 Mr. Speaker, I want to start where the member of you thought so ended Mr. Speaker, on the attitude to politicians that some technocrats have Mr. Speaker, when Mr. Speaker sometimes you really can't blame them you know. When you listen to a former prime minister, speak in public and tell you he is the one initiated, he is the one initiated the moratorium and the ECCB for households. He comes and he says to the public everybody can hear Mr. Speaker. When Mr. Speaker, you know, so you really have to understand why some of these technocrats not listen to us you know. Because when you have a leader of the opposition come and put on his Facebook page that we borrowed five hundred and five million dollars for this year. When he can a former minister of finance can print that in the public for the whole world to see Facebook has billions of viewers Mr. Speaker. And he have technocrats and saying if this guy can print that you think we can give him our money to control. So Mr. Speaker, sometimes I also get very no view with technocrats. I tell them that. I have said so the same, I have been, we have had some rough discussions on giving me 30 million years dollars. I want me to change the whole world for that. I have had discussions on that. But it is because of the behavior of people like the leader of the opposition, why technocrats behave that way Mr. Speaker. But we have to change that Mr. Speaker. This is the worst global crisis that the world has suffered since the great depression. But the leader of the opposition comes and stands up and gives the impression that St. Lucia is in a little, in a little world. And what you are doing, you are not doing nothing Mr. Speaker. What you are doing Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, all countries, all countries Mr. Speaker, all countries, all countries are suffering from inflation. During Covid Mr. Speaker, there was zero inflation or deflation. That's what the economy managed, zero inflation or deflation Mr. Speaker. Right now the entire world, the entire world is screaming because of inflation. The UK changed two prime ministers in six weeks Mr. Speaker. Because of management of the economy and you come and you sit down and you sit and you speak about the UK changed two prime ministers because of economic management. The UK changed two prime ministers because of economic management. Two prime ministers because of the management of the economy. One of them was supply side and the other ones and the people said that is not good and the markets crashed because of the reduction in taxation for the rich and famous, the market crashed. Part of the reason why. And the UK government changed Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the entire world, the great United States, the great United States and Congress. The Republicans are controlling Congress because the people perceive the management of the economy because inflation is at its highest. It has been for decades. The leader comes here and he plays and he pretends Mr. Speaker that he was even on perception Mr. Speaker. Glyptok, absolute nino facts. Glyptok Mr. Speaker flashing mirrors forces the truth Mr. Speaker. We are in a global crisis Mr. Speaker. A crisis. And the leader of the opposition wants to make people believe that the government could do more. He said he told us how to change the supply side issues. You think a man can stand up in the parliament and tell the world that he taught us he tried to help us to improve the supply side issues. So we are making containers in Zanussia. We own ships in Zanussia. He tried to help us on the supply side issues. He tried to tell us what to do to improve the supply side problems in the country Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what the leader of the opposition does is why he was trying to grow the economy the people were suffering. And that's the difference between him and us Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, look at the first two years of any Labour Party government. And look at the first two years before Covid of the government that leader of the opposition was Prime Minister on. And tell me the difference. I want him to tell me one achievement of his government before Covid. One achievement. Just one hotel I was built. One hotel. One hotel I was built Mr. Speaker. One hotel I was built. I want him to tell me. Let's talk about reduce unemployment. Mr. Speaker, the range hotel was started. Mr. Speaker, you see now Mr. Speaker in the sun. I promised myself never to respond to him. But he said I won't apologize to my colleagues and the public for getting up to reminding them that I beat him. But I promised not and I won't do it again. I'll never do it again. Because you know that kind of business leader, the leader of the opposition will stop Sanders hotel. Last week in the courts, Sanders was the landings. The court ruled on that situation. I did that. I won the court now. Who told us? Who should tell us to