Mhm. >> God will notice it. >> Mr. Speaker, I beg to give notice that at a later stage of the proceedings, I will be taking the first stages of the bill shortly entitled House of Assembly Elections Amendment Act 2026, standing in my name on the order paper. Mr. Speaker, I beg to give notice that at a later stage of the proceedings, I will be taking all three stages of the bill shortly entitled Registration of Electors Amendment Act 2026, standing in my name on the order paper. >> The um There is an an error if we can go back to the House of Assembly. Um Is that that That simply says the first says first stages is a type one document. It should be all three stages. >> Okay, all three stages. >> Thank you, Mr. Speaker. >> Introduction of bills. >> Your mic Your mic Your mic. >> Yeah. Mr. Speaker, I move that the bill shortly entitled House of Assembly Elections Amendment Act 2026 be read a first time. >> House of Assembly Election Amendment Act 2026. >> The bill has been read a first time. >> Mr. Speaker, I move that the bill shortly entitled Registration of Electors Amendment Act 2026 be read a first time. >> Mr. Speaker, >> [clears throat] >> Registration of Electors Amendment Act 2026. >> The bill has been read a first time. >> Mr. Speaker, I move the second reading of the bill shortly entitled House of Assembly Elections Amendment 2026. Motion. Mr. Speaker, this is a straightforward amendment, I suggest, to the House of Assembly Elections Act. As was indicated, Mr. Speaker, earlier, uh this matter has been brought forward by the Electoral Commission. Um the circumstance in which the need for the amendment has arisen is that it was identified that if the men wasn't um done, that there was a realistic possibility, indeed, a strong likelihood, almost an inevitability, that several people, several electors, who, I should say, eligible electors would be disenfranchised in the impending Rousseau North by-election. The circumstance in which the amendment, the need for the amendment amendment arose as I'm advised is this, Mr. Speaker. The confirmation process that was provided for in the uh electoral modernization electoral reform, take your choice, um process, which um resulted last year in bills being passed in this house. Um the whole of that process was anticipating the uh confirmation exercise and the completion of that exercise, and then the um legislation taking its full effect. However, as we are all now aware, uh a circumstance arose whereby election became necessary, and that was not provided for as part of the confirmation process. And as a result, Mr. Speaker, there were categories of electors who were in danger of not being able to exercise the franchise. Uh for example, Mr. Speaker, one category identified was those who had been confirmed but who may not by the date of the um election receive an identification card. Vote Vote size uh vote identification card to use the proper term. Um I don't know whether that is actually likely to be the situation, but I think uh the commission was anticipating that it was possible. One never knows what may happen in the process of the issuance of cards and so forth. And so, to avoid that, uh that's one of the reasons. Another category, Mr. Speaker, is those who would have been on the the list, um and those who are following the electoral process will recall that at the commencement of the at the enactment of the bills in March of last year, the registration of electors had provided that the the list that existed at that time would be the list subject to any um uh deletions and other and additions would be the list for any election that arose. So, of course, there may be people on No, there will be people on that list who have not confirmed, either because they have no intention of of confirming or because as far as they're concerned, they'll [clears throat] the confirmation process continues until October. So, they may be saying, "I have time." They have not yet confirmed. Um should they be denied properly the ability to exercise the franchise if they're in the reason of constituency and want to vote? And obviously, the answer is no. They're legally they're entitled to vote. Um so, that's another category. In In addition to to to that, Mr. Speaker, you have the those people who may register um between the period at after the last supplement cuz there are a number of different lists after the last supplementary list um between that time and the issuance of the writ, and they would not automatically or expressly um be able to vote. Of course, uh I think most right-minded people would say that clearly these people are entitled to vote and should be allowed to vote. But we know that we are in a society where sometimes some of us for reasons that are not always clear to other people, choose not to be reasonable. So, I I guess the commission was of the view, and I share the view, I must say, that to avoid that type of complication, the best thing to do is to ensure that the registration is passed to ensure that all of those people who are entitled to vote will be able to to vote. Um the unfortunate thing, is course, is not the most tidy of processes in the way it's being done, but I think Mr. Speaker I would say that in all the circumstances it is the lesser of evils if I can put it that way that we have a process which is less tidy than I suspect all of us would like but is clearer so that by the time a writ is issued by the time people have the the need to exercise their franchise everybody will know exactly what the rules are and there should be less scope for confusion. Um I also know Mr. Speaker that um many members of the public or certainly reasonable number and certainly on the opposite side of the house um have expressed uh from time to time the desire for as many people as possible who are entitled to vote to be allowed to vote uh even to the point of uh the the uh the call for um the identifying documents to be to be made easier. So I suspect Mr. Speaker that um this might be something that um they find um acceptable and um contributing to that uh process of enabling people who are entitled to vote to do so with as as uh little obstruction as possible. Mr. Speaker It really it's the the the bill is really just three clauses. The first clause really is simply the citation and short title House of Assembly Elections Amendment Act 2026. The second clause is simply uh dealing with the interpretation of the the um the act that is referred to in this bill is the um House of Assembly Elections Act that's the 2025 Act. And the substantive amendment, the amendment that we are concerned with today is really a clause three, which is a new section a new section being inserted into the Act and given the number 36A. And 36A is the shoulder note indicates it is a transitional arrangement for voter identification cards. As the name suggests, or as the title suggests, it's transitional Um and I will address that again shortly, but Mr. Speaker, it's short, so I'll just read it out so that those who are listening and not here will be able to follow. 36A subclause one, notwithstanding sections 31 and 36, an elector whose name appears on the register register applicable to an election shall not be refused a ballot solely because the elector has not been issued with or is unable to produce a voter identification card. Subsection subclause two, subject to subsections three and four, an elector referred to in subsection one shall establish his identity and satisfy the presiding officer that he is the same person whose name appears in the register by producing a his valid sorry, his valid passport issued by the government of Dominica, B, his valid Dominica driver's license and his valid certificate of birth issued by the government of Dominica, C, his valid social security registration card issued by the Dominica Social Security and his valid certificate of birth issued by the government of Dominica, or D, his valid certificate of birth issued by the government of Dominica and a passport-size full photograph certified by a justice of the peace commissioner for oaths or notary public to be a true full photograph of the elector. So, Mr. Speaker, it can be seen um looking at A to D that um generous provision is made for alternative means of an an elector being able to satisfy presiding officer that he or she is who he or she says that they are and matches up with the person who is entitled to vote. Um obviously the passport is is obvious is a valid passport, a driver's license, uh but also a birth certificate, or thirdly, social security card and birth certificate. And if a person has none of those, then they have the alternative or the further alternative of producing a valid birth certificate and a passport size photograph certified by a justice of the peace. So, Mr. Speaker, there's a comprehensive there's comprehensive provision to ensure that all who wish to vote and are eligible to do so um will have a little difficulty in exercising that franchise. Um Mr. Speaker, there's also amendment resultant from that um by way of form 12, which is the relevant form associated with this, and um it really speaks for itself. I'm not going to read it, Mr. Speaker. Um it simply is headed um House of Assembly Elections Act 2025 oath of person whose name appears in the register of electors and who is unable able to produce his voter identification card during the transitional period. So, uh those who fall within that this category that we are talking about in the amendment will have to take this oath as well um to subscribe and be on the record that they have um they have we have sworn that they do not have a voter identification card uh uh uh otherwise unable to provide it for the purpose of receiving a ballot and being able to cast that ballot in the election. Mr. Speaker, I I I don't think that I am going to say anything further on this at this time. It's a straightforward amendment seeking to regularize and make the voting exercise easier for those who fall in the category of not having a voter identification card on the date of the election. I thank you, Mr. Speaker. >> The bill is before the house for debate. Yes, honorable Blackman. >> Mr. Speaker, I want to quickly um support this this bill before this honorable house and the support of the Attorney General in his presentation. And to say, Mr. Speaker, further to what the honorable Attorney General said, I do not think when initially the election bills were presented to Parliament, that the Attorney General, the Prime Minister, any member of side had a crystal ball and looking at a crystal ball, what did you see? That you saw that an election a by-election was going to be called in the Rose Hall of constituency. I don't have a crystal ball as that when I when I when I when I actually do that debate. And I cannot speak for the AG or the Prime Minister, but I I I I I can say that they fall in the same category. What is important, Mr. Speaker, is that that this government is serious about the democratic process. And that is serious about safeguarding the rights of every voter who under section 6 of election your register registry um of elections act, Mr. Speaker, register, of the election act. is qualified to vote if his name is on the voters list when election is called. Now, if that change, as the Attorney General has just said, is not made, it means that people whose name on the voters list as qualified electors to vote who will not have an ID card because the confirmation process is still in effect, will not be able to cast his or vote. Secondly, Mr. Speaker, section 13 obligates the Chief Election Officer and the commission to adopt the existing list whenever an election is called. You cannot throw the list aside. So, the the AG had no crystal ball. Likewise, the Prime Minister, the bills represented enacted in Parliament in good faith, and the expectation then was the confirmation process would have been exercised by ensuring that everybody who wishes to confirm his name on on the list or name on the list within that period, which actually terminates in October, would have would have done so. Now, what what what what we did not see at the time the by-election. But, of course, it says for therefore in any election thereafter that somebody must present a voter ID card. The voter ID card cannot be presented because the confirmation process is still ongoing. What I believe is important to understand and to underscore is the good faith of the government. >> That's right. >> And it's to respect the democratic process. And the government is saying by inference therefore that we're going to ensure that we go through the confirmation period without uh without calling uh general elections, Mr. Speaker. And I think that is critical. That is important. Because I think that has been underscored. Because I've been hearing a lot of hoopla. And I I I I see Mr. um Mr. Senator Paris was fully ordained now. I said fully ordained? Mr. Speaker. >> [laughter] >> Um Yeah. I don't know. I don't know to what. He knows to what, but he's fully ordained. All right. Because they were saying I I was saying that if the Prime Minister makes a mistake and call the election before the conversion process and everybody declaring the candidates I'm seeing candidates some I never knew in my life. That's a pain. And that's that's that's all right. Because they're preparing for election before the end of the confirmation period. I don't know. I'm not in the head of the Prime Minister. But I believe that Mr. Mr. Speaker that demonstrates that the government it stands transparent. The government intends to respect the laws that the government have introduced into law into parliament and enacted into parliament. So I'm of the opinion that Mr. Paris will stand in support of these measures before this honorable house. And that he should not sidetrack notwithstanding the fact that is that he has been fully ordained into the fraternity for which he knows, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I support this measure before the honorable house. It's a very simple measure, but I felt I wanted to add my voice. Now, you can stand up right I understand sit down for you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. >> [laughter] >> Yes, honorable Senator Paris, you may proceed. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Members of Parliament, good afternoon. Mr. Speaker, this is timely piece of legislation. And I would like to applaud, obviously, the Electoral Commission who did not have a crystal ball at the time. Like Senator Blackman myself to know that at this point in time we would be going through or having to deal with a by-election. Mr. Speaker, two things I want to point out because Minister Blackman mentioned the hoopla. I You didn't translate that. What is hoopla? You have to translate that. But, he didn't trans- He mentioned what I assume to be a lot of confusion around the process. But, what I didn't hear from him is that an encouragement to people who are still not yet confirmed. The young people who have not taken the opportunity to go and register to ensure that they don't they themselves don't disenfranchise themselves regardless of all the misinformation that is going on to make sure that they can put themselves in a position to participate in the process. And I think that is something, Minister Blackman, that we can all agree on. That regardless of this piece of legislation making a serious effort to ensure that people are not disenfranchised in in a in a situation that we that is unexpected as they usually as they sometimes are. Making sure that everybody who is eligible to participate can participate. In spite of that, we should still be asking everyone to make sure that they get their names on the list because Mr. Speaker this amendment is not forever. It comes to a close at the end of the confirmation period. It automatically disappears. And that is another point I wanted to make sure that the people of Dominica understands. Because with any little, you know as somebody said, I can't remember who we are we are gossiping nation. >> Yes. >> [laughter] >> We are gossiping nation. We like to make stories. There is a time limit on this there's a time limit on this. And once the confirmation period is over and the electoral commission is able to give or to produce or to distribute all of the electoral all of the all of the identification cards for voting, this no longer applies. So you would be required as the law stipulates to ensure that you present a voter voter's ID card once general election is called. So Mr. Speaker, of course safeguarding the rights of people to make sure that they can participate eligibly in the process and making sure that everybody who is eligible can can participate without any type of hindrance is supported. Like the opposition leader said this morning the the opposition is always ready to support legislation and investments and actions that benefits the people of Dominica. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I I'm glad to see that members of the house I died in that this is a straightforward and beneficial amendment and doesn't require detailed debate. Mr. Speaker, I commend this bill to the house. With those few words, I resume my Thank you, Mr. Speaker. >> This concludes the debate. It has been moved and seconded that the bill shortly entitled House of Assembly Election Amendment Act 2026 be read a second time. Those in favor? Those against? The eyes have it. The The bill will now be read a second time. House of Assembly Election Amendment Act 2026. The bill will now stand committed to a committee of the whole house to be considered clause by clause. >> the bill as amended to the house. After report that the bill shortly entitled House Assembly Elections Amendment Act 2026 passed the committee stage with a minor amendment. The question is that the report of the committee on the bill be adopted. Those in favor? Those against? The eyes have it. Yes. >> Speaker. >> You you make. Yes. >> Mr. Speaker, I move that the bill shortly entitled House of Assembly Elections Amendment Act 2026 be read a third time and passed. >> Seconded, Mr. Speaker. >> It has been moved and seconded that the bill shortly entitled House of Assembly Elections Amendment Act 2026 be read a third time and passed. Those in favor? Those against? The eyes have it. >> House of Assembly Election Amendment Act 2026. >> The bill has been read a third time and passed accordingly. >> Mr. Speaker, I move the second reading of the bill shortly entitled Registration of Electors Amendment Act 2026. >> Seconded, Mr. Speaker. >> Mr. Speaker, this is the second of the two bills before the house today um to address um issues that were identified in the existing legislation ahead of the impending by-election. In this instance, Mr. Speaker, the Registration of Electors Act is the act in in question and it is section 14 of that act and in particular subsection seven. Subsection seven of the the act, Mr. Speaker, reads "If a writ for an election is issued during the confirmation period the register of electors to be used for that election shall be the register of electors published under section 13 subsection three together with such monthly lists as have been published under the subsects Sorry, under subsection one and the supplementary lists last published under section 17 two. Full stop." This amendment, Mr. Speaker, goes on to add um obviously it's presented presented in a different format. This is presented in subparagraphs A, B, C which is the end um of the subsection seven as currently drafted. But this amendment adds the word "and" and then adds D and uh subsection eight. And D is as follows. "The names of persons who have been registered since the publication of the last supplementary list up to and including the date of the issue of the writ. And then at sub clause, which would be subsection eight, for the purposes of subsection seven, supplementary lists include [snorts] supplementary lists revised and published in accordance with section 172 and published in accordance with section 174. And Mr. Speaker, this was felt necessary because um if one looks at the the wording of seven as I initially read it, it refers to the monthly lists. Well, it it talks about the register which is adopted um upon enactment of the legislation. Then it talks about the monthly lists as have been published under subsection one. And it also has the supplementary list last published under section 172. And what was um considered is that section 172 refers to a supplementary list shall be revised by making such additions. And this is at subsection four of section 17. Says the supplementary list shall be revised by making such additions thereto or removals therefrom as are authorized under this act in relation to the preliminary register. And the list so revised shall be published in the gazette, on the website of the electoral office, and in such other manner as may be prescribed, and may be published in a newspaper widely circulated in Dominica. But you'll see um Mr. Speaker and members of the house immediately that I was reading there subsection four of section 17. But you if you noticed when I read out the existing section 17 subsection Sorry, section 14 subsection seven, there's no reference to section 17(4) in that. It's simply 17(2). And therefore, again, whilst it's right-minded people would think it's obvious that section 17(4) is also meant to be part of what is referred to in in subsection 7, to avoid ambiguity, it was felt necessary to state expressly, which is what is done in in the subsection [clears throat] 8. And at D, where it deals with the names of persons who have been registered, that was referred to earlier, but that is obviously those people who register between the supplementary list and the writ. So, they too will be will be captured and enable and able to vote without undue impediment. Mr. Speaker, it really that's it is as simple as that, really. And that I don't think it needs me to say anything more at this time. So, Mr. Speaker, with those words, I commend the bill to the house. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. >> The bill is before the house for debate. >> Mr. Speaker, deprive anybody of the opportunity to contribute, but um I I think again, I'm grateful to members of the house on both sides for the cooperation and understanding and the acceptance that the bills that the commission have uh commended to us uh for passage uh are appropriate, necessary, uh and improve the legislation to enable those who wish to exercise the franchise to do so. Mr. Speaker, with those few words, I commend the bill to the house. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. >> This concludes the debate. It has been moved and seconded that the bill shortly entitled Registration of Electors Amendment Act 2026 be read a second time. Those in favor? Those against? The eyes have it. The bill will now be read a second time. >> Registration of Electors Amendment Act 2026. >> The bill will now stand to the committee of the whole house. House resumes. I have to report that the bill shortly entitled Registration of Electors Amendment Act 2026 passed the committee stage without amendment. The question is that the report of the committee on the bill be adopted. Those in favor? Those against? The eyes have it. >> Mr. Speaker, I move that the bill shortly entitled Registration of Electors Amendment Act 2026 be read a third time and passed. >> Seconded, Mr. Speaker. >> It has been moved and seconded that the bill shortly entitled Registration of Electors Amendment Act 2026 be read a third time and passed. Those in favor? Those against? The eyes have it. >> Registration of Electors Amendment Act 2026. >> The bill has been read a third time and passed accordingly. So, earlier today, we moved a motion so that we could um suspend or some of the different standing orders we actually listed in order to allow for us to go through the Registration of Electors Amendment Act and also the House of Assembly Election Amendment Act 2026 as urgent matters as submitted by the or recommended by the commission the electoral commission. Um and we have done that. So, now we result back to our process of the debate on the budget. That's what we agreed to this morning, so we may proceed. And I recognize you, Honorable Vince Henderson, to proceed. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And um I am very happy to rise in support of the budget of 2026 2027 as presented by the Minister of Finance. I want to begin by expressing condolences to the government and people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on behalf of the government of Dominica for the damage brought by two earthquakes in the northwestern central parts of Venezuela with a death toll of about 6,000 to date and growing. We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of Venezuela. As true friends, they've always been here with us from 1978 on the establishment of our own political independence. First country to establish an embassy here in Dominica and sometimes we forget that they also constructed the Simon Bolivar housing scheme in the '80s for the benefit of Dominicans in the in the Stock Farm area. And I I do hope that at some point that we seek to bring more prominence to that generosity of the government and people of Venezuela as part of our history. I think we need to perhaps reestablish a big sign there or big some symbol of appreciation. I recently discussed that with the Venezuelan ambassador when we had a memorial mass for the victims of the earthquake uh about a month ago. Mr. Speaker, I also want to take the opportunity to commend um the leader of the opposition on the presentation. I have seen growth over the years that she has occupied that position. And I can finally make her bring her some joy by telling her, "Yes, I remember teaching you at school." And she always teased me about that because I just couldn't remember her that well. I remember her brother that well, but I think today I saw I saw it. I saw it. I saw it. Yeah. But But I I also I also >> [laughter] >> I also want to thank for her endorsement of the budget. And at some points, I also I almost took her for the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, who was sticking to further explain the presentation by the Minister of Finance. But I I must say indeed you acquitted yourself um well, and I I want to commend you for that. Uh because someone reminded me this morning I should be nice to you because I wasn't kind to you some years ago. I still don't believe that, but I must say. But here we are. Today I I just want to frame my contribution on the budget perhaps to rule the least trouble. I think people will be annoyed at me a bit as they normally are. But I just want to use the opportunity to speak to some things that people don't normally like to hear. But I'm going to say them anyway. I want to focus on one of the key things is calling and leader of the opposition spoke about our resilience as a people. I want to begin by you know, really recognizing the resilience of the Dominican people and to thank them for their tireless efforts over decades. Having gone through so many challenges, and I don't I don't want to be a historian like like um remember for the South constituency. So, I won't go back to those days of citrus and whether it was lime or coconuts or I will start I'll just stick on bananas. I will go in more recent times. But you remember we had a banana industry that peaked to a hundred million dollars revenue in 1990 1988, sorry. Um 89, okay. We peaked to about a hundred million dollars a year. And then all of a sudden in by the 2000s we saw the decline. And I remember being saddled with the responsibility of Minister of Agriculture in my youth. I remember as you mentioned earlier, but anyway, I'm still here. And we started back then and we carried the last days of the banana industry until we absorbed the 37 million dollar debts of the DBMC when we wound up DBMC. And we gave support to the apex. That's how the apex came about. So, we went through that struggle. And a lot of people thought that Elaboday we finish. But we didn't starve. We didn't die. We pressed on. We worked hard and we continued to develop. We continued to build the country. And then when we started seeing our way boom we got hit by hurricanes. Successive hurricanes. I remember Hurricane Dean at one point. I remember that around 2008 early some days. We had a little storms, but then we started being hit by hurricanes. Ophelia came, I remember that freak storm kind of event weather event. And then Tropical Storm Erika came. And then Hurricane Maria came. And then COVID came. I'm touching those because people don't like to hear that. Oh, stop all you all saying hurricane about hurricane hurricane and COVID and COVID. But I want to get that message across today. So, [snorts] I want to take us back. In 2000, was a difficult time for us. We got in office. We came in at a time when the government could not pay its bills. And you remember the story about the computer broke down when people couldn't get their >> salaries. >> And salaries used to be on the 15th of the month. >> Yes. >> It was that bad. I was a teacher at the time. Well, just before 2000. And salaries were not being paid. We had all these challenges. Then we By the time we got into office, we had to struggle now to deal with those challenges. And I want to give you some facts. And I heard the the the leader of the opposition also said that GDP and all these macroeconomic indicators, they they they don't put food on the shelves and thing and I don't know where we get that from. But I will use the the quote of um the late um Prime Minister of the UK, Winston Churchill, when he said that democracy is the worst form of government except when compared to the others that have been tried. It is the worst form of government, but it's the best thing we know. It is the best thing we know. So, those macroeconomic indicators, they are the tools that we use to determine how our country's growing. And that is how we are measured, whether we like it or not. I spent years at the United Nations with my colleagues fighting for what is now called the the What is it? The the the multi- vulnerability index. You remember that, right? The MVIs. We pushed for that for years because we felt that that those GDP and all these per capita stuff that they're talking about is not a good measure of the reality. But what we are seeking to do was to add vulnerability into those figures, those macroeconomic indicators. Because one simple event can just throw everything off. And we know that too well in our country. So, I'm sorry to tell you, but I have to talk about those macroeconomic figures because it is the accumulation of the revenue that people make, the money they make, the work they do. The fig and ash and they sell, the fish, everything that is added up by some statistician and economist, and then they come with this thing and they package it nicely and tell you that's what it is. Now, obviously, if you look at the Bahamas with a per capita income of, say, 30,000 years, I don't remember what the exact number is. You would think everybody in Bahamas have plenty money. This is not true. I mean, it is skewed. We know that, and that's why we we keep fighting that, but it is a measure of how the country's doing. It is important to to have those figures to tell that story. So, I will I will get to where we were in 2000. In 2000, we found ourselves in a very difficult time. And I was comparing some figures. You know, our revenue in 2000 was 205 million EC dollars. For the whole country. The whole government. The whole thing put together, when we do the revenue that we get from taxes and duties and everything we collect, 205 million East Caribbean dollars. How much is How much is it today? Huh? How much is it today? When I check what it is Oh, it is much more, it's 405% more today. So, I hear people talk about 26 years. I want to put this in context about THIS 26 YEARS. WE HAVE ACTUALLY grown our revenue by 405%. It is now a million, a billion, sorry. 32 dollars, right? Right, FF? I hope I said it right. According to our your minister, 1,000 million. 1,032 million East Caribbean dollars. So, we've grown by 405% in revenue. So, if there was no expansion of the economy, there was no growth, there were people not making money, how could we have collected a million and 32 And when you break that down, half of that is from tax revenue, you know. The non-tax is CBI. But about half of that is from the highest highest collection we've had, 470 million. That is in revenue in taxes that we collected from people, and we still know plenty of people who don't pay tax. A lot of people don't pay taxes. There are a lot of people who make much more money than people who pay taxes. Possible servants. The public officers that you know, poor public officers, because their money we know it is. So, we tax them first once they reach a threshold. But there are people who make much more money than them, and they do not pay taxes. We still have little link leakages in the collection of of VAT as well. So, we still not collecting everything that is reflected in the economy, you know. There there is a percentage that is not collected. So, I want to go back again to 2000. At the time our recurrent expenditure was 253 million East Caribbean dollars. I see a former minister there. Regie, imagine that. When when the Prime Minister came from China in 2004, in March of 2004. You remember what he came back with from Regie? 300 million dollars worth of assistance from the government of the People's Republic of China. But in 2000 We only we were spending only 253 million dollars recurring expenditure. Let's fast forward to today. Let's fast forward to the to today and see how much the country has expanded. The government itself, I'm not even talking about the private sector, you know. The government, look at the expansion that has taken place. So now we are looking at our recurring expenditure, a growth of 169% of 680 million East Caribbean dollars. 680 million. We've grown by 169%. In money we spend just to run the government services, the system. I'm not talking about capital, you know, by the way. Capital is nowhere yet in that in that discussion. Just recurrent. So just look at it. And again, another figure I want you to think about. In 2000 the economy contracted by 4.6%. You imagine that, 4.6%. The economy just contracted. Coming from 1999. Right? So instead of growing, we shrink. We shrunk. Is that Is that the word? >> [laughter] >> So so, you know, it's it's it's That is what happened. That is what happened. And then, if you look at what happened then, our per capita growth I'm sorry I'm sorry. 2025, you know what is the growth? Of course, the Minister of Finance said that, 4.5. In the positive. So, we went from -4.6 to +4.5 in 2025. But, there are things in between I'll tell you about, you know why? Because I want you to bear with me. I want to tell my story. Bear with me. The per capita income in Dominica in 2000 was 400 4,867 US dollars. In 2025, 9,866 dollars. 100% growth per capita income. The only way you can explain that is by an economy that has grown over 25 years. I'm not talking about small growth, you know. Talking about significant growth in spite of the difficulties we've had in between. So, I want to speak to that. Now, people talk about debt, and I'm saying this because I want some people who were on the radio. I don't like the way they respond to people on radio. Plain, you know. They're good. They're fellows smart. They have some They went to school and so. But, some of them manipulate figures to tell the story they want to tell. So, they talk about oh, GDP um debt per GDP ratio. Um now, we are at how much um 90 99%? 98%? Okay, we are way up there, yes. In 1995, we are 90 95%. We are 95%. And the debt was about it in 1995. Our debt was about I think 600 700 million dollars. Today is 1.3 billion. Okay. That's fine. But, there's a story behind that. And I want to tell you that story because I think it's important that people know these things. Because sometimes we don't want to hear these facts. And I don't know if they're inconvenient or if they just trouble in our so, we don't want to hear them. But, I want you to bear with me. In 2002 And by the way, I see the members here. Most of you in your first term. When we came to Parliament in 2000 with the budget 2001 2002 and and if you think I'm lying, there's a member in the gallery. And well, and then I just realized then they were two. Is Vincent scary? Who were there in 2000 and 2001. Well, Honorable Blackman was a special advisor to the Prime Minister at the time, successive Prime Minister. And then got into the Parliament in 2005. But, I will tell you this, when we came to Parliament with the budget, we used to just put the budget there. You see everybody there want to talk and everybody busy and have all big speech. All you want to do is let the Minister of Finance finish the thing and for you to get out of it. BECAUSE IT WAS FIRE. PRESSURE. SO, here's here's what happened in 2002. So, 2002 things went were so bad, we decided to go into a stabilization program with the IMF. So, we had a tri- tripartite group, ECCB, CDB, um the Ministry of Finance met and discussed measures that that we could put in place. And things were so bad that what the options we had were to reduce the size of the public service by 10%. To reduce salaries by 10%. Now, everybody got scared. We struggled for weeks debating, what do we do? What do we do? And we finally came up with the position that we will go ahead with the 10% reduction in salaries. And in addition to that, we put 4% levy on salaries and we and and um all of the benefits of public officers, 4%. So, imagine what happened to public servants. They got a serious hit. We were able to survive that. So, that is part of what we had to do. We reduction of salaries and wages of public officers by 10%, outsourcing of government services then that's how we ended up with all the security firms that give us services, the janitorial services and so forth. We increased the sales tax at the time we used to have sales tax on petroleum from 3 to 5%. That time, well, gas [clears throat] was cheap. It was $7, $6 a gallon, you know, but we increased it. We we imposed sales tax on telecommunication services. That's another thing that we had to do. We introduced the environmental surcharge. We We put a whole bunch of thing on It was really a way to collect revenue, but also to discourage the importation of older vehicles and older equipment. Then we had the consumption tax on liquor. And I remember Pierre at the time saying only only um How do you say? Only only posh rub you may say champagne only buy. So, they put the tax