at plan and you can deviate I believe up to 70 75 feet but that may not be enough and so therefore it disconnects is disconnected from that and you'd have to come in for a bylaw change to amend the regulating plan more than 75 so I think that's where that piece is and I would uh and then jump me back to you know get the plan mission and I had meetings we had discussions uh I think we it's clear that you know we're not in agreement on some items and I think that while the process was being discussed at the talent level uh two years ago I was also working on our project and we had no idea whether or not the floor base code was going to go anywhere and so how do you think well they're going to adopt it so therefore I'm going to design to it so how do you do that so I think you know the argument is a bit challenging for me understand how I that that particular project should incorporate in the floor base code district who knows I agree thanks it was suggested that the developer should embrace the flexibility that the floor base code gives us and that's if there was I mean to try to discuss the south of Marshall Avenue think you know if if we thought that there was an interest in second floor development we would embrace it it works north of Marshall Avenue we've been at this long enough to know it doesn't work south of Marshall Avenue I can I can't imagine anyone would want to live above it all rightly auto parts let's say we're at least office space above that type of use it just doesn't work the environment's not there so please understand we've been doing this a long time and we understand what works and what doesn't work and in this particular case the auto centric south of Marshall Avenue that two-story multiple use idea just it doesn't work so thank you and so this has been a helpful discussion tonight and the question before us right now is are we going to warn a public hearing on this if we do then we do have the opportunity after the the hearings to make changes or I can then changes to the the planning commission so the question that I'm looking for a motion for if we're going to do that tonight is to warn a public hearing I think I would like to do that the reason I would is because if we don't have it by July 5 this has to go back to the planning commission and if it goes back to the planning commission my understanding of it is that they have to then have another they have to warn another hearing they have to have a hearing and then they resubmit it to us and we start this process over I understand there are a number of questions I have a number of questions I don't know the right answer to most of these but I've also seems like if we do if we have the public hearing we can continue to have them 150 days which I don't think is a great idea but but but we can I think whatever whatever issues are on the table now are going to be on the table whether we have a delay and you know I think if we have the hearing then there would be a better chance for I don't know if I call it forced compromise or reasoned compromise but and then and then frankly there are things that just you know may may not be amenable to compromise but you know that's the that's the that's the problem with government is that you have to make decisions that's the same same root word as scissors meaning something gets cut off and something doesn't the decision has to be I think we have to make the decision not saying that I don't know which way the decision should be made but I would like to keep the process moving I agree with the Ted I think that the piece that's missing for me is hearing from the the larger majority of community stakeholders of from our citizens and I think that you know they have let their voices be heard during this process in multiple times and and we need to give them the opportunity to continue to weigh in and and while I do appreciate that we have heard from a large majority of the land and owners and developers they do not represent a large majority of the people that will be impacted by this these new developments and the form-based code and so forth and so I really want to give the the people of Williston a chance to to have their voice matter in this and I think the warning of public hearing is the right way to do that other comments I have two questions Matt you said that that area was represented tonight around 60 percent who's here have you exclusively heard of any of the other remaining owners directly yes we've talked to a number of other landowners you'll find in section 12 your binder a conversation over email with Jeff Mungin who owns a parcel on route 2a we did also do outreach with Mabel Tree Place their ownership is a little harder to pin down because they're they're remote and kind of just managing what what they have our consultant did a preliminary interview with each of our stakeholders here as as well as Peter judge of tap corner shopping center and Vermont technical college representatives and I think we had a few other stakeholders that we spoke to as well throughout the process and of course everybody was invited in to the public process and then this part too I heard you say earlier that the proposed draft that would be out at this public hearing could be modified but not completely change and you just clarify that one more time of what that means well so you you you warn a hearing you enter into that process and let's say as part of that process you decide to make a substantive change to this and statute defines substantive really pretty broadly if you change a dimensional standard if you change a