lsory acquired was it caribbean jewels the land was purchased by investment lucha it was it was in a receivership that is not correct i'm a member for soselle if you are if you don't know something for fact don't see i remember for liquid salt point of order on clarification clarification no i'm not accepting any clarification point of order that is a point of order yeah so you make the speaker the same method that was used for the lands in the south in view four when we had all these lands that were in receivership missus were there because of the icelandic bank and he knows well he's a lawyer but you have two options you can buy the company but if you buy the company missus you don't know what liabilities you're buying into the company so the mechanism that was used was we agreed with the receiver on how much the mouth is going to be paid and we compulsory acquired the land in order to not have to take over the company but that's exactly what they said no it's not what you said remember for microsoft are you agreeing with him that the purpose of what he is suggesting is that we just acquired we did not be acquired in in agreement with the receivers but he never disputed how he merely said that it was compulsory acquired that that's what we agreed with him procedure that's all i said you know mr speaker it's a fact you compulsorily acquired a hotel when government is not a hotelier and the proceeds of the acquisition must be passed on to private entities those of it and then you talk about fixing the economy fixing what mr speaker i'm coming to one of you there was a company that says it can train people they stayed at cocopam they stayed at cocopam and the government and people of st lucer funded the training of cabinet ministers by that very agency dr bat they train you the man the man our representative our ambassador to england at the time ambassador mares even flew down to be trained by dr bat at cocopam and the bill was filtered by the taxpayers of this country you were fixing the economy you were fixing the economy you know mr speaker under the stewardship of the member for microsoft we acquired the orange grove hotel no castries north sorry under his stewardship it was something i was never in agreement with but it went through we spent in excess of 50 million dollars cumulatively on that hotel yes on on the building sorry on the mall orange grove mall you see that hotel ding don't stick in my mind i really miss it orange grove plaza we spent in excess of 50 million dollars on that plaza here paying 250 2 000 a month in interest but here comes the member from microsoft prime minister then sells it for 5 million us which is 13.5 million ec and in the deed within the confines of the deed enters into an agreement that would guarantee the purchaser cumulatively 52 million dollars mr speaker on the point of order members misleading the house again the acquisition of the of the sale of the orange grove was only for the ground floor the government owns the second and third floor and government sold the ground floor so the entire building was valued at 30 million ec and that's what it was sold for the 10 million us dollars so five million to the ground floor five million upstairs and the the developers agreed to now to go in and fix the remaining of the building of which government will pay a rent of four dollars so i would certainly like to hear from the member particularly from the member the minister of finance whether in fact that he's now examined the deal but in fact he thinks it's a bad deal the reality is government didn't have to put any cash out and we're going to be able to take a piece of land that has been undeveloped for so many years and been is now going to come and make a meaningful contribution to our economy at this time with with very little exposure by our government in fact the rental the average rent we're paying now in the system is in excess of five dollars this is going to be for four dollars so i certainly would like to correct the member maybe he didn't read the fine detail of the to understand that element of it member castry central the member for me who saw the said the building was not sold it was the ground for the ground for mr speaker i know you are one who knows a lot mr speaker to sell any part of a building now it must be sold in accordance with the condominium act there is a deal of sale of the property registered from the government of st lucha from amazon properties a company owned by the government of st lucha to whoever there is a registered deal of sale what it is within that deal it says that the government undertakes and i remember the square footage 78406 square feet at four dollars a square foot that's going to write good how much is that monthly i don't know you just told us is that four dollars four dollars a square foot mr speaker with one and three quarter acres of land yeah for yes the first business year 43 thousand almost two two acres you are you sold the property you are turning back you are turning back and rent two floors if you sold the ground for a while to parent you sold the property turned back rent almost 80 000 square feet at four dollars a square foot which is almost three two hundred or two hundred and three hundred and twenty thousand dollars a month ten sir allen chastney felice please see me see ten sir new ten year building like we orange group new day pass a whole secret million dollar hey come to me miss allen chastney funny for 12 million 12 six million dollar 13 and a half And that is how you fix the economy, we sold the ground floor, that's a new one. Because you know what? You have given me four. I will get the deed. I will make the deed public, I promise you. I will make the deed public. You sold the ground floor. There is a... It's not... Anyway. The S.H.U.S. Public here, you call it a fake. But Mr. Speaker, that is the kind of leadership we had in this country. That is the kind of leadership we had in this country. And you know what Mr. Speaker? Our Prime Minister has a philosophy. You never blame the recipient of a sweet deal. Blame the person who on governments behalf gave that other person such a sweet deal. If the United Wilkins Party had come to me now, and had asked me for $13.5 million, I don't have it though, but I would even sell my underwear to take advantage of the deal that was given on Orange Grove. Because $13.5 million and guaranteed $370,000 a month for 16 years. What more do you need? The bank wouldn't even want to deposit. That is how sweet the deal is Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, point of order. Members misleading the House. The end of the day, the $4 represents a significant decrease in the chance of rent the government pays. This is not the additional rent. I'm hoping that the government will take advantage of the rent and the building that is being built there, and transfer other places that are being built. Remember where did he refer to a reduction or increase in rent? He's not, but he's... He's saying that we have paid X dollars and we have spending Y. Suggesting Mr. Speaker. That's why he said he's misleading the House. I didn't get that impression. On top of it, I'm saying this is to substitute. That was the intention. No, no, no. That's why it's four dollars a square foot. The government is now paying $7.5 million. Members of the Microsoft, I had no insertion of any suggestion. I had a direct statement that X dollars was sold for X dollars, even though we bought it for Y. And thereafter, we are renting a certain amount that will cost us over a 16-year period, more than $30 million. I never heard anything about increase or decrease in rental. Mr. Speaker, if the member is saying that it's going to be $300,000 a month in additional rent, did you hear him say that, Mr. Speaker? No, he didn't use the word additional. He just said it was $300,000 rent. So am I not to imply that there's going to be an increase in rent of $300,000 a month? Well, you're free to imply what you want. But can I take it? Can I take it? You can take it how you want. The Speaker didn't take it that way, and that is what matters. Can I get your clarification? My clarification is that all I heard the member of the Ministry Central say was, whilst he was minister, they bought a building and spent nearly $50 million overall on that building. That building was then sold for $13.5 million. You have attempted to clarify it was only the ground floor. That's in the air. Out of that $13.5 million, you are renting, you have agreed to rent over 70,000 square feet at $4, which comes to $300,000 a month. That's all he said. Okay, Mr. Speaker. In that same vein, because if I say he has land there, which is a fact, and if I said he has signed it yesterday, which is a fact, he will say I'm implying that because he has land there, he signed it yesterday. And he has been caught for that. He has been caught for that. I said, I was a member of his family, the director of the family, which is a fact. He has been caught for that. So you understand- Remember, you can't litigate what's in court here, right? Very well, Mr. Speaker. But it is along those same lines. I spoke factually, I spoke factually that we bought a building, spent cumulatively in excess of $50 million on the building. He turned around, sold the building for $13.5 million, and in the same agreement in the deed which I had yesterday, unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, as I said, I really didn't come prepared to make a contribution. I didn't, because I never envisaged that my friend would have opened the door. You know? And, Mr. Speaker, we sold it, he sold it $13.5 million, and guarantees the purchaser in excess of $52 million over the 16-year period. And it's easy to calculate. He has just admitted that he rented a great to rent 78,000 square feet at four dollars a square foot that's almost 320,000 by 12. That's about 4 million a year, 16 years. 16 years. 