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An image from the film. (Image contributed)
Contributed
What do secrecy, police provocateurs, an assault on democracy and infringements on citizens’ rights have in common? The Security and Prosperity Partnership.
Filmmaker Paul Manly will be attending a Kelowna screening of his documentary about the Security and Prosperity Partnership, ‘You, Me and the SPP: Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule’ as part of a 34 city national tour. The screening takes place Monday November 2nd 7pm at the OC Theatre of the Okanagan College, 1000 KLO Road. Admission is by donation. The screening, sponsored by the Kelowna chapter of the Council of Canadians, will be followed by a Q & A with the filmmaker, Paul Manly. The full tour schedule is available online at www.youmespp.com
Independent filmmaker Paul Manly first grabbed the world’s attention after capturing three police provocateurs attempting to thwart protestors’ legal rights by inciting violence at the protest against the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) leaders summit in Montebello, Quebec in 2007. This compelling footage was posted on youtube where it was seen by hundreds of thousands of viewers around the world and quickly became a national and international news story. Manly, who had started research and preliminary interviews for a documentary about the SPP two months earlier, was shocked by what he had captured on video but what was even more shocking to him was the scope of the Security and Prosperity Partnership and how almost everyone he talked to knew nothing about it.
The Canadian government says “The Security and Prosperity Partnership is neither an agreement nor a treaty but a dialogue.” Following the shock of 9/11, right-wing political and business leaders have pushed the SPP agenda. Negotiating away from public scrutiny, they say it is the way to keep trade flowing between the United States, Canada and Mexico. You, Me and the SPP exposes the corporate agenda of the SPP and reveals that this secretive agreement is about much more than trade.
Opponents of this secretive ‘dialogue’ claim that it is undemocratic and a direct threat to the sovereignty of the three countries involved, Canada, the United States and Mexico; it bypasses their parliamentary systems and places control of regulatory integration in the hands of large corporations. In addition to harmonizing health, safety, environmental, and labour standards, the SPP also includes deep integration of military and security structures between the three countries.
No proponents of the SPP were willing to take part in on-camera interviews for You, Me and the SPP, which features interviews with Naomi Klein, Maude Barlow, Murray Dobbin and Joel Bakan, among a host of other opponents of the SPP including economists, lawyers, union leaders, and politicians. Manly also interviewed ordinary citizens who have been affected by the SPP agenda including a retired elementary school teacher who is on the no-fly-list; a citizen who refused to participate in the Canadian census because Lockheed Martin, the world largest arms manufacturer, is part of the census process; a mill worker who has been laid-off because deregulation has allowed forest companies to close mills and export raw logs; and a mother of twins who is concerned about protecting her young children from contaminated products.
“Manly has created an extremely thorough introduction to a set of issues that will increasingly affect every Canadian. As the film progressed, I was shocked at my own ignorance about the SPP and TILMA and their implications and I am indebted to this film for the research and revelations it presents.”
Mark Achbar – Manufacturing Consent, The Corporation
“What the SPP really represents is a parallel government, so that the important decisions are made outside of parliament and outside of legislatures … democracy is slowly being gutted.”
Murray Dobbin, Canadian author, journalist
“The ultimate goal, quite obviously, is to create such tight integration that effectively we only have one North American political, security, military, and economic place – that there really are no differentials between this country and the country next door.”
Michael Byers, Canada Research Chair, Global Politics and International Law, UBC
In August of 2009, the US government declared that the SPP is no longer an active initiative but almost all of the various parts of this corporate agenda have either been implemented or are moving forward under separate programs and it is widely anticipated that a more extensive rebranded SPP 2.0 will be unveiled soon. The SPP stands out as a prime example of the willingness of the corporate elite and their political cronies to sacrifice democratic principles and civil liberties in favour of corporate control and monopolization.
The national tour is sponsored by; the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives. The BC screenings are sponsored by the BC Teachers Federation. The tour launched with a screening on Parliament Hill on October 1, 2009. Information about the film, including a list of screening dates, the trailer, and additional videos can be viewed on the film’s website www.youmespp.com
Tags: paul manly, you me and the spp: trading democracy for corporate rule
