rd Wednesday, 23! March 2016 ! 9:00 AM. ---*---! ! Members Present: The Hon. Michael Peyrefitte, Speaker The Rt. Hon. Dean O. Barrow (Queen’s Square) Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Public Service, Energy and Public Utilities The Hon. Gaspar Vega (Orange Walk North), Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, the Environment and Sustainable Development The Hon. Patrick J. Faber (Collet), Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports The Hon. John Saldivar (Belmopan), Minister of National Security The Hon. Michael Finnegan (Mesopotamia), Minister of Housing and Urban Development The Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. (Belize Rural South), Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation The Hon. Anthony Martinez (Port Loyola), Minister of Human Development, Social Transformation and Poverty Alleviation The Hon. Wilfred P. Elrington (Pickstock), Minister of Foreign Affairs The Hon. Pablo S. Marin (Corozal Bay), Minister of Health The Hon. Hugo Patt (Corozal North), Minister of Labour, Local Government and Rural Development The Hon. Edmond G. Castro (Belize Rural North), Minister of State in the Ministry of Transport and NEMO; Deputy Speaker The Hon. Dr. Omar Figueroa (Cayo North), Minister of State in the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development The Hon. Frank Mena (Dangriga), Minister of State in the Ministry of Public Service, Energy and Public Utilities The Hon. Beverly Castillo (Belize Rural Central), Minister of State in the Ministry of Immigration The Hon. Tracy Taegar-Panton (Albert), Minister of State in the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Commerce The Hon. Elodio Aragon Jr. (Orange Walk East), Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports The Hon. Dr. Angel Campos (Corozal South West), Minister of State in the Ministry of Health The Hon. John Briceño (Orange Walk Central), Leader of the Opposition The Hon. Cordel Hyde (Lake Independence) The Rt. Hon. Said Musa (Fort George) The Hon. Rodwell Ferguson (Stann Creek West) The Hon. Jose Mai (Orange Walk South) The Hon. Julius Espat (Cayo South) The Hon. Kareem Musa (Caribbean Shores) The Hon. Michael Espat (Toledo East) The Hon. Florencio Marin Jr. (Corozal South East) The Hon. Oscar Requena (Toledo West) The Hon.! Orlando Habet (Cayo North East) ! Members Absent: ! !2 The Hon. Erwin R. Contreras (Cayo West), Minister of Economic Development, Petroleum, Investment, Trade and Commerce The Hon. Rene Montero (Cayo Central), Minister of Works, Transport and NEMO !The Hon. Francis Fonseca (Freetown) !MR. SPEAKER in the Chair. !PRAYERS by Pastor Alvan Gentle Jr. HON. W. ELRINGTON (Minister of Foreign Affairs): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to make my contribution to the budget debate, Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the Fiscal Year 2016/2017. But before I get into the budget, Mr. Speaker, I would like to crave your indulgence to ask the House to rise for a moment of silence as a mark of respect and of solidarity with our donor partners, the European Union, in consequences of the tragic incident which occurred yesterday, the terrorist attack, in Brussels, the headquarters of the EU and of NATO, resulting in the death of 34 citizens and more than 200 injured. !We have an Embassy there with an Ambassador and a staff. MR. SPEAKER: Absolutely, Minister, and just to mention that I was at airport on Sunday two days before the incident. So I feel the intimidation, and clearly the European Union has been a good friend of Belize, and your request is !timely. ! (All rise in a moment of silence.) HON. W. ELRINGTON (Minister of Foreign Affairs): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it is appropriate that I point to the empty seats on the other side and wonder whether it is a issue of forgetfulness or just a mark of disrespect to this Honourable House and the people of Belize, that the Loyal Opposition who are being paid to be here today are, in fact, nowhere in sight. They are! absent. Mr. Speaker, I just want to offer a word of thanks to Team Pickstock and my family and the entire Pickstock family who defied the pundits, the media and all the armchair generals who were predicting my untimely demise at the polls. And I want to thank all of them who worked so hard to ensure that I would be returned to this House for a third time. I want to also crave your indulgence to thank the Belize Protectors Team Belize. The Belize Protectors is a team no. 259, which took first place in the mixed category with total time to complete the 120- mile relay race of 14 hours and 23 minutes. Overall we place 6th out of some 264 competing teams, and