Canadian police admit infiltrating SPP protesters

Officials claim officers there to maintain 'security and order'

Police authorities have admitted that three officers disguised themselves with bandannas over their faces and infiltrated protesters who assembled outside a trilateral summit in Quebec to object to the developing Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.

The Canadian Press reported that just hours earlier the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and provincial law enforcement authorities had denied using agents provocateurs at the summit, attended by U.S. President George Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The denial came after video evidence suggested the undercover officers tried to incite violence among the protesters, refusing requests from protest leaders to leave and, in at least one case, carrying a rock.

"Are Canadian citizens going to have to face these kinds of provocateurs just because Stephen Harper seems to think we're some sort of loony-left group?" asked Dave Coles, of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union. He had confronted the individuals outside the summit while the three national leaders were meeting there on Monday.

But a report from the CBC News quoted more Quebec provincial police officials admitting that three of their officers used disguises to join the demonstraters outside a resort in Montebello, Quebec.

"At no time did the police of the Surete du Quebec act as instigators or commit criminal acts," the police force's official response, issued in French, said, according to the CBC.

"It is not in the police force's policies, nor in its strategies, to act in that manner. At all times, they responded within their mandate to keep order and security," the statement said.

Police officials alleged the three officers went undercover only to locate and identify non-peaceful protesters.

The issue arose at the conclusion of the summit, when a video on YouTube appeared to show three plainclothes police officers at the protest, including one carrying a rock. They were wearing bandannas across their faces.

Protest organizers wearing suits ordered the men to put the rock down, and tried unsuccessfully to unmask then. Coles said he was sure of the connection because the "protesters" were wearing boots identical to those worn by police teams at the summit.

"[Our union] believes that the security force at Montebello were ordered to infiltrate our peaceful assembly and provoke incidents," he said.

The Canadian protesters outside the summit at the exclusive Fairmont Le Château Montebello hotel near Ottawa were concerned that the issues of border security and free trade being advanced through the SPP could cost Canada control of its water resources, energy stockpiles, and borders.

Const. Melanie Larouche earlier had told reporters, "I confirm (to) you that there are no agents provocateurs in the Surete du Quebec. . . It doesn't exist in the Surete du Quebec."

And Cpl. Luc Bessette of the RCMP said the Mounties do "not use tactics that would encourage confrontation or incite violence."

Democrat MP Libby Davies, who participated in the summit demonstrations, told the Canadian Press the video evidence raises "hugely serious questions" about the role of the police at contentious international meetings.

"It seems like they create this environment, a show of force, that sets it up for a confrontation," she said.

"This is the face of (the SPP), where people can't even ask a question without having to face these kinds of goons. It's time that all the secrecy and backroom deals end," Coles said.

While the meetings among the leaders were held in complete secrecy, they did have a joint press conference at the conclusion of their meetings. It was then Bush sidestepped a direct question about whether he'd be willing to categorically deny there is a plan to create the North American Union.

Instead, he ridiculed those who believe that is taking place as conspiracy theorists.

Bush was asked if he would be willing to categorically deny that there is a plan to create a North American Union, or that there are plans to create NAFTA Superhighways.

"As you three leaders meet here, there are a growing number of people in each of your countries who have expressed concern about the Security and Prosperity Partnership. This is addressed to all three of you. Can you say today that this is not a prelude to a North American Union, similar to a European Union? Are there plans to build some kind of superhighway connecting all three countries? And do you believe all of these theories about a possible erosion of national identity stem from a lack of transparency from this partnership?" was the question, according to a White House transcript.

But he sidestepped, instead adopting the tactic that those who are arguing the European Union model of integrating nations into a larger continental union is being used in North America should be ridiculed.

He called it an old political scare tactic, to try to create a wild conspiracy and then demand that those who "are not engaged" prove that it isn't happening.

Bush's answer was:

"We represent three great nations. We each respect each other's sovereignty. You know, there are some who would like to frighten our fellow citizens into believing that relations between us are harmful for our respective peoples. I just believe they're wrong. I believe it's in our interest to trade; I believe it's in our interest to dialogue; I believe it's in our interest to work out common problems for the good of our people.
"And I'm amused by some of the speculation, some of the old – you can call them political scare tactics. If you've been in politics as long as I have, you get used to that kind of technique where you lay out a conspiracy and then force people to try to prove it doesn't exist. That's just the way some people operate. I'm here representing my nation. I feel strongly that the United States is a force for good, and I feel strongly that by working with our neighbors we can a stronger force for good.

"So I appreciate that question. I'm amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and what some are trying to say takes place. It's quite comical, actually, when you realize the difference between reality and what some people are talking on TV about."

Harper joined in. There's not going to be any NAFTA Superhighway connecting the three nations, he said, and it's "not going to go interplanetary either," he said.

Bush's comments echoed the comments published just a day earlier in the Ottawa Citizen by David Wilkins, the U.S. ambassador to Canada.

"While conspiracy theories abound, you can take it to the bank that no one involved in these discussions is interested in, or has ever proposed, a 'North American Union,' a 'North American super highway,' or a 'North American currency,'" he wrote.

"The United States, Canada and Mexico are three distinct, sovereign countries that practice democracy differently," he wrote. "Each proudly defends its own interests. But our leaders also recognize that we share a continent in this post-Sept. 11 world, where terrorism is but one threat. We have a vested interest in working together to prevent potential threats outside North America – like those posed by pandemic flu or improperly labeled foods, for example – from penetrating our borders.

However, Jerome Corsi, a Harvard Ph.D. whose newly published book, "The Late Great USA," uses the government's own documentation to show the advance of a North American Union through the structure of the SPP, said ridicule is the "last resort of someone who is losing an argument."

Such tactics, Corsi said, "underestimate the intelligence of people listening, and people realize that the argument wasn't answered."

The meeting this week, which focused on economic issues, was attended by representatives of dozens of multinational corporations anxious to have their manufacturing and sales processes smoothed.

"The SPP is pursuing an agenda to integrate Mexico and Canada in closed-door sessions that are getting underway today in Montebello," Howard Phillips, the chairman of the Coalition to Block the North American Union, told an earlier press conference in Ottawa.

"We are here to register our protest," Phillips added, "along with the protests of thousands of Americans who agree with us that the SPP is a globalist agenda driven by the multi-national corporate interests and intellectual elite who together have launched an attack upon the national sovereignty of the United States, Canada and Mexico."

Connie Fogel, head of the Canadian Action Party, agreed with Phillips.

"Canadians are complaining that the SPP process lacks transparency," Fogel told the press conference. "Transparency is a major issue, but even if the SPP working groups were open to the public, we would still object to their goal to advance the North American integration agenda at the expense of Canadian sovereignty."