Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff writes in the Globe and Mail today that, “After months of secret negotiations, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced last week his desire to seek a new security deal with the United States. The content of the proposal and the manner in which it came about raise serious questions about the government’s commitment to defending our sovereignty, our privacy and our rights as Canadian citizens.”
His main arguments:
1- “A negotiation of this magnitude demands transparency. Canadians need to know what is on the table. Instead, despite months of leaks, news stories and questions in Parliament, Mr. Harper has yet to utter the words ‘perimeter security’ in the House of Commons. The ministers of Public Safety, Foreign Affairs and International Trade have said even less.”
2- “The Conservatives seem ready to provide the U.S. government with unprecedented amounts of private information about Canadian travellers. On Friday, Mr. Harper and President Barack Obama issued a joint declaration that commits Canada and the U.S. to work ‘to establish and verify the identities of travellers and conduct screening at the earliest opportunity.’”
3- “Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, senators Joseph Lieberman and Susan Collins and other senior U.S. officials have all said that Canada’s immigration and refugee policies constitute a threat to U.S. security. …The decisions we make to grant or refuse citizenship or refugee status are fundamental to our sovereignty – and to the future of our society. Such decisions must remain in Canadian hands. …How much decision-making authority over Canada’s immigration policy is Mr. Harper prepared to give to the U.S.?”
4- “On America’s other land border, with Mexico, ‘security co-operation’ has led to significant U.S. control over Mexico’s security priorities and intelligence operations.”
5- “We still do not know how much the proposed perimeter security measures – including new border infrastructure and expanded digital capacity – will cost, or if they will be included in the next federal budget. We still do not know who will sit on the Beyond the Border Working Group, or when it will present its recommendations.”
Ignatieff concludes, “These and other questions must be answered, but the Conservative government seems determined not to answer them. Parliament is the place to answer these questions, in public, in front of the elected representatives of the Canadian people. Mr. Harper must do so.”
His op-ed is at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/dont-deal-away-our-sovereignty/article1901070/.