Almighty God, by whom alone kings reign and princes decree justice, and from whom alone cometh all counsel, wisdom, and understanding. We then, unworthy servants, hair-gathered together in thy name, do most humbly beseech thee to send down thy heavenly wisdom from above, to direct and guide us in all our consultations, and grant that we, having thy fair 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 wheel, 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. Good morning, Senators. I have received correspondence from the Speaker of the House of Assembly, advising that the following bills will pass in the House of Assembly and forwarded to this Honourable House for its concurrence. The recording of court proceedings, Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission Agreement, the Youth Economy Agency, the Firearms Amendment. I also beg to announce that His Excellency the Governor-General has been pleased to assent the following bill, International Banks Amendment. Let me at this time take the opportunity, although fewer in numbers this time around as compared to our previous sitting, but I take the opportunity on behalf of this Chamber to welcome the students from the University of Birmingham. Now in the note that I have before me says University of Birmingham, London. So is it that there is a branch in London? Okay, so that's a typo. Welcome my students from a place that I have very fond memories of. Welcome students from the University of Birmingham. Welcome. Statements from Ministers. Papers to be laid. Leader of Government Business. Thank you Mr. President. Good morning colleagues and a special welcome and good morning to our visitors, our students from Birmingham University. Mr. President, I beg to lay the following paper standing in my name. Statutory Instrument No. 83A of 2022. Price Control Amendment No. 11 Order. Statutory Instrument No. 84 of 2022. Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic. Designation of Inspector's Amendment Order. Statutory Instrument No. 85 of 2022. Legal Profession Eligibility. Chantal Allison Thomas Marshall Order. Statutory Instrument No. 86 of 2022. Legal Profession Eligibility. Hugh Charlesworth Marshall Order. Statutory Instrument No. 87 of 2022. Legal Profession Eligibility. Kemmer Makisha Luisha Makiba Benjamin Order. Statutory Instrument No. 88 of 2022. Tourism Stimulus and Investment. Cameron Inc. Order. Statutory Instrument No. 89 of 2022. Tourism Incentive. Cameron Inc. Order. Statutory Instrument No. 90 of 2022. Tourism Incentive. Make Limited Order. Statutory Instrument No. 91 of 2022. 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. Statutory Instrument No. 92 of 2022. Public Finance Management Act. Resolution of Parliament to Borrow for Capital and Current Expenditure. Operating Expenses in the Health Sector Related to the COVID-19 Virus Pandemic. Statutory Instrument No. 93 of 2022. Public Finance Management Act. Resolution of Parliament to Borrow for Capital and Current Expenditure. Implementation of the Unleashing of the Blue Economy of the Caribbean Project. Statutory Instrument No. 94 of 2022. Public Finance Management Act. Resolution of Parliament to Borrow for Capital and Current Expenditure. Organization of the Eastern Caribbean State's Data for Decision Making Project. Statutory Instrument No. 95 of 2022. Public Finance Management Act. Resolution of Parliament to Write Off Debt Ode to the Government by Fawcenejak Credit Community Society. Credit Cooperative Society for the Mocha Housing Development Project. Honourable Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Investment, Creative Industries, Culture and Information and Leader of Government Business. Mr President, I beg to present for first reading a bill shortly entitled, Recording of Court Proceedings. Recording of Court Proceedings. Leader of Government Business. Mr President, I beg to move for suspension of Standing Order 49-2 to allow the bill to go through its remaining stages at this sitting. Senators, the question is that Standing Order No. 49-2 be suspended in order to allow the Honourable Leader of Government Business to proceed with the remaining stages of the bill at this sitting. I now put the question, as many as are of that opinion say aye, as many as are of a contrary opinion say no, I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it. Leave is granted, Leader of Government Business, you may proceed. Thank you Mr President. Mr President, I beg to present for second reading a bill shortly entitled, Recording of Court Proceedings. Mr President, as we would know, or we should appreciate, the official record of whatever is said or happens in a court of law in a court must be accurately recorded. And there are many reasons why that happens because these whatever happens in a court during court proceedings may very well decide the fate of someone or their future, their life, and has serious implications for decision making. And that may be used to inform the interpretation of the actions of lawyers, magistrates, and invariably impact the lives of people. So it's very important that we in the interest of democracy, fairness, and transparency ensure that there is no room or very little room for any ambiguity or any misrepresentation of what happens in court. Well, I think we have some legal minds in this chamber and I think we would appreciate that clients, prosecutors, and anybody who operates in a court wants to be as accurate and as fair as possible. We are a government that believes in equity and fairness and we believe that this piece of legislation addresses an issue that can bring a bit of equity. Particularly, since we are a bilingual country, and Mr. President, in some cases, persons who are before the court may have difficulty with what I consider our second language, which is the official English language. We have people in this country who are more comfortable and more competent in what we call our Creole, our Creole language, and they may be able to better express themselves in Creole and you want to ensure that when they do, the information that they present or they offer is accurately recorded by whoever is doing the interpretation or whoever is entering that official record into the court because it is the official record that has been entered that will be retrieved or that should be retrieved in the event that there is an appeal or there is need for reference to be made to these records. Being from a community where Creole is widely spoken, Mr. President, I too appreciate the need for this to happen and we do not want any injustice to be served to anyone simply because they were unable to express themselves in the official language, which is English. And I think this piece of legislation really seeks to minimize, if not eliminate, that possibility and give people, residents, citizens, and anyone before the court in our country a level of fairness and equity. And as a government that represents the interests of the people, I believe this is a very critical piece of legislation. Often there is a level of, there is a correlation that we make between the level of literacy of someone and the level of vulnerability. Most of the time, if you look at our socioeconomic information, research, census, and so on, you will find that there is a positive correlation between persons who are semi-literate or totally illiterate and the standard of living and the access to information and the ability to be represented or to have their views represented. And so we have to also remember those people. So it's not only people who are unable to speak first language, but also people who may have difficulty expressing themselves using our official language. So Mr. President, I really welcome this piece of legislation, and I hope that it finds comfort and support in this Honorable Senate to be ascended for the benefit of the people who live it most. I thank you, Mr. President. Senator, as the question is that the recording of court proceedings, Bill, be read a second time. Senator Lee. Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning to you and our colleague senators and the visiting students from Birmingham University. Permit me just to make a few quick comments with regard to the bill. Under our system of democracy, our system of government, I should say, we recognize what's known as separation of powers. So there are three elements of government which are considered to be co-equal. And the judiciary is a co-equal branch of government and an essential part of ensuring the rule of law, ensuring our standard of living and ensuring that our rights are protected. The administration of justice is not a very sexy thing for politicians. It's not a vote-getter in the sense of building a road and these sorts of things. But it's essential and just as equal in ensuring that our society develops and continues to grow. And so I commend the government for bringing this piece of legislation which will assist greatly in ensuring that our justice system functions very efficiently. However, I just want to note that passing the legislation is just the beginning. This legislation to be effective requires resources. You may know, Mr. President, in another life that we have had attempts in the past to have transcription services made widely available within the court system and for various reasons that has broken down. We need to ensure that going forward, there are adequate transcriptionists available, that there is constant ongoing training because what we found has happened is that those persons who have been transcriptionists have gotten stuck in a grade and have had to leave that to move on to other things in order to improve themselves within the public service. But as a consequence, their skill has been removed and they have not been replaced. So much so that I believe a lot of the transcription is now done through private services. That's something that we need to seek address. As well, I just need to correct a statement I have heard made both in the lower house and then by the leader of government business as well. This bill is not providing specifically for interpreters. Interpreters have always been available in our court system, much to our credit. Long before Quayol became ready used in this honorable house, there have always been provisions for interpreters within our court system. What this does is provide specifically as to how that interpretation is to be recorded. But that being said, and from practical experience, the mere fact that somebody can speak Quayol does not necessarily mean that they are well suited to be an interpreter. And so, again, resources need to be put in place to ensure that the persons who are being used as interpreters are properly trained so that they can do the simultaneous translations that are required to make court proceedings run smoothly and to ensure that the questions that are being asked are put to the witness in an accurate manner. And as well, the responses are being relayed in an accurate manner. Anecdotally, I'm sure we've heard various times the late Madame Suzy Dovey had an interpreter who she was always correcting because to her mind the interpreter was not interpreting the Quayol correctly and she was an expert speaker. But we don't always have the benefit of having judicial officers who are from St. Lucia and who can understand the Quayol and ensure that the interpreters are interpreting properly. So we need to make sure that we have properly qualified persons who are being appointed to these roles. That being said, Mr. President, again, I commend the Government on bringing this piece of legislation.  Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I listened very attentively to the submission made by the Independent Senator, who I believe has a certain level of authority on the topic of this issue. And so I was eagerly awaiting his submission, of course, as a team who is always willing to listen and to consider good advice and good counsel. And he has made a couple of very important notes and observations that I think are welcome. I will attempt in this brief rebuttal to also speak in Quayol because there are people listening this morning who may be more comfortable with what I'm going to say in Quayol so they understand that this bill has something to do with them. But before I do so, Mr. President, I want to make reference to one of the submissions he made. He did mention training and I agree. I think that it's one thing to pass legislation. The judiciary can do what they have to do, but it's another thing to be able to implement and make it work. And I welcome the suggestion for training. And I also want to agree with the submission he made regarding the human resource, and it's not only for interpretation. There is something, however, I think I want to comment on, and that is the fact that someone speaks Quayol doesn't necessarily make them a good interpreter. That may be so, Mr. President, but I think even if you have to train someone who is competent in Quayol, the person has to be, and even if the person is a good interpreter, but once you're going to get a different language, that person must be competent not only in interpretation but in the language. Because my background tells me that people not only speak in a language, they also think in the language. And there's a bit of ambiguity that can take place, particularly when it refers to a particular context. So I'll give you an example, Mr. President. And that was a joke in my community, but it actually happened in a situation where there's a young man, we call him Magie. That's his nickname, Magie. He's now in the US. He used to be a very good athlete. And he found himself in a court. And a witness was giving evidence about him and was saying that Magie, the guy, when he did what he did, he ran up the road. So the guy said Magie, but the interpreter did not get the context. He didn't know that the guy's name was Magie. So he said food ran up the road. And of course, you know, that created a bit of discussion because the guy, food Magie in Quayol, depending on the context, can be interpreted as food. That's what we know. But it's a nickname. So I think sometimes there are several other examples. I don't want to bring them into this house. They have, you know, when people talk about things like kick, types of kick, you know, there are so many different examples because of the nature of the Creole language that someone who, even if he's trained as an interpreter, must be competent and understand thoroughly the Creole language to be able to even get the training. So I just wanted to submit that. And I want to say a little bit of that in in Creole. Mr. President, English. in a different interpretation, but in a different way. Let me give you an example. In the first year of high school, we had a lot of food. It was very good. There was a lot of audience. And then, we had a lot of food in Montechimer. And then, someone who explained his idea, we had a lot of food. And then, it was a way to explain what we said. So, it was necessary, Mr. President, to pass us the legislation. To ensure that everyone who has been in the audience, the audience, the audience, it is what you call registration. So, everyone who has been in the audience, even if you can speak well, even if you can explain in English, it is what you call registration. So, again, Mr. President, I want to thank the independent senator for his submission. I think they were very valid. But I just want to emphasize that context is important. And while I agree that training is necessary, but the training, including training, offered for someone who is competent in the language or people who are competent in the language should be considered. So, I thank you again, Honorable Senator. And I do hope that this piece of legislation