 Speaker, I want to thank you very much for the opportunity to be able to make a presentation today on the government's estimates of revenue and expenditure for 2024-2025. First of all, let me thank the Lord for his continued blessings, both to me and to my family for us being here. And to continue to thank him for his blessings for the most part on solution, Mr. Speaker. It is in his word that we always speak. Mr. Speaker, before I begin my presentation, I really have to commend the member from Labry. In fact, I would love to take the tape from the member of Labry and show it to everyone because he did actually a better job than I think that I have done in explaining what our policies were. You know, Mr. Speaker, you would think that the members don't know that people's memories go back further than just today, that if you were to go back to when they've been in government because he's been a member of parliament for many years, Mr. Speaker. I'm not even going to go back as far as 1990s up. I'm simply going to go back to 2006-2011 and I would like to thank Mr. Speaker, given the track record that he had in 2006-2011 in his own constituency, which appeared to be visualized, that the impact, Mr. Speaker, of what United Women's Party did between 2016 and 2021, had a significant impact on his vision and his own aspirations for Labry. Mr. Speaker, I asked, I said, before I begin my estimates, no problem, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, all of a sudden you would think, you would think that the statement of you cannot eat roads, you cannot eat roads, that was the cry. All of a sudden, I hear members on the opposite side standing talking about they cannot wait to see the roads, they cannot wait. The village tourism that we were talking about, of which Labry has a rich history and a tremendous amount of potential for developing Labry. What the member would ought to know is that in order for Labry to be able to maximize its potential, you must develop yourself. And that is a vision that the Labour Party seems to be lacking in, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we get to the estimates, I first want Mr. Speaker to describe this budget as a state of hopelessness. And hopelessness on two definitions of the word. The first is that it is empty and directionless, empty and directionless. And Mr. Speaker, it is provided no hope to the people of this country. And I will, in my presentation and going through the estimates, show exactly that this is a government that is just a patch-patch government. That all they want to do is to maintain the status quo. They don't know how to grow the economy, Mr. Speaker. They don't know how to make an investment. They don't have a vision for this country, Mr. Speaker. So when we go through the budget, and remember, Mr. Speaker, I'm not the one who came up with the word. They came up with their own term, the year of infrastructure. And I saw the members on the opposite side probably anticipating my presentation. And already alluding to the fact that infrastructure is not what we are accustomed to doing infrastructure. So if you ask the vast majority of people in Salusha, what is infrastructure? They tell you roads, bridges, physical things, infrastructure. But they've already now tried to say the infrastructure is much broader than that. So let's go through, Mr. Speaker. Again, we've seen that the electoral department, an increase of $2 million, the Ministry of Home Affairs, a drop of $2 million. And that's important, Mr. Speaker. Last year was the year of health and security. And when you take the combination of the security, they've dropped it by $2 million. So you've already admitted that you've increased the revenue through the levy, which we all now know, Mr. Speaker. That was a facade. We now know that the levy came into being because it was a condition to the load. And they sat down and said, how is the best way that we can recover revenue? What's the best thing? Because the most natural thing to do was to have increased back to 15%. But they knew that that would not be palatable. So they came up with a levy. And in order to get the levy to be acceptable to the people, went to the people and said to them, this is for health and security. And I pointed out in last year's budget, Mr. Speaker, there was no increase in the allocation for health and security. Again, this year, we're seeing that there is no substantial increase. In fact, there was a decline of $2 million when it comes to security in this country, Mr. Speaker. And that there was a slight increase in the health of $5 million, a far cry from the $17 million. And if you really believe, Mr. Speaker, that people are going to be fooled into thinking that the normal expenditures that you have for health and security, that all of a sudden the $17 million was designed to help offset some of that cost, everybody believed that the levy was to improve what we already have. Not to maintain it, improve it. But no, Mr. Speaker. They believe in their arrogance, Mr. Speaker, that they could have gotten away with this. But luckily, the bank loans required them to say what the conditions of those loans were, Mr. Speaker. Arriculture. We've seen a decline in agriculture. Not only in numbers, but we're seeing it in terms of importance. A drop of $2 million. Commerce down to $10 million to bound by $2 million. And I'm going to have a special session to deal with infrastructure, the year of infrastructure. And guess what? The Ministry of Infrastructure's budget was cut by $50 million in the year of infrastructure. In fact, there's a blight. There's a blight on having your ministry in the title of any Labour Party budget. There's a blight. Finance, up $20 million, and that $20 million almost is 100% on interest. External Affairs, up $3 million. Tourism, the Saviour, up $10 million. Equity, the important equity