Cannabis Facts for Canadians

Wikileaks cable confirms North American Initiative (union) - Single market, currency, border plans

User Rating: / 8
PoorBest 
Freedom & Democracy News

Important revelations courtesy Wikileaks, just in time for the Canadian Election- revelations about the proposed security and border agreement the Harper government promoted in January 2011.  This most recent cable details American efforts to sell the plan to the population (who they refer to as "North Americans").  It appears that the dissolution of our border and the destruction of our ability to make sovereign economic decisions will be the end result of this proposal.

The cable states:

"An incremental and pragmatic package of tasks 
for a new North American Initiative (NAI) will likely gain
the most support among Canadian policymakers. Our research
leads us to conclude that such a package should tackle both
"security" and "prosperity" goals. This fits the
recommendations of Canadian economists who have assessed the
options for continental integration. While in principle
many of them support more ambitious integration goals, like
a customs union/single market and/or single currency, most
believe the incremental approach is most appropriate at this
time, and all agree that it helps pave the way to these
goals if and when North Americans choose to pursue them. "

The statement above suggests that Canadian economists are suggesting these proposals, however these economists remain unnamed.  Reading the cable, it sounds eerily similar to the Conservative talking points circulated on the border security agreement:

"We believe 
that, given growing Canadian concern about "border risk" and
its effects on investment, a focus on the "security" side
could also produce the most substantial economic/trade
benefits. "

As some may recall, one important aspect of the Conservatives' selling points for this deal were improved border crossings and less intrusive security. Many experts were immediately skeptical of this, pointing out that all the money and technology that has been poured into reinforcing the land border since 9/11 wouldn't simply be thrown out. Those suspicions were essentially confirmed in this cable:

"Even with zero tariffs, our land 
borders have strong commercial effects. Some of these
effects are positive (such as law enforcement and data
gathering), so our governments may always want to keep
some kind of land border in place."

The cable also alludes to Mexico's involvement in the proposed talks- an aspect which was not highlighted in the January announcement. 

"Nearly all 
of this work assumes that each of the three countries is
pursuing standard economic policy goals - growth,
productivity and competitiveness (rather than more specific
concerns raised by Mexican analysts such as migration
management, regional development, or environmental
protection)."

However, this cable was created in 2005 and since then Mexico's American-sponsored drug war has been responsible for tens of thousands of deaths yearly.  It seems likely this would have been a factor in reworking the proposals.

The cable also mentions dissolving province-specific regulations and standards (again citing unnamed "Canadian economists"):

?Canadian economists agree that Canadian 
regulations (if not their standards, then their
complexity) are needlessly restricting foreign
investment and impeding food, communications and other
industries. (Inter-provincial differences are
important here, since Canada's federal government does
not have the benefit of a U.S.-style "interstate
commerce" clause). While much of the problem is
domestic in nature, an international initiative could
help to catalyze change.
"

This is damning evidence exposing the Harper and the previous Martin Liberal government's plans to basically sell out our country.  The cable's creation date suggests these negotiations have been taking place with the previous Paul Martin Liberal government, and clearly given Harper's January announcement we know that he was happy to pick up where the Liberals left off.  These proposals ensure that we will no longer be able to make sovereign, independent decisions in a number of crucial areas.   

Please read the original cable here.

This cable, as concerning as it is, was labelled "unclassified - sensitive".  However, Wikileaks promised earlier through it's Twitter account to begin releasing classified embassy cables concerning Canada "soon" - just in time for the election on Monday would be a safe bet.

Last Updated (Saturday, 30 April 2011 17:56)

 

Add comment

Please keep comments respectful and informative and do not post spam. Comments not following these rules will be removed. Thanks for contributing to the discussion :)
The "Name" field does not have to be your real name, put anything you want!


Security code
Refresh

Latest Tags

Most Popular Tags

Related Items

฿ Donate using Bitcoin! 1QGQUEFmb9gdftCimwrbvXiX8pfnFGrn7K