By Carl Meyer

Embassy February 8

New information has emerged on the perimeter security plan between Canada and the United States, with hundreds of government and industry representatives meeting in Washington last week, and the Harper government signalling it will soon table a bill to entrench cross-border policing over water.

On Jan. 30 and 31, representatives from both governments as well as industry officials held talks in Washington on the Regulatory Co-operation Council, one of the two planks of the Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness Action Plan.

A notice for both talks was quietly posted on the government's border plan website sometime last month. It included an agenda for the second day that struck a whole host of technical sessions bringing bureaucrats and industry together to hammer out draft work plans.

The jam-packed, day-long Jan. 31 meeting covered everything from agriculture and food to pharmaceuticals, veterinary drugs, emission standards, transportation, nanotechnology, disease, vehicle safety standards, and occupational safety issues.

It "got really into the weeds," said Birgit Matthiesen, the Washington-based senior adviser on US government relations to the president of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.

She told Embassy that 240 people registered to take part in the talks. That includes, she noted, top Canadian bureaucrats on the file like Industry Canada's senior associate deputy minister Simon Kennedy, and the Treasury Board's assistant secretary in the Regulatory Cooperation Council's secretariat, Robert Carberry.

Also making an appearance was Cass R. Sunstein, the administrator of the US Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs inside the White House's Office of Management and Budget, she noted. CME was hoping to see engagement on the American side, and Ms. Matthiesen said US turnout at the sessions was "very healthy."

The Canadian Council of Chief Executives, which sent its vice president of policy, international, and fiscal issues Sam Boutziouvis to the meetings, was impressed by the turnout of the US private sector for the working group sessions, said Sarah Reid, the council's communications officer.

Each session had at least an hour to an hour-and-a-half worth of consultations with industry leaders, and everyone was given until Feb. 7 to provide comments on those sessions, said Ms. Matthiesen.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce's director of Canada-US and transportation policy, Leah Littlepage, attended both sessions, said Émilie Potvin, director of public affairs at the chamber. The organization is "really happy with the progress so far," she said.

But one issue is that of scheduling: no one is sure when the next meeting will take place. Ms. Potvin said the chamber is "still looking for information on how stakeholders can participate in the process" going forward.

As well, the stakeholder talks for the security side of the plan, called the Beyond the Border Working Group, have not yet taken place, Ms. Matthiesen said.

Intel sharing deal headed to Toews

The border action plan announced in December indicates that by the end of last month, Canada and the United States would "determine the way ahead" on how to share information and evidence between their police forces and intelligence agencies.

http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/bigbusiness-02-07-2012+

See also

Lest we Forget - The new Can-US Regulatory Co-operation Council and Perimeter Security Accord is the next generation of NACC and the SPP. By Janet M Eaton, Sierra Club Canada Trade and Environment Campaigner
May 10th, 2011  http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/trade-and-environment/lest-we-forget-new-can-us-regulatory-co-operation-council-and-perimeter-securi