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DOING BUSINESS REPORT – THE MYTH

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‘It appeared to be the way of all succeeding government to pull down what has been conceived by a previous government rightly or wrongly’’ – Sir George F. L. Charles The above words of Sir George F. L. Charles were in response to a decision by a UWP Administration in 1965, almost 50 yrs ago, to cancel the lease prepared by Donald James to the C.A. T. Corporation for the development of lands in Vieux Fort. The C.A.T. Corporation was a locally registered company with provisions for St. Lucians to purchase shares in the investment and was headed by an American businessman called Bill Turner. An Agreement was signed by the then Labour Government ( 1961) for the development of certain areas of Vieux Fort previously occupied by the Americans, within a specified time. Sir George correctly placed the caveat of rightly or wrongly, and in the absence of all the information placed before then...

GROS ISLET HIGHWAY – WHAT NEXT?

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I entered the University of the West Indies – St Augustine in 1980 as a young 18 year old. 1980 was a very turbulent period in the history of Trinidad and Tobago with marches in the capital city almost a daily occurrence. The St Augustine Campus was not spared the turbulence and the coup in Grenada in 1979 and Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment had activated the then ‘I – Room’ as the crucible for debate on politics and economics. Despite my very conservative upbringing, the environment influenced my thought processes. I marched around campus, I joined a movement to stop the then PNM Government from continuing the building of a Race track that had swimming pools for horses. I also was impressed by a young lecturer named Raymond Charles, who sparked an interest in the field of Transportation Engineering. I recall using the blackboards of the Faculty of Engineering to vividly express my...

ON ST LUCIA (2)

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The conversations concerning St Lucia’s financial state must be elevated from the base level of partisan political rhetoric to a prefrontal discourse within the society.

John Peters

LEONARD ST HILL – AHEAD OF HIS TIME

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A good friend of mine sent me a document he found while doing some cleaning of his archives, it was a book written by Mr. Leonard St. Hill entitled MANIFESTO ONE  THE LAND written in 1972, and speaking about his exploits in St Lucia over a period of years ending in 1970. We are talking about forty four (44) years ago. I was amazed at the depth of thought in the development of the various proposals and must say he should be given St Lucia’s highest honour for his outstanding contribution to the development of St. Lucia. He stands tall as a true genius. At the end of the book, Mr. St Hill gives a history of his education and of significance is his training in Civil Engineering, and I then understood why such salient and critical recommendations were generated. Unfortunately engineers still do not get the respect due, Manuel Pelligrini  is more known for his exploits as a coach of...

THE RETREAT OF CANADIAN BANKS

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Recently, Bank of Nova Scotia announced that they will be shutting down 120 branches largely in Mexico and the Caribbean in a bid to save CAN $ 120 million annually. In the Caribbean, the plan is to close 35 branches out of the 200 branches and sever 1,500 full time employees. This represents a shrinkage of about 17.5 %, a significant retreat from the Caribbean. It should be noted that this is not the first time, this has happened in St Lucia. There is an interesting quote in Sir George F. L. Charles’ book – The History of the Labour Movement in St Lucia 1945 – 1974 in which he says: “ The Banana industry was in the pinnacle of this momentum and the sunlight of hope was to be seen on the faces of large and small farmers, merchants, civil servants, teachers, fishermen, market vendors, speculators and workers…. The Royal Bank of Canada which closed its doors to St Lucia during the years...