North American leaders defend anti-worker trade policies

 

Author: Emile Schepers

 

Last month’s summit in New Orleans brought together President Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, all right wingers, for the fourth meeting of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of the Americas (SPP), which is a tri-national grouping designed to coordinate strategy to create a corporate friendly atmosphere.

The key power grouping within the SPP is the North American Competitiveness Council composed of 35 representatives of New York Life, Ford, General Motors, Merck, General Electric, Chevron, Wal-Mart, Lockheed-Martin, Gillette, Whirlpool, Home Depot, Scotiabank, Mexicana Airlines, Kimberley-Clark of Mexico, and other US, Canadian and Mexican big business interests.

Labor, environmentalist and other non-business sectors are completely locked out of SPP. Nor is the SPP accountable to the legislative bodies of the participating countries. Bush administration comments suggest that the goal is now to “institutionalize” the SPP so that whoever wins in November will have trouble changing it.
But all three governments find themselves on the defensive, because of opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). While NAFTA is not the same as the SPP, the latter is seen by many as “NAFTA plus,” a mechanism to increase corporate profits within the context of NAFTA through coordinated efforts on trade and business regulations, energy policy, infrastructure development and national security.

Democratic presidential candidates have made “renegotiation” of NAFTA part of their 2008 electoral programs, while Republican candidate John McCain defends the deal. U.S. workers have been seething with anger at NAFTA in particular and free trade in general, which they blame for massive loss of industrial jobs.

In Mexico, small farmers, workers and the left denounce NAFTA as having destroyed the livelihood of millions of grain farmers due to the vast inflow of heavily government subsidized U.S. corn at prices with which Mexican farmers, who receive little or no subsidy, can not compete.

In Canada, Member of Parliament from the New Democratic Party Peter Julian, has taken the lead in organizing a tri-national legislative task force with representatives from all three countries.
In a statement on the New Orleans summit issued by Julian, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Mexican Sen. Yeidckol Polevnsky of the Revolutionary Democratic Party, the three legislators asked rhetorically: “On energy policy, for example, should U.S. citizens place unquestioning trust in the Bush administration after it battled all the way to the Supreme Court to conceal the participants in Dick Cheney’s energy policy meetings? Should Canadians place faith in leaders who push relentlessly to squeeze oil from Alberta’s tar sands while disregarding the environmental risks and refusing to assure any broadly based benefit for the resource sell-out? Should Mexico’s people trust a government that just this past week introduced legislation to privatize Mexico’s oil industry – currently the source of at least a third of total government revenue?”

In a statement to the press Calderon sung the praises of NAFTA, claiming that it had greatly increased Mexico’s prosperity despite the fact that now 500,000 Mexicans feel forced to cross the U.S. border without papers every year because they can not find work in their homeland.

Nobody mentioned dealing with undocumented immigration, controlling skyrocketing food prices or protecting the environment. However, Presidents Bush and Calderon used the occasion to launch an impassioned defense of the U.S. – Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which has run into big trouble in Congress. Bush also plugged the “Merida Initiative,” a component of the SPP whereby his administration pledged $1.4 billion to suppress drugs and terrorism. The first installment of $550 million is now being debated in Congress. Critics point out the very high likelihood that these funds will end up financing the brutal repression of protests against the neo-liberal policies that the SPP is aimed at intensifying.
Amazingly, Calderon invited Bush to the next SPP summit which will take place when Bush is long out of office. As analyst Lauren Carlsen of the Americas Program of the Center for International Policy put it, “Officially inviting an ex-president to the next trilateral summit is unprecedented and completely outside diplomatic protocol. It should be considered an affront to the incoming president of the United States and to the people of the United States.”

In fact, depending on what happens in November, there may be no “next meeting.” But the “invitation” to Bush can be seen as emblematic of the arrogance of three reactionary politicians who consider themselves accountable to nobody but their big business friends and supporters.

Amazingly, Calderon invited Bush to the next SPP summit which will take place when Bush is long out of office. As analyst Lauren Carlsen of the Americas Program of the Center for International Policy put it, “Officially inviting an ex-president to the next trilateral summit is unprecedented and completely outside diplomatic protocol. It should be considered an affront to the incoming president of the United States and to the people of the United States.”

Does anyone care to speculate on what this could possibly mean?  If I let my imagination go, I can certainly presume some things, each more horrifying than the next!  I can't even go there!

The arrogance in government today, knows absolutely no boundaries! 

