That is right. Almighty God, by whom alone kings reign and princes decree justice, and from whom alone come as all counsel, wisdom, and understanding, we that are worthy servants, here gather together in thy name, the most humbly besieged thee, to send down thy heavenly wisdom from above, to direct and guide us in all our consultations, and grant that we having thy prayer always before our eyes, and laying aside all private interests, prejudices, and partial affections. The result of all our counsels may be to the glory of thy blessed name, the maintenance of true religion and justice, the safety, honor, and happiness of the Queen, the public will, peace, and tranquility of St. Lucia, and the uniting and knitting together of the hearts of all persons and estates within the same, in true Christian love and charity one towards another. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore. Amen. Announcements. Honourable members, I have received correspondence from the speaker of the House of Assembly, advising that the following motions and bill will pass in the House of Assembly and forward it to the Senate for its concurrence. Public Finance Management Act, resolution of parliament to borrow for capital or current expenditure to finance the implementation of national development projects, initiatives, and COVID-19 mitigation measures. The Public Management Act, resolution of parliament to borrow for capital or current expenditure, operating expenses in the health sector related to COVID-19 virus pandemic. The Public Finance Management Act, a resolution of parliament to borrow for capital or current expenditure, implementation of the unleashing of the blue economy of the Caribbean project. The Public Finance Management Act, resolution of parliament to borrow for capital or current expenditure, organization of the eastern Caribbean states, data for decision-making project. The Public Finance Management Act, a resolution of parliament to write off debt owed to the government by Fonster Jacques Credit Corporate of Society Limited for the Mocha Housing Development Project International Banks Amendment Bill. I also beg to announce that His Excellency, the Governor-General, has been pleased to assent the following bills. The automatic exchange of financial account information amendment, the COVID-19 prevention and control amendment number two, the criminal records rehabilitational offenders amendment, drugs prevention of misuse amendment, the income tax amendment, the intergovernmental agreement St. Lucia and the United States of America amendment, the land and house tax amendment, the consumer protection amendment, solution national economic fund amendment, the money laundering prevention amendment, distribution and price of goods amendment, financial services regulatory authority amendment, international business companies amendment, insurance amendment, the public finance management amendment, the agriculture and fisheries and centers amendment, community tourism development, customs control and management amendment, domestic violence, Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Agreement amendment, supplementary appropriation bill 2021-22, and lastly, the appropriation bill 2022-2023, and from the independent ranks, Senator Dio Lee. I wish also to inform members that in an effort to promote e-parliament, the Parliament Office has distributed tablets to each and every member of the Parliament. I also wish to report that the deputy speaker of the House Hon. Jeremiah Norbert and myself attended a workshop for parliamentarians from small jurisdictions on multilateral climate negotiations on the 5th to the 7th of July 2022. The workshop was hosted by the CPA Small Branches Network and United Nations Development Program. It was organized for parliamentarians from small jurisdictions to discuss the role of representative and inclusive institutions in addressing the mountainous security caused by climate change, by engaging in multilateral climate efforts. The workshop explored the multilateral landscape where international climate negotiations take place. It addressed the issues most present for small jurisdictions in this sphere, as well as opportunities for advancing priorities. On a more sober note, Hon. Senators, I would like to take the opportunity to extend the sincere condolences to the Edgar Weeks and Murray families, all of whom have lost their dear loved ones. Yesterday was the funeral of Ed from Edgar, and on Tuesday was also the funeral of Mr. Keith Weeks. I think also it was the funeral of Daphne Murray, who incidentally contested the elections for the Labour Party in 1982, and in fact, she made history by being the first female candidate for the Labour Party of that year. She was also a secretary to the executive at that time. I wish on behalf of the parliament to extend God's strength, guidance, and His blessings given in their demise. We have housekeeping before we begin today, before we go into our formal agenda. I would like to take the opportunity to welcome the students from the University of Birmingham. I would like to tell you how pleased we are that you are visiting with us, and I hope that you would take away some useful insights in our own parliamentary democracy in this country. I want to tell you also that I am no stranger to Birmingham as I commence my law studies in Birmingham. I had a very wonderful time over the years that I spent there, and I will never forget the wonderful evenings that I spent on Broad Street. Yes, wonderful evenings. So I want to welcome you to this honourable chamber. Statements from ministers, appointment of sessioner-committees. Ordinarily, I would have called on the leader of government business to do so. But in the interest of time, we started a little late today, and of course, I had discussed with him that I would just undertake to inform the House of the status of those committees. Person under section 67 to 70 of the Senate Standing Orders, we are mandated to set up those four different committees. They are the Standing Orders Committee, the House Committee, the Committee of Privileges, and the Regulations Committee. All of those committees have been formed at the previous sitting. And so they are person under section 67 to 70, we are mandated to renew them. In essence, the composition of those committees will remain the same. I will just briefly go through the senators who will comprise of those committees. As far as the Standing Orders Committee, myself is the chairperson. On the government side, we have senators Pauline Antoine Prosper and senators Alvin Reynolds. On the opposition side, we have senators Angela Ferri polius and the independent side, Senator Narani Aziz. On the House Committee, the president as chairman and on the government side, Senator Lisa Cassandra Jawaier and Senator Dr. Pauline Antoine Prosper, Senator Fadi on the opposition side, and Senator Narani Aziz on the independent side. As far as the Committee of Privileges, president as chairperson, government senators Mr. Cassandra Jawaier and honorable senators give you an burden on the opposition side, Senator Herrod Stanislaus and independent senator D.O.A.L. Lee. The regulations committee, president as chairperson, government senators K.G. Yamatou Sashari and senator Alvin Reynolds, opposition senator Dominic Fede and independent senator D.O.A. Lee. Mr. President. Mr. President, I beg to the following people standing in my name. Statutory instrument number 47 of 2022, COVID-19 prevention and control, physical distancing number 6 order. Statutory instrument number 48 of 2022, COVID-19 prevention and control, prohibition of assembly number 6 order. Statutory instrument number 50 of 2022, standards fees, amendments, regulations. Statutory instrument number 51 of 2022, price control amendment number 6 order. Statutory instrument number 52 of 2022, excise tax amendment of schedule 1 number 6 order. Statutory instrument number 53 of 2022, fiscal incentives, aeroprints and partial limited order. Statutory instrument number 54 of 2022, legal profession eligibility, Satya Sabachandra Simas Kiso order. Statutory instrument number 55 of 2022, legal professions eligibility, Shari and Walker order. Statutory instrument number 56 of 2022, census order. Statutory instrument number 57 of 2022, census regulations. Statutory instrument number 58 of 2022, civil code, marriage license fees, amendment order. Statutory instrument number 59 of 2022, legal professions eligibility, Shanice Risha Ramdan order. Statutory instrument number 60 of 2022, public finance management act, resolution of parliament to borrow for capital or current expenditure, renewable energy sector development project.  Statutory instrument number 62 of 2022, national savings and development bonds act, resolution of parliament to raise funds by the issue of saving bonds. Statutory instrument number 63 of 2022, price control amendment number 7 order. Statutory instrument number 64 of 2022, excise tax amendment of schedule one, number 7 order. Statutory instrument number 65 of 2022, legal profession eligibility, Semtail Alicia Paris order. Statutory instrument number 66 of 2022, customs service charge variation of service charge goods order. Statutory instrument number 67 of 2022, price control amendment number 8 order. Statutory instrument number 68 of 2022, prevention and control physical distancing number 7 order. Statutory instrument number 69 of 2022, COVID-19 prevention and control prohibition of assembly number 7 order. Statutory instrument number 70 of 2022, COVID-19 prevention and control protocol, publics of omnibus number seven order, statutory instrument number 71 of 2022, legal profession eligibility, Vanessa Santana, Fennel order, statutory instrument number 72 of 2022, price control amendment number nine order, statutory instrument number 73 of 2022, excise tax amendment of schedule one number eight order, statutory instrument number 74 of 2022, legal profession eligibility, Carline Kevin Rogers order, statutory instrument number 75 of 2022, tourism incentives, ATT limited order, statutory instrument number 76 of 2022, micro and small-scale business enterprise, declaration of small-scale business enterprise, optionics order, statutory instrument number 77 of 2022, motor vehicle road traffic, public omnibus fares, amendment regulations, statutory instrument number 78 of 2022, COVID-19 prevention and control, physical distancing number eight order, statutory instrument number 79 of 2022, COVID-19 prevention and control, testing and quarantine number four regulations, statutory instrument number 80 of 2022, COVID-19 prevention and control, protocol omnibus number six regulations, statutory instrument number 81 of 2022 order, fiscal incentives, optionics order, statutory instrument number 82 of 2022, price control amendment number 10 order, statutory instrument number 83 of 2022, excise tax amendment of schedule one number nine order, statutory sorry, National Utilities Regulations Commission, annual report 2019-2020. Maybe I should just allow you to catch your breath for a second. Motions, leader of government business. Thank you, Mr. President. Before I move to the substantive motion, I want to join you in welcoming our guests, our students from Birmingham University. And I realize quite a few of us in this chamber do have some history with that university. So I welcome them. I hope they do benefit from the deliberations in the Senate today and wish them well with their future endeavors. Mr. President, I beg to move. The following motion standing in my name. Be it resolved, let us this morning. Whereas as it is provided by section 63.1A of the Public Finance Management Act, number 14 of 2020, the act that the Minister of Finance, may by affirmative resolution of parliament, borrow from a bank or other financial institution for capital or current expenditure of government. And whereas it is further resolved by section 64 of the act that money borrowed by the government must be paid into and from the part of the consolidated fund. And whereas the Minister of Finance considers it necessary to borrow of US 10 million from the Ex-Workport Import Bank of Republic of China to finance the implementation of national development projects and initiatives. And whereas the loan is repayable at 30 consecutive equal or as nearly equal possible semiannual installments, the first of which must be made on the last day of the 66 month of the date, the first advance under the loan is made by the Ex-Workport Import Bank of Republic of China and thereafter on the last day of each successive six months period. And whereas in the full amounts, if the full amount of the loan has been drawn down, each principal installment must be in the amount