Using NASPI to Fight the SPP

Dianne Murray, 16.08.2007 09:41

Backgrounder on the CCCE and their initial and very thorough vision and plan for the SPP, which began life as something they call call NASPI. Activists and Public Interest Advocates can use NASPI to show people what an ill-conceived idea the SPP is!

NASPI, the proto SPP document, January 2003 - 60K

The Origins of SPP
*******************

The Security and Prosperity Partnership, or SPP, began life as the North American Security and Prosperity Initiative (NASPI), under the auspices of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), and under the 'leadership' of a lawyer and political strategist, one Thomas Paul d'Aquino (whose CV you can read at:  http://www.ceocouncil.ca/en/about/TdA_CV_2007.pdf)


NASPI Morphed Into SPP
***********************

NASPI is an initiative of the CCCE - you can read all about their ambitious and oddly worded plans for North America here at their website - They've devoted an entire section to it:  http://www.ceocouncil.ca/en/north/north.php

Here's a quote from their site about the initiative:

"issues of trade and investment are now inextricably intertwined with those of defence and security. The need for a comprehensive North American strategy integrating economic and security issues led the CCCE to launch its North American Security and Prosperity Initiative (NASPI) in January 2003. This initiative proposes a strategy with five major elements:

* Reinventing borders
* Maximizing regulatory efficiencies
* Negotiation of a comprehensive resource security pact
* Reinvigorating the North American defence alliance
* Creating a new institutional framework"
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Weasel Words
*************

I found the use of the language to be peculiar, ominous, and full of what a lawyer friend of mine calls "weasel words". But to really get the full effect, I downloaded the NASPI documents and got a real eyeful. It's attached to this article as a .pdf file for your horrified perusal.


Who Are They?
***************

The CCCE is simply the rebranded BCNI: the Business Council on National Issues, founded in the late 1970's. I have appended 2 articles on the BCNI/CCCE to the end of this article. The BNCI are the same people who brought us NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Agreement and brought the US the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

USE NASPI to STOP SPP!
************************

If you are having trouble convincing anyone of how very wrong and undemocratic the SPP is, just show people the NASPI plan, the CCCE's initial vision of the SPP.

It will almost surely disgust, fascinate and scare the hell out of them. And change their mind if they are sitti8ng on the fence.


--------2 articles follow ------------------------------------------
The Origins of the BCNI

From the Board of Trade Journal, Apr 1977, p.30-31.

[ This article was scanned from the April issue of the Board of Trade Journal held in the Business Library. The original article should be consulted since this copy may contain some errors. The text and the image are being made available to researchers for scholarly purposes. They should not be used for commercial gain without the permission of the author or publisher.]

"BLUE CHIP ROSTER FOR BUSINESS COUNCIL
Powerful new business council will deal with national issues as top corporate executives provide strong base of support"

by: Charles Davies

Business Council co-chairmen W.O. Twaits (left) and Alfred Powis sit at head of conference table as plans for new national group are announced.