stop? Who should tell us to stop? And Sanders built it now. And they built it now. And they built it now. How many rooms you built? How many rooms you built? Where? You built them didn't you? You built them didn't you? You built them didn't you? You built them didn't you? Mr. Speaker, you know that kind of delusion that caused him to lose election. And that's why in the night election he fell down. Because that kind of delusion because he was saying to people that he won something seats. He went to a car meeting and as usual he denigrated me. As usual same thing he is trying to do here. And he told his colleagues. So somebody told him you have a little issue in the election. That's what he does. And he continues to do it. Diluding himself with a fear of his surrogate that he is not what he is. And Mr. Speaker. All the information. He speaks about population Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker in 2019. The labor force was 100,976 people. In 2020 the labor force was 95,090 people. So there were less people. So on a point must go down. Like a less people working. Mr. Speaker you know this use and abuse of statistics. Playing that you smart. Next thing next pose. We have not given people the dollar fifty. We promise on petrol tax Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker how could we reduce petrol tax. When we were making no money on petrol. How could we reduce what? It was being subsidized already. So reduce what? How could we reduce the petrol tax. When the people were collecting the petrol tax. How can we reduce it? But I am going to tell you that if the trajectory of petrol prices remain the same. And we are reasonably sure that in the future it will not increase. We will keep our promise to the farmers. That is the government we operate. Mr. Speaker let me remind the leader of the opposition Mr. Speaker. Because you know he says come there is accent. And talks these kind of things. He talks about tourism arrivals. We had an arrangement for a PPP agreement. Where the government would have no absolutely no liability. Or we do not have to come to parliament for any guarantee. He crashed the agreement. Because he said he was collecting money on tourism arrivals. And he comes there and boasts and then laments tourism arrivals. When you put the country in debt. Because you said that tourism arrivals will pay the debt. You put the country in debt. Because you said that tourism you didn't have the foresight. To know that if there was an unforeseen situation. That if there was a COVID. Nobody knew COVID will come. But there could have been a hurricane. You put the country in debt. You put the country in debt. Right now we may have a debt. Of at least 250 million US dollars. At least. And I am going to make a statement again. On the airport. I have kept very quiet. To come in this eye. Mr. Speaker. But the time will come. I am going to make two statements. Two disclosures. St. Jude and Hewanora. Take your time. Thank you minister. St. Jude and Hewanora. Because this bluff. About 70% complete. About St. Jude hospital. State of the art. The truth of St. Jude. The truth of St. Jude. The same Mr. Speaker. I waited. I waited. I have patience. I was elected in the parliament in 1997. I waited. Until 2020. I want to become prime minister. I went once. I lost. And I won again. And I understood. To lead. You must follow. So this is why when I was in the government. I worked hand in hand with Kenny Antony. Who was prime minister. That is the difference. That is the difference Mr. Speaker. That is the difference Mr. Speaker. So let's get back. To Hewanora. And to Mr. Speaker. Let's go there a little bit. Let's go a little bit there. This leader of the opposition. Authorize a contract. With a contractor to build a building. And he had absolutely no end. No end figure. Absolutely no end figure. No idea how much it will cost. Where the building election come in. Let me fool them. That's what you know. That is economic management. That is economic management. That is economic management. That is economic management. That is economic management. That is the economic guru. Started. An airport. Change the plans. 3000 pares. When the plan said. 716 pares. Speaking about a thing about. Home porting. Home porting. That was at its best. At its best. Hope. At its best Mr. Speaker. Then. Compound it. And say that you had a plan. To build a cruise terminal in view fort. Hoping that you can destabilize view fort south. And view fort north Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. Let me tell you the difference. Between GPH. And carnival. The leader of the opposition went to Miami. In a big story. And had a big scene. All kinds of things. All kinds of things. All kinds of things. All kinds of things. All kinds of things. All kinds of things. He went to do that with the speaker. Then. He said at that sign in. Oh we are very happy. To have carnival. Bill of students solution. Absolutely nothing after