The President granted leave of absence to Sen. the Hon. Gary Griffith, Sen. the Hon. James Lambert and Sen. the Hon. Ganga Singh. The President of the Senate then read a letter from the President of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago appointing Mr. Nazeemool Mohammed, Mr. Wayne Sturge and Arch. Barbara Burke as temporary Senators. They then took the Oath of Allegiance as temporary Senators for today’s siting.

Questions 50, 51 and 56 were answered and all other questions were deferred for two weeks.

The Minister of Finance and the Economy moved the second reading of the Securities (Amendment) Bill, 2014. Sen. Dr. Lester Henry was the first to join the debate followed by Sen. Subhas Ramkhlewan, Sen. the Hon. Dr. Bhoendradatt Tewarie, Sen. Shamfa Cudjoe, Sen. Helen Drayton, Sen. Dr. Dhanayshar Mahabir, Sen. Avinash Singh, , Sen. Faris Al-Rawi and Sen. David Small. Sen. the Hon. Larry Howai then rose to wind up the debate. The Bill was then read a second time and referred to a Special Select Committee of the Senate and the committee will be required to report to the Senate by April 14th, 2014.

When the Senate resumed following the tea break, tributes were paid to former Independent Senator Corinne Baptiste McKnight, who passed away on March 7, 2014. Tributes were paid by the Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development, Senator Faris Al-Rawi, Senator Subhas Ramkhelawan and the President of the Senate. The Senate then stood in silence for one minute as a mark of respect.

The Senate has adjourned to March 18th, 2014 at 1:30 p.m. when the Dog Control Bill will be considered. The sitting ended at 9:20 p.m.