Grenville Phillips II believes he is offering the right solutions to become the duly elected representative for St George North when constituents vote on November 11.
As he sees it, the electorate is now ready for him and his Solutions Barbados party as an alternative to the two main political parties.
Admitting there was some initial scepticism, the candidate said people eventually become receptive once he shares his vision.
Phillips was speaking to Barbados TODAY while canvassing on Thursday.
“When we get to share our plans, we can see the change. We believe that this will be a shift, especially when we explain to them that they don’t have to vote for their party’s interest in this election. This is not a general election. Regardless of how they vote, it is not going to change anything nationally. Mia Mottley will still be in power. The Barbados Labour Party will still be in Government,” he explained.
The political hopeful said that electing the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) candidate, Floyd Reifer, was useless since he had to depend on the Government to approve his “big works”.
“If you vote for Reifer, it would be the same. Yes, he talks ‘bout big works, but those big works will have to be funded by Government. I have no doubt that the Prime Minister, as Minister of Finance, will fund it in the same way she will fund big works in all the other constituencies. He is not going to get any Government support,” he contended.
On the other hand, Phillips said, Solutions Barbados would not need Government money as the party was seeking alternative ways of funding projects.
“We do not need any Government support in anything that we do. In building houses, we don’t need Government support . . . . If you are building a house, you go to the bank and pay a contractor. You will do the same thing. We will build the house but we will not charge profit. It doesn’t need any Government support,” he insisted.
“With regards to the roads, everybody is playing the same game of dodge the potholes. In rural areas, that is what you find. We plan to have a volunteer force of 450 people. With that volunteer force, each person just needs to work one day a year, coming out on a Saturday, patching potholes properly.
“The patching will be designed, supervised and certified by an engineer. Not a mechanical engineer or an electrical engineer . . . but a road engineer, which is just what I happen to be trained in,” the political leader added.
Phillips further explained why he was equipped to get the job done.
He spoke about his 30 years’ experience as an engineer, which came up during the by-election debate last week Thursday.
“Engineering is a very broad discipline and there are many specialisations. There is civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering. I am highly qualified in some sectors of engineering. I am a highly qualified structural engineer and therefore when a question came up about houses, I said I am a structural engineer. But I am also a highway and transportation engineer, so when the question came up about roads, I had to make the point that I am a road engineer. So when they heard ‘engineer’ twice, they asked what else is he? That is a significant thing because it takes a lot,” he explained.
Barbados TODAY also overheard a member of the community asking the candidate what else he had to offer, besides being an engineer, and then posed the question to him directly.
“I am an expert in more than one engineering discipline. When the issues of drainage came up, I had to explain that I am also an environmental engineer,” he replied.
“There are different problems that require a different solution, but a different engineering solution. Planning happens to be another discipline and I happen to be a qualified planner. I also happen to be a qualified adjudicator.”
Phillips will come up against Reifer, the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate Toni Moore, Alex Mitchell of the Bajan Free Party, the United Progressive Party’s Ambrose Grosvenor and David Waldron of the People’s Party for Democracy and Development.