 

---

Hi Labrador--so glad that you read this.  I've been posting everything about the big three meeting for the last several weeks.  Info is hard to come by and it doesn't sound good.  I posted some info under "Anyone have any info on the Bush etc meeting?'  and under thread 'SPP RENAMED etc'  Why  isn't anyone tracking this or caring?????

I don't know, Nancy - perhaps we have too many different threads regarding the SPP.  Or else the frustration with the candidates is causing everyone to focus on that.  What they don't understand is that if the NAU becomes a reality before November, (that couldn't possibly happen, could it??) there won't be an election!

---

Labrador said: I don't know, Nancy - perhaps we have too many different threads regarding the SPP.  Or else the frustration with the candidates is causing everyone to focus on that.  What they don't understand is that if the NAU becomes a reality before November, (that couldn't possibly happen, could it??) there won't be an election!

 

I believe it could! Bush has been conducting these meetings secretly. Has anyone seen any public record of the meetings put out by the participants... the plans for a common currency by 2010.

Vincente Fox Fox was on national TV and stated that was the plan. Then the topic got buried. The NAFTA Highway... OOPS excuse me the Trans Texas Corridor was advertised on billboards in Texas when word got out the billboards quickly disappeared.

Look what Bill Clinton did in his last days in office! 

 

---

Nancy Sivill--

I came to Firesociety while I was checking illegal immigration and information on the SPP/NAU. I hate to tell you thsi, but the interest and awareness level here is higher than my previous site. I was called a "conspiro" at  that site. Some said tha NAU idea was in the same "Conspiro" category as the 9/11 wackos. I added new , pertinent info when it occurred. I refrauined from using any input From Dr. Corsi because at that site they labeled him a "conspiro" . I used Dobbs, Schlafly, CIS, and many more renowned sites , including Judicial Watch and except for a few bloggers , was either igmnored or politely called a kook. (They were ver polite to me.) I have not given up and occasionally post new happenings there.

In summary, for some reason, conservative Americans , not only ignore this danger, but get quite incensed that some of us believe it is not only possible, but underway. That is the part I do not understand--they do not ay,
well, I am skeptical, I do not see thsi happening." It was outright challenging , forceful denial.

If you ever get an answer as to why, please share it with me. While I readily confess to being a suspicious person, I am not a conspiracy freak. Also, in a long life, most of my suspicions bore fruit.

All other info that I found is here--I really had to hunt!  I don't believe anyone wants that info out!!!

http://www.firesociety.com/forum/thread/24791/Anyone-have-info-on-latest-meeting-between-Bush--Calduron-and-Harper---relative-to-SPP/

Next steps, new regulations, how we are safer, blah, blah, blah.....

Prime Minister of Canada: The Security and Prosperity Partnership ...
Mar 31, 2006 ... The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America: Next Steps .... Laredo completed protocols on border security and public safety. ...

Report to Leaders
On March 23, 2005, you announced the Security and Prosperity Partnership of .... Public Safety along the U.S.-Mexico Border. The United States and Mexico ...

Judicial Watch
Judicial Watch Releases USDA Documents on Food Safety, Emergency Preparedness & Regulations from “Security and Prosperity Partnership” ...

 

SPP all about OIL..     http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/63307

 NAFTA on Steroids

 Gregg Jocoy Gregg is a 49 year old father of two daughters and grandfather to two granddaughters. He is a micro-business owner and chair of the York County (SC) Greens and is a member of the steering committee of the South Carolina Green Party. author's email author's web site view author's other articles Join this author's mailing list Your Name: E-mail Address: Gregg Jocoy May 29, 2008 The Green Party has some strong writers, but not access to as many media outlets as corporate party hacks who can get into the papers via contacts in the media or by presenting columns, articles and press releases from their "think tanks". One place where there strong Green writers have a chance to be read is in YC Magazine in York County, SC. Don't bother trying to subscribe or have it sent to you unless you live in York county. The magazine is produced, written, printed and distributed exclusingly here in York County. Fortunately, the owners of YC Magazine are believers in democracy, and have invited us for close to two years now, to submit a monthly column. Here is one written by Bryan Smith a York County Green who is running for York county council. It was published before Smith announced his bid for local office. Enjoy!