boundary if you change and allow material type you've pretty much made a substantive change what it means is before actually passing that bylaw into into permanent effect you have to warn a hearing that that includes those substantive changes in your hearing draft but it's a select court hearing you're discussing you're making changes you get to the point you say okay we've got consensus on our changes now we need to warn a draft that has our changes in other words it does not cycle back through to the planning commission again but for notifying them of the changes that you of the select court have made and directing them to correct the statutory required bylaw report did I answer your question I think that's sorry so my my thought is is I've heard a request for there to be this ability for a dialogue and I really support that request what I don't know is if holding the public hearing is going to thwart the ability to do that I can only see that if we allow this dialogue to happen the worst thing I can see happening it's nothing happens nothing gets changed there'll be those who'll be disappointed at that but it is an answer the best thing that can happen is there is some changes that everybody thinks are good and I just want that to happen that will make it easier for me to can to you know vote yes when that big vote yes is going to happen that didn't come out right to vote appropriately when that big vote is going to happen so I'm looking for if there's an answer of does the deciding to hold the public hearing tonight does that thwart that ability for that dialogue to happen and Matt I guess I'm looking at you as a and the others but looking really at you is the dialogue you're describing one between stakeholders and the select board no dialogues between the planning commission and the stakeholders we can have that dialogue we would have to schedule time at a planning commission meeting for that to happen of course you know the staff is always open to talk with stakeholders and you know we've had some of those dialogues as well to try to help shade there I don't know if it needs to be formal I you know formal happening at a meeting versus you know I don't know what the other mechanisms are so well if you're going to speak with the planning commission you've got to do it during every okay you know there are no you know you can go speak with an individual planning commission member you're not highlighting ex parte but a forum obviously gets into an open meeting law I think I think if that were the strategy the planning commission members as I've received it would really appreciate some strong direction from the select board about what are the particular elements of the code that the select board would like that dialogue to be you know because you know again I keep pointing to section 12 in your binder there's been a fairly extensive dialogue and decisions made by the commission to this to this day and you know under some pretty careful consideration I really think that what I'm hearing from the planning commission members talking to me is they're really ready for the select board to take some ownership over the the decisions that need to be made and if there are adjustments to be made or compromises to be made there's a lot of advice commission can give about what went into their decision and what they felt their limits were around some of those compromises but they did make a decision I'm looking for a motion if we don't have what we will not have a public hearing I've moved to one public hearing on proposed amendments to the Towns Unified Development By-Law to establish Task Corner's form-based code over the district Is there a second? I'll second Is there a discussion on the motion? Well I'm just going to say that I'll probably be criticized but I I do plan on voting against it simply because I'm not convinced that meaningful discussion can happen if we choose to have the public hearing any further discussion on the motion? If not well I'll see them favor the motion say aye aye I'll oppose say nay aye nay tune it for your eyes and tune a's so the motion passes and we will schedule a public hearing so those of you came tonight thank you very much for your comments that we'll proceed as we can and we have a few more items on business to do tonight so thank you and the next one is the annual employee wage adjustments and Eric know you're going to speak about that yep this shit here is here with you it is how do we do that something completely good so this is another annual June item for the select board annual cost of living increase adjustment for the police and fire union it's tied to the cost of living adjustment provided to the U.S. Department of Labor using the northeast overall consumer index for December 2019 through November 2021 for this period the cost of living index should have 3.5 percent increase typically the past fact is the select board as adopted the same coal increase for non-union employees this increase at 3.5 percent for coal it was budgeted in the 2020 budget and as a reminder American increase 2 percent is also budgeted in department budgets for non-unionized staff and our unionized employees typically have as for the most part a 2 percent step increase as well on to shoot their coal up so the board is asked to consider tonight approving a cost of living adjustment for the non-unionized staff in the first 2.5 percent for FY23 beginning in July so just in response to something that I saw just today on Front Forge Forum I would love if you would just outline the non-unionized employees that this