 Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bill which seeks to borrow some money to help our people in St. Lucia. I say this Mr. Speaker, when I followed in the footsteps of my fellow Minister of Commerce in organizing the business forum in the Babono constituency. This activity was attended by approximately 80 persons and we had a large turnout from the Babono constituency. Many of the small business persons did turn up for this activity. And we combine it with what we call the funders forum because many times we talk about some new initiatives but we may not have the capacity to implement them. And in looking at business we also look at where would we source the funding. But this bill here Mr. Speaker, it touches on three of the departments under my watch. We spoke of women and we have noticed that the trend globally is if you need support you have to respond to the source of funding. And many agencies will respond to programs that encourage women to participate. And that is where we speak of the issue of gender equality. Because in the past what we have seen most businesses are owned by men because the women used to stay home to take care of the domestic activities and taking care of the children. But now we have seen women branching out into the world of work and they have become very successful business people. So in that case we have seen that this opportunity opens the door for women to participate and I applaud that. Gone are the days when persons who have graduated from school would sit home and send their application seeking jobs and waiting for a response from the employer. Now you have to create your own jobs because you will stay there for days and weeks and months and you may not even get a call at knowledge in your application. As minister with responsibility for the public service Mr. Speaker, I want you to note that we have over 3,000 applications in the public service. Persons who are applying to be employed in government. But the government service, the public service is almost at its neck. The last government did do some good padding just before they left where they put in some good friends, family and so on. And as a result there is very little breathing space to recruit new persons in the public service. So therefore I see the opportunity for business as the alternative especially for our young persons to create their own employment. Mr. Speaker, this bill also speaks when we speak of employment to the department of labour. And recently I attended a meeting in Jamaica where we looked at the Canadian farm workers where we sent solutions to work in Canada. We had an incident where the women we sent to Canada returned prematurely because apparently they worked harder than they expected. And therefore the work had completed before the time the employer had stipulated. So the contract ended prematurely and therefore most of them had to return home. So we want to see the department of labour expand employment, not just looking at the farm workers and other forms of employment in Canada. But we are also looking at employment locally as well as regionally in areas where we can get solutions to use the skills to work and to create livelihood for the family. Mr. Speaker, when persons have small businesses, it's actually creating an additional stream of income for them. There are people who are working sometimes for $600 a fortnight, sometimes $600 for the month. There is no way you can survive on this salary and therefore you need multiple streams of income for you to be able to live decently. And I think the prime minister in his wisdom has set up a committee to look at what we call minimum wage. He has coined it livable wage and that livable wage must be a wage at which somebody can survive on it. So that commission has been established, it is already in operation and they are planning to deliver the force and report in the few months so that we can see what sectors we are going to target. Many persons constituents come to my constituency Mr. Speaker. And when I help them try to locate areas for employment, one of the things they do tell me, which I find is very strange, that they do not want to work in the hotels. And when I asked them why, they told me well the time, the time of work, they have the family. They do not want to leave the hotel that late or go and work that early because the children will suffer, the families will suffer. So sometimes they have to sacrifice work in order for them to protect the family. So if they can go into small business where they have their own business and they can manage it at their own time, they will be able to support the family as well as creating income and employment for them. Mr. Speaker, what I find good about this programme and this bill is that the Ministry of Commerce has indicated that in setting up small businesses, they are going to take persons who do not have any business and help them register. And when they set up the business, work them through the process, not just giving them financial support but ensuring that they become successful. They will help them in marketing and this is what some of our people really need because they do not want to be dropped out there starting a business and then the business fails. And with this I applaud the Ministry, I support the essence and the genesis of this bill so that we can create employment for our people. The government has targeted three critical areas of employment. One, we see the community tourism where government is putting financial support to help persons set up the business. We have noticed that youth economy is another area that targets the young persons and now the small business under the Ministry of Commerce. So we have several avenues where persons can explore to set up their own businesses. And businesses are not things that you will say, if I am not working, then I can set a business. You could be working and still have a business. And sometimes the business that you set up outgrows your normal form of employment. So you may have to give up your employment and run your business as a full time affair. So with this Mr. Speaker, I applaud this bill. I support the vision of the government and the prime minister with the strong support from the Ministry of Commerce. My colleague minister is Adamant and I am convinced that she is going to make it work. And with the support of the public we are going to see a large number of persons taking on this advantage of this offer so that we can put our young people in employment. We can put our single mothers, our single fathers, we can put the women in employment and therefore this is going to stimulate the economy for a greater growth in our country. With this Mr. Speaker, I lend support to this bill.