 Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I promise I will not be long. I want first of all to compliment the Minister for Tourism for his stewardship so far, Mr. Speaker and to sometimes I tease him and on the staff that he has, he says he only has seven Tourism officers, Mr. Speaker if when I was Minister for Tourism, I had a lot less than seven but at that time I was one and about no, two, there was two. One of them are still in the ministry as you speak, Mr. Speaker and Mr. Speaker, at that time they worked hard and now I am sure they are working just as hard, Mr. Speaker to ensure that Tourism does what it does with your business. I want to thank them for their work to improve the Tourism industry, Mr. Speaker and I want to warn them that I need more money for my budget so they have to deliver so that I can get some more revenue. Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful to them, very grateful to the Minister and the people in the solution Tourism Authority for the commitment to the industry, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wanted this morning to go back a little into the way where we got and what was the philosophical underpinning as to why we got here. Mr. Speaker, the leader of the opposition does not allow me to do that without having to correct him, how to use the word correct Mr. Speaker I am in an independent mood today, I am celebrating independence so I am going to use the word correct Mr. Speaker and some other things that he said. Mr. Speaker, he says that there is no schedule for Tourism incentives, Mr. Speaker and he says that nowhere in the bill does the bill say what incentives we are giving the Tourism industry. Mr. Speaker, the leader of the opposition let me remind him schedule number two incentives, additional incentives and incentives for resilience. Part A, incentives for tourism investment. Corporate tax, income tax with regard to a registered business. Import duty on imports of building materials, equipment, furniture, fixtures and fittings. Import duty on excise tax on articles for marketing and branding. Excise tax, stamp duty on vendors tax on the conveyance or transfer on sale of the movable property on the initial transfer. Property tax, value added tax on buildings, materials, equipment, furniture, fixtures and fittings. With holding tax, tax credit for financial institutions, marketing support, customer service training and capacity building. Registration of business names and fees, work permit fees, alien land holding license fees. Part B, incentives for a tourism investment specialized support. Digitalization, import duty on excise tax on equipment. With holding tax, B, low carbon and resource use. Corporate tax, import duty on excise tax on equipment for low carbon and resource use. With holding tax, Part C, additional incentives. Corporate tax, property tax, income tax, vendors tax. With holding tax, stamp duty. Part D, incentives for resilience. A word that he doesn't like at all. He says in original, not resilience. You all make a joke and talk about resilience. But we have incentives for resilience with the speaker. Incentives specified on the part A, value added tax services where excise and license fees for tourism transportation, grant funding, customer service charge, stamp duty on mortgages and loans. Tourism certification fees, contract tax, corporation tax credit for employee retention. Schedule 3, tourism sectors. Tourism accommodation, food and beverage. Tourism transportation, recreation, meetings, incentives, conferences and event planners. Tourism facilitation services and travel trade. Tourism niche markets and specialized support areas. Mr. Speaker, these... Member for Microsoft. Mr. Speaker, the members are just representing what I said. I said that they are no specific... Member for Microsoft. Yes, Mr. Speaker. Are you standing on a point of order? I am Mr. Speaker. What is the point of order? That the member is misrepresenting the words that I said, Mr. Speaker. I said that they are no specific to any of the incentives. There is no specific to the incentives. Those are just general heads. When you go to the incentive act, Mr. Speaker, you will see that it says if you have 20 rooms that you will get a 15 year tax holiday, etc. Where are the regulations? You said you suspended Mr. Speaker. The member said in the bill in the last part that he suspended the act. So where is it? It says in the back of it. Can we read it for you? Okay. Because I am not seeing any of it. I don't see any of those specifics. That will tell anybody where the incentives are and how much it is. Member for Microsoft. The member for Microsoft is on his suite. That is reserved and you will allow him to proceed accordingly. Thank you. Go ahead, Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All I am saying is that that is why I made the reference. It is like we are going to stick the file into a hole and that whatever comes out, we don't know. We don't know what the expectation