betrayal of their country. The news is bad because it reflects just how much of this scheme is already being implemented. Given the meetings of CEOs and politicians to advance the scheme politically, as well as all that must go into its actual implementation, there is simply too much activity to keep secret. Ten dots to connect Here are 10 developments in the plan to disappear Canada. 1) Pesticides 'harmonized.' The most thoroughly reported story (though even this did not go much beyond the CanWest chain) was the revelation that Canada was about to "harmonize" its regulations, setting limits for pesticide residue on fruits and vegetables. In 40 per cent of the cases, the U.S. allows for higher levels. Richard Aucoin, chief registrar of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, which sets Canada's pesticide levels, said that Canada's higher levels were a "trade irritant." The downgrading of health protection had been a initiative, but is being "fast-tracked" as part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Some 300 regulatory regimes are currently going through the same process. 2) Tory tirade. The next story that broke through the wall of media silence reported on the paranoid reaction of the Harper Conservatives to any criticism of the . The occasion was hearings of the Commons International Trade Committee into the SPP, forced by the NDP. Gordon Laxer, head of Alberta's Parkland Institute, was testifying on the energy implications of the SPP, warning that eastern Canada could end up "freezing in the dark." He had barely started when the chair of the committee, Conservative MP Leon Benoit, demanded that Laxer halt his "irrelevant" testimony. The Committee members overruled Benoit -- who promptly (and illegally) adjourned the meeting and stomped out. The NDP and Liberal members nonetheless continued without him. 3) Council of corporate power. The SPP initiative began in earnest back in 2002 with the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (formerly the BCNI), the most powerful corporate body in the country. It continues it leadership role, but does not promote the scheme just in its own name. It instead has helped create several supportive bodies that now help drive the agenda. Included in these are the North American Competitive Council (NACC), which includes CEOs of the largest North American corporations, and which institutionalizes the exclusively corporate nature of the agreement. The NACC is the only advisory group to the three NAFTA/SPP governments. 4) Secretive summit. The NACC at least is public. But much of what happens in building the elite consensus for deep integration is done in absolute secrecy or very privately, away from the prying eyes of the media. The most secretive of these was held last year from Sept. 12 to 14, in Banff Springs. As The Tyee reported, the gathering was sponsored by something called the North American Forum* and it was attended by some of the most powerful members of the North American ruling elite. Attendees, according to a leaked list that could not be confirmed, included Donald Rumsfeld, George Schultz (former U.S. Secretary of State), General Rick Hillier, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor and Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day. The media was not informed of the meeting and it was first revealed by the weekly Banff Crag & Canyon. Stockwell Day refused to even confirm he was there, but said that even if he was, it was a "private" meeting that he would not comment on. There is no better indication that these meetings, and the SPP itself, constitute a parallel governing structure -- unaccountable to any democratic institution or the public. 5) 'No fly' coordination. Canada will have its own "no-fly" list just like our U.S. "partner." As the Council of Canadians pointed out: "The no-fly list is very much a Security and Prosperity Partnership initiative. 'The SPP Report to Leaders, August 2006' outlines 105 SPP initiatives. Initiative #93 states, 'Develop, test, evaluate and implement a plan to establish comparable aviation passenger screening, and the screening of baggage and air cargo (for North America).'" Canada's privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart has raised a number of concerns about the plan including the fact that the list will be shared with the U.S., that "false positives" are a virtual certainty, and that there is no evidence put forward by the government that the list will improve airline security. 6) Bye, bye Canadian dollar? David Dodge, the head of the , told a Chicago audience that a single currency for North America "is possible." That would see a big chunk of Canadian and the ability to guide the economy through monetary policy go out the window. It's not the first time Dodge has mused about abandoning the Canadian dollar - or deep integration. 