 Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, of course, let me extend my personal birthday wishes to the Deputy Speaker and member for Miko North. I think he knows we're all waiting for that celebration later. So I trust Parliament is well prepared, Mr Speaker. Also, my colleagues who welcome the presence of the member for country's South East, we all know what he's going through. It was really inspiring to see him in Parliament and showing that he keeps his commitment to report to the people who gave him the power to be here and to represent them. Of course, Mr Speaker, later today, I will be attending the celebration of the life of an outstanding Labour Party stalwart Bianca Alexander from Castri South, top of the morn. She's had a long, distinguished association with the Central Labour Party, having made a platform, speaker, canvasser, member of my women's group. So, Mr Speaker, it is a day when we really have to reflect on our contributions to politics and what it means and certainly she is somebody who made a contribution that we're all proud of, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, I rise to express my support for the estimates presented by the member from Castri East and Prime Minister. I'm also pleased to address this debate as a duly elected Parliamentary Representative for Castri South and Minister of Tourism, Investment, Creative Industries, Culture, Information, Broadcasting. I start by thanking the Almighty for yet another year of service to the people of my constituency and country. I'm eternally grateful to my constituency group, women and youth groups. They have chosen me to represent Castri South, a very special constituency. It is a both place of the Central Labour Party and the constituency of our founding leader, Sir George F. L. Charles. It is also the constituency of outstanding leaders, such as John Sonny Oblam and his Excellency, Dr. Robert K. Lewis. My constituents and groups are my strength. I know, Mr Speaker, sometimes they are annoyed with me and sometimes even disappointed, but we both know that the love is real and deep. I know, Mr Speaker, of their commitment to the dream that we will transform Castri South, and believe me, we will achieve this dream. Castri South will never be the same again after this tomb of the Central Labour Party. Never, Mr Speaker. We promise to make George F. L. Charles, John Oblam and Robert Lewis proud of our stewardship. I'm also grateful, Mr Speaker, for the support of my permanent secretary and the staff of the ministry. They have been outstanding in their dedication, support and hard work, and so much so that it inspires me every day to work harder. I'm also thankful to the boards, management and staff of the Citizenship by Investment program, Invest St. Lucia, Cultural Development Foundation, St Lucia Tourism Authority, the Community Tourism Agency and the events company of St Lucia, which all fall under my leadership and oversight. I must single out the board members. These dedicated professionals all give so much of their time and effort to ensure the proper functioning of the agencies which they oversee. Mr Speaker, the presentation by the member from Castri's East on the estimates for the financial year 23-24 was a masterclass, Mr Speaker. It was. I sat and I listened and I felt proud to be part of this team, to be part of this government and the leadership of Honourable Philip J. Pierre. Mr Speaker, it was an estimate for the time. It is a reflection of what we need at this present period in our history. And last night when I got home, before I fell asleep, I tried to imagine if we were in opposition and the leader of the opposition had been Prime Minister and presented such estimates. How would we have responded to it? How would I want to respond to it? And I must tell you, I had an extreme difficulty trying to figure out exactly how I have attacked these estimates because you cannot be vexed and annoyed and criticize raising more revenue than you expected. You cannot be annoyed and criticize a government that paid down so much on the debt that has been crippling this country. You cannot criticize a government that has done so much to put the people first with practical programs. You cannot criticize a government that has sought to control and curtail excessive spending. What would you criticize? Just tell me, Mr Speaker. But I want you to reflect, Mr Speaker, for a moment on what is the challenge facing this government at this time. The Minister of Finance has three objectives for every decision that he makes in terms of the fiscal and financial management of this country. First of all, he must stabilize the economy. But whilst he is stabilizing the economy, he has to ensure that there is a path of sustained growth and development. So he is stabilizing. But whilst he is stabilizing, he must make sure there is a sustained path of growth, but not just growth, but growth of equity. So it's not just speaking of the economy grew by 12 percent or 10 percent, but he must make sure that that growth trickles long and that so many people benefit from it. So there must be growth with development. And at the same time, he must provide immediate short-term relief to the people. So think about that. How do you achieve all three objectives? At the same time, stabilize the economy. That means reducing debt. It means generating a surplus. And one of the things, at the same time, make sure there is growth because you must have growth for the country to prosper. But even in the country getting richer through growth, we must make sure as many people also benefit from it. So that's where you have the MSME and the youth economy and the CTA. And then at the same time, we must take care of our people. How can he do that? But what he did in his presentation, in a masterful way, is to show how he's achieving it. We cannot boast we've achieved all of them who excel us, but in his presentation, he showed you how every single one was being achieved. And under the policy statement, we'll examine this in greater detail. This time, it was just the figures. And Mr. Speaker, I want to point out, and you and I have had discussions on this, and maybe to remember from you from the South, who's very learned on those matters, I still believe we are doing this thing backward. We really have to say what's the policy, the rationale, when it is approved by the house, the technical people put the figures to it, and then we debate the figures. We are debating the figures, but we cannot really debate why we have the figures as they are. We have to debate the figures, approve it, and then after we come and we approve the policy that guided the figures we already approved. You and I have had debates about that over the years and we've not agreed, but it's something, and I still believe the English Parliament has it right. You do the policy first and then the figures, because many times you want to explain why the figures are there, but you have to leave that for the policy debate. But I contrast, Mr. Speaker, what the member from Cassius East did, with what we got yesterday from the member from Miku South and the leader of the opposition, you must contrast it. And maybe the failings or the member from Miku South must be excused. Maybe. Because I started off by showing you how difficult it would have been to criticize what is presented by the member for Cassius East. He had an extremely difficult task. But these are the moments when he has to rise to the occasion and to show his real worth as a leader, Mr. Speaker. And I think he failed miserably. The member from Troselle Saltibus tried in his own way to ask questions and valid questions, and I'll provide him with some answers today. But rather than the member from Miku South and leader of the opposition asking questions and exploring alternatives, he got low, dirty, and in the trenches. That's what he did, Mr. Speaker. He tried his best, Mr. Speaker, to be a drama queen in the hope of attracting attention. Then he tried, Mr. Speaker, to show that he had empathy, hoping that people will believe that he cares. And when none worked, Mr. Speaker, he got disrespectful. And then he finally walked away with his ball because, Mr. Speaker, he was too scared to stay in the chamber and to get a response to all the things that he said. But give me a few minutes, Mr. Speaker, if you may, for me to just reflect on a couple points before I go into the substance or the estimates as it relates to my ministry. The member from Miku South claimed that we don't care because we earn more money from excise tax than we expected, that we did not earn as much as we wanted from excise tax on petroleum, but overall we earn more than we expected, and that we did not care about people. And he wanted to chastise us, Mr. Speaker, that we don't care about people. And I want you, Mr. Speaker, to just look at our record for the last 18 months. Not an exhaustive look. Just look at some of the things we've done for the last 18 months. Not the continuation of existing programs, but the commencement of new initiatives. And tell me, Mr. Speaker, whether that's a reflection of a government that does not care, one of the first things we did, we got elected July 26th immediately, Mr. Speaker, under the leadership of the member for January North, Mr. Speaker, Minister of Education, we increased the back to school support. I cannot speak of a very long period in parliament, but for my five years in opposition, I can tell you, I got nothing near what I got for my back to school program. And I know from some of my other colleagues, they said they had never gotten so much support to assist their constituents, to help children go back to school immediately, hundreds of thousands