that. Nothing. Nothing after that. GPH. The people came here. Went to the official residence. And the prime minister. Signed. The MOU. And immediately after that. There is a concessionary agreement. Which we are going to discuss. Before. When we signed the MOU. Thrasper was involved. The Ministry of Finance was involved. All the relevant people. In the tourism industry. Were involved. Before we signed the MOU. And now. The concessionary agreement. Is in the public. The Ministry of Finance. Thrasper has it. Everybody has it. We are going to discuss it. And maybe discuss it. We are going to be into the public. But what does the leader put on his Facebook page. We sell the pot. We sell the pot. Mr. Speaker. I said here. I said here. And I said to my Mr. Speaker. The leader says that we do nothing. We have done nothing for people. Page 64 of the budget address that I read. And the next budget address. We are going to be comparing achievements. And reality. Subsidizing cooking gas. Our subsidy for cooking gas. Is the highest ever. In his time. The subsidy for cooking gas. Used to be at the highest. Ten dollars. Now the subsidy for cooking gas. Is between 18 and 20 dollars. That time it reached 25 minutes ago. What have we done. To relieve people. Increase annual personal tax allowance. Four. Some other please. Increase annual personal tax allowance. From 18,000 to 25,000. 10,000 more. 25,000 to 10,000 Mr. Speaker. You know what that means? That means. That from January. More than 10,000 people in the country. Will pay less tax. Cautioning consumers. From the full impact. Of rising full prices. You know what I did. We removed the 6.5% Service charge. On commodities. That must be bought. We subsidized flour and sugar. You never had to subsidize. Flour and sugar. Never. Never. We subsidized up to the bank of flour. Should cost. A hundred and something dollars. We subsidized it. By between 50. And 60 dollars. Every bag of flour. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. What have we done. The impact. We've waived interest and parity charges. On personal and company tax. For everybody. And we've written off all company tax view. Before the year 2000. That's what we've done. That's what we've done to grow the economy. What have we done. To grow the economy Mr. Speaker. In a little while. We've gone to borrow directly 10 million dollars. To grant and soft loans. For micro and small business. We've done to grow the economy. We've created the community tourism. Project. Where. Very soon next month. We are going to. We are going to be given grants. And loans. For people. To get involved in indigenous tourism ventures. Continuing. The nature heritage tourism project. That I started when I was a minister of tourism. What have we done for people. What have we done. We've funded. Created the creative industries. To give people a sense of pride in the country. A sense of being sent. Lucian Mr. Speaker. How have we funded it. We've done emancipation. The activities. The first time a government has got involved. In emancipation. Because we're not afraid of our history. Our patchy money is not our credit card. Our patchy money is our history. And colonialism. Has no conscience. That's what we do. That's the difference Mr. Speaker. That's the difference Mr. Speaker. That's the difference Mr. Speaker. That's what we've done. What have we done Mr. Speaker. We've waived import duty. Of ten thousand dollars. For public servants. To give them a little ease Mr. Speaker. What have we done Mr. Speaker. We have provided. A dollar one of payment. To pensionise. And in conjunction with the NIC. We've raised all its pensions. About four percent in the first instance. That's what we've done. What have we done Mr. Speaker. What have we done. We've paid the civil servants. Their increase. And we're going to pay them their back pay. In December. That's what we've done. What have we done Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. The price of rice and flour. Flour has increased. By over thirty percent. Wide sugar. By over seventy five percent. Rise over fifteen percent. But because we've subsidised it. We've kept the prices. And for the rich and the popular solution. So what have we done Mr. Speaker. What have we done. Mr. Speaker. I want the public. To compare. My first eighteen months. As Prime Minister. With his first eighteen months. I never want to go into the business of comparison. But if you open the door. I'll go in. Compare. My eighteen months. Compare the promises. Of my first budget. With your first budget. And what you did in your 18 months. Mr. Speaker. Let's talk about growing economy. Growing economy Mr. Speaker. You. Came into government. And you found it grossily highway. And every day I feel sorry. For my colleague from grossily. Because people complain. To get from castries. To grossily. It's about. Forty minutes. Fifty minutes Mr. Speaker. Because you. And your friend. To go ahead. With a loan. That was