http://youtube.com/watch?v=QAeEc23_7Ig&mode=related&search=

Welcome to the new America.

Leave it to Lou Dobbs and CNN to get flustered about old news. Why am I not shocked it took them over a year and a half to get to this.

Myth vs. Fact

Myth: The SPP was an agreement signed by Presidents Bush and his Mexican and Canadian counterparts in Waco, TX, on March 23, 2005.

Fact: The SPP is a dialogue to increase security and enhance prosperity among the three countries. The SPP is not an agreement nor is it a treaty. In fact, no agreement was ever signed.

Myth:The SPP is a movement to merge the United States, Mexico, and Canada into a North American Union and establish a common currency.

Fact: The cooperative efforts under the SPP, which can be found in detail at www.spp.gov (http://www.spp.gov/), seek to make the United States, Canada and Mexico open to legitimate trade and closed to terrorism and crime. It does not change our courts or legislative processes and respects the sovereignty of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The SPP in no way, shape or form considers the creation of a European Union-like structure or a common currency. The SPP does not attempt to modify our sovereignty or currency or change the American system of government designed by our Founding Fathers.

Myth: The SPP is being undertaken without the knowledge of the U.S. Congress.

Fact: U.S. agencies involved with SPP regularly update and consult with members of Congress on our efforts and plans.

Myth: The SPP infringes on the sovereignty of the United States.

Fact: The SPP respects and leaves the unique cultural and legal framework of each of the three countries intact. Nothing in the SPP undermines the U.S. Constitution. In no way does the SPP infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States.

Myth:The SPP is illegal and violates the Constitution.

Fact: The SPP is legal and in no way violates the Constitution or affects the legal authorities of the participating executive agencies. Indeed, the SPP is an opportunity for the governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico to discuss common goals and identify ways to enhance each nation’s security and prosperity. If an action is identified, U.S. federal agencies can only operate within U.S. law to address these issues. The Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security coordinate the efforts of the agencies responsible for the various initiatives under the prosperity and security pillars of the SPP. If an agency were to decide a regulatory change is desirable through the cooperative efforts of SPP, that agency is required to conform to all existing U.S. laws and administrative procedures, including an opportunity to comment.

Myth: The SPP will cost U.S. taxpayers money.

Fact: The SPP is being implemented with existing budget resources. Over the long-term, it will save U.S. taxpayers money by cutting through costly red tape and reducing redundant paperwork. This initiative will benefit the taxpayers through economic gain and increased security, thereby enhancing the competitiveness and quality of life in our countries.

Myth:The working groups and SPP documents are a secret and not available to the public.

Fact:The SPP’s initiatives and milestones with timelines can be found by clicking the Report to Leaders link at www.spp.gov (http://www.spp.gov/). The Web site contains a section to enable interested persons to provide input directly to the various working groups.

Myth:The SPP seeks to lower U.S. standards through a regulatory cooperation framework.

Fact: The framework will support and enhance cooperation and encourage the compatibility of regulations among the three partners while maintaining high standards of health and safety.Enhanced cooperation in this area will provide consumers with more affordable, safer, and more diversified and innovative products. Any regulatory changes will require agencies to conform to all U.S. administrative procedures, including an opportunity to comment.

Myth: The SPP is meant to deal with immigration reform and trade disputes
.
Fact: Immigration reform is a legislative matter currently being debated in Congress and is not being dealt with in the SPP. Likewise, trade disputes between the United States, Canada, and Mexico are resolved in the NAFTA and WTO mechanisms and not the SPP.

Myth: The SPP will result in the loss of American jobs.

Fact: The SPP seeks to create jobs by reducing transaction costs and unnecessary burdens for U.S. companies, which will bolster the competitiveness of our firms globally. These efforts will help U.S. manufacturers, spur job creation, and benefit consumers.

Myth: The SPP will harm our quality of life.

Fact: The SPP improves the safety and well-being of Americans. It builds on efforts to protect our environment, improves our ability to combat infectious diseases, such as avian influenza, and ensures our food supply is safe through the exchange of information and cooperation ─ improving the quality of life for U.S. citizens. Americans enjoy world class living standards because we are engaged with the world.

Myth:The SPP creates a NAFTA-plus legal status between the three countries.

Fact:The SPP does not seek to rewrite or renegotiate NAFTA. It creates no NAFTA-plus legal status.

Nice thorough response Greylocke.

I had started writing a response a couple of times, but I couldn't avoid an overabundance of sarcasm.

It must have been a very slow day for CNN. Trash journalism at its finest.

He just copied the link on spp.gov (http://spp.gov/myths_vs_facts.asp)

I on the other hand do not trust the governments Myth vs Fact Sheet. I will read some of what is available off these documents and see if thee is any truth to the claims by Dobbs. I have been hearing about the SPP plan for few months now.

Smart, Secure Borders. Leaders agreed to complete the following activities, to contribute to smart and secure borders, over the next twenty-four months:

Collaborate to establish risk-based screening standards for goods and people that rely on technology, information sharing and biometrics.
Develop and implement compatible electronic processes for supply chain security that use advanced electronic cargo information to analyze risk and ensure quick and efficient processing at the border;
Develop standards and options for secure documents to facilitate cross-border travel; ( see REAL ID ACT (http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2005/cr020905.htm) and Here (http://www.prisonplanet.com/archives/realid/index.html))
Exchange additional law enforcement liaison officers to assist in criminal and security investigations; and,
Develop coordinated business resumption plans at border crossings to ensure legitimate trade continues.