of dollars. And why? Because we knew of the effects of COVID on working people in this country. And even the middle class, even the middle class, immediately, within weeks, Mr. Speaker, we fund the money, Mr. Speaker, to provide support for back to school. Immediately, Mr. Speaker, immediately, the prime minister made money available for us to purchase wood vouchers and to distribute them. And I hope the member from Trousel do get vouchers when they are made available, Mr. Speaker. Again, not enough. I agree with you, Honorable Member. I don't get enough. I must tell you. You know, Honorable Member, you are right. I still believe I don't get enough. And I was jealous that Barbono seemed to have gotten more than me, but that's why I did a story. But, Mr. Speaker, immediately, Mr. Speaker, without even earning those excess revenue in excise tax, monies were made available. Then the minister of education, Mr. Henry North, with the prime minister, decided that school fees is an issue that has to be dealt with. And they were right. Too many times, parents come to us, children cannot graduate because they owe the school school fees. And that is a problem. And we knew it was COVID. And we knew for a lot of those students, they would not have been able to pay school fees for the last two years. How would they graduate? And immediately, Mr. Speaker, we made sure that all school fees are paid in the public schools. That's for a government that do not care, Mr. Speaker. Then, Mr. Speaker, the price of flowers are to rise, first supply chain issues, and then later on, the war between Ukraine and Russia, the two largest producers of wheat. In the world, Ukraine and Russia. And the price of flowers are to rise, rise. What did we do? We subsidized it, Mr. Speaker. Subsidized it. And I think the member from Soufres said, presently, $94 on every bag is being subsidized by government. I'm sure I heard that figure, if I'm wrong, I can be corrected. $94 on every bag that is sold, government puts in. Think about it, and we don't care, Mr. Speaker, that we have excess excise tax, and we are wasting it, Mr. Speaker. Subsidized fuel well, Mr. Speaker. When the price was getting so high, we tried, and we tried to maintain it, and we provided the subsidy until it became unsustainable, and we had to allow it to shift, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the laptop per child, in all the difficulty that we were facing because of COVID, think about it. How would the children really learn when you're doing virtual learning, if they did not have laptops? Because the laptops had been stopped by the previous government, and yes, they provided e-books. Let's not debate whether they worked or they did not work, but they were not really suitable. And we got complaints from thousands of parents that it was just not working for them. And someday, Mr. Speaker, our educational officials will have to do a study on the effect on COVID, on the learning of children in this country. Two lawsuits, Mr. Speaker, and if they had laptops, maybe it would have been mitigated. And what did we do? We commenced immediately the program of one laptop per child, and we are a government that do not care, and that the leader of opposition in his pretense was so in sense he almost threw the podium over because he claimed we spent a million dollars on repairing something. I can't remember what it was. And then, Mr. Speaker, when we had provided the laptops, we felt we had to ensure that families that could not have internet had to have internet. And we approached the telecom companies only to find out from them that they had submitted to the previous government proposals for telecommunication services to poor families. And nothing had been done about it. Nothing had been done about it. That had been an outstanding program on the desk of the last government during COVID when poor people needed to have internet for the children to learn. What did we do? We finalized negotiations, and we now have the flow bundle where you can get internet, you can get your landline and cable TV for $20 a month. And we are government that do not care, Mr. Speaker, do not care. The distress fund, Mr. Speaker, immediately we restored the distress fund from the same person who says we did not care was the one who stood up in this honorable house and said we should not need the distress fund because people are supposed to insure their plywood homes. Go and find insurance. Now, Mr. Speaker, how do you insure a plywood house? Tell me, really, that's what he said, Mr. Speaker. And he stopped the distress fund, started by the member for Viewfort South. We restored it, Mr. Speaker, got too many poor people, needed help after fire, and they could not get it, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 18 months, we've started the one-scholarship household program. And how many colleges have we given honorable member? Over 200 scholarships so far have been given by this government, Mr. Speaker, both South and University. In less than 18 months, Mr. Speaker. And you know, it is specific, what we are saying, this has to go to households where nobody in that household has had a chance to get tertiary education. Think about that. How transformational that is, families where they have not had anyone who's gone to university to get a degree or to go to tertiary, have any tertiary education, we've given over 200. In less than 18 months, and we don't care, Mr. Speaker, we launch a community tourism agency. What is it all about? It's about saying that resort-based tourism cannot be the future of tourism in our country. The future of tourism has to be community-based experiences where the visitors can come into the communities and to spend and enjoy all that Saint Lucia has to offer. And we've put in, Mr. Speaker, over $15 million in that program. We are giving loans and grants to people who cannot qualify for financing never before in the history of Saint Lucia. And that exists now, and we don't care, Mr. Speaker. We've launched the MSME, Mr. Speaker. Couple of weeks ago, under the Ministry of Commerce, to make money is available, to make money is available, to microenterprise to help them sustain themselves and to get going, Mr. Speaker. Transformational, all within 18 months, and we don't care, Mr. Speaker. We've launched a youth economy agency. I can take my entire hour to speak about the youth economy and what it means to young people in Saint Lucia. And we do not care, Mr. Speaker. We don't care. I can speak, Mr. Speaker, about support to the police because we do face challenges in the communities. This did not start in July 2021, but we've given the police support in a short space of time, like never before, and we don't care, Mr. Speaker. Increasing subvention to civil society. You were the prime minister last year, and again this year, restoring this invention to the national trust. And we don't care, Mr. Speaker. Think about it, in less than 18 months. But compare that with a member from Microsoft. How much money did we pay range? An investor who came to this country to build a hotel ends up living with about 40 million dollars. Did he care? Think of what that money could have done, and he contests it's not 40s less than 40, but whether it's 40s, 20s, 10, it should never have happened. And if you cared, you'd make sure it did not happen. Health City came in, Mr. Speaker. Health City came in, in the middle of COVID, when everybody's concerned about taking care of people who are affected by COVID, you would pay one million dollars a month for 24 months to give us consultancy on how to manage a hospital. And you care 24 million dollars when we had a local committee managing the transition, aided by the French, and you cared, Mr. Speaker. The same person who closed the fisheries that have decimated the fishery sector, Mr. Speaker. Today fishermen are not even the same. Close Radio Sengusha, Mr. Speaker. And you know what we have done? You can go online now, and Radio Sengusha has been broadcast right now. Right now. And our plan is, it may not, there is online sim, Nighttime Prefect. And we hope by the estimate, by the policy statement, we will be broadcasting for all of Sengusha. Hopefully, Mr. Speaker. Somebody who cares will pay out seven million dollars for vaccines without no systems in place. As to whether we will even receive the vaccines. At my last meeting, I joined the prime minister. He was still arguing and fighting for the balance of the money to be paid to Sengusha. And he cares. He cares. I won't even speak about Kabul and DSH, Mr. Speaker. I won't, Mr. Speaker. I heard him, the members speak, about Julian Alfred, Mr. Speaker. You know, and it's painful, painful. The member from January North was crucified. He just claimed how he used the resources of national lodges authority. But he was using it to help young people like Julian Alfred. When the United West party came into power in 2016, they stopped it, Mr. Speaker. And I know the details because she's a constituent of mine. She doesn't live far from my Constituent's office. And I'm not going to go into all the details today. Leave that for another time, and I'm sure the member from January North can deal with it better. But Mr. Speaker, he will claim how we say we want to do things for Julian Alfred when we could not even have help in university. She has a scholarship in university. And she's still at university. But when she needed it in Jamaica, you cut $150 a month support for. Think about that, Mr. Speaker. And you tell me that you care, Mr. Speaker. Now, Mr. Speaker, the member from Microsoft took the estimate yesterday in a very malicious way. He's going through it and pointing out where you're supposed to have strategies and