DPM Cordel Hyde Tells LOO to Get Facts Right

Following the Leader of the Opposition’s speech was Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde. Before speaking on the successes of the Ministry of Natural Resources and future goals, Hyde first corrected inaccuracies made by the Leader of the Opposition. Here is a portion of his budget debate contribution. 

Hon. Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister: “Man how in God’s green world are you going to say to us that we should have hit the ground running on a state of affairs like that ? We were facing devaluation in the eye. The IMF was calling for the retrenchment of 3,000 public officers and to raise GST to 19.5% and you say the economy was better under the UDP ? Where were you living sir ? You say the economy grew under the UDP by 4.5% in 2019 but I have it right here on my phone, somebody was listening to you and sent it to me where the SIB said that it’s actually that the economy contracted by 2.8% in 2019. You can’t make up your stats brother. You can’t just pull numbers from out the sky. The numbers don’t lie. The facts don’t lie. The fact of the matter is that this country was in a recession in 2019. The fact is that what has been proposed in this budget and what is being debated today is another budget, the second consecutive budget with a primary surplus. In other words a sustainable budget that has more income than expenditure before including interest payments. A budget surplus is a sign of stability. It is a sign of progress. It is a clear sign of prudent financial management. A budget surplus is a sign that tax payer’s dollars are not being squandered and that our children, the precious next generation will not be forced to pay for the excesses of this generation. Instead of borrowing a million dollars a day as the previous administration infamously did on their way out the door this government. This government has chopped a billion dollars off the public debt on our way in. Yes more needs to be done and I’m confident is being done to ensure that those who can should pay their fair share of taxes. But the fact is that tax collections have exceeded targets for a second year in a row. And this budget touches people where it matters the absolute most. More money for healthcare, more money for education, more money for housing, more money for land surveys. More money for rural roads and village streets. More money for digitizing and thus democratizing more of the services that government provides to the people of this country. The budget touches people in the places where it matters the most.”