16 years. And that is how you tell me. You stand in this house before the people of this country and tell us you are fixing the economy. And again, in a floodplain, you know, Mr. Speaker, in a floodplain, Mr. Speaker, just imagine, in the agreement, and I told my colleagues that yesterday, we were supposed to have that delivery of the building by a certain date. That day that's passed, the court was supposed to have moved there, in accordance with the agreement he signed. Today, Mr. Speaker, we still continue to pay $40,000 a month to house the court where it currently is, because the completion that has passed and we have been given new building. And then, Mr. Speaker, you hear, I was busy fixing the economy. Mr. Speaker, I want to say I will save the best for last and I will await the member to speak on another resolution that we have there. I didn't intend to make any contribution, as I said, but Mr. Speaker, like I said, when the door is opened, you enter and I cannot sit idly by and hear the member from Miku South spewing so many untruths, which if left on challenge, would have gone down the annals of belief. I thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member of the Cassidy Central, Member of the Cassidy Central, you would be aware that having relied so extensively, on that lease, you are obliged to make it a documented house. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I can do so almost later today. We are in possession of the documents, Mr. Speaker. Okay, no problem, Mr. Speaker. The lease of him for the 70,000, Mr. Speaker. The member for Viewfort North, I want you to... Yes, I want to put him. My jailong. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker, and good afternoon to colleague parliamentarians. I wish Mr. Speaker, before I continue, to speak on this resolution, which seeks to get the authority from Parliament for the Minister of Finance for finance to borrow 5,217,000 dollars from the special funds, resources of the bank to finance safety nets for vulnerable persons affected by COVID-19. Before I make my brief contribution, Mr. Speaker, I want to join other colleagues and to express condolences to the family of the young nurse who met her demise in a very tragic way earlier today. I wish to express my profound sadness not only to the family, but to the other nurses and especially to the staff of the Millennium Heights Medical Complex and all other health institutions. I've been told, Mr. Speaker, that she was well-loved and her family is in deep grief. I also wish, Mr. Speaker, to take this opportunity to wish all musicians a happy feast of musicians in the constituency of V4North, where I confirm we have a rich tradition of musicians and families of musicians. And there are so many of them, Mr. Speaker, I wish all of them well. And I'm hoping that today they will relax and spend some good time with their families and with members of the community. Mr. Speaker, the impacts of COVID-19 on St. Lucia and the Caribbean are well-known in some quarters and in other quarters, Mr. Speaker, we are still counting or trying to assess the impacts of COVID-19. I want to spend just a few minutes to speak to this resolution, Mr. Speaker, but I wish to borrow from the work of Lilia Buen-Queik, who is the World Bank's Country Director for Caribbean countries. And she has this discussion which she offered in August of this year on the COVID-19, its impacts, and how, Mr. Speaker, we should be thinking of strengthening social protection systems and rethinking social protection systems, especially in light of the impacts of COVID-19. She offers a few suggestions and I want to use her arguments, Mr. Speaker, as a basis for my discussion today. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has on the mind food security on a global scale. I think it's important to remind members and the general public that the impacts of COVID-19, the negative impacts of COVID-19, some of them are health related, unfortunately, death all over the Caribbean and the world, but the impacts have been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. And just to mention, Mr. Speaker, this year, the World Food Program estimates 40% or 2.8 million people in the English-speaking Caribbean will struggle to access adequate food and remain food secure. It's important to note, Mr. Speaker, that in addition to COVID-19, 30% of global wheat imports and almost 20% of corn exports, more than 50% of the sunflower oil supplied globally are in problems. Exports have stalled. Food prices are on the rise. I think it's very important for our people to understand, for our constituents to understand that all of these things will cause the impacts of COVID-19 to be even more severe. We are seeing reports of food prices going up. And we have also seen, Mr. Speaker, the highest levels in terms of fuel prices since 2008. Why are all these things important in this discussion? These things are important because people in our communities and our constituencies are under pressure. They are under pressure because COVID-19 wrecks havoc on our social infrastructure. COVID-19 destroyed many families. Some of the breadwinners of the families have desist, unfortunately. And some people continue to suffer. So there is an urgent need according to Lilia Buenuik for us to look at social protection systems and to buffer our economies to protect the vulnerable. Mr. Speaker, the crisis is compounded by the fiscal strain on the governments. You heard a while ago the leader of the opposition chastising these governments and indicating that we promise to give people things that they are not given to them. I was pleasantly not surprised, but I was very happy when the Member for Casteries Central went into the history of the management of this economy by the Member for Miku South. And I was happy when he mentioned the record which the Member for Miku South got in 2016. The healthy economy and the rebound. The reduction of the fiscal deficit to 3.1% I believe moving from almost 9% when the Member for New Ford South came into government. And how he squandered that is the Member for Miku South. How he squandered this wonderful opportunity by going on a frolic of his own a frolic in his own mind Mr. Speaker to enter into all kinds of deals and his answer to economic growth is revenues. Revenues that as long as you have revenues you have economic growth. Today is not the day for a discussion on economics Mr. Speaker but clearly his strategy did not work and we are in a lot of problems exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. The World Bank suggests a few things and I listened to my colleague the Member for Kastri South East this morning and I was very comforted by the fact that a number of suggestions by the World Bank Mr. Speaker I heard him speak about how the professionals in his ministry are working towards these conversations. The first is for us to update our poverty data and targeting mechanisms. I know for example Mr. Speaker that we are encouraging our professionals to focus on the data get the data right I know we are encouraging community groups to get involved. The World Bank also indicates that we should implement economic inclusion programs and when you look at the work of this government the department of commerce when you look at what is happening with our programs and in a while the loan for small businesses is coming you will understand Mr. Speaker that this government is focused on implementing economic inclusion programs. The World Bank suggests also that we modernize the social protection system and increase institutional capacity. I heard the minister speak about PAP and he is very fond of discussing PAP the public assistance program we need to modernize that we know Mr. Speaker that in the last the last time last government we know the kinds of havoc that was wrecked on the public assistance program and we are still trying to understand how certain people found themselves there and how we can use a modern tool and a fair tool to get help to those people who really need help. There are a number of people in my constituency Mr. Speaker who should be in this program and as to why they are not in this program I don't know. So I am very pleased that the minister and his ministry are trying to rectify this problem trying to improve the public assistance program and the World Bank also suggests that we strengthen social insurance and labour market programs and work is ongoing with the help of the World Bank in San Lucia and OECS to do this. So we need to strengthen the grassroots level involvement in this public assistance strategies and to reimagine social protection. But Mr. Speaker our government has demonstrated that we are a progressive government. A government which has implemented in its short stint so far a number of policies to assist people in social protection. As we know social protection policy progressive social protection policy is really an investment. The people have evidence of our actions Mr. Speaker look at in the post-COVID era although we still have COVID-19 we can begin to think about developing post-COVID era we have serious issues to consider still. Our government is considering those issues and you the people are in the mind of our government. Look for example we know Mr. Speaker that although COVID-19 infections are going down we know a number of people who get COVID-19 we are recovering that many people who are infected with COVID-19 seem to have complications which may affect the future productive lives. And that's a very serious problem. We in the Department of Health Wellness and Elderly Affairs we are looking at this problem and we are beginning to speak we are speaking with car for power and other agencies to find out how serious this is why people are recovering from COVID-19 people are reporting all kinds of pains and aches and things that they never had before and they are now going to certain doctors more regularly. They are seeing specialists for ailments that they never had before so this is something we have to consider when we look at social protection it means Mr. Speaker that some people even though they got COVID and they have recovered it looks as if we may have another crisis down the road and it's a looming crisis of long COVID and people who do not understand yet what's happening to them after they have contracted COVID and recovered. So social protection we need to go down that road