 Let us pray. Almighty God, by whom alone kings reign and princes decree justice, and whom alone comes all counsel, wisdom, and understanding, we then, unworthy servants here gathered together in thy name, do most humbly beseech you to send down thy heavenly wisdom from above, to direct and guide us in all our consultations, and grant that we having thy fear always before our eyes, and laying aside all private interests, prejudices, and partial affections. The result of all our counsels may be to the glory of thy blessed name, the maintenance of true religion and justice, the safety, honor, and happiness of the queen, the public will, peace, and tranquility of St. Lucia, and the uniting and knitting together of the hearts of all persons and estates within the seam, in true Christian love, and charity one towards another through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, amen. Good morning, senators. Senators, I have received communication from Senator Minister of Health, Senator Joachim Henry, leader of opposition business, and Senator Timofim Manga, that they are unable to be with us this morning. In particularly, Senator Henry and Senator Manga are both out of state, out of state. Senators, I have also received correspondence from the Speaker of the House of Assembly, advising that the following bill was passed in the House of Assembly and forwarded to the Senate for its concurrence, the airport development, statements by ministers, leader of government business. Mr. President, in order to comply with international tax standards, Senutia has signed on a number of agreements and which facilitated the exchange of information. This ranges from automatic exchange to the exchange of information on requests to spontaneous exchange. To ensure compliance with our international counterparts, Senutia has amended procedures and policies at various institutions, enacted new legislation, and has made several legislative amendments over the past few years. It must be noted, Mr. President, that the emphasis on compliance has become even more apparent in recent times, as governments around the world seek to protect much needed tax revenue. In addition, Mr. President, failure to comply may result in lost funding, penalties, blacklisting, and other sanctions, and may invariably affect a nation standing in the international arena. As a small island-developing state which possesses limited resources, this nation has always endeavored and will continue to endeavor to be compliant with international standards. Notwithstanding, it should be noted that compliance comes at a cost. Not only does compliance require investment in software, training, and equipment, but it can also affect this nation's ability to attract much needed foreign direct investment. The years 2015 and 2016 in particular, Mr. President, Senusha made several legislative amendments, all in an effort to improve this nation's standing in the international arena. In fact, Mr. President, Senusha was able to receive an upgrade from a rating of partially compliant to one of largely compliant last year from the Global Forum as a direct result of the procedural changes and amendments which were made with respect to tax matters. Senusha is currently compliant with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, better known as FATCA, and has successfully reported twice under FATCA in 2016 and 2017. Senusha has facilitated the exchange of information on requests with various treaty partners and is working assiduously towards submitting the first report under the Common Reporting Standard, CRS, in September 2018. Mr. President, as I mentioned previously, the exchange of information is quite dynamic. No sooner than a nation complies with one requirement, another requirement crops its head. This was quite apparent this year when the Council of European Union, hereafter referred to as a Council, represented by the Code of Conduct Group, hereafter referred to as COCJ, approached Senusha with the review of imposing a series of measures criteria that would require Senusha to make both policy and legislative amendments. The main aim of this group is to develop policies to combat what is considered as harmful tax practices and to eliminate money laundering, tax fraud, evasion, and avoidance. Through all independent screening process, the COCJ single outnations, including our own, which facilitated the information of entities and arrangements which were perceived as harmful regimes. The screening process reviewed jurisdictions based on three main criteria, one, tax transparency, two, fair taxation, and three, the implementation of anti-base erosion profit sharing, better known as BEAPS measures. Senusha was asked to further explain the findings of the COCJ and eventually this nation was asked to commit to addressing the perceived deficiencies and to commit to signing onto the inclusive framework for base erosion and profit shifting, or at least commit to the minimum BEAPS standards by 31 December 2018. Mr. President, this nation was given very little time to commit to making changes which could affect entire sectors within the economy. We, however, did commit to conducting a review with the assistance of from the EU get towards addressing the perceived deficiencies. On December 5th, 2017, the Council released a list of non-corporative jurisdictions for tax purposes. Senusha, along with 16 other nations, including Barbados, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago, was listed as a non-corporative jurisdiction. We are now awaiting official correspondence from the Council, which will outline the expectation of the EU as well as the next steps, which Senusha needs to take in order to be delisted. The Council indicated that defensive measures, both of tax and non-tax nature, would be adopted to encourage compliance. These include the withholding of funding from certain EU organizations, to increased monitoring, to flagging increased audit risks from countries dealing with non-corporative jurisdictions, and the amendment of legislation to making investing in such nations unattractive. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Senusha is at a crossroads. This nation has to continue to remain competitive and attractive to foreign investors, while simultaneously complying with globally acceptable tax standards. This is the direction that this government was heading towards and will continue to work towards as we endeavor to strike a healthy balance. We must aim to remain competitive, but we cannot and will not enter into combat with our international counterparts. This government is committed to working with the EU to reach a mutually beneficial stance and a more harmonized tax system which fosters compliance while simultaneously growing the economy. We must conform but remain competitive and herring lies the challenge. Mr. President, Senusha has committed to engaging in open dialogue with the EU and other international groupings and will work relentlessly to resolve the issues currently before us as it relates to being blacklisted by the EU. Thank you, Mr. President. Minister for Home Affairs, Justice and National Security. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Good morning, members of the Senate. Good morning to all present. Mr. President, I just want to speak about the crime symposium that was held at the Ministry of Infrastructure's conference room on the 24th of November 2017. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the large number of persons who responded positively to my invitation to attend the crime symposium held at the conference room of the Ministry of Infrastructure. I would like to apologize to some persons who were not able to get seats because of the overwhelming response of the public. Attendance was supposed to be by invitation, but other persons who heard of the symposium showed up, and as such, we could not refuse their participation. I know of a particular individual who criticized the venue because he did not find space. He has also disappointed that the main issue highlighted in a letter of invitation, which was the high incidence of homicides, were not addressed. I listened to some of the talk show hosts criticizing the crime symposium, indicating that this was just another exercise in futility, and I was very disturbed by the comments, but I must say that they may have inadvertently hyped up the symposium judging from the response. Taking into consideration that over the last few years, crime has been a major issue, and the response to the crime situation was dealt with in a similar fashion by both governments. There were the programs of Restore Peace in 1999 and Restore Confidence in 2010, 2011. These were necessary initiatives taken at the time. I hasten to add that Restore Confidence worked, but the institutional response was lacking in a formal structure. What is occurring presently is the effect of the criticism leveled at the initiative by certain politicians for their own selfish reasons. Against that background, I felt that this was an opportune time to get the general public together, to get a feel of their sentiments in relation to the spiraling crime situation, and the way forward in developing policies to respond accordingly. I must indicate that previous consultations have been held and may have produced recommendations, but the reality is, Mr. President, that those reports cannot be readily accessible, and as such, I had to convene the symposium. In that regard, I want to thank Mr. Osbert Regis, who was kind enough to give me a copy of the Carrickham Crime and Security Strategy and its prestigious goals. The difference in this symposium is that I made a commitment to the public that they will be kept abreast of everything that the government will be doing, and that they will be active participants in the decisions arrived at. On the 4th of December, I informed my Cabinet colleagues of the symposium. We did not go into detail because I did not have the notes of the rapporteur at the time. Just before coming this morning, I received the notes and will take it to Cabinet on the 11th of December. I will also circulate to all groups and individuals who attended the symposium. My observation of the symposium was that particular emphasis was placed on the issues impacting the young people. I must say that I was very impressed with the performance of the President of the Youth Council. From the document presented to me by Mr. Regis, we are going to start off with two initiatives. One, taking the profit out of crime by attacking the assets of those persons who are known to be involved in crime. And secondly, we are going to be amending the firearm act to make the penalties more stringent. These two initiatives will be discussed later. Special mention must be made of the leader of the opposition, Mr. Philip J.P.I. and Senator Gibyan-Faith Fodinon, for their attendance and contributions. I believe that more of such instances where members of both political parties can put away the differences and come together on issues of national importance must be more prevalent. I want to thank Honourable Guy Joseph, the Acting Prime Minister. I want to thank all the groups which attended. I want to also thank the Minister for Infrastructure for Allowance, the use of its facilities. To my hard-working members of the Ministry of Home Affairs, I say thank you. Mr. President, this is just a short indication as to what transpired, and we will be further enlightened as we go along. Thank you very much. Minister and the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Empowerment, Youth Development, Sports, Culture and Local Government. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to express my gratitude, Mr. President, to you and your office for the support you gave to facilitate my presence and that of my colleague, Senator, from the opposition, to attend the training program at Westminster in London. It was indeed an eye-opener, I think, for both of us, and I hope that we can come back here and work with our teams because we have select committee teams within the Senate. We can come back here and try to impart some of the things that we've understood alone while on this mission. But, Mr. President, I also want to note the passing of two stalwarts in sports. We had George Melo Alfred, who used to be an opening batsman for St. Lucia, a sports administrator at Chaudenay, and worked a lot with young boxers in St. Lucia. He passed away, and we want to express our condolences and extend our condolences to his family. We also had Philippa Charles of Marigold, another athlete who represented St. Lucia at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria in 1994. And, of course, she passed away suddenly, and we want to extend our deepest sympathies as a Senate, as a government, and on behalf of the sporting fraternity in St. Lucia. And we also lost, in the last two months as well, we lost St. Lucia's first, or not St. Lucia, but Sufre's first carnival queen, Miss Unita Christine Jacques Williams of Sufre. She passed on, and we want to acknowledge the contribution that these people made to our society in the various fields of the level. So these were just the comments on my chest this morning, and I wanted to express that, and thank you again for the contribution you made to my personal development in the last month. Senator Tenofele, please. People's to be laid. Honorable Minister, in the Ministry of Finance and Leader of Government Business. Mr. President, I beg to lay the following papers standing in my name. Statutory instrument number 102 of 2017, St. Lucia National Housing Corporation, do Kamel view for investing audit. Statutory instrument number 103 of 2017, Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Court Proceeding Fee, St. Lucia Rules. Statutory instrument number 104 of 2017, Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, non-contagious probate and administration of estates rules. Statutory instrument number 105 of 2017, automatic exchange of financial account information, amendment of schedule two order. Statutory instrument number 107 of 2017, automatic exchange of financial account information, designation of non-reporting financial institution order. Statutory instrument number 108 of 2017, tourism incentives, joy adventure and coastal cruise company limited order. Statutory instrument number 109 of 2017, tourism incentives, Summer Sled Jetski, rental St. Lucia order. Statutory instrument number 110 of 2017, tourism stimulus and investment, Bay Gardens limited order. Statutory instrument number 111 of 2017, Finance Administration Act, resolution of parliament to borrow for capital expenditure, St. Lucia disaster vulnerability reduction project. Statutory instrument number 112 of 2017, Finance Administration Act resolution of parliament to borrow from the bank of St. Lucia limited for capital expenditure to finance the 2017-2018 budget. Statutory instrument number 113 of 2017, Finance Administration Act resolution of parliament to borrow from First National Bank of St. Lucia limited for capital expenditure to finance the 2017-2018 budget. 