Posted on 08/24/2006 8:14:38 AM PDT by hedgetrimmer
NACC should not be writing Canadian policy, says Council of Canadians
According to the U.S. Department of State, the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) met in Washington today to find ways to cut red tape or eliminate unnecessary barriers to trade in North America, and to set priorities for the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP).
Corporations such as Lockheed Martin, Wal-Mart, Suncor and Chevron should not be shaping economic policy between Canada and the United States, says Jean-Yves LeFort, trade campaigner with the Council of Canadians. The North American Competitiveness Council gives far too much power to business leaders who are clearly more interested in profit than in whats best for Canada.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper named ten corporate executives to the NACC at a meeting of North American leaders in Cancun, Mexico this past March. Nine of those ten appointees represent corporations that are members of the powerful Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), whose North American Security and Prosperity Initiative led to the signing of the SPP by Canada, Mexico and the U.S. in March 2005.
The CCCE makes no secret of its ultimate goal: the integration of the Canadian and U.S. economies, the harmonization of our foreign, security and immigration policies, as well as common environmental, health and other regulations. In a meeting this past March, the U.S. branch of the NACC set five clear objectives for the SPP, including energy integration, and private sector involvement in border security.
Harper and Bush have clearly given business leaders the green light to press forward on a North American model for business security and prosperity, says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians. How truly accountable is the Harper government to the Canadian people when it gives preferential treatment to the big-business community in the design of its policies.
The Council of Canadians demands that Canada cease all further participation in the North American Competitiveness Council and the Security and Prosperity Partnership, and that Stephen Harper consult with Canadians in a meaningful and participatory way on Canada-U.S. relations.
During the elections, Harper promised to submit any significant international treaty to a vote in Parliament, says LeFort. It is his duty to make Canadas security and prosperity a matter of public debate.
It's better to be close friends than move in together and risk the best of each.
NAFTA is not a merger of countries, and the United States and Canada have had close trade ties for much of both countries' history.
The United States and Canada are not any two random countries. They both share a very close relationship with each other.
If you mention a person in a comment, you generally should post to them, too.
Most of them think it is already and have done, for more than a century. Yes, that is a joke, but only sort of. LOL
LOL
I didn't mention a person in that post.
Huh?
Ok
I guess you're the expert. That must be why our elected leadership is going so socialist, they're pandering to the Candadian contingent.
Look, you are the LAST person on the face of the earth, to try to smear me, or anyone else, with such schoolyard tactics; honey. You're the one who keeps posting from lefties and agreeing with them.
I don't smear.
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