too and begin to look at how will that affect the workplace and how will it affect our productive capacity here. It requires for us to be guided by the evidence changing nature of work for example since COVID-19 a lot of workplaces have changed the operations and how does that impact social protection. The labour market programs Mr. Speaker look at what this government has done access to tourism through community tourism activities. The youth economy and the opportunities that can be found there. Very soon access to funding by the youth will come through the youth economy look at education look at what this government has done and if we are talking about social protection we are talking about parents who got impacted by COVID-19 and the government came in and said we know you are impacted by COVID-19 little by little let me take off some pressure of you. So we went and we paid the facilities fees we paid the CXC fees we negotiated the flow and there is the flow bundle of individuals are being connected right now as we speak so when we speak of social protection when we speak of a government with a conscience with a focus on protecting individuals in the communities our government is there for you the people our government is focused on that. Mr. Speaker access to information technology where a parent would have to probably get close to a thousand dollars to purchase a laptop our government is ensuring that the parents, you the parents get some protection and to ease off the burden from you a bit. And when we speak of micro-businesses in a while we will hear a debate on the loans for micro-businesses more opportunities for social protection because the World Bank and all the experts are saying yes we have to give transfers and we have to help people out the best form of social protection in the long run is to ensure that you graduate these people and you give them skills so that at the end of the day they can survive on their own and they can create even better opportunities for other people through employment so Mr. Speaker I support this loan I want Mr. Speaker to come here to pay the money but we don't even have to pay Mr. Speaker so we came here to talk about how we can help the people in the country who will be elected the most important people with MAM, Parliament Kastriz, South East Ediki, Lelania, Hurrican Kailasa, Kwaze, Shimea even if we don't have a contractor we don't have to pay the money we have we don't have to pay the money so the people in the country who will be elected the people in the country who will be affected by Covid-19 because of Covid-19 it is very difficult but also Mr. Speaker who will be affected by Covid-19 because of Covid-19 because of Covid-19 because of Covid-19 because of Covid-19 because of Covid-19 Mr. Speaker how we can help the people in Ukraine who will be able to go and export the money we are not going to do this with the money the money we have it can be used for supermarket I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm this initiative is a commendable initiative and the government deserves being commended for this initiative by reducing this initiative. And I accept that the initiative has been very carefully thought out. I am willing these matters as well as the speaker that there are limitations and there are so many limitations some of which should be addressed by members. I think I just heard a member for the North for example pointing out the debilitating consequences and effects of COVID and others the limitations of finance resources and so on. But perhaps one of the greatest limitations has to do with the thinking of the agencies that we have to deal with. As in this case for example the Caribbean Development Bank offered that matter to the World Bank because they have a very strange notions of social assistance, social support, social rehabilitation and it's never ever easy to have to cope with these agencies and their very bureaucratic approaches to dealing with real problems or the problems of ordinary people. They are in fact exceedingly journalist in their views and the burden that we have to carry is the burden of technocrats the way they think, the way they reason, the way they deal with issues and sometimes a very difficult responsibility is cast on governments to maneuver themselves for that means to get the support that countries need, governments need and persons need. So it's a limitation and I don't think we should be shy to talk about from time to time it's a limitation that we I mean should address because it applies to all governments which ever the government that is in office or in power. Mr. Speaker the minister for equity helpfully clarified the heads on the which assistance will go to the people of the country and I think we have been told that some 8,000 persons overall will benefit. He explained carefully explained cash transfers and what they would mean I think he indicated for example some 766,000 US dollars will go to public assistance. I was particularly pleased that the member indicated that persons with disabilities would be targeted. That again is commendable and I believe he pointed out that grants are currently $200 per month and that will increase to a payment of $400 for six months. Now again I spoke of the limitations that governments have to work with and all throughout his presentation the Honourable Member made the point that this is assistance for specific period of time six months being touted constantly so six months really is not much time to play with but then we have to be reminded of the share cost because this is going to cost overall nearly 14 million dollars in six months so again sometimes you can have all cake and eat it but I was pleased by the increase in disability grants for different reasons the first of course is that this was a grant that the former government introduced when I had the Honour to serve the country as Prime Minister and I recall that at the last budget sitting of that government before general elections we had increased the allocation the monthly allocation from $200 a month I believe either to 275 or 250 because we are always acutely aware that $200 for the parents of challenged children disabled children really in this day and age is no money at all with inflation at the current rate so mr. Speaker this is really a drop in a bucket but again we have to get some small muscles but I say this mr. Speaker to make the point to really deal with the thinking of the former UWP administration and we heard so much from the leader of the opposition because you know when you're reaching out to touch individuals like that people with disability people are challenged you give them a grant for tokenism to recognize that there's a problem there's an issue but what did they do one of the first things they did was to actually remove the increase that had been introduced by the former government and tip brought it back down to $200 and you sit there and you listen you listen and I'm not going to repeat what the member of a country central has said because I think is the response was admirable in all the circumstances and I think he's quite right there's so much that he did not touch dealing with the management of the economy in that between that period 2016 and 2021 the fundamental reality is that if you had an economy who suffered a debt to GDP with reduction of some 2426 percent and we need to confirm what the exact figure is because we keep on airing is 2426 percent the fact of the matter is that no government should be taking credit when there is a rebound because any economy that has suffered are such a severe loss of GDP because of particular situation once that situation is remedied that economy is bound to recover I mean that's an iron law I mean you look at Grenada for example when Grenada was damaged by that hurricane the fact of an incoming government is to an incoming government's responsibility is to know that recovery well aware it will come and this is what this current government has been doing to miss this recovery to not continue to not a discovery I'd be that it is on a natural path of recovery but to do nothing that will cause any danger or any arm to allow that recovery to continue to take place and and to grow and develop and this is what's happening so when the members from me go south of me go south attempt to claim credit for this rebound in the economy I mean he's really clutching straws because that's absolutely nothing to do with the former government at all if anything that we are in has been due to the recklessness of that government and as I said a member for castry central spoke about it earlier on mr. Speaker I saw a recent statement in war by original newspapers regarding the deliberations of the executive board of the IMF on the solution economy following the article for consultation of our economy and the executive board commented on the fact that st. Lucia has been severely affected by covid in fact it let off that discussion on that basis and after speaking of the severe impact on covid then proceeded to address other issues like the impact of the war in Ukraine and it is interesting the choice of language severely impacted and I want to spend a few minutes to dwell I guess mr. Speaker my point of departure and I want now to link up to the comments I made about the Caribbean development bank is this that when banks and institutions are seeking to develop programs to assist countries to recover from debilitating economic events there's a responsibility to really look at real problems what are the real problems of people that needs to be addressed and that's my issue that there is a reluctance to really look at these very real problems and see whether programs could be devised to deal with those problems our bureaucrats are all guilty because a lot of them basically they believe in the theology of the world bang and so they're just as guilty because they have not really they have not really adjusted their economic thinking in that regard because they see things in very narrow prisms of dollars and cents mr. Speaker I was hoping that I might have heard from the minister how we can reach out to some of our people who for example