is. So when the member said that he is only going to give up to a 50% tax holiday, where is that written? That is not written anywhere. There is nothing in the bill. I am saying to you that it is a dangerous precedent to establish that spending the activity will be spending the schedule as well. So what is it that we, what can people realistically expect to get when they apply for the incentives? Yes, I know all the headings are there. Member, thank you. Thank you. Mr. Speaker. Go ahead, Member from grass trees east. I am sure Mr. Speaker. If I made a mistake, what he doesn't like to say, I admit, I am sure I heard him say there is no schedule. I am sure I heard so. I am sure I heard him say there is no schedule. Mr. Speaker. I am sure. Anyway, Mr. Speaker, but I just want to inform, I want to inform Mr. Speaker the investment community that this government, Mr. Speaker, intends to continue the incentive regime and we will continue the incentive regime, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, speaking about the history, the history of tourism. Member for grass trees east, hold on. Member for grass trees east, hold on. Member for Microsoft and Member for grass trees south. The Member for grass trees east is on his feet and I would appreciate if you would allow the Member to be heard in silence. Go ahead, Member for grass trees east. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the Member for Microsoft wants to go down memory lane as far as tourism is concerned, Mr. Speaker, he would agree, Mr. Speaker, that the government of the Labour Party has done the most effective, the most practical and the most result-orientated initiatives for the tourism industry. Mr. Speaker, of you, Hotel Chocolat. Hotel Chocolat, Mr. Speaker, speaking about so-friendly development and incentives and creating linkages was a creation of the then Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Tourism. Hotel Chocolat. At the time, Mr. Speaker, at the time I remember one of the strongest supporters in the radio were actually ridiculing the Hotel Chocolat issue. Ridiculing, Mr. Speaker, as usual. Secondly, Mr. Speaker, music and causing music to be part of the tourism industry. Again, it was the Labour Party government for the National Development Corporation that gave musicians equipment free, engineering equipment to upgrade their music, to integrate music with the tourism industry, Mr. Speaker. Again, it was the Labour Party. I just want to go down memory lane and the committee because when you listen to some things that some people see, particularly younger people who really don't know or haven't learnt or haven't been told the history of Saint Lucia, you would believe, Mr. Speaker, that the only people, the only thing that ever happened in 2016 and 2011 you would believe that nothing, there was nothing there, Mr. Speaker, and it came with this great visionary to transform the tourism industry. That's not true, Mr. Speaker. That's not true. Many things happen in the industry, the philosophical underpinning of the industry, Mr. Speaker. After 9-11, it was our government that passed the tourism incentives, the additional tourism stimulus act. The tourism stimulus act, Mr. Speaker. We said that, listen, the industry had got hit by 9-11 and there was need to increase the incentive package for investment industry. And it was this government and I recall specifically again, we were criticized when we did that, Mr. Speaker because at the time we were saying that you must create more incentives. So that you should have incentives. You should have incentives, Mr. Speaker. It's clear. We would also give incentives to taxi drivers. You may recall, Mr. Speaker, when we saw the benefits of tourism again, we said that the taxi driving industry must be regularized, Mr. Speaker. We had a training program for taxi drivers and we brought the TX split that caused tax, and we gave them incentives, Mr. Speaker. So much so that taxi drivers were able to upgrade their fleet to give the industry a higher level transportation. That was done by our government, Mr. Speaker. Now the Ministry of Tourism is reviving it, revising it, making it better. That's how it ought to work. You got to start from a foundation and make it better, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker speaks about cruise tourism and shopping. Cruise tourism and shopping. But when this government goes into a PPP with GPH, something that is started and did not continue, Mr. Speaker, he goes all over the place and he says, this world is a very small world. He goes all over the place, Mr. Speaker and he says the most, the most outrageous things about the culture, about the government, about the Ministry of Tourism, about the Prime Minister, Mr. Speaker and comes to this honourable house and pretends, Mr. Speaker. But he is the one who is trying his best for GPH not to invest in this country, Mr. Speaker. But he speaks about cruise tourism and speaks about a PPP. The same thing, Mr. Speaker. He is speaking