achieves the objective for which it was intended. Senator, the question is that the recording of court proceedings bill be read a second time. I now put the question. As many as are of that opinion say aye. As many as are of the country opinion say no. I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it. An act to provide for the recording and the transcribing of court proceedings and for related matters. Clause two. Interpretation. Clause two stands by the bill. Clause three. Recording of court proceedings. Clause three stands by the bill. Clause four. Words of interpreter. Clause four stands by the bill. Clause five. Certification of transcript. Clause five stands by the bill. Clause six. Transcript of evidence of a witness. Clause six stands by the bill. Clause seven. Validity of official transcript. Clause seven stands by the bill. Clause eight. Transcript as proof of court proceedings. Clause eight stands by the bill. Clause nine. Request for transcript. Clause nine stands by the bill. Clause 10. Exemption from fees. Clause 10 stands by the bill. Clause 11. Rules. Clause 11 stands by the bill. Clause 12. Practice directions. Clause 12 stands by the bill. Clause 13. Repeal. Clause 13 stands by the bill. Schedule. Form one, section five, form two, section nine one. The schedule stands by the bill. Clause one. Short title. Clause one stands by the bill. Senators, the question is that the committee rises and the bill be reported. I now put the question. As many as are of that opinion say aye. As many as are of a country opinion say no. I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it. Senators, I beg to report that the recording of court proceedings bill went through committee stage without amendments. Leader of government business. Mr. President, I beg that the report of the committee be adopted and that the bill be read the third time and passed. Senators, the question is that the report of the committee be adopted and that the recording of court proceedings bill be read the third time and passed. I now put the question. As many as are of that opinion say aye. As many as are of a country opinion say no. I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it. The item acted by the Queen's most excellent majesty by and with the advice and consent of the House of Assembly and the senate of St. Lucia and by the authority of the same as follows. This act may be cited as the recordings of court proceedings act 2022. Leader of government business. Mr. President, I beg for the first reading of a bill shortly entitled Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulation Regulatory Commission Agreement. Mr. President, I beg for the suspension of Standing Order 49-2 to allow this bill to go through its remaining stages in this abyssey. Senators, the questions that Standing Order Number 49-2 will be suspended in order to allow the Honourable Leader of Government Business to proceed with the remaining stages of the bill at this sitting. I now put the question, as many as are of that opinion say aye, as many as are of a country opinion say no, I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it, and if it is granted, you may proceed Honourable Leader of Government Business. Thank you Mr. President. Mr. President, I beg to move a second reading of a been shortly entitled, Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission Agreement. Well Mr. President, this bill is a very straightforward one. I believe that it had actually been, it was followed up from an agreement that the previous government had already signed on to, and we basically are taking it into this House and Senate to formulate it into a law, hopefully. Key feature I believe Mr. President is that this bill is that it allows the ECU to be exempted from judicial challenge, which I think is one of the notable features. It has been sanctioned by the ECU, and basically we are looking to enact it as law. So Mr. President, without much more to be said on it, I submit it to this Honourable Senate for consideration. Senators, the question is that the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission Bill be read a second time. I now put the question, as many as are of that opinion say aye, as many as are of a country opinion say no, I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it. I have to provide for the implementation of the agreement establishing the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission and for related matters. Close to? Interpretation. Close two stands part of the bill. Close three. Agreement to have force of law. Close three stands part of the bill. Close four. Penalty for use or disclosure of confidential information. Close four stands part of the bill. Close five. Amendmental schedule. Close five stands part of the bill. Schedule. Sections two, three and five. Close stands part of the bill. Close one. Short title and the commencement. Close one stands part of the bill. Senators the question is that the committee rises and the bill be reported. I now put the question, as many as are of that opinion say aye, as many as are of a country opinion say no, I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it. Because I beg to report that the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission Agreement Bill went through committee stage without amendments. Leader of government business. President, I beg that the report of the committee be adopted and that the bill be read a third time in pass. Senators the question is that the report of the committee be adopted and that the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission Agreement Bill be read a third time in pass. I now put the question, as many as are of that opinion say aye, as many as are of a country opinion say no, I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it. Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent majesty by and with the advice and consent of the House of Assembly and the Senate of St. Lucia and by the authority of the same as follows. This act may be cited as the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission Agreement Act 2022. Leader of government business. President, I beg to move for second reading the bill shortly entitled Youth Economist. I think you are job the government. Youth Economist. First reading. Apologies Mr. President, I'm not sure that I was responsible for this one but I beg to move for first reading of a bill shortly entitled Youth Economy. Youth Economy. Leader of government business. So President, I beg to move for the suspension of Standing Order 49-2 to allow the bill to go through its remaining stages at this meeting. The Senate has to question is that Standing Order number 49-2 be suspended in order to allow the honorable leader of government business to proceed with the remaining stages of this bill at this meeting. I now put the question, as many as are of that opinion say aye, as many as are of a country opinion say no. I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it. Leave is granted, honorable leader of government business. Thank you, Mr. President. I beg to move for the second reading of a bill shortly entitled Youth Economy. Mr. President, some of us in here may not agree but I still feel and associate and identify with the term youth. I will defend my right to do so because maybe it's because of the amount of interaction and time I spent or I have spent in my entire lifetime, I think it's well known by now, in the youth movement, in the youth and sports council and many other youth related activities. In fact, only on Sunday I was a very sought after guest at a youth activity in my community, Football Final, and I want to take this opportunity with your leave, Mr. President, to commend the Young Roots football team of Greece, whom emerged winners and the under-19 team who actually placed third as well as the veterans team. So, Mr. President, just by way of context, I wanted to establish that I have been involved in the youth leadership movement all of my life and even now that I think I may have eclipsed the age at which you officially be called youth, I can relate. And this is why this youth economy bill has excited me so much. Mr. President, when the Prime Minister, the then opposition leader, announced the youth economy as part of his mandate, if he's given the mandate to lead this country that he would have introduced this concept, as a young man who understands the realities that our young people face in this country, being aware of the level of youth unemployment and the various social challenges that face our young people, I was very excited and so I paid attention as the concept was being discussed and was ventilated in the public domain. And at this point, Mr. President, I'm very proud to have to be standing in this honorable Senate to discuss and to debate this bill. Mr. President, it is not just one of those things that politicians offer and talk about in a manifesto or on a political platform. And five years later, they have not touched or followed up on. It is one of those things that after one year in office and then and we're just on the anniversary of our first year in office, we have come to this House to ensure that this concept, this offering becomes reality. I want to commend the Honorable Prime Minister for doing so and I want to also commend all the various entities, the various government departments, the various organizations who have been involved both in the consultations that have taken place in the discussions and even the critics who have found maybe a few areas that can be tweaked and fixed at this point. Mr. President, I can relate to the needs, the dreams, the aspirations, the ambitions of young people. I was once in that position, coming from a very ordinary, humble background and recognizing that to be able to aspire to higher heights as a young man, there are certain decisions you have to make but you need the support of others. There are some things you cannot achieve on your own. You need the support of others, whether it is your family, whether it is community organizations, the church, NGOs and the government. As a young man or woman, without the resources at your fingertips, sometimes your dreams and ambitions can be shattered. And so I think back in the 1980s and early 1990s Mr. President and I was saying what if the youth economy had been rolled out then. I probably wouldn't be standing in this honorable house. I might have been a you know mega business executive somewhere, I'm living large. So Mr. President, maybe my children and grandchildren will have the opportunity to benefit from such a piece of legislation. Mr. President, I will repeat something that I have said from 2016 upon my entry into this honorable house. I've always always said, no matter what the bill or the motion is, once it relates to people, I've always said that in this country, this Helen of the West St. Lucia, without oil, without some of the natural resources that other countries have, our biggest asset is our human resource. I've always said that and I will continue to remind this house and our people that this is our biggest asset, our human resource. And if we can shape, create opportunity, mobilize resources and invest in them while they are young, when they are beginning to form their identity, they're beginning to understand the world around them, we are sure to do a lot better as a nation. So any investment in young people in this country will get my full support. As a matter of fact, when I was a young man, I was also involved in finding ways, mobilizing resources, mobilizing young people to help them improve themselves. So I see this as something that mirrors my own philosophy and my own understanding of what an economy and a country should be. Mr. President, the Prime Minister in his budget speech on page 14 made specific reference to the youth economy and this particular bill is consistent with the policy pronouncements that he made at the time. Now this is saying to us that this is in line with the policy and the pronouncements that our government made even before we got into government. We are not just snatching at things loosely and randomly to present to this country. This is a very comprehensive piece of legislation and it is in line with what we as a government have always intended to do for our young people in this country. Mr. President, part of the youth economy concept will include an agency, a youth economy agency. As anything else, once you are going to introduce new programs in your country, you need to ensure that there is proper administration, management, evaluation, and to do so you have to ensure that there are competent persons who can organize and deliver the program. And so this agency will have to have a certain level of expertise and flexibility that will manage and help to implement the youth economy program. Mr. President, just by way of example and maybe a little detail, this agency will be composed, we have a composition of a board and the personnel on that board will include persons with of course legal expertise, persons with communication skills, IT and business development skills. There will of course be a CEO because you have to have some kind of structure. It's not going to be vitivide. There will also be some form of evaluation ongoing and that evaluation will be managed by an evaluation committee. Now Mr. President, anytime you introduce things, whether it is in a government, in a business, in an organization, it is important that as things are rolled out, you evaluate whether it is every quarter, but you do ongoing evaluation of what you are doing because there are times where you have to return to the drawing board and say look, this is what we wanted to do but because of circumstance X or Y we have to revisit and reprogram and so this evaluation entity, I take it very seriously. As a former educator, I understand the importance of evaluation. You go to a classroom and you think you're taught well and everybody says yes sir, I understood. You give an exam or you do an assessment and then you realize you have to go and retouch because saying that you get it doesn't mean that you get it. So evaluation is a very important component of any program and I understand why this is included in this particular case. One of the other things that will be done Mr. President is that there is going to be some kind of auditing that is in line with international standards and all of that is part of the evaluation. You have to audit. You have to make sure that there's accountability for the monies that people are going to be spending. It's our taxpayer's money and we have to ensure that those vest the monies is vested in to spend have to account for it so they have to be standard set. Mr. President, I just now want to do a little bit of explanation with regard to the program itself, the youth economy program. Not everyone Mr. President in this country, particularly young people, not every young person wants to work for somebody and I think it's a part of our own development as the people that we need to revisit. I remember growing up as a child and my parents would tell me boy you have to get a good education and get a good job and they were thinking be a banker, be a police officer, be an executive somewhere, work for someone and bring home some money.  