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The 'Independent Task Force on North America' was a project organized by the Council on Foreign Relations (U.S.), the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations. It was chaired by former Canadian politician John Manley and advocates a greater economic and social integration between Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
It was launched in October 2004 and published two documents: ''Trinational Call for a North American Economic and Security Community by 2010'' (March 2005) and its final report ''Building a North American Community''^[1] (May 2005).
The final report proposed increased international cooperation between the nations of Canada, the United States, and Mexico, similar in some respects to that of the European Community that preceded the European Union. As this report states, "The Task Force's central recommendation is establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community, the boundaries of which would be defined by a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter."

Contents

Background

Recommendations

From Community to Union?

Geography

Status

References

See also

Other regional blocs

External links

Background

In the mid-nineteenth century, John Redpath and Louis-Joseph Papineau led a movement to merge Canada with the United States. However, the movement failed because it was massively opposed by the local constituents and by the British Empire. It had been encouraged by the Parti rouge of Rodolphe Laflamme. See also Montreal Annexation Manifesto.
At the time of the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, in which the US annexed California and New Mexico among other current states, there were supporters of the idea of annexing the whole of Mexico. This idea was finally rejected because of the higher population density in the non-annexed areas- a factor that would hinder assimilation.
In recent times, the three largest North American nation-states have increased their economic ties, further accelerating the process with the signing of 1994's North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
In response to the demands of increasing globalization and shared concerns from abroad, such as the increasing clout of other economic spheres such as the European Union and China, the leaders of the three nations agreed in 2005 to work more cooperatively on shared North American concerns. To this end, they agreed to establish the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP).^[2]

Recommendations

In reference to this summit that established SPP, this task force's final report stated, "We welcome this important development and offer this report to add urgency and specific recommendations to strengthen their efforts." These specific recommendations include developing a North American customs union, common market, investment fund, energy strategy, set of regulatory standards, security perimeter, border pass, and advisory council, among other common goals.

From Community to Union?

If this task force's recommended five-year goals are achieved, then they would establish a North American Community similar to the European Community that preceded the European Union. If this North American Community were further integrated by adding to it both a monetary union and a political union, then it would become a fully-integrated North American Union.
Robert Pastor, one of this task force's vice-chairmen, has advocated such a monetary union and has suggested that North America's common currency might be called the "amero", which would be similar in concept to the EU's euro.^[3] Another possible name for a North American currency could be the North American Dollar (NAD).
The third major country, Mexico, uses the peso, which, although it is currently trading at an exchange rate significantly lower relative to the dollar currencies of both Canada and the USA, was originally equal to exactly one silver dollar. Both the dollar and the peso were based on the Spanish dollar.

Geography

The three North American nation-states currently (as of 2007) have a total population of around 440,000,000 citizens. For comparison, the European Union currently (as of 2007) has an estimated population of 493,000,000.
The NAU population would be divided among the three constituent nations as follows:

North American Population By Country

Country	Population
USA	300,050,259
Mexico	107,449,525
Canada	33,098,932

Status

On October 30, 2006, while speaking at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute (CDFAI) 2006 Annual Conference in Ottawa, former American Ambassador to Canada (2001-2005) & former Republican Governor of Massachusetts Paul Cellucci indicated that, after further economic integration, a union would exist in everything but name:

References

1. Building a North American Community
2. Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America
3. The Plan to Replace the Dollar With the 'Amero', by Jerome R. Corsi, HUMAN EVENTS

See also

★ North American Currency Union

★ North American Forum on Integration

★ NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement

★ North American SuperCorridor Coalition

★ Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America

★ North American Competitiveness Council

★ North American Forum

★ International Mid-Continent Trade Corridor

Other regional blocs

★ Continental union

★ African Union

★ Asian Union

★ Central Asian Union

★ European Union

★ Pacific Union

★ Union of South American Nations

★ Caribbean Community

★ Arab League

External links

★ (USA) Council on Foreign Relations

★ (Canada) Canadian Council of Chief Executives

★ (Mexico) Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales

★ United North America.org

★ Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America from Judicialwatch.org

★ Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (Official SPP website)

★ Integrate This! Challenging the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America

★ Border Crossing? ¡No problema!

★ Council on Foreign Relations - Building a North American Community

★ The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

★ The NAFTA Superhighway

★ International Mid-Continent Trade Corridor

★ Building A North American Community PDF

★ Amero.am Information on the Amero, the possible currency of the NAU