of US $333,334, except that the last principal installment must be in the amount of US $333,340. Otherwise the amount of each installment shall be adjusted by the Ex-Workport Import Bank of Republic of China. And whereas interest is payable at a rate of six, the six months secured overnight financing rate plus 0.20% plus 1%, 1.5% per annum. And whereas the loan is repayable in 20 years commencing from the date of the first disbursement of the loan inclusive of the grace period of five years. Be it resolved that parliament authorizes the Minister of Finance to borrow the amount of US $10 million from the Ex-Workport Import Bank of Republic of China to finance implementation of national development projects and initiative. Be it further resolved that A, the loan is repayable in 30 consecutive equal or as nearly equal as possible semi-annual installments, the first of which must be made on the last day of the 66 months from the date the first advance under the loan is made by the Ex-Workport Import Bank of the Republic of China. And thereafter, one on the last day of its successive six months period, B, if the full amount of the loan has been drawn down, each principal installment must be in the sum of US $333,334, except that the last principal installment must be in the amount of US $333,334. Otherwise, the amount of each installment shall be adjusted by the Ex-Workport Import Bank of the Republic of China. C, interest is payable at a rate of six months, of the six months secured overnight financing rate plus 0.20%, plus 1.5% per annum. And D, that the loan is repayable in 20 years, commencing from the date of the first disbursement of the loan, inclusive of a grace period of five years. Any explanations now? Thank you for your patience, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, I have not reached that. Mr. President, I just want to provide some context in which this resolution is being presented. As we would have heard from the resolution that I just read, this is a loan that, this is a motion that this government is putting before this Honorable Senate to authorize borrowing from the Republic of China, Ex-Workport Import Bank of the Republic of China, Taiwan. And that is for the purpose of financing projects that will align both in the Prime Minister's budget statement and as well as, they will also align in the, not just the speech, but the budget itself. Mr. President, Mr. President, it's very important that anytime we come to this Honorable House to seek permission or approval to borrow or to do anything for that matter, we have to provide a proper context and explanation. And also, we have to keep in mind the situation that we're dealing with at the time. First of all, there are some issues that have to be taken into consideration, some of which are within our local context and some of which are beyond us. I want to make reference, Mr. President, particularly to the first external issue, which all of us know by now, the war or declaration of war by Russia on a parade, when Mr. Putin made that decision, he didn't have us in mind. So Mr. President, that particular situation coupled with the already existing situation that became into government and found, which is still with us, COVID-19, really has exalted serious external shocks on us as a country and has had serious implications for our operations. Three years ago or two years ago, nobody would have thought that this for the situation would have been possible. And there are some circumstances under which you have to operate, but you may not have anticipated when you either are in opposition or in government. So Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, as I mentioned, that particular situation has induced serious issues that we now have to deal with. Some of them, including the increase in fuel prices, food prices, we have had to make tough decisions and we've had to provide relief, absorb costs of several commodities to allow our regular solution, customer or solution citizen to be able to continue to access the resources that are available. Mr. President, at the moment, the world is virtually at its knees because everyone is being affected by what is happening. We've heard the most powerful nation in the world, the leader of that nation making it very clear that there is absolutely nothing he can do in the context of that war and that certain realities are facing us. So this decision is a responsible one that had to be taken with this in context and it has been taken to facilitate a number of things. Mr. President, some of the initiatives that this particular $10 million loan is intended to address or to put forward include financing of the very publicly spoken about and discussed youth economy initiative that this government in its 2021 election campaign mentioned and promised will be one of the revolutionary initiatives that will enable young people to develop or use their talents to develop into entrepreneurship and their skills into businesses. Mr. President, 7.2 million of this will be dedicated towards the youth economy. There are several other examples but I will refer to a few more, Mr. President. Part of this financing will be going towards development of basic, very basic, what we could call cottage industries. For example, the craft markets and vendors in the community of Shwazel in the south on the southeastern coast of Central Asia or the southwestern coast of Central Asia. Mr. President, this initiative also is intended to provide assistance to our young CMOS families. This is an initiative that we want to support because right now, like bananas, we find that CMOS is being exported in its raw form and there is not much being done to add value, to make the product more profitable and more marketable. And from this loan, there is also provision made for some of this money to be dedicated towards the improvement of the CMOS industry. And it's notable, Mr. President, that the craft market and the vendors who are going to benefit from this initiative are part of a constituency that is in opposition. I want to make that point within the context of what happened when I sat on this side of the house. We all know what happened, Mr. President. Now this government of inclusion has decided that the first time it comes to this house to borrow and to finance any of its initiatives, it has ensured that an opposition or opposition constituencies are not left out of the conversation. And so Schwozell, Saltybus, which is in opposition, is going to benefit from our very first initiative, as to borrow. That is in no way consistent with a certain doctrine that we used to mention very often here. We don't have this happening on this side of the house. Mr. President, also by way of example, we have a sum of about $200,000 that is going to be dedicated to the national competitive agenda and the draft innovation policy to upgrade the level of competitiveness in our business community. Mr. President, by way of another example, the existing situation on the Millennium Highway, I tried that road every day, and we have had to deal with several issues left over by our predecessors that we now have to deal with as per the upgrade of that road. And $4 million of that money will be going towards the rehabilitation and that project that is really a serious concern to our road users. Also, Mr. President, a sum of about $3.4 million from that particular loan is going to be dedicated to augmenting the street lighting project, where the initiative is to replace the existing lights with more energy efficient and climate friendly LED lights. And because these days with the price of fuel and what's going on, any initiative that will lower your energy cost is actually something that we need to look into. So I'm very pleased that the government has found it necessary to prioritize and to go in that direction. And we know that with the advent of climate change, how much that is going to help to lower our carbon emissions and to complement the climate change. But may not necessarily be the most guilty parties that contribute to the problem of climate change. Mr. President, I mentioned those examples to demonstrate that we as a government believe that in these difficult times, we are very careful when we come to this honorable house and Senate to ask the parliament to approve any initiative, whether it is to borrow money, to pass legislation, or to amend legislation. The steps must be consistent with our philosophy that people must come first and that people must benefit from everything that we do. If you follow the examples that I just gave, Mr. President, every single one has some direct benefit to the people who need them most. Now, I want to say also, Mr. President, that every single one of these that I gave by example can be accounted for either in the estimates that were laid before this house earlier this year or in the budget speech that the Prime Minister delivered at the opening of parliament. And so, Mr. President, I am confident that this motion is very much in line with the principles and the philosophy that this government has set out and it is not coming from any other angle or any other arbitrary decision. It is in line with the philosophy of this government, of footing people first. It is in line with the priorities of this government and in line with what we have outlined in the first budget presented by the Honorable Prime Minister. And we look forward to the implementation of these programs for the benefit of every citizen of this country. I thank you, Mr. President. I thank you very much, sir. Thank you. The bead resolved that parliament authorizes the Minister of Finance to borrow the amount of 10 million US dollars from the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China to finance the implementation of national development projects and initiatives. The bead further resolved that A, the loan is repayable in 30 consecutive equal or as nearly equal as possible semi-annual installments, the first of which must be made on the last day of the sixth month from the date the first advance on the loan is made by the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China. The bead further resolved. I'll start. Bead further resolved. A, the loan is repayable in 30 consecutive equal or as nearly equal as possible semi-annual installments, the first of which must be made on the last day of the sixth month from the date the first advance on the loan is made by the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China and thereafter on the last day of each successive six month period, bead. If the full amount of the loan has been drawn down, each principal installment must be in the amount of US dollars, 333,334 dollars, except that the last principal installment must be in the amount of US dollars, 333,314 dollars. Otherwise, the amount of each installment shall be adjusted by the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China. C, interest is payable at the rate of the six month secured overnight financing rate plus 0.20% plus 1.5% per annum. D, the loan is repayable in 20 years, commencing from the date of first disbursement of the loan inclusive of a grace period of five years. Senator Mayday. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, I wanna take this opportunity to welcome the political science students from Birmingham University. I myself, Mr. President, had some very good evenings in Birmingham, but unlike you, I didn't make it to the Broad Street. Mr. President, it was not so long ago that the popular narrative from the opposition was that borrowing was a bad thing and that the former administration was plunging the country into a state of spiraling debt. Mr. President, the opposition sought to explain that the reason why we had to borrow at a significant amount to ensure that certain revenue shortfalls were propped up by monies that were made available by the International Development Agencies. So we said that the revenue, for example, went down by 150 million in some quarters, it could be quite significant. We had lost a significant amount of economic gain. So for example, the GDP contracted by 24%. Now, it is quite amusing to me that even despite those explanations that the COVID-19 pandemic was bringing about significant economic contraction and dislocation, that some 15,000 people had lost their jobs and the government needed to prep up the lost economic activity, that the opposition at the time didn't seem to understand why this was necessary. So it was quite refreshing to hear my good friend mention that the COVID-19 pandemic in its own words, and I want to quote Mr. President because I don't want to miss quote him, he said the COVID-19 and the Ukraine war has brought about, has exerted serious shocks on the government. And so what I find quite intriguing is that while in opposition, the SLP says one thing, COVID is never a reason why you should borrow and COVID never exerts economic shock. But while they're in government, Mr. President, it has brought about, and it is used as an excuse as to why this administration needs to come to this house and in one go, $134.5 million that they are going to borrow, Mr. Speaker, to place on the backs of the taxpayers of this country. But because they are the ones doing it, it is okay. And so Mr. President, this kind of duplicity, this kind of double standards is dangerous for the fiscal management of our country because it tells me that the administration is not committed to any particular philosophy as it relates to repairing the fiscal ill health which has afflicted this country for several decades. It is no question about it that this situation has existed. The issues that ministers and finances have had to face with slow growth and rising debt and mounting debt challenges and the phenomenon of market debt which brought about higher interest rates with the arrival of the OECS Regional Securities Exchange back in 2003 is no secret, right? But Mr. President, what I will not accept is the duplicity. Interestingly, I heard the leader of government business in presenting this motion suggested that this is the first time that the opposition is borrowing. I would like to submit that that's a gross untruth of the facts and the member is abusing the privileges that he has in the house of immunity and should do right by the people of St. Lucia and not to continue to propel untruths because you have come to this house before and you have borrowed. Now, you may want to say that those monies were budgeted for in the previous administration but ministers of finance are empowered by our constitution to make changes as they go along. As you have with various changes that we have made when you came in, you have reprioritized certain funds, you have slashed certain budgets. So please, let's keep the petty excuses away from a very serious debate. I don't think that such a submission has no place in what is taking place here today. Mr. President, the fact that this administration can now come to the parliament fresh into its term and in one go is able to borrow some $134.5 million. I mean, it's a whopping amount. They have set in their budget and if you look at the estimates which has already been made a document in the house, they have projected that they'll borrow one of the highest amounts in the history of any financial year, a whopping $505 million. What it does is that it rebounds the popular SLP narrative that the UWP has left them with no fiscal space. And you know, and so I sometimes wonder, Mr. President, if the government is real, if the government thinks before it makes certain public pronouncements, because here we go, 135 million, and it's part of a $505 million you will borrow in this year. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, sorry, you're much better looking than the speaker. Mr. President, you will find, Mr. President, that is mentioned that the youth economy, out of this budgeted amount, a few millions are gonna go to help to propel the youth economy. Mr. President, the youth unemployment rate is on 10 of the high. I support anything. I think the social economic review says that it's somewhere about 38% in this last survey of the youth sector and unemployment and how it's been affecting. So there has been an untenable situation as it relates to the youth sector. And this, the opposition here, we support any undertaking that will bring about relief to the young people of Saint Lucia. But what we don't support, Mr. President, is the fact that budgeted in the estimates is $10 million for the youth economy project. But out of that 10 million, over 5 million, or more than 50%, is going towards being administrative cost. And we do not support that. And we believe that this is a betrayal of the young people of this country. The government could have employed more effective mechanisms to ensure that the lion's share of that money was going to the young people of that country. The big issues are access to capital for young people. It's absolutely needed, Mr. President, in a lot of areas, training in a lot of areas to make young people competitive for jobs, Mr. President, more scholarship so that the young people of this country can become part of the local, regional, and global workforce. And so when we talk about the youth economy, I am looking forward to a sweeping, a more comprehensive vision than this government has laid before the nation so far. And so, yes, if I'm confused about what the youth economy project really is, it is only because this administration has actually failed to give enough details about what it's trying to do. I don't think the administration understands the youth economy project itself. Mr. President, question for the leader of government business, and it is rebuttally can address this. You mentioned that some of the monies would go to the CMOS project. One of the motions we're looking at is the blue economy, and there's about 80 million U.S. dollars that's allocated for St. Lucia's blue economy project. That's a substantial sum of money. It would be somewhere about, what's my math, 56 million, said it's almost 50 million dollars. So that's a significant sum, but I wondered why that we would have this significant amount in the blue economy loan which is coming up later, and to also then put the CMOS in the youth economy. But it's for the member to explain and to give clarity on that matter. Mr. President, the Millennium Highway Project has now become the island's greatest roller coaster. And I think that after almost a year of being in government, a project that was well on the way, that was well funded, because part of the funding came from the United Kingdom's different project. And so I thought, Mr. President, that this administration would have been well advanced and would have run with the ball and would have actually sure up the implementation so that the people of St. Lucia would have enjoyed a better road network within that facility. I want the member to explain what is taking so long and why haven't we seen more work done on the Millennium Highway Project. We see, Mr. President, that the Rodney Bay Road is stopped up in the north of the island, and maybe it would be a good time for us to give the nation an update as to what's happening with the Rodney Bay Project and how long the people of the north will have to suffer the ordeal of the horrendous traffic situation, especially at rush hour. And so it would be good to get those updates from the member on behalf of the residents of the north and of course the residents from other parts of the island. That would be traversing the north for commercial recreational and other purposes. So I look forward to an explanation from the member on that. The LED lighting project. I would like more details. The member did try to explain, but the explanation is quite sketchy. He said 3.4 million is going to the LED lighting project. But how many lights are we talking about? What's the overall project? How many lights in St. Lucia are you looking to cover? And what is the timeline? By what time are we going to replace the inefficient fuel-guzzling bulbs that we have all over the country? And in what timeline are we going to see significant advancement in the LED lighting project so that we can, as you have stated, to reduce the carbon emissions that would be coming away from the current situation? You know, 27 million is the first package. And there's a total of 134 million. This government, Mr. President, they've made a lot of promises to the people of St. Lucia. Who will forget the famous 2005 saga where they said that when we were giving income support during COVID that the $500 was too little for the workers of this country, we will continue to face the wrath of a very difficult economic situation in St. Lucia. I think that if you were going to come and borrow as much as you are now, give the people the one five that you promised so that they can look after themselves and so that they can use this as income support. The S&P administration said in 100 days, every tax refund that is below $5,000, that the people of St. Lucia, taxpayers will get those tax refunds. Well, it's been how many days they've been in power? It's more than 100 days. I think it's almost 365 days. And so really, I would like to see the promised tax returns to people who have overpaid in their taxes to get their monies back, especially at a time of high gas prices, especially at a time of high unemployment and especially at a time of rising costs of living in St. Lucia, where people are crying in the supermarket. They need those monies now. Now would also be a good time to deliver on the promise to the fishermen, the excise tax that you promised, to remove it, because in your own words, there are no roads on the sea. Remember that. And so the gas tax doesn't apply to fishermen. So really and truly, I would like an update from the member. When will we see the excise tax removed from the purchase of fuel for the fishermen of this country? I'm sure that Senator Shalri will have a lot to say on that. And then, Mr. President, the whole question of the threshold being risen by this administration, they promised the income taxpayers that if you are making $4,000, that you will not have to pay any taxes, right? Well, it's been 365 days almost, and you haven't delivered. You are turning out to be a government of broken promises, broken hope, and you have failed the people of this country. I thank you very much. I'm sorry, Mr. President. I don't have any confidence in this project that they have proposed, because so far they have mismanaged everything that they have presided over. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning, colleagues. Good morning, visitors. Mr. President, I want to start my presentation this morning on the motion before us by indicating that at some other juncture in my life, I had the privilege of sitting on a committee at a local credit union, and as a member of the Board of Directors, I had responsibility of the rest of my team to review loans, and part of that time also included that time during the COVID period. And so you could well imagine that when I sit and when I listen to certain pronouncements and certain arguments that I now perhaps appreciate even greater that experience that I had, because so often it placed me in a very un... a situation that that caused you to really ask a lot of questions when you got certain loan applications before you. And it meant that there are times when the decisions you took as a body to determine whether or not you granted a loan, whether or not you advised the member to reduce the amount, increase the amount, it really boiled down to the situation at hand, the member's own personal financing situation, and so on. And so having also been given this opportunity today to speak to that motion really again, like I said, indicates that perhaps that was an experience that had its own perks. I listen to the member opposite speak of what he deemed to have been the then opposition indicating that borrowing was bad and borrowing should not have been done and so on. I mean, I know I'm a bit younger than him and perhaps I don't know, maybe I was still being formed at the time that it was being said. And I remember quite correctly that there were issues that were brought up in terms of the borrowing that the then government was doing, but I don't think I ever remember recalling that there was an issue with borrowing, but rather an issue with the manner in which the borrowing was being done. And that the borrowing was termed unsustainable, it was termed reckless use, but I can never remember that the then opposition indicated that the borrowing was bad. And I started the analogy, Mr. President, to indicate that there were times when a member would come to you for a particular loan, say, hypothetically, of $10. But when you look at that member's debt stock, for example, you notice that they have a higher purchase account at courts, you notice that they have taken something with advanced Caribbean or with Excel finance and so on. And when you look at the member's situation, you realize, you know what, it may be more prudent at the time to ask the member to perhaps increase it to $15 because $15 would mean that they can pay off these other loan obligations and so it means that you give them more money in their pocket in terms of a reduced loan payment and you actually do a lot of maneuvering sometimes in order to ensure that at the end of the day you leave that member better off than when the member started. And so a prudent government in the government that we have now, after almost 365 days, after having passed the budget, after having had to maneuver, and I heard something in the lower house two days ago. I think it was perhaps the leader of the opposition who made the statement in terms of, you know, that we're borrowing at this point and whatever else about the borrowing. But what I don't know, and he also said that it was very difficult for bonds because I think he said something to the effect that they had to pay some of the bonds because a lot of persons did not allow theirs to roll over. And so you have to ask the question, why is it that this is one of the most secure forms of financing, government bonds and Gulf Treasury bonds and so on? Why is it that so many people were so eager to ask for the government to pay up their bonds? It means that there was significant, significant lack of confidence in the previous administration. 