achievements and how it's empty. That means you all did nothing. Mr. Speaker, that's a feature of all estimates. A feature of all estimates. Some ministries give you detailed narratives of all the objectives and all the achievements. And some don't submit it on time. And the estimates are printed, and it's not contained. I used to laugh at the last government when I used to go through the estimates and realize some of them are empty. But I'm not going to use that as a substance of my read button to the Minister of Finance. That's a substance. Seriously? Come on. Let's be real. Let's be real about that. Maybe the member from Schroesel can teach him a thing or two, because you know what the member from Schroesel did? He looked at it. He saw an allocation. He saw what the objective was, how many passports would be processed. And he says, but not processed. How was it? And he said there must be an error in that because if you had spent that amount for this, you could not have done X, Y, and Z. That's more constructive. That's constructive. But that's not what he does. He looks at grants and contributions. And he says, look at tourism. Your grant moved from $12 million to about $23 million. Just wasting money. Yes, it's in money. But the Prime Minister in his presentation did say that tourism allocation has been increased to $8 million. Events company will get $4 million and a half for jazz. When you add it, it's the exact difference. All he has to do is to go to a page in the estimates. I don't think he even knows how to read the estimates books. I don't think he knows how to read it. Because all he had to do was go to the grants and contributions page. He would see in 2022 to 2023 what was listed, and for this year what's listed. And he would see a difference. Simple. It's not rocket science. You don't have to be an economist or mixed degree, is whatever he is, to be able to do that, Mr. Speaker. It's a simple process. And Mr. Speaker, he speaks about CIP money being spent on consultancies. And I just wanted to share with you, Mr. Speaker, there's a little data about CIP money and how they were spent. Because, you know, he's saying a lot of things. Just to give you an idea, Mr. Speaker, of CIP money and how they were spent. Mr. Speaker, for example, if I take you to... I'll give you just the last year, Mr. Speaker. Flowers subsidy, $8.9 million. Same person who said we could have used the money to subsidize and chastising we did not do it. It was done. $8.9 million, Mr. Speaker. Fuel subsidy, $4.97 million. Backpay in December 2022, $6 million. Backpay in March 2023, $11.5 million. And Mr. Speaker contributed $34 million to debt payment, Mr. Speaker. You know, it doesn't take much, Mr. Speaker, to just ask, ask. But you're accusing and claiming that you use suspense CIP money for projects in St. Lucia. Now everybody knows that's not true. I'm not saying that money will use improperly or anything. But I know we used to come to this house over and over and we all knew that the money was going to deal with recurrent expenditure. So he now comes and accuses us of doing exactly what he was doing. Because there's a saying that evil says what evil does. So he's saying that's what we're doing because that's what he used to do. That's what he used to do. But another policy statement will say some more about CIP because we're going to take our CIP to an entirely different level where it can now start building housing projects, start building roads and be used directly to benefit the people of St. Lucia. But I will leave that for the prime minister to make the statement and for me to elaborate on it. But Mr. Speaker, let me end on the minister from the member from Mikosov. And this one was hurtful yesterday, hurtful. And I'll tell you why. When the member from Mikosov described a young woman who's an entrepreneur in this country and who purchased lands as a non-entity, who has done nothing in her life, that one is probably the worst statement ever made by the member from Mikosov. Mr. Speaker, when we left parliament yesterday, I called the leader of the opposition and I indicated to him my discomfort in the expression that has been indicated by the member. And he indicated to me that that was not what he meant. He indicated to me that he meant that that person was a non-business entity. Whether or not the government would want to take it for that, but I should express exactly what he said to me and I thought it was necessary to indicate that. Because the expression was, in my mind, very disconcerting to me at the time. And I had to express it. Well, you know, member from Srozal, member from Srozal, I'll continue my point, but let me just say to you, I admire your commitment to your party, to your team. But honorable member, this does not make sense. It does not make sense. I know you'll probably feel you're obligated to say it, but let me just say to you, it does not make sense because she being a business entity is nonsensical, Mr. Speaker. He said she was a non-entity who had done nothing in her life as yet. You know, Mr. Speaker, in this honorable house, in this honorable house, we have at least three other persons who are prime ministers or one is a prime minister. In the case of the member from Kastris North, I've known him many years and his commitment to youth and young people. We've spent many hours together working on youth programs, youth projects, and I know his commitment to youth and promoting youth. The present prime minister, just by his initiative, the youth economy tells you about his commitment to young people in this country. The former prime minister, Dr. Anthony Fort South, I have never met anybody I've felt more committed to promoting young people. I can tell you that because of the opportunities he gave persons like myself and so many other young people, three other prime ministers, all have been committed to promoting youth and the cause of young people. And for the member from Miku South to stand, regardless of whether he thought she had not achieved anything in the business world to describe her as a non-entity that has nothing in her life is disgraceful, is disgusting, and we must decrypt, Mr. Speaker, that there's no compromise on this, Mr. Speaker. None. I don't want to quote his ex. I mean, maybe I'll read exactly what he said. So I want to say this. First of all, Mr. Speaker, to have sold that land to a non-entity, a non-entity, nobody knows her. Who is she? Has she done any work in St. Lucia? Mr. Speaker, this is a young person, a young entrepreneur, a young lady, Mr. Speaker. And of all these comments, jackasses, backing dogs, I think this one is the most disrespectful one, Mr. Speaker. But let me move on, Mr. Speaker, and refer to page 357, subheading 072, Tourism Marketing Services, Mr. Speaker. St. Lucia Tourism Authority is being provided with $8 million, Mr. Speaker, for extra budgetary support for marketing for this financial year. Mr. Speaker, the St. Lucia Tourism Authority was funded via an approved budget under the tourism levy in the amount of $25,700,000 in estimates for this financial year, an above main subvention of $5 million. So they got a total of $40,700,000. The St. Lucia Tourism Authority anticipates a projection of collection in excess of the approved budget totaling $28 million. In fact, they expect to collect, Mr. Speaker, $2.3 million more, Mr. Speaker. And that clearly states to you that the tourism industry is doing even better than we expected, Mr. Speaker, and earning above the projected amount, Mr. Speaker. So while, Mr. Speaker, the thrust of the government is to ensure that the tourism authority is to be dependent on the tourism levy, the government of St. Lucia wishes to broaden the use of the levy. Therefore, the levy will be used, Mr. Speaker, to support tourism development projects, such as a community tourism program. Play specific focus on marketing our creative industry and culture, including the St. Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival, our cultural festivals, and the need for us now to engage in some strategic planning and strategic marketing, Mr. Speaker. And it's for that reason that this government has increased the subvention to $8 million, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the tourism authority, as I said, is recording better than expected results, Mr. Speaker. And one of the reasons why St. Lucia is one of the success stories in the Caribbean is because of what the authority has done in the last year. It has launched what it called collection APP, Mr. Speaker, a collection of villas, hotels, beds, Mr. Speaker, coverway crawl, Mr. Speaker, Lucia links, Mr. Speaker, a number of initiatives to ensure that St. Lucia stays in the forefront, Mr. Speaker. In the policy statement, I will speak a lot more about the numbers and the arrivals. But it was interesting yesterday to hear the member from Miku's south say on one hand that the tourism industry is faltering, Mr. Speaker. It's faltering that we are losing flights. And then the member for the senator, former minister of tourism, was on television and said how St. Lucia was, you know, losing flights and our tourism industry was in jeopardy, Mr. Speaker. The truth is, truth is the industry is performing better than we expected. And yes, Mr. Speaker, we have lost some flights. And again, in the policy statement, I will go into detail. But what is interesting is that with even less seats, we have more people coming in. Can you imagine that? Less seats. Where we are really suffering, Mr. Speaker, is regional travel. Regional travel. In 2019, we had about 88,000 regional arrivals. Last year we had just over 45,000 or so. And if we had a kind of regional travel, Mr. Speaker, it would have been