A team comprising four (4) members of the Canadian House of Parliament namely Hon. Alexandra Mendes – MP – Liberal – Leader of the delegation, Hon. Todd Doherty – MP from Newfoundland, Hon. Senator Elizabeth Hubley – Liberal Senator from Prince Edward Island, Hon. Senator David Willis – Conservative Senator from British Columbia and Mrs. Elizabeth Kingston – Secretary were present in the TCI and paid a courtesy call on TCI Canada Working Group members including its General Counsel Mark A Fulford and chief Strategist Prof. Gilbert Morris.
The visiting Parliamentarians arrived in the Islands on Sunday, 7th February and are scheduled to depart on Wednesday, 10th February 2016. During the visit a meeting was held between the visiting delegation and TCI Working Group “TCIWG” at the Office of the Premier (Hilly Ewing Building) in Providenciales.
The primary purpose was a “Twinning-of-Parliament” exercise initiated by the Parliamentary Association. Not present is The Hon. R.D. Gardiner MP, JP – Minister for Immigration and Border Security. Under the Mandate of the Premier and the Prime Minister of Canada, the TCI-Canada trade group is laying the formal and strategic groundwork for recognising the special centuries long relationship between Canada and Turks and Caicos Islands.
Turks and Caicos has a 500-year history of salt exportation. This was crucial to the Cod fishing industry in Canada. In fact, the rise of Canadian banking both in Canada and the Caribbean depended on Salt and Molasses trading in the Caribbean; which was the foundation of Scotia Bank, whose first branch was in Halifax and the second in Jamaica. The two governments recognise and now seek to formalize this organic relationship. This is part of Premier Dr. Rufus Ewing’s vision to forge greater trade and economic relations with Canada which all started with the formation of the a working group by the Canadian government and the formation of a TCI Working group by the Hon. Premier to develop a friendship agreement to strengthen the already existing relationship.