on both sides of his tongue, Mr. Speaker. The Minister speaks about the brand name Tequila and he made the reference to the conversation he and I had when we saw the conversations, Mr. Speaker. I remember very, very clearly a conversation we had in Polarico when he was drinking Tequila. When Mr. Speaker, I will not disclose the content of this conversation. I will not. Above that. But I remember that conversation very clearly, Mr. Speaker. He was drinking Tequila. He was drinking either Tequila or Bacardi, one of them. And I remember he had his steak, he had his steak raw. He had his steak raw. And that was the first time I saw somebody, I saw steak with blood. I saw him eating it. I had never seen that before. Blood, two of us today. We will not go in Polarico with Mr. Speaker. That's the book. Mr. Speaker, the member must not try to revise revisionist history with Mr. Speaker. But we will not go in there. It's independence. Mr. Speaker, the member speaks about the conversation again we had about Marsha. The same member, when I tried to bring jazz to the people in Marsha, he criticized me and then to add insult to injury, he said people should go and demonstrate in Marsha. That's why he said, let them demonstrate in Marsha, Mr. Speaker. But the same minister comes there and speaks about being inclusive with Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to say to the people that tourism industry is extremely important to the well-being of this country. And when I made a statement that after COVID, my realization of the importance of the industry increased. As usual, they tried to make a whole story for Mr. Speaker. I repeat it again, Mr. Speaker. And that is why I want to applaud the Minister for Tourism for building such an inclusive bill, Mr. Speaker. If you look at it, you will see that there is something in this bill for everyone, Mr. Speaker. It's a continuation of a philosophical underpinning to the tourism industry. That's why, Mr. Speaker, it's a continuation to the Nature Heritage Tourism Program. It's a continuation of the opening of that gate to bring, and again, Mr. Speaker, when that happened, this short-sightedness. And, you know, yesterday I said to the press when I get criticized or people try to misinterpret what I say or misinform, it does nothing to me. Absolutely nothing, Mr. Speaker, because all my life I did not remain focused. If I had listened to the naysayers and the prophets of doom and gloom and the agents of misinformation, Mr. Speaker, with the help of the people of solution, Mr. Speaker and the members of the solution party, I would never have been Prime Minister of this country. But, Mr. Speaker, I always remain focused. And this is why I will work with the Minister of Tourism. I will work with the partners in the tourism industry, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that this industry lives to its full potential, Mr. Speaker and creates the benefits for people of this country. Mr. Speaker, again, looking at history and facts, I mean, I said today is not a day for that, but I have to do it. The member from Microsoft said he built a hotel around the day. He did not. No. He expanded on an existing hotel in the museum. The hotel that he bought and if you happen to remove it, my name is supposed to be still at the hotel, you know. It's still left. What? My name is opened by the horrible Philip J.P.A. What he got, Mr. Speaker, was a hotel called Candio Inn. And then Candio Inn was called his... Well, I don't want to get involved in this. Candio Inn, Mr. Speaker, then he changed to Coke and then there was Islander Hotel, a fellow called American Drywall and a guy called Glass with the owners of Cand... And that was destroyed. It was broken down, Mr. Speaker, and then they expanded. But the fact is, Mr. Speaker, the member... But Islander was destroyed. Okay, fine. Okay. All right. But the point is, Mr. Speaker, that there was already a hotel there. He didn't build a hotel in Rodney Bay. Just to make the history a little clearer, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. Talking about airlines again, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Tourism Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Tourism I want to say he made an error, Mr. Speaker. He said that the tourism advisory committee was formed by this government. But that's not true. That is inaccurate, Mr. Speaker. The attack existed before. It was headed by a fellow called New present and the member was a member of the attack, Mr. Speaker. You see, I don't like to talk and both pretend. Mr. Speaker, there are many things that happen in this country with Mr. Speaker. If I really have explained what happens between them, the truth will come to light. But they allow people to speak and write. ensible truth will be revealed Mrs. Mika. xit Mr. Speaker. I want to talk about social partnerships. aging of extremely important that we understand what happens to families because of some aspects of the tourism industry. Very important Mrs. Mika. నికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికికిక kinsha  Wasn't क् bored  finans nene nene woo meaning పిఝి నిక్చతాఘి౸ నిక్కమిచాచి issues సిరికతీల నినికిగానో దాని నింవియా. గారటి నినికిసి హాక్రండిర్త. మికూవానికేరినికృరానికౄదా. కా నేమాయవంయనేం న౿ నలి ఏయమా� transaction ఇలి నలి relies on the passion of the developers న౿ న౿ మి దన్ట్బు మర్జసిసింది hides టాంతరునెముచాడా్సాోచ్రి cameraman *** ఇవటిఆనొ�萬 económ...