 Thank you Mr. Deputy Speaker. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I rise to give a short presentation and lend my voice to this debate and certainly endorse this tourism development bill. I do this simply because Mr. Speaker, I believe with every cell in my being that we are witnessing, we are seeing a team present in this house with their minister and staff, a historic team that will ensure that St. Lucia will never be the same again. I am convinced beyond conviction that with this tourism minister and his team that what we are doing here today will ensure that every single sector in this nation is touched in a way that no other industry currently can have that same effect Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we look at what this government has done, there is a class strategy that any young individual in any community can gravitate towards and understand that there is an opportunity for you. Mr. Speaker, I remember before I was selected the member for castries east spoke about a youth economy and I remember being intrigued by the notion of a youth economy and at that time there was so many doubts, there were so many haters as we say in the sports fraternity sipping on hater aid, they could not see what a youth economy could mean for St. Lucia but Mr. Speaker, in our first two years we've seen the impact, we feel the vibration, we feel our young entrepreneurs come into the fore, come into this government and saying I have a contribution to this economy and I will be a part of the development of St. Lucia and so fast forward Mr. Speaker, we see the minister of tourism and his team putting together this tourism development bill to ensure that these same young people, these same young people can now be given the opportunity to gravitate towards the tourism industry and have immediate impact Mr. Speaker and as the minister of youth development and sports I feel very encouraged that the incentives provided that for some reason was not seen by some individuals will definitely yield some big investments from our young people and so Mr. Speaker, I listened to some of the debates, I heard the member for SUFRE indicating that SUFRE was the heartbeat of St. Lucia's tourism industry and as the member for Grozily it had me questioning a little bit about what went behind that thinking because though tourists, though tourists go to SUFRE, the bulk of them, the bulk of the activities, the logistics, the entertainment which is the heartbeat, the vibration is at a place called Grozily Friday night and Mr. Speaker, this is the area of any Caribbean country or any place in the world, you talk about coming to St. Lucia, you must stop at the Grozily Friday night and so Mr. Speaker, this minister of tourism along with his peers who I know for a very long time went through a touring time with me for the first 18 months simply because I knew that Grozily is the heartbeat of our tourism sector and a proposal for the development of our water shores, our recreational center was on the table but Mr. Speaker, I did not stay there and just decide as a minister and MP that I was just going to go and put up a structure with no approvals from DCA, I did not say to my family and to my friends that I'm going to allow you to manage this recreational area, I'm not a, I don't know, Mr. Speaker, I knew very well that the constituents of Grozily voted for me to be a responsible member of parliament Mr. Speaker, a responsible member of parliament and so the ministry went through the painstaking process Mr. Speaker of ensuring that we had DCA approval, planning approval and all the approvals that we need and now Mr. Speaker, I can proudly say that the Grozily recreational area is sprouting very nicely Mr. Speaker and we expecting our tourists to continue to enjoy the heartbeat of St. Lucia's tourism product to recreate with our people in the community and to chill, mingle, enjoy some food, enjoy our music and enjoy what it is to be a Grozily, a sure Grozily Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is the work of this current government Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is well known that the population of Grozily, the entertainment in Grozily and what Grozily really is, the entertainment hub requires that tourists could really enjoy not just the sun and the sea but enjoy by constituency Mr. Speaker and so Mr. Speaker despite the fact that we had a tourism guru who likes to indicate that he was director of tourism at one point and then became minister of tourism for five years and then prime minister for another six years by my calculation modern 14 14 years at the helm of decision making for tourism Mr. Speaker, not one hotel was built in my constituency during his tenure Mr. Speaker, not one room, not one during his tenure Mr. Speaker and so Mr. Speaker I am indeed proud to stand here as a parliamentary rep for Grozily and get excerpts from an article written on international, written on the international media about destination by Hyatt being constructed as we speak in the community of Kazaba Mr. Speaker. Of course Mr. Speaker I am indeed proud that in that same article they speak to this hotel being open by the end of 2024 Mr. Speaker less than two and a half years of government Mr. Speaker governance a proper hotel Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker under this minister of tourism we hear of the thrill and the prospects of Mount Pima Mr. Speaker again Mr. Speaker activities that will spur economic growth employment and Mr. Speaker provided a person's opportunities to come to the beautiful constituency of Grozily Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker for many years we spoke about how every sector affects other sectors Mr. Speaker and as somebody who grew up in Grozily who played football in Masad and the Grozily play in field and walked through the length of breath for that constituency it was heartbreaking when we came in and there was no proper Grozily police station and you would say why would I speak today about the Grozily police station Mr. Speaker when you have the tourism hub the logistics the economic activities happening in your constituency and you have tourists thousands and thousands of tourists in your community on a daily basis attending Friday night you know the importance of a Grozily police station Mr. Speaker and just as I said Mr. Speaker everything that this government does there's synergy there is a reason there is this symbiotic putting together of our agencies Mr. Speaker and so we saw the honorable prime minister commence the construction of the Grozily police station and we are certainly hoping that we can continue to have more and more policemen comforted by the amenities there to provide comfort and security to our tourists Mr. Speaker and so Mr. Speaker I'm indeed thrilled by what we are doing here today Mr. Speaker we did some historic