Jack Layton On Paul Martin's Plan For Deep Integration
Posted on Thursday, March 24 at 15:55 by Perturbed
Right Hon. Paul Martin (Prime Minister, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, I am not quite sure what Alice in Wonderland book the leader of the NDP has been reading, but I will tell members what we will be pursuing. We will be pursuing an agenda that would provide greater security for Canadians and for Americans and indeed for Mexicans. We will be proceeding on an agenda for greater economic prosperity for our three countries. We will be proceeding on an agenda for greater quality of life, for better environmental control.
If the leader of the NDP finds that security, prosperity and a higher quality of life is an agenda that he cannot accept, we have known that for a long time.
Mr. Jack Layton (Toronto—Danforth, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, I can tell the Prime Minister what we have been reading. We have been reading headlines about Canadian jobs leaving this country and going to other countries with the full support of the government. That is no big surprise. When the Prime Minister owned CSL he was shipping Canadian jobs abroad when ships could have been built here in Canada.
I come right back to the question, why is the Prime Minister pursuing the Wal-Mart plan: ship any job anywhere to the lowest economic denominator and tear up any environmental standard?
Why are these items going to be discussed with the President of the United States and the President of Mexico?
Right Hon. Paul Martin (Prime Minister, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, if we take a look at the record that Canada has had, we are the only G-7 country that is currently in a surplus. We have had an incredible increase in the standard of living of Canadians.
The hon. member talks about jobs. The fact is that we have had some of the highest job creation Canada has ever had in any decade, and certainly greater than most other G-7 countries, all as a result of the policies of this government.
What I would suggest the hon. member ought to do is to stop reading just the headlines and he might start reading the articles.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Mr. Jack Layton (Toronto—Danforth, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, I would like to return to the issue of the hidden agenda of the Liberal government vis-à-vis deep integration with the United States.
We learned virtually nothing from the press conference today by the Prime Minister. Everything is just as hidden as it was going in.
The fact of the matter is that Canadians do not want deep integration. They do not want to race to the bottom along the Wal-Mart way of George Bush with lower wages and lower environmental standards.
Why will the Liberals not tell the Canadian people what their agenda is: cheap labour from Mexico, Canadian oil and sovereignty be damned? Explain that one.
Hon. Ralph Goodale (Minister of Finance, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, I have no intention of explaining it because the hon. gentleman is just flat wrong.
What the countries of North America are seeking to achieve is greater security for the continent, greater prosperity for all of our citizens, a better quality of life for Canadians, and the bottom line for Canada is absolute Canadian sovereignty.
Mr. Jack Layton (Toronto—Danforth, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, that is funny because that is exactly what the Liberals said about Star Wars missile defence. The NDP was right that time and we are right again.
Canadians do not want George Bush's deep integration plan. The Liberals are signing deals now with George Bush, a free ride for the auto sector.
The Liberals are refusing to take action on Devils Lake. Why has the Prime Minister come back empty-handed from discussions in the U.S. when it comes to the Devils Lake program polluting Manitoba ecosystems?
Hon. Stéphane Dion (Minister of the Environment, Lib.):
Mr. Speaker, we have raised this issue many times and will raise it again. Devils Lake is a very important issue, not only for Manitoba but for the country and for many states in the United States.
I wish that the leader of the NDP would work with us on this national issue that should be above partisan posturing.