would pertain to I think there's some misconceptions about whether or not for instance we will be receiving this cola and but who this would pertain to in particular sure thanks thanks credit assistant applied to all so maybe that's why in front of us who are unionized employees are unionized employees are members of the police department fire departments who are we're not administrative for the most part the select board receives a small stipend I believe quarterly which is in the select board budgets and the the cost of living increased for that I I believe we fix it each year actually surely I double check surely if we apply a call into that to that so that's stipend surely for the select board stipend do we approve the cola to it in the budget or we did we increase it by cola okay yep certainly that is that the board's discretion for that component of compensation this this would apply to public works and to you know water and sewer and and all of the other town employees that yep work town administration ending zone excellent thank you yeah I mean what's what's kind of frustrating is is how high the cost of living increase is but it's based on reality on this and in particular on a very specific index if I remember correctly and I firmly believe that we need to compensate the non-union similar to how the union are compensated at least in terms of the cola and now since we're on the board our union contracts specify a ceiling for the cola we it might be off a half percent different but but three and a half percent is I think it's police union ceiling environment okay so we're within the ceiling at the 3.5 yep okay you're looking for a motion I'll move to approve a cost of living adjustment for all non-union employees of 3.5 percent in fiscal year 2023 this is your second second sorry discussion not in motion if not all those in favor of the motion say aye aye aye any opposed then we're up to the matters report I know it's it's getting late um do um Terry want to update on the finance report from Shirley or just if there's any questions from the board please I'll turn to Shirley finance report update so as usual I want to point out one little oops I made and Eric actually noticed it when he was reading it like you're working on April and you're in May and you're working on thing for June as well so when I talked about the sale and room to meal tax and then attached to your report to the financials was the spreadsheet that we keep that current quarter payment actually wasn't received until May so I was a little bit ahead of the April numbers I was reporting to you so just so you realize those numbers were actually our first three three payments for the year not just through April so property tax when you look at property tax you might say oh we're right on budget we're at 99% 96% of budget but we do have an adjustment in May what happens with the property tax we pay an amount to the state and we get a initial cash flow from the state that shows us what we're going to owe for the whole year so I take that out of property tax where the revenue and sit it over here in the liability and then in June we get the final cash flow and typically our June payment is less than the original estimate so those numbers came through in early May so we actually the property tax revenue at the end of the day will be like a I mean 6% of budget so it's just a little timing is she there I'm just going to pick sort of maybe the bigger ones that have changed highway revenue is is at budget we have all four of our class two or all four of our class two and three roads payment plus supplemental payment so it looks high just because we've already get the the whole budget for the year already post town fees at 67% of the budget I have been chatting with Eric and we project that where my current projection is that'll be about 20,000 under budget is more waste moves to recycling stream it's bringing down the tonnage that that we're getting especially from Kassel because that's where the numbers come from those numbers where I have some tonnage numbers in the spreadsheet and you can see those are slowly dropping every year so we expect that to be a little less than our budget one favorable variance we're going to see this year is for our passive insurance for both workers comp and property and liability insurance passive always used to bill us annually and they typically would bill us in December because their policies run on a calendar year but we're on a fiscal year but whatever that payment was in December we just that was the payment for the year so passive has now switched to billing us quarterly which I've told you about but so I chatted with the auditors last week and I said now that they're billing us quarterly let's take the opportunity to align the expense with the year that it belongs and so we're getting an invoice right now for July through September which would actually be the third payment if you think about that for FY 22 but we have agreed to leave that as an FY 23 expense so this year we're only recognized half of the insurance expense so that's good news and that is will help our fund balance at the end of the year let's see and that service really isn't new I'll just say those are the big things that have changed since the March financials unless you have questions so I'll be I'll be very quick I promise you which may be a lie but that 20,000 from the host town fees as much as it hurts not to get that revenue it's actually for a good reason less trash is ending up heading to a landfill I'm on the third on page two the third bullet