June 16, 2023

Yes, sir. Next question.
The Honourable Minister raised that the UK Office delivered a report and recommendations to the Premier and himself, which was reviewed with Her Excellency the Governor. He mentioned that some areas
in that report are not current ly addressed in the Cybersecurity programme in Bermuda. Would the Honourable Minister please outline what those areas are and
any significance they have toward noncompliance with
the Budapest Convention?
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Deputy Speaker, there
are some areas that are being looked at. And hence,
that is why we are putting together the Cybersecurity
Unit. When they are together, they will investigate the
areas that need investigating. And if need be, I will bring
them to the House.

The Deputy Speak er: Thank you, Minister.
Any further questions? Supplementary?

SUPPLEMENTARY

Yes, I have a supplementary.
So, does that mean that Bermuda as a jurisdiction can sort of pick and choose what we are going to have in the convention? T he reason I am asking that is
I just was googling the Budapest Convention. And they
have things like, under criminal investigation your Internet usage can be used. So, I do not know whether
something like that would be what we would want to do
in Bermuda. And I am just asking, Will we have a
chance to pick and choose what we include in our . . .

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, when this House sat two
sessions ago on the 19
th of May, a question was put to
the Premier regarding th e data on which his FinTech
advisor, Mr. Denis Pitcher, was to switch from being a
paid role to being an unpaid role. Those four weeks
ago, the Premier undertook to bring the date to the
House to answer that. And the Speaker directed him so
to do. Two week s ago when you were in the Chair, Mr.
Deputy Speaker, you will no doubt recall that the Premier said that he would undertake to give that information
by the close of that sitting, by the close of business that
day.
We still have not had the answer. We wou ld be
grateful. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

And I make an effort to
support young people, period, but particularly in my
family. And I am so pleased. I spent years telling t hem
off, that Give me notice. And so, they gave me plenty
of notice this year because it was a big occasion. So, I
was able to attend on the Thursday, which was the
grade 8 graduation, where they were graduating from
middle school and going to high school. And then I was
able to attend on Sunday, when it was the graduation
for those students who are graduating out of Bermuda
Institute. There were also two other days, they are Friday and Saturday as well, which is part of the whole
graduation process.
Mr. D eputy Speaker, I can tell you that the
whole weekend was just one of upliftment and encour-agement for the future of young people in this country
and what they are going to do for us.
You do not have the clock on, so I do not know
how much time I have got left.

[Inaudible interjection and laughter ]

But I do want to put into
the record, not just my relatives but the 12 students who


Bermuda House of Assembly graduated. All of them, Mr. Deputy Speaker, you could
sense that these young people have been t ogether
most of their entire school year. So, they were so bonded and so together and so committed and so enthusiastic about their future and what they are going to do in this country when they go on to graduate. So
Kimora- Lee Bean, Xienne Burch, N’Shalay Kaday, Sebastian Davis, Sonny —I am going to leave out the U —
Abanto, Adrienne Fox, Dylan Fox, Soria Hill, Sequoia
Lightbourne, Ahmya Peets, Gabriella Ratteray and
Zyier Turini.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would ask that the
House send congratulations to Bermuda Institute on an
outstanding graduation weekend and an outstanding programme that they have to train up young people in
the way that they should go. These young people are
Christian young people who have a Christian educa-tion.

She gave a speech at
the graduation, and I told her at lunch that she could
take my place in Parliament if she wanted to because
it was that impactful. And she said, No, thank you. So,
she will make a contribution somewhere else. But I look
forward to following the careers of all 12. And I will do
anything that I can to help them in thei r quest.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Thank you, Colonel.
Are there any further?
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member
Zane De Silva.
[Desk thumping and laughter]
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I ask the House to send
condolences to the family of Ms. Alma Jeanetta Si-mons, who passed away a couple of days ago. She is
the mother of Leonard “Shinah” Simons.

Yes, yes.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes. As I said, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, she would have been married for 71 years last year. And while we are on mar riage, her son, “Shinah” Junior, and his wife Michelle will be married 41
years next week. So, he certainly following the footsteps of his mother. She was a quiet lady, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, a quiet lady. But she was also a powerful lady
who ruled with authority, but also had a very, very warm
smile.
Now, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I have to mention
one little quick thing if I can.

Continue.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you for condolences
to the executive. My mother at 92, she control led everything.
And he shared some pictures of her with her
phone in the hospital bed the night before she passed
away, Mr. Deputy Speaker, at seven o’clock. And if she
was not calling you on the phone, she was using
WhatsApp and something I do not do is Facebook. So,
at 92 she was pretty, pretty sharp indeed.
[Laughter]
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: So, my condolences do go
out to the family.
And whilst I still might have 20 seconds left, Mr.
Deputy Speaker —

That is all you have got.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: —I would like to congratulate
all of the security staff at the airport, the Bermudian security staff. Because they do a hell of a job down at the
airport. And I do not ever remember them being
thanked for their work. And they do have a tough job
down at the airport, and that is our people down there.
In fact, one of them is one of our Minister’s mother; I
think she still works down at the airport. So, I give
thanks to them because it is a tough job that they have
and one that they do very, very well. So, I would like to
congratulate them.
1540 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Deputy Speaker: Minister Weeks.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Deputy Speaker, thank
you very much.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I too have to declare my
interest in both of these matters. First, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, the Harrington Sound Primary School yesterday was awarded the recognition of an eco- school. The
school was awarded the coveted and globally recog-nised Green Flag by the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. This honour is giv en to a select few
schools or organisations from around the world who
have made a commitment to sustainability and caring
for the environment. Harrington Sound is now considered among the elite around the world as an ecoschool.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: The Principal of Harrington
Sound is Ms. Cindy Lee Weeks, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Oh! Is she related to you? She
is not related. No relation?

[Laughter]

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Second, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, congratulations to Harrington Sound Primary School for its winning of the Primary School Relay Clas-sic last night at the National Sports Centre. This is the
fifth year straight, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that they have accomplished this feat. Under the direction of Mr. Coratito Smith and Ms. Linda Hines, the PE teachers,
this school is once again the top primary school in this arena.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would like congratulatory remarks to go out to the graduating class of Clearwater Middle School. This will be the final graduation for middle school students from that institution. It was a
spectacular event. It went off extremely well. I would like for congratulations to go out to St.
David’s Primary. They had a very small graduating
class, but their theme was Small but mighty. And the
graduates in their accomplishments were indeed mighty.
And, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would like to congratulate East End Primary for their end- of-year event
presentation. It was spectacular. Much of St. George’s was out to see them. And I would like to associate MP
Renee Ming with these remarks.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, on a sad note I would like
to send out condolences to the Gibbons family, the Gibbons –Foggo family in particular. Mr. Shirley Granville
Gibbons did pass away. He was buried yesterday. He
was definitely an ambassador for Bermuda, a taxi
driver for many, many years. And he got the award for
being one of Bermuda’s best drivers in that arena and
one of Bermuda’s best ambassadors. Mr. Gibbons
leaves behind his daughter, Elizabeth Roque; his son,
Granville Gibbons, Jr.; and his loving wife, Gardine
(Foggo) Gibbons , who are suffering a great loss. And
the St. George’s community are suffering a great loss with the loss of Shirley Gibbons. He was once a councilman in St. George’s. So he did provide public service
to the community. So that cannot go un- noted.
So, Mr. Deputy Speaker, with those remarks I
do take my seat.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
I would like to be associated with the remarks
given by MP Foggo with regard to East End’s St. David’s and Clearwater Schools, and also associate with
the condolences on the passing of my friend, Mr. Shirley Gibbons, one of the first persons I met when I
came to St. George’s in my connection with the golf
courses, as hi s property bordered our property. And we
had to make our way through that property to get from the first to the second hole. A very dignified man, he
was a member of the Corporation of St. George’s at
that time.
You may see his son, who is so well -dressed
with his hat and shorts and jacket, always walking,
Granville walking through the City of Hamilton looking
ever-so smart. And I had to comment at the viewing to
him that he certainly personifies his father, as he carries
himself in such a dignified manner . Mr. Shirley Gibbons
will be surely missed, and he made a great contribution to the community that he lived in, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
I would like to have recognised the training that
took place with the Bermuda Government as espoused
earlier by the Minist er for Works, the Honourable David
Burch, and single out Mr. Oscar Riley, who works for the Bermuda Government Golf Courses. And I associate the Honourable Member Jason Wade with that and


Bermuda House of Assembly Honourable Zane De Silva, as Oscar was the top student.
The whole H ouse, as I have got to also recognise that on Saturday at Vasco Da Gama I attended
Portugal Day and was honoured to be able to bring greetings on behalf of the significant contribution of the
Portuguese community to Bermuda. MP Weeks wants
to be associated with that.
And also the Bermuda National Trust, whose
awards outline so many contributions by persons in
Bermuda to both heritage and to the environment, but most notably all of the young recipients who were there.
And finally, to a visitor, Boat International CEO
Toby Moore, who I had the honour of being in his pres-ence this week with his contingent, which included nine
superyacht captains to be able to get familiar with Bermuda. Many said, Boy! We often see Bermuda as we’re
passing by. But having had t he experience of Bermuda’s golf courses and Bermuda’s hospitality! And in
particular , I am sure, St. George’s when they went
down there. I think a lot of these boats will start to make their way to Bermuda as they are making their way
across the Atlantic, which bodes well for our economy.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Thank you.
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member
Walter Roban.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you very much, Mr.
Deputy Speaker.
I wish to be associated with the remarks from
particularly Minister Weeks to the students and their
recognition for Harrington Sound. [I am] always happy to hear of young people who have taken the issues
around the environment seriously and the recognition that they got for that from [BUE I]. So [I am] always
happy to hear of those things when they do happen.
Also, I would like, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to give
recognition to the SDG Disrupter Summit that was held
last week on the day of World Ocean Day, which was
last Thursday on June 8. And i t was a gathering sponsored by Bermuda Asset Management under the lead-ership of Mr. Kevin Richards, and it was the second such conference. And it brought together international
as well as local young people around issues around
sustainability, around the S DG goals and what can be
done to advance Bermuda’s own aspirations in this key
area.
It was a fantastic event to be involved with, and
I just feel that it is wonderful that young people in their own way are taking a lead on environmental awareness
and sus tainability in Bermuda. It is so important because the future is theirs to shape, and it is very good
that they are now looking to set the agenda in this area.
Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Thank you, Deputy Premier
Roban. The Chair recognises the Honourable Member
Diallo Rabain.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would like to join everyone in congratulating all of the schools that have con-ducted their leaving ceremonies since we have last
met. Mr. Deputy Speaker, St. George’s Preschool, Suc-cess Academy, Dalton E. Tucker Primary, Northlands
Primary, Paget Primary and of course St. David’s Pri-mary. Also, I want to congratulate Purvis Primary, who
will be converted into a parish primary school, so they
did not have a leaving ceremony. They had what they
called a transition ceremony, and it was more of a celebration. And I am sure that Members would have
heard about that they have formed their own Gombey troupe. They were at the school last week Friday with
that.
Again, Mr. Deputy Speaker, joining in with the
MP Foggo, congratulations to Clearwater Middle
School. But I also want to add congratulations to Heron
Bay Primary as well —
[Desk thumping]

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: —who bot h conducted their
leaving ceremonies over the last couple of weeks, both
of which will be the last leaving ceremonies for those
particular institutions, the eight students from Heron
Bay and the twenty students from Clearwater. We wish
them well as they tr ansition on to their next stage. We
also wish the students who currently are at the schools
well as they transition to new schools in September for
that.
Also, Mr. Deputy Speaker, people have spoken
about Oscar Riley and congratulations to him. But there is a double celebration for them, for him and his family,
this week. Last week we gratefully celebrated the 17
new teachers who have graduated from the BTIP,
which is the Bermuda Teaching Induction Programme.
It is a two -year programme that all new teacher s must
undergo prior to their being fully into the classroom without mentors. And one part of that 17- teacher cohort
was Mr s. Renee Riley, who is Mr. Oscar Riley’s wife.

The Chair recognises the Honourable Cole Simons.

