Reaching Atlantica Conference Promotes Political Integration With The US

1. "Reaching Atlantica" is not an inclusive conference. As noted on the "Reaching Atlantica" website, the conference is open to "small business owners, CEO's, managers and executives, as well as Government representatives from the four Atlantic Provinces and the US Northeast." The registration fee for a non-member of the Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade is $595. plus HST. Given that cross-border relations greatly affect all people, this conference does not include adequate representation from all sectors of civil society. 2. "Reaching Atlantica" is driven by corporate interests. The conference sponsors include corporate-giants BMO Financial Group, Mosaik Mastercard, Irving oil, Deloitte, and Aliant telecommunications, as well as Peter MacKay's Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. Featured speakers at the event include Richard Egleton, Senior Vice-President & Chief Economist of BMO Financial Group and Kenneth Irving, President and CEO of Irving Oil. Any reassessment of cross-border relations should involve government, labour, environmental, cultural and social groups, as well as business. 3. "Reaching Atlantica" threatens the ability of governments to effectively represent their citizens. Just as corporate executives are now formally part of the negotiations on the so-called North American Security and Prosperity Partnership, the supporters of "Reaching Atlantica" identify as a goal, "attending the yearly New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers Conference." The interests of the citizens of Atlantic Canada and the north-eastern United States must take precedence over the interest of an economic elite. 4. "Reaching Atlantica" promotes economic integration into the United States. A key goal of the conference is to look at "encouraging inter-provincial and international trade through the removal of barriers and harmonization of regulations." One of the workshops titled, "Impediments of the Region" will look at "a number of impediments" to being an "international trade corridor" such as "the impacts of federal and regional legislation." The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, a key participant in the conference, has stated, "If the border cannot be made to disappear, its impact must at least be blurred." 5. "Reaching Atlantica" promotes political integration into the United States. Brian Lee Crowley, President of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), is a keynote speaker at the "Reaching Atlantica" conference. A January 2006 AIMS Commentary document recommends: "Ottawa should build on its Smart Commerce initiative with the United States to accelerate and simplify even further border-crossing policies, while also working with our American partners on integrated perimeter security, the harmonization of external tariffs, and mutually agreeable standards for entry of persons from third countries." 6. "Reaching Atlantica" threatens the rights of workers. The AIMS website lists minimum wage laws and union density not as signs of a healthy society but as "public policy distress factors." Reducing both would increase what Atlantica proponents call "labour market flexibility," which often just means more work for less money and less rights. Speaking with CTV last year, Brian Lee Crowley called public sector labour unions "destructive," and in a Globe and Mail column from 2000 on the evils of equalization, he said what Atlantic Canada needs more than anything are "significant tax cuts, labour flexibility, social welfare and [EI] reform and improved profitability for business." For more information about the Resisting Atlantica meeting on June 8, please download the poster from our website. -- The Council of Canadians 700-170 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, ON K1P 5V5. Tel: (613) 233-2773; Toll-free: 1-800-387-7177 Fax: (613) 233-6776 inquiries@canadians.org www.canadians.org

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