Kamla’s Plan: Protecting Workers and Families from Global Economic Volatility
This morning, Dr. Bhoe Tewarie, Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development, and Mr. Larry Howai, Minister of Finance and Economy, met with reporters at the Radisson Hotel to discuss Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s plan to strengthen our economy, creating and protecting jobs for workers and families.
“Protecting workers and their families is at the core of our plans for strengthening and enhancing our economy,” said Mr. Howai, “and so we will continue to ensure that the critical services that families rely on, like education, healthcare and policing, will be protected.”
The People’s Partnership government takes a conservative approach to forecasting, and this has helped reduce the in-year deficit for the 2014-2015 fiscal year from $4 billion to $1 billion.
“Savings from our prudent fiscal planning will help give us an additional cushion should we need it to ensure that we can continue to protect workers and their families from global economic turbulence,” said Mr. Howai.
Speaking on the question of property taxes, Mr. Howai noted that the property tax was introduced in 2009 by the previous government.
“Every year since we have taken office we have made the prudent choice to shield families from paying those taxes which were part of the previous government’s plans, and we will continue to do so,” said Mr. Howai.
Dr. Tewarie spoke about the upcoming election, and particularly the choice that voters have to make on September 7th.
“The upcoming election is a critical one for Trinidad and Tobago,” said Dr. Tewarie. “It is a choice between two very different leaders, and the decisions they make will have a significant impact on our country.”
The voters of Trinidad and Tobago must make a choice. While Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar has a plan, Keith Rowley does not.
“Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has a plan to improve the lives of all the people of Trinidad and Tobago,” said Dr. Tewarie. “Critical to that plan is continuing to strengthen and diversify our economy to help better protect against the volatility that exists in the global economy.”
After promising for nearly three hundred days to share his intentions with the voters, he finally confirmed what we had suspected all along: he has no plan and he has only one policy.
“Despite the complications of the global economy, Keith Rowley has not put his focus on helping and protecting families,” said Dr. Tewarie. “In fact, his highest priority is to build a sixty billion dollar vanity railroad.”
Make no mistake, Keith Rowley’s railroad will put families at risk. He has admitted he has no plan to pay for his railroad and that means he will have to make savage cuts to critical services that families rely on, like healthcare, education and policing.
“What’s more, cuts won’t be enough to pay for Keith Rowley’s railroad. He will also have to increase taxes. Maybe that means a VAT increase,” said Dr. Tewarie. “Maybe it means he finally implements his party’s property tax.”
Regardless of what he says, these are the financial realities of his railroad policy, and he has remained doggedly committed to building it.
“Families cannot afford a Keith Rowley government,” said Dr. Tewarie. “We need to continue making prudent investments to strengthen our healthcare, expand and improve education, and build up our police services.”
Keith Rowley has no plan to improve our economy and protect workers and their families. On September 7th, voters must reject Keith Rowley and his sixty billion dollar vanity railroad.