1542 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would like to associate
myself in regard to the comments made for St. David’s
Primary School, Clearwater Middle School, East End Primary School, Harrington Sound S chool and the Portuguese National Day celebrations.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, as we speak now, I would
like to extend congratulations to Warwick Preschool.
They are currently as I speak having their end- of-year
programme. And the theme is We are a rainbow of possibilities. So, congratulations to all of the Warwick Preschool graduates who are walking across the stage, so
to speak, as we speak. I associate the whole House
with that, those remarks.
I would like to send congratulations to Bermudians Jonathan and Ni cholas Christopher. They are
professional actors who performed on Broadway in the
musical Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet
Street. Their play was nominated for the best musical
revival. And those two gentlemen actually performed at
the Tony Awards, which is phenomenal. So again, congratulations to our Bermudians who are doing great
things in the arts overseas.
I would like to also send congratulatory remarks to [Lisa] Boden. She was appointed as the new
head of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh. She will take up the role at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, and she will be the first
Bermudian and second woman to hold this role in 200
years. So again, Bermudians are making their mark. Bermudians continue to make their mark s globally. And
I wish them all the very best and success in their future.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would like to also send
congratulatory remarks to our friends in St. David’s on
their pow -wow. It was very enlightening, it was a great
cultural experience, a great cultural exchange, and it
was a great celebration of St. David’s heritage and traditions. So again, congratulations to the organisers,
and it was a great event. And I thoroughly, thoroughly
enjoyed my time there. Thank you.

One day. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
I would like to be associated with the remarks
from the Opposition Leader relating to St. David’s Islanders and native community pow -wow celebration of
our ancestors. I think there are a lot of people in Bermuda who say the things that we should do, and then
the organisers of that event have brought it to life. And similarly, and at about the same time, National Portugal
Day was celebrated by Vasco Da Gama. And what that
reminds me of, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is the rich tapestry that is Bermuda and our culture , our history. Of all of
the people who have come and all of the people who
have gone, Bermuda is definitely unique. And it is
unique because of all of these things. So, I definitely
would like to congratulate the organisers of National Portugal Day and th e St. David’s pow -wow, Islanders’
native community.
With that being said, also, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
I would like to congratulate the In Motion School of
Dance, who put on a fantastic recital again this year
under the leadership of Lizz Pimentel, and all o f the
choreographers. This year it was a very compelling,
thought -provoking and profound reflection in dance on
Black History Month. And given what we have seen in
the last five years, it was a great examination. And the
choreographers and the students should be acknowledged and thanked for a very profound night.
With that being said, thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker.

The man who set the foundation for MP Tyrrell and myself.
Mrs. Lynch was a stalwart at Heard Chapel African Methodist Episcopal. She was a stalwart boiler.
But more important, she was a mother, grandmother,
great -grandmother and a friend to all. Heard Chapel
could not hold everyone who came to her service this week, Mr. Deputy Speaker. She spent many days taking my son and my daughter to Heard Chapel, and she was the mother of my best friend, Seewood Lynch.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, some folks often get overlooked. And I want to take a moment to thank the staff
at Agape House because they are there for our loved


Bermuda House of Assembly ones in —I will not just say time of need, but in their last
moments. And more important, they are there for us
when our loved ones transition. So often they get overlooked, and Agape House could use some TLC. So I
would encourage Members if they want to be generous,
go and help out the Agape House because those folks
down there give their all.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Good morning to the listening audience.
I first just want to start off on a sad note by
sending condolences. This week has been a tragic week on our roads. We have had three road fatalities,
Mr. Deputy Speaker. And while all three of them, none
are Bermudian, there were two tourists and one a foreign guest worker, I still would like to just mention their names and be able to send condolences. Mr. Jerry
Colantes was a guest worker at the Swizzle Inn on
Southshore. And two tourists, Ms. Angela Meyer and Mr. Duane Presti. So even though they are not Bermudian, the families are not here, we would still just like to recognise them and send condolences to their families because whether they are Bermudian or not, a loss on
our roads is still a loss on our roads, Mr. Deputy
Speaker.
On a lighter note, Mr . Deputy Speaker, I would
like to send congratulations to the Somerset Cricket Club Under -11 Boys Cricket Team, who won their age
group cricket league undefeated this season. And just
following on from the Somerset Under -15 Boys Football
Team this season, they also went undefeated in the
league and the knockout. And also the Somerset Girls
Teams. So, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Somerset is doing
something right.

And as a sign of what is to come
in those two hallowed days in August, Mr. Deputy Speaker. So congratulations to the Somerset Cr icket
Club Under -11 Boys Cricket Team.
And I also would like to follow on from the comments from Minister Burch earlier. I would like to send congratulations to the graduating class. There are two
graduating classes at BI [Bermuda Institute], the 8
th
grade and the 12th grade, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that
graduated this past weekend. But I would like to also
just add a little to it, to the 12th grade Graduating Class
of 2023. It ages me, Mr. Deputy Speaker, because I
actually graduated from Bermuda Institute 20 years
ago this month.

But hopefully I still look young.
But again, I send congratulations to that class. And as
I said, hopefully in 20 years time they can look back on
the next graduating class. And, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I
was not able to make it to the graduation, but I alway s
look for it to giving back to the school. Because as an
alumnus of that school, I would not be who or where I
am today without that school. And as the Minister did
mention, it is a school of prophets. So my only hope that I can continue—
[Inaudible interjections]

First of all, I would like to exte nd
thoughts and prayers to the family of —and I know it has
already been done, but I am adding to that for Shirley
Granville Gibbons, to his family and especially to his
wife, Ms. Gardine, also known as “Gardy ” Gibbons . I
am just letting them know that they are in our thoughts
and prayers at this difficult time.
I would also like to do a big shout -out to a
young lady , Tierrai Tull. She is a student, and she has
been granted funds to do a study on cultural appropriation. She did not say too much about it because she
said she was unable to. But we do know that she has been granted that —

I know the mom’s name. I do not
know her dad’s name.
But we wish her all the best. And I believe that
this is just the start of the wonderful and great things that this young lady will do because she is keen, she is
bright and she is definitely engaged. I can just say that
we look forward to what it is she is going to do for Ber-muda in terms of putting us on the map or even bringing
her work and her studies back here.
I would also like to add to the comments for
East End Primary School, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Excel-lence does not even seem to equate to how wonderful
this school play was, and not just in terms of the perfor-mance, but what the children learned. A brand- new
teacher who came into their system, music and drama
teacher. Ms. Alana they call her. And she was excellent in what it is that she did. She actually taught the children their heritage, some things of what to do and what
not to do, how the village actually cont rols the town in
terms of . . . it is a small skit on children who skipped
school. And how everybody and their mama’s uncle saw them, and by the time they got home, your mama
is there waiting for you with that little swatch. Actually,
you had to go pick your swatch to get your cut tail with.

Good morning, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, and to the listening audience and my col-leagues.
I want to declare my interest as others have
done and give recognition to a young lady, a young woman who is 24 years old and has two passions. One
is assi sting children, special ed children, and animals.
And what she has done, she is an actual paraeducator
in the public school system. But what she has done for
this summer is have what she calls a summer companion camp. And I think it is absolutely brilliant because
what she decided amongst herself is to bring those two
things together.
Now, her summer camp is going to involve children between the ages of six and eleven. And during the summer camp they can bring their animals with
them, bring their dogs and stuff with them. And what
she knows is that you can actually marry those things
together because children learn a lot more when they
have the animals with them. So, I think it is absolutely
brilliant. And I do commend her. And hopefully she will
go on to r ealise that this can become more than just a
I hear the words before summer camp as opposed to a
full-time camp, as I see it, to assist young children.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will associate the full
House with what I am about to say. And that is because
Mr. Russ Ford came back to Bermuda yesterday. And
I am saying that because he represents such tenacity.

And when he came back
yesterday, I was (I want to say) overwhelmed in terms of the number of people who came out to wish him well
on his return. His sister came back with him. And it was
just absolutely amazing when he came back yesterday


Bermuda House of Assembly evening. And even for him to again just exude such tenacity after the challenges he has gone through. He
has a long road to recovery for sure. But the fact that
he has remained so positive, he is just such a tremen-dous inspiration.

And the last thing I want to
say, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and it is difficult because when we mention some people it is almost as if you are leaving out others. But I am not doing that. I just want
to make sure I do give belated birthday congratulations
to Violet Charves , who is now 93. Her birthday was last
weekend. And her daughter, Charlene actually , which
is why I mentioned those two is because her daughter
Charlene goes 65 when she went 93. So, I thought it
was quite amazing.
And then to Ms. Relda Jones and Ms. Beverly
Talbott, who are all celebrating birthdays and are very,
very influential in the Devil’s Hole community and give tremendous support to all that we do.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

You have one, Minister Hayward.
Hon. Jason Hayward: With that, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
I hereby give notice that at t he next day of meeting I will
move the following Motion be approved:
BE IT RESOLVED that this Honourable House
supports the “Economic Development Strategy Bermuda 2023 –2027, ” as tabled by the of Minister of Economy and Labour on the 16
th of June 2023.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Continue.

BILL

SECOND READING

PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION
AMENDMENT ACT 2023

Hon. Vance Campbell: Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Personal Information Protection Amendment Bill provides for amendments to the Personal Information Protection
Act 2016 (known as PIPA), as well as to the Public Ac-cess to Informat ion Act 2010 (known as PATI) and the
1546 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Public Access to Information Regulations 2014 (known
as PATI Regulations) to harmonise PIPA, PATI and the
PATI Regulations in respect of personal information.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the aim of the PIPA is to
put the contr ol over the use of personal information into
the hands of individuals where it rightly belongs. Privacy legislation, also referred to as “ data protection” or
“informational privacy, ” provides for an important human right and forms a critical building block in the creation of a successful information society.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, PIPA was designed to
protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of individ-uals relating to the use of their personal information.
PIPA places duties on the use of personal informat ion
by organisations in Bermuda including public authori-ties. The administrative provisions enabling the appointment of the Privacy Commissioner and the crea-tion of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner are currently in force. The remaining operative prov isions of
PIPA will be brought into force on the 1
st of January
2025.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, privacy is often confused
with public access to information or freedom of infor-mation. They have similarities but are quite different.
They both provide important ri ghts to access information. PATI gives the public the right to request ac-cess to records and information held by public authori-ties. PIPA provides rights for individuals to access and
control the use of their personal information by all organisations.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, that said, PATI and PIPA
together provide Bermuda with a robust information
rights framework. In essence, the Government has established a framework that creates transparency and
accountability with respect to information held by organisat ions and provides rights of access first with the
implementation of PATI for government -held records,
and now with PIPA creating responsibilities for all organisations including the government regarding the
use of personal information.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, once the remaining portions of PIPA are enacted, it will govern the use of all
personal information in Bermuda by organisations. As
a result, conflicting and overlapping provisions cur-rently found in PATI and PATI Regulations 2014 will require deletion or amendment.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, PATI provides the public
with access to records held by public authorities. At this time this allows individuals to request access to their
own personal information and to request amendments to this personal information that is held by public authorities. PATI also provides a definition of “personal information,” and exemptions from disclosure are in
place to protect personal information from disclosure
subject to a public interest test.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, this Bill will r esolve the
conflicting and overlapping provisions currently found in PATI and the PATI Regulations 2014 with the PIPA
to ensure one definition of “personal information” and one legislative regime to request and correct one’s own
personal information.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, once PIPA is in force, individuals will access and amend their own personal in-formation via PIPA. Therefore, a few changes will be
made to PATI in respect to this. An addition will be
made to PATI section 12, which is Access to records,
to ensure that after the commencement of Part 3,
Rights of Individuals, of PIPA, applications for an individual’s own personal information will be made exclusively under PIPA. Therefore, there will not be a gap in
access to one’s personal information from public authorities once this Bill is enacted. Individuals will continue to have access to records of their personal information via PATI until the PIPA rights of individual commences.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, additional amendments
to PATI include section 19, whic h is Request to amend
record of personal information, will no longer be neces-sary as amendments to a record of a person’s own information will take place via PIPA. Sections that will no
longer be relevant when personal information requests
are managed via PIPA will be removed. These include:
• section 23(2)(a), requests for records of their
own information;
• section 23(3) to 23(5), specific conditions
where records of a person’s own information
might not be released;
• section 41(f), internal review of a decision to
refuse to amend a record in respect of a person’s personal information; and
• section 58(2)(b), the requirement for the Information Commissioner to report on requests to
amend records of personal information.
The definition of “personal information” in section 24 will follow the definition included in PIPA to align the two Acts. And finally, the Privacy Commissioner will
be added to PATI section 4, Application, and the PATI
Schedule because there was no Privacy Commissioner
at the time when PATI came in to force.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the PATI Regulations
also have several paragraphs relating to requests and amendments of personal information. The following will
be removed:
• section 12, Application for access to personal
information;
• section 14, Form of application;
• section 15, Manner of amendment personal
records:
• section 16, Manner of annotating personal records;
• section 17(a), information officers’ role in confirming identity of a person requesting access
to their personal information;
• section 21, Request on behalf of minors;
• Schedule 3, Application for Amendment or Annotation of a Record; and


