paranoia

Here's a topic I've been avoiding. I want to hear your opinions about this, and I'm going to try to stay out of the discussion, although I make no promises, being a blabbermouth and all.

The subject is Deep Integration, or North American Union, or harmonization, or whatever you want to call it: the alleged secret plan that is already in place to merge Mexico, Canada and the U.S. If you're not familiar with this concept, check here and here.

You'll notice that this blog does not sport a "No Deep Integration" button as many of my sister Americans-to-Canada blogs do. I've never been able to take this movement seriously.

I fully understand why we wouldn't want a North American Union. Canada has always feared being swallowed up by the United States, and, historically, that fear is well justified. (Just as ask anyone who used to live in the part of Mexico that's now Texas, or the part of Canada that is now Oregon. Well, you can't ask them, because they're dead. But some 19th Century maps will illustrate the idea.)

There's a set of Canadians, and Americans watching Canada from the US, who believe this threat to be real, and imminent. I, however, don't see any modern movement towards it. Just because the Fraser Institute coughs up some phlegm, doesn't mean Canada's going to choke on it. I don't fear free trade - although I want labour and the environment to be protected. Sovreignity and autonomy are important, but we live in a globlal, international world, and every movement towards promoting economic interdependence is not the coming of the New World Order.

But perhaps I am missing a big clue, or misreading the clues I do see. I don't want to have my head in the sand if this is an actual, rather than exaggerated or imagined, threat.

I've been emboldened to raise this topic based on what has happened since the last federal election. There was a lot of hysteria about Stephen Harper's Conservatives, both here in Canada and among liberals in the U.S. He was going to privatize the health care system, abolish same-sex marriage, abolish legal abortion, embroil Canada is foreign wars. He was, in short, a Canadian George Bush. In fact he was supposedly controlled by Bush, a US puppet, and his second election with a strong majority government would be a fait accompli, just you wait.

I believed this was a gross misreading of the situation, and I said so at the time. Many wmtc readers agreed, others stormed off in a huff.

Now, the Harper Conservatives are not my choice of government, but they are hardly the US-style neo-cons that many fearmongers claimed. More importantly, they are not going to cruise to majority government. No one can predict the future, but that outcome seems highly unlikely.

This experience buried any trepidation I once had about commenting on Canadian politics and government, the I'm-new-here-what-do-I-know feeling. I don't pretend to understand it all, and I'm still asking a lot of questions, but I'm not clueless. And I don't see North American Union as the gathering storm on the horizon.

Am I wrong?

If you think it's a real threat, can you present some evidence? Why does the Canadian media not pay any attention to it? Why is it not even an issue here? The Canadian media is very different than the US media. They don't ignore important issues. But they ignore this. Any idea why?

I'm not - please pay attention - I'm not asking you to explain why Deep Integration would be bad news for Canada. No need for campaign speeches here. I'm asking: Do you think it's actually happening? Why or why not?