St. George North Candidate Toni Moore addressing the audience.
The Barbados Labour Party’s candidate for the upcoming by-election in St. George North, Toni Moore, has tendered her resignation as an independent senator.
Word of this has came from Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Dale Marshall. He made the disclosure during the meeting at Sheffield Pasture, Lower Estate as the party supporters came out in their numbers to offer support for the trade unionist and first time candidate. Marshall told a sizeable crowd that Moore had in fact resigned effective October 1, in correspondence that was sent to Governor General Dame Sandra Mason.
“Toni Moore has written the Governor General of Barbados and has resigned from the Senate of Barbados, with effect from the first of October. And I’ve been honoured to see the correspondence, I can’t share it with you because it is private correspondence between her and the Governor General, and if the Governor General gives me permission I will show it another day,” he said.
Marshall added, “This correspondence refers to a number of conversations Toni Moore had with the Governor General and then she said, ‘I am grateful for the opportunity to serve, but I feel I must now resign’. Toni Moore is a decent and honourable woman”.
His comments came as he acknowledged that since Moore’s candidacy was announced there has been much criticism about her continuing to serve as an independent senator. But, AG Marshall explained that contrary to what persons believe, the term independent senator does not exist in the Constitution of Barbados.
“The Government appoints its senators, the Opposition appoints its senators and the Governor General chooses people from various areas, the Church and others, and she chooses individuals of high repute to nominate. So the first reason you should vote for Toni Moore is because the Governor General of Barbados considered her to be an individual of such repute that she merited going to the Senate. If the Governor General felt she was good enough to go in the Senate, why should the people of St. George North feel that she is not good enough to go in the House of Assembly?”
He also defended her decision to remain as the General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union, contending that anyone who thinks Moore is a “push over” does not know her. His comments came as he stated that there are pieces of legislation.brought to the Senate, including the Integrity Bill, which Moore did not support, as she was not afraid to stand up for what she believed.
“Those are the reasons we value her candidacy,” he maintained.
Marshall’s comments came as he said that the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), is a Party for workers, contending that it was the BLP, on coming to office that increased salaries and started the process of paying tax refunds.
“The DEMS can say whatever they like, but they had 10 years, not a salary increase [and] send home about 5000 people indiscriminately... They abandoned the job they were elected to do and the Barbados Labour Party came to rescue this country two years and four months ago,” he stated.
With that in mind, Marshall said that the BLP does not make decisions lightly, whether it be about policies or candidates. He insisted that a lot goes into every decision they make, as they recognise that at the centre of it all is the people.
“... And when you are dealing with people you have to get it right. We put a lot of energy into trying to determine what the candidate for St. George North would look like after Gline Clarke demitted office, we knew that we needed someone with integrity, we knew that we needed someone who had a strong working class background, we knew that we needed an individual who people could trust and who children could look up to. We knew that we needed someone of character and somebody with commitment and we chose Toni Moore,” he maintained. (JRT)