20, Statutory instrument number 114 of 2017, value added tax resolution of parliament to approve draft value added tax amendment of schedule three order. Statutory instrument number 115 of 2017, price control amendment number 17 order. Statutory instrument number 116 of 2017, excise tax amendment of schedule one number eight order. Statutory instrument number 117 of 2017, legal profession, eligibility, Andrew Charles McKenzie order. Statutory instrument number 118 of 2017, legal profession, eligibility, Johnita Akira Jordan order. Statutory instrument number 119 of 2017, automatic exchange of financial account information, designation of an excluded account order. Statutory instrument number 120 of 2017, Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court proceedings fees, St. Lucia amendment rules. Statutory instrument number 121 of 2017, value added tax amendment of schedule three order. And that's it, Mr. President, thank you. Bill's Honourable Leader of Government Business. Mr. President, I beg to move the first reading of a bill shortly titled Airport Development. Airport Development. Honourable Leader of Government Business. Mr. President, I beg to move for the suspension of standing order number 49-2 to allow the bill to go through its remaining stages. At this sitting. Honourable Senators, the question is that standing order number 49-2 be suspended in order to allow the Honourable Leader of Government Business to proceed with the remaining stages of the bill at this sitting. I now put the question. As many as are of that opinion, C.I., as many as are of the country opinions, you know? I think the I's have it, the I's have it. Leave is granted. Honourable Leader of Government Business. Mr. President, I beg to move the second reading of the bill shortly entitled Airport Development. Mr. President, as you know very well and the Senate that the Senate met and made some very good and important contributions with regard to this bill that is before us this morning. I am not to show how the extent to which further discussions will come out of this bill this morning. I have said a lot. The record is there to show. So I awaits for anyone who may have something to say on this bill. Thank you. Honourable Senators, the question is that the Airport Development Bill be read a second time. Senator Mauricio Thomas, Francis. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Regrettably, I was not present for the last debate on this particular matter. And I think it's fitting for me to take the opportunity to add some of my own thoughts and add my contribution in that regard. The whole matter of the Airport Redevelopment has been on the cards for a very, very long time. If I recall, as far back as almost 10 years ago, we've been discussing redevelopment of the airport. Sadly, Mr. President, a lot of political football has gone on as regards this important redevelopment thrust. And I must say that I am very happy that we are revisiting this thrust. And I do hope, I do sincerely hope, as well as some other citizens which have been speaking to concerning this particular matter. They also hope that we can bring this matter to fruition very, very quickly. Mr. President, the Airport Redevelopment is very, very critical. We have been positioned in St. Lucia as a high-end tourism destination. So when we talk about inviting tourists who are prepared to spend as much as 1500 US dollars to stay at Jade Mountain, a thousand US dollars to stay at Anshasne and to stay at Sugar Beach and the like, we need to ensure that what I tell them, the window of St. Lucia is given the deserving priority. Why do I say window, Mr. President? It is obvious. The first bit of St. Lucia, well, maybe I should say the second. The first aspect of St. Lucia that one sees from the air is the two pitons when one comes via airplane. And the second one is the abort. I have had a situation, I've experienced a situation where I felt very, very embarrassed, Mr. President, coming into Uranura Airport and it was raining. I came in on American airline. The airline was loaded with visitors coming into the country and it was raining. Myself and all those visitors actually had to walk through the rain to come into the terminal building. I felt embarrassed and I believe this is not deserving of the kind of profile that we intend to actually, you know, yes, Madam Minister. This is not the profile that we want to exhibit out there to the world. We invest tremendous sums of money trying to get tourism on the upswing. We've made tremendous strides, but I believe we still have a long way to go and redeveloping Uranura Airport will be one of the areas that I believe will read out to some benefit to the country. Mr. President, I had a look at certain aspects of the bill and I noted that the developmental charger of 45 U.S. relates to developmental funding which the government intends to seek and repayments of such funding will come from the charge of 45 U.S. per head. I was not at the previous meeting, perhaps the leader of government business can tell me, or explain for my benefit or the benefit of other persons who may not be aware, what is the extent of the funding? Because if we arrive at a figure of 45 U.S. per head, presumably we would have done an analysis to determine how much funding will be required to develop the airport. From my reading of the bill, it is suggested there that repayments of the developmental debt will be generated solely from this source. So it would be useful if we understand the extent of the borrowing that we are talking about. Just to get into some specifics, in terms of section 10-1, under section 10-1, subsection B, subsections B and C, title functions of Caleta, provisions have been made for infencing of the revenue and this is very, very heartening. It is very heartening, I'm comfortable with that. Under debt service, section 12-1, and I read, subject to this section, the development charge is for the purpose of making payments for the debt service requirement of a debt arrangement to implement airport facility improvement projects. That section went further under three to say where a debt arrangement is entered under subsection two, the authority shall set up a log box account into which money is collected from the development charge transferred. So there's a sort of ring fancy and I speak about and I'm very happy to see such a clause included in there. Mr. President, under annual report, section 21, subsection 1, it is noted there that not later than six months after the end of each financial year, the authority shall submit to the minister annual report on the operations and activities of the fund. Section two states and annual report under section one must be accompanied. By the auditor's report under section 20 and the third one says the minister shall lay an annual report on auditor's report submitted under subsection two in the parliament. Again, this is very important but I just want to state here that we have witnessed that historically important reports such as these end up being very tidy and by the time you receive the information and you do the analysis, it's so historic that it is really meaningless in a sense in terms of taking corrective actions where we have been found wanting, especially when we are speaking of areas of accountability and what have you. So we need to ensure that we add teeth to this section such that the reports can be tabled at the right time. Mr. President, these are the sort of the few observations that I have made. Once again, I just want to implore the government to hasten the process and get that development going. We have good enough conversations about it, enough debates about it, we've seen enough political football about it. Let us make it happen because the country needs it. Thank you, Mr. President. Senator Fudino. Thank you, Mr. President. I last told him this on the house and make my contribution to the debate but since the last sitting, there have been just a few developments that I thought would be important to note. And I think while we are in no way opposed to the idea of the country developing its infrastructure regarding tourist arrivals, our ports, seaports and airports, I believe that it is important that we pay attention to certain areas of concern. It's not the first time, Mr. President, that I have stood to make a call or to perhaps be the voice of a group, a certain group of persons in this country. Thus far, who we have not really seen much attention being paid to. So while the airport development is very important, I am very concerned that to date we have not seen a similar effort being made to address some of the issues that confront other groups. I was happy to hear about the crime symposium. I attended and I think it's a good move and I expect that there will be some financing coming because every time you have consultations and you make decisions, it always results in some kind of expenditure, some finance. So I'm hoping that that will happen. Likewise, I know that from the discussion, we're looking at $400 million and that is a huge investment. And if we are eager to go ahead and borrow that amount of money for that development, which I again emphasize important, I'm still very concerned that we have not made similar efforts to address issues that are prevalent and do not require anything close to that type of investment. Mr. President, at the last sitting of the lower house, it was very good to see the Blind Welfare Association. Well, not the Blind Welfare Association. Well, they were presented, but the main group, the persons for and of, of with these disabilities being represented. And I think in our interaction, they were very happy to be here. And I think I remembered reference me to a young child from Choiselle secondary who was entered school and is going to go through the conventional mainstream school who is visually impaired. I would have liked to hear that while we're borrowing or when we want to borrow 400 million dollars, that some effort is being made to help alleviate the cause of those groups, particularly in schools. I note that among the persons there we had, there was a student, a former student of micro-secondary. We were able to get him a prosthetic leg. And it has made a big difference to his life. And so we continue to discuss and hear about implementation of the airport development tax to go with this airport development. And it has led to, I don't know if that's the reason, but we now have to pay attention to the fact that our country has been blacklisted, not on the gray list like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands in Switzerland, not on the watch list, but on the black list and our leader of government business alluded to that earlier. That is a signal that we need to be very careful when we get into those types of projects and make sure that when we are going to borrow money that the revenue stream that we keep talking about is there. And so we need to see that as a signal. We should be on higher loads. And the EU has signal that the documents are there, the evidence is out there. And so if we are going to develop our ports, develop our airport, we must ensure that we can justify the investment. And if we have decided to part with the PPP, which was the model that was there before and go ahead and borrow it, I think we must be able to justify that very well and show that this is clearly the better way to do it. I think it is very important because there have been several arguments presented from other projects done through that approach worldwide that have shown that yes, it may have its concerns, but it is a viable option. Mr. President, since the last sitting, there are other developments that have taken place regarding the same issues that I debated, the issues of attention being paid to certain aspects of infrastructure, infrastructure development, and not enough to human resource development. And so I just want to continue with a couple of points along those same lines and say that perhaps we should also think of finding the money. We're looking at $400 million. It's not going to cost even a million dollars to do some of the things that need to be done to make a serious impact in our human resource development, especially in education and sports. So Mr. President, we can find some money to repair micro-secondary. Since that incident in September, the Form 3 wooden block has been demolished and it's just there, nothing has happened. The students are still at the micro primary school, some of them. The teachers are still under the same conditions. We haven't heard anybody mention borrowing any money to address that. And that is still an issue. We should also consider what is going to happen in 2018 with CXC online. I have not heard any efforts being made to procure any funds to make all of our computer labs ready for that inevitability. It is going to happen. I have