up from the bottom and so sorry Shirley I didn't quite understand the highlighted part of that bullet where it says we anticipate a savings of 91.5 from the fire station roof and then there's another number after that and and the new fire I guess I'm having trouble understanding the concept here it's actually the two numbers added together so 91.5 is so we had initially anticipate in having debt service for the fire station room and then we decided not in not to do that and we funded the fire station room with debt service payments that we weren't going to make also for the fire truck itself we anticipated an FY 22 having the first debt service payment because of the build timing we went out to debt service later so our first principal payment won't be until FY 23 so we really just took those savings and then someone from fund balance or the fire department budget wherever it comes out of at the end of the year and said oh we're just gonna pay for the fire the roof and not have to have any debt service related to it so that's what that is saying we just use those savings to fund it directly oh okay and those transfers are totally you know common or legit or whatever yep okay yep and then I'm on the next page the second to last bullet and I just didn't understand what was meant by the WWTF stabilization fund I don't know if I've heard of that before it's the wastewater treatment fund so it's the Essex plan so what happens with Essex is in the sewer fund they give us a number and say here's the number that we've budgeted for the cost of the sewage that we're going to process from Williston and that's what they bill us quarterly so whatever the actual flow is doesn't matter during the year so as part of the fiscal year and process they then compare our actual flow treatment compared to what they bill does and if it's over or under there is a fund that Essex is holding and so each of the tri-town tri-city entities has a piece of that fund so what it's meant to do is say we under budgeted say it was more our actual treatment was more then basically Essex just takes it out of that fund so it doesn't impact our financials by doing this it keeps that live so that is the wastewater treatment stabilization fund okay all right good thank you you're welcome no other questions thank you very much get behind okay well let's briefly share our local options tax report for quarter three of 2022 continue good news I'm not recalling for the budget together it's 23 we tried to project where the local options actually see if we're going to land for FY 22 we were anticipating they would come in about $440,000 or budget we're at our current pace we're expecting to exceed that original projection at this point we'll wait until we get in quarter four finishing up the end of June below that August but that's still overall good news that that those receipts continue to assist us and most really know kind of where that that settles where our fund balances in FY 22 as we start preparing for the FY 24 budget we'll enjoy the summer we're still recovering from I'm sorry surely just question here I'm looking at the local tax option I'm looking at the column called variants to budget and I'm seeing two negative numbers the 738 8 and the 641 and why are those numbers negative I'm just oh just because there are no there's we haven't got fourth quarter actuals in there yet so it's so it's just saying budget versus actual there's no actual so it looks like it's negative I'm going to pay for it oh okay I think yeah all right okay yeah I see the numbers all right yeah so all right thank you you're welcome then it's a quick update telcoat road culvert checking with Bruce today so I believe we have a plan A for a fix so Bruce tells me tentative solution to fix the issue or waiting see if we can get it permitted in uptown we'll reply for town highway emergency funds from the state to pay for it which will help 90% we'll know more the next few days I don't want to have a few things moving right now so once I get some definitive from Bruce hopefully later this week I'll share it with the board and for right now at least the road section is going to remain closed and we have some more information on that later this week on timeline it will fix so that could be for this project bluffing me from getting easy access to the new creamy window so that's it interested it's an emergency most of us I've written or else I'll see you there sir my the board of fire crew academy graduations this friday should be an invitation in your inbox so so you're available and interested to stop by the firehouse for me that'll be at the firehouse yep okay right at the firehouse and is there a time in the email about 11 o'clock 11 o'clock yep there's a program starting at 11 and if I can I can force the board again tomorrow stuff but the top you're in the box sir that's you I gotta be in a meeting I won't leave it there I'll leave it there with an itarian state so we have two things in another business that catering permit and a special events permit the catering permit it's a monkey or sorry a wedding by monkey hospitality LLC at um doing business as the monkey house for a wedding at Eisham family farm on July the 30th we get a number of these applications it's not produced just with the board's motion to approve this case for the permit questions yeah the staff what do you hear the motion do you think yep no change move we approve second any discussion on the motion hearing none all those in favor of the motion say aye aye aye aye opposed sorry then the second one it's a special event it's