(From Jonesreport.com)New documents have been uncovered that reveal how heads of state of the U.S., Mexico and Canada are beseeching business leaders they privately meet with to launch public relations campaigns in order to counter critics of the secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP).
The documents detail how corporate representatives have been urged to "humanize" North American integration, promote NAFTA success stories to employees and unions and evolve the harmonization agenda "without fueling protectionism".
The documentation consists of internal memos from Canada's Foreign Affairs and Internal Trade ministry, which were obtained by the World Net Daily reporter Jerome Corsi under an Access to Information Act request.
"The text of the undated memo is an internal government summary of the third SPP summit meeting held Aug. 20-21, 2007, in Montebello Quebec," writes Corsi.
The memo details the SPP's behind closed doors inaugural meeting with the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), an advisory Council Comprised of 30 senior private sector representatives of North American corporations that were selected by the American, Canadian and Mexican governments at the June 2006 trilateral meeting in Cancun, Mexico.
The "PR offensive", as Corsi puts it, is detailed in the several paragraphs of the memo, the author of which and the persons referred to within are unknown.
Excerpts of the memo read:
"Leaders had a successful meeting with the members of the NACC, which had been launched at the leader's meeting in Cancun in March 2006, to counsel governments on how they might enhance North American competitiveness,"
"He also urged NACC members to assist in confronting and refuting critics of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP)."
"In closing, all leaders expressed a desire for the NACC to play a role in articulating publicly the benefits of greater collaboration in North America."
"Leaders discussed some of the difficulties of the SPP, including the lack of popular support and the failure of the public to understand the competitive challenges confronting North America."
"Governments are faced with addressing the rapidly evolving competitive environment without fueling protectionism, when industry sectors face radical transformation."
"In terms of building public support, President Bush suggested engaging the support of those who had benefited from NAFTA and from North American integration (including small business owners) to tell their stories and humanize the impressive results."
"NACC members should have a role in communicating the merits of North American collaboration, including by engaging their employees and unions."
The NACC is expected to meet annually with SPP ministers and will engage with senior government officials on an ongoing basis.
The media and the public are not invited to participate in or observe the meetings and the minutes of the meetings are to be kept secret.
The memo highlights how those advancing the North American integration agenda are concerned about the exposure and subsequent public backlash they have encountered recently.
The initial Security and Prosperity Partnership agreement was signed by President Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox and then-Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Texas, March 23, 2005. It established working groups, under the North American Free Trade Agreement office.
Jerome Corsi brought attention to the SPP two years ago when he obtained SPP documents, under the freedom of information act, showing that a wide range of US administrative law is being re-written in stealth under a program to "integrate" and "harmonize" with administrative law in Mexico and Canada, just as has become commonplace within the EU.
The documents contained references to upwards of 13 working groups within an entire organized infrastructure that has drawn from officials within most areas of administrative government including U.S. departments of State, Homeland Security, Commerce, Treasury, Agriculture, Transportation, Energy, Health and Human Services, and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
More recently representatives within Congress have petitioned the government on the secretiveness of the SPP and multiple states have introduced resolutions calling on their federal representatives to halt work on the so called "North American Union".
