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February/March 2007
Volume I; Issue 1
Special Report:
Trans Texas Corridor

The Chronological History
For the Establishment of the North American Union
By Tom DeWeese

July 2, 2000: Mexican president Vicente Fox proposes a 20 to 30 year time line for the creation of a common North American market.

November 27, 2000: Robert Pastor’s book “Toward a North American Community” is published.

December 2001: U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Canadian Deputy Prime Minister John Manley sign the “Smart Border Declaration.” It called for a “30-point action plan to enhance the security of our shared border, while facilitating the legitimate flow of people and goods.”

September 9, 2002: President Bush and Prime Minister Chretien meet to discuss progress in the Smart Border Action Plan. An update on the plan is produced by the White House on December 6, 2002.

December, 2002: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell signs an agreement between the United States and Canada to establish a Bi-national Agreement on Military Planning.

January, 2003: The Canadian Council of Chief Executives launches the North American Security and Prosperity Initiative (NASPI) to propose a comprehensive North American strategy integrating economic and security issues.

February, 2004: The Council on Foreign Relations publishes Robert Pastor’s paper “North America’s Second Decade,” which advocates further North American integration.

October, 2004: The Canada-Mexico Partnership (CMP) is launched during the visit of President Fox in Ottawa.

November 1, 2004: The Independent Task Force on the Future of North America is formed. The task force is a trilateral effort charged with developing a “roadmap” to promote “North American security and advance the well-being of citizens of all three countries.” The task force is sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations.

March 23, 2005: President Bush meets at his ranch in Crawford, TX with Vincente Fox of Mexico and Paul Martin of Canada in what they call a Summit. The three heads of state then drive to Baylor University in Waco, where they issue a press release announcing their signing of an agreement to form the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP).

May 17, 2005: The Independent Task Force on the Future of North America (CFR) releases its report “Creating a North American Community – Chairman’s Report.” The 59-page document outlines a five-year plan for the “establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community” with a common “outer security perimeter” to achieve “the freer flow of people within North America.”

June 9, 2005: Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar held a “friendly” committee hearing that features Task Force member Robert Pastor. He reveals further details of the plan for a “continental perimeter,” including “an integrated continental plan for transportation and infrastructure that includes new North American highways and high-speed rail corridors.”

June 27, 2005: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff attends a SPP meeting in Ottawa, Canada, at which he said “we want to facilitate the flow of traffic across our borders.” The White House issues a press release endorsing the Ottawa report and calling the meeting “an important first step in achieving the goals of the Security and Prosperity Partnership.”

July, 2005: The White House announces it is backing a coalition called Americans for Border and Economic Security, organized by former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie. Its purpose is to conduct a political-style campaign to sell the American people in a guest-worker program wrapped in a few border-security promises and financed by coalition members who each put up $50,000 to $250,000.

March 31, 2006: President Bush, Vicente Fox and new Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper meet in Cancun, Mexico to (according to the official news release) celebrate the first anniversary of the Security and Prosperity Partnership. At the same time Bush demands that Congress pass an immigration bill with a guest worker permit program.

June 15, 2006: SPP’s North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), consisting of government officials and corporate CEOs from the three countries, met to “institutionalize the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership and the NACC, so that the work will continue through changes of administrations.”

September 12, 2006: In Banff Alberta, Canada, a group of present and past elected officials from all three countries meet with corporate, military, academic, financial, industrial, and think tank members in a “North American Forum.” U.S. participants include former Secretary of State George Shultz, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and Robert Pastor, to name a few.