165 days. The government EGP has been able to do just that role. They will support any undertaking that will bring relief to the youth. And so often they speak of the double-edged sword and they're saying this and this and that. How could you stand there and say that you will support anything that will bring some sort of relief to the youth? But in the same breath, say that you cannot support a motion to borrow money that will inevitably assist the same youth that you're saying that you are willing to support. How are you going to support them if you are not even willing to take a good look at what is presented before you? And I want to look at briefly, I want to speak briefly, and that's in terms of what was spoken before me, in terms of the Millennium Highway. Within the previous six years, so within the last seven years, Mr. President, I remember clearly witnessing the sub-turning ceremony for that highway. So how could the members stand there and say to St. Lucian's that it seems that this government is delaying on beginning the road and so many things are like that? When that sub-turning ceremony was done under that administration, so what happened to it? And the money was there through his own admission, he's saying that the funds were available. So what is it that prevented the road from starting? What is it that prevented it from being in a position where it would have gotten some relief off of the rollercoaster? Has the rollercoaster been a replacement for not having Coney Island Incident? Mr. President, so they left it so we could fill the rollercoaster when I come to pastries? Mr. Speaker, the hypocrisy, it's really glaring. And then there is an issue of the LED lights and the member is asking, you know, the lights have existed, street lamps have existed for as long as I know myself. I mean, of course, we know, prior to 1997, there were some communities that did not have electricity and did not have street lights, but in the majority street lights have existed in this country for so long. And climate change and fuel emission and so on has been a reality for me. The question is, what was the member doing and what was the member saying and how was the member then in the context of street lights aiming to reduce that emission whilst he was a member of the government, Mr. President? And he stands here today and speaks to it like it's a new phenomenon. He should have led the charge to ensure that these things were done and to come here today to speak of it in that way, Mr. President. It's really amazing. And as a young person, it really blows my mind. It really blows my mind. But Mr. President, let me just review to perhaps the more substantial part of my presentation, Mr. President. More money in the motion speaks to a portion of it will be used for CMOS to improve the CMOS and craft sub-sector. I don't like the term sub-sector not when it's spoken to with fisheries or any other. It is my opinion that, especially the CMOS sector, is a very viable sector. And if you walk and drive through the length and breadth of St. Lucia, you will see evidence of the production of CMOS all around the island. And so for government, especially in this time, when there is a lot of pressure in terms of food security, there is a lot of pressure in terms of income, a lot of pressure in terms of jobs and so on, has seen it necessary, Mr. President, to inject funds into that sector, Mr. President, to help boost the economy even more, it is something that obviously I will applaud, Mr. President. And what makes it even more in line with my support, Mr. President, is because in my opinion, a lot of the persons who will benefit from that injection would be the youth and would be persons of the rural community because it is my opinion that this is where the greater concentration of CMOS production happens. Mr. President, I want to also say that it would be my hope that we would really transform the CMOS production into, in fact, not repeating the mistakes of the banana industry because for all the life of banana, we produced and we sold banana in its raw form, green gold, and I do not think that there was ever a great thrust to add value to the banana. In recent times, we've seen the banana flowers and we've seen a greater thrust towards processing and adding value and so I would really love to see that the CMOS industry is transforming that way so as a country, we can get the most benefit from CMOS, Mr. President, and so I look at things like added value, such as cosmetic pharmaceuticals. We know we have a few young persons who are involved in face screams and scrubs and so on. I know a few persons in safety for not, for example, we have black CMOS, we have the opical CMOS farmers who are producing CMOS in other forms. So we have CMOS powder and we have CMOS gel and so on and I would really love to see some of these monies used to support that aspect of it where there is added value and where our export and trade potential can increase in that sub-sector, Mr. President. Because I do believe that if perhaps we have gone that route with our banana industry, our plantain production and so on, that it would have re-added more to our GDP and be able to boost that sub-sector and bring it to where what it can actually be. We know that there have been some issues in terms of theft for the CMOS and so it is my hope that the previous LASANI unit will really come on board to really help provide some greater level of security, some greater level of safeguarding in terms of the CMOS farmers, Mr. President. Mr. President, I go quickly to that because I think the motion is quite straightforward. I want to look at the street lighting and of course I applaud the initiative because it is one of somebody from a rural community not that the issues are concentrated to rural community but I think that there is a safety issue that the lights will help alleviate and that is obvious and also like we've indicated before the reduction of costs in terms of the reliance on fossil fuel but I want to just stick up in quickly and indicate that I think as a country we should and that conversation has happened we remember the stories of the wind farm and so on the greater thrust towards that alternative source of energy and so perhaps a combination of LED and solar powered street lamps is something that we need to start thinking of and think of it for the longer term and so I want to submit as well Mr. President that as much as perhaps my member opposes and I know that it will be echoed by the other members it was echoed in the lower house and we know that there is normally a scripted repetition of what happens there to be mirrors in this house and so we expect that it will come but I want to submit to Mr. President that within almost 300, less than 365 days the government of St. Lucia has been able to even prior to the submission of a budget be able to manoeuvre well enough to be able to pay for safety's fee for our students and that is commendable and sometimes before I go into submit perhaps to mention the others I need to add that in my opinion as a head of a household as a mother as a working youth one of the things that has always been obvious is that when you look at your expenses when you look at your income and your expenses when you look at your budget and so on you always have to ask yourself where to place the monies and where will it be more effective Mr. President and so this is a government that you have come in and recognized that as much as the financial space has been very very difficult the question of where will you place the eggs that you have in order to bring a level of relief to your people and sometimes immediate relief Mr. President and I think it is something that my colleague really seems not to understand because he was part of a movement of fluff of grandeur of eggs and so I do not think that he understands that sometimes when you place things in a particular way that creates a bit of a squeeze you just release the pressure at least if that's all you can do at the time you release the pressure and give people the ability to manoeuvre Mr. President so sometimes for me it means that I don't get to eat an Italian ice cream at the end of the month Mr. President because the child needs an extra pencil and it's a sacrifice that I'm willing to make Mr. President for the greater good and this is what this government has been doing so yes things have been bad and yes there has not been a lot of resources to go around but this government understands that if I can then go out into the communities and help the elderly gentleman the sick gentleman or the sick lady who lives alone to repair the roof of their house Mr. President and so that is one of the burdens that physiological need is met and that burden is off of their back Mr. President that it will create a bit of a breathing space Mr. President and so perhaps a day or two that individual can now put a piece of cheese in their bread and enjoy it like the rest of them Mr. President but they don't seem to understand that in a time when things were really bad understood that as much as they could not perhaps give the one fight that my member of my oh you opposite keep speaking about and I remember very very early when we came in here that he indicated that his current remuneration as a senator can no longer support his lifestyle and so I suspect Mr. President that he's not been asking for that one fight for the rest of Senbusha you know I suspect he has been crying for himself so there is a bit of empathy and sympathy that I must show towards my member but when the public servants a promise made to the public servants in terms of an increase in their salaries was met by this administration was met by this administration if it was done Mr. President it speaks to a government who are looking out for their people and a government who understands that even though we cannot move one genie from one place to the next but we can do these little things that will ease the squeeze Mr. President and I can go on about the other things my son who is informed to came home with a laptop a couple days ago with two children in the household I had got devices you know I bought devices I bought tablets I bought laptops unfortunately it was at a juncture when my son had just said mommy my laptop not going on and then the government announced I should have sent it so that you all could have cleaned it up I should have done that a few years ago you are correct Mr. colleague senator so these are the little things that the government had done to ease the squeeze and even now for a little bit of of wiggle room a little bit of leeway and so Mr. President it is based on these submissions and they did it without having to to create a muddy poetic I mean if I have to count the amount of Tuesdays in that almost 365 days we had a couple Tuesdays and so if the current government had followed the path of the previous government and if we pull out a calendar we would be able to determine how many Tuesdays has been in that period of time and so it speaks for itself Mr. President and so I want to say that I I applaud the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre in the manner in which he has been able to manage the economy in the manner in which he has been able to ease and soothe the pens and the quenches of people especially the people who need it most Mr. President persons at the lower prongs of the income ladder persons who have no income because they have lost it during COVID-19 these people are grateful Mr. President for what their government has been able to do for them within the last 11 months and maybe some people do not understand it but the people who have actually felt the effects of the policies of this government you walk through