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Montebello Summit
What kind of prosperity lies beyond the closed doors?
Why only request major companies opinions?
Montebello will host the third Canadian, American and Mexican
head of state
annual summit, from the 20th to the 21st of August 2007, in
order to discuss
the Prosperity and Security Partnership. Once again, we may ask
ourselves
why the leaders of the three countries have only requested
major
companiesinput and suggestions?
In 2005, the North American Partnership decided to hold annual
meetings between the
North American leaders as well as foster the creation of
trilateral work groups. A year
later, the three countries created the North American
Competitiveness Council (NACC),
whose purpose was to submit recommendations and strategies to
the head of states.
Although the implementation of such initiatives matters, the
importance of the issues
at hand and the democratic constraints require the adoption of a
more inclusive
approach. For instance, two cooperative commissions, one
concerning the
environmental field and the other in the field of work policies,
were created at the time
of the NAFTA agreement. Why have these two official commissions
been excluded from
the process created by the North American Partnership? It would
be apropos to ask
these commissions to submit a report on their respective fields.
This would allow the
heads of state to discuss a wider field of issues as well as
raise the status of these
commissions.
Furthermore, why shouldnt the legislators be integrated in the
partnership structure
for prosperity and security? Favoring parliamentary
contributions to the North
American discussions would reestablish a bit of balance between
the executive and
legislative powers, which is essential to democracy, as well as
favor a better mutual
understanding of the national political dynamics.
What about consulting state and provincial governments? North
America is composed
of three federations, in which the federal governments only
detain a part of the powers.
When referring to energy, transportation, economic development
or even
environmental issues, it would be advisable to consult a forum
composed of federatedstates. One such forum already exists, however
it is not linked to the North American
Partnership structures.
These suggestions are not utopian. The European Union has a
Committee of the
Regions, a forum of federated states. It also has a regional
parliamentary body, as does
the MERCOSUR.
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If more actors contributed to the discussion regarding the
future of North America, the
process would be more transparent, more democratic and as a
consequence more viable.
Inviting private companies to share their points of view
regarding North Americas
competitiveness is in itself legitimate only if they are not the
sole external actors to
submit suggestions and reports. However it consists of a drift
if we consider the factthat major companies regard prosperity in
terms of their stockholders and
executivessuccess.
Governments may believe that they are helping themselves by
integrating the business
sector in the partnership framework; however this may only be a
short term response!
In the long term, this strategy proves to be counterproductive
because it fosters grudges
and suspicion within the general population, who is convinced
that the governments
are plotting behind closed doors. This is a shame because there
are still many challenges
in the upcoming years. However these challenges can only be
faced with the
contribution of the population and not despite it.
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