on on liquor for people who wanted to drink expensive liquor. >> don't understand what I'm saying. >> Oh, sorry. I withdraw. Um So, so we have to do that. We have to reduce concessions as well that we gave to people. So, so there are a number of things that we had to do as a a sacrifices, but you know what? Our people survived. Our people survived. They pushed on. They worked with us. I remember I remember Senator Nicholas in the Teachers Association. I remember DAT being very very supportive. And I remember at time, our good friend Sonia, teacher Sonia, was in was was in in um Public Service Union, and she was there holding the fort as the president, and you was pushing on, and we were trying, and we were working together. The Police Welfare Association came on board, and everybody made the sacrifice so that we could survive that very difficult time. But the good news is that we survived. A few years later, we were able to expand the economy and do so many things, and look at us today. Look at where we are today, but I still want to say that development options for small island developing states are very limited. Very, very limited. So, we lost bananas, and the story behind that, most of us who are older know, it was the Americans who challenged our preferential treatment, that was our tariff-free entry into the UK market at the World Trade Organization. They challenged that that um preferential treatment we we received. And because of that, it resulted in the death of the banana industry as we knew it. But guess what? And for that, I have to give the UWP some credit. The late Julian Hunte, you know, he was a very creative Minister of Finance. And he started the gaming, he started all sorts of thing, offshore the offshore sector started growing. AND AS SOON AS THE thing reached a stage where it was growing by 2001, FATF, OECD, non-cooperating countries and territories, boom, blacklist. So, the thing just went back down because it had grown. It was growing. And then we got hit. We move on. We continue, according to my partner, we press on. We decided we were pressing on. CBI was there, but not doing very well at the time. We were still the last in the countries offering citizenship by investment. But we decided to push on. So there are not many options. But what there are are vulnerabilities for small island states. Climate change, pandemics, global shocks of any type like now the war in Ukraine. And these are the These are These are the the realities that we have to deal with because the question is how do you grow a country? Exports. And as part of exports is tourism. Tourism is a big part of the exports. It's an export product in that sense. You bring in foreign exchange into the country when the visitors come into the country. And we have made tremendous investments in tourism. And we're seeing the growth. We're seeing the growth. The 18% growth we got last year we we're seeing the growth. But it didn't just happen. It was through investments. We increased the seats into Dominica air by about 100,000. So we now have 166,000 seats airlift seats into Dominica. And about four How much? 400,000? 464,000 or something like that. By sea. So we have seats. We have seats. We can bring people into Dominica. We're seeing the growth. And they are coming. What we have to do is to continue to promote Dominica, to enhance our sites, and to make sure that we can bring more people into Dominica and let them spend more money. That is that is the kind of investment. But I want to say I want to go to now some of the vulnerabilities. And I I don't know people don't like to hear these things. But Tropical Storm Erika started was the first major hit that started setting us back. Because we started going on an upward trajectory. Our debt-to-GDP ratio by that time in 20 15, 2014, was about 60-something percent. 67% of GDP. We were within the the ECCU acceptable range. And then we got hit. And in that year alone, in 2015, we saw a dive. A gain of contraction of the economy by 7.5%. 7.5%. We lost 90% of our GDP. $1.3 billion damage. Damage. $1.3 billion of damage. 90% of GDP in just a few hours, and the economy contracted by 7.5%. But it doesn't end there. So, we had the loss of life. But we also had loss of revenue. Loss of business. But on top of that, it left us with a debt of $104 million. Just Just from loans. I'm saying this I want I'm saying this carefully because I'm making a It's a story I'm telling. Thank God at the time CBI had started growing. So, we had access to CBI funds, and that is where the people selling people found themselves being relocated in Bell Vue Pierre. Fully financed by the Citizenship by Investment Program. Think about that. If we didn't have that about maybe a $300 million to do the Bell Vue Pierre project. How how could we relocate the people from Bell Vue Pierre? If we did not have the benefit of the CBI and mind you, CBI didn't just grow by itself. It was right government policies, promotion, marketing, and a lot of decisions that worked for us that helped us in the marketplace and were able to raise funds to do things like the relocation of the of the Petite Savanne people. So, that's 104 million dollars. Don't forget that. Don't forget that number. That was 2015. By 2017, Hurricane Maria came. And I know my partner up to last night he tell me he don't want to come and listen to us in Parliament talking about those things again, but I hope he listening because I will talk about it. If you don't want to tell your story that is you, but I telling that story. Hurricane Maria, I want you to follow me, huh? By that time we lost the damage was 3.5 billion EC dollars. More than twice what we saw and that it was 224% of GDP. That's what happened to us in 2017 and the economy contracted this again. Significant contraction. Significant contraction. So, we had that loss, but here's the thing, rebuilding, thank God again for CBI funds, we able to respond quickly. Quickly. We were able to buy food. We went and we we we we bought supermarkets. Although one say we never paid him. But, we bought supermarkets and we were able to distribute food, distribute water to people. We were able to do that with our own resources. So, while while the UN and everybody come and remember our good friends from World Food Program, you know, they came, but while these people was trying to come with remember Pierre as we ordering whole broad boat loads of stuff from Barbados and wherever and we went by after funds and went by this place, even the small supermarkets and Lindo Mart somewhere there, we just buying up those things and able to distribute food and water to people throughout Dominica. That was money that was in the treasury. That was CBI money. We were able to use to do that. But, in spite of that we have to contract loans. And this time, I said it was 104 million for Tropical Storm Erika response. We ended up with 341 million dollars responding to Hurricane Maria in loans. Loans. I want people to hear that, you know. Because when I finish you will you will get it. 341 million dollars in loans. And that is why we had to come to the parliament and agree with the World Bank and the IMF to some terms, the 2% surplus. That is how it came about. It was part of that story and it doesn't end there. So we we started we end up with 341 million dollars loan. So then we started growing again. We started growing again and look at the If you look at the figures you will see we started growing again. And man, I said no, man, we just got a cut a break. 2020 COVID-19 virus, coronavirus hit us. And the government of Dominica had to create an entire hospital in Portsmouth. And continue to pay Oh, and by the way, I forgot to say after Hurricane Maria we were paying people to stay at their homes. Remember that? People couldn't go to work. But nobody missed a salary. Nobody missed a salary. We were paying people to stay at their homes during Hurricane Maria. And the few of us who could make it were showing up every day. But most people couldn't make it. Then COVID hit. Place shut down. People can't work, but people were receiving their salaries. Businesses got support. We were able to support some of them. The private sector Yeah, got quite a bit of help. We were able to do this and to run the country uninterrupted during COVID. Again, we had to utilize our own funds that came about through the citizenship by investment program. But, you know what? The economy contracted by 15.7% again, just loss of revenue, no business, and the government had to take loans. And you know, I was calculating. I thought it was a small amount because I remember I I was tracking it some years ago. But, when I when I got the full report from the Ministry of Finance, $277 million in loans. In loans, just to respond to COVID, to deal with COVID. So, all these figures that I gave you in terms of loans from these natural disasters and the pandemic, they add up to $722 million. In loans that are now due to pay. We have to pay them. Most of them should be due. Now, it means that out of every dollar we collect, you realize what happened there? You see how much money you have to take to service loans. For every dollar that is collected by revenue, we have to service these loans. Thank God we still have the ability to do that. But, I'm saying this to say that the kind of largess we had, the ability we had to do some things are now constrained by the fact that we have a debt burden brought about by natural disasters and a pandemic. But, you know, the good news is, in spite of all of that, Labour Party didn't just sit down there crying, you know. Or according to our leader of the opposition used to say, we coming here belly aching. We're not belly aching. So, I'm not complaining. I'm just stating the facts because we never stopped working. And thank God for the generosity of our friends, the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. They they were there with us, always. The People's Republic of China, when they came here in 2004, they have never left our side and they have helped us to grow and develop. The government of Cuba has been in solidarity with us since 1970s, but more so in recent times and we stand in solidarity with them today. They've educated our people. They provided healthcare workers to us and we will always be grateful to them. The government of Morocco came on board and started assisting us. The UK government financed the Loubiere to Bagatelle Road. And And Julian Boy, we looking good. Where is he? He's not there. We looking good. We looking good. All you go to breakfast fair. All you see how good we looking. And we encourage you to go to breakfast fair, too. Go to breakfast fair this weekend. We looking good. And when you go, you'll go on the Geneva playing field. We looking good. We looking good. So So you will see how good we looking, but again for the generosity of our friends, the government of the United States, the government of India. So we've had so many friends who helped us during those very difficult times. But during this all these difficult times that I spoke about, from the collapse of the banana industry to the hurricanes and the pandemic, we never stopped working to develop this country. And one thing I'll agree with you, leader of the opposition, development is not a wish list. It is not even a sprint, it's a marathon. It's something that takes hard work, dedication, discipline, and sometimes it takes time. Do you follow me? It takes time. But we've never stopped working. So while things were difficult, we knew that we could not develop Dominica if we had not increased air access. And we invested in the expansion of the Douglas Charles Airport. We got night landing. We move from a boxing plant to a nice terminal building. You remember we had just a little box there. He just come there. You know you know that well. I mean you are there. We So we got night landing. And remember the days when you used to be stuck in Antigua? Well, I grew up going to St. Martin every holiday. So I know what it was to get stuck in Antigua, little boy. And when lights go when lights um when night reaches and the plane no come, that's it. They have to put you in a little guest house somewhere close to the airport. I don't know where they get these names from. These are some funny names. And they'll put you in a little guest house somewhere. Because you know you can't go down there. We got night landing, but we did not stop there. Minister of Tourism, we expanded the the runway and the grooving. The grooving the Minister I like to say that. The grooving of the runway to make it safer for American Airlines. And now for United So we didn't stop working. It All of these challenges we continue to invest in Dominica's development. And then I don't know again people I look around by just realize how old I am, you know, boy. Maybe I should grow a little you know. Maybe try to get bigger because I don't Maybe I feeling myself young man. As if I feeling young. For some reason I JUST FORGET MY AGE, YOU KNOW. But you know you you look around and you see you remember how it was going to the airport from Roseau? You remember that little you know I don't know where you guys resolve, but in St. Joe we had a little thing we used to play in a big stone in the river. Used to play man on the throne and you have to try to throw people down. So man on the throne. So but in You remember that little road when you reach Pocasset? It's like you're playing man on the throne, you know, because it's who can stay will stay. THE OTHER MAN HAVE TO GO DOWN. THAT'S THE ROAD WE HAD. Although I understood there was a history to that, it was a feeder road the British had given us because um it was liberal who tricked them to we get that road and Eugenia Charles as well to tell them it was a feeder road for farmers and they made the road, so it was very narrow. We made that road from Canefield to Pogson and Pogson to Hatton Garden. That was done during difficult times. Pierre Charles was still Prime Minister when we started. And then my good friend there was Minister of Works. Reggie Austrie We we we did that road during the very difficult time. We did Well, yeah, we we did. So, that is one. That is one. Then we with the with the assistance of the government of China, we did the West Coast Road. Again, my partner used to say you know, you have to play hopscotch to see which hole you take it when you're going down the West Coast. You know, I mean, unfortunately, wear and tear over years, it gets in bad again. We have to look at that and maybe a new investment. But, we're able to do that. We're able to make major infrastructural development um investments. The Windsor Park Stadium. You remember that? You remember what Windsor Park was before? Although for the life of me, I don't know why you're still calling it Windsor, but the Windsor Park Stadium, you know, is is is is again another evidence of the ingenuity the leadership of Roosevelt Skerrit after he became >> became Prime Minister. >> ONE OF HIS FIRST ACTS WAS TO GO TO CHINA, establish relations because in 1999 the United Workers Party struggled to build the stadium. They took bonds from Trinidad, having to set up to $75 million. They say some for the airport, some for the stadium, some for something else, and they couldn't build a stadium. Today we are building an international airport without that bond, without 16% interest No interest rates, no loan, and we are still building an INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN SPITE OF WHAT I JUST TOLD YOU, $722 million in loan, economic contraction brought about by hurricanes and the pandemic, we still invested in the largest infrastructure project in the history of Dominica. Something as Well, you know, when I listen >> [laughter] >> When I listen to the leader of the opposition, I just say it ain't love, boy. Just my I like I feel my love pain. UM BECAUSE I SAY IT. >> [laughter] >> NO, BABY, THIS ONE YOU should say what love pain means. >> I feeling sorry for her. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> But one thing I have to say before I go to the I I say what I was feeling sorry for her. One thing she have love in her. >> Yeah. >> No, don't ask me to interpret that. I don't know how to translate that. I don't know what love in means in English. I just know the concept. >> Stamina. >> I know the the concept. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Yeah, but she she stood up with the same energy that she started with she ended with. >> Yes. >> Yes, yes, yes, yes. True West Coast. So, I am saying to her Yeah, I listening to her and I feeling sorry because I said it ain't love, boy. If we didn't do all those things there, boy, what you just might have talked about now? You realize that? AND THAT'S ONE THING I LOVE ABOUT the discussion in Dominica today, because the things that people are talking about is because we've done SO MANY THINGS. BECAUSE SHE'S CORRECT IN SAYING THAT YES, we have to make those things work for us, you know. We have to translate them. We have to make sure our people get employment, our people empower themselves and create opportunities. But all she was speaking about is the opportunities. BUT THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO OPPORTUNITIES WITHOUT THESE INVESTMENTS. NO OPPORTUNITIES. SO, I AGREE WITH HER THAT WE have to empower people and make sure we we take advantage of this opportunity. This although like I told her, I don't see our fisherman going in a marina, but I mean that is just a little matter that we can deal with later. But, there are so many things that we can do because we have created the opportunities, we've made the investments, and we have to continue pushing forward. I mean, at the time when we were recovering from hurricanes, we decided to invest Right now, it came to almost 200 and something million dollars on the East Road. East Road. I mean, from How do you call that place? Badiab? You know, going to Hatton Garden through the Kalinago territory. That is the kind of investments that we've made because we want to improve the conditions of people, the lives of people. No, I agree with you. A lot of unintended consequences, a lot of times people don't fully embrace those investments. You know, you give people assets that would make them better, and sometimes they don't properly and fully embrace it, but we have to improve. We'll work on that. And I agree, we need to make some of those housing developments into communities. Facilities and life around them, and to improve people's conditions of living. I agree. But, this is the same government at giving the difficult time that was able to build a state college and give college access to all Dominican students. All Dominican students who wanted to go to college had a space at college. And this is the same government that started universal secondary education. Well, I take it my boy, I mean, I don't worry nobody. Me that was Minister of Education at the time. I went to PM and I tell PM, I think I can guarantee you this year that every child that did the the common entrance getting a space. We build classrooms in San Souci. I got you to build how much classroom by the by by the old home economics. We make core houses. We went to Portsmouth PSS. We build. We went to Marigot. We build. It was um how do you call this school at this time? No, it was an office. It was an St. Andrew. We expanded spaces. No, we had an office by the time. It's