ину apocalypse గాబధల్పంఒasury�ట౉ Engl ఇ� had been planed 靴                I want to implore. I want to tell Mr. Speaker to stop it. Stop it. Stop it. It does not auger well for the country. It doesn't auger well for the tourism industry, Mr. Speaker. And there is nothing to be gained by promoting that kind of behaviour for cheap political motives, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on the matter of small hotels, Mr. Speaker. And I recall when I was Minister of Tourism, we were promoting something called STEP. Not the STEP you know, a STEP, Mr. Speaker, to encourage to market small hotels collectively. And I'm sure, Mr. Speaker, that in the tourism, the community tourism project, Mr. Speaker, there is, and I'm sure the minister will expand, Mr. Speaker, there is initiatives for joint marketing of the small hotels in this country. And again, revisionist history, Mr. Speaker. The member for Microsoft speaks about local hotels that have failed, Mr. Speaker. But some of the most successful hotel properties in this country are owned by locals. Bay Gardens, Los Paul, Kokopam, Hummingbird are owned by locals. There is a basic reason why some hotels, some local hotels did not survive. But to paint a brush as if local hotels do not survive and local hotels fail, Mr. Speaker. It's not accurate and I think we should desist from that practice, Mr. Speaker. We must encourage local people to go into hotels. We must help them, Mr. Speaker. We must promote them. We must help them. We must give them incentives that are real. And that is why I read the schedule of incentives that are available for the hotel industry, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I promise I will not be long. But I really want to say I give my full approval, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, this bill was again because of our style. This bill was circulated to the public before it came to the cabinet right around. Yes, it was circulated for discussion, long discussion before it came to the cabinet just like the tax bill. That's our style. We let it allow it to be discussed on the outside before it comes to the cabinet. This tourism bill was the same, was a bill that was discussed with all stakeholders, Mr. Speaker. I mean, Mr. Speaker, the minister will clarify the 50% he spoke of. The minister said that he will start the 50%. He never said it is limited 50%. He said he will start. He will start the 50% and then it will increase, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, sometimes it baffles me, Mr. Speaker. Why can people deliberately misinform, deliberately misinform, Mr. Speaker? And even in the face of reality and the truth, Mr. Speaker, there is still misinformation. Fact is, St. Lucia's tourism industry has progressed rapidly and is continuing to progress, Mr. Speaker. Both in terms of tourism arrivals and there must be a metric to measure. There must be a metric and the metric that we use now is arrivals and the expansion of that metric is the TSA. The tourism, the tourism satellite accounting. The tourism satellite accounting, Mr. Speaker, started when I was a minister of tourism. It was something by the World Tourism Council, ZWTC, that decided that the tourism industry impacted on many aspects of the country and we had to put it together and the traditional national income accounting would not account for the impact of tourism, Mr. Speaker. So, nothing really to believe it's some guru that invited that, that invented Mr. Speaker. Just like right now we're speaking about a vulnerability index because all these countries are called mill income countries. And we're saying that the level of their vulnerability is so high because of hurricanes and climate change that you have to use a different metric to measure their ability to get in, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, fact is, arrivals are one metric by which you measure. But there are other areas by which you measure, Mr. Speaker. There are other areas. So, we have to talk about the arrivals. We have to speak about the increased arrivals but also we also have to ensure as we are doing with the tourism incentives and the expansion of the industry and the Airbnb industry, Mr. Speaker, that people benefit from the industry. So, I want to align myself with this bill. I want to align myself with the philosophical approach that this government and the ministry is taking for the industry. I want to align myself with that, Mr. Speaker. I think it's novel, Mr. Speaker. And to say it's a good initial try, Mr. Speaker, is an understatement. But