Vive Le Canada - So What's the Big Deal?

I gave a slightly abbreviated and edited version of the following speech today at the Edmonton SPP protest (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4251616865) on the steps of the Alberta Legislature. Turnout was small but decent considering the weather and the many other events in Edmonton this weekend like the Fringe theatre festival. Speakers included provincial leader of the NDP Brian Mason, the CAP candidate for Yellowhead, a rep for Greenpeace, a labour rep, and more.

NEW--And here's a pic as taken by our own good Dr. C:

So What's the Big Deal?
SPP protest speech
Susan Thompson

Canadians are going to be asking a question today.

They'll be watching the news about the SPP protests on TV or reading about them in their paper, and they're going to be asking,

WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?

Why are so many people so upset about an agreement that the majority of Canadians hadn't even heard about until this weekend?

And the people who have been planning the SPP and putting it into place have an answer for them.

THERE IS NO BIG DEAL.

All our PM is talking to the Presidents of the US and Mexico about is a series of bureaucratic changes that they haven't released to the general public in the past because they are simply too "boring"!

At least that's according to Thomas D'Aquino, head of the CCCE, which planned and launched the SPP.

According to D'Aquino and other architects of the SPP, it has absolutely no effect on Canadian sovereignty--it only erases the small differences between Canada and the US, or what they call barriers to trade--little things like whether you can board a plane, the amount of pesticide on the fruits and vegetables you eat, how much oil Canada exports, and most insignificant of all, our entire military and foreign policy.

As for the idea that the SPP could lead to the creation of a NAU modelled on the EU, according to D'Aquino that's
"a gigantic load of B.S. and misinformation."
And anyone who believes the SPP is a blueprint for continental integration is "smoking something".

Where would people get the idea, after all, that the SPP would create a NAU, when the SPP involves creating a common foreign and security policy, and a common trade policy, while the EU involved...well, creating a common foreign and security policy, and a common trade policy?

CRAZY that people don't see the difference, isn't it?

And the craziness doesn't stop there. According to the US Embassy to Canada, which has released a list of myths about the SPP, the SPP is not even an agreement--it's a dialogue.

If you're wondering what the difference is, apparently when you call something a dialogue, you don't have to actually have Parliamentary oversight or seek input from the people the dialogue will affect--namely, Canadians.

So far, the only people who have been allowed to participate in the SPP dialogue have been the CEOs of giant companies.

But this shouldn't be a surprise--after all, the SPP was their idea in the first place.

The only advisory group to the Canadian, Mexican and American governments on the SPP is the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC). Like the other groups that came before it, members of the council are all rich businesspeople, who represent some of the largest corporations in the world.

American members of the council include the President and CEO of Wal-Mart, the chairman, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin (America’s biggest weapons contractor), the chairman of Ford Motor Company and the chairman and CEO of Chevron.

Canadian members include the president and CEO of Scotiabank who is also a member of the IMF's Capital Markets Consultative Group, the president of Canadian operations for the US-owned company Home Depot, and the American-born CEO of Suncor (who is also a member of the board of directors of a U.S. offshore and onshore drilling company, ).

Are you sensing a pattern here?

All along the line, the public has been shut out of the SPP process entirely while North America’s richest CEOs have had and continue to have a permanent seat at the table.

In fact, the SPP decision-making process is described officially this way: “meetings” are held for business, "roundtables” for stakeholders and “briefing sessions” for Parliament. In other words, business people set priorities for the continent, and then our democratically elected Members of Parliament are told what to do.

As George Grant wrote in his classic book “Lament for Nation” over 40 years ago,
“The wealthy rarely maintain their nationalism when it is in conflict with the economic drive of the day.”

This is no less true today. It is the wealthy who are putting the SPP in place, the wealthy who are pushing for continental integration, the wealthy who are making a buck by selling this country off piece by piece even as they tell us they are “standing up for Canada”.

To these people, the differences between Canada and the US don't mean anything except a limit on their profit margins.

To them, erasing those differences is no big loss.

To them, it really is no big deal.

But when you add all those differences up, don't they define us?? Don't they mark out a border between our culture and national ideals and the culture and national ideals of the US?

And by erasing those differences systematically, aren't we just condemning Canada to death by a thousand cuts?

The few things we have learned about how the SPP is already affecting Canada show that yes, the SPP is leading to a loss of our sovereignty and unique identity.

And what will happen in the future, once all of our regulations have been changed to match those of the US? Will we need to lobby Washington to change Canadian regulations and policy if we realize something isn't working and we want to make a change?

So what do we do? How do we stop the SPP?

Mainly, we speak up.

We speak up across Canada and we speak up here in Alberta.

Alberta is a key front in the battle against deep integration with the US for two important reasons.

The first is our oil, which the US views as key to their own energy security and which it is pushing us to export south of the border under the SPP.

The second reason is (TILMA)
TILMA is like the SPP on a smaller scale because it enshrines the rights of corporations over rules and regulations developed through the democratic process. Also, like the SPP, it was signed without public input and most people remain largely unaware that it exists or what its implications actually are.

As Albertans, we must speak up against TILMA, our own miniature version of the SPP, as part of the fight to protect our unique identity both as a province and as a nation.

Above all, we must speak up.

Canadians are still largely unaware that their country—and the things they love most about it, the things they are the most proud of—is being sold out from under them.

We must raise awareness and we must continue to protest so long as we are kept outside of the meetings that will decide the fate of this country.

Together, we must face down the ruling elites who would sacrifice our collective dreams in the name of their own individual profit.

We must declare in a voice louder than we have ever dared, that this country is ours and we are ready to defend it.

And above all, we must insist that deciding the future of our country IS a big deal--a big enough deal that all Canadians, not just the rich, should have a say in it.

Thank you.

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