 Thank you very much Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for the motion before us. Mr. Speaker, the leader of the opposition said a lot and then he walked out as usual. Mr. Speaker, it really tells you and this afternoon we notice it, the character of the leader of the opposition, because you are in a debate with colleagues and then you sense you're losing the debate and you start to get personal and start accusing honorable members of stale tales. Accusations that have been long debunked and as a member of the UNOF said, of all the things they said about him, he increased his majority to show that those very accusations had no validity and in no way represented the actions of the honorable member. But I wish he had remained so we could have really engaged in the debate that he said he wanted. But he said he doesn't mind a debate. But I noticed his colleague, the member for Troselle, Salty Bus has remained. So you will carry the stories to him. He will hate on the TV. Well, I would still ask you to carry to him. Because Mr. Speaker, the member for Miku South does not understand sports and I will say without any fear of contradiction, the worst thing that happened for sporting development in St. Lucia was the laying of those astrotyphs throughout our communities. The worst thing. And I am sure honorable member from Troselle, Salty Bus, you would never have allowed them to put astrotyphs at La Fag. Never. Because you know why it would be such an unadvisable act. Simple, Mr. Speaker. Simple. And I first experienced it. Although we have spoken about it during the debate in this house, I went to Sufre Junekwiyol by nine o'clock. It was almost unbearable to be at that ministerium because of the heat from the astrotyph. I was again in Sufre for the independence parade. And persons could tell you, you could literally smell the rubber. And it was barely two o'clock in the afternoon. Barely two o'clock in the afternoon. Athletes will tell you that they cannot really use it until nightfall when the sun has started to set because of the heat that is generated. How can you boast that you did such a magnificent thing? How can you compare what you did with what we're doing now? Explain that to me. And more so, you killed Cricket in so many communities. For some reason, a member from Mikusov believed that you can play Cricket on astrotyph. Think about that. But I know where he got it from. I know where he got it from. In an earlier life, the individual that was contracted by the last Gordon, Mr. Don Lockaby, actually tried to convince the ICC that we can play Cricket on astrotyph. I sat in that meeting. I will see your Western cricket board then. The same individual. We've worked before. So I know him. And in typical style, the leader of the opposition, a member of Mikusov, who is easily fooled, easily fooled, was convinced that you can play Cricket on astrotyph. So he saw nothing wrong in putting astrotyph in Souffre, where they played cricket, they played football. They put a 400 meter track where track season came and all sports coexisted. Right now, there's no cricket in Souffre. One of the bastions of cricket in this country, there's no cricket in Souffre. The Miku playing field, there's no cricket at the Miku playing field. None because of that facility that was put there. How can you tell me you understand sports, you care about sports, and you want to boost of your outstanding contribution to sports in St. Lucia and that achievement is reflected in four astrotyphs? Seriously? I mean, the member from Souffre told us, I tell you, and he would not say it, he would never allow that to be leading in Souffre. Never. Because he knows exactly how unadvisable this is. But let's also move further. He's accusing everyone, but Don Lockerbie is his friend, his very good friend. So he gave his friend a contract for $42 million to lay down four tracks. Four tracks. I'm not going to accuse him of anything like he did to the honorable members. I'm not going to do that. I think everybody can assume for themselves how such an illogical act can be pursued, and why would you do so? Four astrotyphs. And in fact, the one in Souffre, we heard the member from Bruce Lee explain to us, it cannot even be certified for track and field. It cannot even be. But he boosts, he understands sports, and he's done so much for sports in St. Lucia. There was no, Mr. Speaker, I will not doubt the good intention. But I'll tell you, and the member from Catholicities has answered it, so I don't even need to repeat it for you. I have no, I'm not doubting any good intention, but I know there were a lot of evil practices that came with the good intentions. But Mr. Speaker, then he speaks about different sports, and why he had to put the astrotyph because of track and field and scholarships and soccer. I have said it before, it's my opinion, and you know, if that is his plan, and I'll repeat it, there are two sports I maintain, St. Lucia's world-class aid, two sports that we world-class in, track and field and cricket. A 15-year-old world in St. Lucia can be world-class. A 17-year-old can be world-class. The last, before this, under 19 captain, the last two under 19 captains of the West Indies cricket team that went to the World Cup was St. Lucia's. We are