ministry. Equity, down $18 million, Mr. Speaker. Education, and I'm so happy to see that. Up $30 million, $14 million for school repairs. Remember, the United Workers Party used to spend $10 million a year in order to fix up schools. And that is still not enough. So I applaud the $14 million. And we must find more money because every minister that most of the members that spoke today, Mr. Speaker, spoke about what termites in their schools. There is a greater need even to do more than we were doing before. Not less, so I applaud it. Health was up $5 million. Youth in sports was up $3 million. Economic development up $35 million. So Mr. Speaker, the entire budget, the year of infrastructure, we're talking about, we're going to show people around Mr. Speaker. We're going to give people hope, Mr. Speaker. The entire budget is up $14 million. After boasting about these incredible surpluses, Mr. Speaker, that is the best that this government can come up with, is that they're going to inject another $40 million of expenditure into this country. Now, Mr. Speaker, let me go through the details of that. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to make the point. I'll keep that point to the end, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on page 23, Governor General, I see that we've said that we're going to increase the budget slightly to improve the performance by sourcing skill development training programs, particularly in the areas of event planning, plant propagation, and landscaping to ensure successful hosting of events and the continued improvement in the aesthetics of the compound. And to do it, Mr. Speaker, the appointment of an Assistant Permanent Secretary, I guess that's appropriate. We have an Acting Governor General. We might as well have an Assistant Permanent Secretary has allowed for the effective management of administration to promote the efficiency and accountability in the operations of the Office of the Governor General, Mr. Speaker. Parliament, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it was remiss of me because I've not sent you a report, as I promised. And I got to participate, Mr. Speaker, in a training program on the Public Accounts Committee, Mr. Speaker. And I've promised you that I will be calling a Public Accounts Committee. That was a very useful training program. And really what came out of the program, Mr. Speaker, is that I think that many of us, and myself included, have misunderstood what the Public Accounts Committee is supposed to be doing. The Public Accounts Committee is supposed to be meeting after an Auditor General's Report. And the intention of that is not to go after ministers of government, Mr. Speaker, but is to look at whether the merits of the audit, the outcome of the audit, Mr. Speaker, as well as, Mr. Speaker, holding the public servants accountable for what's supposed to have happened in the public, Mr. Speaker. So I do intend, you and I had a slight discussion, in taking one of the audit reports that have already been presented, and to use that now to hopefully we can start the process of having regular public accounts. I see that there are many members here who have been leaders of the opposition and never held meetings. But again, Mr. Speaker, I'm hoping that I can break that trend and cause for there to be a meeting, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I applaud the efforts of the Parliament, Mr. Speaker. And I see a subvention here for a virtual Parliament in order to allow persons to access the Parliament on their hand devices and home devices. I applaud that. I think that the more that we can make Parliament available in an easy way to the public, I will certainly encourage it. I think it's a very healthy democracy when we're able to do that, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the office of the Prime Minister, Mr. Speaker, we see that the travel allocation, Mr. Speaker, on page 55. Over the years, Mr. Speaker, in 2022-2023 was 1.17 million. Last year it went to 1.79 million. This year it's gone to 1.857 million, Mr. Speaker. And this is one of some of the things we talked about. Whether the members on the opposite side want to appreciate the austerity that's taking place in this country. And asking people to make sacrifices. There are some very important sacrifices, I believe, that we as leaders should be making. And I'm not seeing that reflective in the budget, Mr. Speaker. In fact, that that's a classic example of where that happened. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, members on the opposite side, keep on saying things, but they don't produce any evidence of anything in Mr. Speaker. But go ahead, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we keep hearing that. We're going to make it a document at the house. We're going to make it a copy of that, right? Mr. Speaker, there was an increase. There was an increase. Order, order. Under Grant's contributions and subventions, Mr. Speaker, it's also important to note that in 2022-23, it was 1.574 million. Last year it went to 7.17 million. And this year it's 7.1 million. Again, Mr. Speaker, that in fact, in the Prime Minister's office, there's $7 million of what I call discretionary expenditure on grants and contributions that the Prime Minister can make from his office, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things I noticed that I would like to, maybe the authors of the estimates is that there used to be a line item called non-establishment for staff. And I see in this year's budget, in this year's estimates, that that has been taken off. So it would be interesting to know whether those people have been gone. Where are they at? Because in terms of numbers of people, they had a line item in the estimates that showed the number of people that were in the ministries that were non-establishment and that number seems to have