not heard anything, Mr. President, to address a very serious issue that occurred between the last sitting and now. And I'm speaking of a rat infestation problem at the Forestry Methodist Primary School last week. And that is a serious issue. The staff and students had to be sent home. That does not require $400 million, Mr. President. And these things we need to, we can avoid those things. And these things have a serious impact. The independent senator mentioned the embarrassment of having to walk out of an airplane in the rain and so on. These issues can embarrass us as well. And it does not cost us $400 million to address. I also want to mention, Mr. President, that last week, but before I go to that, one more thing on education that I had mentioned the last time and I want to reiterate. Right now, this Athan Lewis Community College has one of its departments housed at the George Charles Secondary School. And the teacher training department. And I think it would be good that we seek with some kind of urgency to see if we can remove that department from there and house it where it used to be so that the school can be used for other purposes. On to sports, Mr. President. We can do likewise. We have a situation last week or we had a situation last week where the inter-secondary school road race started and ended at the Darren Sammy Cricket Grounds in Borsig. And one of my former colleagues called me to express, well, she was not concerned. She was very angry that the students came back and there's no water, nowhere to, you can't use the toilets and you start and complete an event in a facility where there's no water. It would not cost $400 million for us to take care of that, Mr. President. And that too can be embarrassing. In a couple of weeks, in fact, from next week, from December, I think it's December 14th to 17th, the seventh round of the West Indies cricket boards for the tournament, will be hosted, one of the games will be hosted here. Winwood Islands Volcano versus Jamaica's Copians at the Borsigian Cricket Grounds, the Darren Sammy Cricket Grounds. Have we taken care of that? Do we want to be embarrassed? And this again will not cost all that money. So I have no problems with any effort to make our ports more, you know, modern and better. I have no problems with that. But I have a difficulty that to date, and I have said it every time I have stood in this honorable house, that to date there is no apparent effort on the governments, you know, in this government to show that they have any commitment or any interest in addressing real issues that affect real people, our students, our athletes. I heard my colleague, Senator, quite rightly, pay some homage to two of our stalwarts who passed on. Our Minister for National Security was one of the batsmen who I didn't want to vote to. Pretty prolific, you know? And I think that our athletes, our students, our teachers, our human resource, I think we need to pay a little more attention to them. I need to hear that we're going to have some kind of investment. So I have no difficulty with improving our ports, seaports, airports, any port. But I have an issue when it comes to where the priority is. And why is it that we are so keen to go and borrow all that money, when we could have borrowed a lot less that could have had a greater impact in certain areas? And so, Mr. President, this is basically my concern with the situation as it stands. And I think it should signal to us that it is about time that we balance the efforts a little more. And I did say the last time that I was hoping I would, when we return to this house, I would have heard at least one bill, one paper being laid to suggest that we are going to make some kind of effort in that regard. The last time I heard something, it was I think the Youth Empowerment Bill that we debated, which I supported. And I heard about the crime symposium, which was refreshing. But I know the recommendations are with the Minister for National Security and he has vowed to not let it pick up dust. But I would like to hear that there are similar efforts being made towards making investment in our St. Lucia's human resource. So, Mr. President, I am not against any effort to develop the airport and I would support that. I have issues with the method that is being used to get the funds. But more importantly, my major concern is that we as a government, it's about time we begin to hear people from the disabilities group, people in education, people in sports, people in healthcare, who are not making a profit with their service, but who are important to our national development, who help to ensure that we have a healthy, a healthy nation, a nation that is progressive, see some effort by this government to invest in their best interests. I thank you, Mr. President. Senator, turn off your mic, please. Turn off your mic, Senator. Senator Gidea. Thank you, Mr. President. It was more or less unfortunate that the last sitting of the House, I was absent. And today, I am here to share my thoughts on this airport bill and also to make some other points. When the last administration came up with the plan for the airport, I knew that it was in public domain that it was brought to the public to decide as to what should be done. Should we continue with going and borrow? Or should we go the route of getting someone to bill and after we get our airport? We lost the elections and this administration came in. And upon coming in, to me, what has happened is that they've just diffused what solutions agreed to because to come up with the PPP arrangement, it was brought to the public. There were consultations with stakeholders and the decision was to go this route. But here we are, we have changed it and we have decided to go on, borrow 150 million US dollars and to go on with the development of the airport. My question is, what is St. Lucian's or what are St. Lucian's saying on this matter? Did this administration take into consideration the ideas and the wishes of St. Lucian's when it came to this idea of dismissing the PPP and going over to borrow 150,000 or million US dollars? I'm just asking a question that I need answers to. This is another loan. It is another loan and it is adding to what is already there for St. Lucia. My second point is we have a 35 US dollar tax added to the tickets. It is going to be placed in a lock box, yes. But my question is after the airport has been redeveloped and let's say the loan paid, what happens to this money? Is it going to be removed or is it going to be continued? The tax, is the tax going to be removed because it is placed there for a reason and the reason is to build the airport, okay? Ongoing development, so ongoing development. Well, for me, all it said was to build the airport. It is build the airport, okay? You are the ones to deliver the dam right now. You're in power, you have to deliver it. So you remove it if it's not fit, simple. If it is not fit, you remove it, all right? And so if I as a tourist traveling hotel that the airport has been built and I still have a tax of 45 dollars placed and it is said is to build the airport. Don't I have a right to consider, to question, to ask why am I paying 25 dollars for something that is already done? Why? I have a right to ask that. So if we are coming in, we have to be explicit. I'm under the impression that this government, Mr. President, as far as I sit, I scrutinize, I look, I see that this government has very little respect. Unconcerned for solutions as a whole. My colleague made mention of some of the issues that I also sharing, but even more seriously, we just recently had a second fire in Sufra Hospital. I listened and I have heard, to me in my listening, I have heard no word on what is going on and no happen to Sufra Hospital. I didn't hear any report on the very first fire. All I heard was electrical, but I heard no proper report and the persons or solutions were placed back at the hospital. Mr. President. The lead of government business. Standing order 31, 371 says that subject to the provisions of these standing orders, debate upon any motion, bill or amendment shall be relevant to such motion, bill or amendment, and a senator shall confine, a senator shall confine his observations to the subject under discussion. Mr. President, I think that the honorable senator is going beyond what this bill speaks of. Senator, I, Senator lead of government business, I note your point of order. I am, I'm a within the good senator to see in which exactly where he's going, but I understand, I understand that one be tiller, his presentation in a way. So I'm just hoping that he does not continue to stray away from the airport development, but he'll do it in such a way that he'll always remember what we debate in is the airport development. It was, Mr. President, it was just a warning. I'm just to guide him accordingly. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I'll just remind him of 371. Thank you very much, Senator. From you, sir, when it comes to what I have to see. No warning. So Mr. President, I was saying that as far as I'm concerned, there is a lack of respect for St. Lucian. And while we are interested in massive big money projects, the little ones that concerned St. Lucian's to give them a better life, we tend to overlook it. We tend to say, well, we will come back to it. I heard no statement and I'm gonna stand by my word. I heard no statement on the Supreme Court. There have been birds. I heard no statement apart from the callous shooing around that SLP was the one who did it and whatever. Evidence, hardcore facts, that is what we're looking at. And I think, Mr. President, that while, yes, let us look for ways and means to increase our tourism arrivals, yes. But in the final analysis, where do they come to? Who do they mingle with? And what is going to be the results? Build the airport, nice, give it a nice decor, nice. Torres is going to come in, nice airport. But going through the country, passing on the highway East Coast Highway, turning right as they go by Miko, what do they see? What do they see? And this is where school children, our future generation, that is where they are being taught. So if we want, yes, any issue, it's not a problem, but let us look at taking care of our in-house business, let us look at what is significant, not only the big ones, but more so to the small ones, because the tourists are going to interface with our citizens. They're going to interface with our citizens. And if you are putting me or you are giving me, first and foremost, a wrong place where I could sit and learn, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? I may drop out of school. And the very same tourists that come to St. Lucia, they may be in trouble, they may be in trouble. So what I'm saying, it is significant that when we are doing one, let's look also, more importantly, at what remains in the country to be looked after. Let us look at it, that is what I'm saying. Let us look at it. So I need these to be answered. Was the St. Lucia public involved in the discussion? Was it just a situation where I came in and I decided, you know what, I'm not going this way? Because I am the prime minister, or because I am the ruling party, I can just say to myself, you know what, we are not going this way, we are going back to where we were. Take it to the people, let's hear the voices of the people, go on the streets and hear what the people are saying. We are just, what, you are just 17 members. Hear what the people are saying. And if we can get from them, yes, you know this people thing, that was nonsense. Let's go, go and borrow, go and borrow, build the airport, or redevelop the airport, and then you lost the following election. We don't care, just I'm one person. I lost the election. I can just go and sit down somewhere and relax myself. I don't have to be in St. Lucia. My children don't have to be educated in St. Lucia. You understand? I can take my flight and go. And so I think it is disrespectful. It is disrespectful to just look at St. Lucia and just say to them, I'm going for a load of 150 million US dollars to build the airport. When the former decision, there was island wide. People were involved, stakeholders were involved, business persons were involved in coming up with the decision. And secondly, I need to know at the end of, or completion of the airport, the 35 dollars US, will it remain or is it going to be redirected as you were saying to something else? We prefer to do the airport. Because if, as I said, I'm a tourist, that's the first thing I'm going to ask. Upon completion of the airport, will I still have to pay 35 dollars development tax on my flight to St. Lucia? Mr. President, I just need to say one word of warning. And that is what came out day before yesterday as it relates to St. Lucia and the EU. Leader of government business, yes. We attended to make, give an explanation. But the bottom line is after all your discussion, your island is still on the list. You said you discussed, they discussed, if you had discussions, you were making steps and so on. But your island still is on the list. Why? Why is it still there? If it did not just come, you said you had discussions. But the EU is saying that you, as an island, you are reluctant, as an island, you're reluctant to go on with the changes that they recommended. You're reluctant to go on with the changes that they recommended. They are saying that you offer preferential tax. You offer preferential tax, you have a preferential tax regime. Is it a tax where only a certain set of persons have been taxed? Or is it a tax where you encourage persons to come in with all their monies and they get all things free? You exempt them from everything. They come in, so they leave their countries with their loads of money, they don't pay tax, they avoid tax, they evade tax, they come to the country, to our country, and they build an empire, they build an empire, and then they said, okay, we all right. So when to pay tax, what do you say? I have