This is laughable considering the Mexican / US border is left wide open. If the administration was actualy serious about securing borders specialy from Terrorists then why are Mexicans pouring in in record numbers? See - Sheriffs say border wide open (http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4865556&nav=menu216_3_1)

"If 9/11 and the war on terror is indeed legitimate, why wasn't the border totally militarily secured on September 12th 2001?"
PAT BUCHANAN: "It's because George Bush doesn't want to secure that border - I do believe he wants an open border between the United States and Mexico - he does not share the concern of a lot of us that this is a national security problem." ...
.. "I do believe that the American middle and working class of this country as I wrote in the title of an earlier book, are victims of a great betrayal - their manufacturing jobs are being sent abroad, illegal aliens are coming being invited into their country, the products of China are pouring in, American jobs are being lost, they're bringing in Indian kids and bright young kids from Bangladesh to take the jobs of Americans."..

.."The middle class is under assault," said Buchanan as he illustrated the deliberate agenda for mega corporations to construct a new world order system.

"Their ambition is to remove all national barriers and frontiers so they can move people and goods wherever they want to which they feel is most efficient for the company - so they put the company ahead of the country and they genuinely believe that what we need is a global market where these big corporations can move all over the global market and there's a global government there that runs it all - this is the new world order idea."

Buchanan identified "the Crystals and the Weekly Standard and all the rest of them," along with the Rockefeller Republican hierarchy as the masterminds behind the push to eliminate US sovereignty and put in place the American Union.

"I think if the Republicans do not secure these borders they're going to be wiped out - now the Democrats aren't going to do it either but you'll get a new kind of Republican party coming," said Buchanan."

Just an Opinion I suppose.

Myth:The SPP creates a NAFTA-plus legal status between the three countries.

Fact:The SPP does not seek to rewrite or renegotiate NAFTA. It creates no NAFTA-plus legal status.


PRESIDENT FOX: (As translated.)
Today, we have met to hold a very important encounter that has to do with the future of our nations. In the last decade, trade between our countries, the flows of investment of the creation of jobs have held a good pace. And these efforts have been successful thanks to NAFTA, this bilateral cooperation, this trilateral cooperation has now become strengthened and it has expanded. But, above all, we are making progress on a daily basis toward greater understanding, toward greater knowledge and greater cooperation between our three governments and our three countries. - source (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/03/20050323-5.html)

How do you do you accomplish not renegotiation and expansion? Wouldn't expansion imply you needed to modify the agreement?

Priminister Martin:
Let me just say that when a public health risk emerges, we want our laboratory centers in Winnipeg, in Atlanta, and in Mexico City talking to each other. We want to improve our air and our water quality, and we also want to make NAFTA work. And what that means -- and, again, this is something we'll be talking about -- is that we want the decisions of our dispute settlement panel to be respected and implemented. We want to resolve our differences in a fair manner based on the rule of law. And I'll continue to press for the resolution of soft wood lumber dispute, and I look forward to discussing means as to how we make this partnership work better.

Canada has had the short end of the NAFTA stick since it's begining.

Q Thank you, Prime Minister. A question to yourself, and to President Bush and President Fox, as well. You've been talking about cooperation, what you, Prime Minister, referred to as the new generation of success, or the next generation of success. Keeping in mind, in front of us, the European Union, how much is this partnership a first step towards continental integration? If so, how far would you like to go? And can you give us some sort of a road map, and perhaps give us a distinction between partnership and integration?

PRIME MINISTER MARTIN: Well, what we're really talking about here is not a big thing, we're talking about big progress. And if you look at each of the areas in which we have tasked our ministers, based on the work that they have already done, that is precisely what is coming out of this meeting and that's precisely why we want to be able to measure -- to measure the success and hold people accountable for the targets that we have set. - Source (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/03/20050323-5.html)

He doesn't deny working toward a goal of a "Union". The Questioneer seems to have a grasp on what the goal is.

Myth:The SPP is a movement to merge the United States, Mexico, and Canada into a North American Union and establish a common currency.

Fact: The cooperative efforts under the SPP, which can be found in detail at www.spp.gov, seek to make the United States, Canada and Mexico open to legitimate trade and closed to terrorism and crime. It does not change our courts or legislative processes and respects the sovereignty of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The SPP in no way, shape or form considers the creation of a European Union-like structure or a common currency. The SPP does not attempt to modify our sovereignty or currency or change the American system of government designed by our Founding Fathers.

The Case for the Amero (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_currency_union)

Currency Union has been discussed by the Fraser Institute. I don't see it being linked to SPP in any way as of yet. From what I see here it is a proposal, and fits right in with the objectives of the SPP.


On the day the North American Monetary Union is created--perhaps on January 1, 2010--Canada, the United States, and Mexico will replace their national currencies with the amero.1 On that day, all American dollar notes and coins will be exchanged at the rate of one US dollar for one amero . Canadian and Mexican currencies will be exchanged at rates that leave unchanged their nations' competitiveness and wealth. In all three countries, the prices of goods and services, wages, assets, and liabilities will be simultaneously converted into ameros at the rates at which currency notes are exchanged.


Source (http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/critical_issues/1999/amero/section_03.html)

Monetary union with the United States is not even a remote possibility from the Canadian perspective. If you want to see quiet, complacent Canadians get riled up, try and fly the 'common currency' trial balloon... Lol. Any Canadian political party that suggested it would commit instantaneous and irrevocable suicide.

Integration with the Euro would have a much better chance of succeeding (although still only a miniscule possibility).

Co-operation between good neighbors is great. Trade issues and border security both have the potential for mutually beneficial improvements.

... and I agree that Canada has gotten the short end of the stick with respect to NAFTA, particularly in softwood lumber, but the bottom line is that NAFTA is of mutual benefit to all three countries.