the length of breath of St. Lucia and they are grateful for what has been done and this is what matters Mr. President the fact that the people know they understand because they feel the difference that has been done in the pockets, in the households in a way in which they have been able to leave Mr. President and so like I said I will not be long I make these submissions Mr. President in support of the motion before us Mr. President Thank you Senator Polius Yes please Mr. President and I want to also welcome our visitors here Mr. President this is another opportunity to advance my sentiments and to echo the same of the minority was mostly affected by legislation and policies crafted by this administration and its duplicity and psychological maneuverings but before I delve into the motion at hand Mr. President I seek your indulgence to express my profound sadness regarding the recent vicious and cold-hearted attack on our multi-calipso monarch Minela no one self-expression whether it be dance should be subject to that kind of atrocity in this country our sisters the women of all organized groups and I must single out the women of the United Workers Party parliamentarians and all kinds of family during this time and I hope Mr. President that as outlined in the recently ratified domestic violence act that the perpetrator or perpetrators of this heinous act will be brought to justice Mr. President I now segue to the motion to authorize to borrow a total of US $10 million from the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China to finance the implementation of national projects and implementation Mr. President administration when in opposition just as the UWP government during its tenure house on several occasions you see the truth works it does and this is exactly what was done that's right this is the truth that's right this is the truth that's what you all do for borrowing money for a multiplicity of reasons but principally for capital and current expenditure and this is exactly what you are doing friends and family and I'm going to show you this this is exactly what you are doing therefore Mr. President to refer to the mandate that any government including this one times to procure sources needed to run the economy and for the prime minister and minister of finance to borrow us we feel vindicated we feel vindicated Mr. President because what we realize is that the borrowings done by the full administration was justified that was justified Mr. President we recognize that small island developing states like ours states that are not self-sufficient and which have been seriously impacted by global phenomena like COVID-19 political unrest the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia didn't and we understand that this government is very much aware of the implications that such global happenings have on our country finance and management of the affairs of this country they knew it then and they know it now but what did they do instead Mr. President they mislead the people of this country the administration was recklessly borrowing when necessary and to finance current expenditure and address emerging shortfalls and to gain cheap political points they played on the psyche and the minds of the people of this country so Mr. President one does not need a high level of intellectual or psychological acuity to realize that this government unfolds the majority of the people of this country excess the red zone after two months of playway was lucy let her disconnect bad guy tell my word not just those and you claim that you are putting people first which people are you putting first who exactly are you putting first I have a warning I have a warning for you later on later on I hope that will be borrowed will be used to provide some form of relief to the people of St. Lucer not just those who supported you in the last general election but all who needs help the red zone versus the yellow zone this is what is happening now constituencies Mr. President and I'm hoping that such will discontinue as we move ahead I thank you Mr. President thank you Mr. President everything is a joke for you that's why you're not there on this side Mr. President allow me to thank you for acknowledging my request to contribute to this motion allow me to recognize the students from the Birmingham University to welcome them to St. Lucer I am pretty sure they will learn a lot from these debates today and of course a special congratulations to the students who for the first time sat the CPEA I know it was a very trying time almost two years at home and not being able to interact and experience a full classroom setting but the CPEA assessment 40% is an assessment of the time during the school year and 60% the exam so I really want to take this opportunity without singling out any students but to congratulate all those who were successful and wishing everyone else all the best next time Mr. President if you would further indulge me yes we are in the carnival season and I want to take this opportunity to to really say kudos to the team who have been putting on events very successful events the Calypsoanians who placed and the young Desral 22 year old Desral young as Calypsoanian in St. Lucer's history to have won the crown I think that is remarkable after independence thank you that is remarkable for our people and we did hear of some statements and how his achievements have been rewarded and really want to extend kudos again to the government for seeing the need to reinstate well they did make mention that early next year we will see the reinstatement of Junior Calypso thankfully we are in a period where we are recovering from COVID so we need to do just that Mr. President and of course as we are speaking about carnival and Calypso I really have to of course it would be remiss of me if I did not extend speedy recovery to Calypsoanian Minnell I will not go into the details of what happened we know it has been a trying time her personal issue her physical ailments being out in the media but we really want to extend speedy recovery to her and we did hear of the government's efforts to provide support to her so we are really thankful that this is being done and lastly in my introduction Mr. President something very unique has happened with our young people again in 2013 Saint Lucia brought home two medals from CCCAN the Caribbean swimming competitions in 2014 one medal 2018 two medals 2019 two and this year our Saint Lucia team has brought home 11 medals for a very long time our young people are finally reaching out in the world stage and making us proud and we want to let them know that we are truly proud Mr. President as I go I know my members on this side who have gone before have spoken about the motion before us but I just wanted to highlight a few things which came up and I thought it really needed to be addressed with the 10 million US that is being borrowed what I am very happy about this Mr. President is that for the first time in a long time a breakdown was given a breakdown was given and in the event that the members opposite would not pay attention to the house or didn't see the briefing notes or continue to play two Saint Lucians like they have no idea because that is just usual business for them a breakdown was presented now when the Saint Lucia Labour Party was in opposition let me just remind the members opposite we never said there was something wrong with borrowing our fundamental problem or issue with the borrowing by the then UWP administration was it was just borrowing with absolutely little to no Mr. President there you see US 10 million is being borrowed there is a breakdown for every single thing but half a billion was borrowed under the previous UWP administration and where did the money go that's what Mardi Poit was all about Saint Lucia's just I was an opposition senator at the time so I can talk about that every Tuesday I had to wake up and come to the house to listen and on a Thursday present on borrowing borrowing where I could not understand what the breakdown was for Mr. President we never said we had a problem with borrowing we had an issue with exactly what it was going to be borrowed for with the irresponsibility of the UWP administration and most importantly the transparency now the big difference with that previous administration and this administration is that we have aligned we have showed a breakdown 11 million COVID 11 million easy from this borrowing this US 10 million is for COVID relief but we borrowed previously half a billion for COVID relief and we have to come here and borrow 11 million why because we are paying off your debts we are paying and the Saint Lucia Labor Party Administration has to come in now this that we are not being dealt with the Saint Lucia public this will not pass we are coming and we are seeing exactly what we are borrowing for Mr. President the 500,000 that is dedicated to the craft and CMOS sectors as my colleague K. Giano but the breakdown the Prime Minister did give a breakdown where we see 500 would go towards the craft and CMOS sector 7.2 million for economic recovery and empowerment and I realize that they had a problem with the breakdown of that we must not forget that they paid 35 million to an accounting firm to do our budget our people's budget our qualified and experienced civil servants could have done that 35 million you paid to an outside company but we are giving a fraction of that cost a fraction of this for administration for our young skilled and experienced young people and you have a problem with that the same way you had a problem with train time that's just part of it and if we want to talk about Prime we can talk about it but I can leave that for later because that is not the issue here before us Mr. President we are talking about we are talking about the 3.4 million for street lighting and Senator Charley did speak about that we are moving away from the sodium and replacing with LED lights our electricity bills are very high and yes we must explore solar energy as well Mr. President but in the meantime this is what we can do to cushion the blow we did not cause if we have to go to that then reform project that they stopped Mr. President we did not cause climate change but as a country we need to do the responsible thing and do what we can to reduce and mitigate the efforts of climate change in St. Lucia and this is just one aspect of it we know that St. Lucia our Prime Minister is the head of Sustainable Development at Caricom and he's made a commitment to ensuring that a lot of our efforts will go towards mitigating efforts in St. Lucia against climate change a further breakdown talks about the 4 million dollars for the Millennium Highway West Coast Road yes the sun turning started in the previous UWP administration and I know there is going to be an inquiry as to why this project is taking so long because the first part the first allocation that was given to execute that project why was it taking so long different people signed different contracts all of these things we have to look into and because the previous administration was not transparent about a lot of things the St. Lucia Labour because the previous administration was not accountable exactly so Mr President I did not want to really stand to speak on this because I really thought it was straight forward we knew it was repurposing of funds I remember there was a time right before election we had to come on a Thursday to come to do this borrowing they kept delaying they delayed they delayed they wanted to borrow it but we are simply repurposing this for efforts that will really matter to our people in this time and age so when members opposite want to come and say the St. Lucia Labour Party will get a failing grade the St. Lucia Labour Party administration will get a failing grade for what it is doing for these people we have done so much for our people in 100 days more than you have ever done in 5 to 6 years Mr President when we can go there we can go to locations in his budget we have been seeing what has been happening the efforts that is going to make our people more competitive were you at export the runway last night I remember the last time they ever did that I saw a number of brilliant designers walking that runway last night Mr President and I stayed there all the way to the end because I'm saying this is what we have to offer to our people diversifying our efforts putting our people on the global stage when they were so concerned with just building hotels that they never even built one in five years we are diversifying and we are doing the right thing and ensuring that what we experience with COVID we hope to never experience again so Mr President my advice is for the next well