world-class at youth level in cricket, and in track and field at Julian Alfred at 16, 17, 18 world-class. Unfortunately, football might be the most popular sport. It has the greatest participation, but you don't find 18, 19, 20-year-olds in St. Lucia that are world-class. That's the truth. But you can find an 18-year-old and 19-year-old in St. Lucia in cricket, track and field, that are world-class. So if you're going to speak about which sport you should promote, it cannot be to establish astrotyphs that kills cricket. That kills cricket. Because that's where you've had the most success internationally. Very soon Julian Alfred might surpass the achievements of Darren Sami. But on the world scene, a sport that is viewed by almost two billion people, almost three billion people, we've had a captain who's won two world trophies, two world cups. We have had that. So tell me how you want to argue with us. We don't know about sports on this side. But the two persons you had on this side, three. What I advise him on sports was Spiderman Tutt, Estefan and Fortuna Belrose. So you had three of them. We have one Kenston and we're making better decisions. Then he speaks about the monies and why you're borrowing for national lottery and isn't that contingent liability, you know, on the books and he goes on and on. And the member from then, you know, just answered that HIA redevelopment was guaranteed in this house. The largest infrastructural project in the history of St. Lucia was a contingent liability. And don't let us go now into exactly what they did with that project. I keep asking the member from the Prime Minister, let us have a debate in this house on the HIA. He says to be patient, to be patient. So I'm going to be patient. But earlier today, the member from Cassius is explained to the nation that how can he continue a project where the interest rate is five percent. You have to top it up before eight percent project fee, that's fifteen percent. Now that eight percent is on top of the contractual cost of doing a particular piece of work. So if for some reason the contractor has to give somebody to do a still frame, it costs 10 million, they automatically get eight percent on the 10 million. And then the loan is another five percent. And then the Minstown cash is also pointed out that the loan is tied to a contractor, that the same member from Microsoft directed Slasper to give the contract. And he wants to accuse members here of a playing field, a change in room on a playing field that cost, say, a hundred thousand dollars and suggesting that something so wrong was done and something so corrupt was done when he awarded a contract that was worth over a hundred million US dollars without tender, without bill of quantities. Think about that. This is a member and I want you to tell him that. Ask him, honorable member, I'm the chair, I'm the speaker. How it is that he has the guts, how does he have that character where he can stand in this house and label and criticize a member for getting a contract to bill a change in room that costs a hundred thousand dollars, but he cannot award a contract by directing Slasper to give it to a particular firm. They contract that super for a hundred million US dollars without a bill of quantities, without any tender. How can you do this? How does he feel comfortable sitting next to you and be doing such? I know that's what I meant. That's what I meant. Explain that to me. But he doesn't stay there for us to point out those things to him for him to answer. So he leaves. He speaks about national lotteries unable to pay and the history of national lotteries. Mr Speaker, does he want us to open the history and start bringing letters before this honorable house about his dealings and his commitments he made to cage? Mr Speaker, I'm not going to venture on that road today. At the right time, I'm sure you know the responsible authorities will deal with it, but suffice it to say on the eve of elections, on the eve of an election, Kate was given another ticket by a former minister where they will pay no duties, no vats, no tax on anything, something they did not have the authority to do. Only this parliament can win the payment of vats on the eve of an election, on the eve of an election, costing the national lotteries millions of dollars. No, no, no, they sign a contract. They sign a contract where they would not really require to pay any duties, any taxes in this country, on the eve of an election and they don't have the authority to do so because only parliament can win the payment of vats. I'm sure you're not aware of that honorable member. Sorry. It never came to parliament and that's the point I'm making. It has never come to parliament. The same member from Miku South by a minister in his government. So, Mr Speaker, there's so much more we can see, but you have to tell the member from Miku South. He has a practice of coming in here, throwing, making accusations, saying things and then running and then running. You know, he came this morning expecting and getting ready to go for injunction and deputy speaker, British constitution. I don't know if you will brief on the actions that we're going to take place, you know. Well, we should have nominated you. We should have nominated you to be deputy