JimBobby's SPP Challenge: Count Me In

The latest news you won't find in the Globe and Mail. Why? Well, because it's on SPP.

- SPP?

Yeah, SPP, the so-called "Security and Prosperity Partnership"!

- Never heard of it.

No wonder you've never heard of it. And you won't be hearing much of it in the Canadian MSM either. It's the latest little secret of corporatists and those who are submissive to them (yes, corporate media and their submissive "gatekeepers are us" chief editors).

In fact, SPP has been in progress since March 23, 2005. For all this time it has been flying under the radar, hidden for most of us. Therefore several blogs (including Getting It Right) have joined JimBobby's "SPP Challenge - Blogosphere-Meatspace Crossover Poll" (read about the origins here).

I'm personally appalled by the main press of Canada (Globe and Mail, where are you?) completely ignoring the issue, including the latest squelching of the freedom of speech (by the RCMP and the US Army in Quebec.

So for all the Globe and Mail readers out there, here's the news on SPP you won't find in your paper:

From Vive le Canada:

RCMP, U.S. Army block public forum on the Security and Prosperity Partnership

The Council of Canadians has been told it will not be allowed to rent a municipal community centre for a public forum it had planned to coincide with the next Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summit in Montebello, Quebec on August 20 and 21.

The Municipality of Papineauville, which is about six kilometres from Montebello, has informed the Council of Canadians that the RCMP, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and the U.S. Army will not allow the municipality to rent the Centre Communautaire de Papineauville for a public forum on Sunday August 19, on the eve of the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership Leaders Summit.

“It is deplorable that we are being prevented from bringing together a panel of writers, academics and parliamentarians to share their concerns about the Security and Prosperity Partnership with Canadians,” said Brent Patterson, director of organizing with the Council of Canadians. “Meanwhile, six kilometres away, corporate leaders from the United States, Mexico and Canada will have unimpeded access to our political leaders.” [...]

Footnote: The Liberal Party is noticably silent on SPP. A simple Google query (site:www.liberal.ca/ spp) will show you zero results on SPP. Here are the Google query results of political parties in Canada:
NDP (45), CPO(4), Green Party(21), Liberal Party(0). Do the Liberals simply not care?

- H/T to JimBobby Sez
- Wikipedia: SPP, or Security and Prosperity Partnership
- The Council of Canadians on SPP (pdf, but very useful)
- Canadian media publishing on SPP: Vive Le Canada, PEJ News, Rabble.ca
- Blogs participating in JimBobby Sez's SPP Challenge: Red Tory, StageLeft, Woman at Mile 0.

Update: Read my latest post too: "Bye, Bye, Canada; Stephane Dion doesn't see any problem with SPP's Deep Integration plans"