cannot pay the utility bills I don't know what is the experience of honorable members but I can tell you mr. Speaker I have a monumental problem in my constituency I am bombarded with requests to pay for water bills and to pay for what electricity bills why because Lucille has come back with a vengeance you don't pay they disconnect you what scores followed suit of vengeance you don't pay they disconnect you the reality of this situation mr. Speaker is that during COVID quite rightly these agencies decided not to disconnect persons to allow them to continue to use water and it was responsible of these agencies to do those things we all knew that we were in this together all of us had to suffer collectively and of course have names spoken about a bank because you know I have in the past spoken repeatedly about issues of banking and how it affected his life in other words mr. Speaker a lot of all as this program is as the minister explained and as a minister of finance as explained but I still sense that the program is really not touching some of the fundamental issues that ordinary solutions have to face on a daily basis particularly with respect to those two entities Lucille and of course my question is this we are talking of very poor people and I have seen some extraordinary bills $4,000 for water $3,000 for $5,000 for electricity and I accept mr. Speaker that no government can ever take responsibility for going to pay people water bills with them or pay electricity bills I would not support that I would not support and as much as I happened to have happened to have had the honor of leading a government that had a responsibility to the poor and leading a government that sought to change the lives of persons and leading a government that reached to touch the lives of poor people by the institutions that they created whether it's for the poverty reduction fund that became the SSDF and you know or whether it is the electrification program of the country whatever it is whether it was the elderly home care program that we are repeating there well it's all those things that was the nerves of that government so there's no question about that but at the same time we do have to be very careful of embedding this dependency syndrome into society where people feel that the it is a government's responsibility to pay for everything every living thing I mean I'm still astonished when I help people see seem to want to argue that the government has not moved to touch their lives and the member for view for north the development examples whether it is the laptop program or whether it is the program to pay CXC fees although I might have had a different approach in respect of CXC fees but that's besides the point offer that matter facilities fees these are real programs that touch people in need so there can be no question about the legacy the thinking and the approach of the government all that I'm saying is that there are some areas where I think that our people have very real problems that have that needs to be considered now this is bigger I have made the point that I don't think you can go and pay out people's electricity bills for them offer that matter go and pay their water bills the government just doesn't have the ability or capacity to do it and whether number for Miku South accepts it or not the greatest the disaster that occurred in this country is not just COVID you know but it is his management of the economy between 2021 no no it's not an accident that's a lucha has suffered a debt sorry GDP reduction of 24% or 26% that's not an accident it happened it was exacerbated because of those policies and Tiga has a tourism dependent economy didn't suffer to the same degree that St. Lucia did those policies had to create the situation that we are in and we have found themselves in so Mr. Speaker we need to to to to be clear what we are dealing with and what has to be done for the future but to return to this issue Mr. Speaker as I said before I do not believe that any government should do a lot of money or just ask what is the bill that people all that sort of paid also like what is the bill that's been paid and just do a lot of money government don't have the capacity can do it but on the other hand I believe that the responsible ministers need to sit with these agencies and say listen we have to structure an approach to enable those people to meet their commitments to you we have to find an approach and it's unfair that person have to be routinely disconnected on all fronts whether it's electricity and water and they don't have the capacity because the reality is that the vast majority of these persons continue to be unemployed for reasons that we know in other words what I'm saying Mr. Speaker is that we require interventions discussions with these agencies to say listen this is not the way you can we are not going to wipe away those debts we can't pay for those debts but we need a more sustainable approach you know what parliamentarians are left with Mr. Speaker I either have to take the money I get as a back manager sometimes and help out or I have to end up calling Lucilleck and plead with the person at the end of the line who is responsible for unpaid accounts and seek to negotiate and invariably negotiation requires you to pay down a certain sum of money before the person can be reconnected and in my experience in the vast majority of cases those persons on fall again and low and behold the car pay and they're disconnected one more time this time in perpetuity and they're back on your doorstep so some more persuasion has to be applied and I really want to urge that the responsible ministers and gauge those agencies in discussions to see what adjustments can be made for example if your three thousand dollars is on paid electricity bill why would you tell a person do we have to pay down six hundred dollars or eight hundred dollars and then you have to pay three hundred dollars a month when you know the person's can do it so I call for these kinds of interventions as I call for such interventions for example with government agencies that are old money for example by tenants and they refuse to understand that they have to make adjustments to allow those persons to recover the recovery from COVID is not going to occur overnight it will take time just as a government economy just the management of the economy will require a lot of dexterity a lot of skill a lot of patience but as a speaker I have stood in this house and also said that I will not be a hypocrite to what I have preached and what I have said before I've said I believe I will hold on to my faith unless they're overwhelming reasons why I have to change my mind and if I have to change my mind I will say so why I'm changing my mind that has been my position that is why Mr. Speaker I was very pleased by the comments made by the member for the Fort North regarding COVID but you know Mr. Speaker in opposition I have said and I will say again we need an independent assessment of how we handle COVID the question is whether as a country we took the right decisions whether we handled COVID beyond criticism whether we gave the best medical care that was available whether the medical care we provided failed us and failed our people to date Mr. Speaker over 400 persons have died in the future and when we look at those statistics and we reduce them to a per capita basis it is a significant number of deaths all of us have been touched by COVID I lost relatives so like a lot of other people I understood what the pain was and it's still for me an issue that we are allowing those deaths to recede into memory into history human beings have a strange way of dealing with issues of death it really fascinates me how we handle and deal with issues of death I mean it's unbelievable sometimes that those persons who have lost their lives the families who have suffered we have just pretended they don't exist so they don't have any real pain of one kind or another this country has never really said to those families we feel for you we know what you went through as a country I've never done it and I remember pleading and saying listen we need to come together as a country and just in memory of those that was too much for us to do we never did it but I maintain my position Mr. Speaker that our handling of COVID we need an assessment you know why I'm Mr. Speaker because we have must develop the will we must develop the correct to change those things which we did wrong for the future to build a more resilient healthcare system and people are searching for all kind of praises about how they handle COVID etc while they're searching for praises they're also not saying what it is that they did wrong to unleash the speed and suffering on this country and the people of this country I have great admiration for the doctors I have great admiration for the nurses but I know we also did a lot of things wrong I know there are those who didn't have the courage to treat COVID patients I know all of that we can't pretend that those things did not exist and so Mr. Speaker my view has always been that as we address those issues of COVID and consistently with a view that we are severely impacted that at some point Mr. Speaker that we do this review so that we can strengthen our health systems and to ensure that those issues are not repeated. I believe that a member of Euphold North also is absolutely correct to draw attention to the future of COVID and those who suffered with COVID and the complications that could arise. It is a huge issue a monumental issue and it's really the tip of the iceberg when you read all the reports both from in the region and elsewhere and it means that sooner or later that we have to come to terms with the history of resources in the health care sector and how we resolve it and I'm really very glad that the member is alive to those issues and that some discernible progress is being made on that universal health care UAC front. I think this is going to be vital but at the same time we've got to prepare for that wave and also to prepare for the future. So Mr. Speaker in summary then this is welcome initiative the government is to be in my view commended. I accept the imperfections in the instrument. I accept that the government will find itself in a difficult position because it's dealing with unimaginative bureaucrats and decision makers in the region and elsewhere. I already have at this stage of my life no need to make any apologies for anything that I say. I think about it very carefully and when I speak of those bureaucrats they know exactly who I mean and what I mean. So I mean let's pretend that they don't know what I mean. They do not disservice and they're unrealistic in the expectations of people. Unrealistic in respect of what the governments require. Unrealistic of what the future holds and insensitive to the real needs of individuals. I mean when you really look at this program and the minister did a great job you could see how carefully the program is hedged with all kinds of petty little requirements all over the place and it's going to be interesting to see how it's going to be administered. I can't understand how a program like that 14 million. You're spending 1.5 million in an administrative program like that? Or you should be spending 1.5 million in an administrative program like that? What is it with a program like that that the Caribbean Development Bank is imposing on a government? 