It is with both honor and pleasure that I bring you warmest season’s greetings for this Christmas, and the deepest wishes for greater prosperity in the New Year.

Indeed Christmas is a time to take stock — to reflect on the year just gone by and to reaffirm new commitments for the upcoming year.

Indeed 2010 was a challenging year in many ways – but we end it in hope.

Hope that we have had an opportunity to have learnt from the mistakes, and the hope that we can make next year better than this year was.

For me in political life, Christmas is of particular relevance.

What we celebrate at this time is a Christ child, who came to live among us, so that he can bring hope to the

marginalised, offer liberation to the downtrodden and salvation to all of us.

If anyone of us in public life is to live out the true Christian values, we must be willing to fight for people who are marginalised; protect the weakest among us and offer a hope of a better day.

That’s why the message of Christmas must be a year-round message for all of us.

For the ‘Peace on Earth and Goodwill to all Mankind’ we now proclaim, should be in season in March and in July, as it is in December.

In this season, we all must particularly remember the most vulnerable among us – and make a special effort to reach out.

Even if we do not have all the material things we would crave, we must send a strong and clear signal, that this is still a land of hope – and this is still a land of love; and we are a people who care about each other.

This Christmas, we must recommit ourselves to helping the youths of our society still seeking to make a way for themselves; and to the elderly, who has paid the dues and deserve the care of the collective nation.

A difficult world economic environment has hit our nation hard, but particularly the vendors and the hucksters; the farmers and the under-employed.

I get up every day not being satisfied. We should never be satisfied until we take more people out of poverty and until we make a better way for the most vulnerable among us.

These are all Children of Christ for whom we must fight.

This fight to rid this nation of poverty; and to fully liberate our people through more opportunities in education and employment is not just a political concept; it is the essence of Christmas.

As the MP for the Town of St George, we are having a series of activities especially for the children and the elderly in various parts of the constituency.

This is only a token of my appreciation for the love and support the people of the Town have shown me throughout this year.

In the brightest moments, and indeed the darkest moments, I have felt your love.

You have scolded me and molded me; you have prayed for me and walked the extra mile for me.

I shall forever remain grateful and thankful.  Please keep me in your prayers, as my commitment to fight for you in season and out of season, remains.

There have been times of self doubt, but those have always been quickly cast away when I remember the greater cause to fight for the needs of the people of River Road and Four Roads; Cooper Hill and Motley Hill.

I recommit to embarking and completing projects that will help uplift the living conditions of the people who reside and work in our beautiful City of St. George. The start of work on finally refurbishing and enhancing the St. George’s Market Square is one of the top priorities.

I am thankful to my team of volunteers who, like myself, is determined to finish the lighting of the playing field at Queen’s Park; to find more recreation space for the people in the Melville Street/Four Roads area; to return the Old Trafford Playing Field to its original use of community sporting activities; the regularizing of the land situation in the River Road/Darbeau area; and to do many more projects – like housing repair and construction of bathroom and toilet facilities – that bring direct benefits to people.

As a member of the cabinet of Grenada, I have been for most of the year the Foreign Minister. I spent many hours on the road, championing Grenadian diplomacy for one single reason – the friendships that we cultivate must redound to the benefit of the ordinary people all around this country.

I end the year as the Minister of Tourism and I look enthusiastically to guiding further growth in the sector.

Growth in tourism must not also be an end in itself, but must reflect in the benefits it bring to the people all over the country,  the tour operators, the taxi men, the spice vendors and all the people who work in the services industry.

We have a lot of big ideas for further development of the sector in the New Year – most of which you would hear about during my budget address in parliament in January.

This has been a difficult and trying year for many of us – but as people steeped in Christian faith, we should not despair.

The Psalmist says – weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

With hope and courage let’s go forward together; knowing that while we have achieved a lot together, we have so much more to achieve.

Keep your faith and keep your love.

Have a Christ filled holiday season, and the joy we all pray for will come in the New Year.

Thank you very much.