ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, OCTOBER 28TH- Opposition Leader Emmalin Pierre defended immediate tax relief for struggling Grenadians during the country’s first-ever national leaders’ debate, challenging Peter David’s warning that temporary concessions cannot sustainably lower living costs, while Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell argued his administration was already delivering assistance.

Held Wednesday at the Grenada Trade Center ahead of the November 5 general election, the debate highlighted competing approaches to household hardship: the NNP’s proposed tax cuts, the DPM’s focus on local production and renewable energy, and the NDC’s defense of subsidies and higher earnings.

“There are mothers who cannot feed their children right now. There are elderly citizens who cannot afford basic medication, and so bandages are necessary,” Pierre said.

She promised to remove the sugar tax and the water levy, reduce income tax, and lower electricity costs, arguing that immediate intervention must go hand in hand with longer-term investment.

“Those are immediate actions that we can take,” she said, explaining that reducing income tax would “put more money in the pockets of people so that they can survive.”

David argued that concessions that reduce government revenue involve trade-offs in services such as healthcare and housing.

“We need to find a cure,” he said, identifying increased domestic food production as central to lasting relief.

The DPM leader called for stronger support for farmers, restoring the Marketing and National Importing Board’s role, and installing household solar panels to cut electricity costs.

“Any other incentives provided are merely temporary,” he said, questioning what would happen when government could no longer afford the concessions.

Mitchell countered that his administration was already addressing both prices and purchasing power.

“We are already doing so,” he said, outlining a $50 electricity subsidy for consumers using up to 200 kilowatt-hours, expanded from an earlier $10 subsidy covering consumption up to 99 kilowatt-hours.

He also cited VAT-free shopping days, additional zero-rated goods, public-sector wage increases and minimum-wage adjustments.

“It is also an income-earning issue,” Mitchell said, pointing to categories of workers whose minimum monthly pay, he said, had risen from $700 to $1,200.

The prime minister challenged the financing behind opposition solar proposals: “Somebody has to pay for solar panels.”

Pierre responded that grant funding could support renewable-energy investment, while David maintained that government must create conditions for farmers and other producers to expand, reducing dependence on imported food.

The Media Workers Association of Grenada, the Grenada Broadcasting Network, The Bubb Report, and the Grenada Conference of Churches jointly organized the debate.