so much better for us. So we have lost some flights for true, Mr. Speaker. Those flights were put on. And I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, in the policy statement, I'll go into greater detail. Those flights were put on because many countries are not open up yet. And therefore there was excess capacity from some airlines and they put on additional flights. And what I noted in the data, Mr. Speaker, you know, we would go and do our research. We on this side, we take our business seriously and we do our research. In all the flights, the flights that we've drawn, St. Lucia was our last destination to lose it because we had been doing so well. So we have less seats, but we have more people. I mean, we are earning more money from the levy than we had anticipated. And to be told, Mr. Speaker, you can see throughout the length and breadth of this country that the tourism industry is not dying in St. Lucia. It is not, Mr. Speaker. And then we were told that Fs are too high. And last week I happened to have been at Roots America and we met with one airline. And our opening line was, we get too many complaints about you. And the airline asked us, I can tell you it was JetBlue, what's the complaint? We said, well, the effort, everybody's complaining, they cannot travel the effort. And the guy opened his computer and embarrassed us. He said, after bringing up his file, that March 2023 was the best month ever for JetBlue in St. Lucia. Their load factor was 95%. So he asked us, so who's complaining? Because more people are traveling at those high rates than ever before. Now, it really tells you what's happening in the market. You don't have to be any guru, economist or anything. What's happening? People are buying the tickets, if not the high rates. So do you expect them to drop their rates? If 95% load factor, why would you drop your rates? If not 55% load factor, to 95%. So they have no interest in dropping their rates. And they will not bring on an additional flight to now cause their rates to drop. At some point, the numbers will be sufficiently high that they will bring on another flight, but we've not reached that point yet. But Mr. Speaker, in addition to we winning the world's leading animal destination, for the first time ever, we won the Caribbean leading adventure destination. Now, is that the sign of a destination where tourism is faltering? But after having said all the criticisms, he then says, he then says all the high numbers they're boasting of is we that caused it to happen. So on one hand, the industry is suffering and we're on the decline. But yet the high numbers you'll have is because of UDP hard work. But let me just tell you something about statistics, Mr. Speaker. And it's something we have to note. In the last two years of the Labour Party, that's between 2014, 2016, there was a slight decline in tourism arrivals. And the former Minister, Lawrence Yofele, was crucified for it. But nobody cared to say that St Lucia's largest hotel, Club St Lucia, are closed. So you took away 300 rooms out of the room store. Obviously, your numbers will decrease. Now the members from the previous government were boasting of the increases from about 2018, but they did not say that Royalton had opened and have a club had opened, putting in about 400 plus rooms into the room store. So, but they don't say that. But they will say, oh, the Labour Party numbers will drop in, and then UDP all of a sudden numbers are rising. But there is a reason for that. I'm not saying hard work was not done by the tourism authority and the former Minister. I would never say so. But sometimes it's a lot more than that, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on page 358, information and broadcasting, you will see for the procurement of equipment, $100,000, Mr. Speaker. Over the years, Mr. Speaker, the equipment of the GIS has significantly depleted. The ministry is trying now to restock and to upgrade. And Mr. Speaker, I notice you have modern cameras in your chambers. I'm not sure if it's GIS that provided it, Mr. Speaker, but I know GIS is to be here covering. I see you shaking your head, so I suspect Parliament probably paid for it. But Mr. Speaker, GIS really needs some upgrade in the stock. The last time it happened was under the previous Labour Party Prime Minister, Dr. Anthony, where the Taiwanese Embassy provided a substantial amount of equipment to GIS to upgrade it. They have already contributed $49,000 US. This estimate provides another $100,000 US to upgrade the GIS, Mr. Speaker. I've already mentioned, Mr. Speaker, that GIS has worked very hard to bring back Radio St. Lucia. We're presently testing it on digital, so we have RSL Digital broadcast online now. And once we can resolve some of the capacity and logistics issues, without putting a string on central government, we will relaunch Radio St. Lucia once again. And St. Lucia will have a Radio St. Lucia they can be proud of. But we'll do it differently this time. Radio St. Lucia, the new Radio St. Lucia, will be a St. Lucia radio station. All the music must be St. Lucia. The programs must be public education. All local content. So if you want to have foreign music, you don't go to Radio St. Lucia. The Radio St. Lucia that will be relaunched will be all local content, Mr. Speaker. And it's very heavily focused on public education and the dissemination of information that the public needs to be for the orderly operation of our society, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on page 561, heading 017, Culture and Creative Industries, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm really proud of the work that we've done in the last year for Culture and Creative Industries, Mr. Speaker. Any solution will tell you, they had to have been proud to see what the Cultural Development Foundation and the Ministry did, especially for Emancipation Month. For the first time, this Prime Minister said that he does not want Emancipation celebrated the way it has been done in the past, that we have to give it greater prominence. And whereas we used to get about $20,000 a year for Emancipation, we got about $200,000 plus for Emancipation. And the CDF and events company of St. Lucia really made me feel good, as I said, Lucia, to be at the waterfront on August 1st and to actually witness the parade that took place and the cultural performances that took place to herald in Emancipation Day. We went to Denry South, where the first heroine was Anvil Petronil, Mr. Speaker, as a champion of the slave uprising, Mr. Speaker, and that meant a lot. Throughout the country, Mr. Speaker, we encourage communities to organize activities to commemorate Emancipation Day. In Babono, in Monripo, you know, in ancillary countries, throughout this country, Souffre, we had activities. And I can say to honorable members, this year, August will be even bigger and better than it was for last year, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the La Rose at La Margritte this last year, in this financial year, was extra special, extra special. Again, ask any St. Lucia, and they will tell you they had never seen so much of our focus given to those events. The La Rose Festival, Mr. Speaker, and some people criticized us saying it should be kept in the community and not be brought down into castries whatnot. Let me say to honorable members, the groups themselves said they wanted to be in castries. They said they wanted to be in castries. And they asked us to repeat it. And there's a reason why. Think about it. There are the traditionalists that will want us to remain in the community. And a small group enjoys it, and they really are the purists. But there's a new generation rising that want to mainstream the celebrations. And they believe when they are in castries, in the middle of the workday, and when they parade around castries, they said they felt good to see solutions coming out of the business places, clapping them, waving them, people passing in vehicles, you know, blowing their horns. They felt accepted and they felt appreciated that they were not so right. So the solution now is how we can find both. And I have challenged the CDF and them to find a solution where you have both the community celebration, but we also have the national celebrations. So in one year, we can do it in the big population centers, in castries, in Viewfort, so where the public is in the numbers and can show the appreciation. Now, once we have done it for La Rose, La Margaret said, you have to do it for us too. So we end up having to also do it for La Margaret. But La Margaret was very special last year. We actually had a coronation, and I had never seen a coronation of a La Margaret Queen before. And we actually had a coronation at the Grosely Church, and then it went on to their horse-drawn carriage to have a La Margaret dinner. And I'll tell you what was even special about the dinner for me, that some of the hotels actually bought tables, so they guess and come and see what a La Margaret dinner was like. And Chef Orlando was the one who did the menu, prepared the food and serve in the Grosely Human Resource Center. I'd never seen a La Margaret in such splendor, Mr. Speaker. And I know, I must tell you, say, if you have a La Margaret, I almost said that in La Rose Festival. But I can tell you, and a member from January North, he really started because he had the most groups, certainly in La Rose. And also, there's a particular young man who beat that drum so well during the festival. It really made us proud to see him, you know, performing. We had never seen such effort been put into the La Rose and the La Margaret. And, of course, Creole Heritage Month, what it means to us as solutions. I don't think