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Continental integration will be a tough sell

Biometric identifiers, a common tariff and a common security perimeter - these are some of the elements that could turn North America into a single secure trading unit, says a task force of experts and political appointees from Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Theirs is a sweeping, optimistic vision of how a region that stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean could function as a seamless unit. The task force, headed by former deputy prime minister John Manley, former Mexican finance minister Pedro Aspe and former Massachusetts governor William Weld, calls for a "North American economic and security community" by decade's end.

The idea is full of promise economically, but will be a tough sell politically, at least in Canada.

This North American community would entail unified visa and refugee regulations, joint inspection of container traffic at ports and integrated terror "watch" lists. But whose definition of terror would prevail? Canadians underestimate the feelings of insecurity in the U.S., following Sept. 11, while Americans do not understand how far Canadians feel themselves from such threats. The idea security arrangements would make it equally difficult for a terrorist to enter Mexico, Canada or the U.S. would appeal primarily to the U.S.

For political reasons, Canada stayed out of the U.S. missile-defence program; how much more uphill would be the effort to meld the three countries' security policies?

Take joint inspection at container ports. Currently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security inspects only 2 per cent of the 5.7 million containers entering the U.S. each year. Much more money will have to be spent inspecting containers, money Canadians might not want to spend. But if traffic is permanently snarled at Canada-U.S. border points by tough U.S. entry checks, perhaps a continental security perimeter would prove to be the lesser burden.

Canadians, and Americans, have gained greatly from free trade. The idea of further gains from further integration is a stirring vision, no question. Weld foresees an area within which "the movement of people and products would be legal, orderly and safe."

But in the current climate of Canadian-American relations, big new steps toward integration seem painfully unrealistic. In any further measures, Mexicans and Canadians would suspect a grab at resources, for one thing.

Canada is also unlikely to want to rewrite its visa and refugee regulations; nobody imagines the U.S. would change its own. And integrated watch lists could prove another point of contention in light of what happened to Maher Arar. He was arrested in New York by U.S. officials who, without notifying Canada, sent him to his native Syria, where he said he was tortured.

The expert panel is convincing about economic benefits. And the U.S. is determined to make itself more secure, one way or another. But the Canadian public mood today is scarcely favourable to continental co-operation. Unfortunately, this proposal might be an idea whose time has not yet come.

http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/soundoff/story.html?id=f21842d6-06b0-4c58-9dd5-8bc8aa431697