Bermuda House of Assembly • the reference to a request for personal information in Schedule 1, as they would be covered by PIPA.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, moving on to PIPA
amendments, they r elate primarily to Part 5, Supervision, and Part 6, General Provisions parts of the Act. A paragraph has been added to the end of section 26 to clarify when the Privacy Commissioner’s office becomes vacant including expiry of the appointment period, resignation in writing to the Governor by the Commissioner, if the Commissioner becomes a Senator, a
candidate for election to the House of Assembly or an office -holder in any political party. And finally, removal
of the Commissioner from the office by the gover nment.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, PIPA section 37 provides
a change to six months rather than three months for the
Privacy Commissioner to complete the annual report at
the end of the year. Finally, amendments to section 52 allows for commencement of provisions of the Act for
different purposes and in respect of different classes of organisation.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, in Bermuda we live in a
small, caring community where being neighbourly and
sharing information is a natural part of life. Although we
may know a lot about each other, we all have an ex-pectation of privacy. As we prepare our organisations
for the commencement of PIPA on the 1
st of January
2025, we bring on a culture shift within this small community of ours. It will change the way we perceive personal information and its value. Both individuals and organisations will start thinking about personal information in the same way that we think about money. It
is a precious commodity and should be protected
across all organisations in Bermuda.
PATI has playe d a beneficial role in providing
access to our personal information held by public authorities. As PIPA comes into force, these two Acts will
continue to complement one another. Guidance and related information will be published by the Offices of the
Priva cy and Information Commissioners, and the government, as procedures evolve.
Finally, Mr. Deputy Speaker, in closing, PIPA
is designed to meet international best practice. It is a
modern, pragmatic piece of legislation balancing comprehensive protection wi th sensible regulation that is
appropriate for Bermuda. While providing protection of
personal information locally is of great importance,
PIPA has also been drafted with a broader perspective in mind as it seeks to raise Bermuda to a level that will
enabl e it to join the international network of trust currently existing between countries with similar levels of
informational privacy protection.
This network increases trust between individuals and users of personal information while providing significant advantages for international businesses and
local businesses who would like to compete in global
markets. Many of these countries have both PATI and PIPA- type legislation that have been working together in tandem for decades. The Personal Information Protection Amendment Bill aids in implementing a similar
regime in Bermuda. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker.
I think we have to start this contribution with
noting how important personal information protection legislation is. The right to privacy and —first of all, I
should say the right to privacy is vital. As it stands right
now, we need to make sure that our information cannot be used by others, cannot be used for nefarious purposes. Indeed, in my world where we look at transnational organised crime quite frequently, a big part of privacy legislation is to make sure that those groups cannot get hold of information, thereby selling it on or using
it again to commit further crimes.
In Bermuda we are fairly lucky. We are not on
a continental land mass; we are pretty far away from everybody else. So cyber criminals and the like do not
see us as a very useful target. There are only about 60,000 of us, so to speak. And this means that these
enterprises which require typically to be profitable to
gather hundreds of thousands of data points on individuals, there are just not enough people in Bermuda. But with that being said, we are connected in a digital world.
So, it is absolutely crucial that we have privacy legislation that protects personal information.
Now, our biggest problem with this particular
regime is that the substantive portions of it are in fact not in force. So, in this legislation to date, passed in 2016, it is a great idea. But it is an idea that has not yet
come to pass. And this is exceptionally dangerous for
us in Bermuda. T he Honourable Member mentioned,
for example, that we like to do business in a cross -border nature. And that means that other jurisdictions
where there is robust privacy legislation, it puts us at a
disadvantage, typically during due diligence processes on deals and things like that. When they say, Well, how
are you going to handle our information? Well, all of a
sudden, the Bermuda side of that deal, for all intents and purposes, looks bad. Obviously, there are ways
around that. But we really need this legi slation to be
brought into force. And I do mean yesterday.
Equally, there are organisations in Bermuda
that are in possession of our personal information. And
they right now do not have a regulatory framework
which dictates how they are going to handle th at information, how they are going to safeguard that infor-mation, and giving us rights to amend or have that in-formation deleted. Again, this is something we have
seen globally developing now for some 10 –15 years.
1548 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly So, we really are behind the eight ball on this one and
need to get this done right away.
This also, Mr. Deputy Speaker, comes to a
case in point after COVID -19. We obviously had a
once- in-a-generation pandemic. We passed legislation
that required the collection of information from a lot of
different places, a lot of different people, even going
into the hands of the private sector with resQwest. And
so right now we have private sector individuals holding
onto personal information without this regulatory framework in place. And that can only, only lead to trouble.
So, what we need to do is get this regulatory
framework in force, in place to make sure that that information is being dealt with appropriately. As it stands
right now, there are too many people holding onto our
information who simply ar e not ready.
With that being said, there are private sector
individuals, especially in financial services, who have
been working deliberately and diligently to adapt to the
pending legislation. They are already typically exposed
to other privacy legislati on in other jurisdictions, so for
example in Canada. Or they are subject to GDPR (or
General Data Protection Regulations) in the European
Union and all those similar instruments. So, because
they are already used to it, they have gone ahead and launched al l of these projects. So, they have moved the
ball down the road, and other organisations in Bermuda have not had such similar motivation and may be be-hind the eight ball.
So yet again we need the legislation because
the legislation will allow us to then make sure that guid-ance notes are issued. And those guidance notes will
tell those organisations exactly what to do with our information. So, this is key.
So, in general, we support the ball moving further down the road as it relates to PIPA. We do have some thoughts as it relates to the legislation itself and
we will attend to that in Committee. And some of these
are quite important. I would just ask the Minister in this
portion of the debate then to explain why there are
changes to this Bill? If the Bill is to come— or I should
say if PIPA is to come into force on 1 January 2025,
which I believe is what he said, there seems to be transitional provisions that relate to a phased approach. So, I am not quite sure why we have both a firm date and a
phased approach. If the Minister can answer that.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

And you see, that is what PIPA is
designed to do. It is designed to protect the rights of
individuals in relation to the use of their personal information.
I do find it interesting, however, that when we
are discussing PIPA, because it comes at a time when
people are willingly sharing their personal information
over the Internet and social media. I know what people
are eating. I know where they are staying. I know where they are working. I know who their friends and family
are. I even know what bank they use. You see, because
if my cousin Jimmy were to write a tweet on Twitter to
express how upset he is that Clarien Bank has in-creased the mortgage rate, it is pretty safe to assume
now that I know where cousin Jimmy has his mortgage.
And if the very next day cousin Jimmy puts on Instagram a Father’s Day post with him and his son and he has a Digicel uniform on, now I know who his son is,
and I know where he works. Absolutely.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I smile because we are
discussing the protection of personal i nformation at a
time when people are voluntarily sharing their personal information more than ever before. Nonetheless, in
these times it is incumbent upon the Government to do
all that it can to ensure an individual’s information is
protected. So, I certainly thank the Minister for progressing forward with PIPA.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Deputy Speaker, as we know, Bermuda is
a small community. And I have personally heard of instances where intimate and personal information such
as someone’s financial troubles or their medical conditions are held by organisations only to be shared by
someone who works in that organisation without that
individual knowing or consenting. So, while not always
done with mal -intent, the consequences , as you can
imagine, can be embarrassing, can be fr ustrating and
even can present risk to both the individual and the
business.

So therefore, progressing forward
with privacy legislation is critically important.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I also take note of the
Minist er’s press conference yesterday where he announced that PIPA will come into full effect in January
of 2025. And I believe once in full effect it will completely change the landscape of how personal infor-mation is used in Bermuda. So, I would encourage the
public to get familiar with PIPA because it is real, and it
is coming.
I am also grateful for the establishment of the
Privacy Commissioner’s Office, and I am glad he had
an opportunity at the press conference to speak on
what he has been working on thus far. And I believe that the Commissioner now has the opportunity during
the upcoming 18 months to continue to educate the
people of Bermuda on the details of PIPA and what it means to protect an individual’s personal information.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, you s ee, the reality is that
there are common practices when dealing with some-one’s personal information that people may think are
no big deal. But come January of 2025, it will be a direct violation. So, it is essential that, given that over the next 18 months we are in effect giving the public 18 months
of notice so that they can grasp the impact of this piece of legislation.
As I read the PIPA Act, the key piece to this for
me, the [overarching] piece to this is that once in full
effect all organisations, fr om businesses to charities to
clubs to associations, now have the responsibility to
protect an individual’s personal information. “Responsibility” is the key word, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

And so, Mr. Deputy Speaker, if I
can speak specifically to this Bill for a moment, I think
this is a clear step forward in moving the government
closer to the full implementation of PIPA. I think it is
common sense and appropriate for individuals to be
able to access and amend their personal information
under the Personal Information Protection Act and no longer under PATI. So, as we progress forward with
PIPA, I support the changes that will allow for this to
take place. I also recognise that with the proposed
changes to PATI, which removes the ability for an individual to access and amend their personal information
under the Act, and with PIPA not being fully implemented, this Bill provides a provision for persons to ac-cess their own personal information during this gap period. I th ink this is key specifically for this Bill. And I am
also pleased to see that this Bill draws a clearer line
between persons having access to their government
records and having access to and control over their personal information.
So again, Mr. Deputy S peaker, I do not intend
to be long. So, I will wrap up with this: The Progressive
Labour Party has been supportive of PIPA. We now
have a date as to when we expect this to be in full effect.

Thank you, MP Adams.
Are there any further speakers?
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member
Cole Hadley Simons.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we in the One Bermuda
Alliance support this Bill, which makes consequential amendments to the Public Access to Information Act
2010 and the PATI Act Regulations of 2014. And it also
gives the Minister the power to make further consequential and related amendments to the Act. Mr. Deputy Speaker, in essence what it does, it cleans up the
overloaded Public Access to Information Act of 2010.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, administratively it cleans up both
Acts and clearly segregates t he two Acts, the PATI Act
and the PIPA Act. The legislation allows the Minister to,
in essence, bring different sectors of the community on
board at different times based on their preparation and
based on their transition to complying with the legislation.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we know that international business might be well prepared for data privacy compliance. They are under obligations of other jurisdictions, other foreign jurisdictions like the UK, EU and
Canada, based on where their business is transacted.

Yes.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: So, they not only have to be
comfortable with what is going on with Bermuda, but
1550 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly they have to be comfortable with the jurisdictions in
which they are transacting business.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the legislation is great because in essence it guarantees our citizens rights to
privacy, as in many jurisdictions like Switzerland, the EU and Canada. In addition, the Privacy Act is basically
putting an individual in control of information about
themselves. And again, we in the Opposition support
this endeavour. Individuals will have more control over
their information and how it is used and controlled. In
addition, they will also be regulators of their own infor-mation. Someone said, you know, with this legisla tion
coming into being, in essence I read that someone said
we could possibly have 60,000 regulators , because
each person is in control of his or her own information.

