"This is a victory of the people Madam Speaker, because it of what they say "people power" that today we are working on this bill that we hope will soon become an act and law of the land."
"Look at the Spanish Lookout oil field. What did we get? We got a little over 600 million dollars Madam Speaker. Oil done. Money done. And what do we have to show for it? Poverty didn't go down. We didn't say we give thousands of students scholarships out of the oil money, but the money gone, the money finished, the oil finished. The point I'm trying to make, we can't risk for a little bit of oil to do oil exploration into our waters, because when you look at the Belize Barrier Reef, in my mind, the Belize Barrier Reef gives us more than 600 million dollars every year."
And while the opposition leader showed general support, he also said the bill could go further in ensuring the broadest protection possible for the reef. And that's where the spirit of bi-partisanship walked out the door, and the good old name-calling stepped in:..
"He did a nice piece of grandstanding just now, expect his slip is showing. If you want to get up and pontificate and crown yourself with all sorts of laurel wreaths and you do so by asserting that you are in fact more Catholic than the Pope. You should check and inform yourself before you shoot off your mouth. The whole idea of your presentation is to put yourself on the side of the angels, by saying first of all this has nothing in effect to do with the UDP, it's a people's victory. Good enough. But then to show how much you are a paladin of the people and therefore what has been achieve is not enough and more must be done. You talk about amendments that need to be made and almost every single amendment that you are urging on us has been made in the committee that consider the bill."
"It's here, it's among your papers sir."
"I just got these papers right now, so how on earth, I just got it right now on my table. How can you expect me Madam Speaker to make the....."
"I don't buy that for a minute. I'll have to check with the clerk."
"In any event, you are the leader of the party. If you weren't there, your members were there. According to you, you are so centrally preoccupied with this matter. You mean they didn't voluntarily report to you, or you didn't seek to find out what has happened. I am sorry sir. Bottom line you look bad, you look terrible."
A Christmas Gift to Belize: No Oil on Our Shores!
There was rare bipartisan agreement on the Petroleum Operations (Maritime Zone Moratorium) Bill, 2017, which establishes a moratorium on exploration, exploitation and other operations within the Belize Barrier Reef system, including those sections of the World Heritage Site. Several Senators agreed that today was a moment of celebration and recognition of those Belizeans who fought for such legislation for the past seven years. And the government’s chief in the Senate and former Lands Minister Godwin Hulse assured that no agreements have been signed or are in effect for petroleum concessions.
The Bill now goes to the Governor General for his consent.