true. We expanded classroom spaces and were able to accommodate every student. But we did not stop there, Mr. Speaker. We provided them with books, with uniforms, with with school with meals. And the transportation, boy, I still want to talk about that. Thank you for reminding me. No, but I have to boast a little. I mean I mean I have some I have some some lovely constituents in Grand Bay and they keep telling me my paradise you see is your fault. You don't like to tell people what you're doing. You're just doing things. You're helping people. You're helping doing things in the place and you don't go boasting. So, don't say that. You don't say it in your face. So, so we we go ahead because I always feel that if you do something for somebody it's not to go and tell people or show people or go and take a picture. I I I don't know. I don't know. It's my It's my upbringing, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So, but anyway, but I but I don't I have upbringing in that one. So, when I was Minister of Education I remember >> [laughter] >> But that's why I tell you we have Geneva playing field. Those who can can bring bands, bring bands. Those who can bring ice, bring ice. We all participate. We all participate. We all participate. That is that is what I love about the Grand Bay people and the spirit. The spirit of embodiment of the real Grand Bay people, you know? And and you know So, the other You don't got me forgetting my bosses, you know? And and I remember it was about 2000 and and seven around there about when we I invited the mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti. I remember her well. I introduced her because I I I was introduced to her by the by the daughter of the late Vanous Jackson. And I went to Milan to meet and she came here. We had a great time, brother Rome. And the only ask is that well, we got a nice um ambulance at the time, very modern ambulance as a gift. That was Vanous's idea. But we also got a million dollars to buy 10 school buses. And you remember remember those nice yellow and black school buses like in the picture in the movies now, like in TV now, like in America. So, because I so wanted to be like in America, I let them spray it in yellow and black. And we allocated them to different parts, different schools, and they provided transportation to our students. That was what that your government was doing at very difficult times. So, we use our friendship, our foreign relations because it wasn't free. I mean, I put it for them before Expo 2015. But it was part of something, but we got something out of it for the benefit of our people. That is what we've been doing. And that's why when I heard the leader of the opposition speak of using your foreign relations as a tool. So long as so long I doing that. Since little boy doing that. Since little boy doing that. So, so we've been doing this. This is what This is what has helped us today with the Dominica China Friendship Hospital. That is how we got it. It was using the tool of foreign relations. But I But for goodness' sake, I cannot go and tell a man if we going to ship fig and dash into China. But I agree with you, we should look at trade as a possibility as well. But it's not every opportunity that will be created in in such a manner. We build the fisheries complexes. We build Marigot and Portsmouth. I remember I was Minister of Fisheries at the time. I was Minister of plenty things. I was Minister of Fisheries at the time when we build the Marigot Fisheries Complex. And then I remember that them fellas in Portsmouth decide they want one, too. So, we give them one. So, we build them. And today, we are grateful to the government of Japan for the Roseau Fisheries Complex as well. And now that DEXIA is managing that facility for the sale of fish. We have seen over half a million dollars in purchase of fish from fishermen. That is real money. Um madam, real money that went to real people. And that adds in the GDP growth of the country. So, those things they are not abstract. You just have to understand that. But, we are hoping that the next phase of the fisheries I have to thank DEXIA for >> 15 more minutes. >> Thank you. And now I have to thank all of my PSs there. Well, I want to thank PS Daley. Well, it's not my PS. He's the Ministry's PS. I always say that. The PS of Foreign Affairs, International Business, Trade, and Energy. And for her assistance, I'm going to have to withdraw them. So, for her efforts and with the support of the Financial Secretary, the Financial Secretary was able to come to us and say, "Okay, you know what? I'm going to help you to get a credit facility so that you can procure fish." We were able to do that. And I want to thank PS and FS. And of course, our consultant at DEXIA at DEXIA, Mr. Cleve um St. Jean. >> [laughter] >> Cleve Caesar for for helping and working. And of course, Nissa Don managing the facility. And of course, the chairman and the GM of DEXIA for their work. And I really want to thank them for that. So, we we have we have been able to utilize our foreign relations as a tool for development. And we're very, very happy for that. But, we hope we can do more. And before I I I move on to my final topic, at a time when we were going through all of these challenges, we saw the contraction of the rural economies because of the loss of bananas. And don't forget don't forget, bananas was also supporting the the growth of other non-banana crops. It was it it was the anchor. So, once you lost bananas, you lost a lot of the other things around it. That caused major dislocation in rural communities. And I don't think some of us truly appreciate what the beautification teams of the NEP what that means for these rural communities. Because it has almost replaced that loss and sort of buttress the livelihoods of people in the communities. And I can speak to that because I represent Grand Bay, Tete Morne, Martin, Grand Coulibrie, and for a lot of us, that is the only form of revenue for our people. The beautification of the of the National Employment Program. There are other things that people do under NEP. Yes, great stuff. But, that's one in particular. And when I think of people like Leandra, oh did I forget to call her away? I have to call her back. When I think of Leandra Robin and the kind of commitment these people have exhibited, Cleo, well, those days Cleo coming in her usual dressed nice she in office. But, Cleo Le Fam as the head supervisor of the NEP team, I mean, this lady, I don't know. I I I feel I still feel bad because I don't think I could work hard as them. In the sun. And she gave them leadership. My good friend Delmer Anderson, I mean, when I when I think of of you know, Celou and them, Gemma and them, and Joyce, and all these people who that is what they do. You know, that's what they do, and they keep the place so nice, but Grand Bay is always the most beautiful place. They have the best energy teams, and when you go to breakfast there, you will see that. When you take the drive up the road, you will see that because we keep the place clean. Imma Imma immaculate. You know, Mr. Speaker, we talk about development and all these difficult times. We still made the right investments. And that's why I'm very but I feel so happy when I hear people talk about geothermal, not because it has happened, but because people are now beginning to think and dream and imagine things, and that is the message I have been trying to get for the last 20 years. Because I don't want us to just see this as an infrastructure, as you said. It's not just a piece of infrastructure. It is the possibilities. And again, in keeping with where I started, I want to say again, I going to say something that creative people going to say troops about, but I going to say it anyway. I want to take the opportunity to thank the workers of Domlec. No, because everybody if you actually like go, they are not much like going and thing happen and light flicking and all kind of thing. Everything You know, you know, so people will vex and making trouble. Although I have to talk to Domlec about fixing people appliances, but I want to thank the general manager, Mr. Synap doing, and his team, people like the Ariel and and and some of the names that I will I will get as I speak. Dave Stamp, my good friend, you know, on the generation side. But I will tell I'm telling you this, I want to I want to I want to apologize to Dominican people for the disruptions, the various disruptions and interruptions to your lives and the discomfort that it may have created. But it was it it was necessary. It was it was it was for a a greater good. It was it was not one of those occasions where your lights just go. Your lights went because we were trying to get this thing right. And I want to I want to say I want to tell you about what it means by getting the geothermal right. But I want to go back to Domlec. I want to thank the the staff, the technicians, the engineers. Because these guys were amazing. I had the opportunity to spend some time with them troubleshooting. That was the first time we had a an error on the line just after we started. >> Mr. Speaker, I move that the honorable minister be given an additional 10 minutes. >> Seconded, Mr. Speaker. >> It has been moved and seconded that the honorable Henderson be given an additional 10 minutes. Those in favor? Those against? The eyes have it. Honorable Henderson, you are given an additional 10 minutes. >> Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Mr. Speaker, so the staff of Domlec, I had the opportunity to be there when they were troubleshooting the first time we had a fault on the line. And um I was so impressed with the approach to seeking to solve that problem and the creativity in the end because they came up with their own solution even in the absence of having the the the um the spare parts that they required to to repair the fault. And they were able to move so many levers to keep the lights on. But most importantly is that the commissioning process Well, it's really commissioning? It's kind of oxy commissioning process. It's a process already. So, the commissioning of the geothermal thermal and power plant was a real challenge. And anybody would have been challenged by that. So, think about this. So, DOMLEC, what we did last year, we introduced into the network a battery energy storage system of 6 MW hours. We introduced that into the system. DOMLEC engineers had never worked with a battery energy storage system before. We got them training. We had smart energy on island. They provided support to them. And lately, we had Huawei because we have we using Huawei technology from China. And we able to train them how to use it. What? That was during calm. Everything was quiet. There was no geothermal power on the grid yet. So, they were learning, getting used to it. Geothermal power came online in March 5th. We turn on the turbines. Turn on the generators. Start bringing power to the grid in March. And when that happened, the technicians of DOMLEC had to deal with a battery energy storage system. But guess what? Once we completed the underground 33 kV transmission line, which is working well. It's been properly is is done. It's complete. They had to now deal with transformers of 33 thousand volts when the highest voltage at DOMLEC had was 11,000. So, three times what they were used to. And more complex because 11,000 volt transformer is different from a 33,000 volt transformer. The amount of moving part The amount of of of different stuff that you had to deal with, you don't have to deal with that 11,000 kV. So, they had to learn that. So, the Kalpataru, the Indian company that's doing the transmission system, they had to train They trained the light stuff. They brought them to India. They brought them to Brazil. They brought them to places where they already had installations, so they could train them how to use the switch gears, how to use the transformers, and how to be able to manage the system. And then, geothermal power is not a diesel generator or solar power. Geothermal power provides steady power, and the turbines, the generators, the whole system very sensitive. Because of the nature of it, you don't have much tolerance level. So, it is very very sensitive because it has to protect itself if something goes wrong. So, if as it as happened in Sugar Loaf, there's a problem, it feeds right to all the way back to Loda. And when the system detects that there is some issue, it protects itself. It give It takes a little time. It's supposed to take a little time. Initially, it wasn't taking the little time. It was just shutting down itself. And that's why sometimes we have just a sudden power loss. If I tell you that, then the light won't go then. So, you have a You have a point. I agree. I agree, but here we are. So, we All of those things were happening at the same time, and Dumlec was still responding to those challenges and keeping the lights on as far as they could. As far as they could. And what happened is when when the when the geothermal power came online, Dumlec realized that um perhaps there are some couple little things that we need to improve, and they did. The good thing about it, they were able to detect the problems. After they did the assessment, analyze the whole thing, they identify the problem and they responded to it. They fixed it so it won't happen again. And the last last month in July, we started reliability testing. And that was one of the biggest frustration I had through the entire process. Was that Friday when the power went off for Thank God it wasn't for long. And then steam started coming out of um Lolda, and people start spreading some rumors that a pipe burst. That's what they say, a pipe burst. >> [laughter] >> But no pipe burst. It is it is a system that the the the generator, the entire plant, because it is not giving the power to the grid, it has to get rid of some of the steam and then you just open it up and it goes in the atmosphere. But it's it's pretty it's very safe. It's not any accident. It's nothing strange happening. And then we got back to the reliability test and that was completed. That was done and I wish to inform the house as was done by His Excellency the President, although we can't refer to any debate. Um commissioning took place on the 31st of July 2026. So now we That was not a ceremony. It was a process. Completed. And um it is now triggering the legal obligations on Domlec. So it's also very sensitive time for us. We have to pay attention. It's the first time we're doing this. And I will say finally on this, Ormat is the number one producer of geothermal power plants in the world. It's way up there. These guys have been doing this for a very very very long time and they have done it so many places. We had ISO and HD as our consultants from Iceland. Iceland is well known for geothermal energy. That is where the the UN geothermal school university is located. That's where we train most of our people in geothermal energy. So, we have these consultants. And then we have Sofreco from Europe. I think it's France. We have Sofreco as our consultant. So, we have two sets of consultants. So, all of these smart people who have tremendous experience came together to deal with the challenges we're we're going through. And you know what came out of that discussion together with Don Luke, of course, and Fred John, the handsome hero from DGDC and his staff. Fred John and Dalton Eloi, Shisha, Richard A. Toussaint, my classmate, you know, and all the great people there. Come They came together. And Ormat admitted to us, and everybody around the table admitted to us, that is the first time they had to deal with such a complex system on a small island grid. So, so what you saw happening in Dominica, that I am hoping somebody will write this so that it becomes part of the learning for Nevis who is seeking to do like us. Grenada has not abandoned their ambitions. Saint Lucia is moving forward with it as well. So, that this will become an opportunity. So, for the first time in a long time, we can say we are first in something that we can give and teach other people about. And that should be a proud moment for us. So, I know we're concerned about the reduction. And yes, we've seen a reduction, and we will see reduction. But it is bigger than that. When you look at your TV and you see some blockage somewhere and the price of fuel going crazy and then some people might not send you fuel in lower. You can feel comforted by the fact that most of your electricity is generated without fuel, without diesel through hydro and geothermal. And what DOMLEC submitted to us is that 68% of our energy was supplied from renewables in in July. In June, sorry, in June. In July, I suspect it's going to get to 70 something. And what we're hoping to do is to invest more in stabilizing the grid, put more battery energy storage systems within the the DOMLEC network. And we have written to our friends to see how they can assist us in doing that since we're already using Chinese technology, we're using Huawei. We're hoping that we can continue using Huawei batteries so that the the workers at DOMLEC will have a less steep learning curve because they will be familiar with that technology. And also it makes it easier to trade because you have one one supplier who will be able to provide the support. I'm not saying that it is the only way, but that would be the most efficient way. Once we can get that into the the DOMLEC grid, even if it's just 5 megawatt hours or 6 megawatt hours to mirror what you already have, although our target is 10, we would be able to better utilize hydro power because there are times when we're going to have excess hydro that we have to curtail, which is also a good practice because we're not throwing too much water from the lake. And we can manage it so that we can use more hydro at peak times. So it is a a a sort of very complex system that we're trying to put in place so that we can properly utilize geothermal power and more efficiently use hydro to minimize the use of diesel. That is for now until we get to our for to the north or able to generate power the north, but I I think the best again most efficient way is to transmit to the north. We are waiting for the results for the the recommendations from our consultancy funded by the World Bank to tell us exactly what is the best approach, the most efficient approach, but as far as I'm concerned based on all the information that I have had the opportunity to to review and the advice I have been given, the most efficient system is to get the transmission to the north and expand load. The expansion of load up can be done Well, let me qualify that. Once we have run the plant for 6 months, that is by the end of the year under pressure producing 10 MW we will be able to better determine the nature of our reservoir where the steam is coming from. So, the this place under the ground about 2 km down that is what is called the reservoir the steam is coming from. And that we will be able to be advised whether it is possible to add another 5 MW generator to bind and generate that we can produce 5 more MW without additional drilling. Which is would be the ideal. It means therefore you can have a cheaper production of power and you will be able to see more benefit to the consumers. But that is something that we we have to take our time. We have to take our time and get it done. And just