negotiated. For the castries grossily highway. Because you could not have your way. With the contractors. And you know what you did. You spent twenty one million dollars. On less than half a mile of road. Instead of spending the money. To continue the highway. That's what you did. But the story of that. Has not been said. Mr. Speaker. And you speak about. Progress. And being an economic manager. And doing this and doing that Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. This lead of the opposition. In the government. That he. Said that he will run so well. Did not attract one investment before covid. In fact. He found the range hotel. We come here. In the fear. In the range hotel arrangement. In the fear. Because he is smart and bright. In the fear Mr. Speaker. And we lost the range hotel. And we had to pay back range. For the hotel. And the range hotel. Went to Dominica. They built a hotel there. And they built another one soon. And wine and tea there. Where is the one institution. Had come in this honourable house. And speak about. The loan. And make. Some sort of suggestions. How it can be improved. That he can help himself. Feeling under pressure in his party. So he can help himself. So when he comes. And he tries to ridicule. Ridicule me. We had our convention. Peaceful and well. And the delegates. 250 to 0. Mr. Speaker. Let us go further. In the leader of the opposition. Talking about managing economy. Mr. Speaker. The leader of the opposition. Speaks about flooding. In quarry. And flooding in Bexon. Mr. Speaker do you know. Do you know Mr. Speaker. That when he came into government. A study. Finance by the CDB. Where some Canadian. Engineers. Had a complete plan. For the Bexon. Mitigation. And for the Bexon adaptation to flooding. A complete plan. We invited. The parliamentary rep. At the time. To come. We invited. The parliamentary rep. At the time. To come to a meeting. To discuss with the consultants. The plan to avoid. To avoid. I didn't say stop. Look at me wrong. I never said that we would stop it. I said to try to avoid it. To avoid the flooding in Bexon. There was an entire plan. The parliamentary rep. Came to the meeting. The questions that he wanted to ask. We lost the election. And we never blamed solutions. For whatness out. We never blamed solutions. We accepted the will of the people. They forced us out. We accepted the will. You know when he came into government. They scrapped that entire plan. And they said. The solution to the problem is disildened. They scrapped the entire plan. They didn't even look at it. And they said. They talked about managing a government. Managing an economy. The answer to disildened. They spent millions of dollars in disildened Bexon. Where I go say who owned the chapters. I don't know who disildened. Mr. Speaker. That is the disildened history. Of the leader of the opposition government. That's his history. That's his history in disildened. I want him to tell the public. Whether he didn't find a complete plan. To help the flooding in Bexon. Hoping to alleviate it. And you know what they did. They went to full people. They tried to put a health center in a flood plain. Mr. Speaker. That is the reality. And you know Mr. Speaker. He hasn't learned. You know he still threatens journalists. He still threatens journalists. He still threatens journalists. He still threatens journalists. He still calls journalists on the phone. He still calls journalists on the phone. And threatens them. He still does that. He still calls journalists on the telephone. And threatens them. Tell them the girls are off. And now it's time. He still does it. And you want to tell me. The people of St. Lucia haven't understood that. After you threatened so many journalists. You tell them you are ashamed of them. You tell them they are all kind of things. You lost election. You still threatened them. And say that's not true. It's true you threatened them. Of course you threatened the journalists. And if you see and when you see the time to come. I'll pay the tape. Of course he threatened the journalists. He threatened them. Because he said. Let me tell you something. This little devil is something else. He wrote the police. Saying to the police. That he is having a thousand people in a match. He wrote the letter. If I don't have it here. I'll come and get the Mrs. Speaker. I'll make it up. He wrote the police. Telling them to give him permission. For a thousand people in a match. That's what he did. When he did not get a thousand people. Homilgill Francis. Homilgill Francis father was a police like me. Homilgill Francis father was a police like me. I'll get a letter. Homilgill said to the press. That he was not happy with the crowd. He got so annoyed. He don't know what it is. What is his name? What is his name? Homilgill Francis. He got so annoyed. He threatened the journalists. Saying to the journalists. You are not printing. You are not printing what I say. When you talk about a match. So