last year we got it right in all aspects. One community we've drew at a very late stage. I wouldn't say that it is Monropo, but they did not stay. And there were some issues, Mr. Speaker. And we will try to do it better this year. We don't always get everything right. But the member for Miku North has told me he definitely wants Monropo this year to be involved. And we will sit. One of the things I'm very glad about, Mr. Speaker, is how we've worked with all the stakeholders. For Emancipation Day, the relationship we've had with the Rastafarian community. You know, the way we've met with the different groups, the way FRC supports and is deeply involved, the La Rose groups, the La Margaret groups, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, we'll be adding a new activity, Mr. Speaker. From now on, the Prime Minister has said we must celebrate Labor Day differently, Mr. Speaker. May 1st is Workers' Day. And we must celebrate the workers of the country. We have to celebrate the workers of the country. Now, the Prime Minister have already said to him, this year we will, because of how the budget is done, we have in estimates now policy statement end of April. Money is not really available until the middle of May. So we will have a challenge, how much we can do for May 1st this year. But I can guarantee you, together with the Department of Labor, that will provide a lot of leadership on this, we are going to have from next year the biggest celebration for May Day in the history of St. Lucia. So, Mr. Speaker, I want to look at grants and contributions, Mr. Speaker, where we have a total of $15.7 million for that purpose, Mr. Speaker. And one of the important allocations for me is for the development of the creative industries. We usually used to get $500,000 a year. It was increased to $750,000. And for me, it's really important to have such monies available. And I'll tell you why quickly, Mr. Speaker. First of all, the small grants program where we can make monies available to different groups, different organizations, artists that just need some support to put on a creative or cultural event, whether it's for pageantry, publishing a book, theatrical production, dress making, they can apply to the ministry. And I'm appealing to those creatives that need small grants that this government has made more money available to you, for you to get support, for you to put on your creative expressions. So, if you need the support, apply to the ministry, and we will assist you. Throughout the communities of St. Lucia, Mr. Speaker, we want them to be able to express themselves, and we will be providing the support for this. The National Performance Program, Mr. Speaker, again, will be making monies available to ensure community tourism gets the support. Kabawe Crawl. Mr. Speaker, let me tell you, Kabawe Crawl is one of the most innovative and creative ideas that we've added to the tourism product, Mr. Speaker. So just imagine, you know, that's where people meet, they play dominos, they argue politics, football, cricket, isn't it? In the Kabawe's, that is a distinct Caribbean experience. Other countries have it too. In England, they call it the pubs. They don't say rum shops. They say the pub, you go to your pub. Before any football match, you go to your pub. So you can ready for your football match or rugby match. We have it as the Kabawe, the rum shops. But that's quintessentially Westinian and St. Lucia. So we now add into it. Member for Casteries, it's all of your 10 minutes left. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to invoke Stunning Order 32110 to allow the Honourable Deputy Prime Minister an additional 30 minutes. One of the members, the question is that Stunning Order 32110 be invoked to allow the leader of government business and member for Castery South an additional 30 minutes in which to complete this presentation. And I'll put the question as many as of that opinion, say aye. Aye. As many as of a country opinion, say no. I think the eyes have it, the eyes have it, leave is granted. So Mr. Speaker, I'll try to move quickly because I need to say something about the secrets of Castery South. So I want to have some time for that. Mr. Speaker, another program we have which I'm really excited about is what we call Arts in Public Spaces. And I know Miku North will be benefitted from that. I think you would have received your grant already. Mr. Speaker, we have to promote arts in public spaces. And the young people that are involved in visual arts, what not, this is an opportunity for them to find spaces in their community, view for the murals on the walls, the feeling view for some other places. And I want you to encourage the young people in your constituencies to apply for the assistance where you could get the support to paint ourselves on spaces, our lives, our stories on spaces. And we will be making the manis available in Babunu, View Fort North, Denry North. And I'm really excited about we doing so fraud the country, Mr. Speaker. And we have manis for this, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to move quickly so I'll skip some of the exciting programs I was, Mr. Speaker. Can you vote, Mr. Speaker? Remember last year, when we said we were going to have box mass, people said we were irresponsible, hundreds would die, that we should not do it, Mr. Speaker. But we fought, Mr. Speaker, and I discussed it with my colleagues, with the Prime Minister and colleagues in cabinet, that the creative sector had suffered the most from COVID. The most. Why? Because creative people need to express themselves. They need crowds, they need audience. COVID restricted and denied an audience for them. So everybody was bottled up within their confined spaces. Creativity cannot flourish in such circumstances. It has to be unlocked. It must be given space, Mr. Speaker. And we wanted carnival to be able for people to express themselves, the costume designers, the songwriters. We had to do it, Mr. Speaker. And we thought of how can we do it? We thought of box mass. And then, of course, the Omicron virus came, which made it a little more, you know, accepting for people to gather and to be together. And eventually, Mr. Speaker, we did have carnival in this traditional way. And even when we said we were going to move from box mass to traditional carnival, we were decried again. But we had a vision and a clear understanding of what we wanted to do. I remember the Minister of Health really working with us. You know, Mr. Speaker, I commented on him, Mr. Speaker, to get his ministry, to make the adjustments, to be with the accommodators. And he balanced those two demands masterfully between high annoyance every morning. And his technical people advised him how it should be done. I don't know how he survived that period, Mr. Speaker, but he will tell you, I used to be at him regularly. So it was a real difficult period for him, Mr. Speaker. But guess what happened? We had one of the best carnivals we ever had, Mr. Speaker. And we had 10,000 visitors that came in for carnival, making July 2022 our highest arrival month for the year, Mr. Speaker. And because of carnival... Sorry? Well, it's here who was in carnival order. But Mr. Speaker, so the government this year has given an extra million dollars for carnival. It's not enough. We still need more. Why we need more, Mr. Speaker? And I'm seeing it loud and clear. So many of my colleague parliamentarians from Trusel all the way are talking about community carnivals. Now, if community carnivals have to be financed and supported, one million dollars is not enough. Last year, we did not have junior panorama, junior carnival. There were so many other components we did not have. And one million, Mr. Speaker, is not enough. But it is what we have, because the pie must be cut fairly and we'll have to make it work. But I'm saying to my colleagues to be a little gentle on me that you won't get everything you need for your community carnival, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I need to move on. So I'm going to jump to some of the capital project, Mr. Speaker. So I won't have a chance to speak about most of the other stuff, Mr. Speaker. The ministry this year, Mr. Speaker, will be working really hard on certification and training. And I need you to understand why that's needed. If we're going to have a tourism industry that is world-class, a tourism industry that has the highest standards, we have to train. We have to spend money on certification. We train you and then we certify you where you can say, that's the levels I have reached. So you demonstrate it and you proudly show that you've been certified. And we have, Mr. Speaker, we made a kiss to the Prime Minister, Mr. Speaker, that $20,000 for training was just not enough, not when we want to build a world-class tourism product, not when we want to ensure that our people can deliver the highest standards. And he agreed, Mr. Speaker, and he's now increased that from $20,000 to $450,000 per year to spend, Mr. Speaker, on training. So I'm really proud of this. The tourism hostess program started by the Prime Minister when he was Minister of Tourism and the member for Viford South, Mr. Speaker, was Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and they better than me can explain to you why such a program is important. And I will tell you, for those of you who may have forgotten, the injury of the member of Viford, Miku South, and literally opposite to politics, was distinguished, well, into government by the firing of the tourism hostesses. Remember that in Souffre? Remember that? By firing them. Because from that day, he did not believe that the tourism hostess program is important. But it is important by training people