Purpose and objectives

The Centre for Research on Latin American and the Caribbean (CERLAC) at York University and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) are organizing this conference to explore recent trends in continental integration, with a particular focus on Canada-US relations. It comes as a response to the major integrationist drive advanced by the business lobby and their supporters in Ottawa, and the flurry of mainstream academic work supporting that drive. The conference will bring together researchers from across Canada and beyond who share a sceptical perspective on free trade and the proposals for deeper integration in North America and in the hemisphere. These researchers want to advance an alternative perspective that emphasizes Canadian democracy, social and environmental progress, as well as a consistent continental and global role for Canada.

The objectives of the conference are as follows: 1) To explore recent trends in deeper Canada-US integration and in hemispheric integration across a number of policy areas; 2) To analyze the political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental consequences for Canada of a decade and a half of free trade; 4) To critically examine proposals from Canada's corporate sector calling for new forms of governance in North America, deeper ties with the United States, and a Free Trade Area of the Americas; and 5) To advance a distinct vision of social and economic development that focuses on revitalizing democracy and advancing the public good.
 
 

Background and rationale

This conference responds to new developments in Canada-US relations since September 11, 2001. Following the tragic attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, US national priorities shifted placing security concerns at the top of Washington's agenda, dramatically changing the terms of US-Canada relations. The temporary closure of the border to trans-border shipments, the accusations that Canada was a “haven for terrorists”, and the sudden resurgence of the reality of the border, all impacted heavily on Canada's government and corporate class. The Canadian government responded by engaging with Washington on a number of policy agendas (e.g., border security, customs, immigration, refugees, civil rights, illegal drugs and defence) which allegedly focus on border security and the free flow of cross-border trade, but which have broader implications. The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade has called for “intensified public debate and parliamentary engagement in regard to closer relations among North American partners”. President Vicente Fox of Mexico as well as prominent US academics have called for new forms of governance in North America.

While there is still intense controversy in Canadian civil society over the prospect of stronger Canada-US ties, the business lobby's response has been to advocate for a much more aggressive, “deeper” phase of integration. Canadian business associations and think tanks have articulated concrete proposals calling for stronger ties across a number of policy areas. In what has been referred to as a “strategic deal” or “a grand bargain” with the Bush administration, the US would reciprocate Canada's response to Washington's heightened defence and security concerns, with willingness to provide economic and trade security for Canada. Proposals have taken various forms including a customs union, deeper energy and defence integration, security perimeters, regulatory harmonization, and an array of other measures. These proposals assume that economic integration is irreversible; that closer commercial relations with the United States will bring widespread economic benefits; and that deeper integration will not lead to an Americanization of Canada.

A number of recent academic conferences, publications, media and other events promoted by government,  business associations, and private foundations have served to present, discuss, and disseminate such proposals for deep integration, mostly but not exclusively from advocates’ perspectives. There seems little doubt that the question of deepening ties with the US will be a central focus of public attention in Canada during the coming years. This conference represents the first coordinated effort by scholars and researchers who are highly critical of the deeper integration model to respond both intellectually and practically to the corporate elite's vision of integration. The event brings together specialists from those policy areas most affected by growing economic integration. While the expertise of these researchers lies in different policy areas, they share a scepticism regarding the likelihood that closer ties with the United States will lead to economic benefits and secured access to the US market, and a common concern regarding the negative effects of deeper integration on Canada's sovereignty and distinctive values.

Conference participants will critically analyze the origins, objectives, and strategies of this new drive for deeper integration. One important distinction between this phase of bilateral integration and earlier ones is that, rather than being embodied in an economic treaty such as the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA) or the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with all the traditional markers these accords entail (meetings, negotiations, and timetables), the post-9/11 accelerated drive for greater integration is taking place via an overall harmonization of policies and through a variety of bilateral agreements across a wide range of issue areas. This makes the current drive for deeper integration difficult to track, examine, and debate, making the work of these assembled experts all the more important. Most importantly, specialists will articulate an alternative course for Canada's engagement with the United States that focuses on maintaining and enhancing Canadian public policy-making space, rather than further encroaching upon it.

Conference participants will also critically assess past integration efforts, that is, fifteen years of bilateral free trade and ten years of trilateral free trade with the United States and Mexico. Critics of the CUFTA and the NAFTA had been sceptical about the economic benefits these accords would bring, and the impact of these accords on the economic and social dimensions of Canadian life. Over the course of the late 1980s and early 1990s, they had argued that economic integration, as proposed in these treaties, would most likely lead to a loss of democratic control over many aspects of Canadian public policy. Participants will present research which updates that analysis and describes how CUFTA and NAFTA have indeed affected the Canadian government's ability to adopt domestic policy choices reflecting its own distinctive national preferences. They will also consider the implications for Canada of the establishment of an hemispheric-wide Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), modelled after NAFTA, and new free trade agreements and bilateral investment agreements (BITs) with countries in the South. Panellists will cover the effects of economic integration in a variety of areas (see list of confirmed speakers below).