7) Water and oil giveaways. The deep integrationists clearly see Canadian water as a North American resource, not a Canadian resource. At yet another very private meeting, held in Calgary on April 27th under the auspices of yet another forum, it was made clear that water is on the table for negotiation. Discussion of bulk "water transfers" and diversions took place at a Calgary meeting of the North American Future 2025 Project (partly funded by the U.S. government). The meeting based its deliberations on the false notion that Canada has 20 per cent of the world's fresh water. Actual available supply amounts to only around six per cent -- about the same as has the U.S. The water (and environment) meeting was preceded by another on April 26th talking about "North American" energy. The beneficiary of these discussions is pretty clear when you realize Canada has no national energy policy. We are the only energy exporting country in the world without a one. Gordon Laxer told the Parliamentary committee: "The National Energy Board wrote me on April 12: 'Unfortunately, the NEB has not undertaken any studies on security of supply.'" He was also told by the NEB that Canada does not maintain a 90 day energy reserve as other developed nations do. As Laxer points out, "Canada may be a net exporter, but it still imports 40 per cent of its oil -- 850,000 barrels per day -- to meet 90 per cent of Atlantic Canada's and Quebec's needs, and 40 per cent of Ontario's." Canada exports 63 per cent of its oil production and 56 per cent of its natural gas, percentages that can never decrease under NAFTA. 8) NAFTA Superhighway. State governments in the U.S. are becoming increasingly alarmed at the prospects of deep integration. Earlier this year, Idaho became the first state to pass a legislative resolution directing the U.S. Congress to drop out of the SPP, which is referred to as the North American Union amongst U.S. opponents. Thirteen states in addition to Idaho are calling on Congress to abandon the SPP: Georgia, Arizona, Missouri, Illinois, Oregon, Montana, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington and Virginia. Part of the opposition is focused on plans for a so-called NAFTA Superhighway: actually a corridor several hundred metres wide including rail lines, freeways and pipelines from Mexico to the Canadian border. There is a growing grass roots movement against the SPP in the U.S., but led by the right over the issue of compromising American sovereignty. 9) Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA). While U.S. states, concerned about state rights under an unaccountable "North American Union," are organizing against the scheme, Canadian provinces are either blithely unaware or knowingly complicit in the deal. More Canadians may be aware of TILMA -- the investors' rights agreement between B.C. and Albert -- than they are about the SPP, but in reality they are one and the same. TILMA is major piece of the deep integration, deregulation imperative and fits hand in glove with the SPP. There is a similar, though more informal, process evolving in the Atlantic provinces, called "Atlantica." And B.C. is now pushing the so-called Gateway Initiative, a kind of regional superhighway project that will see huge and environmentally disastrous expansion of ports, highways and pipelines to further supply the U.S.'s insatiable demand for resources and cheap Asian goods. 10) The next SPP summit. The third leaders summit on the SPP will take place this August 21-22nd in Montebello, Quebec, not far from Ottawa. By the time it does many more Canadian will be aware of it. Part of the reason that news of the SPP/deep integration issue is finally seeing the light of day is that opposition is growing and groups fighting the SPP are having an impact. The Council of Canadians, the CLC and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives held an SPP teach-in in Ottawa last month and many civil society groups are now taking deep integration to their members. Demonstrations are planned for the summit. The NDP continues to press the government on SPP secrecy and the Green Party's Elizabeth May has said deep integration will be a focus of the party's election platform. It is hard to think of any other issue in modern Canadian history, especially one that will literally determine whether the country survives or not, that has taken so long to get public attention. I first wrote about it September, 2002. By the time the SPP summit has come and gone and the fall political season begins, deep integration, the most treacherous plan for the country yet devised by Bay Street, will be increasingly exposed. And by the next election, we could see a repeat of the great "free trade" election of 1988. This time we have to win. ------------------ |
” Why should a transnational corporation or foreign nation have a greater say than the citizens of a country?’
Such hysteria overlooks the way things have been for decades.
The Canadian subsidiary of MLW Worthington had to cancel a sale of locomotive engines to Castro because the US govt put pressure on the American parent company. That was thirty years ago.
Canada does not want to be us.
This kind of “dot connecting” is as far-fetched as the logic that “truthers” use to claim that Bush knew/caused 9/11.
Canada is by far our largest trading partner, but they like being Canadians. As a matter of fact, many like being French-speaking Quebecers. This kind of hysteria over imagined loss of American power is truly sophomoric.
During the NAFTA debates in the ‘90s, I was living in Canada, and their greatest fear was to be swallowed up by America. They thought we would just take all of their natural resources which are the source of their wealth.When I listened to American talk radio and heard Americans worry about being bested by Canadian negotiators I got so frustrated. Why don’t Americans see and believe in the stupendous power of the American market? Is it a result of 35 or more years of media and our educational system selling the idea that America is weak when not evil or wrong?
...the Bronx and Staten Island too.
yeah, i’m aware of that.
many of the western canadian snow birds land in socal during the winter. i said many. and i’ve had many opp’s to talk to them and what you say is correct.
they drive like farmers!