in the communities who are willing to welcome visitors to their community, to speak about the history of their community, the stories of their community, the struggles of their community, the aspirations of the community, the beauty of their community. That is valuable, Mr. Speaker. The visitors feel more welcome. They feel more connected. And the community feels it is part of the tourism experience, Mr. Speaker. How could you not support a community tourism program? So, Mr. Speaker, it will be brought back. Already we have done some training with Taiwanese into storytelling techniques, because they do it in Taiwan and we, they were down here and decided to teach our people, our trainers, about storytelling. How do you create stories about your community to be able to, Mr. Speaker? So, allocation is made for that, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, under capital expenditure, Mr. Speaker, would you let me know when I have about 15 minutes left so I can speak about cash? I have time? Okay. So, Mr. Speaker, now it will start in a bit, Mr. Speaker, not just yet. Mr. Speaker, let's look at National Tourism Awards on page 590. Did you hear a member from Miko South last night? Did you hear him? No, I mean, Mr. Speaker, let me tell you. Mr. Speaker, he would stand up and ask, why would this government want to spend $150,000 on a tourism awards? And whether or not we could not get that money from the private sector instead, $150,000? Let me first of all say to this honorable house that the tourism awards has been hosted in collaboration with two other agencies, the private sector, St. Lucia, both hospitality and tourism association. They contribute in $150,000. The tourism authority, as the chief marketing agency, is contributing and the ministry is contributing. So, it is a joint collaboration. But it is important for us to have tourism awards and, Mr. Speaker, the tourism awards have been named the Jimmy's. Now, do you know why the Jimmy's? Mount Jimmy is the highest point in St. Lucia. Is the highest you can reach in St. Lucia. And by giving our tourism workers, those who have not been boasted of, those who have not been recognized that we're giving you a Jimmy, the highest point of achievement in St. Lucia, is a powerful statement to them, of our appreciation to them for the successes that this country has had, especially tourism industry. We specifically named the Jimmy's to say it's not only about the hoteliers being recognized and supported. They will be part of it too. But it's also about saying to St. Lucia that we appreciate what you're doing for the success of this country. How dare you criticize this and think that is a waste of money for us to do such a thing, Mr. Speaker. It reflects the thinking. It's the non-entity thinking, Mr. Speaker. It's the non-entity thinking that is not important for average ordinary people to rise to the top. It's not important for you to say to people who in their own way contribute. But if you're not of a certain standing, Mr. Speaker, you don't have a, you should not be silvin' of being recognized. So, Mr. Speaker, the Jimmy's will be held on April 26. And do you know what the theme is? Rethinking tourism, because we have to rethink it. We have to put our people at the center of it, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on page 590, you will see an allocation of $558, $750 for the National Cultural Center refurbishment. The National Cultural Center needs serious refurbishment. And I really hope, Mr. Speaker, and I'm saying this to the member from Cassius East, Kanhemi, that we need to have a proper cultural center in Saint-Mochel. We need to have one. And the member from Jufo South will tell you, many years ago, when we were doing the projects, development projects in the Chinese, one of them was going to be a cultural center. And I know he had already identified and chosen land. I'm not sure if it had been acquired. He can let us know. In shock for the National Cultural Center. So we've had a long desire in the Labor Party to have a proper cultural center in Saint-Mochel. And we must not let that dream fade away, Honorable Prime Minister. We will have to have a proper building that can host our archives, host our museum, and become a performance area for our creators in this country. We have to do so. So once we are repairing the cultural center, that dream must not die, Mr. Speaker. Community tourism, Mr. Speaker, on page 363. I spoke about the community tourism earlier on when I explained that this government cares. And it's the reason why, Mr. Speaker, we are doing community tourism. And under, Mr. Speaker, when I will deal with the policy, I will speak some more about the community tourism. But let me just say quickly, Mr. Speaker, that under the last government, they call it village tourism. And, you know, just give me two minutes on my 40 minutes, Mr. Speaker. Let me just say something about this. Because the last government did not pass the legislation, did not put the institution in place. But they used all the money for the tourism program. They used all. They did not pass the legislation. They did not set up the institution to do it. But the money was spent. Some of them, I must tell you, in projects that I think were good. Money was invested in ancillary canneries, the bed and breakfast, the restaurant. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, in the ministry of tourism area. But some went into putting lights in the jackpot in film. I heard someone's given to Gruzile. I can't even tell you what it was used for. And I mean, it really missed the boat. This is an excellent idea. It is something that started when the Prime Minister's Minister of Tourism, the member from Vivalds South, will tell you of the vision of taking tourism to people. We started heritage tourism. It continued and it continued. Exactly. It caught in Felix Finister, Mr. Speaker. And there we had the right meeting of idea resources. And a lot of those resources, I believe, was not properly utilized. I support what is going on in ancillary canneries. I've spoken to the Parliamentary Rep about it. And we're going to work to make it come to our completion. Again, because of the way it was done, there are issues. There's no money for sewer because we really cannot throw untreated sewer into the bin from the bed and breakfast and the restaurant. So we're going to find the money to complete the project. We're going to do more work in canneries. And the member from ancillary canneries will tell you an entire market and restaurant will be done in canneries. In Grozile, the Grozile, the beach park in Grozile will be done. I cannot give you figures because those have gone out for tender. And so it would make sense for me to tell you what's allocated for it for obvious reasons. So we're going to continue that. But the good news is the Prime Minister in discussion with him said we need more money for more community projects. So he's spoken to the Carecom Development Fund and we're going to get another three million U.S. dollars. And already we've started identifying some other possible projects. So the money buy will be replaced as you know, it's a real, you know, not an ISO but also health hazard because it is moving. So we have to rebuild it. We're going to build some performance center areas in Viewfort North, in Serenity Park. Even in Marsha, we're going to redo the Marsha market and to do something in there for community tourism. I know La Cleary has an interest. There's a very exciting project that the church has submitted to us to put a shrine to commemorate the three persons who had been killed there to create some religious tourism for cruise passengers when they come in. Mikunov will be getting a CMOS experience. Then Resolve, the fish fry had been allowed to just feed away in the last five years. It's going to be restored. So there are a number of projects we're looking at. We now need to engage in the southern part of the island in terms of what it is that they want to present for our consideration. So we are constantly looking for more resources for us to be able to spread the community tourism idea all over the island, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, the amplifiers in between Viewfort North and one. Now under the OECS Competitive Tourism Project, the RTCP, we have a number of activities and I think $14.7 million has been provided, Mr. Speaker, for that. We will complete the project in Suruzel. It was mentioned by the representative of Suruzel, the craft market redevelopment. That will happen, honourable member. It has gone out for tender, so no figures will be put in there as you can imagine. The castries market redevelopment will take place. We're building a container box pack where the old marketing board building used to be that will add to the cruise tourism experience where people can go in and have various offerings to them, Mr. Speaker. In Souffre, we're completing the old Trafford project, so there'll be more concessionary booths built in Suruzel for the old Trafford project. I think it's costing $667,000 to complete that project. I think I mixed up. Canaries is actually under the ORTCP and not the community tourism. Yeah, so it's going to be there. And of course, Mr. Speaker, we're going to be doing some work in Marigo in Castries South, Mr. Speaker. The Marigo Bay Waterfront redevelopment. I think all members in there will agree that Marigo is the most wonderful site for the setting sun. And maybe after the pitors is the most beautiful part of St. Lucia, Mr. Speaker. And Marigo Bay Waterfront really needs some redevelopment. So we will be doing a redevelopment of Marigo Bay. And in the next two to three years, when you go to Marigo Bay to