disappeared. So it would be interesting to know where that number has gone to, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, public service on page 78, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, they have people obviously who must be concerned about where we're going. Mr. Speaker, rental hire has gone from in public service from 15 million to 28 million. Mr. Speaker, this has been a growing number over many years, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, you know, Mr. Speaker, if I can bring that point up, in the member's budget estimates, budget speech, it was interesting to note, Mr. Speaker, that the member, the Prime Minister, was explaining about the increase in operating costs and specifically spoke about the increase in rent, but at the same time spoke about the increase in demand for rental space. Which one is it? So it was an increase in the cost of the diharmol, Mr. Speaker, and yet, in the following line, said that there was a demand for space. So here it is, you're complaining about the diharmol, which is 77,000 square feet of space. And even with that, you're still saying that there is a demand for more rental space. Which one is it? Is it that it was good planning and that the government had anticipated that it would be an increase in demand for rental space at a cheaper price, $4 a square foot? Or is it, in fact, that this government does not appreciate the fact that that has happened? Right? You know? Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, let me continue, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the diharmol is being rented for $4 a square foot, Mr. Speaker. There are many, there are many, many office-based rentals that are in excess of $6. So on one hand, what we're hearing the government say, Mr. Speaker, is that they're complaining about them all, but at the same time, are admitting that there is a demand for more office space within the government. Mr. Speaker, Ministry of National Security, on page 190. It was interesting to note, Mr. Speaker, that other than the fact that the budget has been cut, and now we have three ministers of national security, I guess that signifies the overwhelming importance of security that we would have to have three ministers. I don't want to interrupt the leader. The opposition is doing a good job himself. Mr. Speaker, there are not three ministers. There was in the budget, there is an allocation for a separate Ministry of National Security. As you speak now, that the ministerial portfolios as follows, finance, economic development, youth economy, and Ministry of Justice and National Security. One, what we have now is it's going to be a separate ministry, a separate ministerial administration for national security. It has never said that it will be a new minister of national security. So then you don't have to be a minister of national security. Could you please, I won't ask you to do the job because I don't know you yourself. But you know, this is going to be the public. There's only one minister of national security, one. But you know, it will be literally nothing. But I won't ask you to do the job. There's only one minister of national security and we're called to show you that from inception in 2021, there was only one minister of national security. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's interesting to note that last year there was a separate line item for home affairs and for national security. This year, the two have been merged. And you know, again, this government tends to do things to leave things to speculation. The member from Miku North, who I'm very happy that he has a portfolio, the title of his portfolio, I think giving him the title of his portfolio, is crime prevention. So you have a minister of home affairs, a minister of national security and a minister of crime prevention. And meanwhile, you have a reduction in the budget. And remember, this is coming on the heels of the fact that last year that we had, was it the year of health and security? Now, I'm not going to go down the road of speaking about the numbers of security as to whether we saw an improvement in security. Everybody knows for themselves what's happened with security. Everybody knows the fact is that right now we have three ministers. So I move on, Mr. Speaker. On page 190, it says to improve public perception through community involvement in crime fighting, thereby enhancing citizen security and safety. The achievements, patrols impact 3,790 to 48 hours. Of patrols were conducted in the first half of the financial year. When compared to the same period, there was a decrease of 17% in the year of security. A decrease in patrols. Weapons recovered impact for the period under review. The police force recorded a decrease of 29% in the number of offensive weapons recovered and a slight increase of 5% in the number of firearm seats. That is in the year of health and security. So we've seen no additional allocation last year and a reduction this year. We've now seen even a more complex situation of having now three ministers with titles associated to security. We see in their own report the impact of not giving the additional allocation. And we want to know why crime is where it is, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move on now to infrastructure. Page 253, Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker, when we hear particular slants in this house, they always in the old saying, they say there's never, there's never smoke without fire. And when I had to listen to my colleague from Cass Street North, Mr. Speaker, it's always as if he forgot that he was a former prime minister on the United Workers Party and the number of years he spent in the United Workers Party. And more importantly, Mr. Speaker, that the members sat for five years breaking bread with colleagues in a cabinet. And then all of a