the last speaker is to support this motion because we really need to ensure that efforts are put in place so we can take our country to the next level thank you thank you very much Mr President and let me welcome the students from Birmingham University Honourable Chamber wishing you all the very best and God's richest blessings during your stay on the island Mr President today the members opposite have been caught in the web of lies and deceit when it comes to borrowing members Mr President just a few months ago chanted but I said in parliament I said to pay $124 million they are here today the first day in one sitting four resolutions to borrow over $154 million the same government in opposition Mr President who echoed who echoed to the people of St. Lucia to the children of St. Lucia who is going to pay those debts and the United States is being accrued who is going to pay that debt of $144 $45 million whose children because you all said back it was the children of St. Lucia who made the monies we borrowed I want to ask you all of the $500 million you are borrowing to finance this year's budget whose children are going to pay for those monies are they Beijing children Antigone children they were all against borrowing Mr President I'm asking all of us here whose children are going to pay what you are proposing there thank you Mr Deputy President I shall continue with my presentation the same persons Mr Deputy President who clamored against borrowing in the budget presentation the appropriation deal of 2020-2023 it's already a document of the house Mr Deputy President I refer you to page 58 debt management the prime minister's words Mr Speaker debt is an inescapable reality if we are to finance the capital investments necessary to expand the economy wow it was a problem under the United Logos Party to borrow we didn't have to borrow but under their administration it is an inescapable reality and hence today we are here to borrow in the first motion 10 million US and the other three motions all of it will amount to $154 million this is the same prime minister in opposition who said you wouldn't be able to borrow but today less than one year in office the fiscal space is available as a result of the policies of the United Logos Party for you to come and borrow $124.5 million it is right there economic and social review it doesn't lie it doesn't lie economic and social review the estimates revenue have picked to pre-COVID numbers you all went about $120 million above the projected out turn so don't tell me it is not true Mr. President Mr. Deputy President I believe in the lower house on Tuesday it was said that the crisis in which we are in today is worse than COVID fact Madam Senator said it's fact the crisis in which we are in today is worse than COVID Mr. President do is blame Russia-Ukraine war you understand there is no war with Russia-Ukraine war if it rains, Russia-Ukraine war we never said there is no on Russia-Ukraine war and that is the crisis of the day and we are still lingering from COVID but I want Mr. President, Mr. Deputy President to refresh their memory on the crisis of COVID which we had to deal with and compare it to the crisis you all have today and let us go back to March 2020 Mr. Deputy President when this country was shut down almost shut down almost 14,000 persons working in the hotel industry at home revenue dropped in certain instances by 70% from 100 million a month to 33 million 45 million Mr. Deputy President and yet still with all of that every civil servant was paid paid a time was paid in operating cost at VH OKEU the Cuban Brigade quarantine and so on paid expenses income support electricity support additional persons in your money to the most valuable revenue dropping by 70, 60, 50 40% today Mr. Deputy President revenue to pre-COVID numbers all the resorts are reopened a majority of the hotel employees are back at work there is a trickle down effect from tourism happening what are the expenses medical expenses COVID have gone down the numbers have gone down the number of quarantine facilities have gone down and you want to tell me you want to tell me you want to tell me that the crisis now is worse than COVID not at all who is going to believe that who is going to believe that who is going to believe that you are not in the world you are not in the world for you to tell people the crisis now is worse than COVID Mr. President Mr. Deputy President we heard about youth economy CMOS cottage industries street lighting they are all important they are all important but it is the hypocrisy coming from you all on this side the hypocrisy when it comes to burrowing because you all know you all said it it is inescapable to burrow during the COVID crisis it was for budgetary support our revenue had gone down 70% by 70, 60, 50, 40% you all know that but yes still you all played cheap politics created fear confusion in the minds of the people of this country that UWP was only burrowing burrowing and nothing has been done in the month you all have returned to pre-pandemic revenue levels CIP CIP have generated over 100 million dollars you all are coming here to burrow over 154 million dollars I have not heard anything from the leader of government business regarding fuel prices we know fuel prices have gone up all over the world I am not blaming you all I am not blaming the government for inflation for the price of fuel for the price of food I am coming to that Mr. Deputy President fuel prices of 2008 Mr. Deputy President oil was about $147 US a barrel $147 a barrel United Workers Party was in government back then fuel was at $12.75 a gallon now fuel is $104 US a barrel $104 a barrel the price of a gallon of gas is $17.95 and right now our revenue is much higher than back in 2007-2008 2008-2009 the recession at $12.75 a gallon of fuel in St. Lucia we never raised bus fares on the people at $17.95 but you will have raised it on the people during this inflation crisis you will have enough you will have enough revenue right now to subsidize the fuel and cap the cost of fuel in the country because there are many other Caribbean countries doing the same you will have no excuses excuses Mr. Deputy President when it comes to that there are many measures which can be taken with that $140 million you are borrowing to help with the rising costs of foods many measures we are blaming you all for that increase we understand the issue but there are many things that we can do with the policies you all can implement you all can reduce the fat that's correct you all can further, we reduce it by 2.5 go further down and reduce it by another 2.5% you all can do that Mr. Deputy President excuses after excuses weeks, no sugar and all sorts of excuses when all Caribbean countries all OECS all over the place all over all over all over but just coming in supply chain issues because of their supply chain issues onions and luscious supply chain issues not to get sugar the difference they can't manage they cannot manage and Mr. President I got a point of sugar this morning look at this that's the quality of sugar that's the quality of sugar you are importing it into this country what's that brown sugar what color is that show it that's the quality of the sugar you are bringing in for our people we are sick we are sick we are sick we are sick that's what you are importing into the country high chain issues and you all talk about governance management you all cannot even manage a government where I was to bring in the right sugar for the people of the country I'm killing people with that kind of sugar I do not know if it is brown if it is black, if it is thin I don't know what Mr. Deputy President $34 million has been borrowed today passport prices have increased from $30 to $250 you are not going to subsidize it on our government who's in government right now when did the increase in the price of of passports came into effect you are not in charge you are not in charge who's in charge you all change all policies you all stop everything you all couldn't stop then the minister of finance could stop the price of passports or anything you should come and tell us you should come and tell us Mr. Deputy President $144 million has been borrowed today $10 million US in this first motion has been borrowed Mr. President but yet still we are axing vendors we are axing vendors for carnival $40, $15, $20 for a little tree in these hard economic times they are trying to make a dollar to feed their families we are axing them for a little tree of drinks on the sidewalk a little grill a little cooler pay $40, $50 but Mr. President, Deputy President we are able to give carnival bands a 100% duty free conversation to make ends meet with people who love drinks they have to pay for a little grill and yet they tell you they put in people first whom are the people they put in first Mr. Deputy President Mr. President $144 million unlike my colleague said it articulated earlier we did not hear anything about the $1500 promised in the election campaign for every citizen of the country we did not hear anything about the $1500 for Christ's sake in one sitting you are not borrowing a total of $144 million not even $500 you can offer when revenue to pre-con pandemic levels CIP revenue is up come on you are not saying anything about the removal of the $1.50 tax for the fishermen and we have $144.5 million been borrowed in one sitting the tax refunds you all have $144 million we are all singing and you all understood the challenges do not come and make excuses to the people of Saint Lucia about Ukraine and this and that we know there is a Ukraine and Russia war but you all can do better you all have the capacity you all have the physical space to be over and do better for the people but they just can't that is what you all need to do so Mr. Speaker, Mr. Deputy Speaker and President this motion is a motion which has revealed that this is a government which is lost in transition this motion being put out there to achieve any of the objectives that the leader of government business have articulated Mr. Deputy President and I believe that the government is in opposition to do a lot more for the people of Saint Lucia who are suffering right now and it is not being done misplaced priorities Mr. Deputy President I thank you Thank you very much Mr. Deputy President it was not my intention to speak but I had to I had to just add my voice to give support to the motion before us this afternoon before I delve briefly Mr. Deputy President I wish to offer condolences to the families of Mr. Keith Wicks an excellent educator families of Mrs. Daphne Marie a former politician and of course best wishes to our four-time Calypso Monarch Royal Highness Queen Miner and to send best wishes to her and say to her we missed her at the finals I want to stand in solidarity with her and to send strength and courage to her daughter Shiner and she continues to take care of her mother and family members so we seek justice for Royal Highness our Queen Miner I want to extend congratulations to the 42 young women who participated in a workshop a training workshop here as part of Y Wales and Lucia chapter Young Women a scholarship program in Saint Lucia 42 young women from the ages of 18 to 25 years participated over a couple of weeks they came from all over Saint Lucia and they had a chance to do a simulation exercise in this August chamber and it was brilliant to see them so I want to say to them continue to be transformational leaders in their communities and I hope one day I can see them sitting and representing their communities their people in this August chamber I also want to add my voice to welcome the students of my alma mater Birmingham University and I want to wish them the best as they are here in Saint Lucia and of course to encourage them to take in everything good that Saint Lucia has to offer I hope that this is a learning experience and when they go back they may give best wishes from all the students of Birmingham University who are Saint Lucia the former Prime Minister Dr Kelly Anthony and the whole host of us so welcome and of course enjoy Saint Lucia's beauty and hospitality Mr Deputy President the motion before us is about borrowing for the people of Saint Lucia to benefit the people of Saint Lucia and like I heard the presentations been scripted in that borrowing was bad and we should not borrow it has been refuted and so I do not understand what part of it they do not get I mean that they were irrespective of Saint Lucia did not benefit they stood by helplessly watching millions of dollars go to friends, foreigners and family I maintain this Mr Deputy Speaker and Mr Deputy President it will not change the situation Saint Lucia's know what they experienced during 2016 