Get a good education and go find a job somebody has to give to you. But I think that a country like ours with so many resources that are in our human base needs to be able to tell our young people you're not just trying to find a job but you also need to consider owning a business, owning something and creating jobs because we have a situation with unemployment in this country and youth unemployment. We've never said that it's not so. So if young people can find avenues through this youth economy to be able to have their own businesses, their own enterprises, own something and not work for someone else and in the process employ other people, create employment, I think we are going to be in a much better place. Mr President, listening to some of the critics, particularly coming from the leader of the opposition, I sat here and I listened and there was a suggestion that when we talk about young people we should help them to aspire to work for Apple and for Google and for those big companies. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with a young solution accessing employment from international big businesses, nothing wrong with that. But I do not think that this is the only thing that we should be thinking when we speak of the youth economy. Its objective is not to get young people to try to find jobs where they are working for other people. It is helping them understand that they don't have to necessarily work for an Apple or Google but they can become the owner of the next Google or the next Apple. That is the kind of aspiration that this youth economy wants to communicate to our young people. It's okay if you feel that you want to work for some but it is more important to aspire and to want to be the owner so that you can provide employment for hundreds of other young people. Mr President, a young person wanting to set up a business in this country can face numerous challenges. I can speak of it because I have also been a young entrepreneur. Never mind I worked many years for the government, I've also attempted to work for myself as well and I can tell you some of the challenges you face legal this and all kinds of red tape and you can become very frustrated especially if you do not have access to resources and finance to get started. It's a reality and I don't think it is fair that a young man or woman with a serious business idea or serious concept who can see where he can go but just because he didn't have access to or he didn't have the collateral or the you know the resources to access $10,000 or $5,000 from a cooperative or a bank that his dream disappears and he becomes frustrated and may turn into one of the hardcore criminals that we complain about. So Mr President, this youth economy really seeks to address some of that. Now another argument that was presented was that this thing is almost like an entity within itself. Yes it is but one other thing is Mr President that the youth economy also addresses a number of other things and it's not just about young people getting money to start a business. It addresses some of the serious issues of self-esteem, some of the serious issues of self-doubt that exists in our young people today. It allows them to think big, to dream. It may start with a small grant, it may start with the access to a small loan but because of the thinking that is where everything starts in here. You as a young person can really look beyond just the start and see how you can place yourself later. Mr President, there has to be a method that guides the way persons, young people can access the services that will be offered through the youth economy and that may be one of the challenges we have to deal with in the earlier stages and we are open to as I said earlier going back and doing the evaluation and coming back to fix it. For example, a young person may decide that they want access to a certain amount of money and they don't know where to go or how to which form to fill out or which agency to seek the assistance from and that is why there is going to be a form design, a method that will give a young person the option of being able to register and seek and get guidance. Mr President, it is also important for young people to be able to get training because the youth economy is not only about starting a business. Some young people may already have a small business operating. I know some young persons who they have especially during the COVID period, they have to find ways to make money without leaving home and they have online businesses but because their resources are limited and they don't have the competence to be able to expand it, they need ideas and the youth economy also provides for training for young people in several areas that can help them develop their small business. So if you haven't gotten started there's room for you to expand. If you have started sorry if you haven't started there's room for you to get started but if you have started there's room for you to expand. Mr President, once this is done a young person will be able to access different amounts. So for example if you're going to set up a business for the first time you would need to get some kind of guidance in terms of your business plan and in cooperation. You may be able to access grants or loans and if you qualify then you may be able if you have a business already established to be able to qualify for access to training in marketing, in business development and whatever other skill or competence that your business requires. Mr President, it is important for us to be familiar and support the idea of upskilling which is one of the components I think this bill will be helping to push. You see sometimes you know people who have been involved in a particular type of business or particular type of service and since you were a child they're doing the same thing the same way 20 years, 30 years later you go back there and they're doing the same thing and they have not improved. This youth economy concept will ensure that we don't only provide a start but we help young people upskill because as technology becomes part of business and business transactions and business development they have to be what we call with it and so upskilling is one of the areas that we think is very important. Of course, branding and market research is key. Now I am no business person. I think my background was in social development, science more or less. I'm no business expert but the basics of marketing which I totally understood when I became a football administrator. You have to have a brand. In anything you do you have to develop your brand and that is very important. That's why Apple and them and Google, they have a brand. There's something that makes them different and so this is something that the youth economy program seeks to do. Ensure that there is enough research and marketing done and help young people who are desirous of setting up or taking advantage of this opportunity do some good branding. So Mr. President, grants and loan facilities.  I think the leader of the opposition tried to describe the youth economy as a mini bank. This is not the case. It is really not that way at all Mr. President. It's not just about the loans. As the Prime Minister put it, it's helping young people develop their hobbies into entrepreneurship and to develop their skills into businesses. It's not about just getting money. It's about being able to develop other things. So Mr. President, we have to pay attention to what is it we have. One example, we're completely surrounded by water as an island. So we have the ocean and the sea right around us. And the blue economy comes to mind. This is an opportunity for young people to be able to explore what is around us. Of course, some CMOS farmers are already tapping into it but there are many other very important initiatives that can be accessed because of our male location as an island. The orange economy, Mr. President, dealing with the creatives, the arts, the culture. I find myself within the ministry that is responsible for the creative industries and culture. And it is very important that we help to develop that particular area because it is an area that I think as a country we have fallen short of exploring and making use of. There's a lot that we can do through our creatives to showcase what we are and who we are as a people. And that youth economy will help to make linkages between this department and the ministry's responsible like tourism, investment creative industries and so on. Mr. President, it is also important to look at the possibilities within the green economy. Being able to reduce environmental risks while you set up and develop a business. The concept of recycling. Recycling of waste. We have a problem with sagazum. We have a problem with plastics. There are young people I remember during my time as a teacher, as a science teacher. There is what we call the science fair. And young people every year came up with all kinds of ideas that they could use to recycle, to be more climate conscious and resilient. And you know what happens to that? Most of these they get a little trophy and a nice clap and some of these concepts find themselves shared somewhere and never get to be developed. I think that this is an opportunity where a child in school can begin to see how I can use my science fair concept, my science fair project that got a nice trophy and a winning prize. And then look forward to the next three or four years where I can take that, develop it, get the training and then the youth economy will help me grow and develop that into a serious business opportunity. So Mr President, we are targeting not just youth as the definition says between I think what 13 to 35 but people even before they have reached 30. Young people in the primary schools, young children who can see they can have a vision of where they can be because they have an idea and they can grow it over time and when they are able to access this that they can develop it into a serious business or entrepreneur for them to make a living. Mr President, some time ago I was privy to what we had described as the export the runway, export the runway and at that exercise I really was taken aback by what I saw on stage. There were people from Souffre, Choiselle, Derrisso, Rosalie, I saw our our cricket superstar, Darren Sammy and his wife. I saw people showing, showcasing, authentic and delusion products of quality, all types of accessories and outfits and things I didn't even know existed. I got a real education on what can become part of your clothing accessories at this export showcase and I was seriously impressed with what ordinary solutions can do but then you have a showcase what next. So and the majority of them Mr President were young people, people between the ages of 13 and 35, most of them and they may now be looking for an opportunity to now take this product and go further with it. This is what the youth economy is about. I think we can go back to the export in Dubai when we speak of their creatives and all the umpa and the denry segments and all of those what quality that they they displayed in Dubai these people also need an opportunity to help to expand their horizons and reach the world. We have global quality, we have international quality here. Buhim Sun if I may mention his name. World class Mr President and I'm happy that some of the young people are now being a going through a program where they can access his expertise. I commend the Ministry of Culture for that but I want to say Mr President that this will not exist on its own. There will be the connection between this particular agency and the various departments that young people commerce, agriculture, creative industries, the business community that young people can use, the skills, the training and the resources that they can access from the youth economy to be able to channel their energies. Mr President sometimes we have to learn how to package what we have and many times good things that we can sell and not receive well because we didn't package it properly and I believe that we can achieve that through the training that we can provide young people with. Package your idea, package your product and then you can sell it to the world. You can sell the identity of your country, the identity of yourself as a central ocean and make an honest living out of it and I do say an honest living. Too often our young people are led to believe that the only way to make a buck is to do something on the side or do something that that is not within the parameters of the law. This is an opportunity to make an honest living, to earn something honestly and properly. Mr President, some of the incentives that we're going to be the government is going to be offering up front because if you're going to ask young people to take a chance, go for it. You need to be able to give them a little bit of backup. You know they need to look behind them and know that look if I slip you there with me because they can be a little apprehensive and I believe one of the support systems that will be in place is offering them incentives, duty and tax exemptions if some of what they need to do requires importing of products and services and I do say products and services. Mr President, the environment for the youth economy to survive or to prosper must be created by this government. It must be an enabling environment. It must allow young people to be able to tap into not only what what the grants and the loans may offer but what is there in the private sector and I think we have persons in this senate who are members of the private sector and they understand the nexus between the private sector and government agencies. That kind of support needs to be available and so we need to allow young people to see it as an opportunity for them to get the backing of government as well as the private sector for them to be able to not just provide jobs for themselves but to create wealth and also contribute to nation building. Most of the time you may want to ask a young man or woman after the age of 2030 what is your what has been your contribution to the development of your country and they may be scratching their heads to figure out well I never made a national team I never had a decent job but they may very well have had the opportunity to change something in their community or something in their country if that opportunity was granted to them. So Mr President it is it is important that that message be communicated. One other area that I think the youth economy concept and the youth economy program will also enable is for young people to tap into the e-commerce sector. I did mention earlier during the COVID pandemic that that that sector grew almost by force people had no choice they had to shop online they had to advertise online I saw all kinds of things deliveries and all kinds of new and very welcoming ideas been explored the youth economy speaks to that e-business and e-commerce and for you to be successful there you must know what you're doing so you must get the training. So the markets you'll be tapping into are not only local markets but you can tap into regional and international markets with your products or your service. So Mr President it is important therefore that the necessary infrastructure be put in place because if you're going to tell young people look you can do really well with an e-commerce or e-business concept. They don't have to ask you about how do I have the necessary infrastructure do I have the equipment to do so some of them may not even have internet access so things like broadband internet being expanded throughout our island and communities must be looked at and that was started under the former minister for sustainable development Jimmy Fletcher but for some reason I don't think you know the last government followed up because the wind farm and the solar I don't want to go too much into that I'll just see the wind farming then is a good example nothing explored there more interested in garbage and rubbish trucks whatever happened but Mr President that's for another time I think that we as a government need to make sure that broadband internet and the infrastructure for enabling the e-business and e-commerce concepts be developed so together with the other