The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), also known as NAFTA Plus, is a secretive deal between President Bush (US), Prime Minister Harper (Canada), and President Calderón (Mexico). What is this agreement? What do Greens have to say about it, and why should it concern Americans, Canadians, and Mexicans? The SPP ties together economics, security, and regulations of these nations. The SPP would loosen or eliminate restrictions on trade and immigration (employment), between these three nations. It would allow law enforcement agencies to conduct operations across national borders. It would blur the lines on environmental regulations, workers rights and protections, food and drug regulations and even national sovereignty.

The only true "winner" is the Corporate Elite. Corporations have always looked for cheap, non-unionized workers to fill unskilled or semi-skilled jobs. The Mexican economy would continue to lag far behind Canada and the United States. Many of Mexico´s "best and brightest" may also emigrate in this Brave New World. This would result in a brain drain that would be difficult to fix. It is not impossible to see the Mexican government becoming little more than a puppet for the Corporate Elite. If Mexico is seen as the answer to US labor "problems", then Canada is the cherry on top of the sundae. Water and lumber are among their natural resources, but oil is the number one resource we want. When unconventional oil production is considered, Canada ranks among the world leaders. In Alberta, the Canadians have the oil reserves to supply America for decades. This oil is not in the form of "liquid", as is found in conventional production, but rather in "oil sands", or "tar sands". Currently Canada supplies a large part of American imported oil from these reserves. The only true "losers" are the people and the earth we live on. Big Business and Big Government will bargain down to the lowest common denominator.

The primary environmental issue in SPP is the oil reserves in Canada. These types of reserves are found in clay like soil and are strip mined. It is then processed to remove the crude oil. The environmental impact on this type of oil production is threefold: 1. The strip mining operations have done a lot of damage to the boreal forest, where the oil sands are located. 2. The initial processing of the oil sands to workable crude takes a lot of energy. 3. As long as there is a relatively cheap source of oil there will be a dragging of feet by our politicians to push for alternative energy. In the end I see SPP (or NAFTA Plus) as America and our neighbors, walking blind folded in a snake pit. The Corporate Elite gain more power. The people who are least able to afford it will pay.

 While Big Oil continues to play Americans and our government like a cheap honky tonk piano, our environment will pay. While G.W. Bush and others like him, both Democrat and Republican, seek to expand the American "Empire" by placing Mexico and Canada under our "protection" , we all, Americans, Mexicans and Canadians, will pay. Here´s what Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May had to say in a joint press release with the US Green Party. "The SPP is integrating the military, security, trade, economic, regulatory, and foreign polices of Canada, the US, and Mexico without public input or Parliamentary or Congressional scrutiny. The threat of widespread surveillance of citizens, greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands development and 'super-corridors,' increased fossil fuel dependence, privatization of water, erosion of food safety and environmental regulations, and expanded corporate power at the expense of economic stability for working people -- these are some of the reasons we oppose the SPP."

 How about an alternative? I can see a trade agreement between our three nations that I could agree with. Starting a national co-operative, redirecting Canadian water to the United States heartland, allowing for bumper crops every year, to be shared. American car makers opening car manufacturing plants in Mexico, paying a living wage, to build hybrid and electric cars. Using Canadian lumber to build housing in the US and Mexico for the homeless and underprivileged. Sending technology, financial support, and advisors to Mexico so Mexican industries can cut air, soil, and water pollution. Is this not what fair trade is all about? Why should there be a winner and a loser?

It is time for America to think globally. NOT for the purpose of seeing how much wealth we can accumulate, but to create a society that works for the common good, including the environment. We must stop looking at one another and see nothing but a potential "buyer". It is time for America, Canada, Mexico, and all other nations around the world to take an inventory of themselves, and ask…What are our greatest assets? How can we use them to enrich all our citizens? How can we use them in a manner which protects the environment? How can we do these things while maintaining our independence and rights as a sovereign nation?

Technically, because Mexico has Abrogated the 1848 Treaty by helping active Invasion, Military Incursions, and fighting the fence, Mexico is at War with the USA.  Any trade agreements with a hostile nation at war with us would be invalid and the person (s) helping SPP guilty of treason.   Most American people sure as hell will not recognize SPP, and many states are totally against any SPP highway.  As far as the highway building in Texas, Texans have every right to boot the governor out of office, for treason, and under the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution.  Plus he has encouraged illegal invaders making him a multiple felon under Sec8USC1324, and being a felon, unable to hold political office.   The same could be said for many Governors, senators(incl. the 3 main candidates for POTUS), representatives, and President Bush, VP Cheney, all the way to including Pelosi.  I don't know who the first person in the chain of succession who is not guilty of encouraging illegal invaders. 