Yes.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: And this cannot be bad.
The informati on included is health care information as was said earlier, travel information, vaccination information, spending information and physical attributes information— again, very, very sensitive information.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, in addition, we have to
ensure t hat the personal information rights are managed in the electronic form and hard copies are held for
all business organisations, charities and departments.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, a reoccurring question
that occurs is, Where will this electronic information be
held? Where will the servers be held? Because there is so much information involved. And how are these servers and these files protected from cyber threats? Mr.
Deputy Speaker, as an international financial centre, our businesspeople are forced again to r emain abreast
with the continuous changing landscape of PIPA Reg-ulations. And these are also embedded in the AML [anti-money laundering] legislation, the ATF [anti -terrorist financing] legislation, the Know Your Client Reg-ulations [KYC], the FATCA [US Fore ign Account Tax
Compliance Act] Regulations, the BEPS [Base Erosion and Profit Shifting] Regulations and Common Reporting Standard Regulations. So it is all intertwined in international business.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, in addition, there is the
EU General Data Protection Regulation which has
been adopted by the EU to protect their EU citizens. So
again, we have to apply the EU legislation if we are doing business in the EU, or we are transacting information from EU nationals. Again, it is not just Bermuda. So again, we support these endeavours.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, at home here in Bermuda, PIPA will be coming into force as the Minister said in 2025. There was initially a scheduled approach
based on the preparedness of the industries or the
businesses involved. But he —and I applaud him for doing that —has said it all has to be in place by 2025. Obviously the large businesses, the IBs [international
businesses] are probably okay with that because they have the capital and resources to make it happen. Our
concern i s with the smaller businesses, the mom- andpop shops who gather this information, who are in diffi-cult times already and are challenged from the economic sustainability point of view. And they would prob-ably need some support and guidance in this space.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, questions for all organisations that collect and use personal information are,
• Are you administratively ready to comply with PIPA?
• How will you secure the consent necessary to
collect and use the personal data?
• How will you manage commun ications with individuals who want to see a copy of all personal
information that you have about them?
• How will you manage their requests for corrections or deletions of personal data?
• To what extent must you revise your outsourcing and data processing se rvice agreement?
Because a lot of these companies, they outsource to other jurisdictions, be they small companies
or larger companies, because they find it more efficient,
more proficient and more economical to outsource these services. And again, these s ervice level agreements have to be updated accordingly based on the evolution of the legislation that we have here today.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the other question that
one asks organisations and businesses and charities is, Are you organised to comply with an individual’s direction for you to stop using their personal data? Because sometimes we have these systems that are in
place that are a challenge when you say, Take my name off. Take off information of the file. And some systems cannot do it. So how will you manage that?
Are you also prepared to review all business
processes with a view of possibly revising or reengineering them so that they are PIPA -compliant processes?
Mr. Deputy Speaker, as indicated previously,
the aforementioned questions are easily addressed for
local and international companies, as they have the resources and capital to become PIPA compliant. As I
said, I shared my concerns with the small companies,
and I will repeat it: What happens to our local small
businesses who are just making it during the challenging economic times? These PIPA protocols and requirements will place additional financial and resource
burdens on their already -stretched businesses. How
can they be supported? Will they be penalised because
they cannot afford the new requirements at this time?
With these small businesses like health stores, pharmacies, retail stores, massages services, where will
they go to get support? And how will that information
be stored if they do not have the infrastructure to do so?
Then let us look at the people. You and I, the
individual’s perspective,


Bermuda House of Assembly • How will we be confident knowing that the personal data will only be processed after we give
permission?
• How will we feel that the necessary data are
collected for processing only for specific processes?
• And are the data current or up to date?
• And where will the data be kept?
• And another question that comes up again is,
How long will you keep my data? Will it be kept
for five years or ten years? These are questions that individuals shou ld have answers to.
• And also, as mentioned earlier, as an individual, will my data be exposed to criminal threats
or commercial threats?
In addition, there are concerns about government issues like, you know, you are traveling. You have
biometric data. You go through airports, they take a
scan of your face, they take a scan of your passport. And where does that information end up, Mr. Deputy
Speaker? So, these are concerns that we have.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, as I said earlier, we support the legislation. The impact of these amendments is very, very complex for Bermuda. And yet they are
required and should be endorsed so that individual pri-vacy rights are protected and honoured.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, just as an add- on, someone said to me when we were talking a bout this legislation , Switzerland has the privacy right embedded in
their constitution. And one questioned, [Will] the Government will be willing to enshrine our privacy data rights into Bermuda’s Constitution? Just a question.
So in summary, Mr. Deputy Speaker, this is a
very complex piece of legislation. It impacts many, many stakeholders, but it is necessary. And we in the
One Bermuda Alliance support this endeavour because individual rights must be protected for the benefit of the individual and the s ecurity of our country. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. Deputy
Speaker. Thank you very much for recognising me.
I certainly rise to support the Personal Information Protection Amendment Bill and want to compliment the Minister for bringing it forward and thank him and his technical officers as well.
Let me say I am happy to hear that the Opposition are fully supporting this Bill. So, most of my comments that I have, I will keep them very brief. But there
are some things that I certainly would like to point out
that I think the general public need to be reminded of.
The first thing that comes to mind is that this
Amendment Bill brings harmonisation to both the PIPA,
yes, and the Public Access to Information Act of 2010.
So obviously we are doing our homework and updating and correcting things that possibly are needed as a result of some experiences, I am sure, since 2010. I think
the fact that we are amending this Bill should certainly highlight to organisations in Bermuda about personal
information that is being kept, and certainly give it a higher profile in terms of the privacy of the information
that they have. And I am certainly impressed with the
fact that it provides more rights —and I am using the
words “more rights” —to individuals in terms of how their
personal information is actually used.
I certainly agree that it will govern the use of
personal information in Bermuda because, as I said,
people need to know where their information is being
kept and how it is actually being kept and giving them
the right to access their records held by public authorities in the event that they need to amend any information. (I am just looking at my notes just to make sure I covered everything. Most of what I wanted to say has
already basically been said.)
Again, I make the point that individuals would
have access and be able to amend their records as
well. When of course, now when this Bill comes into
force, and I am sure it will be today, the two Acts will
continue to complement one another; that is, the PIPA
and the Public [Access to] Information Act. So having
noted that these amendments are in line with international best practices, this gives people I think a warmer
feeling, and again I give my full support to this. I actually
encourage the public and organisations to educate
themselves, prepare themselves for this legislation and
get on board prior to January 2025.
So, I will end here and again thank the Minister
for bringing this legislation. And again, I offer my full support to it.
Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

I just want to use the opportunity to hopefully emphasise the impact [to] us as individuals. I always like to think of the fact that what we do
here, whatever session we are in, has an impact on the
general public and can hopefully help everyone understand how that applies. So today, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
I will use two or three examples to hopefully highlight
the impact. One which is very recently in the public
arena is the proposed investment of Argus into BF&M.
Another one is from my banking experience in terms of
the ability for banks to track how you spend your
1552 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly money. And the third one would be how we give out our
personal information for regular transactions.
I think I gave the example last week in terms of
an employee was moving from one apartment to the
other. And the new landlord wanted to know what his pay was, for example, and wanted three pay stubs. And
I said no and instead gave a summary report because
that again is personal information. And to be honest, I
do not think it is directly relevant t o your ability to afford
to live in an apartment in terms of your individual mon-etary rent as opposed to what is a general statement in terms of your income.
The second one, which is again much more
topical, is this proposed investment of Argus into BF&M. And I use that example because in some discussions, that was some of the concern is if an insur-ance company is now going to have even more access, will for example, Argus have the cross -information that
is existing at BF&M and therefore be able to make better decisions? And the response was, Well, no. Be
mindful of the fact that they themselves, Argus (or Ar-gus in this instance) would have in place certain parameters to make sure that the information can be managed. However, from the public’s perspective i t will be
making sure that we understand more definitively how
that would work.
And that then ties into general information
when it comes to your health care. Because you would be surprised that if you go to a doctor, for example,
right? Your information is held by your doctor. The doctor’s office has staff who have access to your information. And then your information has to be transferred
to the insurance company for a claim. And so along that
entire pathway, there is the opportunity for the infor-mation to be “ leaked out. ” Quote/unquote. And let us
say for example you have some (I do not know) com-municable disease that you would not want to have in the public arena. It can easily go that route.
So, my point today is to certainly support the
PIPA legislat ion because it will help us all as a society
to better understand how damaging information can be if it is leaked out.
I will also refer back to what one of the previous
speakers said in that we have to in this whole arena take more responsibility for what we even voluntarily
share. Because I have said in many cases that, because of the way that we now volunteer our information,
I know that you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, are away for two
weeks, which means guess what? Your house is now
vulnerable. Or I know wher e you have been. So, there
is so much stuff that we give out. And today I think is
the time for us to start to realise that the information can
be tied together and therefore cause a problem for you.
So, for the individuals, myself included of course, is t o
be more mindful.
From my experience, which is always interesting, is at the banking level, because we now use credit
cards and debit cards so easily, you would be surprised
at how you can actually track somebody’s movements simply by their spending. You can just look at their
credit card information, for example, and you see exactly where they have moved. You would even know
some time ago there was some concern around the individual gaming machines. And you can see, for exam-ple, that somebody went out, i t was on a Friday night,
and there were all of these withdrawals for, say, $20.
And you know where they are spending the money,
right? And so, you can track these things.
So, it really is important for us to understand
this whole idea of information. What concerns me also
is when you sign up to many websites or you go there
just for a quick look, and they say, Guess what? We
now use cookies to track things. Do you agree, yes or
no? If it is no, you cannot access the website sometimes. So, you have to be very careful because then they take the information and they are able to put it to-gether, and so they can find if Anthony looks for (I do
not know) a green shirt. What do other people looking
for green shirts also look for? And therefore, they combine the information. And that then becomes viable information to people who are selling different things. So
that is why we then get all of these extra emails which
we never asked for, but it is to promote different things.
So, there is a huge tie- in to how people can
take supposedly small bits of information, tie them together and then they become very, very important in terms of managing and in some cases abusing your circumstance. Recently there was a lot of conversation in
the media again in terms of elder abuse. And the same
thing applies because your information is sometimes in
the public arena. And others can then determine what
you do and how you are vulnerable and therefore ex-ploit that.
The final example I will give, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, which is quite rele vant to me now is, provided
information because I have two children and they may
apply for a scholarship for university and all of these
things. And we would be surprised if we focused on
what is even asked for when it comes to a scholarship
application. T hey want all kinds of things. And sometimes what I end up doing is saying, Well, no, don’t apply, because the information they are asking for is not
directly relevant. But then they actually disqualify you from the application.

Like they are totally irrelevant! And so, the unfortunate argument that arises is a


Bermuda House of Assembly worker is asked for information that they have been told
to gather. You say, No, it’s not relevant. And there is an
extended discussion because sometimes you cannot even get a bank account opened without giving what
they think is relevant, which is not really relevant. So it takes a long time for us to get that sorted out. So again,
this is going to be important for there to be more information around what is necessary as opposed to what I
want. And then if it is necessary, make sure that you
can tie it in to what they are doing. Because in some
cases it is not. And I would say now that for the busi-nesses, it is t o have a more refined process in determining what they are asking for before they ask.
And the other example is when you apply for
almost anything nowadays, they say, Well, send me a
utility bill as proof of residence, which is ridiculous in some respects . Because where I stay is actually not
tied to my ability to pay all of the rest of it. So, I think
from these comments it is a matter for all of us, as MP
Cole Simons said, to understand the comprehensiveness and significance of this legislation and make sure that we are ready for it both individually and (I guess)
commercially because many of us are giving up information voluntarily that we do not have to give up. And
some businesses are asking for things that they do not need. And by doing so, they are actually increasing the
risk. And it is going to be important, in my mind, to see
how we proactively manage all of this information that is stored somewhere not knowing who really has access to it.
And it interesting even last night, I think it was,
or yes terday on the news —

[Are there] a ny further speakers?
There appear to be none.
Minister Campbell.