to respond to a commentator on the radio a leader of a political party. I don't even know what the party name is because it's so insignificant. What's what's what's the guy's name again? You you yeah, UPP. The guy said it took so long to bring geothermal online that it's going to take longer to get to 0% diesel by 2020. I MEAN, HOW ABSURD can that be from an intelligent man? My brother, IF IT TOOK I MEAN AND HE used to teach economics. Incremental thing something like that I remember they used to teach you economics? The unit COST WILL BE LOWER. THE LEARNING CURVE WILL BE LESS STEEP. The investment will be smaller because everybody was afraid of coming to Dominica to build a geothermal plant. I'll tell you that's true. That's why our tender failed in 2019. Because people were spooked. They think it's too difficult to bring stuff here. They when they look at Loubiere Think of it. Drive up Loubiere and you see where those trucks pass. You would drive a truck there if you if you could drive a truck. It wasn't easy, but we've done it. So, now that we've done it, we have proven the concept, fella, whoever your name is. THEN IT BECOMES EASIER. SO, DOMINICA CAN ACTUALLY DOMINICA IS THE ONLY small island developing state that can truly say that it can get to 0% diesel in electrification by 2030 because it is there. The infrastructure is there. It becomes easier. Everything else become easier. Even now doing transmission line. But I was so afraid of that thing them fellas was talking about. When I think of all the little twists, little road, little tight roads we have to pass in in Loubiere come down at the back there, go down. I want to ask you vehicles can't drive. I said I said the bridge will shut down, but it was done. With some complaints, but it was done. So, it means we can go to Portsmouth. We have a wider roadway with the exception of my own master that we have to figure what how we going to to deal with that. Yeah, yeah, but I have I have already looked at that. Oh, yeah. So, so with the exception of that, everything else is easy. It's called Digue Bleue cover. Digue Bleue cover. That's it, eh? And I felt going on the radio and saying about oh, we cannot do that. My brother, Dominica has proven that it can do one of the most complex energy system. The only small island developing state independent because Papua New Guinea have a thing there a 50 megawatt. Every time I see this, we almost spoil our record. But Papua New Guinea has 11 million people. That not a small state. And they have so much oil. Not a small state, guys. And all kind of thing. No, no, no. That's not a small state. So Dominica is really the first small island developing state independent to build a geothermal [snorts] power plant. Azores has plans, but Azores is part of Portugal. You know, that other There's another territory. Again, well, Guadeloupe is part of France. You know, we did this on our own with the support of our friends. And we have a lot of friends who found But, you know, as I turn across, I saw a PR sitting over there. And I do not have to go back to my notes because he just got me got my memory going again. You know, one of the most gratifying things by about this geothermal plant we've commissioned is when you go to the plant, you will see that 26 out of the 28 workers there are Dominicans. Young Dominicans. Young engineers who were working at Domlec on the production side. Recent graduates from the State College. And they have been trained. So, when when I'm PR sitting open the the valve for the first time and the steam started coming out, I couldn't contain myself. I believe we still have a video of him somewhere. Because it was such an emotional moment to see young Dominicans leading the way. And when I visited the plant last Sunday, I met two of them at the control. They're sitting there monitoring the thing and controlling it. I mean, this this is a great achievement for us. And I do hope and I I get the support and I get the impression that we have all seen this as a national project. And we are all seeing the potential of it. And therefore, we need to rally around. And my partner from Marigot used to tell me every time I go and ask for big money, big money. But I will say this to you, my friend, and I have said this publicly elsewhere, throughout the world, wherever I go and I'm invited to speak, that energy is a public good. Electricity is a public good. Governments need must not need, they must invest in energy systems. Whether it's in transmission, production of power, but governments have to invest. And sometimes we see things other places and we say, "Why we can't do it in America?" But you don't know how they do it. Because in every country with geothermal, there's some government subsidy. So, people criticize us for having acquired lands, having invested, having done this. Every government, everywhere in the world, had to make some investments in development of significant things for the country. Now, energy, power, is a is one of the big the biggest drivers of of um development. I wouldn't even call it a driver. It is essential. It is critical. You cannot develop if you don't have energy. And what we should be looking at is how we can now electrify the country, move more into electric vehicles. And that is something we need to seriously consider. Because if we can do that, I know FS would be happy, balance of trade numbers, and you know, foreign thing, and all these nice things that you economists people do, and so on when you balance in the books. It it is all part of of the overall fiscal position of the country. And I believe that if we can get ways and creatively as we move along to expand the generation of power, to electrify our country by moving through electric vehicles and other areas of power, it will help us in providing more benefits to more people. Because a greater consumption of power it means that the the rate of power will be low. If we can expand, if we can get into shore power that I know the Minister of Ports like to talk about. And my good friend Benoit Bardouille. And Darwin tell him I I know we recently had an engagement at the OECS level where we talking about shore power, but Dominica is the only country that can seriously talk about shore power, with clean energy because shore power is based on clean energy. And you cannot have shore power with solar panels and batteries. You you can only have shore power with base load power like geothermal. Geothermal is base load, it's constant all the time, 24/7. We can create a new industry around that. And I am I spent a significant part of my my my time on geothermal looking at exporting power to Guadeloupe and Martinique. While that may be a good ambition, I really urge us to think about developing industry in Dominica. Being able to build Dominica based on power. Power source in this age is the key to moving any economy. And we have to consider I would prefer we produce energy cells through ammonia, green hydrogen, and create more opportunities for more investments in Dominica, [clears throat] for more work in Dominica. Of course, if we have the opportunity to get an investor who wants to extract some power and export it to one of the territories, that is fine. But I believe No, I I've done it. >> Yeah, honorable minister, you have 1 more minute. >> Yeah, I've been counting myself. So, Mr. Speaker, I move that honorable minister begin and shout 10 more minutes to conclude his presentation. Secondly, Mr. Speaker, >> It has been moved and seconded that the honorable Dr. Vincent Nelson Bigwan additional 10 minutes. Those in favor? Those against? Doctor, you have an additional 10 minutes. >> I was told that um there was once a Dr. Willie in Dominica. >> [laughter] >> I'll tell you the rest of all that. But you know, we we have an opportunity before us and I said this budget this year presents some areas to benefit many and I I see my good friend has left, customs broker, Brian Gidda, because he went and calculated a whole bunch of things for me on the simplification of the taxes and duties and and all of that stuff and to see the benefits that everybody can get. And my good friend, Dean Delux and I see we call him desire. Um you know, he did a calculation for me and he provided it to me and and show me the benefits. So, the point is there are a number of things. And the thing about a budget, a budget is for everybody within a sovereign territory or maybe part of a sovereign territory as it is. But in this case, it's a national budget, it's for everybody. All the benefits cannot be for everybody. I don't know where we get the notion as if we have to explain that. There are things that some people will benefit from and there are things that other people will not from. It's a national budget. There's no way it cannot I mean there are times that you can take action that everybody can benefit. Because even the case of the non-compounding of the taxes and duties of the customs can benefit everyone. And if done properly and I have to say last year when we zero-rated the the basket of goods the importance they cooperated. They reflected the the the reduction. We we did two rounds of surveillance three rounds rounds of surveillance and the overwhelming majority of the importers showed that they reduced the price or kept it at a level that was good for the majority of goods. And I feel confident that this time around that we will see the same, but knowing human nature, we will continue doing surveillance. And I do hope that this time perhaps it could be the opportunity for new discussion on consumer protection. I know that it is something that we've tried to steer away from for a long time, but we see now that it's becoming more and more important to increase some support. And I think um Cleven Mells and and the group of of um consumer protection advocates have written to myself and I think the Minister of Finance and I'm hoping that we can meet with them very soon so that we can have we can support their their work and have more awareness. But people can shop with their as they say in the US they like to say you vote with your pocketbook. I mean you you you have to determine where you spend your money. I mean if somebody's not showing the reduction, why you going to buy their thing? I mean not to say you have a little video you have one shop that you have and it's there you must go. You know, so I I also think that that argument that people say no one will pass on. Then don't go by people not passing it on. I won't call names, but we have the numbers. I won't call names. I would prefer the um consumer advocates, consumer rights advocates talk about the the names. And um you know, I I I I I will not call the names. But Mr. Speaker, I'm hoping that some of the the the the very some of the actions here and the measures will benefit as much people as possible because we we believe that it is really at the end of the day for the benefit of the people that these actions are are taking place. But Mr. Speaker, I want to say finally and I want to reiterate something that I may have said before. Development is not easy. And I don't want this song um sexist in that sense. Sometimes but sometimes it's not sexy. It's not it's not always exciting. And think about it. Just just think back at some of the best things that we've been able to to achieve. A lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of efforts. And I'm not saying this to give myself comfort having pursued geothermal energy development for more than a decade. Well, if one counting you could say two decades, but the better part of a decade. But we have to understand and I I started by giving the picture of where we were in 2000 and where we are now. I said this because I want us as a people to truly appreciate our strength, our resilience, our ability to rise above challenges. And now we hear the threats on the CBI, a program that has transformed Dominica in so many ways. We talk about the threats. But we have to tell ourselves that we've gone through so many challenges before. And we have prevailed. I remember when when Ross University left, some people chastised me for making the comparison to loss of the banana industry and we still survived. I understand the pain of the people who have investments in Portsmouth. But I'm saying that we ought not to allow adversity to demoralize us to the sense that we become paralyzed. We have to find solutions. We have to find a way through adversity. And the good thing for us is the project is is I I don't want to talk for Minister of Finance, but sometimes you get the impression that people believe that every cent that the government spends comes from CBI. And that's why I took my time and and I made mention of the highest level of collection of revenue in our history, 470 something million dollars last year. Tax revenue, not CBI. And most of the funds from the CBI is building for our biggest projects. From the airports to the marina to the cable car, hotels. So the message I want to leave is that we all we're not just all going to die because something happens that adversely affects the CBI. We have to be prepared to push on. Unfortunately for us, we are not so heavily dependent on revenue from CBI to survive. And investments that we make in here in agriculture and I'm I'm I'm excited to hear what the minister will present. The recent commissioning, well, operation of the abattoir. It's not properly formally commissioned, but at least we have seen production and DEXIA is assisting in the purchase of the birds so that the farmers the livestock farmers can get paid as soon as they they they um supply their birds and their livestock to the to the abattoir. We are hoping that this will expand. We're hoping that we can start cutting and labeling and be able to compete. That is where the challenge is. We have to be able to compete to reduce imports. Cuz there are many things that we are doing that will put us in a better Well, have already put us in a better place. Once we grow them, we can transform our fortunes. And I believe that the same thing, tourism. We talk about tourism a lot because tourism has the ability to have immediate impact. There was a time we didn't have seats. Now, we have seats. We have to fill the seats. We have to fill the seats. There's a time we didn't have hotel rooms. We are adding hotel rooms, but we have to add more hotel rooms. We have to bring those hotels into completion. We have to get more rooms, more export-ready rooms. We've seen the growth of Airbnb. But they are different clientele, people looking for different things. We have to be able to provide those things. We have to develop the product. And I And I I know the minister has a good plan for us and power in mayor room. We have where where where do you remember for Salisbury? Leader of the opposition. I mean they have a nice They have a nice video over there but I mean you know the premier the best video in all of Dominica is in mayor room. I mean I mean that's It's the best video in Dominica. So Of course of course different strokes for different folks kind of thing. No no no but it it is it is one of the and we made the investments. We've made the investments. We've made the investments. We've made the investments. You know so so We we have been able to invest in mayor room on mayor room beach and I remember I did that when I was power up we started that project and I see the cap set there she was once we have some tourism and I see my friend there and and for I I see tourism people right for let me remember and we were able to do that facility and grow something there that has the potential for greater growth. Because it is part of the product. It is part of the tourism product. And we have to continue to invest in facilities so that we can make more money our people. But Mr. Speaker I hope that as we we sit in our sober reflections that we embrace the opportunities that created that have been created by this labor party government. We have seen and you know sometimes we forget so I before I forget myself I want to say it again. If we go back and see the amount of people who went to university in 2000. That was the other one I forgot to put in there. And the amount of graduates that we have today from universities across the world. I mean Dominica has come a long way. And the majority of these graduates have no student loan. The generosity of the states. The sacrifices of taxpayers before you. And we should never forget that. We should never become too haughty and too that feeling of accomplishment that sometimes we forget. It is through the generosity of others that we got to where we are. Taxpayers money in other words. Sent us to school with good policies from a progressive government with a leader Roosevelt Skerrit of the Dominica Labour Party. And that is the story. And the story of Andie Armant is the story of Roosevelt Skerrit and the Dominica Labour Party for 26 years leading Dominica in very difficult times. That is what I want us to think about in our sober reflection. I'm not reproaching people. One of the greatest satisfaction I had was to see Dominicans go to study all over the world. I remember going to a little place called Tasco in in Mexico looking for students to make sure they're okay. Back then I had my old boys there from St. Jude. I had Breasty, I had Hoist, I had all set of them fellas there studying. Then I had a a group of them at Grambling State University. You had to take a little plane sometime drive for 2 hours to go to Grambling from from Shreveport because we created that opportunity for our students. And I remember those who went to Plattsburgh in the early days with the help of Dr. Peters. And we had we have done all of this. Cuba, of course, I've been throughout Cuba. Cienfuegos, Santiago, just visiting students making sure they're okay, making sure that they can complete. And I had the privilege of being the Minister of Education when we sent the first group of students to China. People have to remember those things. Labour Party has has done People talking about giving man fish. My fault teach you to teach people to fish. Right now there's a lot of about and battling everything. You know me? But teach we teach people to fish. Some people coming and criticizing us 26 years or not teaching people to fish. But we have what what else to do? You want me to go for the line, put it in your hand, show you how to roll it, bring it back, take the fish for you and put it in your fridge? What do you want me to do? You know you know, I mean we we have to be able to tell our story. And I'm saying this to us here on this side. And to the wider membership of the Dominican Labour Party, all you too afraid to tell all your story, all you running and hide and people telling all you about 26 years. That is the fact that you need to put before them. That is THE 26 YEARS. ONE MINUTE. MR. SPEAKER, I FINISH. >> YES, HONORABLE PINARD. >> YES. THANK YOU, MR. SPEAKER. >> You are recognized. You may proceed. >> Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I I rise this afternoon to give my strong support to the 2026 Appropriations Act that is laid before the house this afternoon, Mr. Speaker. But Mr. Speaker, before I I proceed, let me just um want to recognize the another excellent address that was presented by Dr. McIntyre two days ago. Dr. Mackie is continues to prove that he is a is a man of parts. He is a true gentleman and a patriot, and I always