Keep U.S. Border Negotiations Quiet, Tory Memo Recommended

A Conservative document said details of Ottawa’s talks with Washington to create a North American security perimeter should be kept under wraps.

Stephen Harper and Barack Obama signed a draft agreement to integrate border operations and erect a virtual security ring around their two countries on Friday, the result of months of backroom negotiations. A confidential 14-page Conservative public relations document that has now been made public recommended that those negotiations be kept secret from the Canadian public because they might raise undue concerns that Ottawa was relinquishing sovereignty to our southern neighbours. Keeping a low profile on sensitive issues is nothing new of course, but the documents also reveal that “stakeholders” such as corporations were let in on the talks while the public and the opposition parties were kept out of the loop.