the Eisham farm playhouse at Eisham farm it's June 23rd the applicant is wildheart distillery they would be provide a providing service at the event it's two ounce glasses sample fours unopened bottles for sale on full fours I checked with the police sheet to see if he had any objections to this and didn't it's would be contained within the bottom area so staff's recommendations so through we'll move on to the next question and who's cemented the catering permit wildheart distillery is the name unless the manufacturer it's a special event permit because the manufacturer would be supplying the experience there's no question so looking for a motion so go ahead can I just session on the motion very none all those in favor of the motion say aye aye aye any opposed all right any other business we need to bring forward tonight yes you know kudos to all that we've done that yes yeah yes it's unbelievable we will be still visited it's not the end there's a couple of things that we need to take a look at and that's the architectural standards that the map will do sometime for us and we had to question about the height of building so we could talk about this he talks about the architectural standards and there's been some information floating on social media regarding the storm water and what we do with storm water in the new plots that are being talked about so we can talk about those at some other time anything else if not we're adjourned right


Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to make a contribution to the motion before this Honourable House. In fact, Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution put forward to this Honourable Chamber by the Honourable Prime Minister and Minister for Finance to borrow an amount of 11.5 million special drawing rights from the International Development Association to finance the organization of Eastern Caribbean state skills and innovation project. Mr. Speaker, the maximum commitment charged on the credit is one-half of one percent per annum on the on-with-drawn balance, and the service charge is payable at a rate of three-fourths of one percent per annum on the withdrawn balance. Mr. Speaker, this is in keeping with how an expert manager deals with the business of the management of the country. The principal amount of the credit is payable in 40 years with a grace period of 10 years. After the grace period, the loan is to be repaid on the first day of April and first day of October in each year. Mr. Speaker, we are aware that our economy has moved from a monocrop economy in the 1980s to a mono services economy focusing on tourism. Currently, tourism as measured by the food and accommodation sector accounts for about 20% of GDP pre-COVID. COVID has taught us, Mr. Speaker, that this model is increasingly risky and unsustainable. This dependence is compounded by the very large workforce currently dependent on the tourism sector. It is to be noted, Mr. Speaker, that while there has been extensive discussion on diversifying the economy, there has been limited progress thus far. It is to be noted that OECS economies contracted by an average of 14% per annum in 2020, with St. Lucia in particular recording a contraction of 25.4%. This compares, Mr. Speaker, to an average of 7% decline in Latin America and the Caribbean economies. So St. Lucia had an out of the ordinary contraction because of poor management of the economy, which of course saw our economy move into a recession in 2019, the year before COVID. While the industry has recovered from the COVID pandemic, it has been recognized we cannot continue to place all our eggs in the tourism basket and there is need to diversify. It has been long in recognize, Mr. Speaker, that those skilled shortages have negatively impacted productivity and growth. Mr. Speaker, I was alarmed when I saw in the World Bank Project concept document for this particular loan that in 2019, 57% of all workers in St. Lucia were under qualified for the jobs. According to the concept note, this situation is exacerbated by the fact that there is a high immigration rate for highly skilled population, a phenomenon known as the brain drain, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the brain drain coupled with the relatively low attainment of post-secondary education contributes to skill shortages, especially what has been called transversal skills, skills that are also called soft skills or transferable as they cut across different tasks and roles. These skills require higher order cognitive, digital and socio-emotional skills. Mr. Speaker, these considerable skill shortages explain the reason for high youth unemployment and low productivity, which in turn affects business competitiveness and causes low growth and hampers employment opportunities and reduces returns to education in a vicious spiral. In the case of St. Lucia, while unemployment has come down to 16.5% per annum in 2022, a sign, Mr. Speaker, that our policies are beginning to bear fruit, the youth unemployment rate is 26.9% in that year. It should be noted that in 2019, youth unemployment in St. Lucia was three times higher than that for the population aged 25 years and above. These figures increase during the COVID pandemic. It is to be noted, however, that increase in youth unemployment was not a homogeneous shock. As youth with higher education and skills were less likely to become unemployed during the pandemic. So certainly, Mr. Speaker, it wasn't something across the board. It shows the importance of education in protecting employment. It is to be noted, Mr. Speaker, that