World Net Daily reported that this was part of the latest immigration reform but try as I might I could not locate anything about it there. They stated it is on page 211 on the version time-stamped 5/18/07 11:58. Obviously I haven’t found the correct draft yet. I wanted to verify it but came up empty handed. If true, those gangsters in DC are even more shifty/sneaky that we gave them credit for.
Yah, they're 360 degrees apart in many respects.. ;)
As a believer in the NWO I believe that this is the precourser....and those elites and globalists behind this are really smart....I think I am seeing “The Frog in the Pot” syndrome here....slowly every so slowly, they are bringing this about under our noses....and yes It may indeed be too late to try to stop it....
http://www.rabble.ca/about_us/bios.shtml?x=830
Murray Dobbin
Vancouver
Columnist
Murray Dobbin, Vancouver based, has been a journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist for over thirty five years. A board member and researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, he has written five studies for the centre including an expose of charter schools and ten myths about the Canadian tax system. He has been a columnist for the Financial Post and Winnipeg Free Press, contributes to the Globe and Mail and other Canadian dailies and now writes a column for the Vancouver on-line paper The Tyee, which is reprinted in rabble.
He has also prepared radio documentaries for the CBC Radio’s Ideas series on subjects including taxes, human rights and the right-wing remaking of New Zealand.
Murray has been involved in many social movements over the years and is a past executive board member of the Council of Canadians. He is a policy analyst for the Council and authored their “Ziplocking North
America: Can Canada survive continental integration?” He has written five books, three of them critical profiles of Canadian politicians. His latest book, Paul Martin: CEO for Canada? exposes Martin’s corporate agenda for the country. He was the first to publish books on Preston Manning and Kim Campbell. His 1998 book, The Myth of the Good Corporate Citizen - Democracy under the rule of Big Business, has been described as a citizens’ guide to globalization.
Murray is also well known as a public speaker, addressing union and NGO conventions and educational conferences. Most recently he has focussed on the Bay Street initiative called deep integration, the annexation of Canada, and on the threat to public services posed by public private partnerships (P3s). He can be reached at mdobbin@telus.net.
))))))
What this article does not mention is that Murray Dobbin is anti-business, anti-conservative and has authored books against various leaders of the Conservative Party for years.
Why do Freepers want to ally themselves with such a radical? I think it is irrational to think that Canada is a threat to the United States. I think that greater ‘harmonization’ of border crossing rules and surveillance and sharing of concerns about radical Islamists in either country is a great idea.
Funny how it’s the far right in the USA and the FAR LEFT up North which are the most opposed to this. Strange bedfellows indeed.
%%%%%
Ever since I became interested in understanding political perspectives I have been annoyed that “far left” and “far right” are treated as being as far apart as possible on a straight line. I wish the model would be a circle instead of a line. The far right and left would touch each other and the opposite side of the circle would be the “moderates” or “middle of the road” which often means people with no interest or opinion on political issues. Each side of the circle would then trend from “uninterested” to “radical/one issue.”
According to Canadian stats, there are on any given day a million Canadians in Florida. It doesn’t seem to upset the equilibrium of Florida or Canada.
That’s why this new shamnesty bill is so important to Bush. It’s a cog in the wheel.
I think it’s time for Sessions, Hunter, Coryn, Demitt, Tancredo et al to take the gloves off and bring this up and inform the people what the real agenda is. Who needs TV coverage of 12 to 20 million illegals who don’t want to assimilate or speak our language marching in the streets, demanding the vote?
I LIKE HOW YOU THINK. ^_^
yeah, when i lived and worked in washington d.c.
i never ceased to be amazed at the quebec plates that i saw
going to and fro to florida on i-95 in january.
but i hardly ever see a quebecer out here in socal. we get the more-normal western canadians!
western canadians have less hostility to the u.s. and share a greater affinity.
“We need to come up with some real solutions......”
We can start right here...need to run through 34 state legislatures...
http://www.articlev.com/repeal17.htm
I know. It isn't just about the whole SW now either, it's the whole American pie.
This is getting spookier by the day. I wonder if the good folks in Canada have to put up with all the naysayers that we do?
Nah, they are kept on drugs.
That is how many gangs recruit and keep members loyal.
bump
This is tinfoil hattery on par with DU.
Precisely so. W. Bush has become an enemy of the American people.
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