Thank you for letting me speak today. My name is Johan Boyden, and I'm a central organizer of the Communist Party, which has a 95-year history of fighting for social justice.
I would like to begin, if I may, with a reflection, a reflection about who is here and who is not. In fact, I think many of us gathered in this audience found out about this at the last minute, and that “Mr. Bombardier” seemed to know about this a long time ago. On your agenda, I couldn't see one trade union, yet I saw countless representatives of big corporations. I think that is a reflection not just on your consultation, but on this agreement itself, which amounts to a bill of rights for the big corporations around the world.
I would ask, where are the mechanics with Aveos? Where are the Mohawk people? Why are so many of us speaking English today in La Belle Province? This is a reflection on the quality of outreach that has gone on and the preconclusions of this consultative committee and a consultative committee process that I think is something of a sham.
I would like to underscore the reality that, as you have skirted across this country, you have come through countless communities that have the potholes and destruction of free trade: the destruction of hundreds of thousands of jobs lost. It is a reality, and you cannot pull it over the eyes of the people that free trade is good for us. You cannot convince working people any longer that free trade is a benefit to working people.
We are insisting—we are demanding—that Parliament reject this platform and reject the trans-Pacific partnership. We are demanding free trade that is based on the principles of democracy, sovereignty, respect for the International Bill of Human Rights, solidarity, raising living standards, and good union jobs, and not on creating a context—