---

mgopilot,  You are dead on but until someone with the authority to do so starts proceedings against these traitors nothing is going to change.  If we on FS had the authority proceedings would have been undertaken a long time ago.  But we don't.  So what do we do?  I'm so damn frustrated I could scream.  Those in this government are thumbing their noses at the American people and here we sit with our hands tied.

Wonder if they are willing to KILL American Citizens to get their way?I for one will lay my life on the line as I have a grandchild that I want to see grow up in a free and great Country.We are going to have to start acting and stop talking one day soon. God Help Us!

---

Oh believe me ,we that know that the SPP is fact do care!But so many others that you try to explain it to think youre nuts,because they do not read anything,nor care about much but their present lives and being happy.Iam always told by family that Iam stressing myself out over this stuff.Its hopeless when they dont even believe you.

WAKE THE HELL UP AMERICA ~ YOU ARE BEING "LIED" TO, BY DUBYA GUMP ... By foxxgiavani(foxxgiavani) That's the whole idea, and it's part of the secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership - aka the North American Union. Things are moving toward implementation. Three nations will become one. National sovereignty eliminated. ... POLITICS ~ UP CLOSE & PERSONAL!!! - http://journals.aol.com/foxxgiavani/POLITICSUPCLOSEANDPERSONAL/

Some info to forwad to non-believers!

SPP 101--with more to come.  This is dated April 2005

http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=2834&pst=93721

This is long but informative. SPP calls for repression of Homeland Security and rapid expansion of guest worker program .. http://www.infowars.com/?p=2487

nancy sivill said:

WAKE THE HELL UP AMERICA ~ YOU ARE BEING "LIED" TO, BY DUBYA GUMP ...

We now know why Tony Blair and Dubya appeared to be such good friends.  They were comparing notes and plotting apparently.  Tony Blair's successor certainly has wasted no time cementing the UK's march to the "One World Order".

Dubya could have made this same speech himself, especially the part, "advancing democracy widely across the world."  This is merely the warm up to more which will follow. 

The Many Sides of Globalism 

By Phyllis Schlafly...May 2008 report

Has George III Returned? 

It's a good thing that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's U.S. visit was upstaged by the dramatic reception Americans gave Pope Benedict XVI.

Brown might have been booed if he hadn't delivered what aides called his "signature" speech within the cloistered walls of Harvard's Kennedy Center.

Brown's tedious, hour-long speech impudently demanded that we issue a "Declaration of Interdependence" in order to submit to global governance. That's another way of calling on us to repeal our Declaration of Independence.

No thanks for the advice, Mr. Brown. Brave Americans rose up and rejected Britain's royalist rule in 1776, and we've gotten along mighty well without transatlantic interference in our government for more than two centuries. We certainly don't want to reinstate any foreign supervision today.

The redundancy of Brown's outrageous semantics was oppressive. His speech used the word global 69 times, globalization 7 times, and interdependence 13 times. He referred to Kennedy 19 times, lavishing fulsome praise on John F. ("his influence abides everywhere"), Robert (he sent forth "ripples of hope"), and Ted ("one of the greatest Senators in more than two centuries").

Brown rejected the traditional concept of national sovereignty, which means an independent nation not subservient to any outside control, telling us to replace it with "responsible sovereignty," which he defined as accepting what he calls our global "obligations." Hold on to your pocketbook.

Brown admitted that his "main argument" is that we must accept "new global rules," "new global institutions," and "global networks." Brown's global rules include massive U.S. cash handouts and opening U.S. borders to the world.

Brown's use of well-known American political phrases was tacky. He tried to morph FDR's New Deal into a "New Global Deal," and JFK's New Frontier into "the New Frontier is that there is no frontier."

Brown even slipped in an attempt at thought control: "Americans must learn to think inter-continentally." He declaimed, "We are all internationalists now."

Using the rhetorical device of inevitability, Brown warned us that his vision of the globalist future is "irreversible transformation." He wants to "transcend states" and "transcend borders" as he builds the "architecture of a global society."

Brown peddled the nonsense that the peoples of the world "subscribe to similar ideals." He tried to tell us that all religions (Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists) have "common values" and "similar ideals." No, they certainly do not.

