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GUEST: Ted Lewis, Director of the Mexico Program for Global Exchange

NAFTA talks will conclude today in a resort 40 miles east of Ottowa, in the Canadian province of Quebec. The talks include the political leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the United States as well as representatives from 10 top corporations from each country. The two-day summit is focused on developing a ‘Security and Prosperity Partnership’, or SPP. The 2-year-old partnership was drafted post-September 11th, reportedly to try to ensure that North America is a safe place to live and do business. A final report from the summit is expected to include an order from Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper, Presidents George Bush and Felipe Calderon to their respective cabinet ministers to create new border regulations for emergencies. This week’s summit is the third tri-national meeting for the SPP. Protesters at the event, both from the left and the right, are being kept more than 15 miles from the resort where the meetings are taking place. Activists protest the fact that corporations have been invited to the talks, but the people have not. They also argue that the government’s frame immigration as a security problem, rather than a problem with economic roots in failed structural adjustment policies.

For more information visit, www.globalexchange.org/ and www.iatp.org/