many things. You never talk about my press release. We talk about this and the girls are off. The girls are off. And he went further. And he tried to get journalists fired. By calling the journalists boss. That's what you do. No journalists. There's not one journalist in this country. Can say Phillip J.P. ever threatened them. They write whatever they want about me. Talk to us. Say whatever they want about me. I respect their right to disagree. And I respect the freedom of expression. Mr. Speaker. This leader of the opposition. Who comes and talks about borrowing. Mr. Speaker. In 26 years of the election. The minister of finance. The former minister of finance sat here. And he said. That we are going to support borrowing. On free. On the free conditions. One. If the debt. If the debt. If the debt. Was in code. Before. Like if we spoke about a project. And I had borrowed for it. Two. If it was to help people. And three. That's what we said. When we came into opposition. We never questioned the government's right to borrow. What we questioned is what they were borrowing for. That's what we questioned. You cannot tell me. You can't tell me. You borrowed 32 million dollars. To pay like a bee. 32 million dollars. And what is the result of that. You improve. You put tooth. And I have never gone into that argument. Because I like my arguments to be solid. Based in the science. What you did. Is you put tooth on three grounds. Sufre. Miko. 32 million dollars. To improve playing fields. 32 million dollars. What did you do? You borrowed for. Payment do. You paid them 30 million US dollars. To tell you what this technocrats can tell you. All the time. But because you don't have the confidence. In our local technocrats. Because you don't have the confidence. In our local expertise. You listen about the come. From abroad to tell you. 13 million dollars. To tell you what our technocrats say all the time. 30 million dollars US dollars. That's what you borrowed for. You know what you borrowed from Mr. Smeagol. And he's speaking about borrowing. And you know today. The minister. Of housing is correct. And we're not going to go into the. We're not going to go into what they call the anatomy of borrowing now. We're not going to go into it. Because Mr. Smeagol. And I hope the minister. The member for sure. He listens to what I say. And I don't want him to go on that track. Because up to now. He still has a level of believability. He still has a level of believability. So if he goes on that track. He will lose all that believability. He still has a level of believability. So if he goes on that track. He will lose all that believability. Because I tell you something. You know. Anything. Anything. That the leader of the opposition says. In there. There's something that's not true. He just cannot help himself. Why in the good name. You could put on a Facebook page. That the government borrowed. 109 million dollars in October. October was last month. Anybody. Can tell you. How he didn't borrow money in October. But you printed. For the first book. You want to listen to. And you want to argue that. And try to attack me. You want to argue that. That. Mr. Speaker. The guy is hungry. Mr. Speaker. I want to tell you that. We have enough time. We have a lot of time Mr. Speaker. To discuss. We have a lot of time. To discuss borrowing. We have a lot of time Mr. Speaker. We have a lot of time. All the resolutions. That we can the parliament to borrow. We will be able to discuss it. We will be able to discuss what we borrowed for. Why we borrowed Mr. Speaker. And what you promised as far as borrowing is concerned. But today. The borrowing is unique. The borrowing is for people. The borrowing is for people. The borrowing is for people. The single mothers that he attacks. The single mothers that he attacks. The people that he calls medicans. The people that he says gone demonstrating Marsha. These are the people we borrowed for. The people that he said. That I want St. Jude to look like Marsha. Them people in Marsha. Them I great in Marsha. That's what they do. That's the people we borrowed for. And whilst we are doing that. We are creating an environment. Where the businesses can make more money. Both large and small. And helping small businesses to make money. That's the difference between us and them Mrs. Speaker. So Mrs. Speaker. I want to. Before I leave. I want to just say very quickly about Liat. You know Mrs. Speaker. The minister. Member. From Microsoft. Talks about crashing airlines. He was involved in two airlines. He was involved in two airlines. That went on there. Asia-Macon. Asia-Macon went on there. And was in a mountain. Caribbean. E.C. Express went on there too. Asia-Macon. E.C. Express. He was involved in E.C. Express. But right now he knows all the answers to Liat. But he couldn't run E.C. Express. You know Mrs. Speaker. Sometimes when you hear these guys speak. And you hear people say. Oh he's the best. You have to look at the reality. E.C. Express. Was been managed by the leader of the opposition. It crashed. But you know what he blames? He blames. He says oh there are seven unregulatory bodies. But why did E.C. Express crash? Liat. Mrs. Speaker. The leader of the opposition. Has been consistently and consistently. Attacking and denigrating Liat. Because. His idea for Liat. Was. You should have a certain kind of plane. That he alone know about. Talks about compares. Mrs. Speaker listen. He was writing. Listen to these things you know. The leader when compares. Belize. To aircraft with Liat. He knows Liat's fundamental problem Mrs. Speaker. It has all this hop and drop. Hop and drop. High maintenance cost. For this hop and drop. 40 minutes to St. Lucia. 