remember that Dr. Mackie walked away from a thriving business and chose to come and serve the people of Dominica in this honorable house. Um so, we have to give due respect where it is due, and I want to thank Dr. Mark for his service. Also, before I I I get into the meat of the um my presentation, I want to to recognize um the honorable Miriam Blanchard. Mr. Speaker, as in my capacity of Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Small Business, I had the the benefit of being tutored by honorable Blanchard because she was a senior minister in that ministry when I first came into office, Mr. Speaker. And so, she was the one to to show me the ropes. She was the one to to let me know how the inner workings of the public service um going about its business. So, I I I had that close working relationship with her from the very beginning. I I got to witness firsthand, Mr. Speaker, how much she truly loved what she did, or or she she was truly appreciated of the opportunity to serve her people, and and the love and the compassion that she had for the people of her constituency, the Roseau North constituency, Mr. Speaker. And um I also got to to witness firsthand how much it pained her when she she fell ill, Mr. Speaker, and she was no longer able to perform at the high level that she had set for herself, Mr. Speaker. And so, I I could see the anguish in her when she had to to pull back and and from her active duties. So, I just really want to wish her speedy recovery, a full and speedy recovery, and hopefully we can see her once again in the future, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my presentation this afternoon is to really put the record of this government on the table, Mr. Speaker. The record of all this government, the various measures over the years that the government has employed to address the high cost of living, Mr. Speaker, and that will come culminate with what the honorable Minister of Finance presented in this in this year's budget, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will look at both the tax and the non-tax measures that have been employed in terms of our efforts to address the high cost of living in the country. Mr. Speaker, the Income Tax Act was first enacted, the one that that that subsequently been amended was enacted in 1983, January 1983, under the Dominica Freedom Party. That was very early in the administration of the Dominica Freedom Party. That was in the first term. And as would be expected, they are the ones who who put the act together. They are the they ones who passed it in Parliament. They didn't make many amendments to the act over the the remaining 12 years that they were in office. However, what surprised me, Mr. Speaker, is that when the UWP came into office in 1995, they also didn't do nothing much in terms of amending the act. I think I saw the first amendment that that they did to the act, which was to increase the tax holidays that were being granted to hotels. They increased the amount of the term of a tax holiday from 10 years to 20 years. And then there were one or two other little amendments, sort of like how income would be recognized if you're using a private vehicle for business purposes and so on. But nothing that would address the cost of living and the impact on the everyday working man, Mr. Speaker. Effectively, they did nothing along the fiscal policy in that sense, Mr. Speaker, to address the high cost of living and to see how they could end up putting an extra dollar in a man's pocket. Mr. Speaker, the Labour Party came into office in January of 2000. And we came into office having inherited a bankrupt country effectively, Mr. Speaker. Treasury was empty. The country was in debt that it couldn't afford to pay, Mr. Speaker. But nonetheless, despite that, 1 year later, Mr. Speaker, the Dominica Labour Party made the first move. It gave its first signal that it was serious about serving and representing the people of this country. It was serious about how it the actions it could take to improve the well-being of the working class in Dominica, Mr. Speaker. In 2001, Mr. Speaker, that is 1 year after taking office, Mr. Speaker, the income tax threshold was first increased from $12,000 to $15,000. Under the original act, Mr. Speaker, the which was set in 1983, the income tax threshold was so that $12,000, the first bracket of of tax was $18,000 wide, and the rate was 20%. The second bracket, $30,000 and with a rate of 30%. Everything above that was taxed at a rate of 40%. So, the first thing the Labour Party did, the first little move, remember it couldn't do much at that time because of the economic state of the country, was to increase the tax threshold to $15,000. So, essentially, everybody got an extra $250 tax-free every month, Mr. Speaker. Despite the challenging economic times, Mr. Speaker, 1 year later, the Labour Party moved again, and that was to implement the deductible on student loans, Mr. Speaker. So, we reporting the deductible for the interest paid on student loans at a maximum of $5,000 in January of 2001, Mr. Speaker. Again, little moves, but meaningful. Still, mostly showing the intent of the Labour Party to get to the real tax reform that will be able to benefit our everyday working man, Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, not much was done for the next couple years. But, if we had to to remember these times as as the honorable Dr. Anderson rightly mentioned, we had a very challenging time during that time. We we entered into the austerity measures, the IMF austerity measures, where we had to basically have civil servants take pick hearts and all those different things there. So, there's not much we could have done in terms of giving additional relief during that couple years there, Mr. Speaker. And then, unfortunately, we had the passing of our Prime Minister, that is Pierre Charles, in 2004. And we then brought in our honorable Prime Minister, the honorable Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit, at the tender age of 41 in January of 2004. But, it only took the honorable Prime Minister 1 and 1/2 years in office to announce and to show his strong plans for tax reform in Dominica, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the budget presentation of July 2005, the honorable Prime Minister informed the country that he would be transitioning from the range of consumer taxes. So, we had the consumption tax, we had the sales tax, we had the the hotel occupancy tax, and the entertainment tax. All these would have been set aside and be replaced with one VAT tax, Mr. Mr. Speaker. So, that was introduced in March 2006. So just 2 years after taking office, we had a major tax reform moving from all these various taxes into the VAT system. And at that time, Mr. Speaker, the the Prime Minister signaled his intention to continue with major tax reforms all towards improving the well-being of the working class people in Dominica, Mr. Speaker. And so doing, Mr. Speaker, in 2007 this Prime Minister announced a 3-year plan, a 3-year tax reform plan starting in January of 2008. Major tax reform, Mr. Speaker, that will give meaningful benefit to all people. And ironically, Mr. Speaker, in January in 2008, if you recall, that was around the onset of the international financial crisis. So the later on in that year, the whole world was experiencing some serious challenges. We had all these banks, all these financial institutions in particular I'm shutting down. They I know originated from the housing sector in the US. So things were hard internationally. Nonetheless, in January of 2008, the income tax threshold was increased from $15,000 to $18,000. So an additional $3,000 became tax-free from people's salary, Mr. Mr. Speaker. As well, the tax band the first tax band was widened from $18,000 to $20,000 at that time. So we have an increase in the tax threshold and we have a widening of the initial tax band to $20,000. Also, the first tax band would be that was originally charged at 20% tax rate, that was reduced to 18% Mr. Speaker. So we had three things happening in in the tax threshold, we had the widening of the initial tax band, and had the widening of the initial tax band and we had the lowering of the income tax rate. That is That is money that you are just basically taking away from the treasury, Mr. Speaker, and putting back in people's pocket, right at the time when it was needed most, Mr. Speaker. The initial tax rate was reduced from 20% to 18%. In the second band, the rate was was reduced from 40% to 28% and in the higher band, the rate was reduced from 40% to 38% Mr. Speaker. So, we had a 2% across the board reduction in the tax rates in January of 2008, Mr. Speaker. The following year, which is the second of the three-year um um tax reform plan, we had a further increase in the tax threshold from 18,000 to 20,000. So, right away By that time, we had a we we had increased the tax threshold from 15,000 now up to 20,000 dollars. And then we had a further 2% reduction in the tax rates across the board. So, we moved from 18% to 16% from 28% to 26% from 38% to 36%, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, in 2009, that time there we were in the real meat of the of the international financial crisis, the government could have said, "Okay, because of what is happening globally, maybe we can suspend the implementation of the tax reform over the period." But not this government, Mr. Speaker. Not under the the leadership of the honorable Prime Minister. We moved forward and we made sure that we provided mini um material meaningful tax benefit to our people in this country, Mr. Speaker. And the final year of the three-year period in 2010, the final measure was implemented where we reduced the income tax rates to 15% on the first bracket, 25% on the second bracket, and 45% on the top tier, which is what pertains today, Mr. Speaker. So, over that 3-year period, we saw some real meaningful read um measures taken to reduce the tax burden on the average citizen of this country, Mr. Speaker. And this was in a direct effort to address the high cost of living. And we have to I have to again reiterate that after 4 and 1/2 years in office, nothing nothing approaching that anywhere was even considered by the the the previous government, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in 2015, which was our next move, we increased the income tax threshold from 20,000 to 25,000 dollars. That was a 5,000 dollars increase. And at the same time, the mortgage interest deduction deductible, that was at 15,000 dollars from the time the act was enacted in January of 1983, for the first time that was increased. It was increased from 15,000 to 25,000 dollars, a 10,000 dollars increase in the mortgage interest deductible. So, we had two things happening, two primary things happening in 2015. We increased the in- the income tax threshold, and we increased the mortgage deductible. So, that is a combination of 15,000 dollars that could be written off from the income tax. Mr. Speaker, that is that is just I mean, you you you going through there right now, I remember being an employee at the National Bank, and I can remember the anticipation that was ahead of the budget address, because I was always there waiting to see what good is going to come out, what benefit going to come, how much more I going to see in my pocket, how much less tax I going to pay. And and I have to admit, Mr. Speaker, that the Labour Party government didn't often disappoint. There was always something coming in for for the average citizen. In 20- that was in 2015 Mr. Speaker and if we can recall again, that was the year that that we we got hit by Tropical Storm Erika. So, it's like it's it's it's almost like it's divine in intervention inspirational where the government always was able to provide meaningful tax relief, meaningful adjustments at a time when the country needed it most. So, we we had that at the beginning of the financial crisis. We again have that when we were um when we got hit in the same way we got hit by Tropical Storm Erika, Mr. Speaker. The next um move was in January of 2018. So, that is 3 years later. And that was when we moved the income tax threshold up from $25,000 to $40,000, which is where it stands today, Mr. Speaker. And that 2018, if I have to mention it again, but that that measure took effect in January of 2018, but it was announced in the July um budget address. The July the budget address was on the 27th of July in that year, Mr. Speaker, and that was just a couple weeks before we got hit by Hurricane Maria, which was on the 18th of September of 2017. I don't I don't know if I need to again explain it that, but it's it's it's like really just inspirational to see that the Dominica Labour Party continue to step up and continue to provide meaningful relief to its people. When it's like you could foresee that, okay, we're going to need something to continue to boost up our people to help our people overcome another major challenge that is that that that will be coming their way, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in January of 2020, we had another milestone, Mr. Speaker. The first thing is the mortgage interest deductible was increased from $25,000 to $40,000. So, we started off at $15,000 and it was then please note it was then doubled to $40,000. That was the first thing. The second thing is we had a second mortgage um added on. Where if you have a second mortgage paying a second home, you could claim $15,000 deductible on that second mortgage. So, we had a total increase here of $15,000. $5,000 on the first mortgage, then and $15,000 sorry, $20,000. So, $5,000 on the first mortgage increase, $15,000 new on a second mortgage. Mr. Speaker, so that in itself was again meaningful tax reform and that was announced in the in the budget address of 20 19. At the end of 2019, Mr. Speaker, was the start of COVID-19 pandemic. So, in January 2020, we got tax relief again at the at the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. If we if we recall and I um Honorable Anderson mentioned it a while ago, the the high costs that the government incurred at that time in terms of having to do health facilities, in terms of having to put people that were affected in in hotels and having to care for them and you know, having to to procure testing kits and the whole range of of things that went along with the with the pandemic period, Mr. Speaker. In the midst of all that, the country got meaningful tax reform where people could be able to keep more of their money in their pocket, Mr. Speaker. In 2021, Mr. Speaker, we in we started off the we increased the the fresh rule on the student loans, the student loan deductible. Where where where previously it was set at $5,000. That was done in 2003. The where it was done to a maximum of $5,000. That was entirely removed in 2021, Mr. Speaker. So, in 2021, you could deduct you could um deduct all the interest that you paid on a student loan. So, the benefit of that at that point, I guess, is up to the level of interest that you're paying on a student loan. And again, I have to reiterate that that was still in the middle of a pandemic. The The government it's almost like as if you cannot sleep well until you you believe that, "Okay, I need to do something more for the people of Dominica." It's like there must be something else I can do to give an additional benefit, an additional relief, an additional heads-up to the people of Dominica. And the And And you know, it's just remarkable to see the journey that this government had went through over these years, Mr. Speaker. And if you're listening to people out there, and the reason I I wanted to to to outline these things like that, Mr. Speaker, because you will listen to people out there, you'll get the impression like this government hasn't done anything to address the cost of living. Okay, it's like almost like we're just sitting down on our hands, Mr. Speaker, and watching prices go up. But if you're looking If If anybody paying attention to what's happening internationally, prices have gone up everywhere. And the reason behind these prices going up has had nothing to do with us. Okay, people, we've experienced pandemics. We've gotten wars. And all these different things that keep on driving up the the cost of goods and so on. And we are the ones basically importing those higher prices. And the government has been there as much as possible holding the street, keeping the prices down. And then, instead of everybody coming and saying, you know, thanking the government for the the the significant step it has taken towards the cost of living, you have a minority of people criticizing and trying to make it appear like the government is not paying attention to the cost of living, and the government is not doing enough to address the cost of living. And I mean like what more what more could be expected of the government at that time, Mr. Speaker? But nonetheless, as we said already, we don't sleep rest, we doesn't sleep comfortable until we know that we have done everything we can and we have unturned every stone that we can, Mr. Speaker. So, in 2022 and that was towards the back end of the pandemic when we still had the Russia-Ukraine war going on and I think we had the Israel-Palestine war going on at that time. So, we had major inflation in 2022. I mean, inflation reached 15-16% I think at one point. Um it it it it was bad, Mr. Speaker. It was bad. But nonetheless, in 2022, we added property insurance premium deductible up to a maximum of $8,000. So, again, even amidst all that international chaos and uncertainty, we again did measures to improve the tax condition in the country, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, in 2025 um well, prior to 2025, we had 31 goods listed as either having no VAT or no duty. And we had five of those goods having actually no VAT and duty and these were essential goods, goods that the everyday person would have to buy on an ongoing regular basis because that is what you had in your kitchen and so on. So, we had 31 of those goods. But in 2025 the government added 29 more to that list, Mr. Speaker, almost doubling the list. 26 items were added to the no VAT list, Mr. Speaker. 