http://ndp.ca/speechdetail/nid-2468
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on March 27, 2005]
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OTTAWA – NDP Leader Jack Layton criticized the reckless union Paul Martin formed with George Bush in Texas in order to force Canada into deeper integration with the United States. <br />
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“The Liberals didn’t tell Canadians that as the government they’d ship George Bush our oil and give him open access to our energy resources. They are hiding their agenda from Canadians,” said Layton. “With the stroke of his pen Paul Martin signs away piece after piece of Canada’s sovereignty. <br />
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“The Liberals are joining the George Bush chorus that security trumps trade, they’re trying to scare Canadians into believing that giving away our sovereignty will be good for North America.” <br />
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“Paul Martin didn’t even bother to take his Trade Minister along on the trip,” said Peter Julian, NDP MP and Critic for International Trade and Globalization. “Instead of working on a resolution to the softwood lumber dispute and getting the U.S. border open to Canadian beef, Martin secretively signed on to intertwine Canada in Bush’s security agenda.” <br />
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“Martin’s deal with Bush is great news for their corporate cronies, and it gives Bush extensive access to Canadian energy resources to fuel his wars,” said Layton. <br />
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Paul Martin must be taking his cues from his first choice to serve as Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S., former Deputy Prime Minister John Manley. Manley is trumpeting a plan that would see Canada locked into a joint security perimeter with the U.S., Canadian citizens carrying biometric security cards. It would give George Bush access to all the Canadian oil he needs and all the cheap Mexican labour he can use. <br />
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Last week Manley called for an integrated North America: "The U.S. will not be safe without the whole-hearted support of its neighbours,” said Manley. "We need to look at security of infrastructure in respect of energy supply." <br />
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The Liberals hidden agenda is further evidence that they are abandoning their commitments to progressive voters. Martin and Manley are pushing Canada into deeper integration with George Bush against the wishes of Canadians. <br />
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<a href="http://ndp.ca/newsdetail/nid-2470">http://ndp.ca/newsdetail/nid-2470</a><p>---<br>The midget, Bush, and that Rumsfield deserve only to be beaten with shoes by freedom loving people everywhere.<br />
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- Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, The Iraqi Informat
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Dave Ruston
Okay. How do we get more economic prosperity without losing our quality of life and without polluting the planet? This is Alice In Wonderland thinking if you ask me. Our standard of living is so high only dogs can hear it. No wonder Martin/Bush/Manley/D'Quino are flailing around madly terrified of the thought that China and India are going after the lifestyles we have all enjoyed for years. It can't happen without our standard of living falling to pieces. We'll be living in those slums with no middle class jobs anywhere in sight. I absolutely believe that what happened in Argentina can and will happen in Canada at the rate we are going. We need to stop consuming the way we are. Simplify, simplify, simplify. We need to prepare for their emergence but not with military might, bigbox countries and our civil liberties in shreds. We need to become community-minded individuals. Forget BIG BUSINESS and the government. These two things in todays world have really made themselves irrelevent to the people of the world. Infact they have become more dangerous to us than helpful. They're self destructing and we have to be prepared for their demise so we don't have to waste one tear at the funeral.
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"Yeah, well, [Mr. President] we used all five fingers because that's the way our mittens are made." Antonia Zerbisias
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All of Martin and Goodale's comments were talking points straight out of the CCCE agenda. That the comments were so precisely "on message" is the scary part. Welcome to the age of Karl Rove politics.<br />
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For perspective, see "The Robo-Candidate" by Ralph Nader: <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1206-02.htm">http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1206-02.htm</a><br />
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Looks like we've got the robo-candidate too.<br />
I was thinking that Bush was not the only one that had Karl Rove's brain. No wonder Rove stays out of sight, he must be one exhausted puppeteer.
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"Yeah, well, [Mr. President] we used all five fingers because that's the way our mittens are made." Antonia Zerbisias
Now today we have this new plan to integrate beyond FTA. The politicaling will make it pass. Especially considering the voting average is so low. The ones who would defeat it are the ones that have stopped voting.
The true key to fighting for Canada is enticing cynical voters to vote. They need a real cause to vote, and more importantly they need to know how that cause will directly affect them, and will their vote really count. I find it strange we have many non-profit independent organizations that are fighting for Canada, yet we have none helping to increase voter numbers. When in fact it's those non voters that are the key to fighting for Canada. (Maybe there some organizations I'm not aware of).
These politicians on both sides of the border know very well that their agenda will never be stopped as long as they allow more people to remain cynical of voting.
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
Kevin
party down in the states. If the NDP starts using Dean's tactics, we might gain
ground, as the Democrats have been since Dean became DNC head.
A counter to the robo-candidate tactic is what is needed. Martin and crew have a predetermined, well-rehearsed answer to just about every criticism, no doubt based on a carefully researched and restricted lexicon. Most of the answers don't address the criticism itself but instead stay "on message" with a few key selling phrases about prosperity, security, or a few key "framing" phrases to paint those criticizing as self-interested, partisan, political villains.
The line about the FTA being singlehandledly responsible for the revenue surplus stuck on me, until I thought about it some more (for instance, I guess this absolves Mr. Martin of all credit as finance minister?). This is one message that will be repeated ad nauseum. The second is the "inextricable link" between trade and security.
The key point is they are attempting to frame all discourse on this, because they already have all the answers they think they need in order to win.
The one word they don't have much control over, but which has media strength currently, is "divergence". Culturally, Canada and the U.S. are diverging, and many Canadians are proud of this, as an expression of independence and will. "Harmonization" (harmony) is the chosen contrasting word, because it is a comfort word for those who seek security, and it has no well-known, positive, antonyms or contrasts. A better antonym for divergence is "conformance", whose contrast is "independence". Thus "divergence" can be made positive via a link to "independence", "freedom" and "autonomy". "Harmonization" should be persistently linked to "dependence" and "conformance".
Every time they use the term "inextricable", media opponents should jump on it, because it is the shortest route to demonstrating loss of sovereignty, and the most negative word they chose.
From m-w.com:
inextricable: "forming a maze or tangle from which it is impossible to get free"
People like to be free, not tangled.