ahem ... past tense please:
Posted on 05/11/2007 6:31:26 AM PDT by hedgetrimmer
Amid heated charges of a coverup, Tory MPs on Thursday abruptly shut down parliamentary hearings on a controversial plan to further integrate Canada and the U.S.
The firestorm erupted within minutes of testimony by University of Alberta professor Gordon Laxer that Canadians will be left "to freeze in the dark" if the government forges ahead with plans to integrate energy supplies across North America.
He was testifying on behalf of the Alberta-based Parkland Institute about concerns about the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), a 2005 accord by the U.S., Canada and Mexico to streamline economic and security rules across the continent. The deal, which calls North American "energy security" a priority, commits Canada to ensuring American energy supplies even though Canada itself - unlike most industrialized nations - has no national plan or reserves to protect its own supplies, he argued.
At that point, Tory MP Leon Benoit, chair of the Commons Standing Committee on International Trade which was holding the SPP hearings, ordered Laxer to halt his testimony, saying it was not relevant.
Opposition MPs called for, and won, a vote to overrule Benoit's ruling.
Benoit then threw down his pen, declaring, "This meeting is adjourned," and stormed out, followed by three of the panel's four Conservative members.
The remaining members voted to finish the meeting, with the Liberal vice-chair presiding.
Benoit's actions are virtually unprecedented, observers say; at press time, parliamentary procedure experts still hadn't figured out whether he had the right to adjourn the meeting unilaterally. Benoit did not respond to calls for comment.
It's "reckless and irresponsible" of the government not to discuss protecting Canada's energy supply, says Laxer.
Atlantic Canada and Quebec already have to import 90 per cent of their supply - 45 per cent of it from potentially unstable sources such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Algeria, Laxer said.
Meanwhile, Canada is exporting 63 per cent of its oil and 56 per cent of its gas production, mostly to the U.S., he says.
"It's shocking the extent to which the Conservative party will go to cover up information about the SPP," says NDP MP Peter Julian, who also sits on the committee.
Other MPs raised concerns about recently revealed plans under the SPP to raise Canadian limits on pesticide residues to match American rules.
Questions were also raised about whether the effort will open the door to bulk water exports.
Representatives from the departments of Industry and International Trade defended the SPP as an effort to protect Canadian jobs in a competitive global market, without sacrificing standards.
They denied charges SPP negotiations have been secretive, saying civil-society groups are welcome to offer their input, and referred MPs to the government website, which lays out in general terms the SPP initiatives.
Ethanol would be a waste, even if it could be produced from petroleum (lower gas mileage, can’t transport by pipeline, can’t ignite by itself at low temperatures, and so on).
The NAU is a piece of bad fiction. The arrogance of the SPP bureaucrats is not.
“The NAU is a piece of bad fiction. The arrogance of the SPP bureaucrats is not.”
100% agreement here.
I’ve often thought the NAU stuff was a direct result of one of Clive Cussler’s lesser known novels called ‘Night Probe’.
The heart of that Dirk Pitt ‘daring do’ was a long lost treaty between the United States and Canada, of which one copy of the signed treaty was thought to be on a train that had gone off a bridge a hundred years ago.
Fun read, but ever since it was published in the 1980’s this NAU stuff has started popping up, especially on the fringe political websites.
That may be so, but no country should be mandated by some international nitwit bureaucrat to send part of its energy supply to another country.
Ethanol is stemming out of a demand for us to produce even a miniscule of energy domestically. If we could get them to drill somewhere in the US, ethanaol demand would vaporize.
And just who do you think is doing that - or even could do that?
The SPP bureaucrats. I don’t believe in the NAU stuff, by the way. The SPP, on the other hand, is quite real.
Sorry, I’ve noted a coorelation between the NAU ranters, and the 9/11 Bush Knew crowd, and the WTC Building 7 kooks.
No thanks. I live in the real world.
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this is laughable. you’re a troll.
Really? Gee, then I’m the longest surviving ‘troll’ in FR history....(chuckle)
“Canadian FReepers are unabashedly pro-American (both herein & at home) and, accordingly, find outright bashing of Canada & all Canadians as well as the thinly veiled sort evident on threads like this one incredibly offensive.”
I sit on a council in my industry with several Canadian’s, and they express embarrassment at the anti American stuff thats come out from their elected officials on a routine basis.
I have no intention of bashing Canada and Canadians, just the unconstitutional SPP. I don’t believe in the NAU stuff.
I remember the first 24 hours after 9/11.
“Also publicly recalling that, for well over 150 years now, there’s never been a single instance where EITHER nation failed to come to the other’s aid in time of domestic tragedy and/or catastrophe and, as well, that members of the Military from both have been awarded the other’s highest bravery/gallantry commendations on numerous occasions never fails to knot the panties FR’s moronic xenophobic minority while rightly earning appropriate cross-border gratitude.”
As I recall it, there was a ‘problem’ the first couple of days, a reason Powell didn’t acknowledge the Canadian government in the immediate aftermath.
You have to admit the government at that moment was in fact anti American, anti Bush. The snarky/ugly/profane comments that dribbled out during that time frame remain...well, snarky/ugly and profane.
I don’t for an instant believe those comments reflected the average Canadian, btw, far from it.
Personally, rather than rely on RINO Powell, I'll go with the more trustworthy recollections of U.S. Navy Captain (Retired) David E. Meadows who was actually at the Pentagon on 9/11 when it comes to adjudging Canada's 9/11 response.
Thank you, Captain Meadows and God Bless America!
No disputing the embarrassment from the leftwing rants led to the new beginning in Canada we see today. And its not worth addressing the comments and or ‘slights’ noted that first week after 9/11.
I like Canadians.
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