Two weeks ago, a group of self-appointed guardians of Canada’s well-beingreleased their final report on “The Future of North America.” The taskforce that wrote it is promoting some extremely radical proposals for theintegration of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

The news of this corporate élite’s final blueprint was pushed off the frontpages by the struggle in the House of Commons over the budget vote and thequestion of a spring election. Ironically, if the recommendations of thetask force are ever implemented, Parliament would become largely irrelevant.The recommendations call for Canada and Mexico to effectively relinquishtheir sovereignty in critical areas of public policy including food safety,energy, defence, immigration, international trade and control over theirrivers and culture.

It is a plan for the dismantling of Canada and the neutering of itsgovernment.

A plan, of course, is just a plan until it’s implemented. The problem is,this plan is being slowly implemented by stealth by parts of the federalbureaucracy who are already fully committed to its broad principles.

‘Harmonizing’ food policies

One of those principles is that Canada and the U.S. “harmonize” food safetypolicies. The latest example of this de facto policy is the refusal ofCanada to grant a visa to one of the world’s foremost experts in the area offood safety: Ethiopia’s Dr. Tewolde Egziabher, often referred to as thefather of the UN’s Biosafety Protocol.

Dr. Tewolde has been to Canada many times. The political denial of a visa tothis renowned scientist is one of the crudest abuses of power the Canadiangovernment has ever exercised and its purpose is transparent.

Dr. Tewolde is one of the developing world’s most effective and determinedopponents of genetically modified crops and is a champion of Africancountries who also oppose them. He is the director-general of theEthiopian-headquartered Environmental Protection Authority, and is Africa’schief negotiator for the UN Convention on Biodiversity. The visa he wasseeking would have allowed him to attend a meeting in Montreal fornegotiations relating to the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety, aninternational agreement to regulate trade in genetically engineeredorganisms.

The African scientist has publicly clashed with Canadian and U.S. officials inthe past and was coming to Montreal specifically to ensure that GE seeds andfood products would be labelled under the agreement. He also wants companiesand governments to accept liability when their seeds lead to GEcontamination.

‘Suicide’ seeds

Canada’s efforts to deny his participation in the critical meeting follow asimilar move by Canadian bureaucrats in February over the issue of so-called“terminator seeds.” Terminator or “suicide” seeds are genetically engineeredso that seeds from the resulting crop are dead. They cannot be planted. Theythreaten bio-diversity through contamination and they threaten thelivelihood of tens of millions of poor peasant farmers who traditionallysave seed to plant their next crop.

The only beneficiaries from thisperverse technology are the large transnational corporations who developthem. Canada attempted, at the last moment, to sabotage the protocol much tothe anger and shock of other delegations. Canada’s efforts were stopped bythe EU and several third world countries.

There was so much outrage over the Liberal government’s visa denial — someAfrican delegates purportedly threatened a demonstration — that thedecision was eventually reversed but so late in the day that Dr. Tewolde wasonly able to attend last day of the three day conference.

U.S. pulling strings?

There is strong suspicion that Canada is acting on behalf of the U.S. whichhas been pushing hard to get GMO food accepted. The U.S. has launched a WTOchallenge against the European Union on the issue. According to Dr. Tewolde: “Wesuspect that Africa is high on the agenda for the U.S.’s next push for GMOacceptance.” The African countries are especially angered by the U.S. argumentthat European opposition to GMOs will exacerbate Third World hunger. Dr. Tewoldepoints out that: “Besides paying royalties, we would lose food sovereignty,”saying such a development would actually worsen poverty and hunger.

In 1995, the United Nations decided to locate the Secretariat for the UNConvention on Biological Diversity in Montreal. But one of the requirementsfor hosting any UN agency is easy access for foreign experts to attendintergovernmental discussions. That means the absence of the kind of blatantpolitical interference just engaged in by the federal government. Moreincidents like this one could easily jeopardize Montreal’s status as a UNcity.

This issue falls smack dab in the middle of Paul Martin’s plate. One of thefew areas he has staked out as his own personal priority is attention to theplight of the Third World, and Africa in particular. His government’sappalling behaviour suggests that hypocrisy and expediency rule the day.

murray_dobbinBW

Murray Dobbin

Murray Dobbin was rabble.ca's Senior Contributing Editor. He was a journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist for over 40 years. A board member and researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy...