NDP Demands Transparency In Can/US/Mexico Talks

Mr. Julian’s reaction came in response to today’s mandated meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Ann McClellan, Minister of Industry Emerson and their US and Mexican counterparts. This meeting was a follow up to the Waco Texas Summit last March where the three leaders agreed on a “Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, a 40-point smart regulation action plan. “Fundamentally, this action plan for a so called ‘North American Community’ is flawed because the Liberal government is receiving direction from the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), and because it is based on the underlying assumption that Canada and US interests are the same in the long run as defined by the handful of multinationals that control most of North American trade,” said Julian. During question period today in the House of Commons, Julian asked the Prime Minister to establish an open dialogue with the Canadian public about the path that is being chosen for Canada by making sure that parliament and civil society have a say over the future of integration for North America. “In addition to being undemocratic, the deep integration strategy ignores the need to maintain Canada’s identity and sovereignty. Allowing Corporate North America to define our interests as a nation implies, in the end, complete regulatory harmonization with the US, and the subordination of our economic, social, cultural, and environmental policies to US policies,” said the MP. Progressive studies have confirmed that the NAFTA era has been an era of depressed wages, higher stress and instability for workers. The NDP, representatives of civil society, and the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on International Trade have all called for a thorough review of NAFTA’s investor state provisions and dispute settlement mechanism before moving any further. [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on June 28, 2005]

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