departments in this country infrastructure sustainable development education health tourism commerce that these all of these sectors can provide the linkages that we need for the youth economy to succeed and so Mr President in wrapping up I want to see that this youth economy concept that the prime minister introduced when he we started our campaign to get into this this is this last election I am very happy that it didn't just remain a campaign discussion that today one year into government we have done the necessary groundwork because we couldn't have just come there and I think there was a discussion Mr President when the opposition found nothing else to see why now you know why now why after one year as if you you come into government and you just start doing things like you're madman no Mr President they had a full term to explore it they didn't one year we have taken one year a little less than that to do the groundwork to this to have discussion to scan the environment find out what are the agencies that will be needed how do you build the networks and then we come to the parliament to enact legislation because a lot of things we do in this country are not backed up by legislation we are enacting legislation to make sure that this is there is backing legal backing for what is going to happen and then we are going to do the program in an implementation as I said Mr President there is no quick fix this there maybe you may see us come back to this house to make amendments to this bill as we've done before and this government does not is not afraid to say okay I think we can revisit this no we can do that and as we go along we may have to do so but at least for now we are coming to this house and being very decisive and getting the legislation right at least the first step in getting it right and then the implementation I want to just say one word Mr President before I end to particularly mention the gender issue because I'm very gender sensitive generally you find the the female or the women being the ones who always pick up about issues that relate to women but um I think the most influential people in my life have been women from my mom and others my grandparents my aunts even my own daughter now so Mr President I'm very very sensitive to the gender issues this is an opportunity for our single women Mr President our single mothers who have to hear households and raise children to finally get an opportunity to tap into resources I'm not going to treat them the way they were labeled and treated by you know who so Mr President I welcome the department of gender you know gender affairs gender relations to rally with us and to work with us in ensuring that there's an equitable distribution of these resources among young people male female single non-single aspiring and everyone so that when it is rolled out every single Saint Luciano needs it most will access it Mr President I look forward to the discussion on this I believe we should have a discussion on it I look forward to the areas where we can improve but for now I submit this bill to this honorable senate for its support and its endorsement because I think we all can agree that it is totally necessary for the improvement of the lives of the people of this country particularly our young people I thank you Mr President. Senator's question is that is that a youth economy bill be read a second time Senator Feide. Very much Mr President Mr President from the outset let me say that we the senators on the opposition side we take absolutely no issue with any intention by any administration to initiate activities that are going to ultimately create that economic space for young people to flourish we have no arguments with that as a general concept in fact Mr President while we were in office we attempted and instituted many programs in fact that the Ministry of Commerce for their small business enterprises of which many young people have benefited some 10 million dollars in the financial year 2020 to 2021 was actually instituted by lower member of the House Honourable Bradley Felix member for Chuzelle and former Minister of Commerce in my own experience we did the same thing in tourism to make available some 10 million dollars this was a fund that was brought about by the Karakam Development Fund and we actually signed a loan agreement with the CDF to institute a program for small tourism businesses at the St. Lucia Development Bank now Mr President we did so because we recognize that when we came in in 2015 and if you check the social economic review in 2015 the youth unemployment rate was at 44% so it meant that while St. Lucia was boasting about economic growth all these years is that there has been a segment of the economy that grew but left the young people of this country significantly behind so by the year 2016 and you can consult this book if you want me to provide it but it's in the labor force measurements in the tables in the social economic review by the year 2016 by the year 2019 rather the youth unemployment rate came down to 31% as we debate this bill the youth unemployment rate accounts for some 38% among young people that are unemployed i saw mr president believe you me that there's nobody that would be more excited than myself to see any initiative that will help to bring this number down now whether i agree with the approach is a different story the estimates of revenues and expenditure on page 578 and 579 it details out the youth economy the numbers as a program some 10 million is budgeted in that program mr president but what i do have a problem with is that some 50% of the total sum is going towards administrative costs paying salaries offices in fact mr president there's a big number there for consultancy services and commissions it's a whopping 2.6 million dollars mr president now while i was reading this i thought to myself that this program should have been renamed the consultancy economy and not the youth economy because it is clear what the intention is in this program by ensuring that over 25 percent over 30 percent of the monies are going to consultancies and so you have to wonder who is the government really trying to target is it their friends in the consultancy world or is it really the young people of this country very fundamental question that i look forward to getting the answers from and you see traveling and a whole host of other allowances here adding up in the millions retirement benefits and a whole lot of admin costs now i can lend the social economic review to the government side if they want to consult it now interestingly there's already a small enterprise unit called sedu which has existed for eons for decades and i'm wondering why why the government did not go that option to say well let's then better fund this entity that we're already paying several civil servants to run and whether we not give this entity or this unit the leadership that it desires and it needs and harness the best potential of the civil service and so that we can ensure that the majority of the ten million dollars we're putting into this program will actually go to what it really should be doing not paying consultancies but really towards ensuring that we finance youth enterprises now the question st luce development bank it's a bank mr speaker that exists to try to develop the social and economic fabric of this country it has a very developmental thrust it's mandate it's approach it's outlook it's far different from a commercial bank mr speaker another approach could have been that the government says listen this is a government controlled bank we're going to put the funding here and we're going to now make these loans and grants available a mix of blend whatever you want at concessionary terms so that the young people of this country can have a greater percentage of the monies that we're making available to this program they core and the fundamental of this the number one priority should be to ensure that we better finance youth enterprises now i'm not sure about an agency why do we need that for why is it that you guys like so much red tape and bureaucracy and all that stuff but we're getting to that mr speaker mr president i want to show you um a few other things that is wrong with this legislation let's consult for example section 46 one of the bill and please go there with me and you will see it says mr president that a requirement of the bill is to establish the to be this b says that they must have a micro business for over a year people applying must have a micro business for over one year in section 46 one b g says the applicant must have a suitable space to conduct the business i'm not sure if that's an office if that's a physical location or is that an online space we need more clarity um on in in that regard to really show because i mean if this is a small young person that is unemployed that doesn't have is starting from bare bones i'm trying to understand what and i'm sorry for the confusion but your government really hasn't done a good job from the onset to properly articulate what is meant by the youth economy and even by listening to the leader of government business today i'm even more confused as to what this program is attempting to do so uh forgive me please mr president so when i when i look at it the bill says that it says as well mr president that you must have 20 percent of the funding so you get 80 percent it doesn't say what is the minimum or the maximum i'm not sure what is the maximum amount can i apply for a business that has a capital outlay of a million dollars i haven't seen any capping of that anywhere in the legislation but it's for the government to to determine what is the cap can anyone apply for any amount of of monies and to go back to the issue about uh the 20 percent that is required i mean here you are giving away flagrantly 2.6 million dollars to consultants the poor young person who is trying to get up in life who is trying to free his or herself from poverty why are you making it so complicated why are you putting up all of these roadblocks in the way of what should be a seamless program to help the youth of this country and this is the questions really that the up the government side must must really answer mr president because it is really not clear and so the the government must really now give clarity on a number of these issues so the requirement of the 20 percent could be fine in section 49 subsection d where the youth are required to pay some 20 percent way too much way too much come on right you are here you told the youth in the election that you have their backs that you're going to make the streets of gold you're going to pave it uh with gold and that you're going to make life easier for for them why so many roadblocks why so many requirements and i know what the response is going to be they're going to get up and say oh well they've been there for five years why haven't they done it and that's the usual cup out of this administration they are governing in reverse they are governing as if the united workers party is still in power rather than really confronting the problems of this country systematically and calmly and intelligently and looking at the issues in the comprehensive fashion they just continue to politicize even their own programs and so mr president i'm not convinced that this effort is going to have the desired result i'm not convinced mr president that this is going to really move the needle this is really just a program it's a i i guess this is a pilot that the party wishes to test and maybe later on they are going to build it and and put more money into this as we go along but i'm also concerned about the sustainability of this program because as we look at the estimates and we look at the summary page if we consult the summary page we will see that in the summary page that we have somewhere in the region mr president i rise on point of order 36 b elucidation the member did speak of section 49 i don't yield to you are you rising on the stand well on a point of order yes the member is on a point of order when you rise at a point of order you mistake specifically what it is what is it to take the issue with yes the member is misleading the house he said under section 49 that 20 percent of um well he referred to some 20 percent but we are not seeing that anywhere under section 49 so i remember honorable senator all right so you've clarified that no sir no we have not clarified you clarified so you you know i was saying you made the statement yes your statement was inaccurate no my statement wasn't inaccurate because what was put out by this administration in the initial bill was 20 percent it's the president wet terrified you see i don't remember i don't remember i don't remember is it that you're saying that you were provided with an outdated copy of the bill i'm saying mr president that the latest copy in my possession had the 25 percent the clerk has just informed me that it has since been updated now i am not in the loop the question is the question is on remember were you provided with the latest copy when was i provided with it did you give me a copy you would address address your comments to me i'm speaking with you so mr president were you provided were you provided with the latest copy no the latest copy that i have okay because in reviewing this bill you put out this bill we reviewed it and what we see mr president okay that the original intent is to have 20 percent now the clerk i remember that has since been updated i remember i remember i remember you do agree that the section or the provision of the bill that you really let you rely on when you made you relied on when you made the statement is not the it's not current you agree with that do you agree with that that the section that you rely on is not current mr president do you agree with me no i don't have to i don't have to agree with you there has been several documents that has been provided to parliamentarians now everything is i don't remember i remember i'm gonna ask you once i'm asking you one simple question were you or were you not provided with the latest copy of the bill so i'm answering you say yes or no i'm i'm i am asking you for yes or no yes or no were you provide were you provided with a copy of the latest version of the bill mr president so what i'll say to you is that documents are going back and forth this is not the first right they they which i have my possession should currently not be because because because you're not answering the question i am answering you i ask you i ask you a yes or no question so i'm telling you no because okay the question is no honorable honorable honorable honorable senator please proceed with your contribution okay so so basically now the clerk has just informed me that the legislation has been updated to suggest that the government has removed its original intent of placing some 20 percent of the fees which the youth needed to have so if you've updated it that's all you need to understand so please please continue with your presentation to make the point and to create the impression in public that somehow i'm trying to mislead the public is actually very disingenuous and unfortunate on on the part of the government side because i didn't come here to mislead i can only comment on documents which would have come from your cabinet prepared by an attorney general's office which is managed by you okay you then suppliers to the opposition not always in a timely fashion documents come from senator for the last time for uh honorable senator for the last time mr president i am very much aware that every member mr president it's an important matter i we have we have gone through that and you're frankly frankly you are really really wasting our time because if i may add my true sense to this i don't really