This week, according to The Globe and Mail, a tri-national task force onNorth American co-operation co-chaired by Canada’s JohnManley recommended the formation of a single trading spacewith a common security perimeter and a three-countrybiometric border pass. “We are asking the leaders of theUnited States, Mexico and Canada to be bold and adopt avision of the future that is bigger than, and beyond, theimmediate problems of the present,” said Manley accordingto the Globe.

Both Canada and Mexico should be very cautious aboutforming closer relations to the United States at this time,particularly relations that could make both countries moredependent on the U.S. than they already are. It is important tounderstand, particularly with its present administration, thatthe word cooperation when used by the U.S. to define aninternational relationship does not have the standarddictionary definition.

Cooperation in U.S. terminology meansthat its partners shut up and cooperate in doing what they aretold. Expanding such a relationship with a country asdesperate and in trouble as the U.S. currently is would leadCanada and Mexico into places that most people in bothcountries do not want to go. It could destroy theirsovereignty as well as see an increased transfer of wealth fromaverage citizens to those higher on the economic food chain.

Currently, the United States is pursuing a policy ofunprovoked wars of aggression and imperial expansion tosecure access to resources. In doing so, it is financing its follythrough deficit spending, and supporting regimes whoseconduct make a mockery of all of the noble reasons that theU.S. likes to parrot to explain its actions.

Even worse, it refuses to join the more civilized nations of the world ininternational agreements to protect human rights and bringlegal action against those who commit war crimes. Closer tiesto the United States could suck both Canada and Mexico intoa vortex from which they might not be able to escape. Thelosers would be democratic principles, human rights and thetaxpayers of both countries. The winners would be the bigcorporations that are making a killing off providing all ofthe services required to support U.S. policy at home andabroad.

The United States is a country in deep trouble. Its deficit is alarge balloon ready to burst; its military is stretched beyond itsability to meet its commitments and unable to find enoughnew recruits to fill its ranks. The American reputation aroundthe world is in tatters.

Rather than sign on for a sail on thisTitanic, Canada and Mexico would be better advised to begindiversifying their international markets to reduce dependenceon trade with the U.S., and to join together with other nationsin Europe and the Americas that are charting a morereasonable and responsible course of economic and socialdevelopment for the 21st Century.

There are a lot more ethical and sensible options open thansurrendering to the United States. In our own hemisphereprogressive changes are being made in countries once underthe heel of brutal, U.S.-sponsored dictatorships. Canada andMexico could seek common cause with these emergingprogressive states and help build a region more in tune withCanadian values than with those currently destroying the U.S.

In Venezuela, Hugo Chavez has emerged as a major force inthe transition of South America from a bastion of U.S.controlled, repressive regimes to a network of democratic andsocially progressive nations. Sitting on a sea of oil, Chavezhas been able to ward off a U.S.-supported right wing coup,defeat a U.S. supported recall election, and begin transferringsome of the country’s oil wealth to its impoverished people.Food is being made more affordable and accessible, and withthe cooperation of Cuba, the number of health clinics andschools are being increased.

In Ecuador, the new president has stood up to the U.S. andrefused to honour arrangements made through the WorldBank that see 90 per cent of Ecuador’s share of increased oilrevenues go to bond holders while 60 per cent of Ecuadorians livebelow the poverty line. Meanwhile, Venezuela, Argentina,Cuba and Uruguay have formed Telesur, a South American24-hour news station to project a view of the region unfilteredthrough the corporate lens of U.S. controlled channels likeCNN.

Rather than submit to the U.S., why would Canada not take a different pathas an increasing number of countries are doing, and stand up forvalues more humane and progressive than anything that theU.S. has to offer?