speaker, Mr Speaker. But let's go on to the motion before us because I want to say a few things about the motion. I want to say a few things about motion and why support the motion. The motion states that the monies which will be received will be spent on preparing for the hosting of the ICC World T20 as well as supporting other youth and sports infrastructure in the country. And I'm in total support of that. Many years ago, we started promoting sports tourism in this country. Then I happened to have been PS in the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Tourist Board, a sports consultant in the prison of Red Sparero was employed at the Tourist Board, had promote sports tourism. And we had severe challenges. So, for example, one of the most beautiful playing fields was La Fargue because imagine you're boarding from the southern end and the head of view is the Peters. If you're boarding from the northern end, you're seeing St. Vincent and the background. Beautiful field in Souffre. In those days, you used to play a lot of cricket down in Old Trafford. There were many beautiful playing fields. There's also a very beautiful one in some very beautiful playing fields. And we would bring in teams from the UK, primary school cricket teams, whatnot. And sometimes the young men want to use a washroom. None of our playing fields had washrooms. The only playing fields had washrooms then were the fields that had hosted the Caribbean and the West Indies Caribbean. Remember that? Caribbean cement. I think you might have been involved in that. You were too old then. Yeah. And the 15th tournament. So, Grosely had one. Miku had one. There is Souffre. A few of them had those wooden toilets and pavilions. But we didn't have that in all the charities. When players came down, female teams, whatnot, we had no washrooms at all. We had not county teams. Just below county. Some of the cricket teams from England. We took them out to play. I can recall taking one out to Monripo one time at Wendt playing field. And then the guys wanted to use the washroom. And we had to tell them to go behind a tree. That's how embarrassing it was, Mr. Speaker. That's how embarrassing it was. And then I recall, then we started building facilities and improving facilities. And as we prepare once again to launch sports tourism as a major program in St. Lucia, we will need those playing facilities to be upgraded. We will need, Mr. Speaker, from the indoor facility right now. I'm sure the honorable member will speak about the aquatic center being built right now. So we will have in St. Lucia playing facilities that can accommodate people from outside coming in and offering them the comfort that they want. So, if this will take care of that concern, I'm certainly delighted that the decision has been made. If the money that was spent on putting astral turps was spent wisely, you would have a lot less work to do, honorable member. So this is thick. I can also say to you, Mr. Speaker, the honorable member from the north spoke about these challenges. As a member in opposition, I beg for the upgrade of the St. Lucia playing field under Dr. Anthony and the member from January North and former rep Robert Lewis, they will go to upgrade the St. Lucia playing field. It was stopped by the last government. Stopped. I wanted to put lights. I obtained the lights myself. I was told I cannot put the lights. And about fruited for elections, the UWP candidate comes in four electricity poles and one light on each of them and a generator to put lights on the field and actually put them on and then took the generator away and the poles are still there with the lights on it. But within the next few weeks, we will get lights in Cicero. We will get sitting in Cicero. Thanks to my CDP. And the support of the National Lottery Authority, Mr. Speaker. We have redone the surface in Cicero. We now can boast of having a very good surface. The works are going on today, some disruption, but we have had upgrades. So I know there are many colleagues in here who are looking forward, you know, you know, that looking forward to get support so they can be upgraded. Mr. Speaker, what that will do is that it will promote more sports participation. It means now, especially with lights, more young people can use the playing facilities and be more constructively engaged rather than being idle on the blocks and on the streets, Mr. Speaker. And many years ago when I was permanent secretary, we had a programme called Sports Development for Peace, SDP. And it was actually using sports as a way of promoting peace among young people, conflict resolution, social cohesion. And maybe, you know, it's time we probably return to some of those programmes where we try to organise more and more sporting activities to engage our young people. We established what I call a community coaching programme where every Saturday morning we wanted every playing field in the country occupied by young people, playing sports, playing sports and more facilities we build, the more we upgrade it, the better we are placed to use sports as a tool for social advancement. So I'm excited by this, Mr. Speaker. I'm super excited by the fact that the semi-pro league has been launched, Mr. Speaker. I'm super excited. I'm almost jealous of the