investment in St. Lucia, I have this in St. Lucia. And what happens to the poor person? The poor person, the same way they said the former administration loaded the economy with tax. Poor persons have no fiscal space, no fiscal space, nothing to move, they can't move around. But it's our poor persons right now, the Chikolonga economics. It's not working, fake Chikolonga economics, fake. The poor man suffers, the poor man bears the grant and you have the big millionaires, they come in and they ride, they ride free in our country and we are the ones suffering, we are the ones paying every bit of tax. And come and tell me what, when they buy sugar, when they buy sugar, there's what, what? What's that, what's that? The poor man buys it every day, the poor man buys it every day and the rich man can't afford to buy it. They can buy it, so the little tax that you say, whatever, the poor man is the one suffering, the poor man. So I'm saying that we need to get off this list. We have up until 2018, September 2018, we need to get off the list and we need to get off it in haste. And so Mr. Speaker and Mr. President, I want, I have no problem with the airport development. I know that St. Lucia deserves a better airport. There's no doubt about that. And the debate over 16, 17 years as to how has gone far too long. But in coming up with this idea, let us look for what is better for St. Lucia. Let's look for what is better for St. Lucia. And if we can get what is better for St. Lucia, let's take it. Let's not look to get, to squeeze St. Lucia and some person, some, a few of them, you know, a few of them with the companies, you know St. Lucia, go and get that money and let me run, give it to me, let me do it. And then they get rich and then they eat, kick out the poor man continuously. I don't think it's fair. So I would like first and foremost to hear the voices of St. Lucia, get them involved. Let me hear what they will see. And if they agree that we go out and borrow the 150 million vis-à-vis what was there, no problem. We take it, we build our airport, we develop our airport and we move on. But as far as I'm concerned, I have nothing about this 150 million dollar load going to the public domain, go into, go and have some town hall meetings, discuss with the people or the key stakeholders, the business people, hoteliers, whoever, how about we sit with them, discuss with them and then come up with a decision. We always come and sit in a cabinet and just say, you know what, today that's what we're doing. We're going with this. And because we are the government in power, we take it and we go. Only time will tell, time will tell. Only time will tell. And I've always said that, time will tell. You in authority, you do as you please, but you can never be forever. There is a hand and there is an eye looking over us. Thank you, Mr. President. Senator, Minister in the Ministry of Equity, Social Justice, Empowerment, you've developed sports culture and local government. Thank you, Mr. President. You know, Mr. President, without a vision, a people perish. And as I listen to my colleague, Senator, across the table, I'm so happy that the people of St. Lucia made the decision that they made last year because this government that we are part of is a government with vision and understanding of the critical issues in this country. Well, not even 2020, it might be 2019 now. So, and my thoughts go out to the people of this country because they elected us. And they elected, those of us, when I say elected, they elected our team, my team, which has experienced what it is, you understand, to come into the Heronora International Airport. You heard my colleague, Senator, the independent Senator, and the experiences that she herself has had. We all at St. Lucia have experienced it. So we don't need to go back to the people of St. Lucia for this. It's something that we've been living for years. We need to improve. And that's where we are headed. And that's why this government is wasting no time in making the decisions in the interests of the people of this country. We cannot sit by and wait for people without vision because if your previous administration had vision, today we would have had our airport spanking new and leading the rest of the OECS. We are here to begin that process of revitalizing our country and leading. As youngsters, we grew up in St. Lucia knowing that our country was at the forefront of everything in the OECS countries. Today, we're running behind. We're running behind. So we have a responsibility to reposition our country and that's where we are headed. Mr. President, I support the motion and hope my government can move speedily to implement this project. Thank you. Leader of government business. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, as I said, when I presented the bill, that I had no intentions of being, I was saying more on the bill because I had said so much the last time we met here. But you know, Mr. President, as the leader of government business, I have the responsibility to react, to rebut to the contributions of members opposite and also the independent members. I have that responsibility and that's exactly what I will do. Mr. President, one of the biggest issues that we as a nation face is that of our debt. This government recognizes the level of debt and the unsustainable level, that is, Mr. President. And if we don't do something speedily, we will end up in a serious mess. Mr. President, as we currently speak, our debt level is 3.2 billion dollars. That is equivalent to more than twice our national budget, which is like 1.4 billion dollars. And in terms of its proportion to the level of economic activity, it is 67 percent. Our economy stands at 4.5 billion dollars, our debt at 3.2. So we're in the region about 66, 68 percent debt to GDP. And when we look at the fiscal situation in St. Lucia, it's alarming. In terms of fiscal space, Mr. President, we have very little space to rigour, to move. And therefore, Mr. President, understanding the need for investing in private public sector, the private investment sector, PIP is Mr. President. It's very important. We need to, we have no choice. We need to develop our roads and just our broad infrastructure. And as we are here this morning, we are speaking about development of the airport. And we have agreed, Mr. President, that the airport needs to be redeveloped. I think we have that common understanding agreement among ourselves. There is need to develop our airports. And the question is, Mr. President, where and how do we do it? How do we do it? Where do we get the money from? Where do you get the money? Obviously, Mr. President, we cannot rely on our recurrent revenue. We can't because this, the space we have, the discretionary space we have is very limited. Absorbed by what? The debt levels, absorbed by salaries and wages, pensions. Very little, Mr. President. Other sources of revenue, Mr. President, grants. And we have seen over the years where our grant levels, the grant levels have actually diminished. So what choice do we have, Mr. President? What other choices do we have in terms of financing our infrastructure, the public infrastructure? What choices do we have, Mr. President? We have a choice of loans. We do. But, Mr. President, as I said earlier, if we look at our debt situation, how do we manage it? How do we ensure that it does not become unsustainable? Therefore, Mr. President, we have to be creative in the way that we undertake these types of financing. So as a government, we have said that we will not, in as much as possible, I should say, increase our debt level without ensuring, Mr. President, that we have a new revenue stream. Not that we will not borrow, but we want to ensure that when we borrow, Mr. President, we are able to borrow from a new revenue stream. So, Mr. President, as we speak today, as we speak, in terms of the maturity of our debt profile structure, in less, Mr. President, in less than three years, 43% of our debt will mature. That amounts to about $1.4 billion in less than three years. In this year alone, Mr. President, less than one year, 27% of our debt stock will be due. Will mature. This accounts to close to $900 million, close to a billion dollars. So I'm saying to you, Mr. President, the fiscal situation in St. Lucia is bad. And this is what we are trying as a government to correct. So the question of PPP comes up, or before I go there, Mr. President, in terms of the debt structure, 78% of our debt structure, Mr. President, our debt's profile is between Treasury Bills and bonds. Treasury Bills and bonds, 78%. In terms of our Treasury Bills, it's 52% and we have almost exhausted the limit, almost $500 million in Treasury Bills, Mr. President. So where do we have the space? So we had to be creative. So in terms of, Mr. President, financing for the project, for the development of the HIA, your Honor International Airport, we had to find a way. And that's the reason, Mr. President, we had to put in place the $35 US. Now, Mr. President, we understand also that in order to raise revenue for the country, it's important that we understand that we should not overburden the taxpayers of this country. Because when we came into government last year, we found an overburdened tax system, overburdened. And as I explained in the last sitting, Mr. President, I am not saying, or this government is not saying, that taxes are not important. Yes, taxes are important. But the speed in which you, the speed and the level of taxation is what you have to save God against. And I gave the scenario, I gave the analogy, Mr. President, of a tire. If you go, every tire has its limits in terms of how much air you can give that tire. I think it's in terms of what, RPIs or PSI, PSIs? Yes, some have 32 pounds, 33 pounds, some 45. And Mr. President, if you put too much air in that tire, expect that tire to burst. If you put too little, the efficiency of your fuel will be compromised. So it means, Mr. President, you have to put and have a certain level of taxation in your country in order for it to be efficient. So what we found, we found a very inefficient tax system and we'll be addressing that in our next, in the budget coming 2018, 2019. We'll be addressing it, Mr. President, we will. So we realize, Mr. President, that there is an opportunity for us to shift the tax burden from the local people, solutions, households, businesses, shifted from them to our visitors, shifted from us to them. And that has worked, Mr. President, in many jurisdictions. In fact, Mr. President, when you go to territories, to regions where there are zero corporate taxes, zero income tax, zero sales tax, and the majority of the tax revenues come from what? The airport and import duties. Shifting again, Mr. President, burden of taxation away from our local people as much as possible to visitors. So we believe, Mr. President, this is an ideal time, ideal opportunity to raise revenue for the development of the Euronora International Airport. Now, Mr. President, I have heard lots about, lots of talk about PPPs and so on. Mr. President, a key word in the PPP, the public-private partnership. I think the key word there, the key word here is partnership, partnership. Why do you want a partner? Why does the government wants or needs a partner in the development of its infrastructure? In this case, the Euronora International Airport. And why do we need a partner? One would need a partner in areas in which he or she is lacking. Or the other partner is stronger with certain features, certain factors. So why do we need a partner here? Before I go there, Mr. President, there is not a single model for PPPs. There's not a single one. There are various models for PPPs, various models. And there are various variants of individual models. So there's not a typical, there is not the, I would say, it varies, Mr. President, there are variants. But the key for any partnership, Mr. President, public-private partnership, is to bring strengths together. And in most cases, Mr. President, in most cases, in most cases, a government will partner with a private entity. Most cases is because of revenue. Most cases. So the government needs the revenue of the private individual or institution. The private institution person provides that revenue, that needed money to the government. They're starting. And there are questions as to who builds that infrastructure. There are questions as to who operates, or who should operate that infrastructure. And there are agreements between the two partners, the public, the government, and the private entity. But in this case, Mr. President, in this case, as a government, we believe that we are able to borrow the money. Now, if you are borrowing the money, the question is, what role does a private entity will play in this situation here? What's the role of the private entity here? We are able to raise our own revenues, Mr. President. Why do we need the private entity? In our situation, Mr. President, we may not have the expertise in building or designing the airport. And therefore, we may rely on that entity to do just that. The question again, Mr. President, do we need that private entity to operate our airport? And we as a government believes that we have the expertise in St. Lucia to operate the Euronora International Airport. So if that's the case, Mr. President, we are able to borrow our own money, borrow the money, finance the money through the taxation, through taxes. We are not able, or we believe that the expertise is greater outside there to design and build the airport. Therefore, there's a partnership. But that partnership, we as a government believes that we should be the one to operate the Euronora International Airport. As opposed to, Mr. President, what was proposed by the former administration, we give them the money, they build the, and they operate, Mr. President, operate for 30 years, for 30 years, Mr. President. For 30 years, they'll be operating the Euronora International Airport. And we believe, Mr. President, that's