Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre is defending remarks he made about household spending and education, saying critics have taken his comments out of context and turned a simple illustration about financial priorities into a political controversy.
Pierre made the comments while addressing school janitors, cooks and early childhood educators at a ceremony marking the Government’s first summer payments to eligible ancillary workers.
The controversy stems from remarks Pierre made at the Saint Lucia Labour Party’s Castries East Annual General Meeting last weekend, where he used beer purchases as an example of how people could adjust their spending to help meet the costs associated with sending children back to school.
“School is opening. If you want to drink three beers, drink two and a half. Leave the other half to give your child to go to school,” Pierre said at the meeting.
Addressing the controversy during a public engagement last week, Pierre said his comments were intended to illustrate the importance of prioritizing household expenditure rather than suggesting that people were not experiencing financial difficulties.
“I said, if you, a customer, drinking three beers, so that means how much a beer? He doesn’t drink beer. How much a beer? $5 a beer. Easy math,” Pierre said.
“So a beer is $5. So you’re spending $15 to buy a beer. All I’m saying to you, all I said to you, is take $2.50 and put aside to send your children to school.”
Pierre said the example was not intended as a political statement.
“I’m not talking politics, I’m talking about life in Saint Lucia,” he said.
He accused critics of attempting to portray his comments as an attack on people facing economic hardship.
“When you try to mislead people, to try to tell them they mustn’t have any personal responsibility, they mustn’t make, they mustn’t have their priorities right because you want to attack me politically, you can’t do that, you failed,” Pierre said.
“You failed.”
The Prime Minister said his central message was that households should make decisions about their spending based on their responsibilities and priorities.
“So I’m not talking about politics here, I am talking the reality, the reality of having your priorities right,” he said.
Pierre returned to the calculation he had used at the meeting.
“So if you’re spending $15 on there, minus $2.50, and you got $2.50 to send your children to school. And I’ll say it again, that’s what I was saying,” he said.
He also rejected suggestions that criticism of the remarks would cause him to withdraw or apologies for what he described as an honest observation about household priorities.
“You know, no man or no woman can make me back down from the truth,” Pierre said.
“Once I know what I say is true, once I know that my intentions are Honourable, no man, no matter who they are, no matter who they think they are, can ever make me back down. Never.”
Pierre said he remained convinced that his remarks were motivated by a desire to improve the circumstances of Saint Lucian families.
“Are you looking for me to back down? They will not find it from me,” he said.
“Because once I am speaking on behalf of the people of Saint Lucia, once my intentions improve the quality of life, I will never back down.”
The Prime Minister’s defense comes as the Government highlights its education support measures, including the introduction of summer payments for eligible ancillary workers, who previously went without salaries during the school vacation period.
Pierre has maintained that the payments reflect the Government’s recognition of the contribution made by school cooks, cleaners, janitors and early childhood workers to the education system.