sudden decided, and it's my word, Mr. Speaker, betrayed some people are even more harsh in their statements. And now he has found himself in a particular situation. He's found himself in a situation where clearly the members on the opposite side, who he now says he's very happy to be with, must find, can they trust him? Can they trust him? Now the evidence is, Mr. Speaker, here it is that his ministry was reduced by $50 million. In the year of infrastructure. What do you mean? Right? Are you, I mean, really? So that is bestowing confidence on the minister that they would reduce his budget by $50 million in the year to add insult upon entry in the year of infrastructure. And where did the money go, Mr. Speaker? The money went to the prime minister's office because the prime minister's office in the economic development was increased by 40 million. So they took the money from the ministry of infrastructure and put it into the prime minister's office. And I want to know, not me, I'm sure that people must be going, why? And let's show the level of confidence, Mr. Speaker, that they have in the member from Cassfree's north. And no wonder he feels that in order maybe to gain back some level of credibility, he has to now become like his friend from Cassfree Central, who I still say is my friend, right? But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, right? They're there for a reason, two independent people lost in the wilderness, Mr. Speaker. And the ministry of infrastructure, are you kidding me that his capital expenditure went from 97 million to 61 million? But yet, Mr. Speaker, the operating cost remains at the same 25 million. So here it is that he is going to produce less or have less money to spend. But yet he has to maintain the same staff. So that tells me a story. That tells me, Mr. Stewart, the Mr. Speaker, that y'all have now discovered that we know the reason why he got the name Heavy Roller. Heavy Roller is a piece of equipment, is a big piece of equipment that moves slowly. And the reason why they call him the Heavy Roller, okay? Because he was dead weight. He's dead weight. That's what he is, Mr. Speaker, even worse yet, if the member said he got himself the Heavy Roller. Mr. Speaker, the Honorable Member... Member of Castro's North, please wait to be recognized. On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Please proceed. On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, the Honorable Member is misleading the House. It's not people who call me Heavy Roller. I call myself Heavy Roller. Not people. I call myself Heavy Roller in 1992. Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, if in fact the member had called himself the Heavy Roller since 1992, I'm upset that we were not forewarned because if we would have studied what a Heavy Roller, what a Heavy Roller was, and the equipment, have everybody seen the Heavy Roller? The big one with the big wheel, that's a Heavy Roller. But I'm gonna say to you that what we've learned over time, Mr. Speaker, that is just dead weight, okay? That's all we have, Mr. Speaker. Here it is, a member who is touting how great he is, a senior minister within the government, and his budget was cut by $50 million, Mr. Speaker. But I'm not done. I'm not done. Page 257, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, page 257. Implementation of interventions designed to maintain, improve, or create accessibility to communities and services, particularly after adverse weather events by March 2024. Review, the comment was, number of interventions have been made. That's what we've come accustomed to. If you go back in time and you listen to the member from Cass Street's North Give Speeches, he's always on a new strategy. It's always a new plan. Can't give you any details, and that's exactly a number of interventions have been made on something as important as that. It goes on, Mr. Speaker. Review and update disaster risk response plans by March 2024. Enhance the institutional capacity of our technical team by March of 2025. Continuous monitoring, update assessments of vulnerable areas. And here's what they say. The disaster risk and response plans. Now, remember, Mr. Speaker. Disaster and risk is the CDB loan, World Bank loan, the pillars is on climate change risk enhancement. That has been the talk all over. Everybody recognizes how important it is. Now, not cleaning the drains and not doing proper disiliting before the hurricane season, right? Is a disaster. But here's what it says. The disaster and risk response plans are currently being reviewed. You have a former minister, a prime minister today who said he's the most prepared as a minister of infrastructure. You have a member who spent five years as a minister of infrastructure as a former prime minister and plans are on the review. Ongoing internally, however, funding constraints has affected additional trading. Ongoing continuous zonal team site record. So here it is, with the $50 million, they had financial constraints. Now he's going to take away $50 million. What's going to happen, Mr. Speaker? I continue, Mr. Speaker. I continue. I continue. Page 261, Mr. Speaker. Updating procedures to international standards. Ongoing, but funding has affected completion. Always ongoing. Okay? It's like the member from Cassvizard Earth yesterday, Mr. Speaker. I had to break out laughing, Mr. Speaker, to tell us that the delays in the Millennium Highway, which are passed over a year. Everybody can see for themselves. Everybody's complaining about it. That you want to come to this house and say that you got technical advice, that it was rain, and that the contractors' equipment was being stolen. That is your answer for that? Updating procedures to international standards. Ongoing. Mr. Speaker, page 263. We continue to aim to significantly reduce or arrest the level of deterioration of our public buildings and reduce the amount of emergencies by 70%. Here's the achievements. There was not much progress made in this respect. No funding was provided in the last budget to set up the computer maintenance management software, which would allow us to prepare those maintenance outlets. Further reduction of public complaints. Ongoing. Greater efficiency in the planning and electrical operations of the various government buildings. Ongoing. Hampered by limitations of resources. A recurrent theme, Mr. Speaker. No detail. Ongoing. And a lack of resources. And all I'm saying, Mr. Speaker, his budget's been reduced by 50 million dollars. 