William Twaits began the press conference announcing the formation of the Business Council on National Issues (BCNI) by referring to co-chairman Alfred Powis and Council president and executive director William Archbold as "the troika." He hardly needed to mention that the new business interest group pulled along in their wake includes the greatest collection of heavyweight
executive talent in Canada's history.
Twaits, former Chief Executive Officer of Imperial Oil Ltd., and Powis, Noranda Mines Ltd.'s President and Chief Executive Officer head a 91-name membership list that reads like a business Who's Who and covers every major segment of the economy. Among the other chief executives are Alcan Aluminum Ltd.'s Paul Leman, Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd.'s Roy Bennett, Massey-Ferguson Ltd.'s Albert Thornbrough, Steel Co. of Canada Ltd.'s Peter Gordon, Wood Gundy Limited's C. G. Medland, Canadian Pacific's Ian D. Sinclair,, Imperial Oil's J. A. Armstrong, Power Corporation's Paul Desmarais, Abibiti Paper's T. J.
Bell, and the Royal Bank of Canada's Earle McLaughlin to name a few. For good measure, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Manufacturers' Association are also members.
The press conference was told the purpose of the BCN I is to correct what is seen as a need for a cohesive and responsible business voice on national issues to deal with organized labor and governments that have grown in size as well as propensity to regulate and intervene in the economy.
Despite the super-lobby impression, the co-chairmen took pains to emphasize that the BCNI won't try to speak for all businesspeople. Twaits said the search for a business group format of this kind has been going on for at least 15 years and that it was only in the last two years the idea of using a council of chief executives really began to take shape.
"It will be a reliable voice of business but it's not the voice of business," he said . . . "We're not trying to become a large, amorphous organization. We want to be a pool of expertise that can comment on national matters."
"We're trying, in effect, to bridge gaps," Powis said, outlining the BCNI's plans to supplement the efforts other business groups are making to get points across to labor and government. A core group of BCNI members are already involved in the tripartite talks that began last fall through the Prime Minister's off ice.
"In all probability, there will be regular meetings with labor," Powis added. "This would be one of our objectives."
Almost equally important will be the BCNI's work in sponsoring research projects through established research institutions or through mission-oriented task forces using the resources of member companies. The members have already paid for a Touche, Ross and Co. study, "The Impact of Inflation on Business, " that details the eroding effect inflation has had on corporate liquidity.
With the funding from membership dues - adjusted company by company depending on such things as assets and type of business - the BCNI permanent staff of Archbold and one secretary will direct research spending this year amounting to $300,000. Of this, $100,000 is going to a three-part study of the economy using the resources of The Conference Board in Canada.
The Conference Board has already completed and released a survey of 250 chief executives' attitudes as phase one and is now working on the second phase, a series of reports on such topics as capital formation and international trade, for release over the next four or five months. The third phase will be an attempt to evaluate policy alternatives for the post-controls period, working from the data base compiled by Touche, Ross for its inflation study.
Other programs and budgeting will be studied at the quarterly meetings of a 21member policy committee (with at least one committee member coming from every industry represented in the BCNI) while more general topics will be covered at semi-annual general membership meetings. One priority will be consideration of ways to improve the working of federalism, Powis said, and it may be done b)6 an independent institutional study or through a committee of eminent Canadians.
Average Canadians won't be left in the dark. Twait's said one of the most important tasks will be to translate research studies
into language that people can understand. This information will then be disseminated through the CMA, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the media generally.
At this stage, the BCNI is not taking positions on news developments but individual members are willing to give opinions.
Twaits said the recent federal budget should not be criticized as a "nothing" document because it was framed within realistic economic options and did recognize "the need to stimulate investment in this country to produce jobs."
Commenting on the Quebec white paper on language policy, Powis said the members did not discuss it at their first meeting "but if we had, we wouldn't have discussed anything else. I'm appalled by it."
He agreed with Twaits that the white paper is only a symptom of the Quebec problem which is, in turn, a national problem that comes down to the ability to maintain a working federalism.
Both said the BCNI will make what contribution it can in this direction, recognizing the principal effort of members has to be running their businesses.
Powis, who is a former council member of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Toronto, said: "We can contribute to a well-functioning Canadian economy, an economy where the average Quebecer or anyone else can get a job and fulfill himself."
The Business Council on National Issues is not unlike the Business Roundtable in the United States. It is made up of chief executive officers from major American corporations. The Roundtable is a powerful voice representing business at the national level.

-----end article one, begin article 2 ------------------------

"Business Voices," by Ronald Anderson, Globe and Mail, April 6, 1977, p.b2.

[ This article was copied from a microfilm version of the Globe and Mail. The original article should be consulted since this copy may contain some errors. The text is being made available to researchers for scholarly purposes. The material should not be used for commercial gain without the permission of the author or publisher.]

