Stand on guard for Canada by James Laxer
[G&M O 9]
While the war against terrorism and Canada's role in it are front and
centre now, we must not lose sight of how the events of the past
four weeks could alter our future as a nation, in particular our
relationship with our powerful southern neighbour.
Pierre Trudeau once said that the destruction of Canada would be a
crime against humanity. He was speaking of the threat of Quebec
separatism. Now the threat comes from a determined political force
operating on both sides of the border.
It's still not too late for Canadians to wake up and make it clear
that we do not intend to allow our country to be a collateral victim
of a terrorist attack. -- James Laxer, Professor of Political Science
York University
http://www.globeandmail.com/
Stand on guard for Canada
By JAMES LAXER Tuesday, October 9, 2001 - Print Edition, Page A23
Canada is in danger and not just from terrorists.
While the war against terrorism and Canada's role in it are front and
centre now, we must not lose sight of how the events of the past
four weeks could alter our future as a nation, in particular our
relationship with our powerful southern neighbour. We need to
guard against taking hasty decisions in the heat of the moment
whose consequences could be felt long after Osama bin Laden is
forgotten.
Since Sept. 11, a makeshift alliance of opposition politicians,
several provincial premiers, important business voices, the U.S.
ambassador, former CSIS agents and hawkish pundits has been
fanning the flames of anxiety to try to convince Canadians that we
are no longer able to provide for our own security.
Let's be clear: No Canadian connection to the attacks of Sept. 11
has been found. But many Canadians, not to mention the
geographically challenged writers of The West Wing, have been
panicked into believing that Canada is a haven for terrorists. The
tale of Ahmed Ressam -- who was caught in December of 1999
trying to cross the Canadian-U.S. border with a carload of
explosives in a plot to blow up the Los Angeles airport -- has been
constantly recycled. The Ressam case exposed major lapses in
Canadian procedures. But it pales beside the lapses in U.S.
security that allowed the suicide hijackers to obtain driver's
licences and to train as pilots in Florida and Georgia.
We may need to retool our security procedures, to ensure that
communications between our agencies and those in the U.S.
operate effectively. But what we do not need is to harmonize our
rules with those of the U.S. and to set up a joint system for
controlling entry into North America. From a security standpoint,
we would be jumping from the frying pan into the fire, arguably
increasing the risk of terrorist attacks in Canada.
Such steps also would take us further down a road of continental
integration. Today, the same forces that brought us free trade want
to harmonize our immigration, refugee and visa policies with those
of the U.S. and erase the border between us. The next step would
be the creation of a North American currency -- the amero -- or the
adoption by Canada of the U.S. dollar. In that event, we would end
up with one seat on the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, ending our
control over our own monetary policy.
By this point, Canada would be little more than a U.S. protectorate,
a northern Puerto Rico. We would not be Americans, but we would
not be citizens of a real country, either. Those who have been
pushing the continentalist agenda would then argue that we ought
to opt for entry into the American union since the House of
Commons was no longer running anything very meaningful. With
any luck, we might get to become five American states, they would
tell us.
But that would not be the end of our limbo. The Republican Party,
well aware that Canadians have a more liberal voting record than
Americans, would recoil in horror from the prospect of millions of
new voters who could hand Congress and the presidency to the
Democrats for decades. They now oppose statehood for Puerto
Rico because it poses a much smaller version of this problem.
Once finally inside the American union, we would be directly
involved in all of America's wars. It would be our sons and
daughters who would pay the price.
Pierre Trudeau once said that the destruction of Canada would be a
crime against humanity. He was speaking of the threat of Quebec
separatism. Now the threat comes from a determined political force
operating on both sides of the border.
It's still not too late for Canadians to wake up and make it clear
that we do not intend to allow our country to be a collateral victim
of a terrorist attack.
James Laxer, professor of political science at
York University, is writing a book about the Canada-U.S. border.