not the way to go. In fact, Mr. President, with good health and God's grace, Mr. President, I'll be 80 years, maybe 80 something years before we actually, that airport is transferred to St. Lucia. Individuals, my son is 10 years old, he'll be 40 years at a time. I have one who is 15, he'll be 55 or 45 rather. Some of us who are inside of here might be in our 90s at a time. Mr. President, we believe that the formation or the structure of the previous PPP is not the good one, is not the best one for St. Lucia. Not the best one. And Mr. President, we have seen various PPPs in St. Lucia. We have seen that, we have seen that. We have had various forms of PPPs. And the most familiar one, a common one, is the boat where you build, you own, you lease, and you transfer. And that has happened a lot with our police stations, our police stations. The financiers build, they own it, and they lease it to the government and then they transfer it back to the government. And I think this year alone, I think a few of them would be transferred to St. Lucia. And in my understanding, the communications infrastructure building was another bold agreement. And I think they have already been transferred to the government in St. Lucia. But in most cases, Mr. President, when you have these agreements, when you have these agreements, because the private, most times, foreign entity owns and operates, in most cases, Mr. President, when it's coming to the end of the transfer or the time to transfer to the government, most cases, the quality and maintenance is compromised. So imagine, Mr. President, we have through with, if we had to go to, with the previous proposal, imagine everything is completed in the year 2020, in the year 2020. It means, Mr. President, the airport would be transferred to St. Lucia, to the government of St. Lucia in 2050. A 30-year-old airport is not the same airport as 2020 or 2025 or even 2030. We may have to do the same thing we did before. It will not be the same airport. In fact, Mr. President, because airports and aviation, the sector, they change so regularly and so frequently, Mr. President, we may have to have a different altogether airport by 2050, altogether. And who knows, Mr. President, if we have someone who operates that airport, whether or not that individual, that private entity, will comply and will change with change, Mr. President. But if we, as a country, if we own and we operate our own airport, Mr. President, we will ensure that we remain relevant to the industry, relevant to the industry. So, Mr. President, I am very happy the approach the government has taken, the model the government has undertaken to finance the redevelopment or development of the Euronora International Airport. I believe the best thing for St. Lucia and for St. Lucia. Now, Mr. President, I know the member for Denry, the senator from Denry, the one who lost against Estefan. Oh, his name is Senator Gideon, right? Gideon. Leader of government business. Senator Gideon. Very well. Yes, I was just trying to get his name. Jerome Gideon. Yes, yes. But he was the one who lost against Estefan. Yes. Senator. Senators, senators. Leader of government business. I was standing orderly, clear by way, by what means that you referred to members of either this house or the other house. Thank you, Mr. President. I did call him by the, thank you, Mr. President, for the guidance. But I was, Mr. President, I don't think that was name-calling, was it? I don't think that was name-calling. I was just saying that what happened last election. So, Mr. President, he was mentioning, he asked a question about whether or not we will maintain the 35 US dollars after the development of the airport. The question is no. Oh, sorry, the question is yes, we have to. We must. Because these 35 US dollars will be part of the agreement for continued development of the airport. Now, I know that when the last administration came in in 2011, they found an account with closely $54 million. $54 million. The tax was already in place. Adjustments were already made in the market in terms of tourists and fares and so on. And you know something, Mr. President? You know something? For a government to come in to find an already established tax, a revenue stream. A revenue stream that didn't have any effect on the local people. No, not at all. There were no complaints about the tax. No complaints by our visitors, our tourists. No, not at all. And then, Mr. President, for the last administration to make that decision, to repeal that tax or to zero that tax, that was a government without any vision, any vision. And you know what I mean, Mr. President? That tax was removed from the backs, I won't say backs, but it was removed and put on the backs of the people of St. Lucia. And that's why we had situations of increased water rates and increased the vats, the vats moved from zero, it was zero to 15 and you had just an avalanche of taxation in this country. We had a established revenue stream. And had we, Mr. President, had we maintained that tax, the level of boring for the development of this airport now, Mr. President, would not have been at what it is right now. And who knows, Mr. President, we'd have had even, we'd have had sufficient money to not be at the airport. But again, Mr. President, visionless and kinonomics has failed the people of this country, has failed miserably. Miserably. Miserably. So Mr. President, I just want to quickly respond to Senator Thomas, this is a contribution. This Senator Thomas Francis is a contribution. I think she asked a particular question as to the level at which or how much money would be collecting from the taxation. Well, I would have preferred, Honorable Senator, questions like this one, if we are able to get it in advance, I would have gladly provided that answer to you because it needs some kind of analysis. What I can assure you, Senator, is that the 35 U.S. dollars is viable, it's a viable tax, in the sense that it is sufficient to deal with the development of the HIA. So I think, Mr. President, I have probably answered, oh, one more thing, Mr. President, I must respond to the Honorable Senator Fodenon's queries, questions. I know that he has mentioned what we have not done vis-à-vis what we are attempting to do, but Mr. President, may I remind him that the reason why you have various economic systems is because of limited resources. One system believes that it's better for you to use the resources of a country one particular way, and another regime, another system believes of things differently. Our resources are limited. That's the basics of economics. We have limited resources, and there are always competing ends. So one can easily come to the Senate or the lower house and say, you are doing this, why not do that? We cannot do this because we have to do this. And if you do this, it means that you are giving up what you can do here for here. So therefore that's why, Mr. President, you must have priorities. And we believe that the HIA is a top priority for St. Dusha, top priority because this government, Mr. President, as part of its mandate is to grow the economy, is to expand the economy, and we believe that infrastructural capacity building is very important to achieving this ideal goal of growth. Not saying to you, not saying to the senator that the concerns are not important, yes they are. But we believe that when we engage in such developments, infrastructural developments, that we can expand the economy. And with an expanded economy, we have the opportunity and the potential of increasing the tax revenues of the country. And if we are able to grow the economy, Mr. President, collect more revenues, it means that we are able to provide more goods and services for the people of this country. Again, priority, priority. So Mr. President, as I have said in the past, I believe that my government is on the right track. And come the new year, Mr. President, when we will unveil the 2018-19 budget, you will understand, Mr. President, we are on a mission to grow this economy and to build a new St. Lucia. Thank you, Mr. President. Honourable Senators, the question is that the airport development bill be read a second time. I now put the question, as many as are of that opinion, C.I., as many as are of the country opinion, C.No. I think the I's have it, the I's have it. An act to provide for airport development and for related matters. Senators, it's a bill of about 24 clauses and two schedules. You would also have received proposed amendments from the lower house, clause two. Interpretation. Clause two stands part of the bill. Clause three. Levin of development charge. Clause three stands part of the bill. Clause four. Duty of carrier. Clause four stands part of the bill. Clause five. Previtation of boarding aircraft without payment of development charge. Clause five stands part of the bill. Clause six. Liability of and recovery from carrier. Clause six stands part of the bill. Clause seven. Power to withhold clearance of aircraft from unpaid development charge. Clause seven stands part of the bill. Clause eight. Payment of development charge to collector. Clause eight stands part of the bill. Clause nine. Designation of collector. Clause nine stands part of the bill. Clause ten. Functions of collector. Clause ten stands part of the bill. Clause eleven. Payment of development charge to the authority. Clause eleven stands part of the bill. Clause twelve. Dead service. Clause twelve stands part of the bill. Clause fourteen. Establishment of airport facility development fund. Clause eleven stands part of the bill. Clause fourteen. Administration of the fund. Clause fourteen stands part of the bill. Clause 15. Revenue of the fund. Clause 15 stands part of the bill. Clause 16. Expenses of the fund. Clause 16 stands part of the bill. Clause 17. Financial year of the fund. close 18 budget and plan of action close 18 stands part of the bill close 19 accounts close 19 stands part of the bill close 20 audit close 20 stands part of the bill close 21 annual reports close 21 stands part of the bill close 22 amendment of schedule close 22 stands part of the bill close 23 regulations close 23 stands part of the bill close 24 repeal close 24 stands part of the bill schedule one section 3 1 rate of tax schedule 1 stands part of the bill schedule 2 section 3 2 travelers exempt from payment of development charge farewell senators that's where the the proposed amendment the amendment is to delete the full stop in sub paragraph in paragraph n and to include a semicolon and thereafter add a new paragraph O as you have received very well scheduled to as amended stands part of the bill senators the quest clause one short title and commencement clause one stands part of the bill honorable senators the question is that the committee rises and the bill be reported I now put a question as many as of that opinion see I'm as many as of a country opinion see no I think the eyes are the eyes are honorable senators I beg to report that the airport development bill went through committee stage with amendments I now put a quest sorry honorable leader of government business mr. president I move that the report of the committee be adopted and the bill be read a third time and passed honorable senators the question is that the report of the committee be adopted and that the airport development bill be read a third time and pass I now put a question as many as of that opinion see I'm as many as of a country opinion see no I think the eyes of it the eyes are be enacted by the Queen's most excellent majesty by and with advice and consent of the House of Assembly and the Senate of St. Lucia and by the authority of the same as follows this act may be cited as the airport development act 2017 this act shall come into force on the first day of January 2018 senators unless some unforeseen happening this may very well be our last sitting for 2017 let me take this opportunity to thank you senators for your participation your cooperation your presentations in this Senate it's been a long productive year in my opinion I wish you your family and St. Lucia the very best for the remaining few days left in the year 2017 I will also take this opportunity to wish all of you and your family and include in that our widest and Lucia family the very very Merry Christmas first a safe Christmas season we know sometimes yes it is the season of good will good share happiness understanding love sharing and all but sometimes some elements do take the opportunity so I'd like to keep a safe so I pray the entire country a bless safe love feel Christmas season and a prosperous productive 2018 I now open why free back to you senators that you may want to join me in wishing fellow colleagues and why does St. Lucia ought to speak to any topic that you may wish yes of course we've been the standing orders so I am going to I'm still going to be the the the moderator of it all thank you very much and it is you may take the opportunity senator energy Adrian ocean thank you mr. president as you mentioned so this is our last sitting probably for 2017 and I would like to make a few comments as we close the year I'd like to begin mr. president by acknowledging the untimely loss of a young solution professional active in economic development of our country notably in tourism and in heritage tourism particularly he was Nigel Mitchell he was a good solution and he served his country well as a public servant as a private consultant as a dedicated husband and father I was unable to attend his funeral yesterday and feel very guilty about that but I think it's incumbent upon me to offer him this small acknowledgement in this honorable house to note his passing and to offer our condolences to his immediate and extended family we lost a good mind a good man so full of potential and I think we shall miss him mr. president I had the honor of representing St. Lucia at the parlor America's conference in Buenos Aires as you're aware Argentina November 21st to 22nd the subject matter