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SPP

SPP stands for the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. Critics have called it “NAFTA on steroids” or “NAFTA with guns”. Whatever you call it, one thing is certain: the SPP goes far beyond NAFTA to drastically increase the economic and political integration of Canada with the United States and Mexico. The agreement was signed in 2005 by the previous Liberal government, and is now being quietly implemented by the Harper Conservative government.

The main reason given by the government for signing the SPP is the need to address U.S. security concerns in a post 9-11 world in which “security trumps trade”. We are supposed to believe that the only way to ensure continued Canadian prosperity is by adopting American security measures as our own. Because of this, we have had to change our passports and many border practices, and create a Canadian “no fly list”. But that is only the beginning of the process. Many more changes are in the works, and they go far beyond security measures.

The big business community has been taking advantage of the SPP linkage between security and prosperity to push through a massive “harmonization” of rules and regulations in the three partner countries. With no public consultation or parliamentary oversight, our government is abandoning Canada’s distinct rules and regulations and replacing them with watered-down ones sponsored by the some of the most powerful corporations in North America. In May 2007, leaked information confirmed that Canada’s pesticide regulations were being weakened in line with the SPP. Right now, under the SPP a number of tri-national working groups are pushing forward with the harmonization of hundreds of regulations.

However, none of these regulatory changes is being debated in Parliament. And citizens are mostly unaware of what is going on. In fact, the government is going full speed ahead with this program without even consulting Canadians. Meanwhile, the only outside input into this process is coming from members of an exclusive group of top North American business executives, the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC).

At the Council of Canadians, we believe that the SPP is the greatest threat to Canada’s independence ever, and we are working full out to try to educate ordinary Canadians about the dangers of this terrible agreement. We also want to remind people that both the Liberals and Conservatives have been pushing the SPP forward.