By Alex Nikolic
Columnist

Some claim it is an urban myth, others a conspiracy theory, but there is a little truth in everything, and the truth hurts.
Apart from those who scan the blogosphere or visit less-than-mainstream media sources, few have heard of it, and that is no accident. Discussion and decisions around it have been held in secret.
The NAFTA superhighway is planned to be half a kilometre wide, and will link Manitoba to Mexico. Interstate 69 (no, I’m not kidding) will be a transportation corridor for trucks, cars, trains and oil pipelines. Flanked by fences, it will effectively bisect the USA and divide the country into east and west. Access along it, and most likely across it, will be restricted.
The more paranoid Americans feel this restriction in movement is just another step closer to Bush and Cheney totalitarianism. In light of U.S. authorities recently being permitted to wiretap phone conversations and emails without a warrant, it doesn’t sound so paranoid.
The most obvious use of I-69 will be to transport Canadian oil to the US, and Canadian raw materials to Mexico. Cheap labour will transform them into value-added products, which will then be transported back northward to ravenous American markets. But there is more to it than that - a lot more.
China is investing heavily in Mexican deep-water ports. The main purpose of I-69 will be to provide a trade route for Chinese goods bound for Canadian and U.S. big-box stores. Entire containers full of useless crap from Asia will be loaded directly from ships docked at Mexican ports onto trucks bound for the Mall-Marts of the west.
Aside from the inherent economic and social threat associated with such trade regulations, it is important to remember that, although our government officials are corrupt, they are even more corrupt in Mexico. With the Bush-sponsored Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP), North American borders will become infinitely more porous, and import regulations will fall to the lowest (ie. Mexican) standards. The contents of these containers will be laden with, not only useless crap that nobody really needs, but with toys covered in lead-based paint, all sorts of contraband that Mexican officials have been paid to ignore and U.S. and Canadian border guards are not required to inspect.
I-69 will have a devastating impact on wildlife movements throughout the eight states across which it will run. It will also expedite global warming through the greenhouse gases emitted by the use of such a highway. Perhaps most importantly, it will consume over 120,000 acres of productive American Midwest farm land, in a country with a growing population and shrinking food supplies.
The key to I-69’s success lies with the aforementioned SPP. Bush has been touting it for over two years now, and will continue to do so when he meets with Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Montebello, Quebec Aug. 20. SPP will compromise Canada’s ability to apply its own environmental, energy, regulatory, military, immigration and many other policies. It is not being discussed or debated in parliament.


With more open borders and more economic outsourcing, this partnership is meant to enhance the security and prosperity of the corporate overlords, who control our leaders rather than those who elected them. Anyone who thinks SSP is a bad idea for Canada’s people, economy and environment should express their concerns to our Member of Parliament at nanaimo@jameslunneymp.ca.