Brown wants to increase the power of the United Nations to become the source of "an international stand-by capacity of trained civilian experts, ready to go anywhere at any time," and even be able to exercise "military force." Americans do not intend to cede such authority to the corrupt UN.

The silliest part of Brown's ponderous speech was his claim that "a global society" is "advancing democracy widely across the world." In fact, he doesn't even practice democracy in his own country.

Brown refused to allow the British people to vote on whether or not they want to accept the European Union (EU) constitution. He acquiesced in the plot of the constitution's author, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, to put the EU constitution into effect by calling it a treaty so it did not have to be voted on by the people. Brown was chicken about the treaty subterfuge and did not permit a photographic record of his participation. He sent his Foreign Secretary to perform the official treaty signing in front of cameras.

The EU constitution, now called the Treaty of Lisbon, requires all signers to surrender their sovereignty and democracy to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels and judges in Strasbourg. The EU constitution takes away England's right to pass its own laws, forces England to surrender more than 60 UK vetoes of EU decisions, and gives the EU bureaucracy and tribunals total control over England's immigration policy.

Instead of a self-governing nation whose democratic system was developed over centuries, England is now ruled by what Margaret Thatcher called "the paper pushers in Brussels."

Brown made his globalism speech emphatic by repeatedly invoking the words "New World Order." The New World Order Brown tries to con the United States into accepting would mean taxing Americans for foreign handouts so immense they would make the Marshall Plan look puny, global warming rules to drastically reduce our standard of living, and putting American workers in a common labor pool with the world's billions who subsist on less than $2 a day.

Gordon Brown invited us to march forward to globalism "where there is no path." He's correct that there is no path on which we can expect globalism to lead us to a better world; in fact every path toward global government is a surrender of our liberty and our prosperity.

Gordon Brown should go back home and study up on how Americans refused to accept orders from King George III.

---

 

Whether it be:  NAFTA, CAFTA, NAU, SPP, TTC, erasing of US borders, The Law of the Sea Treaty, Global Warming scare, the war,  uncontrolled immigration, or any other of the multiple assaults that we have experienced with rapid speed since 1991,---- I certainly don't believe oil is the driving force.  I believe it is exactly what the UK just experienced...surrender of arms then sovereignty.   If you read the above post, you must now realize we are gone.  There were opportunities lost.   The stupor that has fallen on America left us with the three who will willingly accomplish, (just as Brown is doing) what has been in the works for so long.  This is the final leg.  I don't believe there will be another chance in 2012. 

 

When we watched our Supremes make decisions based on European law, my suspicions mounted then. We will now be bombarded with communist/socialist coming to America to sell our citizens the "One World Order".  Notice how Brown spoke of the left's messiahs..the Kennedy's.  Boy he really knows how to play the left.  I have read how the other European countries were forced into the EU.  I honestly believe our government...both left and right will use the same imprisonment and murder tactics to accomplish their goal.   

 

Below is something that I see no one discussing....of course that is not unusual.  I noticed Lou Dobbs, while still hot and heavy on illegal immigration...now says very little about the various treaties and trade agreements.  I can't determine if Jerome Corsi is in hiding or just resting.  Phyllis Schlafly, and Pat Buchanan occasionally make bold remarks but when they do, they are relegated to the back pages of the web.  WND has made their top reports Islam.  Apparently, it is safer to report on Radical Islam than to report on our own government writing laws behind closed doors while our representatives sit quietly by and allow this 231 year old Republic to be dissolved before our very eyes.

 

NAFTA alert is rather a large bit of material so I just posted the link.  If I understand the material in the link correctly, it means that all the work the individual states are now doing to enforce our rule of law is lost to laws in NAFTA. 

 

http://www.citizen.org/documents/MajorFindings_Final.pdf

---

This is disgusting!!

Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America – Key accomplishments since August 2007

April 22, 2008
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Strengthening the Competitiveness of North America

• Mexico and the United States signed a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement in September 2007 to ensure compatible standards for the manufacture of safe aeronautical products and to facilitate the production and trade of aeronautical components in North America in the future.

• Canada and Mexico concluded negotiations in December 2007 to expand their Air Transport Agreement. The new provisions provide greater market access for airlines from both countries for passenger and cargo services.

• Canada and the United States released the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Study in November 2007, which evaluated infrastructure needs and assessed the Seaway's long-term requirements to ensure that it remains a reliable and sustainable component of North America's transportation system.

