[Only The Lonely..]

And yet another crazy highway conspiracy..this time from the Sun.

Nafta highway conspiracy

Tue, January 8, 2008 | By ED FEUER - Winnipeg Sun

Who would have thought a speech from the throne in Manitoba would become fuel for American conspiracy aficionados?

The issue is the proposed Mid-Continent Trade Corridor, an international transportation route, which Premier Gary Doer hopes will boost Manitoba's economy.

The conspiracists, however, see the road as part of a nefarious scheme by sinister forces to produce a merger of the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Plot devotees include Ron Paul, the libertarian Republican presidential candidate, who was quoted in a Dec. 10 Newsweek story headed "Highway to Hell?"

Said Paul: "The ultimate goal is not simply a superhighway, but an integrated North American Union -- complete with a currency, a cross-national bureaucracy, and virtually borderless travel within the Union."

The Newsweek story went on to refute the claim with facts. But Paul's Internet supporters on the far right of the U.S. political spectrum loudly disagree. Their big proof comes from ... Manitoba.

Just Google the words: Harvard "NAFTA superhighway."

On a number of sites such as New World Order Truth, the headline declares: "Canada openly proclaims NAFTA superhighway."

The "Canada" is largely a Nov. 20 throne speech delivered by Lt.-Gov. John Harvard in which he said: Manitoba is "taking a major role in the development of a Mid-Continent Trade Corridor, connecting ... Churchill with trade markets throughout the central United States and Mexico. To advance the concept, an alliance has been built with business leaders and state and city governments spanning the entire length of the Corridor ... The trade route will incorporate an "inland port" in Winnipeg with pre-clearance for international shipping."

And may it happen with spirited energy. Obviously, the U.S. conspiracists aren't aware that the platitudes of a provincial throne speech don't quite constitute Canadian foreign policy.

This might be amusing in itself but what is not so funny are the strange bedfellows orbiting this issue. In Canada we see the Council of Canadians on the left edge of our politics agreeing with folks on the right down south. Maude Barlow would heartily support Ron Paul's sentiments about the dangers to national sovereignty on the "highway to hell."