while the region and St. Lucia perform well along several human development dimensions, including relatively high access to education and anti-natal care services, OECS foundational skills, St. Lucia included, are weaker than those students in OECD countries and lack countries, including Mexico and Chile. Research done by the World Bank, Mr. Speaker, shows that the human capital index estimates that the child born in the Eastern Caribbean will be 53 to 60% productive as they could be if they had enjoyed full education, health and nutrition. This, Mr. Speaker, is due to a large extent by the low quality of education. Moreover, Mr. Speaker, the learning adjusted years of schooling indicator in the human capital index shows that students in Boise countries who complete the expected 12 or 14 years of schooling only acquire the equivalent of approximately eight years of instruction in a high-performing education system. Still, Mr. Speaker, from the concept note from the World Bank, all the features of our education system show that there is low participation in post-secondary education, especially among males contributing to shortages of skilled workers. Again, continuing from the documents, it should be noted that fewer than 10% of all adults in the Eastern Caribbean, fewer than 10% of all adults in the Eastern Caribbean, have attained higher education, which is low for middle-income countries in which the average is 54% in Latin America and the Caribbean. St. Lucia has the lowest tertiary enrollment rate in the OECS at 15.4%. Enrollment rates are also systematically higher for women than men. Female enrollment at post-secondary education is typically over 65%. It is to be further noted that expenditure on post-secondary education is low and this constrains access to unquality of skills development and also limits the contribution of the higher education sector to innovate, tap into digital opportunities and capitalize on emerging technologies. The OECS countries spend a cacada on research and development. As a result, Mr. Speaker, the contribution of OECS post-secondary education institutions to research, local development and innovation remain largely untapped. A major part of the problem, Mr. Speaker, is that the Sao Paulo's community college is limited in size which makes it challenging to have the capacity to build research economies of scale. It has also been shown, Mr. Speaker, that the quality and relevance of educational programs suffer from inadequate collaboration among post-secondary institutions in the OECS and with employers. That nexus needs to be addressed in a salubrious fashion. Mr. Speaker, the use of digital technology could be leveraged to allow institutions in the OECS to build research networks and pool resources in selected areas of common interest and high value added such as agro industry, blue and green economy. It is to be noted, Mr. Speaker, that digital economy now accounts for one of the highest growth rates for employment globally. The digital economy, Mr. Speaker, can also allow OECS workforce to access jobs in high-growth fields such as big data, programming and graphic design without leaving their countries. This project, Mr. Speaker, is to enhance skills and foster regional harmonization, academic excellence and innovation in post-secondary education. Component one of the project focuses on strengthening participation in post-secondary institutions in regional networks and regional activities. This component will support regional activities to strengthen the participation of OECS national colleges and post-secondary TVET institutions. What's wrong with that, Mr. Speaker? Component two provides for fostering better skills and regional academic excellence in post-secondary education. It will develop state of the art learning environment in post-secondary institutions. What's wrong with that, Mr. Speaker? Component three, Mr. Speaker, is a contingent response component and is due to the OECS high vulnerability. Mr. Speaker, as I prepare to close, I must signal my full support to this resolution as it seeks to improve post-secondary education in St. Lucia through building relevant digital skills and promoting innovation. Mr. Speaker, I wish to accentuate at this juncture that this is how you build resilience in a country, not by taking a whole set of little gadgets from some country and paying millions of dollars for it, disturbing the laptop programs. As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, members opposite, I wish they were there when they talk about Ojo Labs and Orders. It was because of the efforts of the St. Lucia Labor Party Administration under the leadership of the member of UFO South, the honorable Dr. Kennedy Anthony. It is because he gave the people of this country, the young students of this country, access to a laptop program that Ojo Labs and Orders were able to have some skill labor force in there, introduce in the workplace. And while he was criticized for giving people who couldn't do chemistry and economics laptop, you know the amount of musicians that we have in this country because they access a laptop? You know how many of them that could fix up laptops today because of that experience, Mr. Speaker? So, Mr. Speaker, when the United Workers Party which brings nothing of importance to the development of young people in this country, when they come to this house, if they have nothing to contribute, they must stop their propaganda. And talking about propaganda, Mr. Speaker, I had the unsurpassed glory of speaking to St. Lucia in St. Croix recently as we