Whose Canada?: Continental Integration, Fortress North America, and the Corporate Agenda

by Ricardo Grinspun, Yasmine Shamsie

Overview

Contributors include Sharryn Aiken (Queen's), Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians), Dorval Brunelle (UQAM), Duncan Cameron (SFU), Bruce Campbell (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, CCPA), Tony Clarke (Polaris Institute), Stephen Clarkson (Toronto), Marjorie Griffin Cohen (Simon Fraser), Kathy Corrigan (Canadian Union of Public Employees), Murray Dobbin (CCPA), Jim Grieshaber-Otto (CCPA), Andrew Jackson (Canadian Labour Congress), Marc Lee (CCPA), Benoît Lévesque (UQAM), Elizabeth May (Green Party), Garry Neil (International Network for Cultural Diversity), Larry Pratt (Alberta), David Robinson (Canadian Association for University Teachers), Mario Seccareccia (Ottawa), Steven Shrybman (Sack, Goldblatt, & Mitchell), Scott Sinclair (CCPA), Steven Staples (Ceasefire.ca), and Michelle Swenarchuk (Canadian Environmental Law Association).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773582194
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	04/02/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Ricardo Grinspun is associate professor, economics, and fellow, Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), York University.

Yasmine Shamsie is assistant professor, political science, Wilfrid Laurier University, and fellow, CERLAC