1.5 million? You know what 1.5 million can do for me if you thought you can give me the money to pay those electricity bills I'm talking about? What are you talking about? What is spending 1.5 million? But that's how they think and they are the greatest enemies of progress because you see Mr. Speaker what has happened is that they have become ossified in their thinking as technocrats. You know these regional technocrats don't understand the world is changing you know. They don't know you know. They don't know what is facing these islands. They don't know what is what what is facing the world. They don't even understand the political imperatives that apply. That's a tragedy Mr. Speaker and these are the issues that we have but then Mr. Speaker that doesn't absorb us from looking at our own problems and that's been the burden of my contribution to say look even if we want to be constrained by these people in terms of what we can do and how we can help them and how we can touch slides we need to be also be imaginative of how we deal with their own problems and I end with the plea that I made. Both Lucilleck and the last code needs to be engaged to see how we can help out the poor in this country rather than putting them in despair because simply they can't enjoy the basic utilities and facilities which they ought to have. That is what I mean when we sometimes have to look at very real problems. They can't these agencies cannot be allowed to do what they want with people's lives and politicians and not supposed to speak to these issues. We are elected by people to speak about all of these issues and I hope Mr. Speaker that we can do this quickly and that somehow some respite would be provided to those who have been denied those services. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Prime Minister. Mr. Speaker I want to start where the member of UFO itself ended Mr. Speaker. On the attitude to politicians that some technocrats helped Mr. Speaker, when Mr. Speaker sometimes you really can't blame them you know. When you listen to a former Prime Minister speak in public and tell you he's the one who initiated he's the one who initiated the moratorium and the ECCB for households he comes and he says to the public everybody can hear Mr. Speaker when Mr. Speaker you know so you really have to understand why some of these technocrats not listen to us you know because when you have a leader of the opposition come and put on his Facebook page that we borrowed five hundred and five million dollars for this year when he can a former Minister of Finance can print that in the public for the whole world to see Facebook has billions of viewers Mr. Speaker and he up technocrats and saying if this guy can print that you think we can give him our money to control. So Mr. Speaker sometimes I also I also get very no view with technocrats I tell them that I've since over time I have been we've had some rough discussions on giving me 30 million years dollars I want me to change the whole world for that. I've had these discussions on that but it is because of the behavior of people like the leader of the opposition by technocrats we have that way Mr. Speaker but we have to change that. Mr. Speaker this is the worst global crisis that the world has suffered since the Great Depression. But the leader of the opposition comes and stands up and gives a impression that St. Lucia is in a little in a little hole and what you're doing you're not doing nothing Mr. Speaker. What you're doing Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker all countries all countries Mr. Speaker all countries all countries are suffering from inflation. During COVID Mr. Speaker there was zero inflation or deflation that's what that's the economy he managed. Zero inflation or deflation Mr. Speaker. Right now the entire world the entire world is screaming because of inflation.  The UK changed two prime ministers because of economic management. Two prime ministers because of the management of the economy one of them was supply side and the other ones and the people said that is not good and the markets crashed because of the reduction in taxation for the rich and famous the market crashed. Part of the reason why and the UK government changed Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker the entire world the great United States the great United States and Congress the Republicans are controlling Congress because the people perceive the management of the economy because the inflation is at its highest it has been for decades. The leadership comes here and he plays and he pretends Mr. Speaker that he was even on perception Mr. Speaker. Glybdok absolutely no facts. Glybdok Mr. Speaker flashing mirrors forces the truth Mr. Speaker. We are in a global crisis Mr. Speaker. A crisis. And the leader of the opposition wants to make people believe that the government could do more. He said he told us how to change the supplies the supply side issues. You think a man can stand up in the parliament and tell the world that he taught us he tried to help us to improve on the supply side issues so we're making containers in Zanussia. We own ships in Zanussia. He tried to help us on the supply side issues. He tried to tell us what to do to improve the supply side problems in the country. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker what the leader of the opposition does is why is he was trying to grow the economy the people who suffering. That's the difference between him and us Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker look at the first two years of any Labour Party government and look at the first two years before COVID of the government that leader of the opposition was prime minister and tell me the difference. I want him to tell me one achievement of his government before COVID. One. One achievement. One. Just one. One hotel I was built. One hotel. One hotel I was built Mr. Speaker. One hotel I was built. One hotel I was built. I want him to tell me. Let's talk about re-reducing unemployment. Mr. Speaker. The range hotel was started. You see Mr. Speaker. You see now Mr. Speaker in the sun I promise myself never to respond to him. But he said I want to apologize to my colleagues and the public for getting up to remind him that I beat him. But I promised not and I won't do it again. I'll never do it again. Because you know that kind of business leader we stop Sanders hotel. Last week in the courts Sanders versus landings the court ruled on that situation. I did that. I run the court now. Who else? We should have stopped. We should have stopped. And Sanders building now. And the building now. How many they build under you? How many rooms you build? How many rooms you build? Where? You build them. Mr. Speaker. You know that kind of delusion that caused him to lose election you know. That's why on the night election he fell down. Because that kind of delusion because he was saying to people that he won 17 seats. He went to a kind of meeting and as usual he denigrated me. As usual something is trying to do here. And he told his colleagues what? So somebody told him you have a little issue he left an election. That's what he does. And he continues to do it. Deluding himself with a fear of his surrogate that he is not what he is. And Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. All the information. He speaks about population Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. In 2019 the labor force was 100,976 people. In 2020 the labor force was 95,790 people. So there were less people. So when the government must go down. Let's be walking. Mr. Speaker. You know this use and abuse of statistics. Playing that you smart. Next thing. Next pose. We have not given people the dollar fifty. We promise on petrol tax Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. How could we reduce petrol tax when we were making no money on petrol? How could we do what? It was being subsidized already. So reduce what? How could we reduce the petrol tax when people were collecting no petrol tax? How can we reduce it? But I'm going to tell you that if the trajectory of petrol prices remain the same and we are reasonably sure that in the future it will not increase we will keep our promise to the farmers. That is the government we operate. Mr. Speaker. Let me remind the leader of the opposition Mr. Speaker. Because you know he says comes up his accent and talks these kind of things. He talks about tourism arrivals. We had an arrangement for a PPP agreement where the government would have no absolutely no liability or we would not have to come to parliament for any guarantee. He crashed the agreement because he said he was collecting money on tourism arrivals and he comes there and boasts and then laments tourism arrivals when you put the country in debt because you said that tourism arrivals would help pay the debt. You put the country in debt because