Camille Robinson-Regis | |
---|---|
Minister of Social Development and Family Services | |
Assumed office 30 December 2019 | |
President | Paula-Mae Weekes |
Prime Minister | Keith Rowley |
Minister of Planning and Development | |
In office 11 September 2015 –30 December 2019 | |
Prime Minister | Keith Rowley |
Trinidadian High Commissioner to Canada | |
In office 2007–2010 | |
Prime Minister | Patrick Manning |
Minister of Planning and Development | |
In office 10 November 2003 –7 November 2007 | |
Prime Minister | Patrick Manning |
Minister of Legal Affairs | |
In office 26 December 2001 –9 November 2003 | |
Prime Minister | Patrick Manning |
Minister of Consumer Affairs | |
In office 25 January 1994 –6 October 1995 | |
Prime Minister | Patrick Manning |
Minister of Information | |
In office 9 January 1992 –24 January 1994 | |
Prime Minister | Patrick Manning |
Member of Parliament for Arouca/Maloney | |
Assumed office 7 September 2015 | |
Preceded by | Alicia Hospedales |
Personal details | |
Political party | People's National Movement |
Education | Bishop Anstey High School |
Alma mater | University of the West Indies Norman Manley Law School |
Camille Robinson-Regis is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian lawyer and politician,representing the People's National Movement. She was first elected as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for Arouca South in 1992 and is the current Member of Parliament for Arouca/Maloney. She is the Minister of Planning and Development,the Lady Vice-Chairman of the People's National Movement,and the Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives. [1] [2]
Robinson-Regis attended Bishop Anstey High School before studying law at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine. [1] She holds a Legal Education Certificate from the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica. [3] She worked as corporate secretary at the National Flour Mills and was admitted to the bar of Trinidad and Tobago in 1985. [1] [3]
Robinson-Regis is a member of the People's National Movement (PNM) and was appointed to the Senate in 1992. [1] She was appointed Minister of Information on 9 January that year,becoming the youngest senator to be appointed to the cabinet. [1] [3] She became Minister of Consumer Affairs on 25 January 1994,a position she held until 6 October 1995. Robinson-Regis was elected to the House of Representatives for the constituency of Arouca South on 27 November 1995,a seat she held until 2007. The PNM was returned to government in December 2001 and Robinson-Regis was appointed Minister of Legal Affairs on 26 December. She became Minister of Planning and Development on 10 November 2003 and held that role until 7 November 2007. [1]
From 2007 to 2010,Robinson-Regis served as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to Canada. [3] The PNM was in opposition after 2010 and was appointed a temporary senator for the party on 7 February 2012. She became a full senator on 10 December 2013 and remained in the senate until 17 June 2015. She was returned to the House of Representatives for the Arouca/Maloney constituency in the 7 September 2015 general election. Robinson-Regis was appointed Minister of Planning and Development on 11 September 2015. [1] She has been governor of the Caribbean Development Bank since 1 January 2016. [4] She was appointed Minister of Social Development and Family Services on 30 December 2019. [5]
Robinson-Regis was accused of using racist rhetoric against Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians. In response to accusations made by the opposition party of her party,the PNM,running a pedophile ring,Robinson-Regis at a meeting in June 2022 was accused of using the Leader of the Opposition Kamla Persad-Bissessar's full name "Kamla Susheila Persad-Bissessar" as a way of mocking her ethnic name in an attempt to race-bait,and ridicule and mock Indo-Trinidadians and Tobagonians to take attention away from the accusations. [6] [7] [8]
The politics of Trinidad and Tobago function within the framework of a unitary state regulated by a parliamentary democracy modelled on that of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,from which the country gained its independence in 1962. Under the 1976 republican Constitution,the monarch was replaced as head of state by a President chosen by an electoral college composed of the members of the bicameral Parliament,consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning was a Trinidad and Tobago politician who was the fourth prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago;his terms ran from 17 December 1991 to 9 November 1995 and from 24 December 2001 to 26 May 2010. He was also the political leader of the People's National Movement (PNM) from 1987 to 2010. A geologist by training,Manning served as Member of Parliament for the San Fernando East constituency from 1971 until 2015 when he was replaced by Randall Mitchell,but with the seat in 2020 being won by his son Brian Manning. Patrick Manning was the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives. He was the Leader of the Opposition from 1986 to 1990 and again from 1995 to 2001.
The United National Congress is one of two major political parties in Trinidad and Tobago and the current parliamentary opposition. The UNC is a centre-left party. It was founded in 1989 by Basdeo Panday,a Trinidadian lawyer,economist,trade unionist,and actor after a split in the ruling National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR). After spending six years in opposition,the UNC won control of the government in 1995,initially in coalition with the NAR and later on its own. In the 2000 general election,the UNC won an absolute majority in the Parliament. In 2001,a split in the party caused the UNC to lose its parliamentary majority and control of the government. From 2001 to 2010,the UNC was once again Parliamentary Opposition party. In May 2010,the UNC returned to government as the majority party in the People's Partnership. The UNC's Political Leader,Kamla Persad-Bissessar,was sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Kamla Persad-Bissessar was Prime Minister from 2010 until 2015.
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Kamla Persad-Bissessar;born Kamla Susheila Persad,22 April 1952),often referred to by her initials KPB,is a Trinidadian lawyer,politician and educator who is the Leader of the Opposition of Trinidad and Tobago,political leader of the United National Congress (UNC) political party,and was the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 26 May 2010 until 9 September 2015. She was the country's first female prime minister,attorney general,and Leader of the Opposition,the first woman to chair the Commonwealth of Nations and the first woman of Indian origin to be a prime minister of a country outside of India and the wider subcontinent.
Basdeo Panday was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian statesman,lawyer,politician,trade unionist,economist,and actor who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1995 to 2001. He was the first person of Indian descent along with being the first Hindu to hold the office of Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. He was first elected to Parliament in 1976 as the Member for Couva North,Panday served as Leader of the Opposition four times between 1976 and 2010 and was a founding member of the United Labour Front (ULF),the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR),and the United National Congress (UNC). He served as leader of the ULF and UNC,and was President General of the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers' Trade Union from 1973 to 1995.
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Shelly Dass is an international and government relations strategy advisor. She has worked with public and private partners on energy and development projects across the Americas. She has served as a senior political advisor in Washington,D.C to the Organization of American States working with 34 member states and 64 observer countries,partner agencies and special interest groups. Shelly Dass started her career as a journalist,television news anchor and current affairs producer and has been recognized for her work in media through multiple awards.
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