When Saint Lucia holds its General Election on Monday, December 1, the west coast constituency of Anse La Raye/Canaries will have its first two-term member of parliament since Cyprian Lansiquot was elected to the House of Assembly in 1997 and 2001. Incumbent Wayne Girard of the Saint Lucia Labour Party hopes to vanquish the United Workers Party’s Dominic Fedee for the second consecutive cycle. Fedee served the constituency from 2016 to 2021.
On Thursday night, November 27, Girard made his case to the people of the community at a zonal public meeting on the Anse La Raye waterfront, speaking to his record over the past four and a half years, and promising further work to be done should he achieve his goal of returning as MP. If he does so, it will also be the first time since Lansiquot that the seat has been won by the same party twice in succession. The seat has not been in opposition since 1987.
Girard was preceded by speakers, including Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre and Lansiquot. Also on the platform was Elwin St Rose, who earlier this year had stated his intention to contest the seat as an independent candidate. Instead, St Rose on Thursday offered impassioned support for Girard, the Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Youth Economy.
For his time on stage, Girard made much of two infrastructural projects completed and opened the week before polling day, the West Coast First Station and the National Skills Development Centre (NSDC) Chalét youth development facility.
“You waited 11 years for this facility to be open,” said Girard. “It is the Saint Lucia Labour Party today who has given you a facility for the young people of this constituency. A facility that you, whether it is from Jacmel, Tet Chemin, Canaries, can come and use to harness your craft to earn a living to serve the people of this constituency…
“We decided that the people of Anse La Raye/Canaries, we are going to put you first. We are doing things that we did not come to you to say we were going to do. I never said to you before the election I was going to do a fire station, but it is something that you deserve. It is something that you need. I went to the prime minister. I said, “Prime minister, this is what the issue is.” …Today, you have a fire station in Anse La Raye/Canaries.”
Girard announced that if given a second term serving the people of the constituency, he would deliver on a new police station and complete ongoing construction of a two-lane reinforced-concrete girder bridge, inclusive of dedicated pedestrian walkways, utility ducts and enhanced structural resilience to withstand extreme weather events.
The sitting MP went on to recall the recent success of the Anse La Raye football team, Tier 2 champions in the Saint Lucia Semi-Professional Football League. Anse La Raye won a $30,000 cash prize and promotion to Tier 1, where they will join Canaries. Girard framed that win as the jumping-off point for further investment in sports in the community.
“And when you see we finish the Jacmel field, we’ve done the lights. When you see we finish the work on the Jacmel field, it was never FIFA qualified before. You could not have no real match in Jacmel. It is only because of the work of Kenson Casimir and the Saint Lucia Labour Party that we will be able to host FIFA qualified matches in Jack. We have the lights, now we have to do the stands, and the resurfacing of the field.”
Girard touted his collaborative approach to development, which he said differs from the way Fedee does things. Citing a study commissioned on flood mitigation in the community, he told his audience that he valued their input as to what is important for the advancement of the community, and called on them to play their part in assuring his return as MP.
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mia resurfaced for election