• Under the Regulatory Cooperation Framework, Canada, Mexico and the United States have agreed to a common set of principles to guide their respective regulatory policies and practices, as well as an illustrative inventory of regulatory best practices.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States improved regulatory cooperation on pesticides, undertaking two joint reviews for the coordinated approval of new conventional pesticides, completing the review of two NAFTA label candidates; and launching a chemical-based database to be used as a management tool for resolving priority trade irritants.

• The three partners identified "Electronic stability control" in vehicles as the regulation that will serve as a pilot project to study the feasibility of a joint cost-benefit analysis exercise among the three countries.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States reached agreement on the Statement on the Free Flow of Information and Trade in North America that focuses on the use of computerized information in support of trans-border trade. This will lead to more effective policy coordination and enforcement cooperation in the area of data protection and information security.

• Mexico and the United States provided coordinated training in intellectual property (IP) law enforcement for officials from the Port of Lazaro-Cardenas, Mexico which resulted in nine major IP seizures, the first ever; seven of the cases are under criminal investigation.

• Canadian and United States law enforcement authorities collaborated to seize more than $78 million worth of counterfeit networking equipment in an ongoing investigation into imports from third countries.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States developed an initiative to improve IP enforcement and market access in third countries.

• Border officials in Mexico and the United States have coordinated IP outreach events in order to build the network of border enforcement officials. Ninety such trainings were scheduled in 2007 and 25 more have been scheduled for 2008.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States agreed to harmonize standards in accordance with the World Organization for Animal Health to allow for the export of Canadian and American breeding cattle to Mexico.

• Mexico and the United States, initiated a long haul trucking demonstration project between our two countries to enhance competitiveness and to comply with NAFTA provisions on cross-border trucking.

• The North American Steel Trade Committee (NASTC) prepared a synthesis of border-related trade impediments identified by the Canadian, U.S. and Mexican steel industries. As an initial step, the NASTC will focus on import licensing procedures.

Safe Food and Products

• Canada, Mexico and the United States updated agreements and developed mechanisms to coordinate and exchange information on food safety investigations and follow-up activities, including test results and recalls, in response to food safety issues that may affect another trilateral partner.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States have agreed to a common approach to update dietary reference values for the labelling of food products based on current science to promote consistency of nutritional information and are working towards a common set of risk assessment tools for food allergens.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States put in place a mechanism to improve the timely exchange of information on product safety issues affecting the North American market, including significant recalls and updates on domestic regulatory developments.

Sustainable Energy and the Environment

• Canada, Mexico and the United States are working towards a joint vision of biofuels for transportation by 2020, and discussed opportunities and challenges surrounding this resource, in addition to identifying potential areas of future collaboration in the upcoming North American Outlook on Biofuels for Transportation.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States have shared information on policies and programs on vehicle fuel efficiency, standby power consumption, and the potential for natural gas to support optimal energy use for the future.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States continue to harmonize a number of energy-using consumer products, such as central air conditioners. The new suite of products, including clothes washers and water heaters, are being assessed under the new framework to systematize energy efficiency harmonization between all three countries. Canada, Mexico and the United States have committed to assure that energy efficiency standards are harmonized each time opportunities exist.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States undertook a comprehensive analysis of various emissions inventories among the three countries to prepare a trilateral strategy to achieve comparability.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States have road tested emissions estimation methodologies for nine energy generating facilities to improve and harmonize emissions calculations in the energy power sector and provide the basis to populate and update power sector emissions inventories.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States promoted biodiversity in North America through efforts to preserve, restore and enhance breeding, wintering and resting areas along the 3,800 mile migration corridor of the monarch butterfly between Mexico and Canada.

• Mexico and the United States updated joint contingency and emergency plans to enhance capacities and respond to chemical spills and other incidents along the U.S.-Mexico border area.

Smart and Secure Borders

• Canada and the United States signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to strengthen collaboration and coordinate efforts of federal agencies to enhance the border crossing capacity at the Windsor-Detroit corridor.

• Mexico completed a study to measure border wait times and identify infrastructure and logistical needs.

• Canada and the United States announced in September 2007 that the NEXUS enrollment centers and automated self-serve kiosks were operational at all eight major Canadian Airports with U.S. pre-clearance facilities.

• Mexico and the United States alleviated border congestion through additional or segregated FAST lanes at Colombia, Nuevo Leon - Laredo, Texas; Tijuana, Baja California - Otay Mesa, California; and Nogales, Sonora - Nogales, Arizona.