normally do that as the presiding officer of this house of this chamber i'm very much aware that every single member is provided with the latest edition of any bill of motion to be debated i am also aware that prior to you arriving here it was right before you at your desk and everybody has a copy of which you as well have a copy so it is it is it is your own omission to review what was before you and of course because you were indeed very late so i note that so i'm simply telling you okay do not do not go down the road that you're going please proceed with your presentation mr president i'm very sorry to tell you okay if you are expecting that at the drop of a hat that we arrive in your own words that i am supposed to realize that a bill that is about 50 or 60 pages that i am supposed to know that the clause has changed while i'm here sitting and already prepared for my debate today that's unfair and i'm very sorry anyways what mr president the other point is is that i'm very concerned about the sustainability of this program in that the government comes forward and they are so far everything that i've seen is that this program this program depends on the consolidated fund for consistent flows of income now i see that the fiscal space is extremely tight when we look at for example some of the social and economic indicators and in the estimates of revenues and expenditure on the summary page you would see that for example that the deficit is almost 400 percent the debt to GDP ratio is somewhere in the region of some 92 percent and then when we look at the borrowing the total projected borrowing it means that the government would have to borrow some 500 million so the fiscal space is extremely tight now it would mean that if the fiscal space is this tight then therefore what it would mean is that social programs like these are always going to be challenged in order for the government to keep coming up with the resources what i would like to see is a systematic revolving fund where for example that the government is ensuring that this fund sustains itself rebuilds itself it is managed so that the concessionary interest terms for example could be used in a systematic way to plow back into this so that we can continue funding all the exciting youth programs that we want in this country but i want to say that this is absolutely critical because the youth of this country they they deserve it so mr president in a north shell we are very concerned with the approach that this government is taking too many consultancies 2.6 million is way too high the admin cost is extremely high more bureaucracy that is being put in there are already existing entities that the government could have used to ensure that they optimize the returns from this project so that the young people can have some four million dollars some ten million dollars or as much as the ten million dollars that have been allocated to this so that they can be in a better position to fund the youth of this country finally it's very unfortunate the way that the opposition continues to be treated in this house and that's all i'm prepared to say on that but i will be making a public statement with regards to that thank you very much senator charlie thank you mr president let me be the pleasant good day to my senate colleagues and our visitors in the chamber mr president i stand up this morning to make my submission on the youth economy bill presented to the house for consideration it would be remiss of me as a youth myself not to add my voice to that bill before i go into my submission mr president i ask that you allow me some leave to like the leader of government business and i was very proud of him that he was able to stand here a few chairs down from me and again perhaps because of his love for for community and love for sports congratulate the young roots football team for having emerged winners of the dairy so football club recently competed competition let me just add that the young roots football club is from my constituency of view fort north and that the second place team as well the view fort north veterans who also took part in that competition placed second in that competition so i want to place on the record my congratulatory remarks to these teams and our thanks for the dairy so league for having invited view fort north to participate in that league and beat them yes mr president i also want to to place on the record my thanks for persons who continue to engage and to follow the proceedings of the senate as a child i was always very keen to follow the proceedings of the parliament but it was always the proceedings of the lower house so i spent many a summer glued to my tv with my notebook and my dictionary because many times i could not understand some of the woods persons like honorable velland john you so i stopped with my dictionary and my notebook and for me it was a learning experience i really learned to love grow a greater love for reading and parliamentary procedures and so on having having having experienced viewing it but i was never too keen about about senate proceedings and i still in my opinion find that it may not be the most exciting of the chambers but as i go around and last week i had two experiences i was at two different functions with the president and persons who i do not know personally walked up to me and and had this course about the the proceedings in the senate and and articulated that they actually listen and follow the senate proceedings and so this is one to to fund them for the words of encouragement that they give they gave one lady in particular said to me that no matter where she's in her house when she has the president recognizes senator charlie she leaves everything drops it and runs to her television so i just want to say thanks for that but also to put us in the chamber on a loot that sent lutions here abroad and other persons are following and are listening to what is going on in this honorable house and so we as senators have a responsibility to ensure that whatever we do that we do it in a manner that is respectful and in a manner that represents what this august chamber itself represents mr president i want to also place on record my congratulations for this government on the one year anniversary on tuesday as well as today also marks the one year anniversary of the swearing in of honorable philip jpa and i want to again on place on the record my congratulations to him on that achievement mr president i want to again just before i go into my presentation having said or having expressed um my desire for us as senators to ensure that we we continue to maintain that standard of that level of of of of of this course in the in the senate to encourage my members opposite i noticed it has been almost almost um a habit that at 10 o'clock most of the times we're sitting here waiting for especially the opposition members to to join the the chamber and i think they are in my opinion doing a disservice to this country and i want to just encourage them i do not know what the reasons are they probably legitimize but i want to just encourage them that we have a responsibility and we must take it seriously just after the proceedings started i happened to go out into the hallway and whilst the the leader of opposition business should have been seated here and perhaps adding his voice to the first bill that was stable he was he was he was um he was post-sharing in front of the media mr president and i'm not saying that we should not speak to the media but we need to be mindful that we also have a responsibility to this honorable house mr president mr president i want to as i begin touch on a few things that were articulated or uttered by the leader of opposition business and in terms of the argument mr president about the perhaps what he deems as disrespect in the way that opposition members are treated and so on mr president i i do not know if he appreciates that when the lower house meets on the tuesday which is one two full days before we meet as as a senate but there may be changes when there when there are in fact changes that would be made and then these documents would be sent back to us as far as my record shows mr president every member of the senate received a new copy of the youth economy deal on wednesday the 27th of july at 9 o 1 a.m and the notation in the email mr president the notation read please find the attached youth economy bill this bill replaces the one previously circulated and we have to be careful mr president when we stand in this house to ensure that we we represent ourselves in a manner that is true and honest mr president as i indicated i am a youth myself and so of course um from during the campaign and the presentation of the manifesto the now prime minister having spoken very passionately about the creation of the youth economy i i have always really looked forward to the deliberation on on on that on that that aspect of of of the economy mr president and to understand and to see what policies and what what programs will be input in place it we are in a era mr president where we did a term economy in so many colors the green economy the blue economy the brown economy the orange economy mr president and now the youth economy and the youth economy really looks at how the government or establishing a measure to reduce the gaps between the expectations of the youth their hopes their dreams their realities and how you can bring all of this thing in a very purposeful way that could that could help the situation that the youth have found themselves in terms of employment and how you can now give them an incentive and a program a structure to take themselves out of that situation and i applaud the government for that for that that that gesture mr president time and again this this government mr president proves that they are putting people first whether it is the youth for the role out of the youth economy whether it is the pensioners for increased allocations whether it's the students the parents the elderly for an elderly care program this government continues to put people first mr president and i applaud this government for that the focus for me as it relates to the youth economy and the bill presented before us mr president is what the establishment of such an agency and a dedicated space for the youth can do to boost the morale of the youth to give them greater access and to give them give them greater opportunity and like the prime minister always articulates mr president the youth economy will give the youth a space to turn their hobbies into entrepreneurship and skills into businesses and as a young person mr president every time i hear the prime minister speak these specific words it creates a joy a joy for me that youth will now have an opportunity to do these things to turn hobbies into entrepreneurship and skills into businesses mr president i am a certified agro processor a cohort of us from the community of vj through the vj development committee at the time got an opportunity to be certified in agro processing under a program of the den opsr which is now tipple and mr president i would have loved at the time so many years ago i think i was i was perhaps still at secondary school at the time i would have loved to have had an avenue and an opportunity to have been able to access the funding the mentorship and so on that will be available under the youth program to perhaps have been able to turn my certification into something that would have yielded financial and economic benefit for me and my family and my community my rural community mr president and so i very much understand how that program can assist young persons who may have been in the situation i was so many years ago living school from a single family not being sure whether you could continue schooling because your family does not have the financial support to do that looking for a job sending many applications not sure where to go and not having the financial backing to start up your own business even when you've been certified into doing something like agro processing mr president again my focus based on this bill is a dedicated space that is designed that will be designed to create employment opportunities and ownership for young people my vision for this agency that is going to be created guided by this this this piece of legislation that hopefully will be enacted is that there is a level of fairness in access proper dissemination of information a reduction in the bureaucracy however not compromising on accountability and transparency so that every youth in st luscio who has a hobby that wants to turn it into entrepreneurship or a skill that needs to turn it into a business will have the same level of access and will not be denied or will not be the the response will not be determined based on geographical location political affiliation family background or any of these other other factors that can that can cause them not to get access mr president mr president who as i as i go through this bill and as i i listen to the debate in the in the lower house earlier this week i could not help but think of the many individuals that i i know persons within my community persons who i went to school with my friends persons who you interact with on a daily basis who can benefit from what is to be offered under that agency with that piece of legislation mr president and i think of some persons within my community taken treats from from viva cell a rural community in in belvi mr president a young lady who offers some very palatable meals not necessarily a dedicated space for her to do that but but who really keeps the community together and is able to remove herself from perhaps whatever previous situations and so on and provide herself with a source of income having now an opportunity to have that level of backing mr president to grow her business mr president i i am very elated at that i think of compadventure jays scrumptures scrumptures street and a whole lot of orders only this morning mr president a classmate of mine in a social whatsapp group that we have sent a photo of a lettuce farm a lettuce farm lettuce that are ready to harvest and and asking us if anybody wants to purchase some lettuce contact me mr president this this piece of legislation and this agency that we are proposing mr president gives up gives us an opportunity so that persons like that can have the level of support required to move their business from one level to another level hopefully with the aim to yield better profits better bottom line and thus increase the level of the level of the economic situation for individuals for households for communities and for our country as a whole during the covid 19 pandemic mr president we saw a lot of small enterprises springing up small new ideas novel ideas that became necessary in the pandemic mr president we saw many persons started in the production of face masks we saw many persons started little grocery delivery services mr president we saw air and runners we saw a lot of things embodying and beginning because of the covid 19 pandemic what it tells us mr president is that there is there are a lot of ideas on the ground and there is a great thrust from our young people to to take themselves out of what perhaps is um the the current economic situation and they want to move themselves from there but the question is how do they do that mr president and as a government we are proposing we are proposing to them a way in which they can do that mr president i just want to read um a message that was sent to me sometime ago by a young lady she's a young lady from the community of viewfort who owns a fishing vessel given the the the situation that the fishing sector has experienced for a couple years now she's looking for another avenue she's a mother