 urpose  documenting the 跟                       . .       .                      . to help bolster and improve sport infrastructure in this country. In particular the Darren Sami stadium ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup. Mr Speaker, $80 million being borrowed for the sports fraternity is yet another demonstration of our government's conviction that sport is a viable vehicle for which the human potential can be realized. Mr Speaker, the record of the Solution Liberal Party in the realm of sports development is one that I am proud of and one I can identify with and one Mr Speaker I will continue to associate with. But before I go into the substantive part of my presentation Mr Speaker, I would like to respond to some of the utterances that came from the other side, the Member for Shruzell and the Member for Mikhut South. Mr Speaker, the Member for Shruzell assumes a posture and a demeanor in the house that if you have not been here for long enough you will believe that he means no harm, he is objective and he supports what the government puts forward. But Mr Speaker, with his quiet demeanor, there is a nastiness that characterizes his disposition in the house. When he spoke Mr Speaker, he said or intimated that the Solution Liberal Party was in opposition, shyded the UWP for investments made at the time on the Souffre stadium. Mr Speaker, I was on the other side of this parliamentary divide when the Larissus playing field had been completed and Mr Speaker from the bills of quantities to the receipts were brought to this parliament to try and ridicule me and make it seem as if I had engaged in acts of illegality by simply as the minister responsible for sports ensuring that monies from the NLA and the Ministry of Sports went into Denrenoff to develop a facility for the children and grandchildren of people who had toiled diligently on the banana fields of this country to bring in millions of dollars in the form of revenue to pay public servants and to develop infrastructure. And just for developing the Larissus playing field, I was called all kinds of names. You've heard about the minister's account. It did not stick during the campaign and I will not even dignify some of the accusations that have been levied at me Mr Speaker with a response. I will say, as I would have said before, all you need to do is to find the date at the bank when the account was established and you will find Mr Speaker, that corresponding with the date when the account was established I was an information technology teacher at the Denry based Clinton Mason Memorial Secondary School Mr Speaker, the leader of the opposition and it is very hard to have a very objective, objective parliamentary exchange with an individual Mr Speaker who appears to have no shame because Mr Speaker, the member tried to make the house believe that there was an account where the then minister of sports could have made payments on his own. Mr Speaker, if you take that to the kindergarten students at the Oleo combined school, they would laugh at you. But this is what political desperation does and the member has had a very miserable day because from the moment he set foot in this chamber he came to create mayhem and mischief and thought that he could have thrown the government off its feet with the whole election of a deputy speaker. So Mr Speaker, foolishly he took to the media he wrote to whoever he had to write to and he threatened that today he was going to have his day in parliament and throw the government off but he was served a curve ball and you should have seen the expression on his face across the table Mr Speaker when the member of UFO South was elected deputy speaker. So that explains why we've seen all the incoherence and I've never seen presentations so flat and so devoid of substance than what has come from him today and he wants to, Mr Speaker, resurrect talk about minister's account. Two days after we stage one of the most successful sporting events in this country and Mr Speaker, I will add my voice to that of my colleagues who spoke jointly about the hosting of Champs in Souffre on Sunday and Mr Speaker, I want to start off by congratulating the member for Gruzili and minister for youth development and sports. I want to congratulate him and his team Mr Speaker and we were on the field together from morning Mr Speaker and I could have seen the confidence with which he was striding across the tooth walking through the stands a man was well pleased with something he had invested so much time in. Mr Speaker, I want to also place on the record my gratitude to the many principals and teachers who went to Souffre on Sunday to ensure that this event turned out to be the success that it was. Mr Speaker, very importantly, very very importantly the physical education teachers out of a very secondary schools must be commended for making the sacrifice on a weekend to be there with their students to motivate the students Mr Speaker and to ensure that the meet was a successful one. The fire service must be commended for being on hand to provide support Mr Speaker and Mr Speaker I know oftentimes we speak about young people being deviant and not wanting to conform to the school rules and even the rules of society but today Mr Speaker, I want to place on the parliamentary record how grateful I am to the thousands of school children who went to Souffre to support their classmates and their schools. Mr Speaker, save and accept for one minus skirmish at the end of the meet our students will exemplary in terms of how they behave at the meet. Mr Speaker, the sponsors and I'm sure the minister will speak glaringly about First National Bank for injecting $100,000 into the event. And it will be remiss of me Mr Speaker not to single out for special mention the acting assistant superintendent of police responsible for the Souffre police station and the person of Kim Roy really Mr Speaker for the manner in which he marshaled his troops Mr Speaker, he was a very serious demeanor Mr Speaker, he did not leave anything to chance and he was very thorough with his men and women in ensuring that the activity was properly policed and that Mr Speaker, we had an incident free meet. Mr Speaker, I made it my business to stay back long after the meet came to an end and I drove through the streets of Souffre just to ensure that students who should have been on their way home were not congregating in isolated areas on their own volition but instead Mr Speaker an hour and 15 minutes thereabout after the meet was completed we could not have found a single child on the streets of Souffre they had to hop onto their buses and made their way