you said that tourism you didn't have the foresight to know that if there was an unforeseen situation that as there was a Covid nobody knew Covid would come but there could have been a hurricane. You put the country in debt. You put the country in debt. Right now we may have a debt of at least 250 million US dollars. At least. And I'm going to make a statement again on the airport. I've kept very quiet. I've allowed them to insult me to come in this eye. But the time will come. I'm going to make two statements, two disclosures. St. Jude and Ewanora. Take your time. Thank you minister. St. Jude and Ewanora. Because this bluff about 70% complete. About St. Jude hospital, state of the art. The truth of St. Jude comes. But the same minister speaker. I waited. I waited for patients. I was elected in the parliament in 1997. I waited until 2020 want to become prime minister. No, no. I went once. I lost. And I won again. And I understood to lead. You must follow. So this is why when I was in the government, I walked hand in hand with Kenny Anthony who was prime minister. That is the difference. That's the difference, Mr. Speaker. That's the difference, Mr. Speaker. So let's get back to Ewanora and to wisdom arrivals, Mr. Speaker. Let's go there a little bit. Let's go a little bit there. This leader of the opposition. Authorize a contract with a contractor to build a building. And he had absolutely no end, no end figure. Absolutely no end figure. No idea how much it will cost. Go ahead and build an election coming. Let me fool them. That's what you know. That is economic management. This is the economic guru. Started an airport. Change the plans. 3,000 pairs when the plan said 716 pairs. Speaking about a thing about home porting. Home porting. That was at its best, at its best hope. At its best, Mr. Speaker. Then father compounded and said that you had a plan to build a cruise terminal in Viewfort.  Mr. Speaker, let me tell you the difference between GPH and Carnival. The leader of the opposition went to Miami in a big story. And had a big scene. All kinds of things. On the LED lights. Like LED. All kinds of things. He went and doing that with the speaker. Then he said at that sign in. Oh, we're very happy to have Carnival available in solution. Absolutely nothing after that. Nothing after that. GPH. The people came here. Went to the official residence and the prime minister. Signed the MOU and immediately after that there's a concessionary agreement which we are going to discuss. Before when we signed the MOU, the minister of finance was involved. All the relevant people in the tourism industry were involved before we signed the MOU. And now the concessionary agreement is in the public. The minister of finance technicals have it. Everybody has it. We're going to discuss it. We're going to be into the public. But what does the leader put on his Facebook page? We sell the pot. Mr. Speaker, you know, I said here, I said here. And I said, Mr. Speaker, the relevant person says that we do nothing. We have done nothing for people. Page 64 of the budget address that I read. And the next budget address, we are going to be comparing achievements. In reality, subsidizing cooking gas. Our subsidy for cooking gas is the highest ever in his time. The subsidy for cooking gas used to be at its highest $10. Now the subsidy for cooking gas is between $18 and $20 per time it reached $25 million. What have we done to relieve people? Increase annual personal tax allowance. Increase annual personal tax allowance from $18,000 to $25,000. You know what that means? That means that from January, more than 10,000 people in the country will pay less tax. Cautioning consumers from the full impact of rising full prices. You know what you did, Mr. Speaker? We removed the 6.5% service charge on commodities that must be bought. And up to this day, we subsidized flour and sugar. You never had to subsidize flour and sugar, never. Never. We subsidized up to the bank of flour. It should cost $100 and something. We subsidized it by between $50 and $60 every bag of flour for the full solution. That's what we do, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what have we done to cushion the impact? We've waived interest and parity charges on personal and company tax for everybody and we've written off all company tax due before the year 2000. That's what we've done. That's what we've done to grow the economy. What have we done to grow the economy, Mr. Speaker? In a little while, we're going to borrow directly $10 million to grant and soft loans for micro and small businesses, Mr. Speaker. What have we done to grow the economy? We've created the community tourism project. Very soon next month, we are going to be giving grants and loans for people to get involved in indigenous tourism ventures, continuing the Nature Heritage Tourism Project that I started when I was a minister of tourism. What have we done for people? What have we done? We've funded the creative industries to give people a sense of pride in the country, a sense of being sent, Lucian, Mr. Speaker. But how have we funded it? We've done emancipation, the activities. The first time a government has got involved in emancipation because we're not afraid of our history. Our patrimony is not our credit card. Our patrimony is our history and colonialism has no conscience. That's what we do. That's a difference, Mr. Speaker. That's a difference, Mr. Speaker. That's what we've done. What have we done, Mr. Speaker? We've waived import duty of $10,000 for public servants to get them a look at East, Mr. Speaker. What have we done, Mr. Speaker? We have provided a $500 one-off payment to pensioners and in conjunction with NIC, we've raised all its pensions by about 4% in the first instance. That's what we've done. What have we done, Mr. Speaker? What have we done? We've paid the civil servants their increase and we're going to pay them their back pay in December. That's what we've done. What have we done, Mr. Speaker? Mr. Speaker, during this period, the price of rice and flour. Flour has increased by over 30%. White sugar by over 75%. Rice over 15%. But because we've subsidized it, we've kept the prices at the full reach of the population. So what have we done, Mr. Speaker? What have we done? Mr. Speaker, I want the public to compare my first 18 months as Prime Minister with his first 18 months. I never want to go into a business comparison, but if you open the door, I'll go in. Compare my 18 months. Compare the promises of my first budget with your first budget and what you did in your 18 months. Mr. Speaker, let's talk about growing economy. Growing economy, Mr. Speaker. You came into government and you found Grozile Highway. And every day I feel sorry for my colleague from Grozile because people complain to get from castries to Grozile. It's about 40 minutes, 50 minutes, Mr. Speaker, because you and your friend refused to go ahead with a loan that was negotiated for the castries Grozile Highway because you could not have your way with the contractors. And you know what you did? You spent $21 million on less than half a mile of road instead of spending the money to continue the highway. That's what you did. But the story of that has not been said. Mr. Speaker, and you speak about progress and being an economic manager and doing this and doing that, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this lead of the opposition in the government that he said that he'll run so well did not attract one investment before COVID. In fact, he found the Range Hotel. We came here and we warned him, do not interfere with the Range Hotel arrangement. He interfered because he's smart and bright. He interfered, Mr. Speaker, and we lost the Range Hotel and we had to pay back Range for the hotel. And the Range Hotel went to Dominica. They built a hotel there and they built another one soon and wine and tea. Where's the one in St. Lucia? Mr. Speaker, you see, if the leader of the opposition had come to this honorable house and speak about the loan and make some sort of suggestions how it can be improved, but he can't help himself feeling under pressure in his party, so he can't help himself. So when he comes, he comes and he tries to ridicule me. We had our convention peaceful and well and I want to send the delegates 250 to 0. Mr. Speaker, let us go further in the leader of the opposition talking about managing the economy. Mr. Speaker, the leader of the opposition speaks about flooding in Corrine and flooding in Bexon. Mr. Speaker, do you know that when he came into government, he found a study financed by the CDB where some Canadian engineers had a complete plan for the Bexon mitigation and for the Bexon adaptation to flooding.  