JUST SAY NO

But the SPP is not all just high-level policy talk.
It is already affecting our lives directly.

In early 2007, an SPP priority to harmonize rules on pesticide residues
resulted in Canada allowing higher levels of pesticides in the food we eat.

The SPP’s goal of creating a North American no-fly list means that air travelers are being stopped from boarding their flights
just because their names resemble one of almost half a million people U.S. officials implausibly consider an immediate threat.

And the SPP’s plan for a fivefold increase in Alberta tar sands production makes it impossible
for Canada to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – putting everyone at increased risk from climate change.

Clearly the public needs a much larger say in these kinds of decisions.

Those pushing the SPP, be they senior government ministers, top bureaucrats or members of the business elite, have had it pretty easy so far. They shrug off criticism of the “partnership” by claiming that the SPP is about making this continent safer and more prosperous. But if the SPP were really about everyone’s security and everyone’s prosperity, our leaders would have included more than just a handful of North America’s richest CEOs in the discussion.