00:00What is done via the legislation here actually for debate Mr Speaker is a plucking out of particular areas to
00:09give the impression when they get to local government elections that they have won more corporations and the PNM does
00:20not operate like that.
00:21Port of Spain North St. Anne's West MP Stuart Young in the House of Representatives outlining the opposition's concerns about
00:28the 2026 Municipal Corporations Amendment Bill.
00:32Coover North MP Jolene John, the Minister of Works and Infrastructure, later contributed to the debate on the bill to
00:37increase the number of municipal corporations in Trinidad from 14 to 17.
00:42This bill is not an attempt to act, this bill is action. Action. The UNC is about action and ensuring
00:50that we better the lives of the people.
00:53If the issue is municipal, the corporation must own its responsibility. That's what we are saying.
00:59What we cannot continue to do is to send citizens in circles and decide that 14 is enough when you
01:06really need 17.
01:07Maybe we need 21. Have you all thought about that? You know? A proper consultation.
01:13MP Young spoke about the bill in the context of population density.
01:16If we apply UNC logic and UNC attacks on democracy, yeah, we split Port of Spain into three, give Dago
01:26Martin four and you call that seven.
01:28So when it comes time to a local government election, you say, well, I win 12, I win 10 boroughs.
01:35That is what is going on here, Trinidad and Tobago. That is it. Simple, plain and simple. Stealing of elections.
01:45The bill seeks to, among other objectives, establish the city of Chagones and create the boroughs of Barataria, Coover and
01:52St. Augustine.
01:53That is where accountability comes back in, right? We are not afraid of that. We are going to stand the
01:59consequences.
02:00And we know the people know that we are acting in their, on their behalf, because that is why they
02:06bought in to the concept and the philosophy.
02:09When UNC wins, everybody wins. That is a tagline. This is the work. This is how your people win, with
02:16the work.
02:16You can't just sit down there, you can't sit down with a hat and a tagline and buzzword. You have
02:20to put it into work and sometimes you have to take hard decisions.
02:23And that is why we really have to compliment the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessa. She takes that hard decision.
02:30Minister John maintained the government's position that the bill is about improving the delivery of local government services across Trinidad.
02:38Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
02:40Jewel Brown, TV6 News.