50 million. We continue to aim to significantly reduce, sorry, that's page 263, Mr. Speaker, reduce the arrest of level of deterioration of our public, sorry, I read that already, Mr. Speaker. The next one is 271. I'm sorry that the member from Labry is not here because this was his old domain, which is the Met Office. Unable to implement QMS due to staffing constraints. Presently awaiting SLASP but to sign document by March 24. Unable to implement programs due to staffing constraints. Can only accommodate school visits to the Met Office. The Met Office, you know, Mr. Speaker. That falls under you. That falls under you, Mr. That falls under you. That falls under you. Mr. Speaker, we just have to look at what's going on under the minister's portfolio. Hewnore International Airport, nothing. All they're giving us is excuses. The money was approved already. OECC was hired, Mr. Speaker, to provide oversight on the overall project. In fact, the minute that the SLASPA had three forms of oversight, Mr. Speaker. OECC, a special project unit in SLASPA, headed, That's true? Go and ask your good friend, the same one that's helping you with GPH. Okay? Who was the head of the special unit in SLASPA? Who was, you don't know? Okay. So there was a special unit, Mr. Speaker, in SLASPA with its own staffing to provide the oversight. In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, Harry was also hired to provide oversight. So you had three entities providing oversight, Mr. Speaker. All of the projects that were being done under the HIE airport were being put out to tender. It was everything. Every single thing was put out to tender. Absolutely. So you're telling me that the piling was not tender? The piling was not tender? The piling was tender? The main frame building was tender? Every aspect was being tender? We appointed OECC to provide the oversight expert. Remember, Mr. Speaker, that's the same OECC that did the airport in San Francisco. They have done airports in Taiwan, have done all kinds of things, Mr. Speaker. Okay? All of them. That's what OECC did. That's who OECC, it's unbelievable to me that the members again would attempt to demonize an entity just in order to justify what they want to do. The same way they demonize Kabat, they demonize DSH, they demonize Sandals, they demonize everybody. But the moment they're in government and they believe that they're getting anybody to comply with them, all of a sudden they become their best friends. So here it is, don't they know that Taiwan is our friend? And then who is the owner, one of the owners, majority owners of OECC, the Taiwanese government who gave us the load. So I left you with the foundation already done and all of the financing already in place. And this government came in with this minister and stopped it. The Millennium Highway has been a catastrophic disaster, Mr. Speaker. Road conditions have never been worse in this country. And don't take it from me, Mr. Speaker. Take it from the people out there. Every day people are calling the shows to complain about the state of roads. And again, remember, Mr. Speaker, what makes it worse is members in this house two day and yesterday want to brag about roads. Roads that they said you cannot eat. But you know what, Mr. Speaker? Even sugar cakes get smothered. Even sugar cakes. Even sugar cakes. I see the member, the minister has gone to get a canine dog from France, right? And I heard, I saw he was in Canada talking to sugar cakes. I don't know if he was trying to convince sugar cakes to come down to Salusia. They help that canine or keep that canine friendly, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, driver's license. I heard it's a fiasco going on in driver's license. I heard reports that they are pierced persons who some, I believe I know who the person is, but maybe I'm waiting for the government to enlighten us who the person was that is delivering and providing fake driver's license, Mr. Speaker. GPH, how you can have a deal, Mr. Speaker, that you're going to give away $400 million of revenue. And the only thing that we can see is friends are getting jobs. That's all. Where is it? Where are we getting? So you're going to give GPH all the revenue. And I see that we, before we came, we passed a gazetted thing to allow GPH now to collect the revenue from the garbage. The environmental tax. So I want to put all the taxi drivers, all the vendors on notice, that your turn will come soon. That the revenue will no longer be going to anybody else, but be going to GPH. And we have to know what GPH is going to charge. GPH is doing this, Mr. Speaker, to improve their balance sheet. I'm so sorry that members on the opposite side have not realized what a bad deal they have done, what a disservice they have done to the people of St. Lucia. And more importantly, Mr. Speaker, at the expense of the people in the south where a cruise ship facility should be going. That's where cruise ships should be expanding. But to want to expand the cruise ship capacity into castries, Mr. Speaker, is a shame. Banana is land, Mr. Speaker. Remember on the opposite side, so we'll be very careful because it's in court. We have a defamation matter, Mr. Speaker. But my statements have been made publicly. I reiterate and reaffirm something is wrong, Mr. Speaker, with the banana is land. Mr. Speaker, I now move on to finance, Mr. Speaker. Page 285. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. We see that, Mr. Speaker, that the operating expenses in the Ministry of Finance has gone from $83 million to $96 million, Mr. Speaker. We see that, Mr. Speaker, capital expenditure from three to 10 million, Mr. Speaker. Why are we increasing the operating costs in the Ministry of Finance? At this point, there's no clarity here as to why that is the case, Mr. Speaker. All I've seen is that interest payments to Mr. Speaker have gone up by $20 million. And again, remember, Mr. Speaker, many of the loans that we got during the COVID period, and we got those loans in the COVID period, Mr. Speaker. So if you look at the numbers, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, if we look at the borrowings during our tenure, you would have noticed, Mr. Speaker, oh, right here. That in 2017, we borrowed $104 million. In 2018, we added to the overall debt by $141 million. By 2019, Mr. Speaker, we increased it by 124. And in 2020, COVID, Mr. Speaker. You know, and members on the opposite side seem to want to trivialize the impact of COVID. If we get the economy that we inherited, it had zero reserves. In fact, the SYNC fund that we had, the government spent it because it could not get bonds, Mr. Speaker. That's how deplorable the financial state was. We want to forget that. And then in 2020, we borrowed almost $400 million. Where did that come from, Mr. Speaker? If your economy contracts by 24%, why? The world shut down. Tourism closed. We've repeated, repeatedly said, the reason why Salutia's budget GDP contracted by more is because our GDP had been reviewed. And the reason for the increase in the GDP is because it was underestimating tourism. That had not happened in any other country. So you're not comparing apples to apples. So because of the increase in the importance of tourism in our GDP, Mr. Speaker, when tourism shuts down, it's going to have an impact. And the significant impact, Mr. Speaker, is the cost didn't go away. We still had to pay salaries. We still had to pay the debt. We still had to keep the doors open. In fact, the operating cost in government went up, Mr. Speaker, during COVID. Policemen were doing overtime. Marine police were doing overtime. Nurses were doing overtime. We had to pay for all of the people when they came in on quarantine. Where do you think the money came from? That came from the operating cost. And I'm proud of the fact, Mr. Speaker, that we were able to meet all of our obligations. But more importantly, we left a recovery plan that was put together with the private sector. And sadly, the Labour Party, who were invited to be part of that recovery plan, went away. And what did they say instead, Mr. Speaker? The words are there, Mr. Speaker. Only a madman would believe that tourism could come back. Only a madman would believe. The member for castries, he said that. Okay? The member from castries, he said, it was only a madman who would believe that tourism would recover. Mr. Speaker, I'm challenging you. Anything I say, you say, I deal. That's the challenge. Anything, Mr. Speaker, I see that the member from Microsoft says, I'll pay a tip. I challenge him. Anything he says, I say, pay a tip. Except he does his normal AI thing. If he does his AI thing, I can. Because you know, we're doing AI now. So if he does his normal AI thing, I'll be a good spot. But anything he says, I'll pay a tip. And anything he says, I'll fight. I'm going to show documents to show everything he says. Mr. Speaker, it's amazing to me that a prime minister who has presided over his own track record about truth would want to stand on a point of order. When everybody knows that that's what he said, that he said, the tape has been played several times. I'm happy to play it for you. Okay? That you did not know what the impact of tourism was on the economy. So all I'm saying to you, Mr. Speaker, we left a recovery plan that is the best recovery plan in the entire character. The economy grew by 12.5% in 2021, 2022, despite the fact that it world had not reopened completely. In fact, we still had protocols that the economy grew by 18% the following year. On what, Mr. Speaker? On tourism. On the recovery of the same tourism. And today... Member for Microsoft, you have 15 minutes left. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for social... Mr. Speaker, I would like to invoke standing order 30 to 10 to give the member for Microsoft a little of the opposition an additional half an hour. Member, the question is that standing order 30 to 10 be suspended to allow the leader of the opposition an additional 30 minutes. I now put a question as many as their opinion say aye. Aye. As many as their country opinion say no. No. I think the no's have it. The no's have it. You know, Mr. Speaker, it speaks to how genuine the statements that were made where it speaks about when we were in government and we did this and we were the wicked government, right? You mean to tell me that members of the House are so scared but it's okay, Mr. Speaker. There's the People's Parliament, Mr. Speaker and whatever I'm not able to finish I'll be able to finish at that point. Mr. Speaker? Mr. Speaker? I noticed that property tax again, what's interesting on page 315, Mr. Speaker. The department continues to work with the research and policy unit regarding the property tax regime the most prepared prime minister and three years into it his ministry cannot come up with a plan. Really? That's not my words, you know, Mr. Speaker. That's the words there. That's the words there. Okay? I don't attack no civil service. The members in this House particularly the members in government are responsible for oversight and making sure the job's getting done. You can't keep passing the buck, Mr. Speaker. That's what the people put you there for and if the seat's too hot, get out. You can't just sit and enjoy the fruits of the labor and not put the effort in, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, page 384 389, I think it's yeah, 389, Mr. Speaker that we see again the operating operations of the ministry has gone from 21 million, Mr. Speaker to 30 million Minister of Tourism. 