to 2021 then no they have not forgotten there may be so much noise coming from this other side it's the carnival season but this is no carnival in here we are not masquerading in here we are not jumping up in here this is the people's business we are taking care of it there and no amount of people of this country and through the government to talk about the needs of the people I appreciate all this laughter and fun because this is a serious place we saw it happening in America we just saw it in the UK at least in the UK they were brave enough to tell the chamber they all said what they had to say to the leader to stop the pain that they were causing the people of Saint Lucia now they come here screaming of all kinds of untruths when it was time to ask the relevant questions on behalf of all the people of the UK and the people of the US and the people of Saint Lucia did what they had to do about these leaders we need to be bold we need to be brave we need to have what it takes to stand up and be honest and you were not honest when you had to say to your leader enough is enough you had to and you failed do you have no I am happy you are asking questions ask questions about the man he is going to and definitely it is here for the youth economy we have young people all over the country who have great skill great capacity all they need is the start of point all they need is direction all they need is guidance they need that and they need the resources to do what they need to do to make this country a better place they need to open doors for them yes, we need to give the craft the need to make way and put Saint Lucia on the map we need to give support to those within the CMOS sector I have been down in Pwale and I see men and women rising up early as 4.30 in the morning the CMOS to put the CMOS to dry if you see the spaces that they have the CMOS we need to support them because CMOS is a brilliant product we need to give them the support the resources for better drying facility we need to give them the gas that they need to get into this cold water at 4.30 in the morning we need to support the CMOS farmers we need to support them and that is why I am supporting this motion here this afternoon Mr. Deputy President because Saint Lucia will benefit and yes we talk about the roads we have made a road from DSH for 13 million don't need these monies to people and the Saint Lucia is not we have no oil but we have our crafters we have no box site but we have our CMOS farmers we have no diamond but we have our youth we are not like Guyana although managing badly we are not like Guyana Mr. Deputy President we have and as our students are living we wish them well we say goodbye to them and we thank them for being with us today for this crisis we are not saying that this is not a crisis situation this is a crisis situation but the government has been able to respond reinstating the distress fund taking care of the elderly taking care of the nice program expanding the nice program we are not saying this is not bad times we are saying yes we acknowledge it is bad times but we have to do we have to manage our resources in the most prudent way and we have to manage whatever we borrow in the most prudent way and I say to the members opposite keep your eyes make sure that you see what is happening where the monies are going that is your responsibility as Senators Opposite to keep track but you have to you spend the money who benefits from the loans it must be your people just like a parent if you want to borrow money you save for your children's needs and you go to the rum shop and you drink it all that is irresponsible borrowing we want to make sure if you want to care so much about the inclusion keep your eyes on the money and I heard a member opposite asking who will pay back who will pay back we needed to hear those questions when we are dealing with DSH and Crabot and Pobmandu we needed to hear those questions there was no voice he asked it not a voice not a voice except of course for me and the other 6 I don't know whether they ask those questions in cabinet but have they asked the questions Mr. Deputy President to ask to do what he's doing point of order Mr. Deputy President 35 the member is imputing your proper motive as a member of the former cabinet I cannot sit here and allow her to do so so if we look at standing order 37-5 you would see that the member is clearly in violation of it because by asking who will pay back she is clearly asserting that somehow we use taxpayers money to develop Crabot and to develop DSH those assertions are totally incorrect we never spend money for horses we never spend money for building a horse racing track we never when you ask the question who will pay back we are talking about borrowing state funds we strongly imply that what she is suggesting but that question it has a big implication so you can't imply that we use state funds to fund DSH it's absolutely untrue and I ask the member to prove that if she can't prove it she needs to desist from saying so I didn't understand that to be what the member was saying as I understood she was very generally dealing with being borrowed I didn't get her to be saying that government had borrowed money for DSH and for these things she was saying that question should have been asked in cabinet as regards those those various activities if you don't mind Mr President we are speaking in the context of spending state funds the member went on to respond to a question asked by the senator who will pay back he is asking about the public debt that was risen by this administration by the motion which is seeking to borrow state funds now by him asking who will pay back her response is he should have asked that question when we were talking about DSH and I am saying to her she cannot link the two because they are vastly different that's what I am saying because not a single dollar and that's an absolute fact I challenge the member to disprove me as I said I did not get the member to be saying that but I will ask the member to be very careful in what she says to make sure she does not go down that line thank you thank you moving right along Mr Deputy since people cannot understand I guess what's the point so I am saying Mr Deputy President that I appreciate the questions being asked about borrowing in all honesty I appreciate I am saying have those questions been asked five years ago six years ago have people been as resolute in standing for the people of this country it would have been a different situation but I appreciate the questions being asked today on behalf of the people but the people of this country under this administration will benefit the farmers the fishers as they are already the youth students public service police they will benefit for the various initiatives being crafted being implemented after loans are taken they will benefit and this is what it's about the people doing what is needed for the people Mr President, Deputy President I have no time for this back and forth I have no time for this I want to ensure that the loans are granted and the people benefit I rest my peace Thank you Mr President I will attempt in my brief rebuttal I intended for it to be extremely brief but I have been given so many pointers that I think need to be addressed I will do so briefly and in doing so I hope that there is some level of sanity and clarity brought to this debate Mr Deputy President first of all before I actually do the brief rebuttal I have noticed a pattern that started in the lower house and one of the senators today attempted to continue to do so and I want to say on behalf of all of us in the Senate that when there is a situation where someone's life or health has been in some way affected we need to keep it away from the politics and to come to stand up in this house and mention our former queen, Minel in the same sentence where you will discuss or mention issues that deal with which political party people support and what they think about I think that's a very dangerous line and all I think it is very low and I think what I will advise the member is to say or self-expression in the same sentence where you are expressing words of comfort to someone who has been hurt I think it is better if the members opposite advise their leader to visit Minel and reach out to her in the way that our government has decided to do I think that's the approach we should take so in that vein I also wish well and I will not descend that level to continue any discussion about a condition or situation in this August Mr. President as I welcome you back in my brief rebuttal I take note of a few points that were raised by various members of the opposition I wish to begin with the issue raised with the senator who spoke second, the senator Polius she did mention something regarding the acknowledging actually that the global events particularly the role on Ukraine have influenced the activities of other countries and that borrowing is necessary and I think that's about the only thing I remember that really contributed in a way that is meaningful to this debate so I want to reiterate and thank her for making that point that the global events and the circumstances do have an effect on us so I commend her for acknowledging that now she asked in that same discussion who is benefiting from the borrowing that we're doing and attempted to indicate that it wasn't everyone I want to cite one example that she can relate to Mr. President because like myself she is a former educator I want to cite that what we are doing is benefitting the children of St. Lucia the children in the schools that we have paid the CXC fees the children in the schools that we have given their laptops back that's how it's benefitting and these children are the children of all the parents of this country blue, red, black, white and yellow we are not going through any kind of political system to take care of them every student in this country is benefitting so I hope that question is answered Mr. President the street lighting program was a discussion point I raised it in the explanation and it was challenged by almost all the members opposite I want to say Mr. President to address the leader of opposition business who raised it first he asked for explanation he wanted more detail and he wanted to know how many lights were going to be paid for Mr. President I have two suggestions for him one, as a former MP of Ansari Canaries where Jack Mann is a community he needs to, I'll tell him that these lights are just a little more than the lights that were put on the Jack Mann field of input through the village tourism program and when he can give us an explanation of how these two link then I'll give him the rest of the answer Mr. President I also want to answer the question by also telling him that if he as the leader of opposition business wants some more clarification on the number of lights we should consult the Perjuer letter because I think there's a lot of content there that he can revise consult that letter and I think he'll get some clarification Mr. President I moved to a third issue and I think that was raised by again the leader of government business for the umpteenth time of opposition business for the umpteenth time in this honorable senate Mr. President he keeps referring to this $1500 the last time I said it to him in English I'll say to him in QO see that way the opposition is bad it's not $1500 that he can show and I think the issue here I don't know how much he's concerned about that $1500 whether as my colleague said if it is for the people of this country or if it is for himself Mr. President on another note regarding that I want to also remind the member that while he's asking for direct cash to be given to people if you do a bit of math and you calculate the cost that is incurred on a parent for buying a laptop for paying CXC fees for one year or for one tomb for the child for paying facilities fees for one year for the child and you add together it will be way in excess of double the $1500 that he's talking about so by these three actions only this government has directly impacted the pockets of the parents who now can make use of that money to do other things so it's not just because we haven't given everybody $1500 cash in their hands that we have not made a dent or we have not made a serious contribution towards alleviating the plight of the people of this country so Mr. President we have also I also need to remind the opposition that sometimes memories short and I don't like to come to this honorable house to remind them of what they did in government because it has landed them over there and it's very obvious that the people of St. Lucia weren't stupid and they made the right decision so when