At a press conference at the SPP Summit on August 21, the "Three
Amigos" laughed off any notion that a North American Union
and a NAFTA Superhighway are being planned and developed (transcript
and video). Later the same day a FoxNews panel laughed off
the same ideas with one of the panelists comparing concern over
a North American Union with belief that Elvis is still alive
(transcript;
video).
One of the FoxNews panelists, Juan Williams, went so far as
to say: "In fact, that map that you showed ... there is
some reality to the highway from Mexico going up through Texas
into Oklahoma. But there is no reality to those red veins at
the northern part, there is just no reality to it yet."
Comparison of the
FoxNews map with a more detailed NAFTA
Superhighway map from the John Birch Society (also on pp.
24-25 of this 5
MB pdf) shows that one of those northern "red veins"
scoffed at by Williams goes through Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal,
and Quebec, Canada's prime NAFTA trade corridor.
(Article continues below)
Remember that no one is saying that the NAFTA Superhighway
is already constructed, or that most of it is under construction.
Rather, what many individuals and organizations, such as the
John Birch Society, are saying is that the NAFTA Superhighway
is being planned by government agencies and non-governmental
organizations in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada with some construction
already occurring in Texas on the Trans-Texas Corridor.
So let's see if there is any evidence that the Canadian
portion of the NAFTA Superhighway is being planned. Well, here's
one very interesting document, "Embracing
the Future: The Atlantic Gateway and Canada's Trade Corridor,"
a study prepared last year for the Asia Pacific Foundation of
Canada. It states:
Since the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement was signed with
the US, later expanded to become NAFTA, Canadians have reoriented
their trade links away from a national focus (east-west) to
a North American focus (north-south).... As globalization
proceeds, not as an offset to US-Canada trade or NAFTA enlargement
and integration, but as a close complimentary advantage, Canada
must adjust its thinking and design transportation strategies
accordingly....
Notice that this study is saying that NAFTA has led Canadians
to a new focus on North American north-south trade, which requires
Canada to adjust its thinking and design transportation strategies
in accordance with NAFTA enlargement and integration.
Next, consider that on July 30 this year the governments of
Canada, Ontario, and Quebec announced the signing of a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) on the development of the
Ontario-Quebec Continental Gateway and Trade Corridor. The
official
press release stated:
Canada's New Government has developed a National Policy
Framework for Strategic Gateways and Corridors to advance
the competitiveness of the Canadian economy in the rapidly
changing field of global commerce.... Future federal gateway
and corridor strategies will be guided by this framework,
focused on transportation systems of road, rail, marine and
air infrastructure of national significance to international
commerce.
This planned Ontario-Quebec Continental Gateway, which corresponds
to the northeastern "red vein" in the Canadian portion
of the FoxNews NAFTA Superhighway map, mimics closely the integrated
highway and railroad structure of the Trans-Texas Corridor,
the widely acknowledged first segment of the NAFTA Superhighway
in the U.S.
An
article in MIT's Technology Review magazine, for
June 30, 2006, provides in-depth insight as to how the Spanish
company Cintra has become a leading player in superhighway toll
road projects in both Canada and the U.S. It turns out that
in 1999 Cintra, working in conjunction with Australia's
Macquarie Bank, won a 99-year contract to operate Toronto's
Highway 407 toll road, now already built and operating in 2007,
which just so happens to run along Canada's premier NAFTA
trade corridor.
Next, according to one commentator, "They've used
the success of this very risky venture as a horse to ride through
the U.S...." First, the Cintra combine bagged a 99-year
deal to operate the Chicago Skyway in 2004, then a 75-year deal
to operate the Indiana Toll Road. More recently and more notoriously,
Cintra is partnering with the state of Texas for the development
and operation of the Trans-Texas Corridor toll roads, the pioneering
segment of the NAFTA Superhighway in the U.S.
The nervous laughter of the "Three Amigos" and FoxNews
notwithstanding, planning for the northeastern "red vein"
Canadian segment of the NAFTA Superhighway is very real indeed.
