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Help us sink AtlanticaAtlantica is a fictional place, a corporate dream of the Atlantic Provinces Chambers of Commerce (APCC) and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) to integrate the four Atlantic provinces and southeastern Quebec with northeastern New England and Upper-State New York. These big business lobbies claim that the only way to boost individual provincial economies is to take provinces out of the picture completely. They want to do this by creating a massive bi-national trading bloc where wages are lower, unions are smaller, and the regulations protecting our health and environment are much weaker. Unfortunately, while Atlantica doesn’t really exist, the small group of elites who want it to are gaining political allies in Atlantic Canada and in Ottawa. The Policy Research Initiative (PRI), a Government of Canada think tank biased toward deep integration and regulatory harmonization between Canada and the United States, hails “cross-border regions” like Atlantica as, “a key feature of North American integration.” The PRI even links them to the Security and Prosperity Partnership, suggesting that, “the SPP may provide the political push needed to kick-start further cross-border collaborations.” Strangely, despite being so positive about Atlantica and the deep integration agenda behind it, the PRI admits that such “cross-border” regions “remain fuzzy entities” whose shape and size depends “on the interest and dimensions considered.” Clearly, the only interests being considered by the corporate proponents of Atlantica are those of the big business lobby. The public, unions and other civil society groups have been excluded from closed-door meetings to discuss Atlantica. But we continue to make our voice heard in other ways. We were there in June, 2006 when AIMS and the APCC met in private in St. John. And we were there again in Halifax in June 2007. Keep checking the Council of Canadians' website for updates on actions around Atlantica. Together we can help sink this corporate dream of deep integration that can only hurt the public interest for the sake of very limited corporate interests. Check out any of the resources below for more information about Atlantica. THE MYTH OF ATLANTICA
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updated
September 19, 2008
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