And outside the House, Barrow reiterated that Faber does not represent the UDP, and his views do not reflect that of the party. And we also asked his reaction to Madam Speaker's rejection. Of his request to have them moved from the opposition bench. He said that he accepted her interpretation of the constitution and now he will move on. He also repeated that the idea of constructive resignation isn't a new concept and that Faber was the chairman of the party during Cardona's expulsion.
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"Those colleagues that stood up, we have to be absolutely clear, I did not want to get up on a point of order, I was going to wait until I spoke on the adjournment to make it absolutely clear that Patrick Faber does not speak for the Opposition. I know that he has withdrawal issues and still thinks that he sits on the seat of the Opposition but he doesn't and he does not speak for the Opposition, he speaks for himself and the people that elected him and respectfully, I respect the people that elected him and he speaks for them but he's not a part of the UDP parliamentary caucus because he's no longer a member of the UDP."
"The difference between myself and the member for Collet and Albert is that despite the difficulties I've experienced with the Speaker, I have respect for the seat of the Speaker and the Speaker was well in her remit to interpret the constitution in the manner which she did. I was in my remit as the Leader of the Opposition knowing that these people are no longer members of the party to notify the Speaker of such, there is language there that talks about resigning as a member of a political organization by which you were elected, I believe there is a deficiency there in the constitution because while it allows the member to resign, it does not address the member being expelled or the member ceasing to be active in the political organization and in this instance, you all see the type of coup d'état that was on display before the members were expelled from the party or as we put it, "constructively resigned" as an ode to the former party chairman, Mr Patrick Faber himself who constructively resigned Marcel Cordona so it's ironic that they were able to constructively resign him from the party but now he doesn't want to accept that because if you do your history, Cordona also said, I do not resign but the UDP maintained that he was no longer a member of their organization."
And Barrow says he's received plenty of applications for both constituencies. But can he find a standard bearer to rival Faber in Collet?
Reporter:
"How does the UDP prepare somebody that will deliver a safe seat in Collet?"
Shyne Barrow, Leader of the Opposition
"The safest seat in the entire country and the UDP is Mesopotamia. That is a matter of fact. Since 1979."
"When it comes to the member from Collet, when you talk about democracy, democracy is not based on who has been around the longest, democracy is not based on how intelligent or how intellectual you are, democracy is based on the will of the people so no one has a right to be elected. It is not that you are so qualified that all of us in society should throw ourselves at your feet and not consider giving the people an option. There are people that are not happy with the performance of the member from Collet, in Collet, so we are looking at those people to see we can find the most suitable and this is all about standing up for democracy so the member for Collet could not support the UDP with the current leadership so we removed him from the party based on the violations of the constitution and the treasonous behavior that he has been conducting and we have to move forward."
|