9 million. And it's interesting to look all the way down at the bottom of all the things that the minister has, right? That the ministry is at $59 million Mr. Speaker and that includes now a separate tax that's going into the marketing. I say this because members on the other side love to bring up the fact that when I was Minister of Tourism and it's a true story that I was able to convince the then Prime Minister, Sir John that if we wanted to take tourism to the next level that we had to increase the budget and he did. And I'm grateful to him. But I want to know that we're way past that $50 million now, Mr. Speaker but I'm glad I was able to break that ground for tourism and that people stopped thinking that tourism was at the expense of all the other social services we have. In the Ministry of Health, Mr. Speaker page 505 it was interesting to note, Mr. Speaker disaster vulnerability, resilience and recovery has gone from $6 million to $11 million. Very happy to see that, Mr. Speaker but at the same time secondary and tertiary health care services. Remember we're speaking about all the free services that they're supposed to be providing under national health care that the allocation has gone from $102 million to $97 million. And I make that emphasis again, Mr. Speaker at a time when last year was the year of health and security that you had a levy. You have a levy that's going to be collecting over $40 or $50 million, Mr. Speaker and nothing has happened. Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker economic development has indicated disaster risk and management recovery. Again we're talking about resilience building has gone from $19 million to $10 million. So here it is, you borrowed money from the World Bank and CDB for resilience building and in the main Ministry of Economic Development that the allocation has Thank you, Mr. Speaker has gone down to $10 million, Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker On page 603 the document took the words out of my own mouth It says it says regional travel question mark, question mark, question mark $1 million So I have to what is that? Any allocation from tourism? Regional travel? What is that? $1 million Very importantly, Mr. Speaker the truth is now starting to come out I'm sure I'm waiting for the Prime Minister's speech Yes, the truth is what you believe it to be but it doesn't change the truth I've learned from you So Mr. Speaker On page On page 659 Mr. Speaker 659 St. Jude's Hospital reconstruction project is at $265 million and in this year's estimates $67 million and of the $67 million Mr. Speaker $31 million is coming from Bob's We still don't know who the contractor is We know that work is going on The Prime Minister continuously tells us that work is going on Who's the contractor? And where are the workers coming from Mr. Speaker Where are the workers coming from Who has the contract? $30 million is going to pay out in bonds To whom are they going to pay that money? Maybe it's the same person that's going to be renting them the building for CIP I don't know, it might be I'm very happy that they're going to be spending $2.5 million So we wondered Mr. Speaker when they got the Saudi loan for $200 million that $200 million was going to go into the stadium and here it says $2.5 million Now I heard the Prime Minister say that's for consultancy fees and I would go okay, so when Don Lockerbie his company a company that has done major work around the world in that area got paid $2.5 million for his consultancy fees that was the end of the world and here it is now for one project, which is the stadium you're going to pay a consultant now $2.5 million for that Mr. Speaker, I want to say that I'm very happy to see an allocation Mr. Speaker for the bunker the relocation of the bunker at Lattoc No Mr. Speaker, we've been working on that for a very very long time a very important priority Mr. Speaker especially to the people who are living in that area Mr. Speaker I should have never been there in the first place, but I'm glad to see I'm very glad to see that there's an allocation this year although it's $100,000 I'm certainly hoping that they can complete that project Mr. Speaker I want to say to the Prime Minister there were some things that he said in his budget statement that were a little bit worsen Mr. Speaker as it pertained to CIP So Mr. Speaker So Mr. Speaker There it is He said Mr. Speaker, the Citizenship by Investment program is expected to deposit an anticipated $91 million into the National Economic Fund as required by law Overall revenue from the voluntary transfers is estimated to increase the $24.7 to $37 million The member also said Mr. Speaker that the revenue that we were expecting came down and he specifically said he specifically said Mr. Speaker that it came down because the real estate portion of the CIP program is doing better and it's cannibalizing our donation program There are numerous reports Mr. Speaker as to what is taking place with the real estate program But I'm even more concerned Mr. Speaker I'm concerned Mr. Speaker because there are agents out in the marketplace selling a program called infrastructure We've not heard anything We've only heard suggestions You have five minutes left That's the system The wrong thing You know the first part that you read What did you say? I said really I don't know what you said What are your objectives Mr. Speaker the member read the first two lines What he read is not