11 items were added to to the no duty list. And between those two, we had eight of them having no VAT and no duty. So, we had an original five with no VAT and no duty. Now, we added another eight, so we ended up with a total of 13 essential items having zero VAT and zero duty in this country. So, when if you go in a supermarket and you look at the price of a of of an item, the price of everyday item, there's a very high probability that the government is getting nothing from that in terms of taxes. What you paying for is essentially the cost of the item and the the the seller's profit margin. You cannot You cannot in any way associate the cost of that if it is if you consider it to be high with any action that the government has taken because what the government has done is get rid of the duty, get rid of the VAT on the all the necessary items, all the essential items that we use in our household every day, Mr. Speaker. Um In In 2020, the the the the in the additional items that were added were originally done for a period of 6 months and obviously these are still going on, so we had we had them extended after the 6 months. And um as the Minister of Finance just just explained 2 days ago, we are further extending the the concessions on those goods um 6 months or again. We're maintaining the this relief and the support to our people because the prices are still high, Mr. Speaker. And that takes us to to know that takes us to know where we have just presented probably the most significant budget of our times, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I I always dreamed of having to to live in a country where we don't have to pay any any taxes at all. I mean, like everybody else, I don't want to be taxed. You know, I want to keep my money. I work hard for my money. I want it to stay in my pocket. Um You know, I I understand the state has to get something because we have to pay the police, we have to pay the teachers, we have to build the roads, we have to You know, we have to run the country. And Dr. Henderson mentioned as well that we have to ensure that we provide power to our people. So, the state have to get some revenue. But as much as possible, I want to keep the money I work hard for. And in 2026, I think we we coming pretty close to allowing everybody to be able to do that, to be able to keep the money that we working hard for. A 10% flat tax rate effectively getting a read of the 15% getting a read of the 25% getting a read of the 45%. Okay? And so, you get your tax-free deductible of 40% income the the the individual tax threshold of 40% that is in place. If you have no other deductibles, that means you don't have a mortgage or student loan or those type of things that are there, you only start paying tax on salaries above $30,000. And no matter how high you go after that, you only pay 10% of the difference. I mean, Dominica is effectively right now a tax haven. Dominica is a low-tax jurisdiction. And that is a message that we have to send out there. So, the people looking to live in a low-tax paradise, look at Dominica. Dominica, I mean, I cannot pre-empty the Minister of Tourism. She's able to to tell you all the beautiful things that we have to offer in the country in terms of our natural resources and so on. But I can say that if you can live in paradise and have to pay no tax, then why not? Let me say, why not, Mr. Speaker? 10% Mr. Speaker, the this One of the one of the one of the criticisms I have sometimes heard coming from from the the negative people or or the doubters out there, Mr. Speaker, is that you know, we don't do enough for the for the middle class in the country. Um we we always focus on the on the lower income, the working class. And I mean, it is our It is the the the founding principles of the Dominica Labour Party, Mr. Speaker, to uplift the the least among us. And so, you know, that it the criticism could probably be understandable to that effect. Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt now that with this tax reform, the middle class is getting a major boost, Mr. Speaker. Because this is the middle class and the upper class are the ones paying 25% and 45%. And the the lower income people not already not paying any taxes. The the only taxes that the lower income generally pay is VAT. And that has not changed. So, reducing the interest rate to 10% flat is significantly benefiting the higher um income earners, people people like my former um comrade who who got the bank, for example. But this is not in any way, Mr. Speaker, a bad thing. I am very happy to inform the middle class that we are giving them this tax relief because we have to we have to open your um to be to be sincere about it. The middle class is the ones really that driving the economic benefit in a country. The middle class is the ones that building home houses. The middle class And when you build in a house, you have to employ people, you have to buy You have to buy um building material. That is the generating economic economic activity. The middle class is the ones buying vehicles. In Dominica, we like our RAV4. You know, and you don't want to too much of a old vehicle. We like our Toyota RAV4, for example. It's the middle class that can afford that. You know, when when when a a lower income person buying a vehicle, we we look for something cheap, you know. Um this this tax reform, Mr. um Mr. Speaker, will allow the middle class to be able to build or expand their homes, will be able to allow them to be able to go and afford that um raffol, Mr. Speaker, because they have the extra money in their pocket. And when you buy the raffol, you have to buy gas, you have to buy tire, you have to pay a mechanic to service it, you have to do so many things that continue to generate economic activity around that vehicle. You have to pay insurance, you have to um pay license, and I mean, everything you do basically is a whole economic system around it, Mr. Speaker. All that is needed to generate the the economic activity. And one The the Minister of Finance mentioned that this this I will get to the to the um non-compounding aspect of it, but I I I don't want to to miss out on that. The overall cost of the tax relief that we are providing this is costing about 43.5 million dollars. That is the initial assessment of what it will cost the government to to implement these tax these tax measures, Mr. Speaker. But we have to bear in mind that when we increase people's purchasing power when you give that tax cut especially in a generally low income I'm low income economy like ours, the majority of that money is again spent. Um there's not a high percentage of savings that we can expect to come from that, Mr. Speaker. And when you spend the money, especially if you spend when you spend the money in the economy, the government will get back tax revenue from that through VAT. So, we're giving it up on the income tax side, but we're picking up a good bit of it through VAT, Mr. Speaker. The the general um assessment is that the government will pick up anywhere between 50 to 60% back through VAT, Mr. Speaker. Um so, the real cost of these economic benefits that we're giving there is is somewhat lower. I've been told in from the the Minister of Finance that the real cost to the country will be lower than the 43.5 million dollars. Probably, let's just say conservatively half of that. Um the other side of it is that the empirical data also suggests that if you have a marginal propensity to consume and I can explain that. The marginal propensity to consume is for if you have if you have a a 100 dollars how much of that will you spend versus how much of that you're going to save? Um so, we can add savings as one of the things that having a leakage that is drawing money away from the economy. So, you have savings. Also, if you if you take some of that money to pay existing loans that can draw money away from the economy. And I And I say existing loans, not new loans, because if you take a new loan then you're going to create economic activity around that new loan because you're going to spend that money and that spend that money government will get it back. You will employ people and these people they will buy in the shop and these people they have will will pay back and so on. So, it's not new loans, it's existing loan because that money gone already. That money spent already. That's that's already in circulation. So, if you take some of that money to pay existing loans that will draw money away from the economy. If you use some of that money to buy overseas. Maybe like if you go on Amazon and this type of things there. That in itself will give will draw money away from the economy. And if you take some of that money to travel like as a tourist and you spend that money overseas, then that in itself will draw money. So, you would not be able to recover everything that you're you're giving in terms of a tax cut. But, conservatively, you know, most economists estimate that there's a marginal propensity to consume of about 80%. But, let's just say conservatively, we're looking at 50% because Dominicans like to buy online. And that is another thing that we should be mindful of. That is why we continue to encourage people to spend in the local economy, Mr. Speaker. Because when you spend buying local, you keeping the money here. You you generating economic activity. And ultimately, it comes back around to us to you. So, the more you can spend local, is the more you can build up our economy, is the more benefits, is the more the government can afford to put good teachers in your school to teach your children. Is the more we can afford to fix the roads. We driving our vehicle and you complain about the road, take your dollar and spend it locally so the government can get a tax to be able to block that road. With everything you you you spend in you want to go and spend overseas, you want to buy everything online. That's money you taking out, you drawing out of our economy. So, spend locally. Now, if we say we can spend locally at the expected rate, the economic benefit from the 43 and 1/2 million dollars that we receive in the tax cut there, that can be multiplied four times, approximately four times in the economy, Mr. Speaker. So, the economic benefit from a 43 million dollars tax cut could be about 150 to 170 million dollars. That is the size it can help the economy grow, Mr. Speaker. So, we we we we getting some of the money's back through the tax revenue, but and then we are able to um to to facilitate growth in the economy of approximately four times the cost of the the measure, Mr. Speaker. So, that is I do not want anybody to get the impression that when we doing those types of measures, we are not thinking of it from a high macro perspective. We're not doing things that we cannot afford to to do. We can't We're not doing things that we cannot sustain, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the other major part of what was announced in this year's budget address is the the end of the tone tax compounding um on imports, Mr. Speaker. So, we will speak a little bit about that, Mr. Speaker. Now, the The benefit from that measure will be on goods where you you pay excise tax. In Dominica, not many goods um attracting excise tax. But, ironically, one of the the most talked about vehicles, vehicles is one of the most prominent goods that that have an excise tax. Excise tax of about 28% generally is applied to to vehicles. So, for everybody's clear understanding, I will just briefly walk through how that is calculated and what that benefit really means. Cuz some people might be hearing it and they don't really understand what you're talking about in terms of removing the compounding. So, when you import a vehicle, we'll use a vehicle as an example because it has all those all those different tax aspects to it. When you import a vehicle and you you have the CIF, that is the cost of the vehicle, the insurance to bring down the vehicle, and the freight you pay to transport the vehicle down. That is your CIF. So, you have the CIF. On that CIF, so let's just use approximately 10,000 US as a general guide. About 10,000 US will be able to give us a a 10-year-old raffle, Mr. Speaker. So, we have about 10,000 US in terms of CIF. You're going to pay 40% duty on that 10,000 US. You're going to pay approximately 5 and 1/2% in terms of ports um um charges and so on, Mr. Speaker. So, that is about 45.5% um the first aspect of taxes that is applied to the CIF. So, the cost you have right here before you is already increased by 45.5%. Then, that is where you now applying the excise tax of 28%, Mr. Speaker. So, 28% is not added onto the cost the CIF of the vehicle. 28% is charged on the cost plus the 45.5% that we had added earlier on. So then the 28% is magnified as opposed to if it was just been applied rightfully to the cost of the vehicle. So then you have the 45.5% 28% on top of everything. And then it doesn't end there, Mr. Speaker. It goes further. You have VAT at 15% added to the cost of everything again as calculated before. So we already had 28% excise tax, and duty, and now we have VAT on top everything. So Mr. Speaker, you can understand why generally you can you you will see like somebody buying a vehicle at a relatively little bit of US, and then then you know, by the time you do check it, the cost of the vehicle is 40,000 and where did that come from? This is because of the way the tax was being compounded, and the government recognized like we need to modernize the system and move away from that measure. So what is proposed right now is that every step of the process, the taxes will only be calculated on the CIF of the of the import. So we're not putting 28% excise tax on top the 45% that would have paid for duty and the custom charges, and then we're not putting VAT on the excise tax and on the duty. So this this is a significant benefit um to the to the importer, Mr. Speaker. And as a as an example, Mr. Speaker, if you imported a $10,000 vehicle by my rough estimate, you should get off the top savings of about $8,000 EC, Mr. Speaker. $8,000 EC from a average vehicle that you would import. Now that $8,000 is $8,000 you can use to insure the vehicle, to license it, to make sure it is well serviced, it is ready to be on the road and not worry. That $8,000 is perhaps $8,000 less loan you need to take, Mr. Speaker, and with that less loan that means less in um installments that coming from your pocket every month. What you say and you have the same vehicle here? Less installment coming out from your pocket every month, that is more money you get to keep, more money you have to to buy bread for your children, more money you have to pay light bill. Right? If you like a lot of us, Mr. Speaker, we like our our pickups, and we have a a large farming community in this country, so we like our pickup. If you buying a a 10-year pickup, generally, you could save in the ballpark of between 17 to 20,000 dollars on the cost of that vehicle through this measure, Mr. Speaker. So, we're not talking about like like abstract or phantom changes, Mr. Speaker. These are not just nice things to say in a budget presentation. This is real money, material money that touching people's pockets, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, still on the taxes, in 2014, I separated it because I wanted to deal with income versus corporate and individuals versus corporate. In 2014, the government reduced the corporate tax rate from 30% to 25%. Now, to put that in context, Mr. Speaker, in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, only Anguilla has a lower corporate tax rate than us in Dominica. The Anguillan tax rate is is 0%. But, we we also have to be mindful that Anguilla is a different type of of economy than us because Anguilla is a the property of of the United Kingdom. So, you know, they have that different relationship. The only other Eastern Caribbean currency country that is on par with us is Antigua. Antigua also has a 25% corporate tax rate. The other um sister countries Grenada, 28%, St. Lucia, 40% St. Vincent, Montserrat um also at 40% and then we have St. Kitts and Nevis which are at 43%. So, not only do we have some of the the lowest tax rates in terms of personal income tax rates in the in the in the region, we also have very competitive corporate tax rates, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker I to summarize our efforts in terms of reducing the the the taxes, Mr. Speaker. Let us look at it. Um the tax rates over the 26 years we started off with the measures that we have taken um the tax rates have gone down from 20, 30, and 40% to now 10% flat across the board. The the threshold um for the the non-tax threshold on individuals that increased from $12,000 in 2000 to $30,000 today, Mr. Speaker. O- Over the time we have added a second mortgage and deductible taking it from Well, it wasn't there to $15,000, Mr. Speaker. The mortgage deductible on the first home that increased from $15,000 to $30,000. So, that has been doubled over the time we have been in office, Mr. Speaker. When I say we, I mean my government. I wasn't there. >> [laughter] >> Um we added student loan deductible. At first, that was $5,000. Now, there's no limit on that, Mr. Speaker. We added home insurance the the premium paid on home on home on home insurance. That has been added to up to $8,000 um tax deductible. The interest paid on student loans, that is there's no limit on that, Mr. Speaker. The the the premiums paid for health insurance, Mr. Speaker, that has been added as a deductible and there is no limit on that, Mr. Speaker. Import duty reform, we just went over that, Mr. Speaker. We're removing the compounding um impact of the of the calculations for duty and we have reduced the corporate tax rate from 50% to 25%. Mr. Speaker, I don't think after people hear me, anybody should be saying that this government hasn't made every attempt to address the cost of living, Mr. Speaker. We have gone out of our way despite all the challenges that we have faced. We have been hit with natural disasters. We have been hit with pandemics. We have been hit with financial crises. We have wars taking place all over the place that is causing like impacting us directly. We have faced the challenges of climate change where we have to be spending so much to be dredging the rivers in my constituency every year. Despite all these numerous challenges, government has remained steadfast in providing meaningful tax reform and relief to the people of the country, sir. Mr. Speaker, our efforts didn't end with just tax reform, Mr. Speaker. We We'll mention a couple of the the non-tax measures that have been implemented over the over the time this government has been in office, Mr. Speaker. The first, let us look at the the minimum wage. Mr. Speaker, the minimum wage was was um implemented or adjusted in 1989. Um so, that was during the second term of the of the Freedom Party. And nobody touched the minimum wage until 2008. Now, when I looked at the 1989 rate, I mean I agree maybe a dollar could go a little further at the time. But, I I still find it hard to understand how in 1989 uh a house a helper that wasn't that was get that was getting meals could have been paid only $1 an hour, Mr. Speaker. That means you you you would potentially be getting $40 a week, $160 a month. Um that is indentured servitude slavery type of level wages, Mr. Speaker. And that was what prevailed until this government addressed it in 2008, Mr. Speaker. At that time, generally, the higher the highest one was a $3, and that was paid to cashiers, but the average minimum wage at that time was approximately $2, Mr. Speaker. In the government addressed the minimum wage in 2008. It again went back to increase the minimum wages in 2021, and most recently in 2025. Um while I am that, Mr. Speaker, well, in last year's address, the the government announced the intention to to um to address the minimum wage. In the last budget that was presented in July of 2025. And I would have to to give a big thank you and recognize the members of the minimum wage advisory board that was chaired by by Mr. Badwell. Now, that board was convened in rapid order following the the budget um address. And they were given a very tight deadline because they were given October 1st to for us to have new minimum wages in effect. So, they they only had effectively the rest of the summer to do the economic analysis and come up with a meaningful recommendation for us to increase um the minimum wage. And they were able to to keep to that timeline and submit a meaningful recommendation to the