homes. We made calls late into the evening with the majority of teachers and principals with whom I spoke, Mr Speaker confirmed that the students got to their homes on time So Mr Speaker the minister must be commended Hours is a government with vision but going back to the member Marshal Mr Speaker, he spoke about the Lafargue Plainfield and how woods on the Lafargue Plainfield were stopped let me tell you what was stopped let me tell you what was stopped when the United Workers Party Administration came out with the Belarus Doctrine My apologies Mr Speaker Thank you Mr Speaker I rise on a point of order because the member is misleading the house Mr Speaker the member said that I indicated in my contribution that the work on the Lafargue field was stopped I have never made such a statement and the member needs to retrap it Thank you Member for Member for January North from my recollection that statement was not made Mr Speaker, the statement is withdrawn Mr Speaker but things have been stopped and if not at the Lafargue Plainfield I can tell you Mr Speaker that in January North when I was the minister responsible for youth development and sports we had a cricket program that was being run for the young people of that constituency but consistent with the United Workers Party Doctrine Mr Speaker of opposition members not having a voice the cricket program that was being run for the young people of January North was stopped and you know why Mr Speaker not because the program wasn't necessary you know but because the MP for January North belonged to the St. Lucia Labour Party the volleyball program which we instituted in January North where one of the most celebrated national volleyball coaches in this country Mr Dennis Sinclair Mr Speaker used to travel on afternoons to expose the young people of January North to the rudiments of volleyball Mr Speaker because their parents on election day in the majority went into the five polling divisions of January North to vote for me in the majority and retained me as parliamentary the young volleyballers Mr Speaker had to suffer the fate of seeing the program cut short the netballers in January North suffered the same fate and even a sympathiser of the United Workers Party in the constituency who was running a fitness program Mr Speaker again because the program was being executed in January North and the people of January North decided that they were going to vote for Sean Edward and not the other candidate that program was stopped and cut short so when the member comes in here and gives the impression Mr Speaker that he is objective and he wants to speak about national development in a way that is all encompassing Mr Speaker that is predicated on hypocrisy and I do not believe the member is genuine with those utterances our record in terms of sports development in this country Mr Speaker is second to none I recall Mr Speaker during the last Labour Party administration we instituted a program known as the playing field maintenance program where every morning in St Lucia approximately 100 people were living home and they were going to work Mr Speaker not to take their place in a factory or in an office but they were going to look after the playing facilities of this country Mr Speaker you know what we inherited prior to 2011 the majority of playing fields in this country were abandoned how do you expect sports to thrive if you are not prepared to invest in the same facilities that would cause young people to come forward and give expression to their talent so when our government comes Mr Speaker and we are guaranteeing 80 million dollars for sports infrastructural upgrade Mr Speaker this is a motion an opposition that will always receive the support of the member the opposition may seem as if there was a problem with guaranteeing monies for the national luxury authority Mr Speaker this is not the first time that a government has come here to guarantee monies for a statutory entity we've done it for slasper we've done it for slasper before we've done it for so many other entities and then he questions the ability of the national luxury authority to repay the money Mr Speaker I am not aware of any instance where the St Lucia national luxury authority was called upon to service its debt and for the luxury authority to have defaulted Mr Speaker I believe that St Lucia is on an upward trajectory in terms of the performances of our athletes and how they give recognition to our country and with this minister responsible for youth development and sports the fashion that he brings Mr Speaker to his office I am extremely encouraged that St Lucia will be this place where young budding athletes Mr Speaker will be encouraged and opportunities will be created for them Mr Speaker the members spoke about the playing field at La Fag Mr Speaker do you know that between 2011 and 2016 after the larrisous playing field was upgraded for five years of UWP rule absolutely no maintenance intervention at the larrisous playing field but they speak about securing money from the Taiwanese they speak about investing in sports but Mr Speaker you cannot be serious about sports development if your interventions are going to be specific to constituencies that are aligned to your party and for five years there were six of us in opposition not a single penny Mr Speaker came our way as elected parliamentary representatives to make any intervention on any sporting facility in our respective constituencies so when you hear out of convenience that a member and a member want to stand here and posture Mr Speaker and make it seem as if they have done so much for sport Mr Speaker we have to be on our guard ours is a government that believes in the holistic development of the children ours is a government based on evidence Mr Speaker that programs for young people in this country irrespective of where in St. Lucia you are from ours is a government that will make the intervention at the school level and all other levels Mr Speaker not taking into consideration that you are from a constituency that was sympathetic to the United Workers Party Mr Speaker there is a lot more I want to say about sports development and how our government is on the right path but I am also aware Mr Speaker that the budget debate starts in a few days time so Mr Speaker with this brief contribution I will heartedly endorse and support the motion to guarantee a loan of approximately 80 million dollars and I will support the motion to guarantee a loan of approximately 80 million dollars and I will support the motion to guarantee a loan of approximately 80 million dollars for sporting infrastructure upgrades in this country