Politics can be complicated but one time-saving way to arrive at an educated opinion is to find out what the Council of Canadians thinks and to then take the diametric opposite position. If Maude Barlow thinks the "secret Canada-United States perimeter security plan" is an "outrageous attack on the rights of Canadians," it follows it must be a good thing.
Since the National Post broke the story about the imminent signing of a trade and security deal by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama, the Council has been frothing at the gills about threats to Canadian sovereignty and privacy that would be created by a "zip-lock North America."
Perhaps it's the infinite monkey theorem at work -- that is, given enough time, a chimpanzee would write Hamlet. In this case, given enough issues, the Council will eventually raise a legitimate concern. On the potential border deal, they may have one. If badly crafted, it does have the potential to intrude on Canadian sovereignty, particularly in the Arctic. The Americans may seek to be more muscular in patrolling the Far North, particularly in areas of disputed sovereignty like parts of the Beaufort Sea and the Northwest Passage.
The pending deal will bind Canada more tightly to the United States on many fronts. Immigration, security and law enforcement policies will be "harmonized" -- that is, tailored to become more similar to what exists in the States. That is only desirable if the trade benefits are tangible in the form of a "thinner" border.
John Manley, the former Liberal deputy prime minister and now president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, is right when he points out the need to focus on our trade relationship with the United States. As he said, Canada should diversify, but its trade with India amounts to two and half days worth of trade with the United States. Linking improved access to the United States through common consumer goods regulations and pre-clearance of cross-border cargo with tighter border security, a key American concern, is a smart strategy.
Yet if this deal is not negotiated well, we may inherit the worst of all worlds -- a border that remains "thick" with security apparatus, as well as increased American presence in Canada's North.
One person familiar with the Americans' security demands said he is skeptical that the huge border infrastructure the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has built up along the 49th parallel will be slimmed down in response to any deal. He said there are also legitimate fears that the they will be unwilling to let Canada alone police the northern perimeter of the continent. "The Americans want concentric rings of security," he said.
The Prime Minister will be very aware that his legacy Arctic sovereignty project does not dovetail well with a perimeter deal. We already have an air perimeter deal under the North American Aerospace Defence Command but the New Border Vision could end up making a nonsense of our claim that we are standing on guard for Canada's Far North.
This deal has the potential to dramatically alter our relationship with the elephant with which we're obliged to sleep. Canadians should look closely at its details to judge whether the price paid is worth it.
Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/Concerns+over+secret+border+deal+just/3962197/story.html#ixzz17sAilQmT