40 minutes to St. Vincent. 30 minutes to Martinique. 1 hour to Antigua. But Belize is a vast country. Belize hasn't got this. Drop and. Drop and like Liat. How you can compare an airline. That service is a vast country like Belize. With. A little hop and airline that. Deals with. 40 minutes to St. Lucia. That's the difference. High maintenance cost Mrs. Speaker. But you know why. The leader of the opposition. Does not like anything West Indian. He refuses to pay. The University of the West Indies. We owe the University of the West Indies. 20 million dollars plus. And claiming Mrs. Speaker. He believes that the community college. The community college. The community college. At the moment is a waste of time. And he's on record saying that. All what I say I can prove it. All what I say I can prove it. All what I say I can prove it Mrs. Speaker. So what I'm doing there is not the personal attack. The personal attack. When they attack me. My attacks are based on very far but. But. I want any of the surrogates. To say anything I said that is not true. Anything I said is not true. Mrs. Speaker. The deficit. The deficit under us. On the left party. On the Kenyans and Mrs. Speaker. 2.8 percent. 2014-15. 2.4 percent. 2016. When it took the government in 2016. The deficit was 1.3 percent. 1.3 percent. The deficit Mrs. Speaker. That's what he inherited. And what did he bring it. Wasteful expenditure. Travel. Perjural letter. Mrs. Speaker. I want to. I want to applaud the minister. For his. Sync mindedness. As far as this. His passion Mrs. Speaker. Sometimes we need to. Speak to him. He needs to get some counseling. When it comes to. Some things that he does Mrs. Speaker. But I want to congratulate him. I want to say I'm very happy. For. I'm very happy for the workers of majestic industries. And you know. It's not a promise again. It's not a promise it's a reality. He'll get the money. We didn't sell any building to get the money. And the reality is. What the leader of the budget Mrs. Speaker. I want I know you want to go you know. But this thing is so. This thing it hooks me Mrs. Speaker. It hooks me because you know. When I had these lies. Sorry. When I had these on troops Mrs. Speaker. I have to because Mrs. Speaker. The records I have the records. The records are available Mrs. Speaker. Let me give you a letter. We want to make it a. A documented house Mrs. Speaker. Mrs. Speaker. July 16th 2020. Now you know what's famous today you remember right. Compensation for workers employed. With majestic industries. Further to a meeting. I read it I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. I read it. the on the side and yourself and Minister Geijose. A general meeting for the former employees of majestic industries was held on Thursday, July 16, 2020 at the National Workers Union at Unity House and to see over 100 former employees attended that meeting. The leadership of the NW gave a detailed explanation on the discussions at our previous meeting. As a result, the workers present voted in favour of the following. The land at Vilbutel belonging to the company should be sold. Proceeds from the sale should be used to compensate the workers. 150 of the former employees are prepared to accept $10,000 each as an excursion payment in lay-off servants, notice ben vacation entitlements to be enclosure to this matter. We do hope that you will be willing to give us an opportunity to meet with you to find a final settlement on this long-outstanding matter. That was the letter that was written Mrs. Mida. When we came into government, I met the same union and I said these people have suffered enough. So we are not waiting for no building to sell. We are not waiting for anything of this nature. We are going to pay the workers according to a list that you prepared. We are going to form a special purpose vehicle. Put the bonds in there and the union graciously and I send them for that. They graciously accepted the bonds. We are going to put the bonds in a special purpose vehicle and you will handle it and pay the workers because we have customers. And Mrs. Mida, that was endorsed by cabinet tomorrow yesterday. Same for the lay-off workers. That is the truth Mrs. Mida and we are Mrs. Mida. I thank you.