Belize gathered first place in the special category that we belong to. (Applause) The Belize Protectors ranked 14 highest times to complete such a prestigious race which has been in existence since 1985. It’s the first time that we are participating in that race, Mr. Speaker, and I think we did a stellar job. If you would permit me, Mr. Speaker, given the fact that it’s the very first time that it occurred, if you would permit me, I would like to call the names of the particular members of our Defence Force that were, in fact, involved. We had Justine William Baptist, Jereen Shanice Chun, Alexander John Lauri, Domingo Cal, Egbert Peter Augustine, Loretta Lois Garbutt, Daniel Jimenez, Jerome Aaron Belisle, Juan Jose Bulum, Adelida Anastacia Pou, Jermaine Alexander Jones, Victor Cyril Martin, Trevor Lennon, Ernesto Charles Villafranco, Elio Tzub, ! !3 Calestro Saki, Shoudi Shayeda Reyes, Rashida Natasha Cunningham, Albert Emerson Davis, Rhodmond Richard Smith, Randy Vence Lewis, Fedrick Samuels Gordon III, Herbert Roberto Gomez, Jacinto Sanchez, and Shanae Glenda Nasario Rio. We’d also like to thank the 25 of them, and we’d also like to thank the supporting team. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to make mention of the recent band fest that was held and I can’t resist making mention of that because the band fest was enhanced tremendously by the presence of a band from Chetumal and the presence of a band from Melchor de Mencos. And I heard Mrs. Carmen Barrow personally! thanking them for the splendid job they did in enhancing the band fest. ! I make mention of these three issues and occurrences, Mr. Speaker, because it is a testament to the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in enhancing the relationship with our neighbours and our allies. The United States is a powerful ally of Belize. Mexico is a powerful ally of Belize. Guatemala is a neighbour that we have some difficulties with, but by and large we are working those difficulties out but we are able to live in peace and harmony, and, in fact, we are going to be able to cooperate in areas of health, education and, you see, culture.! I think that is very, very important for our people to understand. I also wanted to take this chance and opportunity to welcome and congratulate the new Leader of the Opposition on his appointment as Leader of the Opposition, and I would also like to congratulate him on appointing the advisory team to advise him and his party on the Belize/Guatemala dispute. He has selected perhaps the most informed and perhaps the most enlightened members of his party to be his advisors on this very important issue. They all have long experience in dealing with the Belize/Guatemala issue, and I think it’s a move in! the right direction. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to point out also too, going now into the budget, that this budget is no doomsday budget. And I brought with me a glass of water to make the point that we can look at the same thing but see different things. Some people would look at it and say it’s half empty. Some people would look at it and say it’s half full, but we were looking at the same thing. The impression I get is that those on the other side when they look at the budget they only see negative, those who are missing in action. And it is no wonder, in fact, that they see negative because they are missing in such important occasions. But this budget, like all the budgets after this administration under the Right Honourable Prime Minister, Dean Oliver Barrow, shows a projected revenue, I will deal only with the revenue, of $1,088,359,568.00. The projected revenue for last year was $1,031,114,434.00. So this one is an increase over last year. It grew actually some $57! million, as far as my reckoning is concern. In relation to the Ministry that I am responsible for, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I note that the allocation for this year is $21,691,708.00 and the revenue for last year 2015/2016 was $16,979,258.00, which, again, is an increase of some $4.5 million. This allocation for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be able to finance all the activities that we are involved with and handsomely. We have a reputation in the Ministry of Finance for being very prudent in the management of the people’s affairs. And none of the monies allocated to that Ministry finds itself in any other activity other than those ordained by the government.! It is strictly to carry out the government purposes. ! !4 The good thing about the budget, the absolutely unquestionable good thing about the budget is that it provides for no new taxes. No one is losing his or her job in the public service.