North American elite plotted 'evolution by stealth' - February 06, 2007
mevle...@yahoo.ca
By Aaron Paton
Tuesday February 06, 2007
RCMP officers arrived to take pictures of protestors gathered outside
the Banff Springs Hotel during the North American forum on Sept. 25,
2006.
Banff Crag & Canyon file photo
Documents from a secret meeting held at the Fairmont Banff Springs
Hotel were released recently through the United States Freedom of
Information Act.
High-level politicians and business elite from Canada, the United
States and Mexico discussed whether openness about their goals or if
continued secrecy called "evolution by stealth" better suited their
plans for strengthening border infrastructure.
That's according to official minutes taken during a closed-door
conference held at the Springs.
The reference to secrecy supports the suspicions of former Green Party
candidate and Banff resident Chris Foote, who blew the whistle on the
event. He organized a protest more than a week after the September
meeting in front of the Springs, stating that he had been denied his
right to protest because the meeting was not announced to the public.
"Basically this is taking power away from the people and putting it
into corporate hands," Foote said.
Upon reading the released documents, he added that governments in
North America must become more transparent.
The issue, he said, is that North Americans should know that their
leaders are talking about "blurring the lines" of borders "until they
are meaningless."
The 2006 North American Forum, entitled Continental Prosperity in the
New Security Environment, was hosted by the Canadian Council of Chief
Executives with help from the Canada West Foundation at the Springs
from Sept. 12 to14.
Political and business elite from Canada, Mexico and the United States
met at the Springs to discuss forming deeper military and economic
ties. Discussions also touched on integrating energy supply, reducing
carbon emissions and closing the income gap between Mexico and the
U.S. and Canada.
According to released documents, attendees included Alberta Energy
Minister Greg Melchin, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, former
deputy Prime Minister John Manley, Council of Canadians CEO Thomas
d'Aquino, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace,
and Commander of US Northern Command Admiral Timothy Keating.
A panel moderated by Manley entitled 'Border Infrastructure and
Continental Prosperity' talked about the need for secrecy:
"To what degree does the concept of North America help/hinder solving
problems between the three countries," the minutes said. "While a
vision is appealing, working on the infrastructure might yield more
benefit and bring more people on board ('evolution by stealth.')"
Minutes from that discussion also said "NAFTA needs reaffirmation and
renewal."
According to the documents, former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed,
Mexico's former finance minister Pedro Aspe and former U.S. Secretary
of State George Shultz co-chaired the event. In their opening comments
they discussed increased military co-operation and combining
transportation networks across North America. The panel also said,
"governments are weak" in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico because they are
set up to focus on issues and priorities other than energy. The
minutes also said that governments are unable to properly address
energy issues like electricity. The co-chairs also discussed how to
use public concern over global warming to push an agenda of North
American integration, describing it as "an issue ripe for a North
American integrated approach."
"When (the) economy is strong public interest is strong in
environmental issues however when weak people are willing to make
tradeoffs," the minutes said.
Well-known writer and former political candidate Mel Hurtig posted
knowledge of the event on www.vivelecanada.ca in September, sparking
public interest and media attention.
"If I was concerned before when I read the initial documents about
those who were planning to attend I am infinitely concerned now,"
Hurtig said. "What we're looking at is an elite that is getting
together to try and get an agenda for the political economy for the
three North American countries. They obviously regard governments as
being weak and they have strength to make a very determined effort to
dramatically alter the direction of the three countries in the future,
essentially by bypassing government initially and then putting into
place a series of policies that will very much be of benefit to big
businesses."
He added that the "name of the game" for those who attended the event
is "number one: integration, and number two: harmonization."
"It's a very scary scenario and they are obviously very well-funded.
They don't want you to know about it and that should set off warning
bells for the populace of this country.
"Here's a high-powered group of people getting together... and they're
not interested in letting the public know what they're doing even
though what they're doing is of such enormous importance."
Very little information has been released from the Canadian Government
on the North American Forum. The Council of Canadians media officer
Meera Karunananthan said that the North American Forum involves many
of the same players as the Security Prosperity Partnership. In March
2005, Paul Martin, George W. Bush and Vicente Fox met in Waco Texas to
ratify the SPP of North America.
Like the North American Forum, Karunananthan said the main criticism
of the SPP is that it has given corporations unprecedented power and
the public has been left out of the debate.
Melisa Laclerc, director of communication for Public Safety Minister
Stockwell Day said that the SPP expresses a commitment to work
together with the U.S. and Mexico to build a safer, more secure and
economically dynamic North America.
"International cooperation in intelligence, border management, law
enforcement, and transportation security is helping to reduce criminal
activity and terrorist risks, thereby making our country more secure
and our communities safer, facilitating legitimate trade and travel,
and protecting our quality of life," she said. "By enhancing
cooperation across sectors (e.g., transportation, clean energy), the
SPP helps ensure that North America remains the most economically
dynamic region in an increasingly competitive world.
U.S. interest group Judicial Watch from United States Northern Command
recently obtained minutes, transcripts, meetings, agendas, notes, hand
outs and presentations. They were for Admiral Timothy Keating,
political advisor to Commander, US Northcom Deborah Bolton, and
director of plans, policy an strategy to Norad-Northcom, Mark
Volcheff.
According to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch the next North
American Forum will be held in Puerto Vallarta from October 12 to 14,
2007.
Judicial Watch has a similar FOIA request pending for information on
former U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's involvement in the
forum.
Lougheed and Roger Gibbons, president of the Canada West Foundation
could not be reached for comment.The only journalist to cover the
event, Mary O'Grady from the Wall Street Journal did not return phone
calls or e-mails.