that is what the opposition is about. Always denigrating something, Mr. Speaker. Always finding ways and means to get personal, Mr. Speaker. But I align myself. I support the Tourism Development Act, Mr. Speaker. And I know when the regulations are tabled and we read the regulations, we will find answers, we will find the answers to what appears in the members of the Migosauce eyes to be inconsistency, Mr. Speaker. I support this bill, applaud the Ministry of Tourism and Mr. Speaker. And I look forward to the continued expansion of industry to benefit the people of Saint Lucia. To benefit the people of Saint Lucia. And I make no apologies for saying that the people of Saint Lucia must benefit. The workers in the hotel industry. And that is why one of my first actions with the help of the Prime Minister was to remove service charge on tips paid in the hotel. Removed taxes on service charge and tips paid in the hotel. And the deep philosophical belief that I have that the greatest industry or the largest industry in the country must benefit the people of this country. And no one, no one, in spite of all the misinformation and the jobs can tell me that the people of this country if they do not benefit from the industry, if they are not paid proper wages, if they are not given proper working conditions, if they are not taught to sell the industry, no matter how much money is spent on marketing Mrs. Speaker, if you keep the people out, if you also size them, you may not believe that this thing is not for them Mrs. Speaker, the industry will not serve its purpose which is one, to create a better quality of life and two, to profit, let the investors profit from the industry. The people who invest in the industry at all levels must profit from it. They must make money for the investment. Even though as a member for castries south is said and I was there when that happened and I hope he speaks the truth that we were then, he spoke the truth that we were then integrated for none of us having to run our own businesses. Is that come for you? I was also at Mrs. Speaker but that shows where we are Mrs. Speaker. That shows Mrs. Speaker where we are. That shows Mrs. Speaker where we are. That shows our mentality Mrs. Speaker because many of us had run our own businesses the member for Soufre run her own business speaker and you know, just to end Mrs. Speaker there is really a philosophical difference in this government Mrs. Speaker. I heard the member for castries north say when he was a young man he sold trinkets to tourists by the moon. Want to go ahead? The moon lay by Mrs. Speaker and you know this is the humility and the philosophical difference Mrs. Speaker and I want young people Mrs. Speaker to understand that that is why we are promoting the youth economy for that reason that's why we are promoting me for people like him instead of they being attacked for saying that never run any business Mrs. Speaker Mrs. Speaker no member in this honourable house ever says that they run a business or they are business men or they run government like a business you know what you say? We say we run government for people that's what we say not as a business we run government for people Mrs. Speaker and that is why we need the tourism industry Mrs. Speaker to develop our people because through the tourism industry we are going to be able to finance one university graduate for every household and through the tourism industry Mrs. Speaker we are going to be able to create sports men and women like Julian Alfred dance army et cetera it's fully industry that is why Mrs. Speaker it's fully industry Mrs. Speaker we are going to continue and fund university healthcare Mrs. Speaker and it's fully industry Mrs. Speaker we can remove that on building materials so ordinary regular people can get a proper quality of life that's what the industry does to us that's what the industry is doing for us Mrs. Speaker we hold we make no bones about it the industry must benefit the people of solution but the people I want to repeat myself I want to repeat myself I want to repeat myself but the people who invest must make money so when they go all over the country and say that the layer party is anti-business the layer party is anti-business Mrs. Speaker I want to make it clear to the investment community out there that we believe you must make money you must make money the return on your investment must be as high as possible but you cannot do it on the backs of the people of solution but the people of solution must benefit also so they can improve the quality of life and the standard of living Mrs. Speaker that's our philosophical position we stand by and that is the position that this government will pursue and that is why we think that the tourism industry must be given all the support because we believe that the linkages that will come out of the industry the linkages if they are properly neutral Mrs. Speaker can improve the quality of life for all the people of this country I thank you Mrs. Speaker