Conceptually, the speakers will tackle the following questions: 1) To what extent can fair and equitable bilateral, trilateral and multilateral relations exist when sizeable and persistent disparities exist across member states? 2) What forms of North American and hemispheric governance models can emerge among partners with huge asymmetries of power and wealth? 3) To what extent does the weaker partner have policy discretion to pursue a distinct societal vision that contrasts with that of the stronger partner? 3) To what extent can links in key policy areas (such as energy and security) be deepened without affecting the quality of democracy and of sovereignty in weaker partner states?

See below for a preliminary program that includes a list of confirmed conference speakers and tentative presentation titles. Please check back for updates to this program.
 
 

Conference registration and fee

For registration, please write to Benjamin Cornejo, indicating the information requested (see below). We will confirm your registration when we receive it.

The regular conference fee is $30 (Canadian dollars), and for students and unwaged it is $20. If you are only attending one day of the conference, the fee is $15 or $10, respectively. The fee includes a light lunch. If this fee is a barrier to your participation, please let us know.

Please do not send any money with your registration. We will ask for payment when you arrive at the conference. We would appreciate that you bring cash with you on the first day you attend the conference. Sorry, but we are unable to accept credit cards, cheques or advance payment.

Please note: space is limited at the conference venue. We will accept registrations on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are interested in participating, we encourage you to register early.

Check this website (www.yorku.ca/cerlac/deep-integration) regularly to keep updated on the conference program and for relevant logistical information.

Please note there will be, in addition, a teach-in in the evening of October 14, in downtown Toronto (for details visit www.yorku.ca/cerlac/teach-in). No registration or fees are required for that event.

Please write to Benjamin Cornejo and provide:

(1) your full name
(2) affiliation or institution
(3) academic status or job title, if any:
        faculty or researcher / graduate student / undergraduate student  / other:
(4) regular mailing address
(5) phone
(6) email address
(7) which days of the conference are you attending
        a) both days
        b) Wed Oct 15 only
        c) Thu Oct 16 only
(8) are you paying regular fee ($15 per day) or student / unwaged fee ($10 per day)?
(9) based on answers to (7) and (8), total fee you are paying:
(10) do you have any special needs we should know about
 

Contact and information

Coordinator:

Phil Stuart Courneyeur fcstuart@YorkU.CA, phone 416-736-5237, fax: (416) 736-5737.

By regular mail: CERLAC, 240 York Lanes, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3.

Organizers:

Ricardo Grinspun (ricardo@yorku.ca) and Yasmine Shamsie (yshamsie@wlu.ca)
CERLAC, phone 416-736-5237.

Bruce Campbell (dianet@policyalternatives.ca)
CCPA, phone 613-563-1341.

Conference program
 

Tuesday October 14

7:00 pm – Teach-In
In downtown Toronto; for details, visit
http://www.yorku.ca/cerlac/teach-in.html

Wednesday October 15

8:30 – 8:45 Coffee and registration

8:45 – Welcome
Ricardo Grinspun and Yasmine Shamsie (CERLAC), and Bruce Campbell (CCPA)

9:00 – 11:00  Opening Plenary
Chair: Bruce Campbell (CCPA)

Introduction to the Conference
Ricardo Grinspun (CERLAC)

Digging in Deeper: A Labour Perspective on New Business Agenda
Hassan Yussuff (Vice-President, Canadian Labour Congress)

The New Face of the U.S. National Security State: Counterproliferation as Strategy of Empire
Jacqueline Cabasso (Western States Legal Foundation, Oakland, California)

Paradigm Shift or Paradigm Twist? The Impact of the Bush Doctrine on Canada
Stephen Clarkson and Maria Banda (University of Toronto)

11:00 – 11:15  Break

11:15 – 1:15 Concurrent sessions I

Session I-A: NAFTA and the Canadian Economy
Chair: TBA

Impacts of the FTA and NAFTA on Canadian Economic Development
Andrew Jackson (Canadian Labour Congress)

Industrial Policy under Free Trade: What Isn’t, and is, Possible
Jim Stanford (Canadian Auto Workers)

Critical Macroeconomic Aspects of Deepening North American Integration
Mario Seccareccia (University of Ottawa)

Managing Canada-U.S. Economic Relations under NAFTA
Bruce Campbell (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)

Session I-B: Public Services and Social Exclusion
Chair: TBA

Domestic Regulation, Public Services, and the Canadian State
Kathleen Corrigan (Canadian Union of Public Employees)

Deep Integration: Implications for Post-secondary Education
Darryl Hobbs (Canadian Federation of Students)

Medicare: A Testing Ground for Deep Integration
Matthew Sanger (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)

1:15 – 2:30  Lunch

2:30 – 4:30  Concurrent sessions II

Session II-A: Deep Integration Agenda
Chair: TBA

Free Trade Allies: The Making of Free Trade
Duncan Cameron (University of Ottawa)

“Community of Law:” Business Proposals for a Strategic Deal with the United States
Stephen Clarkson and Maria Banda (University of Toronto)

