I just got this very Canadian e-mail:

NAFTA's legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed
MURRAY DOBBIN

"But first, let's dispose of a myth about free trade — the notion that it was responsible for massive increases in trade between the U.S. and Canada. According to an Industry Canada study, 91 per cent of the increase in trade in the 1990s was due to the cheap Canadian dollar and the sustained economic boom in the U.S. Now that our dollar is at par or higher, our manufacturing exports are plummeting.

But even if NAFTA were responsible for increased trade, Canadian workers have paid a huge price. Throughout the 1990s, federal governments trumpeted the need to be "competitive" under NAFTA as an excuse to implement some of the most Draconian rollbacks of Canadian social programs ever undertaken. In the name of "labour flexibility," Paul Martin implemented drastic changes to EI eligibility, and repealed the Canada Assistance Plan, freeing the provinces to gut their welfare programs. His extreme low-inflation policy deliberately kept unemployment at high levels (8 per cent to 9 per cent) for most of the 1990s.

That meant that, throughout the decade, workers' real wages actually declined. They still have not caught up to 1981 levels. And the highly paid 220,000 industrial jobs lost as a result of NAFTA are gone forever, replaced by lower-paid jobs.

NAFTA was supposed to unleash a flood of foreign investment — boosting our industrial capacity and productivity. Instead, since the first trade agreement was signed, more than 95 per cent of direct foreign investment has been used to buy up Canadian companies. Head offices and research and development money has headed south, and Canada has seen a steady decline in manufactured goods as a percentage of its GDP for the past 10 years.

Our productivity has fallen behind that of the U.S. in virtually every year since the FTA came into effect in 1989."

He goes on to say how the corporate sector have benefitted greatly while the working class and the environment have suffered.

Sorry for the long cut and paste but since Harper loves the "corporation" and Bush and the Republicans, and especially NAFTA, I think Canadians should wonder why he wanted to hurt Obama with that leaked memo?

Could it mean that Harper would prefer Hillary in the White House and that NAFTA would be safe with Hillary.

...and what about that poll that said Canadians preferred Hillary? Where did that come from?

I think the last thing the corporate elite want to see is Obama as president. They would prefer McCain because he's obviously, pretty easy to handle but since he doesn't have a chance, Hillary is next best. Scary!

If Obama doesn't become president, I think American citizens could get very unruly!