Atlantica more than economic union

Maude Barlow
The Chronicle Herald
June 15, 2007

WHILE proponents of Atlantica are saying there is no cost for an economic union, nothing could be further from the truth.

Money – your money – is already being promised and spent on the infrastructure to make the economic union of Eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States a reality.

The basis of Atlantica is a proposed trade bloc of the Maritime provinces, Newfoundland (but not Labrador), parts of Quebec, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and upstate New York.

The goal of this bloc would be to erase border restrictions and regulations, making it easier to use Canadian shipping docks, highways and bridges to send Asian merchandise and energy resources into the United States.

According to local news reports, Atlantica has secured $500 million in transportation and energy investments over the next seven years, with little input from the public about the impacts of such a massive project.

Atlantica is about big business leaders making decisions that affect the lives of Atlantic Canadians. The public, unions and civil society organizations have been completely left out of the discussions.

And while there are bound to be economic gains for some – namely, large corporations that would be moving goods, the trucking industry, and businesses located near the proposed ports – there are also serious social and environmental impacts that have to be considered.

Atlantica is part of a larger plan to integrate the economies of Canada and Mexico with that of the United States.

In a ministerial declaration from a trilateral transportation meeting held in April, government officials from Canada, the United States and Mexico confirmed that they will be using the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) to further the Atlantica agenda. The SPP – an initiative to integrate Canadian foreign and domestic policies with those of the U.S. – has never been outlined, discussed or voted on by the Canadian public.

In a recent speech at the International Conference on Gateways and Corridors, Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed his support for closer economic ties and deeper integration with the United States.

He pledged to use Canadian tax dollars to build mega shipping ports and related infrastructure to ensure American access to Asian goods saying: "It amounts to a coast-to-coast overhaul of the foundations of our economy." He highlighted the Conservative 2007 budget that spends nearly $9 billion on infrastructure projects, including "gateways and border crossings," and stated "in the longer term, we intend to develop an Atlantic gateway in the East Coast."

But Asian goods are not the only thing that will be going south.

Energy exports from Atlantic Canada to the United States have grown rapidly in the last decade. The U.S. continues to look to Canada as a stable energy supplier as energy resources in other parts of the world become more difficult for the U.S. to count on.

Deep integration discussions between Canada and the U.S. make frequent reference to a "North American energy market" or "North American energy security." This means Canada will be sending oil and gas to American companies, regardless of its own energy needs.

The proposal for an oil refinery in Saint John, N.B., has not materialized and the environmental impacts of such an initiative are yet to be studied.

As resources go south, so do jobs. Local union representatives have been raising the alarm, questioning the benefit of sending unrefined oil, gas and other materials to the United States so they can be refined by American workers. This creates no advantage for the local economy.

In order for Atlantica to proceed, the big-business lobby has been pressuring the government to relax trucking regulations, reduce corporate and fuel taxes, and cut taxes on ships and coast guard fees so corporations will have more incentive to use a Halifax mega shipping port.

In addition to this, the big-business lobby wants provincial governments to relax highway rules to allow more commercial traffic. This "harmonization of regulations" is also part of the larger agenda of the SPP.

Atlantica is more than an economic union. It has very real social, environmental and financial impacts.

Essentially, Atlantica is a tool that will weaken Canadian sovereignty in favour of corporate profits. Aimed at facilitating the movement of Asian goods and natural resources to the United States, the plan will undermine our ability to protect jobs, the environment and energy security in Canada.

Is that really how we want our money spent?

Maude Barlow is national chairperson of the Council of Canadians.

Further reading:

• Atlantica