be a totally different experience, the beach on the other side, La Basse, and investors already agree to put one of the best beach bars in the Caribbean on that reclaimed beach, restored to its original size and put a beach bar there for us. They also in the process of acquiring lands to build a resort on the hillside. So we will have an entirely different Marigo. The Marigo Bay project is going on to tender. We've done all the drawings and we're getting ready to go out to tender for Marigo Bay. So that will be an exciting development. When you pass the gas station on Millennium Highway heading south on your right, there's a sharp corner called Asfair, the piece of mountain there. We'll be redeveloping that to create a lookout point. And I must tell you, based on the drawings, I'm really inspired to see this project come to fruition because it will be a sight to behold when we transform that area, Mr. Speaker, and offer greater opportunities to the people of Castro's south, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is an issue in St. Lucia, all the honorable members. Mr. Speaker, can you give me some protection, please? So Mr. Speaker, we have an interesting problem in St. Lucia. But it's a problem that when we solve it, we'll create tremendous possibilities. Increasing the cruise arrivals again, there's a huge demand by cruise travelers who want beach experiences for the day. So right now, it's overcrowding taking place at Redre Beach and at VG. And they haven't been to Souffre now, and Chasne, whatnot, Pigeon Point, whatnot. So we need more beach parks. But when you create a beach park, hear what you're doing. The beach boys rent a chair for 20 US a day, sometimes more. The guys who sell the Heineken, the Piton, the guys that send the barbecue chicken, the roving vendors that sell stuff, make money. So we need to create more beach parks in St. Lucia. We don't have a crowd VG, Redre, Pigeon Point, but create more along the coast. So we started identifying sports. That's not new to us. That started from the last government. But the way they approach it was not structured in a more holistic way. They tried to do something in Ansleria alone and not really look at all the possibilities. So we need to look at all the possibilities. And so we started doing that to look at all the different possibilities. One possibility that came readily to us. And that's why I might disappoint it with the last Minister of Tourism, because he skipped it and then he went to Ansleria. Bacai has a beach park. Bacai. And for us, it's a natural, it's a low-hungry fruit. Let us upgrade it and accommodate hundreds of cruise passengers there. I'll be speaking to Soufret. It is a barren drive at Bagui Tut in that area. How we can create something for the guys from barren drive and then to really run a beach park down in that area. So one of the provisions this year under the TCP is a Bacai beach park. We've done some drawings for it. How we can upgrade it. And once we can resolve with Bacai, we will be able to execute that project. The member from Soufret yesterday asked about training of the vendors that are part of the project. So that is provided for in this year's estimates again for us to start the training of vendors. And like I said earlier, training is really important for us. So we definitely will do so. Mr. Speaker, you know, there is just so much going on in tourism, Mr. Speaker. So much going on. Really exciting stuff, Mr. Speaker. And when we speak in a policy session, the Prime Minister will make an announcement. Because the opposition has said a lot about GPH and we sell the port and we agree that there will not be any cruise port into U-Fort. And we move cruise from Castres to U-Fort. A lot of talk, talk, talk, talk. Forgetting, forgetting that the discussion started with him. With him. And, you know, in this business, as much as you want to criticize, sometimes you have the responsibility of government on your shoulder. So you are limited by what you can see. And I want to respect our private sector investors and not see some of what had gone on before. But Saint Lucia should have had that project already, should have had it already. But again, it's how the last government did their business. So we've come in and we've tried to correct some of the issues and to put it back on course. But hopefully, if all goes well, and cabinet agrees with the proposal because the negotiating team is still finalizing it, it will make a dramatic transformation of Souffre Waterfront, the Bannans Bay area, and the entire waterfront by the government buildings. Because it's a really exciting project and hopefully by the policy statement time, in the end of April, we would need a position to release all the details of it. But I can say to you, Mr. Speaker, that when we do, we do make those announcements and it secure this project, it would really, really add. And I'm already envisaging, you know, if you have the Bannans Fisherman's Village, you have the boardwalk on the waterfront, you know, you have Ansphere, you have Bacai, you have Ansleray, you have Canaries, you have Souffre Waterfront, the whole coast starts to change, and you have the Grosile Beach Park. Well, these are possibilities as well. There's a lot. Sandy Beach, well, now an issue that we need to have a discussion with, because I think Invest did a development plan for that area. And that's a very good idea is in it. We need to move forward. We are also still working very hard to get the cruise development in the south for home porting, that means spoken about for a long time. And I tease the member from Viewfort South once. I remember when we actually boarded a cruise ship in Viewfort, but he too was from then trying to get cruise ships to come to Viewfort. And I still remember that day, you know, many, many years ago. And so it is something because we recognize most of the attractions are in the south, are really in the south, you know, in Souffre, you know, Viewfort, what not. So there's a lot that can happen and we can really transform, you know, the entire tourism industry. Now, Mr. Speaker, for the next few minutes, I want to say a bit about Cassary South, Mr. Speaker. Now, Mr. Speaker, you would have heard members... Why is that? Mr. Speaker, you would have heard members said that they've been advised to change the way or to hold your secrets and don't say too much. So I'll be a little constrained by how much I can say about Cassary South, Mr. Speaker. But Mr. Speaker, I must express my sincere thanks in starting to the Prime Minister and to the member for Cassary North, Mr. Speaker. I must. I stood in this house as a member of the opposition and I called on the member from Cassary North to please repair the Basel Joseph Road and the Marigold Road. Marigold attracts significant numbers of cruise tourists and overnight tourists and the road could not continue to be in the state in which it was in. I spoke to him about the Basel Joseph Road. Ever since that road was built, Mr. Speaker, almost 40 years ago, it had never been fixed, Mr. Speaker. Never. And I spoke to him about it in opposition and he promised me that he was going to do something about it. He came into this honorable house in a budget debate and he actually announced that they were going to repair the road in the financial year and it never happened. I had to, Mr. Speaker, on two occasions. It was redirected. Two occasions to see a board being put up saying that the road reconstruction will start and it being taken down. Two occasions. I saw that, Mr. Speaker, because... Remember you have 10 minutes left. Mr. Speaker, okay, that's fine. I've tried to finish in 10. So, Mr. Speaker, I know how he tried to make the honorable member tried to get the roads fixed, Mr. Speaker. And finally, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that both the Marigold and Basel Joseph roads have been fixed, Mr. Speaker, and totally reconstructed. I must say to you, honorable member, the people love you. And the last time you came there, I assure you, you felt the love of the community of Basel Joseph. They wanted to keep you, but I had to stop it, Mr. Speaker. But those roads, Mr. Speaker, and I started off by saying that country south is a special constituency. It was George Charles constituency. I would comment. I know you from Montlato. That's where I knew you. I didn't know you were Basel Joseph. But the point is, you know, it's really appreciated. It's really appreciated, Mr. Speaker. And we've bought in both the Marigold and Basel Joseph roads fixed, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask you, honorable member, to deal with some of the other roads, but I am being reasonable. I know other colleagues also want the roads fixed. I got the two major roads in my constituency fixed. So I'm not going to pressure you, Mr. Speaker, honorable member, but we do have other roads that need repair. I still get criticism that the Marigold road was not completed all the way up to the bay. But at least if we can get some pot hole in a little, you know, a little tidying up of it, up to two days ago, I got a text complaining about it. And there's some roads in Cicero. The minor roads just, you know, do some little works on it. I will inform the next round when I will get my major allocation for roads, but I'm very happy and satisfied. Mr. Speaker, Cicero playing field, you know, I came into this house, the previous rep, Robert Lewis under the Labour Party, got approval to upgrade the Cicero playing field. It was stopped. I spoke to the then Minister of Sports from then we saw about just repain because it had been approved by NLA to just restore it. I said, look, I'm going to get the lights. I'm going to get the poles, Mr. Speaker. I