cabinet within the time frame, Mr. Speaker. So, that was that was an example of of real patriots giving up their time freely, giving up their time towards making sure that we can advance the agenda of this country, Mr. Speaker. So, I really want to thank all the members. I have met with them and I I'm I'm thanking them in personally, but just for the whole country to know that, you know, these people these we need more of those types of people in the system, Mr. Speaker. The the increases in the minimum wage, Mr. Speaker, this this took effect in the 1st of December, 2025. Um what we did here was we had average increases of between 20 to 40% being in place and put in place at that time, effectively taking the average for most um sectors from $7.24 an hour up to about $9 an hour. The overall average was increased to approximately $9.14 an hour in terms of minimum wage. So, that brought us on par and slightly above the average in the CARICOM, Mr. Speaker. So, as of right now, Dominica is not behind in terms of the the rate the minimum hourly rate, um Mr. Speaker. Another non-tax measure that is worth mentioning, Mr. Speaker, different things that we do in to to keep putting more in people's pocket. We have various things like free fertilizer up to the up to yesterday, when I was on my one day preparing for today, I had to be going downstairs and giving people free fertilizer. Um we've given free fertilizer to farmers, free tools and equipment, free farming supplies. This if the government does not help with that, the people have to put more in their pocket to buy those things. The digital economic grants, we've given we've given those to help people modernize their businesses, small business. As the Minister for Small Business, I must mention the the significant support that we've given to all people through the Small Business Unit. Um speaking of that, I have to to again mention the the the AID Bank and the staff of the Aidbank for excellent management of the loan facility that the government um put in their care towards providing soft concessionary financing to small businesses in Dominica, Mr. Speaker. That facility, $27.8 million, performed excellently. It was as of March 2026, it was fully um fully drawn down. And um that's because of the the the success of that facility had inspired the government to now go back on a new facility of the $19 million. So, we'll be putting on in the general $19 million at the Aidbank on the concessionary terms. Generally, 3 and 1/2% 10 years term, 6 months grace period. Um and Mr. Speaker, that goes a long way. When when when you when you have to compare it with probably 8% um in the in the average commercial bank, a 3 and 1/2% rate is significant a significant advantage, Mr. Speaker. So, we want to On behalf of the small business community, I sincerely thank the government for for these measures, Mr. Speaker. Beyond the small businesses, um we one of the most um far-reaching um measures that were impacted was the non-contributor's um pension. In 2016, the government implemented the non-contributor's pension for persons 70 years and over. Though, these are people that would not have paid anything towards Well, anything meaningful towards the social security where they would have then be able to benefit from a pension. Um and in 2023, that that was increased by by 5%. The amount um granted through that measure was increased by 5% whilst at the same time the age for to qualify for that for that um pension was reduced from 70 to 65 years. So, again, this is money that we the government directly put into the pockets of some of our most vulnerable people, Mr. Speaker. Um because at 65, 70 years, you don't have any social security coming in. Probably, you don't have much support from some from family members around you. Life can be hard, to put it mildly. But the government put these people in a position where somebody can stand up by the bank and say, "Cassidy, come and take a beer." You see? So, that put a little bit of pride, a little bit of dignity in a in a man's pocket when he can at the end of the month he can have a $350 in his pocket and he can tell his partner, "Look up here." Oh, by the way, the people of Corozal want to have a beer, too. >> [laughter] >> I don't mind I drinking beer, too. So, Mr. Speaker, >> [laughter] >> um for this presentation, I think that will generally wrap up I would like to wrap up the the measures the many and varied measures that this government has undertaken to help this our citizens, our people deal with high cost of living. Okay? Please let it not be said that this government is not doing nothing with respect to the cost of living because the the reality is so far from the truth. And the people that pushing that I mean shame on them. And I mean I mean shame on them. Honestly speaking, I don't know you can or you or you can look yourself in the mirror when you just blatantly, you know, Look at the the evidence is right there. The evidence has been laid on the table. This is what This is our record. This is what we have done and we are very proud of it, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just just before I wrap up, um I would just want to touch on one or two matters from the ministry the the cabinet has approved the issuance of work and the permits cards, Mr. Speaker. Now, these are these will replace the the little paper permits that we now issue in >> 10 more minutes. >> Yes, Mr. I'll I'll wrap up by that time, Mr. Speaker. I expect to wrap up. These will replace the the the paper permits that we are now issuing to to people who are who are here on work permits or who are here on residency permits. Now, the benefit to that is is multiple, Mr. Speaker. First of all, the security features that you will you will get on those documents, you cannot have it on a on a paper You don't have it on the paper document. So, the first thing is you will have the your picture The picture will be on the document. You will have a QR code. You will have a signature. So, the you The authorities can stop you and be able to be get a valid government ID from you to show that to to confirm your legal status and your identity on the island, Mr. Speaker. Now, we It might not appear significant to to those of us that have a driver's license or have a passport or social security card. But, try to imagine, for example, you you're an immigrant. You maybe move here as a child with your with your family. You're going to school still. So, you're not working. You don't You cannot get a social security card. You're You're under age. You're not driving. You don't have a driver's license. And maybe the amount of time you've been here on island, your passport has expired. So, you're essentially living in the country legally because you have a a valid um work paper work permit. But, you're on island without a proper and valid ID in your pocket, which makes it difficult for you to do banking transactions and be able to to just go by MoneyGram and give them a a valid ID and for you to be able to live a little bit of com- um comfortably in the country. So, these cards, Mr. Speaker, will help alleviate some of that. The cards will also help um reduce in fraud, Mr. Speaker, because the paper the the lack of security features and so on on the people um permit um it has encouraged people to try to fraudulently duplicate those documents and pass them on to people because all you see is a name you don't have a picture to be able to confirm it and these people try to come in at the airport using a work permit that is really a a forgery. So with the the card system that will help curtail those those um those forgery um attempts, Mr. Speaker. Um so the And in general, [clears throat] it's cool. You know, you have a QR code, you can just scan it and you'll be able to see the person's information. So the police can do that and anybody can um be able to to do that. Um and it it's modernizing the whole system. That is in line with our whole um digital economy, digitalizing the system and you know, bringing us up to standard in terms of having a more modern society, Mr. Speaker. So we welcome the issuance of the the work permits and the residency cards and these we expect should be should be able to take effect from the 1st of October this year, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, um still on the ministry matters, I am happy to announce to the small business community that the cabinet um has passed the has approved the small, medium, and um small, medium, and medium small, medium enterprise bill development bill. The MSME, the micro, small, and medium-sized um development bill, Mr. Speaker. Um that has been a long time coming. And um we expect that we will be able to bring this bill before the house, hopefully at the next sitting. Um if not, then at the next opportune time, Mr. Speaker, because the bill is ready to be presented to the house and enacted. The benefits of that bill is it will help with the growth and and development of the of the small business um community. It will help us to be able to better focus our our um measures in terms of targeting to help with the promotion and development of our health standardize the the understanding of where a small business really lies in the country. Either you micro, small, or medium. So, when you when you looking to have economic measures, you can have it more targeted at the at the exact or people that you wanted to reach, Mr. Speaker. So, we we will be taking a major step forward with the with the implementation of the small medium enterprise development bill, Mr. Speaker. Um from a constituency's perspective, the people of Corriverton um Corriverton and Biabou I just want you to know that the government is very aware of the need for us to continue our housing program. Um it is Everything doesn't come to you at one time, but it will be coming. Um in the meantime, I will want to see a big thank you to the government for making available the lots at Palmyra. We recently issued 10 lots to constituents at very concessionary rates of $5 per square foot. But, Mr. Speaker, these are lots that are valued at approximately $12 a square foot. Um very scenic, excellent view of the the Caribbean Sea, good breeze, you know, quiet neighborhood. Valued at around 12 And $12 is probably conservative. But, the government is selling that to the constituents at $5. $5 a square foot. So, if you buying as an example, if you buying a 5,000 square foot lot, Mr. Speaker, the normal cost for that would be $60,000 at $12. But, you paying $25,000 for it. So, that is a $45,000 benefit to you off the bat, right away. The government is effectively taking $45,000 from the treasury and giving you in your pocket and say, "Look, buy it to start your homes." Right there. If you buy in a smaller property $4,000 $4,000 by 12 is $48,000 and you'll be paying $20,000 that's $28,000 benefit off the bat. You can use that and go and buy a vehicle. It wouldn't be a raffle but you can get something. Mr. Speaker, um sorry. I just finished it. Call you for now. If we're looking at Dublanc Um I want to thank the the honorable Minister for Sports. Recently we were able to to put some brand new lights on the Dublanc playing field. We want to upgrade our lights. One thing the Minister of Sport, when I go to honestly when I go to the Minister of Sport I tell him, "Okay, we need to do that." I don't know I think he probably have uh have one or two friends in Dublanc because whenever I tell him we need to do that, he's on the ball. He moves. All right? He he he likes the community and I Dublanc is an excellent community and I can't blame him for liking the village. Dublanc Dublanc is a cultural activity. Dublanc have a a long and and proud sporting history. Okay? Dublanc has produced some of the top cricketers in the country. You for 4 years in a row running Dublanc has been dominating the Premier League. So So giving us some modern lights on the playing field, Mr. Speaker, that is the least we can do. And so we are very thankful for the new lights the honorable Minister of Sport. Um thankfully, Mr. Speaker, I was also able to to bless the the Dublanc football team recently with with a new water pump that will be able to drive the irrigation system because I had a conversation with the the president of the Dominica Football Association and he assured me that if we can improve the lighting and so on on the Dublanc playing field we should be able to get more games. So hopefully I mean we're already getting a good bit of games I have to admit but hopefully we can get even more Down in Dublanc, though we have an excellent pitch. We have new um irrigation system that that that coming. We have new lights and everything and so on. So, you know, we we we we rolling on on on gas. Mr. Speaker, >> [laughter] >> on gas. We're cooking on coals. We're cooking on gas. >> [laughter] >> Um with respect to the the Dublanc community, we recently had a town hall on agriculture Minister of Agriculture town hall. We met with the farmers down in Dublanc. And that again, Mr. Speaker, was was held at the at the pavilion in Dublanc. And that pavilion is something that that um fully the the grace the grace of the Prime Minister, we were able to make some serious um improvements to recently. And so, right now, the pavilion serving as a de facto community center. That is where we holding our nice little meetings. We have a good comfortable environment. And so, we had a meeting at the at the Dublanc pavilion. And the Minister of Agriculture um addressed one of the most pressing issues of the farming community in the area and that is the irrigation system at Milton. Do I need to get time? 5 minutes. >> 2 more minutes. >> Okay, let let let's see how far we can go with 2 minutes, Mr. Speaker. So, the the the irrigation system, as we know, recently we we had this Domrep this Domrep program launched Mr. Speaker and that is let me see, Domrep that is Anyway, that is that is a system that is in in collaboration with the OECS Commission and it's been funded by the the European Union. About 70.2 or so million dollars under that program going towards helping um build resilience and and so on in the in the country. So, under that program, it is very likely that we're going to get the Syndicate Milton program and irrigation system funded, Mr. Speaker. So, hopefully we can see that come to fruition shortly. So, we have hope, we live in hope and expectations that the irrigation system will be addressed up in the Syndicate area, Mr. Speaker. In Beausejour, we have some very exciting news. We know one of the long-standing issues in Beausejour is the septic tank issue, and Mr. Speaker, um I came into office and that was one of the first things that that that I told them and I I was determined to try to address it. And thankfully, with the support, okay. >> Mr. Speaker, I move for an additional 5 minutes for the member to wrap up. >> Seconded, Mr. Speaker. >> [clears throat and cough] >> It has been moved and seconded that the honorable Pinard be given an additional 5 minutes. Those in favor? Those against? The eyes have it. Honorable, you are given an additional 5 minutes. >> Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Okay. So, with the with the strong support of the Minister for the Environment, now the Minister for the Environment came down to Beausejour with a whole team, and we we went house to house looking at the situation and trying to determine how we can address it. And thankfully, he has this this bio-space project. Now, that is a project that is currently operating in the Soufriere area, because they have a similar challenge with respect to be able to get um the soil the type of soil is not conducive to like soak-away and septic and this type of thing there. So, under that bio project, um also is a bio project that is funded by the European Union, sorry. So, the the dump crap is being funded by the CDB. Yes, under the loan. 5 Cs, Yes. Correct me if I'm wrong, only three. >> [laughter] >> Okay, thank you, thank you for that correction. Now, the under that bio bio bio space we we are thankful for the fact that the Minister of the Environment has set aside a number of septic tanks for us, Mr. Speaker. Now, these septic tanks, these artificial septic tanks, they they have the capacity of about 500 gallons. And um they they have to be inspected every 12 to 18 months and so on and they we have to replace the filters on them approximately twice a year. But the fact is they provide us with a very viable solution to the septic situation we have in Bequia. And the good news I have to report is that these tanks are here on island and they and we expect that they will be brought down to Dublanc and to Bequia, sorry, sometime next week. Sometime next week. So, we can we can see some in the very near future we can see the issue being addressed. So, as I wrap up, Mr. Speaker, let me just say thank you to the many supporters in the call call your constituency, especially those that always make themselves available when I call. And um I do I will not go into calling names because when you call names invariably you do not call everybody and then those you do not call will be in bad so the the strategy the best thing don't call names just thank everybody. I want to I will thank the the the staff at my constituency office. Now, these are ladies that will work tirelessly through the weekend, through the night when they have to, but they also make sure that whatever it is we plan it is executed to perfection. And so I really want to thank them for the the continuous support that I receive from them. And the ministry, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the staff of the Ministry of Labour. Um Dr. Anderson said that call him my PS, so I have to say the from the PS of labor for [laughter] her strong support. I was I was I was very fortunate, Mr. Speaker, to have to have Ms. Joseph as my as my first PS because Ms. Joseph is a veteran IN THE SYSTEM. WHEN YOU COME IN IN AS A WHEN YOU COME in in new into the public service where everything you know is private sector, it was very, very beneficial to have somebody that know the system inside out like Ms. Joseph. So, I was truly appreciative of of of her and the the assistance she's able to give me, the strong support that she's able to give me as a PS in the Ministry of Labor. And also thank the the staff in general. The busy time the busier time is coming up because we soon go into the period where we'll be hosting the TV last square. Um they have they have proposed some exciting changes to TV last square coming up in in the end of the month. So, I think everybody can look forward to having an even bigger and better TVK 2026. I hope to see everybody there. Um my comrades and colleagues, I want to thank the Prime Minister for his continued guidance, his continued support, his continued mentorship. Since I've been here, I've learned a lot from listening and being in and around the Prime Minister. And so, it is a true joy to be learning from him. My cabinet colleagues and everybody else, thank you. Thank you very much. >> Mr. Speaker, I move that this honorable house be suspended until 7:30 this evening. >> Seconded, Mr. Speaker. >> It has been moved and seconded that the house be suspended until 7:00 p.m. this evening. Those 7:30 p.m. this evening. Those who are in favor? Those against? The eyes have it. Home stand suspended until 7:30 p.m. this evening.