Hon. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, why did we fix the date at
January 1, 2025? We draw a line in the sand. We now
have an 18- month window for organisations to prepare
for PIPA. With a fixed universal date, we can provi de
legal certainty. And during the next 18 months, we can provide organisations with the notice they need and
provide them with assistance through the Office of the
Privacy Commissioner to work with them and get their
plan in action and have a phased- in plan. I believe the
Privacy Commissioner is working on or has a tool that will give a month- by-month progress [report] for those
who want to take bite- size chunks. The environment in
Bermuda is such that until you provide a drop- dead
date, people tend to do nothing . . . many people . . . I
should not say all people . But many people tend to do
nothing until you provide them with the drop- dead
deadline. And we have done that with the selection of
January 1, 2025.
This implementation approach is known and it
is uncomplicated, although the privacy arena is complicated within itself, but the approach that we are taking
is commonly accepted and it is uncomplicated. It allows
for flexibility as far as the time frame for implementation. It gives sufficient lead time where it is needed. And
as has been said, we have certain businesses that deal
with jurisdictions that have this legislation in place; they
are already up and running. Although there is not a legal requirement in Bermuda to do it from a legislative
perspective, there is a business reason why they do it.
And they are up and running. And they will adapt to
January 1 quite easily and seamlessly. But we must
recognise, you know, that there are limits for develop-ing knowledge and resources within Bermuda ri ght now
regarding privacy law and the implementation of the privacy compliance regime. This is being assisted in improving that situation by the efforts of the Privacy Commissioner and his office. They are providing guidance, outreach and training in the c ommunity. The process
has been a long process, but when we compare it to
PATI . . . PATI was passed in the House in 2010 and
was not fully enforced until 2015. And that is just deal-ing with, you know, public authorities and quangos and
the like. So, this particular Personal Information Protection Act covers every business, organisation, charity,
businesses large, medium and small, sports clubs, anyone collecting information. So, you may pop up on the
side of the road [selling] your clothing but if you have a
1554 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly terminal where you are collecting . . . accepting credit
cards, you are collecting data. And you have to have a
duty of care to protect that slip that you tear off that machine.
So, with that background and setting this date
in the future, the question was asked about, you know,
we set a date so why does it look like there is a phasedin approach? Because it is needed. You know, this pro-vides a runway for those companies that are not quite ready or that may be just starting out. So, some of the information that the Privacy Commissioner has worked on and has at his disposal will actually assist some of
the smaller companies so that they may find that they
can satisfy the requirements of this Act once it is en-forced by themselves. A lot of this information that ex-ists now can be found at privacy.bm and will prove quite helpful.
I just want to draw attention to section 6 of the
Personal Information Protection Act 2016. There were some concerns around small businesses and how and what information . . . So, in section 6, it talks about —

It has been moved that clauses 1 through 10 be considered.
Any objections?
There are none.
Minister.

Hon. Vance Campbell: Madam Chairman, clause 1
provides the title of the Bill and provides the abbrevi-ated titles for the Personal Information Protection Act 2016 (PIPA), the Public Access to Information Act 2010 (PATI) and the Public Access to Information Regula-tions 2014 (PATI Regulations) as used in the Bill.
Clause 2 amends the definition of “Minister” in
section 2 of PIPA to that of the Minister assigned with responsibility under that Act.
Clause 3 amends section 4(4) of the PIPA by
removing superfluous words.
Clause 4 amends section 9 of the PIPA by
changing references to “name” and “rectifying” to “con-tact details” (of the privacy officer) and “correcting” (to adequately reflect correcting rather than rectifying per-sonal information).
Clause 5 amends section 18 of PIPA so that a
health professional, when requested by an individual who has not been granted access to his medical rec-ords by an organisation, is not required to have exper-tise in the subject matter of a medical record to access that record.
Clause 6 amends the heading of section 19 of
PIPA to refer to “correction” rather than “rectification.”
Clause 7 amends section 26 of PIPA to provide
the circumstances in which the office of Privacy Com-missioner becomes vacant.
Clause 8 amends section 29 of PIPA to provide
that the Privacy Commissioner can charge such fee as
considered reasonable for any services provided under
PIPA.
Clause 9 amends section 37 of PIPA to increase the time period the Privacy Commissioner has to prepare reports after the end of each calendar year
from three months to six months.
Clause 10 amends section 52 of PIPA, the
commencement provision, to give the Minister the
power to appoint different days for different purposes or in respect of different classes of organisation.

Thank you, Minister.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to clauses 1 through 10?
I recognise the Opposition Leader.
Member, you have the floor.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I would like to direct the Minister to clause 8.
Historically, there was a maximum prescribed fee. Can
he speak to what the plans are going forward? Will there be no fee at all? Will there be no parameter s in


Bermuda House of Assembly the fee? Or is the fee going to be incremental and prescribed?
[Clause] 9. I think you might have addressed it,
but I am not 100 per cent sure, because the way it is
written it appears that there are no time frames required
for the issuance of the fi nancial statements in the annual reports in [section] 37(2). So, I was just wondering if the six -month feature applied to the production of financial statements and the annual report and releasing it to the House within six months.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I would like to draw to the Minister’s attention
clause 5, where this B ill proposes to remove the language in relation to a subject matter of record. Madam Chairman, this applies to a circumstance where a
health professional has to determine if a disclosure will
be prejudicial to an individual. And the reason why I
bring this up is because currently the health professional needs to have expertise in the subject matter of
the individual’s health condition to assist with this deliberation. But as it stands, this appears to remove that condition and then does not define what the health professional has to be an expert in or have expertise in.
So, it begs the question: What expertise is the resulting section attending to or dealing with? So, my question to
him is: Why is that being removed? And what is it going
to be replaced with then?
I have another question so I can . . .

Yes. Thank you.
I will speak to clause 7. There is some curiosity
in clause 7 which deals with the Office of the Commissioner becoming vacant. So, for example, in this
clause, it deals with the position becoming vacant if the Commissioner resigns his office, for example. And that
condition applies to any public officer at any point. So,
it was curious to see that in there.
There is a section, though, where I do want to
raise as a point of caution, under [new section 26
(6)](c), and it reads . . . with your permission.

“If the Commissioner becomes a Senator or a member of, or a confirmed can-didate for election to, the House of Assembly or the holder of any office in any political party.” And I express
some caution here, some reservation here because
there are only 40,000 registered voters in Bermuda. And one of my c oncerns would be that this would prevent a professional —especially someone at that level
operating with a great deal of expertise in a subject
area—from becoming concerned in very much political
discourse because they would have to relinquish their role before they even ran in an election. And I just urge
caution in that space because there are not a lot of us,
so if we tell people—

And that would be, yes, even
more so to my point. So, I always urge caution in that
front. So, fair enough. Point taken, Madam Chairman.
And that leaves me with the last [question] on
clause 10 which the Minister spoke to. This deals with
the Minister may appoint different days for the Act to
come into force in respect of different classes of organisation. That is understandable because, for example,
we have already discussed how certain organisations
in Bermuda already have to comply with oversea standards.

Well, a question and comment. But the question relates to I do not understand
the phrase “for different purposes” though. Definitely
the Minist er may appoint different days for this legislation to come into force in respect of different classes of
organisations such as reinsurance companies. But
could he clarify what he means by “for different purposes”?
And those are my comments on clauses 1
through 10. Thank you.

Thank you, Member.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to clauses 1 through 10?
Minister, you have the floor.

Hon. Vance Campbell: I will try to go through these.
So, I will start with clause 10. I think thi s allows for future amendments to be commenced in a manner other
than a single date. It gives some flexibility to what future
amendments may be coming down the pipeline. In my
brief, I did mention that this slew of amendments is to
primarily create the har monisation between the PATI
and PIPA in preparation for PIPA coming into effect.
1556 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly But there are some other amendments that, as I said in
my brief, as we work this more and more, we get [suggestions] from the Information Commissioner, from the
public, from t he public authorities . . . they are always
offering suggestions on how to improve things. So,
there will be amendments continuing to come. And this
will give the Minister flexibility in how they are actually
brought into force.
There was some concern . . . I think this clause
7 is just outlying . . . and I think you received part of
your answer as to certain persons irrespective of this
Bill if they run for office and the like, then they would
have to step away from their responsibilities. So, that
would be clause 7.
Clause 5 . . . if you hold on one second, I can
provide a response around the questions for clause 5.
So, when we look at clause 5, this provision allows for an individual to request for a review of the decision to
deny them access to their medical records. And the importance is not whether the health professional who reviewed the record has expertise in the subject matter of the record, but rather that they have expertise in the
potential privacy harm that would be caused by providing the rec ord to the individual.
So, the next question was clause 9 which deals
with section 37. And I believe the question was , Does
this apply only to the annual report and not the financial
statements? Was that the question?

[Inaudible interjection]

The Chairm an: Talk to the Chair.
Thank you.
I recognise the Opposition Leader.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: My question in essence, asked to provide clarity on the due dates of the annual report and the financial statements.

Okay. Thank you, Minister.
Hon. Vance Campbell: And the last one that I have (if
I have not missed any) was around the ability . . .
clause 8, which refers to the general powers of the
Commissioner and it says that the Commissioner has
the power to charge such fees as he thinks fit for any
services prov ided under this Act, not exceeding the
prescribed maximum. And I believe this does not apply
. . . well, I don’t believe. But this helps to offset funding
from the public purse, but the fees would not be for any
services associated with complaints or inves tigations. The Chairman: Is that it, Minster?

[Inaudible interjection]

Are there any other Members who wish
to speak to clauses 1 through 10?
I recognise the Opposition Leader.
You have the floor.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Clause 8, again , just for continued clarity. It says . . . I will read it. “In section 29(1)
of PIPA, delete paragraph (n) and substitute— ‘(n)
charge such fee as he considers r easonable for any
services provided under this Act.’” Prior to this amendment, there was a maximum prescribed amount. Now,
with the implementation of this amendment there will be
no maximum prescribed amount. How will the fees be
determined? And will they be graduated or what? Because I think leaving it open like that can be challeng-ing.
Thank you.

Thank you, Member.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to clauses 1 through 10.
There being none at this time . . . Minister.
Hon. V ance Campbell: Sorry.
If I could read this. The Privacy Commissioner
may provide various services to organisations that are
nonstandard and therefore may not be subjected to
standardised maximum limitations. So that has been
removed because of that reason.

Please continue, Minister.

Hon. Vance Campbell: Madam Chairman, I move
clauses 11 through 20.


Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: The Minister is moving clauses 11
through 20.
Are there any objections?
There are none.
Minister, continue.

Hon. Vance Campbell: Madam Chairman, clause 11
amends section 3 of PATI to amend the meaning of “requester” by removing a cr oss reference that will no
longer be applicable on the repeal of section 19.
Clause 12 amends section 4 of PATI to provide
that PATI does not apply to records obtained or created
by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
Clause 13 inserts section 12A into PATI to provide that, following the commencement of PIPA, PATI
will no longer apply to records relating to personal information. It also provides that any person requesting his personal information under section 12 of PATI (access to records) shall be not ified, within 5 working days
of the request being received, that the request should
proceed under PIPA.
Clause 14 repeals section 19 of PATI (request
to amend record of personal information).
Clause 15 amends section 23 of PATI (personal information) to include a cross reference to the new section 12A and to repeal provisions that relate to
personal information that are addressed in PIPA.
Clause 16 amends section 24 of PATI (definition of personal information) to provide a new definition
of “personal information” in relation to PIPA.
Clause 17 repeals section 41(f) of PATI ([internal review of] a decision to refuse a request to amend
a record in respect of personal information) as a result
of the repeal of section 19 of PATI.
Clause 18 amends section 58 of PATI to remove reference to the number of requests made under section 19, which is to be repealed.
Clause 19 amends the Schedule to PATI to include the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the Privacy Commissioner position.
Clause 20 revok es provisions in the PATI Regulations that relate to personal information.

Thank you.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to clauses 11 through 20?
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay. [Clause] 15 in section
23 of PATI and “(6) A record that contains personal information shall be disclosed if disclosure of it is in the
public interest.” Can you give us an example of this situation whereby the disclosure of information is of public
interest , and it still remains covered under the PATI legislation and not the PIPA legislation?
Thank you.

Thank you.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to clauses 11 through 20? There are none.
Minister.

Hon. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I think this is put in here in the event of a legitimate PATI request, whether or not there is personal information contained within. That is what we are talking
about here. So, the decision is made to release or not
to release based on the public interest test.

Continue.

Hon. Vance Campbell: Madam Chairman, clause 21
enables the Minister to make regulations subject to the
negative resolution procedure to make further consequential and related amendments to any provision of any other enactment.
Clause 22 enables the Minister to make regulations subject to the negative resolution pr ocedure to
make transitional and saving provisions as considered
necessary or expedient as a consequence of the Bill.
Clause 23 provides that the Act comes into operation on such day as the Minister appoints by notice
in the Gazette.

Thank y ou, Minister.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to clause 21 to clause 23?
I recognise the Opposition Leader.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons : Thank you very much.
For both the consequential amendments and
transitional ones in clauses 21 and 22, given that this is
almost, in essence, a human rights issue (the PATI
rights of individuals), can the Minister explain why he is
progressing this under the negative resolution and not
through the full scrutiny of the House? Because these
rights, in some countr ies, are embedded in one’s constitution, and this could be deemed to almost be a con-stitutional right for Bermudians. And hence, why the
negative resolution and not the affirmative?
Thank you.
1558 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Thank you.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to clauses 21 through to 23?
I recognise the Member from constituency 23.
You have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I would echo the Opposition Leader’s point on
that matter. It reads as if right now we are enabling an
amendment or a change to PATI by a negative resolution. And the problem that this poses is that obviously
it empowers the Minister in an incredible manner. For
example, recently, the Court of Appeal affirmed the Information Commissioner’s power to exam ine records,
which a public authority claim ed falls outside of the
scope of the Act. That was a very important ruling. And it seems as if (and I am looking forward to the Minister’s
point on this one) these consequential amendments
that can be brought by negative resolution could actually amend PATI in an adverse and negative impact for transparency in Bermuda.
Thank you.