member from Ansler Canaries. He has three teams, three teams, Ansler Canaries and Ruzo Valley, Mr. Speaker. But the point is, Mr. Speaker, football is really the widest split sport in Sanusia. The more young men and young women we can get participating in sports, regardless of the sport, the better it is for our country. And the semi-pro league is actually starting to prepare our young men to start understanding, even though in a bigger way, the demands of professional sports. The dream of playing for serious football teams like Arsenal and Man City, Mr. Speaker. Serious teams, Mr. Speaker. They dream of doing it. They will start getting to understand the discipline that is involved when you're an elite athlete. As an elite athlete, it requires high performance, your focus on nutrition, your mental strength, your physical conditioning. All those elements, Mr. Speaker, the semi-pro league will slowly start providing our young athletes with Mr. Speaker. So I'm really excited by the launch of this and as much money that can be put into developing sport infrastructure, the better it is. I am hoping the minister of sports, the member of Ruzo Valley, will start a semi-pro T20 league for cricket, Mr. Speaker. Because if you look at cricket all over the world, and the member spoke about scholarships in the U.S. Yes, there are scholarships in the U.S. You can get scholarships for cricket now. You can get a lot of serious money in cricket, especially in the T20 leagues around the world. And we have solutions that have played in the league. Darren, Sami, Johnson, Charles, Mr. Speaker. And we need to say to more young men in cricket that you too can play in the IPL. You can play in the Big Bash. You can play in the 100 in England and earn substantial amounts of money. We have solutions who are Kim Oogis played in the CPL, Mr. Speaker. So there are avenues for our young men, and we need to encourage them. And of course, the high performance center, I believe, is one of the most progressive moves made by the minister of sports to establish the high performance center because, Mr. Speaker, you really started in young people. You see what you see on television? It does not happen overnight. This hard work, dedication, commitment, and the high performance center teaches them that kind of discipline. So the monies will be used, Mr. Speaker, in a very positive way. I want to end, Mr. Speaker, the notion that we must understand when we do those things for young people, why we're doing it. The member from Miku South, the lady opposition, was going on and on in case the national office cannot pay the loan, and they must be able to generate enough money, the Dharan Sami cricket ground must be able to generate enough money for its sustenance. Mr. Speaker, we need to be very careful how we reflect on this. And let me just share with you. When we were building the Dharan Sami cricket ground, then the boasters of cricket ground, we took a loan for $35 million. I remember a lot of the debates and the presentation that was made to the Ministry of Finance then, and they actually rejected the proposal to establish a cricket ground on the grounds that it cannot generate enough monies for it to maintain itself. And I remember my reaction then as a PSU from sports to that insinuation that we should not go ahead with it. And Dr. Anthony was Minister of Finance, had to put peace in the meeting. And he made it very clear to all the technocrats there, and he was so right that building the cricket ground is not an economic initiative. It's not an economic initiative. It's an investment in our young people. And that the ground would have to produce the next generation of cricketers and produce our first international cricketer, which we did through Dharan Sami. So when we take a loan to build sporting infrastructure, we're not talking about the lotteries must have money to repay, or else it's disaster. It's not disaster. We are investing in the young people of this country. And if by borrowing this money and spending it on young people, we cause less crime in this country, we have succeeded. If by borrowing this money, we are able to get more international superstars, we have succeeded, even if it means that national lottery cannot pay it and the government have to step in and pay for it. Because that's an investment in future generations. And it must never be measured by whether the national lotteries can repay that loan. Similarly, the member for Microsoft once stood there and said about Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, I don't know how many colleagues remember that, almost suggesting that Sir Arthur Lewis Community College was a failure and that students were getting a free education and as if they had to contribute more and we had to remind him this is an investment in young people and the future of the country. It's plain and simple. We need to remember those things. We are investing in young people and future generations. And we're not going to measure it in strict economic and business terms. There are powerful social implications for investing in the future of this country. So Mr Speaker, I end by once again expressing my support for the motion and looking forward Mr Speaker to get in its chair of the party. Thank you very much.