Falklands : Motion for Adjournment Speech: The Honourable Mr Roger Edwards
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 19.07.2011 (Article Archived on 02.08.2011)
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I will be very brief in respect my statement to welcomes and visits. I, too, would like to welcome Mike Summers and congratulate him on winning the by-election in Stanley.
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 14 JULY 2011
(Part 2: Motion for Adjournment Speeches)
Compiled by J. Brock (FINN)
The Honourable Mr Roger Edwards:
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I will be very brief in respect my statement to welcomes and visits. I, too, would like to welcome Mike Summers and congratulate him on winning the by-election in Stanley. I am sure once he has settled in he will work with us. Welcome, too to Brigadier Aldridge to the Islands and to this Assembly. I trust he will enjoy his time here in the Islands and take the opportunity to get out and about and meet both the Falkland Islanders and the Falklands’ wildlife. I trust also that he will continue the purpose of his predecessor offering more and more privatised and localised posts at Mount Pleasant and within the command structure in full.
Dick Sawle and I have recently been away to attend the Committee of 24 in New York. And I must say that the very brief time that Dick Sawle and I were in the United States and myself, I carried on to Canada, that time was incredibly well spent. We were able to correct many of the miss-construed ideas that people have about the Falkland Islands. And in Canada, in Ottawa, I actually sat in front of the majority of the Foreign Affairs Committee and was grilled for about an hour and a quarter and it was absolutely amazing the response we got from both the USA and from Canada. And I would encourage that this type of visit is not only continued but it is extended so that we have more time to speak to the individuals concerned. My visit to Canada certainly was one day – or a very brief day of meetings but it involved about 3 nights in the air travelling to and from. In spending that much time getting there, I do think more time should be spent meeting people. And I think it is an opportunity for all Members to be involved in meeting and spreading the public diplomacy word of the Falklands and combating some of the trash that comes out of Argentina.
My final point on visits is I’d like to remind all Camp people listening this morning that we are making visits to Goose Green on the 17th of August and to Fox Bay Ease on the 18th of August and I look forward to seeing as many people there as possible.
And finally, Mr Speaker, I would like to say I am delighted to see Emma here this morning, that has climbed out of her sick bed to attend to make up the quorum of this assembly.
Mr Speaker, I stand
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