I now call on the [Deputy] Speaker to
resume his seat.

House resumed at 2:36 pm

[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Deputy Speaker, in the Chair]

REPORT OF COMMITTEE



Bermuda House of Assembly PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION
AMENDMENT ACT 2023

The Deputy S peaker: Any objections to the Bill being
reported to the House?
No objections.
No other O rders.
Minister Campbell, do you want to do your third
reading?

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21

Hon. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move the Bill entitled Personal Information Protection Amendment Act 2023 be now read a third time by its title only.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Before I move to the motion to adjourn, I would
just like to inform you that there are Members who wish
to speak to this said motion at the bright old hour of 2:37 pm.
[Laughter]
ADJOURNMENT

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Deputy Speaker, I move that
this Honourable House do now adjourn until Friday, the 30
th of June. And note that Members are on their feet.

If it pleases you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, over the last 40 days, we
have seen rain, the likes of which we have not seen
since the 1940s. There is so much rain, Mr. D eputy
Speaker, that each day I looked over to the cruise ship
docked at King’s Wharf in Dockyard to see if the animals were lining up two by two to get on the cruise boat.

[Laughter]

On Monday, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
I drove down my hill. It was pouring rain. I saw a Works and Engineering trash truck with two men on the back
of the truck. Both men got off the truck and collected
the bales of trash without any fanfare, without being
honoured, without being congratulated. They simply got on w ith their jobs. They got on with their jobs, Mr.
Deputy Speaker, in the most challenging of circum-stances.
When the truck came back up the hill, I asked
one of the workers, How have things been collecting
trash during this antediluvian flood? The worker said
that the last month has been hard. He said that they
had battled the elements, that they were battling colds,
that in many cases they were battling influenza. And it was difficult in certain circumstances dealing with less
than gracious homeowners. He w ent on to share that
sometimes they face dog faeces, dead animals, acid,
and other hazardous materials.
When I asked, How he does he do it?
He said, Well, I wish that people did not leave
things like that out for collection . But outside of that, because of the rain and doing his job, all of it was simply
doing his job.
This week, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I saw the KBB
[Keep Bermuda Beautiful] honoured our sanitation
workers. I echo those congratulations. I stand to say
thank you to the men and women and their co lleagues,
to tell you that on behalf of the people of Bermuda, you
matter. Your contributions are noteworthy. We need
you. We value you and thank you for what you have done for us over the last few months and all of the time.
Most recently I was talking t o a preschool
teacher, and she said that she feels that her contribu-tion as a teacher does not matter. She said that many
1560 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly times the parents are not grateful, the workload is
heavy , and it seems like the only people who matter to
Bermudians are people in IB [international business] .
The preschool teacher said she faces so many limitations on the things that she can do based on her salary choice, she wonders if she has chosen the right career.
I want our teachers to know, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that
they matter, that their contributions are most important,
that they are the backbone in our community.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I can trace my life- affirming moments —my choice in career, being put on the
right path, being motivated, being given a sense of
pride, being given a sense of worth, being given the will
to go on, a sense of understanding, a sense of what my
culture is, a sense of who I am—to teachers. I would
like to thank Mr. Andy Edwards, my PE teacher at Prospect Primary [and] Ms. Donna Harvey Maybury , my
history teacher at the Warwick Secondary School. I
would like to thank Mr. Mandell Hill , my history teacher
at the Bermuda Institute. I stand before you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, thankfully and thanking Bermuda teachers.
To the preschool teacher, you matter . To all of
our teachers, you matter. Your contributions in forming
the leaders, the workers of our future are important.
Even though some of the things you do are not her-alded today, the success of tomorrow is rightfully at
your hands, and you are the cor nerstone for success in
our community.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am prone to go on social
media. I read the groans and the protestations about
the potholes on our streets. Many of these potholes have been caused by the flooding that we have recently
seen. I read how the readers lamented that they cannot
survive and that the sky was falling because of the pot-holes. They lamented that the Minister and the Ministry
are not doing anything to work on these potholes. Driving home again, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I saw a man. And this man was putting asphalt into a hole. And the lady
came by and she screamed out to him, About time! She
screamed out to a man standing there filling a pothole,
doing his job on his post. She screamed out, About
time! I looked at his blackened un iform, his hands covered in gloves, his bespectacled face, his hard hat. He
did not shake his fist in her face. He did not lament how
impolite and rude she was. (And she was rude and impolite.) He simply continued to do his job. He simply
continued to do h is job ! We live in a community where
it is easy for us to sit in our comfortable homes and type
from our air -conditioned offices and lament those who
work hard and work by the sweat of their brow day and
night to make sure that we stay and live in the manner
that we have become accustomed to.
Today, to those workers, I want to say that we
value you. To the construction worker, to the man work-ing at BELCO , [working] at Digicel, working in our hotel
industry, driving the bus, driving the taxi, to the people
working at the hospital, you ma tter. To the man driving
the ferry, you are important. To the woman driving the bus, we need you. You are the backbone to our country. And as much as we herald those in IB and in law,
you make it possible. To our teachers, thr ough all the
changes that you are going through, thank you for what you do. Thank you for how hard you work. We are a country that is built off of the hard work of men and
women in our country —the working men and women in
our country. And because of what I have seen in the
last 40 days of our men and women in Works and Engineering, our men and women in the C orporation of
Hamilton, our bus drivers driving in these arduous circumstances, doing what has to be done in rain suits,
driving and getting out of the cars and getting wet, the
ferry drivers driving the ferry when there is inclement
weather, still staying on the post. On behalf of the peo-ple in Bermuda, I say thank you.
It is apropos. It makes sense. It is in keeping
with best practice for us at this time of year, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, to acknowledge our fathers. Many of us in our country lament that there are men in our country who
have not taken up their rightful post with reference to leadership. There are men in this country who are not
on their mark when it comes to setting examples. But,
Mr. Deputy Speaker, for everyone that is not, I can point
you to 20 to 30 men in this country and in this community who are on the post. For the men in our churches,
I say thank you. To the men in our parent -teacher co nferences, I say thank you. To the men in this room who
sacrifice [time] away from their families, I say thank you.
To those who are in our community in the community
clubs working day and night, in our sporting clubs helping our young men and women, in our swimming clubs,
I say thank you.
It is easy for someone to take their pen, to get
their fingers and write words of discord, to sow seeds
of disharmony, to find fault in our country, in our community, in our leadership, in the fabric of our society.
Today , Mr. Deputy Speaker, I stop and ask you in this
House to acknowledge those people in our community who are doing that which is right, that which is needed,
that which is important, that which is the bulwark of who
and what we are. We are a country that is made up of
strong- minded, talented, dedicated, fastidious people,
and it is because of them that we enjoy the lifestyle that
we enjoy. It is because of them that we enjoy the status globally that we enjoy. And today I salute them.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
[Desk thumping]

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I can recall being in university, listening to a Nelson Mandela interview and during that interview, he said something that always
stuck out to me. He said, “No country can really develop
unless its citi zens are educated.” And as I grew up, as
I matured, as I gained life experience, I understood how
true those words really are —that no country can really
develop unless its citizens are educated.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, this then inevitably led me
to look at Bermuda and our own education system, and
what I gathered is that Bermuda has a real issue when
it comes to public education under its current construct.
A sobering statistic to me was when the Minister said
in a recent Ministerial Statement that less than 50 per
cent of our students are meeting the benchmark stand-ards. Mr. Deputy Speaker, to say that this i s alarming
and disappointing is an understatement. Under the current construct of our education system, less than 50 per
cent of our children are meeting the internationally recognised benchmarks. We are not talking about exceeding expectations; we are say ing that less than half are
meeting those standards. So, this reaffirms what we
have known for quite some time, and that is simply that
something must be done.
I then couple that with the fact that we are living
in an ever -changing world and one that is changing
more quickly. We are in a world where cars are driving themselves. Data is the new oil. Algorithms and coding
are essential sciences. Mr. Deputy Speaker, artificial
intelligence is here. Technology is beginning to think for
itself. And so, we cannot effectively prepare our children for the future using an archaic system of the past.
Not only are the majority of our children not meeting the
mark by today’s standard, but to continue to use such
an archaic system would fail to position them to succeed i n the future as well. And so, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
this Government recognises that education reform is vi-tal, it is necessary and it is urgent. Again, no country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.
Now, Mr. Deputy Speaker, let me clear and for
the avoidance of doubt. When it comes to the current state of education, I am not singling out the Minister,
the Department of Education or the Government as a
whole. I am not blaming our teachers, our parents or our students. Because if we are honest with ourselves,
we all have a role to play and we all can do better. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I rise today because I
care too much about the future of this country not to
champion education reform. I am too much of a believer
in the importance of education not to champion education reform. So, I am grateful for the Minister and his team during this period. You see, reform of any kind is
not easy and will almost certainly face resistance. And
when you add the fact that this involves people’s children, I completel y understand the passion. But again,
Mr. Deputy Speaker, reform of any kind is not easy. It is often uncomfortable at first. But when given time and executed correctly, it often proves to be worth it. So, Mr.
Deputy Speaker, now on this path of education r eform,
on this path of restructuring and modernising how we
educate our students, during my canvassing, I often
heard three concerns. The first is that this has not been
a transparent process. The second is that this is not being done by Bermudians for Ber mudians. And the
third is that this is only about saving money and nothing
more. So, with the time remaining —I did a bit of digging
and questioning —I would like to speak on those three
concerns.
The first is that this has not been a transparent
process. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Progressive Labour
Party returned to office in 2017, And one of the first actions we did as a government was engage thousands
of Bermudians to share their views on education. As a
result of those meetings, the Government formulated
its Plan 2022. We then made the document public , and
we used that document as a guide toward education
reform. Mr. Deputy Speaker, within our 2017 Election
Platform, we said that we will reform education by phasing out the middle schools and introducing signature schools at the secondary level. Then within six months
of returning to office, we consulted with thousands of
Bermudians and publicised our plan. In fact, in Plan
2022, there is an entire s ection that speaks to the consultative process.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, then in 2021, the Government invited the public to share their views on parish
primary schools. Again, we issued a public document
stating the facts, the rationale, the consultative pro-cess, and we invited the public to provide their feedback. Mr. Deputy Speaker, this cannot then go unsaid. We received many emails and letters, representing over 1,000 people, and those submissions were again
put together and used to formulate a report that w as
then put out into the public. Mr. Deputy Speaker, we
also had 20 focus groups where we consulted with over 800 Bermudians on their views, preferences, expectations and the like regarding signature schools. I say all
of this to say that to suggest that t he Minister, the Commissioner or the Government simply produced a plan without consulting or without being transparent is
simply not true. We said what we planned to do in our
platform. We consulted with thousands of Bermudians.
We made the necessary documents public. And we invited feedback every step of the way.
1562 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The second point that I would like to address is
the idea that this is not being done by Bermudians for
Bermudians. And so allow me to first categorically say
that no foreigner has been a decisi on-maker when it
comes to this education reform. Let me say it again.
There is not a single non- Bermudian that made any significant decision on what education reform in Bermuda
would look like or how it would be implemented. Mr.
Deputy Speaker, the Governance committee, who are
the ultimate decision- makers, comprises of the Minister, a representative from BermudaFirst, Senior Tech-nical Officers within the Ministry of Education, the head
of the Education Reform Unit and a representative from
the Education Au thority Working Group, all of which are
dedicated Bermudians who sincerely want nothing but the best for our students.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, to be clear, the lead decision-makers and the team charged with the implementation are supported by a highly respected international firm that has experience in educational reform globally.
So what I think is happening— and these are my
words —but what I think is happening is that people are
hearing from the international team and are assuming
that they are the ones who are driving the process
when that is absolutely not the case. The international
team is here to support and advise based on their experience. They are not here to implement “their system”
(quote/unquote) .
And finally, the last thing that I would like to
speak to is the idea that this is all about saving money
and nothing more. Mr. Deputy Speaker, if that were the case —and again, I am speaking for myself —but if that
were the case, then that is sufficient enough reason for me. We are in a space where the Gover nment is tasked
with operating government services more efficiently.
And so any area that improves Government efficiencies
is, in my opinion, something at least worth strongly con-sidering.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, there are a host of reasons for Parish Primary Schools. With the time remaining, I thought I would give an example— an actual real
example— and that is the fact that there are limited specialists on Island with the experience, the training and the skill set required to work with students who require
spec ial attention. And as a result, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
many of these specialists are working in multiple
schools, which means that they are travelling from
school to school. It often means that they are not present in the school when incidents occur. It makes it
more difficult for these specialists to develop relationships with these students. These specialists also have
to adapt to the different nuances at each school, you
see, because Port Royal is a bit different from West
Pembroke and West Pembroke is diff erent from East
End. And so, a parish primary school will allow for the
specialists to consistently be on campus. They can be
more effective as they build relationships with the stu-dents, thereby making it a better utilisation of everyone’s time, and [it w ill] ultimately allow them to provide
better care and attention to those who need it.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , as stated in the B udget
Statement, the Government is also investing significantly in the development of these parish primary
schools so that they each can have modern facilities
that can be paired with a more modern curriculum.
Again, I could go on about the advantages of parish primary schools, but I see that my time I limited.

