 Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's amazing, you know, something as important as this and I heard the ministers plead it Members have nothing to say. That's interesting Well, you know, Mr. Speaker, I want to again stand in support of the of this resolution I think that the success of every economy The backbone of every major economy is small business And I'm always saying that one thing that every single business big business has in common Is you all started small and that's the encouragement. Mr. Speaker. I keep on trying to tell our young people it doesn't matter how small it is Microsoft Apple all of these major companies started in a garage and the reality is it's our intellectual our intellectual property is Really one of the greatest assets that we have and I'm one who's a big believer in supporting small businesses And to get small businesses to also appreciate Mr. Speaker that tourism Creates an opportunity for them to be in the export market Because here it is we have foreigners who are coming to our doorsteps with money in their pockets and the opportunity to Brand our products and that's why the taste of the solution Program that we had of branding all of our products under a singular brand and Making sure that when persons come to St. Lucia that they're able to taste and listen And feel the vibe of all of these things that we're producing I also spoke I also speak a lot about Tortuga rum cake Which was a small business that was started in Cayman and Eventually became now an international business And it's not just limited to products that we produce its services that we provide and again the opportunity of taking advantage that the global economy Mr. Speaker Has moved in our favor it's moved in our favor Mr. Speaker in the sense that Persons now are working out of office and that levels the playing field Ojo Labs is an example Mr. Speaker That Now all of the persons who were employed at Ojo are actually working out of their homes. I Believe that that's one of the reasons why they gave up the space and I think that itel VPO is Going to be taking over that space to expand even further But the reality is that we now in the service sector can provide Many services that were unthinkable in the past and I'm hoping that this micro loans Will be made applicable to those persons the ability to be able to put proper internet in your home the ability to have a proper computer And to provide the services on a regular basis because the internet is a critical I don't know about members of the members in this house, but certainly in my own experience and also And speaking to many solutions And again, I'm not putting this blame on the government I think the reality is we have to Focus a bit more on our broadband with It's very frustrated to be able to conduct business on the internet in this country And I think it's not just in Lucia, but many other countries in the Caribbean experience in the same thing but the the the point is That if we're really going to appreciate that we want our young Persons to Get into small businesses that are global then we have to be able to create that portal for them to be able to do so Mr. Speaker The other thing I would say to you is it again I was a bit disappointed in the minister saying this is the first time we're focused on it Because I think that that was more of a slight on her rather than on us But the reality is is that I think we've all been speaking about The small businesses But what's key to small businesses is the disposable income within our economy and the reality is mr. Speaker this particular motion in itself is not going to solve the problem and The reality is the cost of doing business in Saint Lucia for small businesses has Significantly increased again because of what has happened with the inflation and the reality is Loose lick and the fuel surcharges at loose lick are egregious and I'm really surprised That we continue to do this and I put myself in there as well as the former prime minister And the minister of finance. I know that we had a lot of meetings in attempts to try to solve this problem of loose lick But for loose lick to have Charged the fuel surcharge increases that they've had and their cost really other than the f the Cif price or FLB price of fuel nothing else has gone up And I keep on making the point and certainly when I've met with the board and the management of loose lick it cannot be that Solution is in the business of making sure the loose that makes money Loose lick also has to have an appreciation that if it wants its own Economic base to grow it has to be concerned about the competitiveness of its businesses So, you know when I speak to small businesses right now and the substantial increase in the cost of electricity and particularly on the fuel surcharge that it is it is egregious and it's very very difficult because it adds No value to your production It doesn't matter. I'm talking about the the surcharge at loose lick. I'm not talking about that I'm saying that we have to go back to the table and renegotiate with loose lick because the deal on the table is not working In fact, it's working for loose lick You know and the reality is and again I don't want to be ever be considered being hypocritical because like the former prime minister From Miku South indicated There are things I've said consistently and The reality is is that government benefits government view for itself my apologies Thank you for the correction government benefits from what is going on at loose lick in the form of shares and dividends We obtain anywhere between eight and twelve million dollars a year in dividends And the question is should that money be going to the consolidated fund to help pay for recurrent expenditures? Or is that money that's better used in capital investment or even in terms of Subsidizing the cost of electricity to our productive sector because the reality is our productive sector is going to struggle To compete on a global basis and we're going to struggle to provide Quality products at a good price if a significant input price is electricity And the other one is really the end of the day and I appeal to all members in the house That there needs to be a focus on Growing this economy and growing that economy is putting monies in people's hands And the reality is is I think that we're falling behind and in speaking to small businesses speaking to large businesses Everybody is saying that consumption is down Now the reality is we can put as much money we want into small businesses But if the opportunity for them to succeed is not there it's going to be a Difficult trap and they're going to fail. So the reality is mr. Speaker Because of what's taking place globally and I heard the Prime Minister again ridicule The suggestions that we had made Wasn't about solving can't solve the global problem of inflation That's out of our control But the reality is what you can do is to soften the blow here and I keep saying this I'm a prime minister That it's much better for government to subsidize jobs When the majority of the wages being paid by a private sector person Because of the lack of a proper social net system in this country when a person becomes unemployed in this country It becomes too heavy of a burden for all of us So the reality is subsidizing electricity prices reducing the amount that we're collecting on duties coming in Are all better to do in order to make sure that your private sector remains competitive Because it's in that competitiveness that it remains employed and once people are employed and they're getting money in their pocket That's what creates the consumption So I want to applaud the minister and I want also employed To applaud the former minister as well because I know he was extremely passionate About developing the resources and that's a big reason why United Workers Party was so So strong So adamant on bringing back the development bank Because the development bank is the proper mechanism to have done that and I only wish that instead of creating a new youth economy Which I think it's very important that we should have saved the money Administratively and pump that money through the development bank and grown the asset base of the bank when I talk about the asset base I'm talking about the human asset base of the bank in order to facilitate that but again I fully support this but I'm also hoping the commensurate policies to continue to grow our economy to make sure that there's Consumption to do the things to allow small businesses to compete on a global basis are also going to be taken into consideration. Thank you