Former President of the Senate and independent candidate Stanley Felix held his first public meeting of the campaign season in New Village on Tuesday night. Held under the theme Serving People, Stirring Change, Felix revealed his plans to improve housing access, support single mothers and provide bus passes for school children in Castries Central.
His announcement to run as an independent came on October 13 on DBS Television, marking his return to politics. In 2011, the attorney, then running on a Saint Lucia Labour Party ticket, narrowly lost to Richard Frederick, who at the time represented the United Workers Party (UWP). Fourteen years later, both men will once again compete for the Castries Central seat, this time as independents.
Frederick now represents the Labour Party and Rosh Clarke is the UWP candidate.
Felix told supporters that his decision to run was driven by a desire to serve the people directly and address long-standing social challenges within the constituency. He announced plans to make land more accessible for young families.
“If you give me the opportunity, I will continue to source suitable lands for housing, to give you the opportunity to start your family.” Felix said that access to land would help residents “monitor the land, take loans, do meaningful things,” encouraging them to build more stable lives.
Education and transportation support were also high on his agenda. The candidate proposed that school children in Castries Central should be provided with government-sponsored bus passes.
“I will ensure that all schoolchildren from the Castries Central district are given bus fare so they could go back and forth to school,” Felix said. He noted that many parents struggle to afford daily transportation, adding, “I know a lot of you find it hard that you have to give the kids $10 every day.”
He explained that the programme would involve negotiations with the minibus association so that the government could “equip all school children with a pass, just like how it started in bigger countries”.
Addressing one of the constituency’s most pressing issues, Felix spoke about the difficulties faced by single mothers. He described Castries Central as being “plagued with the most social problems we have in this country”, pointing to the struggles of women raising children without support.
“There are lots of women who can’t go to work because they have 3, 4, 5 children. They can’t leave them alone. They can’t work. Let’s empower them,” he urged.
Felix said that he intends to introduce “social programmes” and “after school workshops” to provide relief and opportunities for families, stating, “We can do better than that.”
Reflecting on the constituency’s past, he described Castries as once being a “thriving city” that was “rich in sports, culture and talent”, lamenting that “nothing is being done to nurture it”.
He pledged to restore the city’s vitality and invited residents to rally behind what he called the “Orange Movement”. “We are going to make a difference. It starts here tonight,” Felix told supporters.