of the conference was Parliament's role in the process of open government I'm grateful for the opportunity let me express my thanks to your office for nominating me and I think at this time of year it is particularly fitting that we should pay a little attention to that those matters of good governance and open government in particular and the partnership that government is supposed to enjoy with the people and that is to say how government and more specifically Parliament in the case of this conference having regard for the broad principles of good governance can assume a leading role in improving the quality of its relationship with the people of the country civil society civic institutions and so forth the convener of this conference was an institution called power America it's an international partnership of countries who are devoted to improving processes of governance improving the importance of democratic traditions and for creating a forum in which parliamentarians like ourselves can meet and discuss across the hemisphere regarding the specific discussion at the conference which I thought was very useful and I thought some of my colleagues here should hear about it the conference considered actual living examples of countries who are trying to restore the quality of the democracy and the important thing is that very often it was parliamentarians on both sides recognizing that the problems of the country are shared and that yours today and mine tomorrow we need to come together to solve some of the broader issues facing our democracies both sides in a bipartisan way mr. president because both government and opposites are recognizing they need to be more successful in the pursuit of sustainable development you know growth today and then no growth tomorrow is not serving any of us or no growth today and no growth tomorrow is not serving any of us either so the pursuit of sustainable development is something that concerns us all and the sustainability of it from one regime to the next is important to the people who we are serving both sides the conference noted that both sides oppositions and governments are recognizing that they need to address a growing skepticism among electorates and a growing distance from the process of democracy and I think this is very important for us here in St. Lucia where we have seen declining voter participation in the election process we have seen increasing apathy particularly among young people we have seen frequent changes in government we've spoken about that before in this honorable house every election for the last four we've seen a change of regime which suggests that nobody is happy and election results which also show declining margins both between seats the margin by which an incumbent wins or loses and also the margin in the popular vote which is rarely in single digits and has been for quite a while so the democratic process is not serving us particularly well and we need to be objective in our assessment of it no matter what side we are sitting on we have heard in recent times much about the corporatization of government that the honorable Prime Minister and his cabinet wish to function in the style of or more in the style of a corporate board and I think Mr. President this is all well and good but let us never forget that the enterprise we are governing is the state of St Lucia the nation of St Lucia the shareholders of that enterprise are the people of St Lucia and the primary customers of that enterprise are the voters of St Lucia. In that spirit Mr. President the conference noted the exemplary role of countries like Canada and host country Argentina for the lead role that they are playing in the process of open government. Canada for example has adopted a policy of open by default which is to say documents decisions proceedings minutes are made public as a matter of course and the business of secrecy and confidentiality has largely been thrown to the wind so except in matters of national security and other really sensitive areas intelligence and so forth all documents are placed on public websites and other portals where they can be readily accessed nobody has to ask permission to see these things this is the business of the people and so it is readily available as a matter of course in real time this pertains to contracts tendering processes even down to the agendas of individual ministers who they meet and when and for how long and for how often and this is to redress the impact of special interest groups and the fact that so many special interest groups have hijacked processes of government and have caused decisions to be made which are not in the best interest of the wider society and yet these but these decisions are not sufficiently transparent that the people on the ground can understand why a certain thing is being done and by whom and for whom and who the ultimate beneficiaries are going to be there's much debate here and around the world about the relevance of democracy and its system situation capitalism in the delivery of real tangible benefits to the people in Saint Lucia I would like to suggest that 30 how many years after independence we are still grappling with basic issues of survival which we should not be and it is because the model I believe that we are pursuing requires urgent renovation and we're at the end of another year I think we need to start 2018 with a mindset that suggests that we who sit in this house are serious about improving the flow of benefits to the people of this country not just retro not just chest beating we need to be serious about what we are promising what we are delivering to the future generations of Saint Lucia we are failing them in too many respects and we are not serious enough about fixing the things that need fixing at the top of the list education Mr. president we are condemning our children to slavery by not fixing the education system we are relegating them to the rules of the marginal and the poor forever more from for generations to come unless we fix the education system so that we can have higher paying jobs better paying skills and knowledge based economy more jobs at two dollars an hour is of limited value to the people and even the government of Saint Lucia which needs to collect tax revenues from a healthy and robust economy there is a new sinking Mr. President that we must have a different approach to the business of lawmaking which concerns this house not just consultation before a bill is tabled but deep and meaningful consultation in the process of drafting legislation when the project is being contemplated when the problem is being discussed when solutions are being designed we need to embrace and engage civil society so that we can have better solutions we must not be afraid of sharing power with the people they very often have more wisdom and intelligence than us and the collective wisdom of Saint Lucia is nothing to be sneezed at people on the ground know what works and more importantly they know what doesn't work so by the time you come if you're highfalutin promises you have any bizarre so imagine all right and they dismissed it and then something that has a good chance or should have had a good chance of success is dismissed at the onset simply because we have not consulted in a real and meaningful way not not not just for the sake of appearance after you've made up your mind but at the very beginning bring people in embrace them share it's in your interest to do so and ours ultimately we are talking about the co-creation of legislation Mr. President it's not something that we are accustomed to but it is something that we have to think about that it is not it is no longer the exclusive responsibility of elected officials to sit here and make up the laws that are going to commit and bind and in debt people for the rest of their lives and future generations we have to ask the people do you want this do you want us to spend money on this and even where we have wisdom and we have vision we have to share that because you cannot lead people two miles in front you have to leave them one or two steps ahead we cannot leave the people behind even as convinced as we might be about our own wisdom and intelligence and vision so it is important to as we consider these issues to recognize also that transparency is not an ideal anymore transparency is something that exists in real time social media is no friend as much as it is no foe it can be both but it will shine its light upon all of us so the more we point over and offer information and intelligence to persons when we in the process of making policy and making law the more sustainable those laws and those policies are going to be this is no longer the future this is now people are going to find out what happens in the darkness of cabinet and other places they're going to find out so it is better to involve them in a sustainable process of consultation than to have to account for your behavior or misbehavior after the fact so the light of technology will shine upon us all let us use this new access to information to enhance citizen participation to ensure that there is proper public information out there we don't have to be defending rumors all the time we don't have to allow the media to be the sort of the the court of public prosecution no let us put the information out there and let us ensure that it is accurate we can exclude people from their own development what what people are telling us and and I think we all hear and we should all listen is that as citizens as voters they are not prepared to accept a state apparatus which is not transparent which they don't understand how was a particular contract awarded how was a job given why aren't public public service positions advertised anymore you just hear Joe get the job or Mary is the chosen one no pun intended on the Mary of course but how are these decisions made it seems that too often public public positions you just hear about who is there and who's not there anymore these things need to be reopened they need to be transparent let's get the best man or the best woman for the job not just our political colleagues this is taxpayer's money that we're spending this is time that we are losing and when we put in competent people in positions we are merely delaying the benefits that should be accruing to the people of St. Lucia let us choose the best people let us build a meritocracy let us leave political color out of the hiring process place Mr. Chairman Mr. President excuse me on the business of transparency and good governance I must call again as I have written to you sir for the restoration of the integrity Commission all of us are outside the rules of compliance having not filed if we can only say for so long that the integrity Commission has not been composed and therefore there is no one to submit to but that excuse is wearing a little bit thin in my conscience and I would like to be compliant with the Constitution and I'm going to ask publicly once again for the restoration of the integrity integrity Commission early in 2018 I would like that to get the top of our agenda I would also like to talk a little bit about the restoration of local government this business where all things shall come to you from cast trees is not working those of you who are parliamentary representatives for your constituencies you all know very well both are still waiting for the drain to be fixed Isaac is hoping his road will be repaired the world that fell down during the heavy rains is still down you all are busy ministers in cast trees you do not have time to go to Bhutan and to Daya for and to Folly girl you need local government to take care of these things elected local government where people choose their representatives and can cause themselves to be responsible for aspects of their life which are daily matters there is no need for ministers to be deciding everything give people responsibility for their own lives for their own communities the legislation is drafted there have been several versions of it under both your regimes please bring it out into public light let it be debated early in 2018 and let us restore public government local government as a fundamental principle of our democracy the big picture mr. president and I will close shortly is that we need to forge a new balance between a representative democracy and participate free democracy right now we have representative democracy you elect me I will do what I have to do and I will tell you about it later that is not necessary or people want people want to say I elect you and I will let you know what I would like you to do for me not later but in real time because life today is thanks to technology is real time and this is why administrations are increasingly short-lived because we're not asking people what they want we're doing what we think we must do and finding out at the end of five years that we were very wrong about what people wanted for themselves and for their children for their country for their community it's not working mr. president we have to change it or as they will change us it's very simple that message has been sent time and time again so mr. president in closing I would just like to say that all of us house Senate party cabinet elected nominated members we all are accountable to each other we're accountable to the people of the country to the voters to the citizens persons in our constituency we are accountable to fellow solutions let us not fail them please so the best of the season to us all and to our families and to our nation a blessed prosperous a blessed Christmas and a prosperous 2018 God knows we needed thank you senator Ferdinand thank you mr. president very very heartening thoughts shared by our colleague I want to thank you first of all for providing us with very good guidance and I could use leadership throughout the last of the entire year 2017 I also want to thank my colleagues in the Senate for the manner in which we were able to conduct the business of the upper