Media Advisory, October 28, 2008, SPP DOA

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release
October 28, 2008

Regional Day of Action against the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)

On November 3, Activists across South-West Ontario plan to target corporate power and anti-democratic integration of continental trade and security.

Monday, November 3 has, regionally, been declared a day to raise awareness about the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), and to take action against the corporations and government ministries responsible for implementation of the continental integration agreement. Protests and demonstrations will be taking place in Toronto, Hamilton, Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, Stratford and London.

The SPP is a post-9/11 version of NAFTA that at times has been referred to as a plan for a “North American Union.” While the actual documents of the SPP specifically state that there is no plan for a single, centralized continental government, “the SPP agreement does pursue goals of, and layout a framework for alarmingly deep integration of trade, regulatory and military policies between Canada, the United States and Mexico,” said activist Rachel Avery. “The SPP establishes, what amounts to a modern corporate oligarchy that has decided that the fate of the continent is to be unified under the banner of extreme capitalism and the War on Terror, that it is best achieved by conceiving of ‘security’ and ‘prosperity’ as inseparable and mutually reinforcing,” explained Avery. “The problem is; whose security and prosperity?” Rachel Avery is a member of AW@L, the activist organization that called for the regional day of action. The SPP has been referred to as a militarized NAFTA.

The SPP was initially ratified by Paul Martin, George Bush and Vincente Fox—then heads of State for Canada, the US and Mexico—in 2005 at a Leaders’ Summit in Waco, Texas. The Plan was put forward by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) and representatives from the US Council on Foreign Relations. Currently, the only oversight body for the SPP is the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), a representative board made up of the CEO’s of 10 of the most powerful corporations from each of the three NAFTA/SPP partners. AW@L has called for activists across the region to target NACC companies on November 3. Canadian member corporations of the NACC are: Manulife Financial, Brookfield Asset Management, Ganong Bros Ltd, Suncor Energy Inc, Linamar Corp, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc, Royal Bank of Canada, ATCO Group, Yellow Pages Group, and The Home Depot Canada.

In Canada, the government ministries primarily responsible for implementing the SPP Working Groups’ directives are the Ministries of Public Safety, Industry, and Foreign Affairs. The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Department of Defence’s new Canada Command (as well as NORAD) are deeply involved in SPP implementation, which has been causing the militarization of border services and civil policing, and the harmonization of policies covering issues from pesticides to intellectual property rights to energy and resource security. “Because of the fact that these Ministries and Agencies are merely following the direction of an elitist corporate sector, and because of the fact that the SPP will not be debated in the Canadian House of Parliament nor the American Congress, nor the Mexican Parliament, the SPP is inherently and irredeemably anti-democratic,” said AW@L spokesperson Alex Hundert. For November 3, AW@L has also called for the targeting of what they call “government (mis)representatives.”

AW@L, also known as Anti-War@Laurier is an activist group based in Kitchener-Waterloo. Recently, AW@L was involved in a rail blockade of CP Rail’s Olympic Spirit Train and the Pan-Canadian Day of Action against the War in Afghanistan. The group also works on issues concerning the War in Afghanistan, American War Resisters, Indigenous Solidarity and Native Rights, as well as SPP and anti-2010 organizing. More information about the Regional Day of Action and about AW@L can be found at peaceculture.org.
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Contact: Alex Hundert – 519 500 1878 or alex@peaceculture.org
For more info visit AW@L's Web Site or email spp@peaceculture.org