Indecent Proposal: The Case against a Canada-US Customs Union
Marc Lee (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)

Corporate Canada: Engine of the New Continentalism
Tony Clarke (Polaris Institute)

Session II-B: Integration, Neoliberalism, and Sustainable Development
Chair: Yasmine Shamsie (Wilfrid Laurier University)

The Unsustainable Chilean Model for Hegemonic Integration in the Americas
Bernardo Reyes (Political Ecology Institute, Chile)

Free Trade and Quebec Models of Development
Dorval Brunelle (Université du Québec à Montréal)

Breaking the Free Trade Addiction: An Intervention on Environmental Grounds
Sarah Dover (Sierra Club of Canada)

The Role of the FTAA in a Post-Cancún World
Ken Traynor (Common Frontiers-Canada)

4:30 – 6:00  Reception and Cash Bar

Thursday October 16

8:30 - 9:00  Coffee and registration

9:00 – 11:00 Concurrent sessions III

Session III-A: Defence, Security, and Immigration
Chair: Mel Watkins (past President, Science for Peace)

Minding the Border, Securing the Nation: Immigration, Refugee and Border Issues
Sharryn Aiken (Queen’s University)

Defence Co-operation or Military Integration?
Steven Staples (Polaris Institute)

Ballistic Missile “Defence”
Paul Hamel (University of Toronto)

The Nuclear Posture Review: The Role of Nuclear Weapons and Missile Defenses in US Global Warfighting Strategy
Jacqueline Cabasso (Western States Legal Foundation, California)

Session III-B: Mexico, Labour, and Deep Integration
Chair: Lucy Lucciano (Wilfrid Laurier University)

Six Basic Aspects of Deep Integration in North America
Alejandro Álvarez Béjar (UNAM, Mexico)

Plan Puebla Panamá in Chiapas
Miguel Pickard (CIEPAC, Chiapas, Mexico)

Mexico, Canada, and Deep Integration
John Foster (North-South Institute)

Canadian Labour in the Integrated North American Economy
David Robinson (Canadian Association of University Teachers)

11:00 – 11-15  Coffee Break

11:15 – 1:15  Concurrent sessions IV

Session IV- A: Dispute Settlement, Culture, and Intellectual Property
Chair: TBA

International Convention on Cultural Diversity
Robert Thomson (International Network for Cultural Diversity)

The Harvard Mouse and All That: Life Patents in Canada
Michelle Swenarchuk (Canadian Environmental Law Association)

Chapter 11 and the Francovich Doctrine: Comparing State Liability Under NAFTA and EC Law
Gus Van Harten (London School of Economics)

Private Enforcement of International Trade Law
Steven Shrybman (Sack, Goldblatt, and Mitchell)

Session IV-B: The Bush Agenda, Mobilization, and Resistance
Chair: David Langille (Centre for Social Justice)

A Right Wing West Wing: Anatomy of a Neo-Conservative White House and its Implications on Canada
Guy Caron (Council of Canadians)

Left Nationalism/Internationalism: A Progressive Force For Mobilizing Against Annexation
Gordon Laxer (University of Alberta)

Creating a Democratic Resistance to Deep Integration
Murray Dobbin (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)

What to do if an Elephant Asks you to Dance
Bill Moore-Kilgannon (Council of Canadians) 

1:15 – 2:30  Lunch

2:30 – 5:00  Plenary Roundtable: Deep Integration – Taking Stock, Looking Ahead

Chair: Ricardo Grinspun (York University)

Panelists

Murray Dobbin (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)

Sharryn Aiken (Queen's University) 

Alejandro Alvarez Béjar (UNAM Mexico)

Judy Rebick (Ryerson University)

Tony Clarke (Polaris Institute)

5:00  Closure

"Get the program for printing (Word file)"
 

Visitor information

Toronto Maps

York Campus Location and Campus Map

Toronto weather info

Accessibility
All conference venues are wheelchair accessible. Please let us know if you have special needs.

Public Transit Information (maps and schedules, fares)
From downtown, take the Spadina-University line of the subway to its Northern-most stop: Downsview station, and from there take either bus 106 or 196 to its final stop on York University campus: in front of York Lanes (see campus map).

Accommodation options:

Downtown hotels
(in the heart of the city; 40-50 minute commute to York by public transit)

Delta Chelsea Hotel
33 Gerrard St. W.
416-585-4340
1-877-814-7706

Quality Hotel Midtown Toronto
280 Bloor St. W
(416) 968-0010
Reservation: 1-800-228-5151

Hotels near York
(5 minutes by taxi to the conference venue; 10 minutes by taxi to closest subway station, 40-50 minute commute to downtown)

Comfort Inn
66 Norfinch Drive
(416) 736-4700
1-800-784-1180

Holiday Inn
30 Norfinch Drive
(416) 665-3500
1-800-784-1180

Sponsors

This conference was made possible by generous contributions from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The conference is co-sponsored by the Council of Canadians, the Centre for Social Justice, and Common Frontiers-Canada.