Monday, August 10, 2009

The Three Amigos And The DRIC bridge


Not a word! Here is what they said that was border related

As you read on, all one can say is Poor Stephen! Quick, call for the Governor General to help out!

JOINT STATEMENT BY NORTH AMERICAN LEADERS

Guadalajara, August 2009
  • "Our integrated economies are an engine of growth. We are investing in border infrastructure, including advanced technology, to create truly modern borders to facilitate trade and the smooth operation of supply chains, while protecting our security. Building on these investments, we will work together to strengthen the resilience of our critical infrastructure, which transcends borders and sustains the well-being of our communities and economies. We will cooperate in the protection of intellectual property rights to facilitate the development of innovative economies. We commend the progress achieved on reducing unnecessary regulatory differences and have instructed our respective Ministers to continue this work by building on the previous efforts, developing focused priorities and a specific timeline.

    North American trade is a vital component of our economic well-being and we pledge to abide by our international responsibilities and avoid protectionist measures. We reiterate our commitment to reinvigorate our trading relationship and to ensure that the benefits of our economic relationship are widely shared and sustainable. We will seek to promote respect for labour rights and protection of the environment with a continuing dialogue to address the functioning of the Labor and Environmental side agreements. This dialogue must result in mutually agreeable and cooperative activities with the aim to enhance the well-being and prosperity of our citizens and the economic recovery of our countries."

It seems to me that the language hardly supports spending billions on a DRIC project especially when the specific item mentioned to help out was "advanced technology."

I would argue that in fact the language supports the Bridge Company's Enhancement Project where they risk their own money:

  • "we will work together to strengthen the resilience of our critical infrastructure."

That sounds to me like working to fix up the existing bridge at its location since its smooth operation is critical to both economies!

Want to know how badly Canada lost out thanks to NAFTA-gate. Here are the other Statements released as set out on the White House website.:

STATEMENTS AND RELEASES---nothing about a DRIC Bridge here either


8/10/2009
North American Leaders Summit: Energy Deliverables
Energy and climate change will be an important element of the trilateral discussions at the North American Leaders Summit, to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, on August 9-10, 2009.



8/10/2009
North American Leaders' Declaration on Climate Change and Clean Energy
We, the leaders of North American reaffirm the urgency and necessity of taking aggressive action on climate change.



8/10/2009
North American Leaders' Declaration on H1N1
Building on the strong record of our trilateral cooperation during the spring of this year, we will remain vigilant and pledge to continue our close collaboration in addressing the H1N1 pandemic. We agree to work together to ensure that we have effective strategies, grounded in the best available science.

And from the PRESS GAGGLE BY DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY BILL BURTON Aboard Air Force One

  • "Q Does he have any new initiatives that he plans to put on the table here, or is this a follow-up to the meetings that he had with Calderón and Harper earlier this year?

    MR. BURTON: Well, I would point out that the President has made it a point to focus in on issues important to this hemisphere, and together with his counterparts in Canada and Mexico -- he's met with those leaders a combined dozen times. So this is one part of an ongoing discussion to talk about some of the things that are specifically time-sensitive, as I mentioned before, and it's a conversation that will keep going.

    Obviously President [sic] Harper will be coming to Washington in September. We'll see them at the G20. So this is part of an ongoing conversation."

PRESS BRIEFING BYNATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR GENERAL JAMES JONES,DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR FORINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC AFFAIRS MICHAEL FROMAN,NSC SENIOR DIRECTOR OF WESTERN HEMISPHERE AFFAIRSDANIEL RESTREPO,AND DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR FORCOUNTERTERRORISM AND HOMELAND SECURITY JOHN BRENNAN


  • "In terms of the schedule, the first meeting on the trip will be with President Calderón and his team. This will be the President's third meeting with President Calderón this year, once as President-elect and twice as President. This underscores the importance the President places on our relationship with Mexico, and his support for the courageous efforts of President Calderón and Mexico in confronting violent drug cartels.

    Given the depth and breadth of our relationship with Mexico, the bilateral meeting with President Calderón and his team will undoubtedly touch on a broad range of issues from security cooperation to preparation for the coming North American flu season, to economic partnership, to clean energy and climate change, to name a few examples"

No nice words about Stephen!

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