So Mr. Deputy Speaker , I will close
with this. I want to say that I am excited about the future of education in this country. I am looking forward to the
discontinuation of the colonial method of teaching where instead of regurgitating what the teacher said,
our children are e ncouraged to think more strategically
and critically. I look forward to our students being motivated to learn about their passions so that we can harness and nurture it at an earlier age. The more our students are motivated, the more they achieve. And the
more they achieve, the more they are motivated. And
the cycle continues.
I invite those listening to take the time and read
the positive comments that are coming from the stu-dents who have just completed their first year of signature schools —all positive. Just earlier this week I was
listening to the Glenn Blakeney Show, and he had a
student who could not say anything . . . nothing but positive things about her experience in her first year at signature school.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , I look forward to an education system that has the flexibility to better tailor towards an individual’s learning style. Gone are the days
when a student would have to feel less than because
they learn differently. I look forward to a system that better engages with the parents so that it is reinforced
at home what is being taught in the classroom. I say
with conviction, Mr. Deputy Speaker , the future in education in Bermuda is bright.
So, Mr. Deputy Speaker , I will finish with this. I
note that the Minister acknowledged that some things
could have been handled better . In implementing reform to this degree , there are bound to be missteps . But
that does not deter this Government from the larger picture, which is ensuring that we deliver for our students
because they absolutely deserv e it. And his country is
depending on it because again, Mr. Deputy Speaker ,
no country can really develop unless its citizens are ed-ucated.
Thank you.

Thank you, MP Adams.
Are there any further speakers?
The Chair recognises Minis ter Jason Hayward.
Minster, you have the floor.



Bermuda House of Assembly PLP ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Hon. Jason Hayward: Good afternoon, Mr. Deputy
Speaker .
Mr. Deputy Speaker , as I walk the streets of
Bermuda and interact with our citizens, they typically
say two things. They give me some sort of blessing,
understanding that as a leader and a representative for
the people in this country, it is a difficult job. And then
they often give some level of well wishes and encouragement. They encourage me and my colleagues to keep up the good work and remind me that I and my
colleagues are in their prayers. Mr. Deputy Speaker ,
that is the majority of the interactions that I have with the people of Bermuda.
But then there are pockets of dissatisfaction in
the community. And there will always be pockets of dis-satisfaction because people have an expectation and
want more. Or a person’s personal circumstances are
not necessarily where they desire them to be, and as a
result, they take to social media and other mediums to call on the Government to do more. And then there is
this third group that, notwithstanding all the positive
things the Government is doing and has done, find fault
in every single thing that we do. [This third group says]
nothing good under the sun can be done by this group
of indiv iduals who are in the current administration of
the Government. And Mr. Deputy Speaker , that is unfair. It is unfair because it is not honest. We have to
acknowledge that this Government has, continues, and
will continue to work hard on behalf of the peopl e of
Bermuda. We must acknowledge that we have had a
human- centred approach to the things that we do.
We were faced with an economic downturn after the pandemic. Our economic position has been restored beyond pre- pandemic levels. And to make it
abundantly clear, our economy has expanded beyond
the 2019 pre- pandemic levels. The levels of unemployment that w ere experienced after the pandemic are no
longer our current levels of unemployment. People are
finding jobs. There are a lot more opportunities in our
community. You see the expansion of opportunities for
our young persons who are coming back home from
school. Some have multiple internships and summer
employment opportunities that they are . . . [they have]
got to make a decision in terms of which is the best step
that will put them on a pathway to success in their ultimate career ambition. But if it is one thing when M embers of either party canvass, they ought to say that this Government has had an unwavering commitment to expand social protections, to provide relief for families
notwithstanding our fiscal position, and [to] increase labour protections and labour policy. The advancement
we have made in those areas, Mr. Deputy Speaker , all
should be proud of.
I attended the 12
th Caribbean Labour Ministers’
Meeting ahead of the 111th Session of the International
Labour Conference [ILO] in Geneva, which took place
over the last two weeks. Mr. Deputy Speaker , when I listened to the other labour ministers and their challenges, they were very similar to ours. When I listened
to their responses to those challenges, there were elements of what we are doing that are taking place in
other jurisdictions, but what was made abundantly clear
to me is that the level of support that this Government
is providing for the people of Bermuda is above the average mark.
And so, Mr. Deputy Speaker , we have ma de it
our priority to ensure that we operate with the social
justice ethos, one that ensures that in the forefront of our policy agenda we have Bermudians at heart. When
we talk about that we are extending eligibility to financial assistance, people say, W ell, what does that
mean? It means that we are amending the laws so people who could not benefit from public assistance can
now benefit from public assistance. When we say that we are changing the laws so that one who is on financial assistance and works gets to retain 50 per cent of
their income. That is significant. That is significant in
terms of what that individual can now provide for their
household.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , last week . . . the last time
we sat in this House, we passed a law in terms of ensuring that after seven years persons do not fall off the
social protection ladder. We provided some sort of
cushion so it is not a hard landing for those individuals who
are timing out. That is a big deal. Maybe not in
a large, political sense, but for the individuals whom that impacts that is a big deal. So, when people are saying, What has this Government done for the people
of Bermuda?, you should be able to say, Strengthening
social protections, providing relief to families, and increasing labour pro tections.
Today I tabled a B ill, Mr. Deputy Speaker , in
terms of increasing eligibility and the amount that will
be paid out for child day care allowance. What does increasing eligibility mean? It means that more mothers
and fathers will be able to take advantage of child day
care assistance. It means that once where a cap was
at $55,000, a household cap is now up to $130,000. It
means that two parents who are making less than the
median income in this country will be able to take ad-vantage of child day care allowance. We are doing it to
support the families and their purchasing power, but
more importantly, we are doing it to support our young
children who we cannot leave behind, ensuring that we
put them on a pathway to success at an early age, ensuring that they are in proper day care facilities.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , allowing people to receive gifts, restoring dignity to individuals where we
have a cashless system, and we expect people to operate in a cash- based world with no cash.
I saw an article in today’s paper where a trade
union is asking for the Government to expand its social
justice umbrella and look at certain things such as
health care, pensions, [and] unemployment insurance.
And those are things that we are actively working on,
1564 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Deputy Speaker . But while we are working on unemployment insurance, which is a little bit complex, this
Government has already made a decision to provide
families who need short -term relief with a level of relief
through financial assistance. Those legislative changes
will be in this House before the end of this session, Mr.
Deputy Speaker . See, it is one thing about putting out
a Throne S peech or a party platform and telling people
what you plan to do. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am telling
the people of this country what we have done and what
we will do in short order. I am talking actually about our
actions. Our actions have demonstrated that we are
committed to helping people in this country.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , when I say that we have
increased labour protections, I do not say that lightly.
We have implemented the first minimum wage for all
workers within this country —$16.40. You know what
this has uncovered, Mr. Deputy Speaker ? With the
level of complaints that we have been able to fill, it highlights the abuses that hav e taken place to human beings within our society. And we have brought an end to
some of that abuse by implementing a minimum wage
of $16.40. That is a big deal. That minimum wage is
one of the highest minimum wage rates in the world.
We said we were going to do it, Mr. Deputy Speaker ,
and we did it.
We created a Department of Labour. And we
are in the process of filling those positions so that we
have greater levels of labour inspectors to ensure our
labour laws and our labour code is enforced. [We are]
also ensuring that we have a proper administrative arm
of the Labour Department so that we can have better
administration of our labour policy. But why is the De-partment of Labour important? Because that is critical to ensuring that our workers are in dignif ied work relationships. It is important to ensure that we have harmo-nious industrial relations in this country. It is important to ensure that the standards that a government sets for
its country and its workers are upheld. And so, I am
proud to say that w e now have a Department of Labour.
Let us not forget that the moratorium on many
job categories still exists. I was able to attend a graduation for seven bartenders who participated in the
Bacardi and the Department of Workforce Development ’s "Shake Your Future ” programme. These young
individuals went away to the UK for four weeks. They
came back. They had a full weekend turn. And then
they did two weeks of building their own personal brand
and the soft skills within the workplace. Ten weeks of
training. T hese individuals are now working in establishments throughout the I sland. When their internship
is over . . . I spoke with them last night, and I said, You
know what? You are all guaranteed a job. Why, Mr.
Deputy Speaker ? Because this Government made a
decision to close the category for bartenders, which means that no restaurant, hotel, or bar establishment can import a bartender. So, these individuals are in hot
demand, individuals we sponsored with Bacardi to
train, and individuals that I can now stand on this floor and say are guaranteed employment based off of the
policies that this Government has put in place. And
when those kids —
[Desk thumping]

Hon. Jason Hayward: —or young Bermudians now
take home a wage to their family, their entire family
bene fits from the work that this Government has done.
And some will say, This is what you are supposed to be doing.
And I will say, you are absolutely correct. And
then I will respond and say, But I am supposed to be
telling you what I am doing as well, and t hat is what I
am doing on the floor of the House of Assembly today.
We created a Youth Employment Strategy. We
created a N ational Reemployment Strategy. We ensured we put clarification in place so that individuals are
not abused with contractor contracts when they are actually employees and due benefits. We made critical
amendments to our labour code. We have taken a step
in Bermuda beyond other jurisdictions by ensuring that
every workplace has a workplace violence, bullying,
and harassment policy. Worldw ide that is a big deal ! It
should be a big deal at home because we know the
level of incivility that takes place within our workplaces,
and our workers need to be protected. And this Gov-ernment has been committed and unwavering in ensuring that we put a fr amework in place that protects workers. We have extended bereavement leave so that persons can go to the funeral of their grandparents. And
grandparents , reciprocally , can go to the funeral of their
grandchildren. We have ensured that after five hours of work, one has a mandatory 30- minute break to avoid
abuse that takes place within our workplaces.
The work that is being done by this Government emanates from our social justice ethos. That social justice is a core and fundamental part of the Progressive Labour Party’s values. And that is why I am a
proud member of this party.

[Desk thumping]
Hon. Jason Hayward: And when we go astray, there
are enough stalwarts in this party to ensure that we get
directed onto the right path. And we get back on that
path, and we continue to execute, execute on behalf of
the people of Bermuda so that we can have a better
Bermuda for all.
I signed up to make a change. I bust my butt
as a Member of Parliament to ensure that this change
is made. And so, I want to remind memb ers of the listening public and Members in this room today that we have accomplished a lot. We continue to accomplish a
lot. We have a lot more to do, and we are well poised
to execute on our agenda.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .

[Desk thumping]


Bermuda House of Assembly The Deputy Speaker : Thank you, Minister Hayward.
Thank you very much.
Are there a ny further speakers?
Is it Cole Simons? Oh yes. Yes, it is. I saw him
get up.