what I said and he has a speech in his hand So he either saw it wrong or he made a mistake I wouldn't up his opinion because what he said is not what is in this match Mr. Speaker I apologize That was his last year's speech that he wrote Let me read Let me read this year's speech In the projected outturn this year of the CIP contribution to revenue Member from Microsoft just one minute When a member is making his presentation the loud out boost affects the recording and therefore the parliament's ability to transcribe Thank you Mr. Speaker In the project outturned this year the CIP contributed to a revenue of 45 million as compared to the approved estimates of 90 so it underachieved Mr. Speaker the reason for the difference between the estimates and the projected outturn is due to an increase in demand for the real estate option rather than donations that go directly We have two programs The money does not come to the government of San Lucia it goes to the real estate development we only have one real estate development in this country The donation Mr. Speaker comes directly to CIP and goes into the economic fund So what the Prime Minister is saying is that the real estate program is cannibalizing is eroding the value of our donation program Now how can that be when the real estate is supposed to be 200,000 dollars and our donation is 100,000 Why? And I'm going to say to the Prime Minister that I am very concerned that with this new infrastructural program you all want to put out at a price of 100,000 dollars which explains Mr. Speaker why San Lucia has not signed on to the new agreement with the OECS because the OECS group have now agreed that they're going to minimum prices going to be 200,000 So all of a sudden now Mr. Speaker and that there is evidence in the marketplace Mr. Speaker that the 100,000 dollars is being spent is being sold for 80,000 but more importantly Mr. Speaker 64.1 million was received by the National Economic Fund from the amount of 45 million was transferred directly into revenue the balance is available means Mr. Speaker the intention of the economic fund Mr. Speaker to be a sync fund was to be a sovereign fund that they've taken the vast majority of the money and put it into what Mr. Speaker the recurrent expenditure so there's two things Mr. Speaker that between the CIP revenues and keeping the price of fuel at 1650 Mr. Speaker that is what caused the surplus in our revenue and in the case of the fuel it has come at the expense of the people of this country Mr. Speaker don't go and brag about your surplus the surplus has come from the backs of the people of this country that are in a position of despair they are suffering and don't fool yourself in this house to believe that they're not and think that everything is okay they are people on the ground who are suffering and this government policies have not supported them when you allow the price of fuel the price of cooking gas the price of bread the price of bus fare but more importantly when the good member the blue whale Mr. Speaker would want to come on TV and to try to justify increasing the price of water and to want to use bear as a comparison that people would substitute bear for water Mr. Speaker that's what they want to do at this point that's what they're going to do Mr. Speaker so Mr. Speaker in addition 39 million was received from bonds so half of the bonds that the government received this year Mr. Speaker were from CIP not from the regional bond market not from the regional bond market Mr. Speaker so Mr. Speaker I want to just my last minute Mr. Speaker to speak specifically about my constituency I want to thank my constituents for their continued support Mr. Speaker for what they have done for me Mr. Speaker I want to thank the Prime Minister for the CDP project and also to thank the Taiwanese for their continued generosity to the people of San Lucia Mr. Speaker and I want to say Mr. Speaker that in the projects that we did last year we did a road and a sporting facility plus we used some of the money as recommended by the Prime Minister for social support this year Mr. Speaker we're doing the T-Rochet river road which has already been completed Mr. Speaker I'm sorry Mr. Speaker but we were trying to do the Duga community center and in a large part because it's also a hurricane shelter Mr. Speaker so it serves two purposes and if you know a lot of the houses there it's important for us to have a proper hurricane shelter but sadly Mr. Speaker the council did not approve it and caught up in that project was also monies for the Laquaville changing facilities for the youth I'm hoping Mr. Speaker that two things will happen that each minister each MP is entitled by law Mr. Speaker to nominate somebody on their council on their council that's not happening the member that I have nominated up to today has not been put on their council but I have met with the council I'm hoping that we can have a better you have a minute to wrap up yes Mr. Speaker okay collaboration thank you Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker I'm hoping that the appropriations bill will come back I'm hoping the appropriations bill will provide some direction to where we're going because certainly what the numbers say Mr. Speaker there's not a lot for people to hold on to in the critical agencies they have been cuts there's some politics being played in the government where the minister of infrastructure his budget has been cut by 50 million dollars and the monies were transferred to the prime minister I want to know what's going on maybe he's now figured out what we all knew but Mr. Speaker this budget is a state of hopelessness in that it does not provide any direction any substance any change in fact what I'm seeing Mr. Speaker is a continuation in some ways in some ways of what we're doing but sadly in not 10 seconds left thank you Mr. Speaker