• Mexico and the United States opened a new SENTRI lane at the Reynosa, Tamaulipas - Hidalgo, Texas crossing; expanded hours of operation during the harvest season in Nogales, Sonora - Nogales, Arizona; and harmonized hours of operation at the San Jeronimo, Chihuahua - Santa Teresa, New Mexico and the Mesa de Otay - Otay Mesa crossings.

• New infrastructure is underway at the Reynosa, Tamaulipas. - McAllen, Texas; San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora - San Luis, Arizona; and Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas - Donna, Texas border crossings.

• Canada and Mexico agreed to a Reciprocal Ports Facility Visit Initiative in order to exchange best practices and lessons learned on the implementation of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States signed an agreement on "Guidelines for Airport Visits by Aviation Security Officials" to establish guidelines for exchanging officials to periodically visit each other's airports in order to facilitate information exchange, best practices and lessons learned.

Emergency Management

• Mexico and the United States concluded negotiations for a new, more comprehensive bilateral agreement on federal emergency management cooperation to update and replace an outdated 25 year agreement. The agreement reconstitutes a joint Working Group to exchange information and facilitate cooperation in addressing emergencies and disasters.

• Canada and the United States completed discussions on a conceptual approach to modernize an existing bilateral agreement on federal emergency management cooperation. The agreement revitalizes a joint Consultative Group to strengthen readiness to respond to all types of emergencies and exchange information and best practices.

• The Canadian Border Services Agency and United States Customs and Border Protection developed joint business resumption communication and coordination protocols to facilitate legitimate trade and travelers during incidents that affect the flow of commerce at the shared border.

• Canada, Mexico, and the United States have agreed to jointly pre-position regional supplies in the International Red Cross warehouse (Panama) to provide assistance to our neighbors in the region threatened by natural catastrophe and other emergencies.

• Mexico and the United States provided mutual assistance during 2007 floods in Tabasco and Chiapas, Mexico and during the 2007 California wildfires to ease suffering and accelerate recovery of the affected populations.

• Mexico and the United States completed national-level emergency management operations officer exchanges between U.S. and Mexican response centers.

• Mexico and the United States are implementing a program to strengthen Mexico's capability to deter, detect, and interdict illicit trafficking in nuclear and other radioactive materials across international borders and through the global maritime shipping system.

• Canada and the United States signed science and technology Bilateral Cooperative Activity Arrangements to increase capability in radiological and nuclear detection, improve security at ports, borders and airports, as well as assist responders to identify chemical and biological agents with an on-site triage facility.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States signed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding in November 2007 to facilitate health-related aid during a cross-border emergency.

• Canada and the United States exchanged full-time liaison officers between their national public health agencies as part of a bilateral pilot project that envisions the exchange of trilateral full-time positions by the end of 2008.

• Canada and the United States collaborated with Mexico to provide technical assistance and training opportunities as Mexico builds a Bio-Safety Level-3 National Laboratory for inclusion in the Health and Human Services/Center for Disease Control Laboratory Response Network.

• Canada, Mexico and the United States agreed on principles for the screening of intercontinental air travelers in the event of a pandemic.

• In accordance with the North American Plan for Avian and Pandemic Influenza released in August 2007, Canada, Mexico and the United States:

• developed guidelines and shared best practices in occupational health, infection control and personal protective measures to reduce potential risk to human populations of avian influenza;
• tested mechanisms for communication among institutions to exchange epidemiological information; and
• established a trilateral Laboratory and Surveillance Technical Working Group and identified areas of technical assistance needed to improve laboratory, surveillance and outbreak response to pandemic influenza in border areas and at the national level.

• Mexico and the United States worked together to bolster surveillance efforts for seasonal and pandemic influenza by improving the technical capacity of 3 laboratories in Mexico and facilitating the development of software for integrated epidemiology and lab data for rapid analyses.

 

When the www.spp.gov website first went up, it had the "White Paper" that the Globalization Eggheads had put together as the outline and procedure to put the SPP in place.

It is a big document and about 2/3 down, it said, very plainly, that because of the "protectionism" of the US Congress, the "program" (I'll tell you why it says "program" in a moment) would have to a stealth procedure.

A "STEALTH" procedure!

Now, it's designated as a "program" because it is legal for the President to implement "Programs" without Congress support.

 That white paper is no longer on the spp site, but I MAY have a copy archived. If so, I'll post a download for it.

 

---