January 29, 2008

ACTIVISM CALL!

From: "Brent Patterson"
To:
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:40:07 -0500
Subject: [Stop-spp-action] ACTION ALERT: No SPP summit in New Orleans, consult Canadians now

The SPP marches on and once against democracy is left behind. Canadians learned last night from the American president during his final State of the Union address that our prime minister would be meeting with him and the president of Mexico in April for the 'North American Summit' in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the time of the last Security and Prosperity Partnership summit in Montebello the final communiqué from the leaders only noted, “Prime Minister Harper and President Calderón were pleased to accept the proposal of President Bush for the United States to host the next meeting of North American leaders in 2008.”

On August 20, 2007, at the last 'Leaders Summit', Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to accept 10,000 letters collected by the Council of Canadians from concerned citizens across the country who called on him to "cease all talks leading to deeper integration between Canada and the United States" and who expressed their concern that "our government is forging ahead with the deep integration agenda enshrined in the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), without any public input or parliamentary debate."

On August 22, the Canwest News Service reported that, "...Council of Canadians chairwoman Maude Barlow claimed vindication after a corporate advisory panel to the three leaders recommended that legislatures be more involved with the Security and Prosperity Partnership...Barlow said the ‘jaw-dropping’ report is an admission that the SPP won't succeed without more public input. ‘We've been saying that for three years, and for three years they've been having their private meetings with leaders and scoffing at us for criticizing them,’ Barlow said outside a Montebello ice cream stand. ‘For me, what happened was they got caught. All of a sudden they're admitting that this executive level of decision-making isn't going to fly because they forgot about democracy. I see this as a true vindication of our position.’” And yet, to our great disappointment, after the glare of media attention ended, so did their promise of legislative review of the SPP.

That October, Maude Barlow, David Suzuki, Ken Georgetti, Maher Arar and Monia Mazigh sent the prime minister a letter demanding that his Throne Speech include a commitment to submit the Security and Prosperity Partnership to a vote in the next parliamentary session. The prime minister did not do so and by failing to commit in the Throne Speech to a parliamentary debate and vote on the SPP he very clearly broke his April 2006 Throne Speech promise "to submit significant international treaties for votes in Parliament."

As we hear news about the upcoming summit - in April of this year, but still with no specific date mentioned - the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois need to mobilize in Parliament and act decisively on the promises they made just prior to the 2007 summit in Montebello:

Liberal Party (August 17): "We will table a resolution calling on the government to inform Canadians of the work and negotiations of the SPP, and to report to the House of Commons to allow for parliamentary scrutiny and a full and informed debate when the Parliament reconvenes."

Le Bloc Quebecois (16 août): "Il est clair que le Canada doit suspendre la mise en application des nouvelles mesures règlementaires découlant des discussions du PSP jusqu’à ce qu’il ait consulté les parlementaires. D’ailleurs, le gouvernement Harper ne dispose d’aucun mandat pour agir dans le secret et procéder à des changements avec ses partenaires de l’ALÉNA." (It's clear that Canada must suspend all current regulatory measures related to the SPP until parliament has been consulted. Without a consultation, Harper cannot claim to have a mandate for proceeding with regulatory changes, in secret, with his NAFTA partners.)

New Democratic Party (August 17): "The NDP will continue to show leadership, working to ensure that any further developments on the SPP are stopped until a full legislative review, public debate and parliamentary vote take place."

THE DEMAND

Activists are encouraged to send their own version of the following message to Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca), Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca), Jack Layton (Layton.J@parl.gc.ca) and Gilles Duceppe (Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca) or send a letter using the form below: You can also access this action alert and draft letter through our website at www.canadians.org.

Prime Minister Harper,

As a member of the Council of Canadians, I am calling on you to stop talks on the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, including the upcoming leaders summit this April in New Orleans, and to consult with Canadians on this critical issue.

While Canadians have learned about this upcoming summit from the US president, not from you, we would ask you at this point to be specific about the planned date of the summit in New Orleans.

I am opposed to the SPP, which includes the no-fly list (the SPP states, "Develop comparable standards and procedures…for passenger screening"); pesticide residues (it says, "Work to resolve differences in pesticide maximum residue limits that may be barriers to trade…"); the tar sands (it calls for, "Greater economic production from the oil sands"); and civil rights (it calls for, "sharing of terrorist watch list data and the establishment of appropriate linkages between Canada, the United States and Mexico.")

I also believe that the North American Competitiveness Council should be disbanded. Corporations such as Manulife Financial, Home Depot and Wal-Mart should not be dictating economic policy between Canada and the United States.

I urge you to keep the promise you made in your Throne Speech in 2006 that "significant international treaties will be submitted for votes in Parliament." I believe that the Security and Prosperity Partnership should be subject to public hearings, as well as brought to the House of Commons for a full debate and vote.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

For extensive information about the Security and Prosperity Partnership, please go to the 'Integrate This! Challenging the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America' website at http://www.canadians.org/integratethis/.

Brent Patterson

Director of Campaigns, Organizing,

& the Blue Planet Project

The Council of Canadians

700-170 Laurier Avenue West

Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5V5

1-800-387-7177 ext. 291

bpatterson@canadians.org

www.canadians.org

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