Dear RightOnCanada Supporter,

George Bush, Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon will be meeting behind closed doors in Montebello, Quebec, on August 20-21, 2007.

Their agenda? To change hundreds of Canadian regulations, laws and policies — social, cultural, economic, international and security — to match those in the U.S., creating a  “fortress North America.”

This scheme, originally proposed by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (a lobby group representing the country’s biggest corporations) has been developing in secret for over four years.While corporations such as Wal-Mart and Exxon have been heavily involved in this process, the public and Parliament have been completely excluded.

The scheme goes by the deliberately deceptive title “Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America” (SPP). It is, in fact, a scheme to transfer power from democratic institutions to corporate board rooms.

When decision making takes place behind closed doors, human rights disappear.

“The Security and Prosperity Partnership, sadly, appears to trade basic human rights for continued access to the U.S. market,” warned Alex Neve, Secretary General for Amnesty International Canada, and Roch Tassé, coordinator for the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, in the Globe and Mail.

Please go to RightonCanada.ca to send your letter urging Stephen Harper to immediately stop the backroom deals, disclose everything that takes place at the Montebello meetings and put the SPP to a national and parliamentary debate so that Canadians can have their say.

Let Prime Minister Harper know that you want the government to give priority to human rights and democracy. At the same time, you will be sending a letter to your own MP, asking her or him to take a stand on the issue. RightonCanada has also written to every MP urging that he or she take a stand. We will publish their response (or non-response) on our website so as to make each MP publicly accountable.

As well, visit the Council of Canadians’ website to learn more about the SPP and Canadians’ efforts to stop secret deals that threaten our sovereignty and democracy.That’s what democracy means.

With thanks,

Kathleen Ruff Founder of RightOnCanada.ca and Senior Advisor to the Rideau Institute

Maude Barlow National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and Vice-President of the Rideau Institute

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Where’s the transparency in the ‘Security’ and ‘Prosperity’ Partnership?
MAUDE BARLOW

Special to Globe and Mail Update

August 17, 2007

On Aug. 20 and 21, the leaders of Mexico, Canada and the United States will meet in Montebello, Que., to discuss the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership. It provides a vision for North American integration that most Canadians, Americans and Mexicans would reject.

Governments in all three countries have dodged political or public debate about the SPP, and it is often those of us against its vision for North America who end up on the defensive, accused of hampering discussion.

The Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest citizens’ advocacy group, has been following SPP developments since it was launched in March of 2005. Our organization is not against international co-operation. We are concerned, however, about the nature of the co-operation between the executive branches of our government and the big business community established by the SPP. Read more…