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures     xi
List of Acronyms     xiii
Acknowledgments     xix
Foreword   Maude Barlow     xxi
Context and Overview     1
Canada, Free Trade, and "Deep Integration" in North America: Context, Problems, and Challenges   Ricardo Grinspun   Yasmine Shamsie     3
Economic integration: Dubious benefits, troubling prospects     8
Costing free trade: Impacts on essential services and public policy     12
Costing free trade: Impacts on the environment and natural resources     15
September 11 and the deep integration agenda     18
Unholy alliance: The coming together of trade and security     23
Framing the debate: Integration, deeper integration, and even deeper integration     29
Revitalizing democracy, upholding the public good     32
Moving forward: Resisting assimilation, deepening democracy     38
Notes     44
References     47
Free Trade Allies: The Making of a New Continentalism   Duncan Cameron     54
Politics, business, and the free trade agenda     55
Continentalism: Old and new     58
Canada and US hegemony     64
Contesting the new continentalism     67
Conclusion     69
Notes     70
References     71
Corporate Canada: Washington's Empire Loyalists   Tony Clarke     74
Strategic lessons     76
Corporate restructuring     80
Security paradigm     85
Strategic bargain?     88
Conclusion     98
Notes     100
References     101
September 11 and the Deep Integration Agenda     105
Paradigm Shift or Paradigm Twist? The Impact of the Bush Doctrine on Canada's International Position   Stephen Clarkson   Maria Banda     107
Economic liberalization     109
Prevention: National security at home     110
Retribution and pre-emption: Military force for regime change     115
Conclusion     120
Notes     125
References     126
"Community of Law:" Proposals for a Strategic Deal with the United States   Stephen Clarkson   Maria Banda     129
Context: The political and economic conjuncture since 1994     130
After the shock: Fall 2001     132
Proposals for a new continental architecture     134
The big idea: Institutional dilemmas and political realities     142
Towards the big idea in small instalments     148
Conclusion     150
Notes     151
References     151
Fortress North America: The Drive towards Military and Security Integration and Its Impact on Canadian Democratic Sovereignty   Steven Staples     154
After September 11: A world map redrawn     155
The assault on "human security"     155
The Bush Doctrine and the next phase of globalization     156
Corporate Canada rallies for a "big idea"     159
Building Fortress North America     161
The strategic alliance between the corporate and defence lobbies     162
Background to Canada-US continental military cooperation     164
New commands and the Bi-National Planning Group     167
National Missile Defence     170
Confronting the military-corporate lobby     172
A reinvigorated movement is needed     175
Notes     176
References     177
Risking Rights: An Assessment of Canadian Border Security Policies   Sharryn J. Aiken     180
Securing the nation with immigration law     182
Border (in)security     188
Racial profiling      192
Conclusion     200
Notes     202
References     203
Free Trade: Economic and Labour Impacts     209
From Leaps of Faith to Hard Landings: Fifteen Years of "Free Trade"   Andrew Jackson     211
The great free trade debate     212
Downward harmonization: Social dimensions of the integrated economic space     221
Moving forward     230
Afternote     231
Notes     232
References     232
Critical Macroeconomic Aspects of Deepening North American Economic Integration   Mario Seccareccia     234
North American commercial integration: Some stylized facts     236
Macroeconomic policies: The record     241
Greater North American monetary integration?     250
Conclusion     252
Notes     253
References     256
All Pain, No Gain: Canadian Labour in the Integrated North American Economy   David Robinson     259
The lost decade: The labour market in the 1990s     260
Explaining the great Canadian slump of the 1990s     265
The impact of economic integration on labour standards     272
Conclusion: Which way for labour?      275
Notes     276
References     277
The Costs and Benefits of a Canada-US Customs Union   Marc Lee     280
Customs union and economic integration     281
Eliminating rules of origin     285
The downside of "common" trade policy     287
US trade remedy laws, retaliation and harassment     290
Assessing the bargain     291
Notes     293
References     294
Free Trade: Impacts on Public Policy and Culture     297
An International Bill of Rights for Foreign Investors   Steven Shrybman     299
The special case of foreign investment treaties     299
A revolutionary expansion of investor rights     300
Deploying investor rights     302
Investor rights and public services     304
P3s, privatization, and investor rights     305
Contracting out of NAFTA?     309
Investor rights in search of a rationale     310
The uncertain future of foreign investor rights     312
Human rights not corporate rights     313
Notes     313
References     314
Impact of Trade Agreements on Subnational Governments   Kathy Corrigan      317
Trade agreements: CUFTA, NAFTA, WTO and AIT     317
Education and privatization     327
Trade agreements and municipalities     333
What happens next?     337
Notes     339
References     340
Trade Treaties, Privatization, and Health Care Reform in Canada   Jim Grieshaber-Otto   Scott Sinclair   Ricardo Grinspun     343
Unsafe practices: Underfunding, commercialization, and decentralization     344
Recent government reports on health care reform     348
Hazardous mixture: Existing trade treaties and health care reform     351
Looming challenges: New trade treaty negotiations     358
Conclusion: Towards healthy health care reform     364
Notes     367
References     368
Free Trade and Deep Integration in North America: Saving Canadian Culture   Garry Neil     371
The Canadian cultural dilemma     372
Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement: The sell-out begins     375
Pressure on Canadian cultural policies continues     379
Erosion of foreign ownership limits     383
Defending against cultural assimilation     385
Convention on cultural diversity      386
Notes     388
References     389
Free Trade and Quebec Models of Development   Dorval Brunelle   Benoit Levesque     391
The Quiet Revolution     391
Free trade in context     394
The emergence of a second-generation development model     395
Conclusion     400
Notes     402
References     404
Deep Integration: Impacts on Environment, Energy, and Patent Law     407
Breaking the Free Trade Addiction: An Intervention on Environmental Grounds   Elizabeth May   Sarah Dover     409
What we are losing: The state of Canada's environment     411
Who knew? Looking back on the establishment of NAFTA     414
On the sideline: NAFTA's environmental institutions     417
The failure of strategic environmental assessment of trade agreements     419
NAFTA and the (in)ability to respond to the environmental crisis     421
NAFTA, climate change, and the appetite for oil     424
Taking bad to worse: "The big, stupid idea"     430
Conclusion     433
Notes     434
References     435
Imperialist Regulation: US Electricity Market Designs and Their Problems for Canada and Mexico   Marjorie Griffin Cohen     439
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)     440
Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs)     442
Creating larger markets     446
The electricity debate in Mexico     448
Canada's regulatory system     450
Conclusion     453
Notes     454
References     456
Pipelines and Pipe Dreams: Energy and Continental Security   Larry Pratt     459
A match made in heaven     462
Deregulation, NAFTA, and the promotion of exports     466
Corporate strategies: Pressures to export     470
Limits to integration     473
Conclusion     477
Notes     478
References     479
Of Harvard Mice and Prairie Farmers: Canadian Patents on Life   Michelle Swenarchuk     481
What is a patent?     482
The life patents debate     483
Life patent reform proposals     493
Conclusion     495
References     496
The Way Forward: Building a Movement, Developing Alternatives     499
Challenging the Forces of Deep Integration   Murray Dobbin      501
The facts on the ground: The materialist and political reality of assimilation     503
The record of the left in challenging the right's hegemony     505
The right's hegemonic campaigns     507
Fighting deep integration as a counter-hegemonic struggle     512
The left's organizational dilemma     517
The struggle against deep integration: The Americanization of Canada     519
Notes     526
References     527
Managing Canada-us Relations: An Alternative to Deep Integration   Bruce Campbell     529
Living with NAFTA: Constraints on policy freedom     531
Can the current course be altered?     532
Elements of an action plan     534
Deep integration under the Martin Liberals     539
Conclusion     542
Notes     544
References     544
Contributors     547
Index     553