things today Mr. Speaker and the expectation by a number of my pairs was that I was going to go deep into it I did not but for the member of Miku Miku south he could not resist the temptation of sreptitiously going back into what we did in terms of the removal of that on sports equipment and so since he had the notes already in his book he went on to mention Sufre and went on to lecture and indicate to me that he knows how to certify the Sufre Ministry there Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker let me let me just hasten to say that Mr. Speaker Caroline Kazemi and Steven Gustav they made a very they gave both to a very humble young man I always seek counsel Mr. Speaker and I always seek counsel from the experts and some of my pairs sometimes even in the cabinet wonders sometimes why this has not happened but it simply is because I want to make sure that the advice that I'm given is coming from an area of authority from intelligence and it's coming from an individual that has had experience in doing the right thing Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker the Sufre Ministry stadium it was built on the premise one of the premises was that the majestic Peters in the back would breathe some good sports tourism in the community Mr. Speaker I can't disagree with that but we had a government that boasted of having a former national 400 800 200 meter sprinter they boasted that in the cabinet they had a former national cricketer they boasted in the cabinet that the individual trying to unseat the current prime minister was a national net baller national volleyballer and of course tennis player they boasted that the one at that time from denry south was a national sprinter they boasted having the best former athletes in the cabinet Mr. Speaker yet with him as a former national basketballer as the leader as the leader Mr. Speaker they oversaw the worst sports project in sacred history Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker he opened the bill he opened the door when he said that Sufre the ministerium which is a sports tourism investment was not being done properly Mr. Speaker remember if you're going to mention Sufre and the stadium you're going to tie it into your presentation yes Mr. Speaker but remember that the bill before us totally agree Mr. Speaker there's a tourism development total agree Mr. Speaker Mr. Deputy Speaker so Mr. Speaker when we have a venue that we are trying to attract tourists from all over the world you must get certification Mr. Speaker but Mr. Speaker the worst ever sports infrastructure built Mr. Speaker had no certification and today under his watch and today he claims that he has the answer for certifying the Sufre ministerium so that we can bring in the tourists in a certified venue to enjoy our sportsmen and remember Mr. Speaker here are the facts Mr. Speaker in November last year we had a representative from Mondo come to St. Lucia Mondo is the global organization that lays tracks visited St. Lucia and in their report in their report they indicated one the long jump and triple jump runways were built with a shortage in size we had a national sprinter in the cabinet Mr. Speaker the Freud events are missing due to having synthetic grass in field Mr. Speaker the issues prevent the track from being WA2 certified Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker and you come in today to try and vaguely people and lecture them lecture them Mr. Speaker and say to me you can tell me how to get it certified when I as a minister have already engaged the stakeholders so this is the options they gave to me and I don't know if you want me to listen to him or them option one leave everything as is and get compliance letter from WA for the oval only so it means that we took a track we took a field where you could play football cricket you could have long jump triple jump short put all events option one leave everything as is and get the compliance letter from WA for the oval only which means the only event we can have it as a certified for our tourists to come and enjoy would be the events running around the field Mr. Speaker only the track no long jump no triple jump they cannot come there and enjoy no short put no discuss none of those things option two demolish the long jump and triple jump runways on the d area demolishing it may be costly consider building one new long jump and triple jump runway with correct measurements with correct measurements consider building it with correct measurements adjacent to the ovals and if you visit any territory in the world any territory in the world the long jump and the triple jump is adjacent anywhere in the world but we sat here for six years we had the brilliant minds that can lecture us today and not one of them said you're not going the wrong way the blind in the blind Mr. Speaker it goes on to say consider building one new young long jump and triple jump runway with correct measurements adjacent to the oval once you get the area square footage we can give you estimates on the mondo track surface so that's the recommendation Mr. Speaker that's the only recommendation that makes sense to the people and to the athletes of st lucer we already know that we already got the recommendations Mr. Speaker we are into almost into a new financial year and we the ministry of youth development and sports will ensure that we do what we must to correct all his errors or their errors so that the tourists from London Canada and the rest of the world can enjoy our facility Mr. Speaker and so Mr. Speaker when I hear some of what is being said sometimes Mr. Speaker I choose to at times be quiet but we must let our young people know what the vision is Mr. Speaker we have a bill right now Mr. Speaker that works to the benefit of a wide construction of st lucer the airbnb market Mr. Speaker the ordinary individual on the beach Mr. Speaker those hotels who are up and coming Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker interesting point was made earlier that our local businesses trust this government Mr. Speaker and we see big gardens expanding Mr. Speaker ahead of this world cup expanding Mr. Speaker we see in rooms being built all over the north Mr. Speaker they will be able to get the incentives under this bill to further develop their businesses Mr. Speaker and so Mr. Speaker our biggest sports tourism activity this year may be the world cup the cricket world cup and so I look forward to the continued synergy between the ministry of infrastructure the ministry of finance the ministry of tourism to ensure that when people come to our shores they get the best product they've ever seen Mr. Speaker and we've delivered this before and will continue to deliver it to them Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker this government is on the right track and so I must support this tourism enhancement bill I thank you