she she's very enthusiastic and she's looking for an additional revenue source and she sent me a message sometime ago to say that it is very hard and i'm reading almost verbatimie it is very hard and difficult if you want to start off your own business financially the banks and credit unions make it so difficult if you have a young person with an idea she has a good paying salary and wants to start her own business the institutions act like the business will fail and they don't really trust it st lucha is a place where dreams fade away mr president that coming from a young lady in her late 20s early 30s who says to me st lucha is a place where dreams fade away but i mr president had the opportunity to to tell her don't worry because i know that my government i know that the government is working on that piece of legislation to establish a youth economy and most likely than not you will now have an opportunity under this program to see your dreams come true and so i stand there mr president very proudly today to be part of that debate very proudly today to lend my support to this piece of legislation because i understand too well mr president what it will do and how it will benefit young persons like miss andrea miller when it comes to the setup of the small business that she has a desire to do mr president and like the leader of government business indicated there have been critics mr president and as a government we welcome the criticism because criticism is an avenue to help you grow and to help you better and the leader of of opposition business mr president here alluded to the fact that this may be a pilot of course things new can be piloted it's new there there may be scope to change to to to tweak to add to be fought to minus this is this is really what a pilot is mr president and so we are not coming here taking the posture that we know it all and we have all the answers magically within a year mr president this is not the posture of this government this is a government who understands that things need to be put in place but we are not purporting to be perfect and we are not purporting to know it all and so of course we welcome the criticism from from from organizations and from from from other bodies like the opposition to help build and to help strengthen the legislation that we are presenting and as i conclude mr president um i i i cannot help but when i sit in this in this um in this house and listen sometimes to especially the leader of of of opposition business say certain things because i think he he seems to be forgetting himself sometimes who says that um and also the the the leader of um of opposition in the in the lower chamber that this bill is coming to the house one year later but five six years later we were promised bananas to friends we promise reduced gas the document was already seated on his desk and it has not been done but one year into this administration a promise made to the youth of this country will form a significant part of the electorate not just in numbers but in terms of the ability of the youth to move and make things happen in this country the use of social media especially mr president was very prevalent leading up to the last election it simply says that the youth of this country have a say in what is happening in this country and to give them that level of opportunity mr president i applaud the government for it mr president and so i want to submit my my approval for this bill being presented mr president and i look forward to it being rolled out i look forward to the agency being set up like i said in a manner that is accessible that our young people will feel comfortable and will be able to and i will always continue to reiterate the words of the prime minister to be able to turn their hobbies into entrepreneurship and their skills into businesses because i think this is something that is very much needed in st lusher especially given we i think we understand very well the external shocks that we've been experiencing but if we can encourage our youth give them an opportunity to start their own businesses mr president i think it will lend to that level of resilience that we require as a country so that we can create a buffer when these external shocks hit our doors mr president and so i thank you for allowing me the opportunities to submit on this bill before us mr president i thank you senator lee thank you mr president just a few remarks on this bill permit me mr president to begin my comments on this bill by mentioning a young man that i've had the privilege to get to know during his time at my alma mater st mary's college i like to mention anytime i get a chance um mr sequin prudent who has recently graduated and moved on to another facility is a gentleman that when i think of gives me great hope for the future he was an outstanding academic well a student while at smc and has continued at saatha he's a national athlete in fact he's currently engaged in the freekick foundation tournament his team has now won two games i mean looking hopefully to make it towards the the finals on the weekend he has also found time despite being engaged in all these things to mentor other students and become an entrepreneur he started his own business whilst at school and i mentioned him because he's exceptional but fortunately for st lucia he's not unique there are a number of young persons doing really extraordinary things in st lucia with or without the assistance of government and industries and agencies they found a way and so it is commendable that there is an effort to focus attention on the youth and to focus resources on their development and growth but that being said mr president the creation of a youth economy agency and a youth economy program to my mind assumes that there is a raw material already in place to be shaped and formed into a successful youth entrepreneurs and i raise this issue because to me fundamental in this is that we have to look at this as part of a whole we can't just take persons at the end of the spectrum and say okay we'll help them work we need to make sure that there's a continuum of persons coming through our education system who are business savvy who understand the nature of of operating a business who have the necessary skills the the raw talent and skills that can then be shaped by mentorship and training and funding that the youth enterprise is um sorry youth economy agency is hoping to bring to bear i have listened to the presentations thus far and what does come to mind to some extent mr president is that we do have a tendency in st lucia to look at the new shiny thing and oftentimes we neglect what has gone on in the past we don't learn from the mistakes that we've made and we continue to make them i'm saying that in the hopes and with the honest goodwill that this agency does not perhaps follow the trend that has happened in some cases and in particular i remember the youth enterprise fund which was started with great fanfare the idea being largely to do a lot of the things that has been done by this youth enterprise agency particularly to provide funding seed funding for entrepreneurs and yet i think approximately 10 years after its funding i think five million dollars was allocated to it only five hundred thousand dollars or thereabouts has been advanced i think only about 10 businesses have been financed and of which only one is currently operating and if that is the the the matrix or the metric sorry that who we are we are aiming towards we have serious problems so i i commend the idea but we need to make sure again in the devil is always in the details and perhaps always in the operationalization of these plans the leader of opposition business mentioned a number of agencies that already in existence and i did question myself when i read through the bill how exactly is there going to be an interrelation between the youth economy agency being created and these existing so nsdc for example the sldb how are those existing resources going to be tapped into and linked to this agency i understand that you can't articulate everything in a piece of legislation but i would have hoped at least in the presentations from the government side that a firmer understanding of how this agency is going to relate to what exists already would have been would have been put forward i would hate to have a situation where we are either replicating or creating this standalone entity that does not harness the experiences that have the skills that are harassed the resources that already exist and are available to us again reflecting on the experiences we had and the leader of government business mentioned it in the past we had a number of science fairs for example and i must commend the teachers who continually inspired their students because a lot of really really interesting products were showcased at these science fairs and the question is always what next how do we tie the interests of the youth that exist or the interests of the youth from that level into becoming viable businesses and viable contributors to the developmental economy of st lusia and so i would like to again encourage the government to think about the redevelopment of our education system so we can begin to look at perhaps centers of excellence where we look at i notice the schedule and i'll get to that shortly list a number of areas so we have sports we have entertainment we have design we have technology but we need to start ensuring that our education system in addition to dealing generally with the issues of business how you form a business how you run a business how you develop a business plan allows for the development of centers of excellence for these various industries so to speak i listened to a speech by dav chapel i'm sure most of us are familiar with him a very well known us comedian and he was speaking on the occasion of the renaming of the theater of the duke elliton school for the performing arts which he attended and what came across to me and was very very clear in his speech was that a lot of his success is down to the fact that he went to a specialized school that enabled him to interact with other persons who were similarly minded and perhaps who were able to challenge him on the basis of his art because they understood they spoke that common language and it enabled him to thrive in a manner which he would not have thrived and he made that very clear had he continued in the public school system in the us now i know we don't have the resources necessarily to ensure that we can develop such widespread centers of excellence but i think in our education system we can still begin to develop programs where if a student is interested in music for example that can be the focus of his educational experience where he knows there's sufficient classes and programs available to him where he can develop as a musician similarly with drama with art with literature similarly with computer aided design developing of apps and programs and programming we need to move past the idea where we sort of scatter shot and let persons i'm not saying that there isn't a value in having a wide experience as possible but at the same time there is equal value in ensuring that persons who have the talent and the ability are met with other persons who have the similar talent ability and drive where they can push each other to the level of excellence it is it is with not by accident for example that our we always pride ourselves on having two Nobel laureates and yes their foundations were shaped in st. lusia but in both cases they had to go on to other places where they could meet and compete or work with persons who were similarly minded with them and who could push and challenge them too often unless you are really really driven you will tend to operate only at the level to which you are exposed and the level at which you are required to which is why in some cases you have students who perform brilliantly when they abide themselves there's a big fish in a small pond but even then they don't meet the extreme of their possibilities or the the maximum of their possibilities because they're not challenged to that extreme so i would like to encourage the government to not just look at one end of the spectrum and say okay we've created an avenue and pat themselves on the back for that but they need to make sure that they put in place on the other end of the continuum policies and resources to ensure that you are creating that chain or continuum of persons who can come through and continually succeed i want to look at the bill in particular and there's a few comments that i had on some of the sections one of the concerns i had mr president begins in the interpretation section where we've defined activity and when you go to the schedule it lists 13 areas i'm not sure exactly what the thinking was behind listing specific areas that can be accommodated under the youth economy and to some extent respectfully i think that is counter productive because it assumes that we who are around this table somehow know and understand exactly what the youth may be interested in and where the next great idea may be coming from the fact is a few years ago nobody would have known what instagram was and how big a role social media would have played and if we were at the time trying to develop a program we would have ignored these sorts of things i believe we should not be limiting the activities that should be covered by this bill in any way we've already decided to be limited by virtue of youth which means persons like myself can't get a part of this but i think once you meet that age requirement and once on an evaluation your idea your business is viable regardless of where it comes from it should be accommodated for example just out of off the top of my head what if i want to be a joiner i love making furniture now unless you're going to see that furniture somehow comes under designing it's not going to be covered but that is still a young person who may very well become and furniture is very expensive i i think again if i had to do things over perhaps i might have decided to go that route and i'm sure any of us who's had to build a house recently and pay for the cost of cabinetry understands just exactly how well a well funded and well disciplined and organized joiner can be so again i think we are leaving out areas and we should not be at this moment be excluding anybody who is young has a viable idea falls within the other categories or the other requirements sorry for support i also had a concern so that section one i also had a concern mr president with regard to section 36 again this is just a general concern i always sort of have when i i look at these bills and i notice that the employees of the agency somehow require the approval of the minister now i'm not sure whether that is just a general you can go ahead and employ persons or whether there is a situation where the minister has to vet and approve appointments before they happen and if the latter is the case the question obviously then is why i don't understand why a minister would have to get involved in the nitty gritty of the operationalization of an agency i can understand the policy direction i can understand appointing the board but to my mind if we are creating an independent body who is responsible for the activities and responsible to parliament i don't see why the minister has to get involved in the employment of the of the staff of the agency similar not similarly i also have a concern mr president with section 37 which deals with the oath of secrecy and confidentiality um in particular section two subsection two which provides that again persons are supposed to keep confidential the business of the agency the affairs of a member of the board or an employee of the agency but yet still