"A proliferation of business-oriented associations in recent years indicates how frustrated executives have become over the communications gap that has developed between government and the private sector.
There are now more than a dozen influential bodies that profess to speak for all or important sectors of the Canadian business community. Unfortunately, not all of them are frank, objective, analytical commentators on the authentic needs of the business community, nor are they always willing to acknowledge that the preferences of business sometimes do not coincide with the legitimate aspirations of various social groups.
The latest group to enter the arena is the Business Council on National Issues which held its first general meeting this week in Toronto. Co-chairmen of the BCNI are W. O. Twaits, former chief executive of Imperial Oil Ltd., and Alfred Powis, president of Noranda Mines Ltd. Membership at present includes executives of 93 national and international corporations, and the number is increasing.

Broader national interest
It is too early to decide yet whether the business council will become just another lobby, seeking to influence government policies and legislation in the interests of business.
But the objectives enunciated by Mr. Twaits raise the hope that the council will have regard for the broader national interest as perceived by the BCNI members.
"We intend to strengthen the voice of business on issues of national importance, and to put forward constructive courses of action for the country," he said. "The BCNI will operate through direct dialogue with governments and labor on general economic conditions and specific concerns, and through sponsorship of research projects on national issues by established research institutions. The objective is to stimulate growth and employment opportunities through the private sector."
The commitment of the BCNI to support of the private sector is, of course, to be expected. Furthermore, the expressed preferences and the voting behavior of the electorate would suggest that a majority of Canadians share this commitment.

Contribute to consensus
The BCNI, in its policy statement, does not appear to be a propaganda agency of business. The proposal to have direct discussions with government and labor on general economic conditions and particular matters of concern may well contribute to the formation of a consensus on troublesome economic issues.
Perhaps the council will have more success than others have had in persuading labor leaders that the stimulation of growth and employment opportunities is closely linked to capital investment, and that investment is dependent on an adequate level of retained earnings, capital consumption allowances and access to a healthy capital market. But establishment of the linkage between reasonable profits and reasonable levels of pay and job creation is a difficult task, which cannot be accomplished in the short term.
Labor unions have become much too suspicious of the motives of big business (and most members of the BCNI represent big companies) to be easily persuaded that they and the big corporations share the same interest in keeping business in a good state of health.
However, low-key rational discussion over a period of time may bring the two groups more closely together in their perceptions of what needs to be done to make Canadian industry competitive, productive and capable of providing an adequate number of well-paying, stable jobs. Canada cannot afford the antagonism and mood of confrontation that exists at present between business and labor.
The recent federal budget indicates that Ottawa has become more inclined than it was in the past to listen to the complaints of business, to try to mitigate the effects of inflation on business, and to aid in the generation of cash flow required for expansion and modernization.

Erratic liaison
It is not clear, though, that the council has correctly assessed the reason why, during the postwar period, "the voice of the private sector has become increasingly fractured and has declined in credibility."
Mr. Twaits attributed the decreasing effectiveness of communication to rapid growth of government expenditures and size of the bureaucracy; a proliferation of regulatory boards and general market interference that has restricted capital formation and the complexity of social-economic issues that results from a highly industrialized economy, growing provincial frictions and international tensions.
The three factors have undoubtedly been present, but the first two certainly reflected in broad terms the changing aspirations and values of the public. Government may often have moved in advance of public pressure, but it seems quite clear that the public wanted a different kind of society than existed before the Second World War.

More difficult task
The third factor, the complexity of the issues, made the task of changing the social and economic system more difficult. And it was here that business leaders failed to respond effectively. Instead of helping to work out answers that would meet the problems without reducing the effectiveness and flexibility of the private sector, business spokesmen tended to resist change at the cost of losing credibility. Business lost its voice because it had little useful to say.
One of the more promising aspects of the BCNI is that it proposes to suggest constructive courses of action for the country. Moreover, it intends to sponsor research projects on national issues by established research institutions.
If the council does address itself predominantly to issues of national importance, and if it supports its arguments with careful, unbiased and unedited research, it will command respect and it will be heard. If it follows any other course, it will quickly be dismissed as another business lobby.

----------------end of 2 appended articles, available through
 http://www.lib.uwo.ca/business/bcni.html ----------------------------

e-mail:: murray.dianne@gmail.com

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