We invited the parliamentary rep at the time to come to a meeting to discuss with the consultants the plan to avoid the, to avoid. I didn't say stop. Look at me wrong. I never said that we would stop it. I said to try to avoid it, to avoid the flooding in Bexon. There was an entire plan. The parliamentary rep came to the meeting. He asked all the questions that he wanted to ask. We lost the election. And we never blamed solutions for what was out. We never blamed solutions. We accepted the will of the people. They forgot us out. We accepted the will. You know when he came into government, they scrapped that entire plan and they said the solution to the problem is disillusioned. They scrapped the entire plan. They didn't even look. And they said, I talk about managing a government, managing an economy. The answer to the solution, they spent millions of dollars in the solution Bexon where I go say who owned the tractors. I don't own the new tractors. Mr Speaker, that is the disillusioned history of the leader of the government. That's his history. That's his history in disillusioned. I want him to tell the public whether he didn't find a complete plan to help the flooding in Bexon. Hoping to alleviate it. And you know what they did? They went to full people. They tried to put a health center in a flood plain. Mr Speaker, that is the reality. And you know Mr Speaker, he hasn't learned. You know he still threatens journalists. He still threatens journalists. He still calls journalists on the phone and threatens them. He still does that. He still calls journalists on the telephone and threatens them. Tell them the girls are off and now it's time. He still does it. And you want to tell me, the people of St. Lucia haven't understood that? After you threatened so many journalists. You tell them you are ashamed of them. You tell them they are all kind of things. You lost election. You still threatened them and say that's not true. It's true you threatened them. Of course he threatened the journalists. And if you see, and when you see the time to come, I'll put a tape. Of course he threatened the journalists. He threatened them because he said, let me tell you something. This leader of the government is something else. He wrote the police saying to the police that he's having a thousand people in a match. He wrote the letter. He wrote the police telling them to give him permission for a thousand people in a match. That's what he did. When he did not get a thousand people. Homie McGill Francis. Homie McGill Francis father was a police like me. I'll get a letter. I'm right here. Homie McGill said to the press that he was not happy with the crowd. He got so annoyed. You don't know what he called homie. What is his name? What is his name? Homie McGill Francis. He got so annoyed and he threatened the journalists. He said to the journalists, you're not printing what I say. We're talking about a match. So many things. You never talk about my press release. We're talking about this and the girls are off. The girls are off. And he went further. And he tried to get the journalists fired by calling the journalists boss. That's what you do. No journalists. There's not one journalist in this country can say Philip J.P. ever threatened them. They write whatever they want about me. Talk to us. Say whatever they want about me. I respect their right to disagree and I respect the freedom of expression. Mr. Speaker, this leader of the opposition who comes here and talks about borrowing. Mr. Speaker, in 2016, the minister of finance sat here and he said that we are going to support borrowing on the three conditions. One, if the debt was incurred before, like if we spoke about a project and I had borrowed for it. Two, if it was to help people. And three, if it was a national capital expenditure. That's what we said. When we came into opposition, we never questioned the government's right to borrow. What we questioned is what they were borrowing for. That's what we questioned. You cannot tell me. You borrowed 32 million dollars to pay Lockerbie. 32 million dollars. And what is the result of that? You improve. You put tooth. And I've never gone into that argument. Because I like my arguments to be solid based in the science. What you did is you put tooth on three grounds. Sufre, Miko and Dennery. And you spend 32 million dollars to improve playing fields. 32 million dollars. What did you do? You borrowed for Pimandu. You paid them 13 million US dollars to tell you what this tetra class can tell you all the time. But because you don't have the confidence in our local technocrats. Because you don't have the confidence in our local expertise. You listen about it from abroad to tell you 13 million dollars to tell you what our technocrats say all the time. 30 million dollars US dollars. That's what you borrowed for. You know what you borrowed from Mr. Spiegel? And he's speaking about borrowing. And you know, today the minister of housing is correct. And we're not going to go into the, we're not going to go into what they call the anatomy of borrowing now. But we're going to go into it. Because Mr. Spiegel. And I hope the minister, the member for Shoezell listens to what I say. I don't want him to go down that track. Because up to now he still has a level of believability. He still has a level of believability, Mr. Spiegel. So if he goes down that track, he will lose all that believability. Because I'll tell you something. You know, anything, anything that the leader of the opposition says. In there, there's something that's not true. He just cannot help himself. Why in the good name you could put on a Facebook page that the government borrowed around the 9 million dollars in October? October was last month. Anybody can tell you how he didn't borrow money in October. But you printed for the Facebook people to listen to. And you wanted, you want to argue that and try to attack me. You want to argue that? Mr. Spiegel, the guy's hungry. Mr. Spiegel, I want to tell you that we have enough time, we have a lot of time, Mr. Spiegel, to discuss. We have a lot of time to discuss borrowing. We have a lot of time, Mr. Spiegel. We have a lot of time. All the resolutions that we get the parliament to borrow, we'll be able to discuss it. We'll be able to discuss what we borrowed for, why we borrowed from Mr. Spiegel, and what we promised as far as borrowing is concerned. But today, the borrowing is unique. The borrowing is for people. Fundamentally for people. Valuable people. The single mothers that he attacks. The people that he calls Americans. The people that he says is going to demonstrate in Marchion. These are the people we borrowed for. The people that he said that I want St. Jude to look like Marchion. Them people in Marchion. Them are great in Marchion. That's what they do. That's the people we borrowed for. And whilst we are doing that, we are creating an environment where the businesses can make more money, both large and small, and helping small businesses to make money. That's the difference between us and them, Mr. Spiegel. So, Mrs. Spiegel, I want to, before I leave, I want to just say very quickly about Liatz. You know, Mrs. Spiegel, the minister, member from Mikusov, talks about crashing airlines. You know he has employed two airlines that crash? He was involved in two airlines that went on the Asia-Macon, Asia-Macon, and was in a mountain, Caribbean. E.C. Express went on the two. Asia-Macon, E.C. Express, he was involved in E.C. Express, but right now he knows all the answers to Liatz, but he couldn't run E.C. Express. You know, Mrs. Spiegel, sometimes, when you hear these guys speak, and hear people say, oh, he's the best, this is not it. You have to look at the reality with the reality. E.C. Express was being managed by the leader of the opposition. It crashed, but you know what he blames? He blames, he says, oh, there are seven unregulatory bodies, but why did E.C. Express crash? Liatz. Mrs. Spiegel, the leader of the opposition has been persistently and consistently attacking and denigrating Liatz, because his idea for Liatz was you should have a certain kind of play that he alone would know about. Talks about, compares, Mrs. Spiegel, listen, you must listen to these things, you know. The leader compares Belize to a craft with Liatz. You know what's Liatz's fundamental problem, Mrs. Spiegel? It has all his hop and job, hop and job, a high maintenance cost for his hop and job. 40 minutes to St. Lucia, 40 minutes to St. Vincent, 30 minutes to Martinique, one hour to Antigua. But Belize is a vast country. Belize hasn't got its job and, like Liatz, how you can compare an airline that services a vast country like Belize with a little hop and airline that deals with 40 minutes to be finished. That's the difference. High maintenance cost, Mrs. Spiegel. But you know why? The leader of the opposition does not like anything West Indian. He refuses to pay the University of the West Indies. We owe the University of the West Indies $20 million plus and climb in Mrs. Spiegel. He believes that the community college, the community college at the moment is a waste of time. And he's on record of saying that. All what I say, I can prove it. All what I say, I can prove it, Mrs. Spiegel. So what I'm doing there is not the personal attack. The post-attacks, when they attack me, my attacks are based on very far-backed facts. I want any of the surrogates to say anything I said today is not true. Anything I said is all about how it's not true. Mrs. Spiegel, the deficit on the left party, on the Kenyans and Mrs. Spiegel. 2.8% 2014-15, 2.4% 2015-16. When it took the government in 2016, the deficit was 1.3%. 1.3% the deficit, Mrs. Spiegel. That's what he narrated. And what did he bring it? Wasteful expenditure. Travel. But general letter. Mrs. Spiegel, I want to applaud the minister for his sigmatedness as far as his passion, Mrs. Spiegel. Sometimes we need to speak to him. He needs to get some counseling when it comes to some things that he does, Mrs. Spiegel. But I want to congratulate him. I want to say I'm very happy for the workers of majestic industries. And it's not a promise again, it's reality. It's not a promise, it's a reality. He'll get the money. And we didn't sell any building to get the money. And the reality is what the leader of the opposition, Mrs. Spiegel, I know you want to go. But this thing is so, this thing, it hooks me, Mrs. Spiegel. It hooks me. Because you know, when I hear these lies, Mrs. Spiegel. Sorry, you're doing it, I must hear these lies. When I hear these untruths, Mrs. Spiegel, I have to, because Mrs. Spiegel, the records, I have the records. The records are available, Mrs. Spiegel. Let me give you a letter. You want to make it a document that allows, Mrs. Spiegel? Mrs. Spiegel, July 16, 2020. Now you know what's happening today, you remember, right? Compensation for workers employed with majestic industries. Further to a meeting. I read it, I read it. Well, I agree, I read it. That's what I'm going to fail at. Further to a meeting held on December 5, 2020. Further to a meeting held on December 5, 2019. 2019. A delegation from the National Okas Union, including John Haywood, Secretary-General, Paulice Meyers, Deputy President-General, Laurence Poirot, Senior Industrialist Specialist, a former shop steward from majestic industries limited. The on-the-side and yourself and Minister Guy Jose. A general meeting for the former employees of majestic industries was held on Thursday, July 16, 2020 at the National Okas Union at Unity House and Soussi. Over 100 former employees attended that meeting. The leadership of the NW gave a detailed explanation on the discussions at our previous meeting. As a result, the workers present voted in favor of the following. The hand-adviled worker belonging to the company should be sold. Proceeds from the sale should be used to compensate the workers. 