for some reason fails to to mention the affairs of the persons applying to the agency seeing as the agency is required to evaluate and consider business plans the financials of of these persons were applying i believe that an amendment needs to be made to this section to include the information supplied by the applicants having to be kept confidential as well section 40 um and i'm asking for perhaps some explanation and understanding here um from the government side my understanding is that part of the function and one of the things that's been touted as the benefit of this organization is the fact that it can provide seed funding for um the businesses that apply to it however when i read management of finances and application of revenue which is section 40 i don't see any specific reference to provision of loans or um seed funding or what's the definition in the or the definition sorry the definition section speaks to finance which then speaks to finance for the purchase of equipment refurbishment of equipment provision of working capital um but i said i don't see any specific reference to that in the legislation if expenses is considered to cover all of that that is fine but i still believe perhaps there needs to be specific reference so that there's no ambiguity as to the fact that the revenue of this organization can be used to finance the um youth enterprises i also have a query as to subsection c um to subsection c of section 40 as to why the cap of 20 percent i believe the concern has always been voiced as regards this organization as to how much resources are actually going to be put into supporting the businesses and to my mind 20 percent if again as i said this is to cover all your expenses including funding of the businesses that are applying to it is somewhat concerning because 20 percent is is a minor um sum in comparison no no sorry this is this is the cap on what the revenue can be expended on this is section 40 sorry uh mr president through you again um with regard to section 46 uh and the requirements for an application for the youth economy program uh i noted at this 46 i believe f 46 1 f i believe yes f is correct that the business site is adequate and suitable for the activity again i think perhaps we are missing an opportunity here one of the reasons that they may be seeking assistance is in finding an adequate sites and so i believe that a business incubator really and truly should be an essential part of this youth enterprise program that there should be some resource made available to persons where they can come in as part of this program and get suitable and adequate housing for want of a better or adequate location particularly if the nature of the business is service oriented and i think if we house the program in a place that can also accommodate an incubator you will get greater synergies because you can better monitor the activities of those enterprises and be on hand to grant them and give them support and assistance when they most require it so i think making it a prerequisite that they have an adequate business site is again an unnecessary limit that may restrict the benefit that we can get from this program so i think we need to think a little bigger perhaps and be a little bit more proactive with regard to that i also had a a question as regards 46 1 b which creates the requirement that you either be have been operating it for a year or beginning to operate it so so what happens in the interim if i'm six months in does that why should that again disqualify me you know what what magically would have happened between not having a business at all and having the business operating for a year to me the issues of viability can be assessed on on the financials of the business and once i put forward the financials of the business and you look at it as part of the evaluation i should be accommodated whether i'm just starting out or whether i'm six months in whether i'm two months in whether i'm eight months in i believe again we are creating an unnecessary restriction with that regard and so mr president i i would like to encourage the government oh and before i finish before i'm sorry again the comment was made during the debate on the estimates of revenue and expenditure as regards the split of the monies where almost 50 percent of the monies allocate of the ten million dollars allocated towards this program is going towards consultancy going towards accommodation going towards salaries again if it is because this is the first year and the initial expenses i can understand that that was not necessarily made clear i would invite the leader of the of government business to perhaps give us a further explanation on why the split was made in that way and what will be accommodated and again i would be more comfortable with that if the accommodation cost included an incubator where persons who require space can find that space and again it would be a source of revenue because you can rent out the space to the the young businessmen who are seeking the assistance of this program so in conclusion mr president i'm willing to give this program my support and for want of a better word the benefit of the doubt to see how it plays out how it operationalizes how it benefits the or creates opportunity for our young persons i understand that success will not be achieved overnight but i would like to encourage again the government side to keep us regularly updated on the process by which this particular piece of legislation is being put into effect and the outcomes from it how it is benefiting our young persons because i think we've all agreed that youth unemployment is significant in Senusha and that at the same time the youth is rarely where the energy and the drive to continue the development and growth of Senusha has to come so we have to make sure we support the youth we have to make sure we put in place and i again i applaud the fact that they have been singled out and an effort is being made to recognize because messages are important and the fact that is recognizing that the youth are an essential part of our economic development is to be commended and so i await what happens going forward thank you mr president senator has the question is that the youth economy deals we read oh my senator is ease thank you mr president and good day to my fellow uh colleague senators it it it gives me great pleasure this morning to add my voice to the overwhelming landslide of support that i sense for the youth economy bill i must compliment and extend compliments to the architects of the bill and to the prime minister for his unwavering support and championship of this relatively new and paradigm shifting concept of a youth economy personally i have reached out to the permanent secretary under gu's responsibility this design and these efforts were organized and and i'm in the in the two discussions that i've had with him i must say that i'm very encouraged with the speed with which they have been able to undertake the framing of this bill and the passion that that is enshrined in it i'd like to also echo that this whole discussion on youth unemployment and the challenges and issues which are facing our youth is not unique to us here in san lucha it also washes the shores of a number of caribbean islands as well as internationally and if you would take a look at some of the reports coming out by unicef and the united nations and the ilo post 2020 you will see that you know youth unemployment and the challenges ravaging the youth it's global in nature and we really can't take any ownership for those issues it's not unique to us it's a global issue what we can take credit for however are the solutions we can take credit for unique solutions that we as a country can own and implement and and use as a best practice globally for the rest of the world to share with other countries and i am hopeful that the youth economy agency will serve as one of these shining best practices as a result of its accomplishments that we can take to the world and say we got it right here in san lucha but to get it right mr president would mean that we must be prepared to make radical change we must be prepared as a country to be very dramatic and and and to pursue radical reformation of systems and processes that demonstrate how committed we are to the success of our youth because if we were to take credit for what currently exists and juxtapose it against the ills and the issues that we're facing we cannot avoid the fact that something is not connecting something is not connecting when we see the large droves of our young people after school is finished you know on the streets engaging in all sorts of behavior that many parents would not be proud of we know something is not right when we see the levels of violence and the heinous crimes being committed and we can't and we know that it means that we've got to revisit the drawing board and ask ourselves is what we're doing and is what we've done connecting with the unique demands of the youth that we have today decades of miscalculation a risk averse mindset and perhaps in many instances selfishness is starting to catch up with us and i put to you mr president that we are not adapting and changing as quickly as we need to meet the demands of our young people i hope that the youth economy and the youth economy agency represents that paradigm shifting change that we need and what are some of the things that make the demands of the young generation and the youth today different while studies put forward that they are more technologically savvy and anything that they're involved in has to have an element of technology enshrined in it they've got a more enterprising mindset they're not interested in the 15-year careers they're not interesting in being lifelong servants they're not interested in simply doing one thing they've got a passion for change and excitement and it lends that mindset to a lot of innovation and creative things but are we adapting our business systems and our economy to accommodate them we speak a lot about what we've done and the various agencies which have been established to support and develop our young people and to provide opportunities for them but i can't honestly say that personally i'm super impressed with them senator lee reference one example i know that there are others because it has to break your heart when you've made an allocation of millions of dollars that is supposed to plug into and finance the promises of our youth for a better tomorrow and have to retire those funds at the end of the year because you have been too risk averse because your systems are polluted with bureaucracy because the demands that you make on our young people to access these financing because they don't have a nenin and a power or they don't have some sort of backup their dreams are lost and expire because as a system we are so risk averse and we've got to manage that kind of risk this is what causes us as a people and a country to fail our youth and when we continue to fail them time after time agency after agency when the home structures start to decay not because of single parents at all but because of the quality of parenting when that starts to decay and then the education system now starts to decay because it cannot catch those who drift because it is too prescriptive in its approach of how things should be done and then income something like a pandemic and creates a wider gap and our youth lose faith in other layers of decision makers because they feel that they're put upon when we use terms like consultation loosely but the final product does not capture the the the the contributions of our young people and doesn't feed into what it is that they want we build and fuel frustration depression and hopelessness and that gives rise to a lot of the ills that we're seeing today driven by that hopelessness if we continue to be unwilling to take risks on our youth if we continue if we look at if we do not look at the failure of some of our systems and make the necessary change to support our youth then naturally we are telling them that we are unwilling to invest in their failures like like we're some sort of shining example of a failed less life like each one of us here have not made mistakes like the fortune 500 companies and the multimillionaires and the movers and shakers of our economy globally regionally internationally like they have not made mistakes of their own right but we focus on their success but it feels sometimes like our systems are designed to punish our youth for failing even before they start so you must hit this checklist of 200 things before you can even get off the ground when we should be focused more on financing and supporting those dreams and aspirations and be prepared to pick them up when they fail we have to be willing to invest in the failure of our youth because you tell me about $500,000 expense to support 10 companies once succeeded suppose we had to expense that entire five million you know you do the odds look at how many more successes we would have had but because we are so focused on making sure that we as an institution show a great slate show a great card our youth are punished the youth economy and the youth economy agency I know is not going to be operating in a vacuum it is not going to be operating in a vacuum best practice suggests that it's got to connect a network for success but it also means that as a country that alone will not address the issues of our youth we also have to look at how we create the wider infrastructure to give them the success we want to support young people and and and encourage those aspirations for them to be influencers online how we equip to our communities to provide free wi-fi and dependable technology to get them there we want to encourage those who maybe have an inclination to you know maybe coding or programming or gaming for example or our HRDC facilities around the island equipped to encourage and nurture these kids to move from good to great that is the kind of infrastructure that is needed what i would like to do mr president to impress upon the management of this new agency is to operate with a sense of commercial urgency there's a running joke of how many consultants does it take to change a light bulb first of all can we get a consultant to define a light bulb when we when we reach that stage how many consultants do we need to to analyze what type of light bulb we need and we sit down and we're trying to get it great trying to get it perfect and you know what our youth are drifting every single day yeah i have no issues with the allocations that ensure that we have the best possible framework for success i have no issues with consulting the best minds to ensure that we build the proper foundation for success what i am saying is that the allocations which are available to finance the youth do not stagnate it do not cripple it do not hold it back simply because of bureaucracies i would also like to reemphasize my understanding is that this agency is not a bank and that means it has a level of obligation to support the aspirations of our youth outside of that type of banking bureaucratic framework and by not being a bank and being an agency that is committed charged and and committed to develop to grow nurture inspire and to so support our youth make sure you keep the private sector near and dear to you so that we can build those linkages to optimize the success of these brilliant ideas and not only that access the skill sets we need to train them as a country at the crossroads that we are currently at we must be prepared to risk everything on the aspirations of our youth our future depends on it we say that very often but we don't behave like that our systems don't give the youth the flexibility the wiggle room and the liberties