My name is Simone, and I came down here to speak today because I just actually found out about this hearing last night. I can't believe that I just heard about it last night. I took the day off work today to come down here to speak even though I'm going to be losing my wage for coming down here to speak. But I needed my voice to be heard because I feel that the education around the TPP and the consultation around the TPP have been completely inadequate. I just needed to come down here and lodge my opposition in person. I'm not much of a public speaker, and I'm very nervous, but I'm doing this anyway.
My main concerns with the TPP are in terms of my access to healthy food and food security. I feel really proud of my country's being able to provide for me dairy that I can drink with confidence. I don't have to buy organic milk in Canada, and that means a lot to me. If the TPP goes into place, I will no longer be able to have confidence in my dairy supply and my food supply in general.
I'm very concerned about bovine growth hormone being in my dairy, not being labelled, and me not being told, so that's a big concern.
I'm also very worried about the ability of the TPP to be influencing our government's ability to make decisions that support public opinion and being pressured by private corporations and international private corporations instead of public opinion.