MONTEBELLO (Canada), Aug 20: The leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico arrived on Monday at this log cabin resort, near Ottawa, for a two-day summit to bolster trilateral trade and security.

But, local demonstrations and a deadly hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico already threaten to derail the talks, aimed at unifying continental trade rules and security following the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) was launched at the first “Three Amigos” summit in Waco, Texas, in March 2005.

Since then, it has been maligned by activists, labour groups and academics who lament its acute business focus.

Monday morning, hundreds of protesters poured out of a dozen yellow school buses from Ottawa and Montreal, blocked by riot police as they marched toward the gates of Chateau Montebello, chanting “Bush go home!” Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon, meanwhile, may clip his visit to Canada as Hurricane Dean surged toward his homeland, a diplomatic official said.

The category-four hurricane is packing winds of 150 miles per hour, so far killing at least five people across the Caribbean basin, and whipping up a giant surf as it heads for Belize and Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.

“We’re monitoring the hurricane’s progress in order to make a timely decision (to return to Mexico) at the right moment,” said a Mexican diplomatic source in Ottawa, adding “for the moment, the summit program is unchanged.” Prime Minister Stephen Harper is hosting US President George W. Bush and Calderon for the third instalment of the SPP at the resort on the treed shores of the Ottawa River, 80 kilometres east of Canada’s capital.

According to organizers, Harper, Bush and Calderon will review current market turmoil, trade and security, and strategies to stem pandemics.

The three conservatives may also confer on product safety, following recent recalls of toys, dog food and toothpaste, and growing worries about defective “made in China” goods, imported into North America.

“This meeting is a reaffirmation of the commitment that all three of these countries have to creating a secure and prosperous continent,” said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

“I think they’re going to go over a number of issues on both the security and the prosperity front, from trade to border security to a host of issues.” “I don’t expect any major announcements to come from the meeting,” he added. “I think it’s a continuance of discussions that we have regularly with our two closest neighbours.Still, a perceived lack of transparency in the negotiations has provoked the ire of anti-globalisation activists, environmentalists, peaceniks, and civil rights groups — all suspicious of the outcome..—AFP