MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2007

Maude Barlow addresses Parliament on the Security and Prosperity Partnership

Ottawa – Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, denounced the deep integration agenda behind the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America as anti-democratic and a threat to Canada’s water and energy at an International Trade Committee meeting today.

“The Security and Prosperity Partnership is not, as its proponents claim, about eliminating the ‘tyranny of small differences’ among the three NAFTA countries. It is quite literally about eliminating Canada’s ability to determine independent regulatory standards, environmental protections, energy security, foreign, military, immigration and other policies,” Barlow told the parliamentary committee.

“To date, the only ‘stakeholders’ involved or consulted in the SPP process have been representatives of big business. Apparently, when it comes to the future of North America, the public doesn’t count. Nor do elected officials who, according to SPP documents, are only to be ‘briefed’ after decisions have been made.”

Not only is the SPP being implemented quietly, without public scrutiny, it also puts Canada’s water and energy supplies in serious danger, said Barlow. She cited the agenda from an SPP-related meeting in Calgary on April 27, 2007 to discuss, “creative solutions beyond the current trans-boundary water arrangements,” and, “water consumption, water transfers and artificial diversions of bulk water,” with the aim of achieving “joint optimum utilization of the available water.”

“These Alberta meetings, funded at least in part by the U.S. government and the private sector (a fact confirmed by the U.S. embassy), are about drafting policy, not making recommendations,” Barlow told the committee, adding that water, like oil, is considered part and parcel of U.S. visions for a “North American Resource Strategy” that treats Canada’s precious resources as its own.

“The problem with the North American Resource Strategy proposed by the SPP – as with NAFTA – is that it leaves Canadians victims of an official policy that renders Canada not only unwilling but unable to provide for the energy needs of its citizens – now and in the future,” she said. “It is high time that the people of Canada, Mexico and the United States be included in a meaningful way in the discussion and debate around the Security and Prosperity Partnership.”

The Council of Canadians demands that the Government of Canada cease all talks leading toward deeper integration with the United States until there has been a meaningful public consultation on the issue. It also demands that the SPP be brought into the House of Commons for a full debate and vote.

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For more information, contact: Dylan Penner, Media Officer: Tel.: (613) 233-4487, ext. 249; .

Further reading:

• Security and Prosperity Partnership
• Leaked document: North American Future 2025 Project (PDF format)
  Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
• Backgrounder: The North American Future 2025 Project (PDF format)
  The Council of Canadians’ analysis
• NAFTA