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.There's a crucial difference between what happened in Europeand what is happening in North America.No matter how incre-mental and underhanded the steps, at least the European elites ar-gued for European integration in public.In North America, themerger is happening apart from public scrutiny, driven by multi-national corporations who prefer to make their decisions in theboardroom, closed to the watchful eye of the public.If a North American Union emerges, multinational corpora-tions will have played a major role.Such corporations alreadytranscend borders in their search for talent, low-cost labor, and THE LATE GREAT USAmarket access.Multinational corporations feel they have the rightto set the rules, since their economic activity produces the wealthand employment individual nation-states rely upon for taxationand revenue.Without multinational corporations, the UnitedStates, Canada, and Mexico would become economic basket cases.Or so leaders of such companies claim.If the North American nation-states exist merely to promotethe interests of multinational corporations, why shouldn't thesesame international executives integrate entire regions as theylike? Given this logic, a North American business executive advi-sory council would be the perfect group to architect a NorthAmerican Union.That's exactly what's happening.The North American Forumin Banff, Canada, was a meeting of elite businesspeople, govern-ment officials, and academics held without announcement or pressreports of their proceedings.They gathered in secret behind closeddoors to examine and promote North American economic and po-litical integration.The North American Competitiveness Council, a public groupconsisting of businesspeople and formed under the SPP, has beencreated to allow multinational corporations to advise the threegovernments on the future progress and direction of SPP.Thesebig business-influenced working groups are hard at work attempt-ing to integrate North America.The North American Forum the 2006 Meeting in BanffWorld Net Daily was among the first news organizations to obtainand publish the agenda and list of attendees for the North Ameri-can Forum meeting.Held at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel inBanff, Alberta, Canada, from September 12-14, 2006,1 the meetingwas closed to the press.Documents obtained by WND weremarked "Internal Document, Not for Public Release."Mel Hurtig, a noted Canadian author and publisher who wasthe elected leader of the National Party of Canada, was responsi-ble for providing WND with the agenda and attendee list.2 Hurtigtold WND that the meeting was designed to undermine the de-mocratic process:54 SECRET MEETINGS, FORMAL COUNCILSWhat is sinister about this meeting is that it involved high-level government officials and some of the top and mostpowerful business leaders of the three countries and theNorth American Forum in organizing the meeting inten-tionally did not inform the press in any of the three coun-tries.It was clear that the intention was to keep thisimportant meeting about integrating the three countriesout of the public eye.3Hurtig further explained that a goal of the United States was "togain access and control of Canada's extensive natural resources,including oil and water/7 Hurtig argued that the Canadian Coun-cil of Chief Executives "wants to make sure that the 150 Canadiantop companies who are their members gain access to the Ameri-can market and to American capital."4The office of Thomas d'Aquino, the president and CEO of theCanadian Council of Chief Executives and a vice chair of the CFRtask force on the Americas, confirmed that Mr.d'Aquino did at-tend the September meeting.Three individuals cochaired the North American Forum:George Schultz, former secretary of state under President Reagan;Canadian Peter Lougheed, former Alberta premier and formerleader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta; and Mex-ico's Pedro Aspe, former secretary of the Treasury of Mexico.The North American Forum itself is a shadow organization,difficult to research or learn about.The North American Forumhas no business office and no business address.Basically, theNorth American Forum is nothing more than the three cochairsand their extensive network of international contacts.Attendees at the Banff meeting contributed funds to cover theorganizational expenses.Attendees, including government atten-dees, were responsible for the travel, lodging, and per diem ex-penses they incurred to attend the meeting.These arrangementscontribute to keeping the North American Forum below the radarof public view.The Banff Meeting ExposedWord about the meeting first surfaced in the Canadian press whenthe Council of Canadians,5 a citizens' organization opposed to free55 THE LATE GREAT USAtrade, began leaking word that the Banff meeting was taking place.Immediately, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, a businessgroup comparable to the U.S.Chamber of Commerce, retaliated bycharging that the Council of Canadians was nothing more than a''far left-wing radical group" that was determined to damage le-gitimate Canadian business interests.Meera Karunananthan, a spokesperson for the Council ofCanadians, confirmed to WND that their group was responsiblefor obtaining and releasing the meeting agenda and attendee listto the Canadian press.She took exception with the CanadianCouncil of Chief Executives, preferring to characterize hergroup instead as "a citizens' advocacy group/7 When asked whythe Council of Canadians released the North American Foruminformation, Ms.Karunananthan responded:We question the privacy of a meeting that involves seniorministers of our government meeting with senior gov-ernment officials in the United States and Mexico.The Ca-nadian public has not been adequately informed about theongoing North American integration process and we be-lieve it is wrong for a meeting that involves top NorthAmerican business executives and government officials tobe held in secret behind closed doors.6Jean-Yzes LeFort, also a spokesperson for the Council of Canadi-ans, told WND that the group opposes the effort to create a NorthAmerican Union because "the NAU represents an elite corporateagenda and to us what is being planned would be an unaccept-able loss of sovereignty."Attending the Banff meeting was the ubiquitous Dr.Pastor;Dr.Thomas A.Shannon, the U.S.assistant secretary of state forWestern Hemisphere affairs; Roger Gibbons, the president andCEO of Canada West Foundation, a nonprofit organizationfounded to promote business development in western Canada;7and Andres Rozenthal, president of the Consejo Mexicano deAsuntos Internacionales, a Mexican counterpart to the CFR.8Considerable overlap exists between the CFR task force andthe Banff meeting, with approximately one-third of those listed asCFR task force members also attending the Banff conference.Andres Rozenthal was the Mexican vice chair of the CFR task56 SECRET MEETINGS, FORMAL COUNCILSforce that wrote the May 2005 report, "Building a North Ameri-can Community/7 Another prominent participant in both wasCarla A.Hills, who served as U.S.trade representative from 1989to 1993 and was the primary U.S.negotiator for NAFTA
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