Big Business Drivers Behind SPP

Posted August 17, 2007 in [Trade]

Tony Clarke, The Polaris Institute, August 17, 2007 - As Prime Minister Stephen Harper plays host to the ‘three amigos summit’ in Montebello next week amidst a flurry of protests, Canadians languishing in the ‘dog days of summer’ may well wonder what the fuss is all about. Why are U.S. President George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon meeting with Harper over the so-called ‘Security Prosperity Partnership’ [SPP]? Where did it come from and who are the driving forces behind it? Despite small but growing resistance to the SPP here in Canada, many may be surprised to learn that its real architects are themselves Canadian.

The origins of the SPP go back to the late 1990’s when Canadian business leaders were coming to the conclusion that the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA] was not working out as planned. Cross border trade, charged the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters [CME] and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives [CCCE], was in ‘a state of benign neglect.’ “Overburdened and congested highways, lengthy delays at border inspection stations, [plus] deteriorating and inadequate infrastructure” posed what CME president Perrin Beatty called “the looming gridlock in our major trade corridors.” What’s more, the new Bush Administration in Washington was seemingly paying more attention to border issues of immigration and trade with Mexico than with Canada.

Then came the events of 9/11. Suddenly, the Canada-U.S. border was shutdown, choking-off cross-border trade in goods and services amounting to over a billion dollars a day. U.S. Ambassador, Paul Celucci warned: “security would trump trade” from now on in U.S.-Canada relations. Canadian business leaders wasted no time in responding. The CME immediately set up a policy-strategy taskforce of its member groups, re-activated its joint working group with its U.S. counterpart on key border issues, and took the lead in establishing the Coalition for Secure and Trade-Efficient Borders, an umbrella alliance of some forty key business associations from both countries. In unison, all the major Canadian business associations backed the Chretien government’s signing of the ‘Smart Border ‘ accord with Washington in December 2001, granting the U.S. new rights of inspection at Canadian border crossings along with a merging of immigration and customs data bases between the two countries.

Meanwhile the CCCE, which comprises Canada’s largest 150 corporations, began crafting a NAFTA-plus plan of action called the North American Security and Prosperity Initiative [NASPI]. Led by Thomas d’Aquino, NASPI called for a five-point action plan that included:

• an overhaul of border operations to speed up commercial processing, share intelligence and policing between countries and fast track movement of business personnel across borders;
• the build up of a North American defence system starting with increased Canadian military spending and greater interoperability with U.S. equipment on land, at sea, and in the air;
• the creation of a resource security pact to guarantee the uninterrupted flow of oil, gas, electricity and other strategic natural resources to the U.S.;
• the harmonization of regulations by eliminating certain policy tools [e.g. foreign ownership and skilled labour regulations] and adopting common health and environmental standards;
• the development of bi-national institutions to govern the four areas of continental integration outlined above.

Initially, the CCCE launched their NASPI plan in January 2003. Four months later, d’Aquino escorted a hundred business leaders from Canada to Washington to meet with their U.S. counterpart, the Business Roundtable, and high ranking officials in the Bush Administration. Originally, the CCCE business leaders had planned to meet in Montreal. However, the intervening announcement by the Chretien government that Canada would not be joining the U.S. in its invasion of Iraq, coupled with anti-U.S. sentiments publicly expressed by some government cabinet ministers and back benchers, prompted the CCCE to take extraordinary measures to mend fences and promote their new trade security plan in Washington. By all accounts, the message from the White House officials was clear: Canada had to come clean as an unquestioning U.S. ally in the war on terror and beef up its commitments to military and security priorities.

In 2004, the CCCE joined with the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington to form a Task Force on the Future of North America. Co-chaired by the CCCE’s d’Aquino, the taskforce outlined a far reaching agenda for deepening economic and social integration of all three countries based on security and trade priorities. In March 2005, the Security and Prosperity Partnership was formally adopted and launched by President Bush, Prime Minister Martin and President Fox at their summit in Waco, Texas based on the principle that “our prosperity is dependent on our security.” One of the first steps Stephen Harper took upon taking office was to confirm Canada’s ongoing commitment to the SPP at the March 2006 summit in Cancun, Mexico. And, nine of the ten Canadians appointed by Harper to sit on the North American Competitiveness Council mandated to propose plans for further work on the SPP, were members of the CCCE.

In effect, the SPP crafted by Canadian business leaders has virtually replaced NAFTA as the common framework for further advancing deeper integration between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Moreover, the underlying vision of creating an integrated North American community based on security and prosperity calls for profound changes in Canada’s own laws and regulations. Yet, these legislative changes are not being carried out by elected members of Parliament, let alone in consultation with the public. Instead, ten ministerial working committees, composed of senior officials from all three countries, are implementing the changes required in their country’s laws and regulations administratively. In other words, the SPP agenda is being implemented by executive order and administrative fiat, rather than by democratic discussion and debate through legislatures accountable to their own constituents.

So, as the three amigos summit unfolds next week in Montebello, it’s important to cast the public spotlight not only on what the political leaders are doing to advance the SPP, but also on the business leaders who are the real architects of this undemocratic agenda for Canada’s deeper integration with the U.S.

Tony Clarke is the director of the Polaris Institute in Ottawa which does research, education and action on corporate power and influence in public policy making.