to do that but yet still all of us in this house are planning to retire in an environment in which the youth are going to have to govern if we don't do things right it will come back to haunt us it can't be well it's it's not sensible to me that if i want to invest in a depreciating asset or in an investment make an investment in something that depreciates it's so much easier to access financing but when i want to do something that can appreciate and invest in a mortgage or whatever here's 200 things that you must do there's the checklist that you must do and you really expect a mindset of a millennial to be amenable to that to that concept they're looking at us as failures that has failed so why would they want to be they want that that same same imposed on us uh i think one of the senators said earlier no bureaucracy however we will ensure that we do not compromise on transparency and accountability no one's asking it does not have to you don't have to to give up one for the other right transparency and accountability that's a given we want that we want to be informed of the progress that was going on in the house however we're saying that that thick thick bureaucracy fails suffocates and frustrates our young people mr president i close by saying that it is my wish that this agency that is birthed through this legislation prioritizes trust over performance do things that sends a message to our youth that we trust your dreams we trust your aspirations and i'm not going to punish you or punish your performance by guessing that because you don't have you know six out of the seven things that you're doomed to failure let us commit to prioritizing trust over performance and exercise that at the heart of the decisions we make when we consider those applications mr president thank you senator shall we hear thank you mr president and pleasant good afternoon to all mr president after that very passionate and moving presentation by senator aziz i wonder how much more i can add but it would be remiss of me of course as a young person to not lend my voice to a bill that i have waited sufficient time for for its passing and i just wanted to highlight a few things that have been said but first through you mr president if you would permit me to congratulate honorable philip j pier it was exactly one year ago today where he was sworn in as prime minister of st luccia and i remember getting that call to host his swearing in ceremony and i was shaking me why me but i know that our prime minister has always believed in the capabilities and the abilities of our young people and even as a at a ten age he appointed me as an opposition senator and of course it is because of his confidence i am here on this side as a government senator so i want to take this opportunity to thank him and of course his government for a successful one year in office mr president um i wanted to first make note of a few things that came up from the discussion and i do know that it is all of our intention to ensure that our future generation has the opportunity and the resources so they can thrive i know for a lot of young persons today they did not have those opportunities and like senator footing and said even for me maybe if i knew of the youth economy agency a couple years ago maybe i would have been in a different setting if my parents knew of it i remember my dad having to walk all the way from forestry to castries as a security officer 30 years later my mom has a seam stress 30 something years later and they would have loved an opportunity to be able to go to an agency that focuses on their talents and their skills and help direct it into sustainable enterprise one thing that came out of the discussion a few moments ago was the difference with existing entities and what we are trying to do here today mr president it is my understanding that some of these entities their mandate does not allow them to focus on a variety of issues so for example nsdc as far as i know their mandate is not to provide funding or or financial support but to develop skills the st lucer development bank i know their mandate is to provide financing and of course you have to go through the checklist and as as you might argue the bureaucracy of it all to be able to get to to a place where you can get support but the youth economy agency this is something that prime minister well the political leader of the st lucer labor party campaigned on heavily it was a flagship program of the slp and it is my honor and privilege to stand here today to speak on it why because the st lucer labor party everything that this administration has done or continues to do in some way or the other is for the future is for our young people and this bill speaks of our confidence and in the abilities of our young people not a leader of the opposition of opposition business spoke about consultancies just like senator aziz i have absolutely no issue with these consultancies the issues that we had with consultancies was paying accounting firms to do our budget 35 million or correct me if i'm incorrect on on the exact amount on paying somebody to come and reevaluate our spots in sports facilities millions when we have skilled and capable people right here in this country who can do that so to argue about about consultancies which will ensure that the amount of stakeholder engagement will be done that we ensure that we may not always get it right because it can be termed as a pilot but we must do what we can to be transparent and be held accountable to know that this will function as it should and senator deal did state that he would not like to see that this is another agency that is swept under the table there has been an allocation for it the prime minister spoke of the ten million dollar allocation for the youth economy and of course it is something that we will constantly have to review and debate on so mr president i i wanted to first of all establish the difference of the youth economy and existing agencies under section 46 of the bill a point was brought up 46 b a young person may make an application to the board to access the youth economy program if the young person b is operating a micro business enterprise for at least one year or intends to operate a micro business enterprise and i can understand why there is a request for a bit more clarification but if i can just explain you can imagine that if you're saying for at least one year or intends to operate this would refer to the level of support that will be allocated so for example if you have already been in operation you may not need support that is startup capital but you would need support to continue so your business can thrive but if you are a new entity you may need start startup capital so this is simply referring to the level of support that the youth economy will provide but of course i do agree that we can of course look at the wording and tweak it a bit if we look at f under the same section 46 a young person may make an application to the board to access a youth economy program if the young person has a business site that is adequate and suitable for an activity mr president we know with the onset of COVID-19 a lot of small businesses sprung up out of nowhere people have been working from home working from the kitchens to sell their food and so business sites may not necessarily refer to an office space in castries or in grizzly but it can simply be your computer your office or even your kitchen i wanted to just clarify that um mr president i won't go too much into what the leader of opposition said about um not receiving the information but i just wanted to state very briefly through you that there are a lot of young people who work in the house of parliament and if i may say arguably they are one of the most competent sets of young people you can find so we should not be trying to leave any doubt in their minds that they are not doing their work we all received the paper the adjustments from tuesday sitting wednesday we got it via email and of course it was all on our desk so i just wanted to add that we really appreciate the work of the house of parliament especially our young people and really want to encourage them because they are doing as much as they possibly can so mr president going into the bill and um why this is so important well why did we get here and senator aziz did speak a lot about working with our youths our at-risk youth and believing in our young people and giving them a second chance and as i said earlier almost every single thing that this administration has done or has come into this house for over the last year has been impacting our young people even when we expunged the criminal records of young persons who carried or who had cannabis in their possession 30 grams or less these are simple examples of why we are deciding that we need to believe in our young people and we need to give them a second chance so the youth economy speaks of transferring the skills and enterprise harnessing the skills of our young people into sustainable enterprise and the components of the youth economy agency will really target four specific areas one marketing even as i spoke of these social media businesses that sprung up you find a lot of young people they want to do the graphics themselves they want to do the social media themselves they have to do the accounting they have to go out there and sell it and they may not be skilled in all of these areas to do so so when the government decided that a critical part of the youth economy agency was to provide training i believe that this component is absolutely necessary the next part well training and marketing support the next part is mentorship a lot of grown folk who heard about the youth economy bill me bill said to me well what is it for me but the youth economy bill is about all of us it will change the lives of all of us the grown person who is involved in the fashion sector who is mentoring our future generation to be able to walk the runway and export their goods they are involved in the youth economy the individuals who have gone through Mr Aziz i know is an expert in tourism maybe persons like Mr Aziz will be incorporated into this to provide trainings to young people in the hospitality and the tourism sector so it doesn't at all exclude the involvement of persons with experience but of course it will form this link between the young and the experience so we can all work together in ensuring that this agency thrives and the most important part one might say is easier access to finance loans and grants mr president we know of the bureaucracy when i left sir ather and i had this idea i was not of course i was not working for two years the banks require that you have a credit line or you've been um banking with them at least for two years but you're coming out of south or you're coming out of of a secondary school and you don't have that but what often happens is somebody with the capital would have picked up that idea and may be able to run with it and of course the dreams of our young people are killed this provides easier access to finance and i think this is a critical component um there is a note in the bill which states that a certain amount cannot be exceeded but mr president if somebody can come walk into the youth economy agency and say i have this idea i need assistance with marketing i need assistance with my business plan and i need maybe five thousand dollars to at least start up without having to go through the red tape of going through our bank they can get easier access to that and that is the main difference between the youth economy agency and of course um maybe the sldb where you would still need to have somebody to guarantee your loan or still have somebody to be able to speak on your behalf mr president um i'm also noted towards the end of the bill some additional concessions that are provided for persons who would like to benefit or who are interested in benefiting from the youth economy and it reads 100 waver on custom duty imports 100 waver on items that increase on the use of alternative energy 100 waver on vats building materials etc and of course 100 waver on corporation tax i think these things are extremely important to be able to tell our young people that we are doing more than just say we can give you easier start-up to finance that if you need to order and we know most of these things you cannot finance initially that you can apply and you can be guaranteed those concessions so mr president i just wanted to highlight those few things i know a lot has been said about the youth economy almost every time we come to this house as a representative for young persons i have shed my voice on it but i really want to take this opportunity to remind all of us that we are doing it for ourselves for our children and of course for our children's children and i do hope that the remaining members or member of the opposition can see the value in us understanding that we may not have it 100 correct and the and i do agree that some of the points that senator lee made need to be considered but together we are here for us to ensure that we get it right and if we invest in our young people we show them that we have trust and confidence in them mr mr president we cannot go wrong too many times we have been very hard on our young people too many times we have looked at them and said no you cannot do it too many times we have employed a top-down approach and our prime minister has always said we are taking a bottom-up approach this time around you tell us what it is that you want to do and we will provide the resources for you to be able to accomplish your dreams and to reach your desires so with this mr president i submit and i want to congratulate this government on finally bringing this very remarkable this crowning moment to their one-year anniversary achievements to state that i fully support this youth economy agency leader of government business thank you mr president mr president first of all i want to thank the members of this chamber who contributed to the bill and i also want to show them that like i said when i attempted to explain the contents of the bill that it may very well come back to this senate for amendments and for improvement that was set that was established from the onset and so it came as no surprise to us that some of the comments and observations made are to be considered and are welcome i will attempt to address a few of them and some of them may have to be considered for further discussion let me first of all get out of the way some of the issues that were raised by the leader of opposition business sometimes mr president it's not what you do but it's how you do it and as we noted there was some there was a particular observation that was raised by the leader of opposition business again i speak to an empty chair it's been a pattern in the last you see things that every time i attempt to respond to his you know claims or his questions that i'm speaking to an empty chair so i don't know if i should but for the benefit of the opposition and i do respect that there is an opposition and at least there is a member of the opposition sitting so he can convey the message to him that we are trying to respond mr president as i was saying it's not what you do but how you do it there was a particular issue that was raised and it was also raised by senator lee regarding the agency and the the financing and i think it was a legitimate point but by the time the leader of opposition business got to that point he had muddied the water so much that he got lost in the discussion and it became an issue of him attempting to have an exchange with you and everybody else but mr president let me try to extract the content of the issue of course i think he was trying to make reference to th