150 of the former employees are prepared to accept $10,000 each as an excursion payment in lieu of servants, noticeable invocation entitlements to be closure to this matter. We do hope that you will be willing to give us an opportunity to meet with you to find a final settlement on this long-outstanding matter.  That was the letter that was written, Mrs. Mida. When we came into government, I met the same union and I said, these people have suffered enough. So we're not waiting for no building to sell, we're not waiting for anything of this nature. We are going to pay the workers according to a list that you prepared. We're going to form a special purpose vehicle, put the bonds in there and the union graciously, and I sang them for that, they graciously accepted the bonds. We're going to put the bonds in a special purpose vehicle and you will handle it and pay the workers because we have confidence. Mr. Speaker, that was endorsed by Cabinet tomorrow. Yesterday, same finally at workers. That is the truth, Mr. Speaker, and we are at Mr. Speaker. I thank you. I remember the question is that Parliament authorizes the Minister for Finance to borrow US $5,217,000 from the special funds resources of the bank to finance safety nets for vulnerable populations affected by COVID-19. And be it further resolved that the loan is repairable in 80 equal or approximately equal and quarterly installments. Loan payments commence on the first day of January, the first day of April, the first day of July, and the first day of October of each year after a grace period of three years following the date of the loan or such later date as the bank specifies in writing. Interest is payable at a rate of 4.39% per annum on the amount of the principal disboost and outstanding and the borrower may request an interest rate conversion from the bank. I now put the question as many as of that opinion. Say aye. As many as of a country opinion. Say no. I think the ayes have it. The ayes have it. Prime Minister. Mr Speaker, I move that this house be suspended until 4.45. Remember the question is that this house do stand suspended until 4.45 pm. I now put the question as many as of that opinion. Say aye. As many as of a country opinion. Say no. I think the ayes have it. The ayes have it. Sit in suspended. Well, it's our concern that the first month, session that we consider today, each of us debate, each of us speak, we have to do the government, we have to do the state, we have to do the public services. We have to do the home affairs. We have to deal with the situation. We have to do the state, we have to deal with the infrastructure. We have to do budget work. We have to deal with the situation. We have to do Jonesman. We have to do the squash. They do the Playing with a vote. So there is goodbye, we have also taken our steps, we have a responsibility to have business which must we My business, you guys, I'm, I'm one of them, keep my business. And then the government, I keep, I'm shy, shy by all. It's a motion for government put a cut million dollars to aid men who can suffer by location COVID. Many Winston, Winston Springer, he said, you know, put a billion dollars, because the net is in place. Good afternoon to you. The focus today was on a motion to borrow five and a quarter million United States dollars from the special funds, fund resources to finance a safety net for vulnerable, or vulnerable part of the population affected by COVID-19 in that or speaking on that motion. We heard from the member for Cascary Southeast. We heard from the member for Swazel, Cascary Central, Villefort North and Villefort South with the minister of finance and prime minister wrapping up in the end. The house has been adjourned or suspended until 545 when we will return here to hear the other motions. And this one is a motion to borrow or authorize parliament than the minister of finance to borrow an amount of 3,704,000 from the bank special development fund 10th cycle loan facility to support a micro, small and medium enterprises sector post COVID-19. The Honourable Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Economic Development, the Youth Economy and the Minister for Justice and National Security will also table a first reading of the Constitution of an amendment to the Constitution of St. Lucia. So we'll be back at 545. Until then, stay safe. 445, I beg your pardon. Thank you, Gasper. 445. Until then, stay safe.


Hi, and welcome to the session. I am Deepika here. Let's discuss the question differentiate cos x cube into sine square x5 with respect to x Now we know that derivative of uv dash that is uv dash is equal to u Into derivative of v plus v into derivative of u. This is our product rule This we will apply to differentiate the above function. So let's start the solution Let y is equal to cos x cube into sine square x5 now here our u is u is cos x cube and v is sine square x5 therefore dy by dx is equal to u That is cos x cube into derivative of v that is Derivates d by dx of sine square x5 plus v sine square x5 Into derivative of u that is d by dx of cos x cube Now this is equal to cos x cube now D by dx of sine square x is to sine x cos x so d by dx of sine square x is for five ways to sine x5 Into cos x5 Cos x5 into derivative of x5. This is 5x4 plus sine square x5 Now derivative of cos x is minus sine x. So therefore D by dx of cos x cube is equal to minus sine x cube Into derivative of x cube. This is 3x square. I hope this step is clear to you Now this is again equal to this is equal to 2 into 5x4. This is 10x4 cos x cube sine 5 Into cos x5 into sine square x5 Into sine x cube. So we have differentiate the given function and our answer is 10x4 sine x5 cos x5 minus 3x square sine square So I hope the question is clear to you. Bye and have a nice day


at C.S. Forester's Indomitable Man of the Sea, Horatio Hornblower. On the murder of the Spanish master's mate, at all costs, I must not fall out with supremo or his followers while my orders remain uncompleted. As I reach my own deck, the boom of a gun from the Natividad was answered by one from the Lidia. A new flag was flying from the peak of the Natividad, blue with a yellow star. It was possible because it pleases me to be soft. I do not understand. It was probably the finest diver and swimmer, and in my pleasure, I so far forgot myself as actually to converse with Lieutenant Bush. Captain Manuel Diaz, at your service. I have to welcome you and see you for the past four days. Last month, Napoleón Bonaparte, in consequence the Spanish government, assigned a treaty of perpetual alliance. I understood that, Mr. Raya, here are some letters. One from your admiral in the Leewood Islands, sent over land from Portobello. One from his excellency, the Viceroy Perú, and one from... I retire to study these documents. Mr. Bush, you will entertain Captain Diaz until my return. Ah, I need you to tell the Spanish captain about receiving one shot, nor to explain that the ship was now under the flag of El Supremo. Then... Back to fight the Natividad. Thank you, Captain. You will call at Panama first to consult the Viceroy? Yes. Then I will bid you goodbye for the time being. If I reach Panama first, I will arrange your welcome. Who are the cause of such trouble, Mr. Bush? One more pressing matter. Lady Barbara Wilsley is at Panama and desires a passage in the Lidia to Europe. It is what I shall have to point out to the lady, though if she has the normal Wilsley blood in her, I suspect I shall be wasting my time. Internal struggle. I disliked the aristocracy. I could not forget that as a doctor's son, I had had to touch my hat to the local squire. The captain was no influence to offend a member of such a family as the Wilsley. For the present, I decided on icy formality. Are you the captain of this ship, sir? Captain Hornblower, that's your service, ma'am. Well, I am Lady Barbara Wilsley. I wrote you a note requesting a passage to England. I trust you received it. I did, ma'am, but I do not think it wise for your ladyship to join this vessel. Please tell me why, sir. Because, ma'am, we shall shortly be in action with the enemy. Also, we shall have to return to England via Cape Horn. Your ladyship would be well advised to make your way to Portobello. From there, you could reach Jamaica email, hasn't it? I have informed you, sir, that there is yellow fever in Portobello. Yes, ma'am. Some persons died of it last week. That is why I removed to Panama. May I ask why your ladyship was in Portobello? Because, sir, the West Indian packet in which I was a female passenger was captured by a Spanish privateer and brought there. I see. I regret, sir, that I cannot tell you the name of my grandmother's cook. But I shall be glad to answer any further questions which a gentleman of breeding would ask. But we are going out to fight. To fight a ship of price our forces will be dangerous. I would rather be on your ship, whomever you have to fight than to be in Panama with a yellow fever. Uh-huh. Get Horn, ma'am. Well, I have no knowledge of it. But I have twice rounded the Cape of Good Hope during my brother's governor-general ship. And I have never yet been seasick. Uh-huh. Well, soon, Captain, I will come to think that I shall be on welcome aboard. I can hardly imagine that a gentleman holding the King's commission would be discourteous to a woman, especially to a woman with my name.  I was thirty-seven and not more than one-eighth of the way up the captain's list. That enabled me to reach flag rank. Begging it, Papa, ma'am, but your luggage is aboard. Oh, thank you. Be so kind as to give this to the boat school.  I am aware of that, sir. I have dwelt in a cabin before. That sea chest will hold all I acquire. The rest can be put way away. And now, may I see my cabin? It was scandalous that a king's officer should be given such quarters. And as I left to pay my call, I'm defy sir Roy. Where shall I serve my ladies? It's dinner, sir. I don't know, sir.