U.S., Canada and Mexico could share border security, envoy says - by Steven Chase

Mexico’s foreign envoy, visiting Ottawa Thursday, says his government seeks a much deeper “more strategic” relationship with Canada – one that some day might include a North American border security deal between all three NAFTA partners.

José Antonio Meade Kuribreña, Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the new Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s government, is meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. It’s his first visit to Canada as foreign affairs envoy.

Canada-Mexico relations suffered a setback in 2009 when the Harper government imposed entry restrictions on Mexicans seeking to enter Canada. And Canada in turn is frustrated at Mexico’s slow pace in lifting a partial ban on Canadian beef shipments because of mad-cow disease outbreaks in years past.

Canada and Mexico are partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement but efforts at deeper one-on-one ties are frequently overshadowed by each countries’ separate relationship with the United States, the third NAFTA partner.

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