Help Stop the Secret Deals for Increased Integration with the U.S.

[Guest guest]

Please repost this to all Canadians

 

Canadians and Americans need to work together if we wish to succeed in

stoping the SSP. We need each other now like we have never before in

history.

blessings

Shan

 

August 17, 2007

Help Stop the Secret Deals

for Increased Integration with the U.S.

 

Dear Shan,

 

George Bush, Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon will be

meeting behind closed doors in Montebello, Quebec, on August 20-21, 2007.

 

Their agenda? To change hundreds of Canadian regulations, laws and policies —

social, cultural, economic, international and security — to match those in

the U.S., creating a “fortress North America.â€

 

This scheme, originally proposed by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives

(a lobby group representing the country’s biggest corporations) has been

developing in secret for over four years.

 

While corporations such as Wal-Mart and Exxon have been heavily involved in

this process, the public and Parliament have been completely excluded.

 

The scheme goes by the deliberately deceptive title “Security and Prosperity

Partnership of North America†(SPP). It is, in fact, a scheme to transfer

power from democratic institutions to corporate board rooms.

 

When decision making takes place behind closed doors, human rights disappear.

 

“The Security and Prosperity Partnership, sadly, appears to trade basic human

rights for continued access to the U.S. market,†warned Alex Neve, Secretary

General for Amnesty International Canada, and Roch Tassé, coordinator for the

International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, in the Globe and Mail.

 

Please go to RightonCanada.ca to send your letter urging Stephen Harper to

immediately stop the backroom deals

http://www.rightoncanada.ca/c.juIZLdMOJrE/b.2517563/k.8F11/Take_Action/siteapps/\

advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=juIZLdMOJrE &

b=2517563 & aid=9157 & tr=y & auid=2922761 , disclose everything that takes place at

the Montebello meetings and put the SPP to a national and parliamentary

debate so that Canadians can have their say. Let Prime Minister Harper know that

you want the government to give priority to human rights and democracy.

 

At the same time, you will be sending a letter to your own MP, asking her or

him to take a stand on the issue. RightonCanada has also written to every MP

urging that he or she take a stand. We will publish their response (or

non-response) on our website so as to make each MP publicly accountable.

 

As well, visit the Council of Canadians' website to learn more about the SPP

http://www.canadians.org/?tr=y & auid=2922762 and Canadians' efforts to

stop secret deals that threaten our sovereignty and democracy.

 

That’s what democracy means.

 

With thanks,

 

Kathleen Ruff

Founder of RightOnCanada.ca

and Senior Advisor to the Rideau Institute

 

Maude Barlow

National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians

and Vice-President of the Rideau Institute

----------------

 

 

--

 

Where's the transparency in the 'Security' and 'Prosperity' Partnership?

MAUDE BARLOW

Special to Globe and Mail Update

 

 

August 17, 2007

 

On Aug. 20 and 21, the leaders of Mexico, Canada and the United States will

meet in Montebello, Que., to discuss the so-called Security and Prosperity

Partnership. It provides a vision for North American integration that most

Canadians, Americans and Mexicans would reject.

 

Governments in all three countries have dodged political or public debate

about the SPP, and it is often those of us against its vision for North America

who end up on the defensive, accused of hampering discussion.

 

The Council of Canadians, Canada's largest citizens' advocacy group, has been

following SPP developments since it was launched in March of 2005. Our

organization is not against international co-operation. We are concerned,

however,

about the nature of the co-operation between the executive branches of our

government and the big business community established by the SPP. Read more...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070816.wwcomment/BNStory/Fr\

o

nt/home?tr=y & auid=2922763

 

 

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For information, please contact: operations

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Ottawa, ON K1P 5L4 Canada

Tel. 613-565-4994 Fax. 613-237-3359

www.rideauinstitute.ca

 

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