was not allowed to do it. And they would not have just restored the surface. The member from Grozilly told me he would take care of it. And Mr. Speaker, it is been done now. And then, you know, it is been done now, Mr. Speaker. And in the next two months or so, it would have been totally surface and the grass grown, Mr. Speaker. And he has promised that we will also get the lights put in, Mr. Speaker. I'm also going to add to it, Mr. Speaker, an outdoor gym. I already have acquired the gym through the Diabetes and Hypertensive Society and the Church of Latter-day Saints. They've provided the outdoor gym. So we'll have a complete outdoor gym in the corner of the field. We will get the lights and hopefully some stands will be built in. Think about it, Mr. Speaker. Cassie South does not have a playing field, a standard-sized playing field. We have the Marigold playing field, but it is mostly used by Jack Mell, Roseau, and what's the other side? Cassie South is, you know, some of those other areas. Yeah, Mr. Speaker. So Cicera, which is one of the largest communities in St. Lucia, Cicera, cannot have a standard-sized playing field. But thanks to the member from Grozilly, we will finally have a playing field, Mr. Speaker, that we can boast about, Mr. Speaker. So I'm really, really proud and happy for that. The Basel-Joseph Community Center, Mr. Speaker, the Basel-Joseph Community Center was started under the last Liberal Party government, half-built elections in 2016. It was stopped and nothing has happened since then. A contract was signed last month, a few days ago, but we're still in March, a few days ago, for the work to continue under Basel-Joseph Community Center, and for Basel-Joseph now to have a Community Center. Mr. Speaker, Cassie South does not have any community centers, except what we have in Fuashu. Think about that. The entire constituency, the entire constituency, the only community center we have is what we have upstairs, the public facility in Fuashu, which itself can barely fit 40 people. That cannot be right. That cannot be right. And Mr. Speaker, after all the Prime Minister, I will work the extra day, I will take the extra flight, I will do whatever I can to help raise the resources so Cassie South can get a full, full compliment of social facilities, Mr. Speaker. We will, during this year, continue on the Goodlands Road under the BNTF. It had been started again under the last Liberal Party government, and it was stopped. It was stopped, so it's coming back again, and it will be continuing the road down by Madeleine, down to the bottom, all the way to the top of the former George Charles Secondary School, Mr. Speaker. From the top of the hill, where you put the barriers, the crash barriers, what not. Then, Mr. Speaker, we'll be doing some work at the Lakwa Combined School, putting in a classroom under the BNTF project, Mr. Speaker, and making sure that we provide the children with all they need, Mr. Speaker. We've done a lot, Mr. Speaker, socially in the constituency, a lot. Back to school, Mr. Speaker, our top achievers program to honor the top performers in the common entrance, Mr. Speaker. The Christmas program is a special thing for us in Cassie South, where we give out our humpers to the elderly, Mr. Speaker. You know, Mr. Speaker, we also have some creative programs. We have our Black Kick and Sorrel competition, where we have a competition to see who can make the best Black Kick and make the best Sorrel, Mr. Speaker. And it is for us an exciting time when we bring the community together, Mr. Speaker, to celebrate, Mr. Speaker, the community spirit and everything else, Mr. Speaker. I spoke earlier about the school fees and the laptops. Cassie South really benefits from that. You know our constituency is one where there are a few challenged communities and those programs, the medical bills, the funeral support, the food vouchers, the laptops, the school fees, Mr. Speaker, these make a difference. I know we're all concerned. We don't want people to become too dependent on government. But once we're providing training, we're creating opportunities, Mr. Speaker. We also want, Mr. Speaker, you know, we also want, Mr. Speaker, to be able to give them the support so people can enjoy some civilized living until they get the job, until they are able to acquire all the skills, they need to have some civilized living. Because if people cannot have any civilized living, they become social, you know, outcasts and deviants, Mr. Speaker. So it's not about, you know, creating dependency syndrome. We must avoid it. But we must also recognize people are human beings and they must be treated as such, Mr. Speaker. And the support for the schools I've always held myself out to support, Mr. Speaker, the schools. I know right now in Souffre, we have island chums going on, Mr. Speaker. And, you know, the minister have left, Mr. Speaker, stepped out. But to really say to him is a fantastic initiative that he is doing, Mr. Speaker. And I too hope that my schools can also benefit from that. But, Mr. Speaker, in the minutes I have left, and until the Prime Minister comes, Mr. Speaker, you have to let me speak until he comes back in. What's the future? What's going to happen in Castery South, Mr. Speaker? I've said of all the things we're going to do. But, you know, Mr. Speaker, think about it. Cicero Community Centre has been closed for almost seven years. It's small. It cannot serve a community of that size. The bottom is used as a daycare or preschool. The top is wooden, too mighty infested. And you have children downstairs. It is so badly, it has degenerated so badly. It's closed for years. You cannot not have a community centre in Cicero. You cannot not have one. That just cannot continue. And I've said to the Prime Minister, I will start the process of identifying a site, and I have done so, and to start the drawings and constants for us to have a proper community centre in Cicero, Mr. Speaker. The community deserves it. The community deserves it. We cannot have the community with no community centre. So buses use F will have one, Cicero will have one, and we'll have to fix four shows. In Marigo, under the last Labour Party government again, under the CDB, we built a preschool, a learning centre, and the upstairs, which is supposed to be a community centre, has never been completed. Can you imagine how Castery South was treated? But that's going to stop. That is not going to continue. So we're going to do something about Marigo as well, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Fuwashu is a very special place to me, Mr. Speaker. And I remember growing up, Mr. Speaker, there was never any sporting facilities in the community. Never. Think about it. Never have a feeling Fuwashu, a court, under the last government again, under Dr. Anthony, we identify a piece of land. The age is not there, but the subland is right next to his home. Well, this is where he used to live. He still visits there every day though. We've acquired that land to put a court for Fuwashu when Robert Lewis was in parliamentary rep. Well, Mr. Speaker, I've gotten the drawings for the courts and the costum, and we will start the Fuwashu court this year, Mr. Speaker. We will start it, Mr. Speaker. Remember, you need to wrap up. You want me to wrap up? Mr. Speaker, I have a lot more to say about the things we will be doing in Kastri South, but I understand that we need to change the way we need to recognize, Mr. Speaker, that my time is up. But I can say to the people of Kastri South, we promise we will transform Kastri South. We promise that a lot of work had started under Robert Lewis and have not what was not completed. It will be completed, and we will transform Kastri South. And then we will be Kastri South proud of the representation that it has gotten, Mr. Speaker. Let me end, Mr. Speaker, by once again expressing my support to the prime minister for all the assistance he's given me as minister and as parliamentary rep. Let me say thank you to all my colleagues in Cabinet. It's a real joy, Mr. Speaker, to work with this Cabinet of Ministers. I can tell you, it's a joy. There are those who have had a lot more experience, and you can go to them and share ideas and get guidance from them. They're new ones than me, who we talk a lot about where we're going, what we're doing, and it's a real camaraderie that we have, Mr. Speaker. And I enjoy one of my best days at Mondays to go to Cabinet and to sit with my colleagues, Mr. Speaker. I can tell you, it's a real delightful experience to go to Cabinet on Mondays and for us to work together, Mr. Speaker. So I want to express my thanks to my colleagues and to the prime minister. I believe the budget, the estimates which are presented, is what we need for these things. It really seeks to achieve multiple objectives. And I think the Minister of Finance, a member of the country, has gotten it right in terms of what he's planning to do. I just want Mr. Speaker to make one appeal, and I'm sure other members share it with me. Mr. Speaker, the medical care in this country, health care in this country, has to be placed at the top priority every day, Mr. Speaker. Persons who need cancer patients, MRI, just over and over, Mr. Speaker. It is overbearing, it's overwhelming, and we need to, Mr. Speaker. And it's wanted to why support what was presented wholeheartedly. When the prime minister said, this budget is about health care security, I was one of the happiest persons because I know what we go through as parliamentary representatives, Mr. Speaker. So I look forward to its implementation. I will play my part wholeheartedly and with determination to make sure we achieve our objectives for the year. Thank you very much.