Book review By barrie Webster

Maude Barlow, “Too Close for Comfort – Canada's Future within Fortress America” McClelland and Stewart (2005) 288 pp. soft cover ISBN 0-7710-1088-5

“Too Close for Comfort” refers to the current status of “deep integration” of Canada with the USA.  In advocating and promoting this deep integration, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) are aligned closely with the government of George W. Bush, the largest corporations of the USA, and the fundamentalist Christian right in both the USA and Canada.  Barlow's book carefully documents the events that have led to the current situation and points out that Canadian opinion (the opinion of the Canadian population) is at odds with the objectives of the CCCE.  She also shows that water, as well as energy, is indeed on the negotiating table and that the trend in official government circles to follow the script written by the CCCE (led by Tom d'Aquino since the time it was called the Business Council on National Issues) is being financed in both the USA and Canada at the expense of those who can least afford it.  The coming alliance with, and then subsuming of Canada within the USA to create Fortress North America will irreparably change Canada's international character from that of being a middle power conciliator. If this course is continued, Canada will contribute to and by default support the unilateral, aggressive, international stance now being taken by the USA. Barlow suggests that trusting big business to do the right thing (guided by the legal requirement to serve the interests of the shareholders first) is a grave error and one that is 180 degrees from the wishes and best judgment of most Canadians. Maude Barlow is the volunteer chairperson of the Council of Canadians and a tireless defender of Canadian best interests nationally and internationally. This book is highly relevant to the current political scene in Canada and is important resource material for anyone voting in the upcoming Canadian federal election.