house I know it's the festive season ahead and there can be quite a few things that go right as well as things that go wrong but just before I say that I'm having listened to my colleague I think he touched on two areas that have been kind of areas of repetition from the opposition and even from the government and I think I heard my colleague mention it earlier on and that is participating participating decision making involving the public and the citizens in what is happening and also the issue with the development of our human resource our education and I was thinking since we passed that bill who are the 900 people who are going to be working at the airport are they going to be imported is it going to be imported labor have we prepared our our our populace for taking up those jobs and and really being part of the labor force have we doing that have we made sure that our senator I don't want to stop here but I hope you're not just in the opportunity to reopen the bill but I'm saying along the lines of participative decision making I think these points have to be emphasized we have to I also want to say that the I want to reiterate and and support the idea of the integrity commission being recommission I think that is that is that is important the local government thing I think from many years ago I remember discussion being held to to decide the role of local government and at this point I'm not sure that both governments in successive years or successive tombs have really addressed this to ensure that this this entity is functioning as it should I think the members are generally being selected by whoever has won the election and as and as a product of the youth movement youth and sports clubs and so on that have made a very good contribution to our country I think the process of elect election let people decide who the leaders in the communities are who the people that are capable of delivering the communities agenda become part of those of those organizations and not former politicians of friends and so on I think that's a very important point that will help to develop our national our national agenda and I like the open default idea that that was raised but I think in terms in terms of that idea it's great to work with the president and I think Saint Lucia can adopt that we need to ensure that the people who are going to participate are going to be making meaningful contributions people will be raising anybody any citizen can raise a question but you want it to be something that is meaningful you don't want it to be coming from a group of people who really don't know what they're saying and it becomes ridiculous so for us to do that we have to raise the level of our education system we have to produce people who when they speak or when they get involved in the decision making of the country they are making substantial contributions and so I think that that opportunity was was very good for us to to raise those issues and of course as we leave for the for the end of this year I want to to wish Saint Lucia and our constituents from the various parts of the country the very best for the season I think we should find some time to spend with our families our loved ones I really would like to know that our Christmas is going to be safe there's this tendency that in this season a lot of things go wrong and there's a spike in you know what we can call petty crimes and accidents and a lot of a lot of things that we do not wish for I'd want the Minister for National Security to be to have you know a little less stress this Christmas that he can feel that he has not he doesn't have to be called to too many situations as well as our other departments the traffic department for sure I'm hoping that they will not have too many on the hands and I think we probably want to be proactive in making sure that we anticipate some of the the deviant behaviors and put measures in place to limit them I also want to say that we should all find some time to be generous and make some one smile I think too often we operate in an environment of competition and rivalry but it is it is good that in the coming Christmas season that from ourselves in the in the upper house and of course other parliamentarians from our colleagues as well as in our communities let's find some time and and reach out to at least one person and make their Christmas a little better whether it's by a gift or by a kind word or gesture so I'm looking forward to the season and I wish all of us safe enjoyable restful Christmas and when we return in 2018 that will continue the business of of the upper house on behalf of our people. Thank you Mr President. Senator Belrose? Mr President thanks for this opportunity and as a very optimistic solution I am indeed happy to see where we are at the end of this year. I've heard my colleagues and I think the points were well made but I think more importantly for me as a solution was been involved in organizations across the board I'm happy that the government of solution over the last year has done tremendous work to expand the opportunities for young people and citizens to get involved in community initiatives on the ground and I say this with particular reference to the education for democratic citizenship which we have introduced within the school's curriculum this year to ensure that every solution understand their role within the scheme of things because it's one thing for us to want people to be involved in what we're doing but it's another thing for them to be prepared for the kind of engagement and the and the the criticism and the rebuttal that will come through with their involvement in it so this program within the school system and the students have been doing fairly well and we trust that it will continue over time we take the points with respect to the continued improvement within the education system we recognize that our human resource is the is the number one resource really that you have because once your people are up upgraded or up to speed then it means that most things in the society can be adjusted properly so we take that point and we'll continue to the work that is required of us from a local government standpoint the agenda is set we are working previously to ensure that at some point we would have elections but we continue to build capacity build skills give them various additional work areas to expand the capacity to be able to do the work that would be required of them leadership is very critical when you look and we want when our leaders take on these positions that it did not just get filled with themselves only but they recognize the value and privilege positions that they hold in terms of leading this country forward so I want to thank you Mr. President for this opportunity and I want to wish all the citizens of St. Lucia who have supported us over the last year all the councils who have worked all the members of the constituency councils who have worked with us to ensure that this year was the success that it is as you know in the next few weeks our next week in fact is the Festival of Lights which us as in the Christmas season and we trust that St. Lucia's will take advantage and be a part of the programs in and around the communities of St. Lucia as we are showing the Festival of Lights and of course we want to thank the Taiwanese ambassador for the tremendous contribution that Taiwan made to ensuring that this year's festival is going to be better than the rest of those we've had before thank you very much. Leader of government business can you turn off your mic please. Senator Mauricio Thomas. Thank you very much Mr. President. Mr. President I'd like to give you indulgence at this particular juncture to wear a different hat in my capacity as chairperson of the National Awards Committee. The order of St. Lucia which has established under the Constitution requires that once a year we invite nominations to honor worthy St. Lucia's and other persons who have actually committed acts of bravery and meritorious service. Meritorious service sorry. Mr. President under that mandate we have actually launched the 2018 National Awards. We have embarked on a series of PR activities to ensure that we receive nominations because as we would be aware as a country there are a lot of people who on a daily basis perform very significant acts. They go out they do not seek recognition. They are our unsung heroes and we need to be able to encourage them to continue to do the good work inspire others and also to encourage other persons to emulate the good work that they are doing. We launched the 2018 National Awards on the 14th of November 2017. Since then we have embarked on a number of activities. We have been on GIS promoting you know and inviting nominations. We have been undertaking town hall meetings. In terms of town hall meetings on the 19th of December there is one that is going to happen down in view fort and we are inviting people to attend such that it can be sensitized. For the benefit of persons who are not aware those awards are being bestowed on successful nominees at during independent celebrations at the government house. And the categories of awards are the National Service Award, National Service Medal, the St. Lucia Cross, the St. Lucia Medal of Honor in two categories, Gold and Silver, the St. Lucia Medal of Merit, Gold and Silver and the St. Lucia Lipitor Medal, Gold, Silver and Bronze. Mr. President I would like to implore all St. Lucians to seek out and recognize persons who have done good deeds in this country. Particularly I would like us to pay attention to the youth. I think our youth need inspiration, they need encouragement and I believe we have youth out there who are doing tremendously good work who are serving the country well and I believe we need to take time out to recognize them such that they can continuously be inspired and they can inspire their peers as well. So far we've received a number of nominations that we have started reviewing. However we would like to encourage more persons to submit nominations to us. The deadline for that trust is the 29th of December 2017. So fellow senators I would like to also implore you to submit nominations to the committee. Thank you very much Mr. President. Mr. President this is the time of year when we extend well wishes and it's the time of year when we also reflect on what we've done well and what we could have done differently. I will speak from the perspective of where we are as a country economically and socially. We all know it but I think we need to reflect on that today and remind persons of where we are as a country such that we can prepare for a better 2018. Globally and regionally we've had issues when we talk about regional look at the disasters that we experience as it relates to hurricanes and the implications it has had not just for our sisters and brothers in these countries so impacted but also some of them are our friends and family. In terms of the country Mr. President when we reflect I don't believe that we can beat our chest and boast that 2017 was all that it could have been for us as a country. When you reflect on where we are is of doing business unprecedented 91% it doesn't give us very good comfort. Mr. President also the crime situation again unprecedented we are over 50 homicide in this country. It is this heartening it is painful it is sad every time I watch the news and I hear another homicide it is very painful and while I know our colleague here is doing his best to cope the situation and institute you know mechanisms and institute programs to ensure that we reverse that trend it is very worrisome. The whole issue of blacklisting we heard our leader of government business talking about blacklisting today. Again unprecedented and our colleague minister has said that St. Lucia is to be top in the OECS I sat in a former role and I was very proud when I had to represent St. Lucia to my exec and to my shareholders to let them know that hey in the OECS St. Lucia is the star on all fronts. St. Lucia was the star on all fronts. What has gone wrong to us when talking about blacklisting this is very very serious it has very serious implications for us developmentally it has very serious implications for us in terms of what sort of response we will get from G10 states. What sort of implications it has for us in terms of continuing to promote our CIP program and of course in general the implications of attracting investors into the country. It is very very serious I'm thinking of the banking sector Mr. President. What are the implications for the banking sector at a time when we are talking about de-risking. It is serious and then we have on top of that blacklisting. These would have implications for our country being able to access funding from funding agencies. Mr. President I think we need to focus on how we're going to fix those issues as a country and think of how we can do that in a bipartisan manner. I think too much politics I think the country is too politically divided and once you're politically divided or divided for that matter you cannot achieve the level of progress that is desired. So in 2018 we need to come together as a country that is my plea come together as a country adopted by partisan approach like I said to dealing with those critical issues because at the end of the day all of us will suffer. Every single one of us will suffer and if anything if we do not care as individuals we need to focus on our children and our grandchildren what kind of solution we want to live for them. The trend we are on is definitely not the trend that we need to continue and we need to focus on fixing our country such that we can as citizens enjoy a better social and economic standard. I would also like to implore because it's okay to just speak about the ills if you like but I would like to implore all of us leaders to focus on re-engineering. I think our our colleague has spoken more granular terms but in general terms I say let us look at the process of re-engineering