The path to the North American Union (NAU) may have started with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. But it widened greatly in March 2005 at a summit meeting in Waco, Texas between President Bush, then-Mexican President Vicente Fox, and then-Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. It was at this summit that the three leaders issued a joint statement announcing the creation of the “Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America” (SPP). Its stated purpose, they declared, was to “make our open societies safer and more secure, our businesses more competitive, and our economies more resilient.”

The Security and Prosperity Partnership was never submitted to Congress for debate and decision. Instead, the U.S. Department of Commerce merely created a new division under the same title to implement working groups to advance a North American Union working agenda in a wide range of areas, including: manufactured goods, movement of goods, energy, environment, e-commerce, financial services, business facilitation, food and agriculture, transportation, and health.

A follow-up SPP meeting was held in Ottawa on June 27, 2005 where the U.S. representative, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, told a news conference that “we want to facilitate the flow of traffic across our borders.” The White House issued a statement that the Ottawa report “represents an important first step in achieving the goals of the Security and Prosperity Partnership.”

No question, the three governments of the Security and Prosperity Partnership have each placed its implementation at the top of their agenda.

Representing the Bush Administration are Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Representing Mexico are Secretario de Economía Fernando Canales, Secretario de Gobernación Carlos Abascal, and Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores Luis Ernesto Derbéz. Representing Canada are Minister of Industry David L. Emerson, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety Anne McLellan, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Stewart Pettigrew.

THE SPP IS A BACK-DOOR AGREEMENT TO SUPERSEDE THE U.S. CONSTITUTION

Apologists for the Security and Prosperity Partnership like to dismiss critics by claiming that it merely enhances economic and security cooperation among the three nations. But even a quick review of the specific working agenda initiatives shows that the SPP is an incremental step on the road to a “North American Union.”

This clear progression towards the NAU is hidden behind innocent sounding phases such as “our three countries signed a Framework of Common Principles …” or “we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding …,” or “we have signed a Declaration of Intent…,” etc. But the SPP has the potential to forever change life in North America for all three participants. None of the approximately 30 working agendas makes any mention of submitting decisions to the U.S. Congress for review and approval.

The evident plan is to knit together the North American Union completely under the radar, through a process of regulations and directives issued by various U.S. government agencies.

What we have here is an executive branch plan being implemented by the Bush Administration to construct a new super-regional structure completely by fiat. President Bush has denied any existence of such plans and mocked those of us working to expose the truth, most recently at the SPP Summit in Montebello, Quebec in August of 2007, asserting that he is merely working to achieve the economic integration of the three nations.

AT LEAST MEXICO TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SPP

Mexico has placed the Security and Prosperity Partnership within its office of the [Secretario] de Economia and created [an] extensive website for the Alianza Para La Securidad y La Prosperidad de [América] del Norte (ASPAN). On this Mexican website, ASPAN was once described as “a permanent, tri-lateral process to create a major integration of North America.” Former Mexican President Vicente Fox has talked openly about a coming North American “community” and about later a common currency known as the “Amero.” Canada has established an SPP working group within their Foreign Affairs department.

WHY BUSH DOES NOTHING TO SECURE OUR BORDERS WITH CANADA AND MEXICO

Anyone who has wondered why President Bush has not bothered to secure our borders is advised to spend more time examining the Security and Prosperity Partnership working groups’ agenda. In every area of activity, the SPP agenda stresses free and open movement of people, trade, and capital within the North American Union. Once the SPP agenda is implemented with appropriate departmental regulations, there will be no area of immigration policy, trade rules, environmental regulations, capital flows, public health, as well as dozens of other key policy issues that the U.S. government will be able to decide without first consulting some appropriate North American regulatory body. At best, our border with Mexico will become a speed bump, largely erased, with little remaining to restrict the unchecked movement of people, trade, and capital. This is not a theory. It is a fact. And anyone who doubts it should talk to the thousands of Texans who could lose their ranches, farms, homes, and small businesses through eminent domain to make way for the NAU’s transportation anchor, the “North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway.”