celebrate our 45th Independence Anniversary. And as usual, the protocol at Miami would permit that when you land, border control would come and assist you in navigating the formalities. I traveled with an ambassador and while we were waiting for the ambassador, we were in conversation. You know UWP had nothing else to do because the devil always find work for idle hands. One of them took my photo speaking to border control and united back, which is the propaganda arm of the United Workers Party, had my photo with the border control officers and said that I was being questioned. I was being questioned. That never happened, Mr. Speaker. But you see, all of that is to insult the truth of the work of this government, Mr. Speaker. And it is because of the useless propaganda like this that the good Lord that I serve has already condemned them to a permanent life in opposition. They must never re-emerge from the ashes of time. They have peed at me and they are going to remain there. You do not, you do not make up stories like this and carry out an unnecessary assault on our country. And when that's what you have to contribute, you walk in here, you have nothing to contribute. The leader of the opposition, when he visits, he finds himself in the house.  So, Mr. Speaker, when they put the thing on Facebook, one time I was traveling to Washington to an OAS general assembly once a year I traveled. Somehow they have the check on Facebook and it is on the page of the leader of the opposition. And any minister would be traveling for that time and seen at the hotel, the rates would be no different. But no, he had to make a row. And I'm prepared to sit with them, any one of them, and look at our travels. And I'm sure that it will be lower than theirs, number one. And I would have something to show for my travels. You take a just pomela oz, pomela oz. Just move from place to place, aimlessly doing absolutely nothing. But you know, he had the courage to stand there this morning and talk about tourism, about tourism. During the time of the leader of the opposition, the tourism guru, vales to bring in a hotel room. And you want to come and criticize this government about tourism. No one promised, how many islands? 23 islands. When you cannot manage one, you can manage one that you inherited with a solid economy from the member of Ufotsau. But you want to build economy. Mr. Speaker, we are trying to address the health care challenges that we have on the security challenges. We have introduced a 2.5% levy. Anybody with the interest of solutions at heart will never oppose that. Anybody with the interest of the most vulnerable at heart will not oppose it. You know why? Because when VAT was introduced in this country, over 100 items were either exempted or zero rated to protect the most vulnerable. So whether you take the VAT from 100% to zero percent to whatever percent you want, it does not impact that basket of goods that was set aside to give the vulnerable relief. The 2.5%, these were people who can afford to make an effective demand for those goods. So that we can raise the required revenue to finance expenditure to assist the most vulnerable to ensure that we move in the direction of universal health care to provide a safer and more secure environment for the people of this country to build resilience in the economy. And this is what this is all about, Mr. Speaker. It is not about the Rourou and the Papi show that is going on there. And even the member for sure, Zell, want to join in that Papi show. Well, I will say something, Mr. Speaker. I give my full support to this resolution because it is in the interest of the people of this country. And I will end by accentuating the fact that education is the way to go. And I know that it is not the best thing. A lot of people say it's not the best thing to do politically because investment in education has a long gestation period before it gives both to the type of results required. But the Labour Party every time in office has made health care and education urgent priorities. And we are not going to stop because of the propaganda of people who plunge our country into a recession in 2019, the year before COVID. So, Mr. Speaker, like I have said to the leader of the opposition, I said, Kenny Rogers, you had your time to sing. Now it is the time for the great Ray Charles. The member for Cassis East to do his thing. Mr. Speaker, may God bless the government and continue to guide Prime Minister, the Honourable Philip J.P.M. Thank you.


The president's budget proposal eliminates public media funding. Learn how you can help at lptv.org slash action. Another day and more ice rescues for area first responders. At least nine people in the Brainerd and Bemidji area have gone through the ice on lakes this week. They were all saved by local responders including a man who went through the ice today on big lake about 15 miles east of Bemidji. The incident happened shortly before one o'clock on the south side of the lake. First responders attempted to reach him using a flotation device but after about 30 minutes a hovercraft was used to reach the man instead. Shortly after the belchami county sheriff's department also responded to an ATV with two people inside through the that went through the ice on Lake Kitchie about four miles east. And around 4 30 yesterday afternoon the sheriff's department responded to an ATV through the ice on Crane Lake which is just north of Bemidji. Two people involved in that incident were able to get out of the vehicle safely. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.