Rowley's turn; opposition leader replies to budget

Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley will present his reponse to the budget Tuesday, starting at 10 in the morning.

It would be his first such duty since tgaking over the leadership of the People's National Movement from former Prime Minister Patrick Manning.

He is already on record as giving the budget a thumbs down, stating that it offered nothing new and was full of cliches, similar to previous budgets.

A PNM team including former finance ministers Mariano Browne, Ken Valley and Christine Sahadeo as well as former education minister Esther Le Gendre, have been working on preparing Rowley's contribution.

Rowley is expected to deal with the CL Financial/HCU deal, the minimum wage, the scrapping of the smelter plant and rapid rail projects.

The House of Representatives will also hear from the government side Tuesday. Several MPs are listed to speak including Roodal Moonilal, Suruj Rambachan, Stephen Cadiz, Rupert Griffith, Tim Gopeesingh and Dr Delman Baker.