they stand there and try to tell us that we're fooling people we're not fooling anybody nobody's been fooled and they have to observe and they make the decision at the right time so if we want to know who's been fooled let's wait for the result of the next elections and we'll see who's been fooled Mr. President I also made note of a fourth point and that is the discussion on COVID there was a point raised by Senator Stanislas when he asked about the COVID crisis or suggested that the COVID crisis in his government's was worse than the current situation that we have I don't want to try to make comparisons there because this can be a long drawn out debate but there's one thing I'd like to tell him and I'd like to remind him of during that COVID crisis that the opposition claims was so devastating and we know it was this opposition then in government borrowed in excess of $300 million that was put on the backs of St. Lucia in the name of that COVID crisis so while he's saying that things were bad we had fiscal space to borrow in excess of over $300 million that a lot of it now is still unaccounted for we still want to know what happened to the vaccines money that was paid that we cannot retrieve we still want to know why we are still after you borrowed $300 plus million dollars this government is trapped with having to pay 13 fees and quarantine bills that you left over so when there is this talk about which crisis is worse I don't want to get into this discussion it's very clear what's happening Mr. President I now move to the issue of fuel prices Mr. President fuel prices around the world have gone up and I think the opposition has admitted that but the question was asked of this government as to what are we doing and I remember when the member Opposition Senator Sanislas with his charisma and his you know his body language give the people the money you know these are little catch phrases that they thought was working until until June, July 27th I'm 26 Mr. President he did ask what are we doing for the people of St. Lucia when it comes to the price of fuel and fuel related items I'll use one example and I want the Senate to pay attention to the figure that I'm about to give Mr. President there is what we are doing let's take a 20 pound cylinder of gas that the average mother, the average household in St. Lucia the average low income individual purchases maybe once or twice a month Mr. President the government is subsidizing $26.15 on every cylinder of 20 pound of every 20 pound cylinder and so the St. Lucia household average household is now paying $43.78 for that 20 pound cylinder had it not been for the actions of this government now the average household housewife in this country would have had to pay $69.93 for a 20 pound cylinder so you want me to answer the question here is what we are doing we are subsidizing heavily the cost of fuel that they did not do in their time they collected $4 of excise tax on fuel right now Mr. President we are collecting zero in fact in addition to collecting zero we are contributing to it we have enjoyed $4 increased it by 250 by 60% and enjoyed $4 of excise tax but now he is asking us what are we doing well in addition to not collecting any excise tax we are further subsidizing on the 20 pound cylinder I will also use the 22 pound cylinder which households also purchase Mr. President right now the 22 pound cylinder a household or consumer $1.16 the government is subsidizing this by $28.78 without the subsidy Mr. President the math will show us that that consumer would have had to pay $76.92 today for the price of a 22 pound cylinder that is what we are doing we are not asking a single mother or a single parent family to go to the gas station and purchase a cylinder of 22 a 22 pound cylinder for $76 we are absorbing $28.75 there was a time I paid that amount for a cylinder of gas so when the member asked what are we doing I think it's a good question to ask it is a good question we are concerned about our people I gave him two examples of what we are doing dealing with the cost of fuel we are making it easier for the average inclusion family to be able to afford cooking gas just one example Mr. President I'm not even going to the price of bread that's another one that we are heavily subsidizing for the beakers to allow inclusions to access a basic commodity so I don't want to spend the entire debate on these examples I've given to Mr. President I want to now move to a situation where a question was raised I think it was during the discussion when Senator Reynolds was speaking and the leader of government business interjected and the interjection was based on a point that the senator asked who will pay and he stood up on a point of order to suggest that the member was imputing improbable motives but Mr. President I want to address that who is going to pay and he also attempted I don't know why every time he makes his noise when I am about to, when I am here to respond to him he's not in his chair you know I don't know I think I'm going to just stop responding because he's not here to get the response but I will leave the message with his two colleagues when he returns please let him know that I'm responding Mr. President the leader of government business challenged my colleague senator on the point that somebody has to pay for debt that was incurred on this government because of DSH and he wanted to refute it I want to repeat Mr. President that it is true it is absolutely true that DSH caused us to have to be paying debt today and I will give you the example while we didn't build a horse track on the government's money yes we never said so this his government built a 13 million dollar road bypass road a 13 million dollar bypass road to facilitate the building of the horse track Mr. President who is paying 30 million dollars now to relocate Abattoir I don't want to go into all of this there is so much cost incurred on this government to facilitate DSH you think senators are not smart enough to know that just because you didn't buy the horses and you didn't build a horse track that we didn't spend money on DSH we are still paying bills in this government incurred because of DSH and we have nothing to show for it but some horses that were sent back to wherever Mr. President when a member can stand on his feet and accuse a colleague senator of ours on this side of the house of imputed impoverished motives because she made a statement of facts if he was still there I would have asked him to withdraw it Mr. President this is grossly misleading and I think he is the one who was imputed impoverished motives this government that I serve is now saddled with debt that was left over by the government that is now the opposition now who are now put in pressure and telling us that we shouldn't buy but again Mr. President St. Lucien answered that question a few months ago Mr. President finally on the matter of borrowing Mr. President the opposition is not learning as a teacher learning was defined as a change of behavior brought about by either experience or change of cognitive features there are all kinds of definitions learning is supposed to be something that causes you to change your behavior so when you learn there are things that you should not repeat you should not do but I don't think that this opposition is learning and my colleague from my colleague senator who is an educator can relate to what learning is but I see this opposition the very same things that cause them to land over there they are coming to the senate to do it again I just wish them luck with it Mr. President Mr. President and here is the example making a point about borrowing as if we suggested that they shouldn't be borrowing we are not borrowing for good reasons Mr. President I want to remind this opposition that between March 2020 soon after there was the the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and July 2021 just over a year this opposition then in government $821 million that's what they borrowed $821 million in total and one of these included a single loan after cancelling a PPP arrangement that would have cost us no money a single loan for the airport of over $500 that accumulatively million dollars but they can come and sit in this house today we are asking the government to approve $10 million and we've broken it down into so many different initiatives that they can come and try to make fun of this bringing sugar I don't know what is in that nylon bag Mr. President this plastic bag I think that's mud I don't know if it's some stuff from the souffle Salfa Springs and I will not taste it because I don't trust what's in there Mr. President I don't know why a member will live souffle with a parcel of mud and come to this house and try to make fun of an attempt by this government to borrow $10 million to help the people of Central Asia it tells you how I mean you can respond to things on the spur of the moment but to prepare yourself for a debate with that in mind there is an intention there it tells you the level at which your position is operating they bring the props to the house well I can thank them thankfully it's carnival time so I forgive them but there is no carnival in this Senate this is a serious business place if you want carnival go and jump up with the revelers next week Tuesday this is a serious place for business don't bring props and try to show and ridicule the business of this house if you want to costume register if one of the bands and go and jump up on Tuesday and Monday next week Mr. President let me close in closing I want to see that this government after almost one year office is here to make decisions that the country needs to respond to there were pronouncements made in the budget and this government will continue to align every action according to these pronouncements in the budget and will be consistent in its plight or in its effort to ensure that every single initiative borrowing legislation of any other that is taken in this country is going to be down to the benefit of its citizens and is going to bring our country into a better place than we found it when we inherited what this government left for us on July 26 of 2021 I thank you Mr. President be it resolved that parliament authorizes a minister of finance to borrow the amount of US $10 million from the export import bank of the Republic of China to finance the implication of national development projects and initiatives be it further resolved that A, the loan is repairable in 30 consecutive equal or as nearly equal as possible semi-annual installments, the first of which must be made on the last day of the 66 month from the date of the first advance on the loan that is made by the export import bank of the Republic of China and thereafter on the last day of each successive six month period if the full amount of the loan has been drawn down each principal installment must be in the amount of US $333,334 except that the last principal installment must be in the amount of US $333 $333,314 otherwise the amount of each installment shall be adjusted by the export import bank of the Republic of China C, interest is payable at the rate of the six month secured overnight financing rate plus 0.20% plus 1.5% per annum and D, the loan is repairable in 20 years commencing from the date of the first disbursement of the loan inclusive of a grace period of five years I now put the question as many as are as many as are of that opinions as many as are of a country opinions to know I think the eyes have it the eyes have it do you have a government business? President I move for the suspension of this house or the senate for one hour for lunch to return at 2.30 the question is that this house be suspended for one hour until 2.30 all those who have like opinions say aye all those who have a country opinions say no I think the eyes have it the eyes have it just broken for our first break our break for lunch and we should be returning in another hour so far we've had papers to be and the first motion out of five motions scheduled for today has been debated and discussed and that motion was a motion to borrow US $10 million from the export import back of the export import bank of the Republic of China on Taiwan and this is to facilitate a lot of national initiatives and developments within the country the millennium highway west coast construction project and to facilitate the growth of initiatives such as crafts business and CMOS business we hope you have been enjoying our broadcast and our coverage we should be back as I mentioned within the hour please stay tuned to the national television network as well as our social media platforms I am your host and anchor Jacques Kinson Compton you're watching the national television network