the country. Let us restructure, let us reform, let us try to reposition and come together to do that in a holistic way. We cannot continue to do it in a piecemeal approach and expect things to work and we cannot continue to fight each other and expect that the end of the day we are going to achieve progress. So as we usher in the new year I would like to extend best wishes to all of you my colleagues and best wishes to the entire St. Lucia and let us look forward to making better things happen in the new year and beyond. I thank you Mr. President. Leader of government business before you take your position Senators just let me remind Senators I know that you've spoken of your representation of us and Lucia and particularly of the Parliament just let me remind Senators who have that you have to submit your reports to us. Let me also say to you that I have been receiving feedbacks from these very various organizations and we are you've been spoken highly of so just let me say thank you for that. Senator Leader of government business. Mr. President I stand on my two feet Mr. President because none of my own but it's always good to publicly thank the Almighty for his blessings through the year his guidance his protection his sustenance you know Mr. President when you come to the when we come to the end of the year it's a time to reflect on the journey that we we went through in the months and weeks before. It's a time to reflect whether or not we have grown as a person as a nation it's a time to reflect as to whether or not we were able to surmount the obstacles the trials that may have come our way. It's a time to reflect Mr. President and whether or not we have been able to forgive even our forgive our enemies to give those forgive those who have trespassed against us a time to reflect whether or not we have truly forgiven even ourselves Mr. President sometimes. So I want to publicly thank the good Lord for just his watch care over us as a people as a nation we were spared many hurricanes in the year 2017 and when we look at the devastation of Dominica and the other Caribbean islands we have no choice Mr. President but to be thankful for the way he had actually he has actually protected us from these natural disasters. Mr. President I also want to thank this Senate both the well the opposition the the independent side and also my colleagues on the government side I think we had a very good year of debates meaningful he said at times but I think most at most most part it was very respectful and I want to thank you Mr. President for the leadership that you you undertook during these sittings and I'm looking forward to next year's sitting of the Senate. The time of the budget I know it's a very heated time and I'm looking forward to the budget of 2018 2019. Mr. President I also want to thank the members of my members of cabinet as a as a body we were given the responsibility to make decisions policy decisions on behalf of the people of St. Lucia and I must say to you Mr. President it is an honor to be able to serve at that level. There are top decisions that we have made and I mean they have been top decisions and we are and we have to make even even tougher decisions next year and the years ahead but Mr. President I we believe that the progress we have made as a country as a government is one to be applauded and admired Mr. President because when we came in as a government we decided to tackle the unemployment situation as you know and the nation may know that we inherited an unemployment rates overall unemployment rate of 25 percent 25 point 24 point 8 percent rather and a youth unemployment of close to 50 percent and I'm pleased to report to the nation Mr. President that in the third quarter of 2017 the unemployment rate dropped to 16.8 percent compared to last year's third quarter and we are expecting Mr. President and sorry and the youth unemployment is now now stands at 34 percent so we have made progress Mr. President amidst the top decisions that we have undertaken in the year 2017. Mr. President also we realize and we have we have been given the reports or the projected growth for 2017 and we're looking at a growth rate of close to 3 percent 2.8 2.7 percent this is remarkable Mr. President when you look at the the anemic growth we had in St. Lucia in the last five years or four or five years rather so we are very hopeful we are very we are very hopeful that the year ahead would be even better for the people of this country. Mr. President as a government I also like to thank the opposition. I believe that St. Lucia has a very good opposition very good opposition and I believe Mr. President they need to be as remain as an opposition party because opposition is good for democracy it keeps us in check and I believe that Mr. President the more that the opposition put pressure on the government the more we will shine because diamonds only shine under immense pressure. Mr. President apparently the marches are working so we expect even more marches in the year 2018 but jokes aside Mr. President I also want to lastly thank my family for their support through the year they have been on my side comforting me supporting me especially my dear wife my lovely wife who has been on my side day and night and a supportive prayers a comforting prayers and I must tell the nation that she is a prayer warrior and she will continue to pray not only for me but for the people of St. Lucia. I want to thank also my other my other prayer warriors Mr. President and I want to single out a gentleman a pastor Pastor Paul from Miku who come to my office of an arm and pray with me and pray for the people and the government of St. Lucia. I want to call I want to thank Father Michel I think he is the grocery parish for his words of counsel words of comforts words of encouragement and just his prayers in general and just for those who would meet me on the wayside in the streets supermarkets and encourage me and say to me that I'm praying for you. Mr. President we as a people we must keep praying for this country we must keep praying for the people of this country we must be praying keep praying for the government of this country because Mr. President I believe I believe that the devil is very active in this country extremely active and I'm calling upon churches individuals to cease from prayer because we believe that will I said this is from do not desist from pray right keep pray because we believe Mr. President that we pray all things are possible so as a senator as a senator as a leader of government business in the senate I want to extend my my my best wishes to the people of St. Lucia let's hope and pray that the year 2018 will be a better year for St. Lucia compared to the years ahead thank you thank you Mr. President Senator Francis thank you very much Mr. President I didn't really want to speak but I think I'm forced to to say a few words I haven't listened to senator OJ I think he has all encompassed and and I think I thought that we were going to end on that note the note of inclusion the note of of being a government and when we talk about government not just the ruling party but the opposition and start the the process of persons looking at St. Lucia has been the reason why we are in parliament and I'm very happy that he made that that statement and that was one of the reasons why I decided when Mr. Philip J. Pierre he did the opposition made that suggestion that I have the symposium I really accepted because I think that crime is everybody's business and it doesn't matter from who the the suggestion comes from that we must accept and work upon that I think I want to wish you the very best Mr. President and the members of the senate and maybe the and also the lower house cabinet but I want to make special mention of persons who drew into festive season um are not as fortunate as us that we are at home enjoying ourselves with our loved ones and being able to party and I speak specifically of our police officers who are actually on duty when we are enjoying ourselves our nurses our doctors our prison officers our fire officers who have to respond all during that festive season and I think we need to pay special homage to those individuals who put their lives at risk and in danger year in year out for the benefit of our solutions so I just want to make a special plea on their behalf to tell them that we are going to keep them in our prayers and we hope that they have a safe and incident-free festive season and that the new year brings bigger and more enlightened bigger and all of our parts to work in the benefit of all generations thank you senate uh Gideon thank you Mr president um well on behalf of um myself I don't um say it openly I don't um celebrate Christmas however whoever does whoever does I would like them to do it in um a godly spirit godly atmosphere the drinking excessive drinking excessive eating put it on the side and be induced in the presence of god focus on god you know instead of eating and drinking take it on going fast and pray for the betterment of our country pray for the sustenance of life and thank god because he is the provider he is the one who carries us through even most persons not want to recognize that but god is the one who carries us through and we need at every occasion that we get to give him thanks and praise and honor him for that um I want to also wish the senate all the best members of the senate enjoy your season put god first and always remember that you are not alone as my colleague said help someone to enjoy the season I will be praying for a blessed year that I'm going to see the end of the year by his grace and that I'm going to be here with all those who will be here to continue with the business of the country um I want to thank you in particular Mr president for your able support your guidance in the senate and also be very thankful to your staff and you for allowing me the opportunity to travel to attend the parliamentary session in England I must say it was an eye opener and in my report you're going to see the reason why it's an eye opener and I do wish so much that some of what I learned that St Lucia's parliament would adopt so that we would become a more effective parliament to be more open you know especially there's one that has struck me and I need to make mention of it that civilians can bring in questions into the house place it in the box shuffle and at the certain time whoever dips and these questions have been answered by the particular minister or the line minister which the question refers and this I was very much taken aback by to see that citizens are also involved in the governance of the country and I was so like that's why I kept preaching that we have to involve the St Lucia's we have to involve our people in what we do as a government we are just there they are the ones who put us and we need to go out and get the ideas they also as our senator said they have ideas and they would like to see it manifest and it would be a very good thing that if St Lucia's parliament would at some point adopt that persons from the civilians can come in write the question put it in a box and there's a point in time where the questions will be answered or discussed or whatever you know and also looking forward to the unity between both government and opposition side where leaders of the opposition or government or opposition members heads of the committees they take charge of setting committees for the betterment of the country and where again we have in government when there are debates in parliament that even persons on the government side would stand and oppose government policies and plans you would stand and you would oppose it yet still they are government ministers you know and so I live to see the day where these kinds of things would take place in our parliament so that persons can see if it is not good it is not good so I just don't come in and be a rubber stump and I put and I know inside deep within me that I'm against it but because of me being on the ruling side I just said yeah and allow it to go and I deep down within consciously I know that I you know support it you know so I enjoyed my my my my my week the parliamentary session they did the parliamentary I enjoyed it it was very very much enlightening for me and in due time I won't even have to submit a report this I will do and hand it to you I what's the deadline um yeah may I ask there's a deadline you know so so I can't okay but generally I want to thank each and every one of us and also the supporting staff of parliament I want to say thank you for your support and your assistance and hope that everyone enjoys and going through the end of the year and we see at the next senate sitting thank you very much mr leader of government business mr president before I adjourn this sitting I just want to just just want a mission I had come next year go to winning January 17th I'll be training 50 years old and I am just trying I want to invite the members of the senate as part of my celebration the Sunday before my birthday I want to take a walk up monge me you have me on that one okay I have done I have done this twice and it's just an amazing journey so and I want to extend the invitation to the opposition the lower house opposition also I think it'll be a very good journey up monge me and so that's my invitation as a part of my 50th anniversary and also the staff also the staff of the of the parliament so mr. resident I move that the senate standard zone senate I senators we must also remember that our our sitting has been broadcast and all we start from the staff of the parliament but we didn't find the staff of the NT and and let's say thank you to them for the work that they've done throughout the year and we look forward to seeing them in 2018 senators the question is that this house do stand adjourned sign or die I now put a question as many as out of that opinions here as many as of country opinions you know I think the eyes of it the eyes of it this house is adjourned