At a press conference at the SPP Summit on August 21, the "Three Amigos" laughed off any notion that a North American Union and a NAFTA Superhighway are being planned and developed (transcript and video). Later the same day a FoxNews panel laughed off the same ideas with one of the panelists comparing concern over a North American Union with belief that Elvis is still alive (transcript; video).

One of the FoxNews panelists, Juan Williams, went so far as to say: "In fact, that map that you showed ... there is some reality to the highway from Mexico going up through Texas into Oklahoma. But there is no reality to those red veins at the northern part, there is just no reality to it yet." Comparison of the FoxNews map with a more detailed NAFTA Superhighway map from the John Birch Society (also on pp. 24-25 of this 5 MB pdf) shows that one of those northern "red veins" scoffed at by Williams goes through Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec, Canada's prime NAFTA trade corridor.

Remember that no one is saying that the NAFTA Superhighway is already constructed, or that most of it is under construction. Rather, what many individuals and organizations, such as the John Birch Society, are saying is that the NAFTA Superhighway is being planned by government agencies and non-governmental organizations in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada with some construction already occurring in Texas on the Trans-Texas Corridor.

So let's see if there is any evidence that the Canadian portion of the NAFTA Superhighway is being planned. Well, here's one very interesting document, "Embracing the Future: The Atlantic Gateway and Canada's Trade Corridor," a study prepared last year for the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. It states:

Since the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement was signed with the US, later expanded to become NAFTA, Canadians have reoriented their trade links away from a national focus (east-west) to a North American focus (north-south).... As globalization proceeds, not as an offset to US-Canada trade or NAFTA enlargement and integration, but as a close complimentary advantage, Canada must adjust its thinking and design transportation strategies accordingly....

Notice that this study is saying that NAFTA has led Canadians to a new focus on North American north-south trade, which requires Canada to adjust its thinking and design transportation strategies in accordance with NAFTA enlargement and integration.

Next, consider that on July 30 this year the governments of Canada, Ontario, and Quebec announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the development of the Ontario-Quebec Continental Gateway and Trade Corridor. The official press release stated:

Canada's New Government has developed a National Policy Framework for Strategic Gateways and Corridors to advance the competitiveness of the Canadian economy in the rapidly changing field of global commerce.... Future federal gateway and corridor strategies will be guided by this framework, focused on transportation systems of road, rail, marine and air infrastructure of national significance to international commerce.

This planned Ontario-Quebec Continental Gateway, which corresponds to the northeastern "red vein" in the Canadian portion of the FoxNews NAFTA Superhighway map, mimics closely the integrated highway and railroad structure of the Trans-Texas Corridor, the widely acknowledged first segment of the NAFTA Superhighway in the U.S.

An article in MIT's Technology Review magazine, for June 30, 2006, provides in-depth insight as to how the Spanish company Cintra has become a leading player in superhighway toll road projects in both Canada and the U.S. It turns out that in 1999 Cintra, working in conjunction with Australia's Macquarie Bank, won a 99-year contract to operate Toronto's Highway 407 toll road, now already built and operating in 2007, which just so happens to run along Canada's premier NAFTA trade corridor.

Next, according to one commentator, "They've used the success of this very risky venture as a horse to ride through the U.S...." First, the Cintra combine bagged a 99-year deal to operate the Chicago Skyway in 2004, then a 75-year deal to operate the Indiana Toll Road. More recently and more notoriously, Cintra is partnering with the state of Texas for the development and operation of the Trans-Texas Corridor toll roads, the pioneering segment of the NAFTA Superhighway in the U.S.

The nervous laughter of the "Three Amigos" and FoxNews notwithstanding, planning for the northeastern "red vein" Canadian segment of the NAFTA Superhighway is very real indeed.

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