HONOUR AND DELIVER ON OUR
RESPONSIBILITIES AS FATHERS

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker .
My friend, the Honourable Wayne Caines ,
moved me today to get up because I am not usually one to speak much on the motion to adjourn. But this is
special because Sunday is Father’s Day . And given the
challenges that we have faced in this community, we
as fathers have a role to play individually in our family
lives and in the community. As one said to me on one
occasion, Life does not come with an instruction book.
That is why we have fathers. Mr. Deputy Speaker , the
fathers are our role models for our young people. Everyone aspires to be like their father and mother irrespective of the challenges or the circumstances that
they find themselves in.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , like many in the community, we as fathers must inspire our children to aim to
be the best that they can be. We must help them and
support them on their educational journey. Normally you go to PTAs, and who do you see? I will not answer
that question. Fathers . . . And I note from being a
grandfather now , as was sa id earlier, we as politicians
sacrifice so much, and part of that sacrifice is at the
sacrifice of our children and our families. And Mr. Deputy Speaker , I take the view that fathers must now
begin to take our children’s hands, take their children’s
hand, take them to school, take them to concerts, and
take them to sporting events. Fathers and daughters, fathers and sons must walk on the beach, must walk on
the trails. And during that time, do engage with these
young people at their level and have a chat wi th them
and have conversations with them, and you will see what life is really all about.
I will say this. My grandson is five years old. He
talks so much. Believe me, he talks so much. I never talked that much in my life. But you know, at the end of
the day, Mr. Deputy Speaker , I listen to him, and he
talks and talks. And he shares everything with me. And that is the type of relationship we need to have with our
young people, fathers. That is the young . . . that is
what we need because if these children felt heard, if
they felt that they have a place to go that is safe, then they will not get caught up in nefarious activities.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , we as a community must
teach our children how to love. And that is loving them-selves, loving their families, and also loving the community. Again, if we have this clarified, if we teach them
this, we will have a more positive community. Mr. Deputy Speaker , during childhood, a father
is a playmate. A father is a caregiver. A father is a loyal friend.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , as I said, the challenges
that we face are not challenges that must be solved by external forces like the Government, like the church.
These challenges can be faced at home by us as parents, by us as fathers, if we take the time to honour and
deliver on our responsibilities.
Former president Barack Obama once said,
“Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make a father.
It is the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.” To Bermuda, to our fathers, Happy Father’s Day .
To our colleagues here in the House and to our friends,
Happy Father’s Day . And do take your role seriously
and let us help get the best out of our children, our grandchildren, and our community.
Thank you.

All right.
And there is one thing that Hon ourable Jason
Hayward failed to say or did not say as yet. Mr. Deputy Speaker , as you know, the PLP is built off of knocking
on doors. We did not have big money coming in the
doors. We have to go out there and knock. And when
we go out . . .

An Hon. Membe r: Knocking.

[Laughter]

When we go out knocking,
yes, our people . . . some people are like , Yes, good
job. And some people are like, Come inside. I need to
talk to you, bye. You know you hear it too, Jarion, right?
I mean . . . sorry, Honourable Richardson.
And they ask us, What have you done because
all these taxes I am paying and all this here? Right? So,
you know what we did, Mr. Deputy Speaker ? Three or
four weeks ago, we were in constituency 25, a seat
held by my . . . can I say parliamentary wife?

The Honourable Ianthia
Simmons -Wade. And we knocked on doors. Two
weeks ago . . . Last week we went into Harris Bay, but
it was one of those 40 days and 40 nights type of days.
It was raining. We had to call it off. So, Mr. Deputy
Speaker , what we do . . . And so, something for the
OBA too. We have on the back of our canvassing pamphlets a list of things that we have done, not just idle promises but accomplishments. And Mr. [Deputy]
Speaker, I beg your indulgence for two minutes to read
off some of those accomplishments.
Minimum wage— As spoken by Honourable Jason Hayward. St. George’s Marina —Recently cut ribbon by the Honourable Colonel [Burch]. Child day care allowance— Again, Honourable Jason Hayward. LED
light bulbs —This will save people money on t heir light
bill. Sorry , Wayne. Faultless divorce —That means you
do not have to go through a whole [bunch] of rigmarole
saying why your wife wants to get rid of you. She just
gets rid of you. Thank you, Attorney General. Electric
bus fleet. It was a combination of Ministers who did that.
It started with the Honourable Walter Roban and then
Lawrence Scott and then now under Honourable
Wayne Furbert.

And the Honourable Zane
Skalatchy De Silva. We now have EV [electric vehicle]
charging stations, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker. For those who do not know what that means, it m eans that if you have
an electric vehicle, you can find charging stations
around the Island. It makes no sense to have an electric
vehicle and you can’t charge it. Right?
Again, on the Colonel, we now have solar on
some of the government buildings. Again, on the Colonel, we are refurbishing . . . well, putting a stopgap
measure for Tynes Bay. Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, one of
the things that people do not know, of all of the islands
in the Caribbean region, the North Atlantic as well (for
those who want to complain) Bermuda is the only one
with a waste- to-energy facility. Everybody else is still
using landfill, dumping raw stuff right on their properties. And under the Attorney General, we started the
path towards enlightening our people about self -governance. I won’t say the “I” word, because you know,
some folks will run with it.
Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, one of the things that is
proudest for me is that last year I was asked to become
the Chair of the Bermuda Housing Corporation. And in
the last (I would say) si x months the Housing Corporation has been able to open up three facilities: one down
at Marsh Lane in conjunction with the Salvation Army
and some private donors; one down in St. George’s for
young persons who have aged out of foster care; and
recently another facility.
And there are more coming, Mr. [Deputy]
Speaker. Because as we know, one of the key things that is hurting our people is affordable housing. You
could talk about everything else, but if I can’t find somewhere to live, we have failed as a government.
So, I can say without a doubt I want to thank
the staff at the Bermuda Housing Corporation, project
managers, social services department for the work that
they do to provide housing for 700 Bermudian families.
And we are working on another 70 units. We plan to,
over the course of time, to get 70 units for Bermudian
families. So, thank you, Colonel, for providing that
money.
Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, allow me to switch gears
a little bit. Can I put on my AME hat for a minute?

As you get older it takes a
different turn where it means, you know, make sure you marry the right person, or . . . get the right type of job,
or whatever. But as we move towards when we are in
our . . . some of us, are in our 50s and 60s, honouring
your mother and father takes on a whole connotation. Because they can’t slap you up. Well, they can. But more importantly, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, last week I
went to the viewing of one of my friend’s parents. And
while I was there another one of my friends came there
to make arrangements for her parent’s funeral. And it put things in perspective that two of my friends, good
friends, best friends, are now making arrangements f or
their parent’s funeral. They no longer have their parents
to take care of. I still do. Many of us still do.
But the unfortunate part about ageing, Mr.
[Deputy] Speaker, for some, is that as you get old, ail-ments do creep up on you.

It could be Alzheimer’s, it
could be dementia, it could be mobility, kidney prob-lems, dialysis, any given thing, cancer. And you need
someone to take care of you. Someone to take you to
your doctor appointments. Someone to, i f not pay for
your medication, go pick up your medication. Someone to make sure you are taking your medication. Someone
to help clean up around the house and the property because you are not able to do it anymore, or not as able, let’s say, not totally dis abled. And that should fall upon
the children. Some people are able to afford caregivers,
full-time or part -time. But honour thy mother and thy father. If you can afford it or not afford it, make sure your
parents are taken care of.
Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, even more than taking
care of the day -to-day necessities, one of the greatest
things, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, as you know, as you go
out canvassing you go and see seniors, is just give
somebody a call. Go visit them. A lot of people pass,
and you read their obituary and you are like, This does
not capture their whole life. We have all these recording
devices. Somewhere along the line we do not capture our people’s history, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker. But when
they are gone, they cannot tell it themselves. So, I say, on the eve of Father’s Day, Honour thy father and thy
mother that y our days may be long. But guess what,
Mr. [Deputy] Speaker? It is your parents turn now. If
God grants each of us another 30, 40 years, it is going
to be us who is going to be longing for our children to honour us and take care of us when ailments catch up
with us.
So, in closing, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, I say to
all the brothers in here, Happy Father’s Day, Grandfather’s Day. Some may hit the great -grandfather’s day; I
don’t know.

[Inau dible interjections]

I take the opportunity to
reflect on those who have impacted my life over the many years. I make no apology that many of [t hem]
centred around sport. First, as a footballer and a cricketer and then as a golfer.
Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, I give thanks for people
like Edward “Buzz” DeShields, an elder in the Seventhday Adventist Church who was the architect of my development. There are the untold heroes who are behind
the scenes making sure that the right people connect
with the right people, the intercessors. It was people
like him who made sure that I got in contact with my
Uncle Herman “Tucci” Bascome and Walter King and
John N icholas Swan (the father of Sir John Swan) during my formative years. And I am grateful for them who put me in contact with people like Alex Crofton and
Willard Lowe to help cultivate a person who might have
1568 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly been growing up in a one- parent household. You s ee,
it is not uncommon for persons in our community to be
coming up in one- parent households. It didn’t happen
yesterday. It happened for many generations, Mr. [Dep-uty] Speaker.
But in the absence of having that fatherly figure
directly in your home, you could rely on Uncle Bill . . .
Willett “Bill” Anderson to fill in the breach. Or Uncle “Bugs” James Anderson. Or someone like that [who]
your parents could turn to. It is not so far -fetched for us
to ensure that more of those types of connections can
still be permanent in our communities going forward.
I had cause this week to spend quite a bit of
time around . . . and I declare my interest. I am the
Chairman of Government Golf Courses, so I spend a
fair amount of time at Ocean View and Port Royal Golf
Course—this week, assistant of the Bermuda Tourism
Authority. In our National Tourism Plan, increasing the
number of superyachts that come to our country as part
of the growth of our economy [is] one of the elements
of growing our economy that we are looking to facilitate
and encourage. And I had the opportunity this week to
spend time with nine superyacht captains and three executives from Boat International.
The CEO of Boat International, a media and
events planning company based in London that deals
with all the superyachts that are anywhere . . . to be anywhere in Monaco, maybe in the Mediterranean, Majorca, in the Caribbean and, yes, now in Bermuda. A
very important part of that is connecting with the amenities that help to make a Bermuda stopover a good one.
And of course, golf forms a very important part as are
other amenities that are on Island.
Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, in doing so I had to rely
on some experiences that I had when I was charged
learning my trade down at Castle Harbour under Pierre
Rollinger when he had called on me to look after some
top executives who might have flown in from USF&G
[United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company ] back in
1983 and [I was] charged with making sure that these
folks had a good time. Then I said, I can’t do it all on my
own; I need help. And I turned to the team who services
us, and I started to do some directing to make sure that the field was set that these folks could be well received.
And there was a young man there, Mr. [Deputy]
Speaker, who was the newest of our staff, named Trey
Simons . And he didn’t know much about golf. But he
was there. And I needed somebody to make sure that
when that minibus or taxi drove up that they could be
greeted. And when I looked around there I saw him. He put a chucked a smile on me and said, Good morning.
And I said, Come with me, young man. Let’s get this
high-rise table and chair and we will get all the goodie
bags that we had put together for them, and I need you
to sit right here.
And I drew on some experience that I could recall from the great Victor Woolridge, the greatest door-man down at Castle Harbour, and I said, You have the
most important role for us today. I want those folks when they arrive at Port Royal to feel that they got a
welcome that they have never had before in their life.
And here is a person who knows nothing about golf. But I was there to provide some guidance for him. And I am
here to say that this young man did an outstanding job for us. As did all the team who were there [when] we
came in.
I am saying that because three days later we
had formed relationships because they did not just stay
there—they went to the Belmont Newstead and [we]
were able to interact with them there. And we had formed some relationships. The captains that I met
said, You know, we sail by Bermuda all the time. But
knowing Bermuda, having had a good time, we can see
reasons why we should be stopping over in Bermuda. I
was made to understand that the economic impact of a
few superyachts with the type of high- net-worth cli ents
who not only own but avail themselves to those
superyachts, that the economic impact is in the millions
of dollars, just for one stopover. And I am here to say
that I always used to say, We need to fish where the
fish are. And these fish have been sai ling past us and
our Government has been making a concerted effort to
make sure that we are on their radar screen.
At the conclusion of their stay, I did what I usually did, I sent out some letters to the ones who I connected with. I sent my personal thank -yous and what
came back to me I was very moved by. The CEO had
shared with me already and put it in writing, and he
said, You know, this is not our first visit. We have struck
up a very good relationship with now CEO (then interim
CEO) Ms. Tracy Berkeley and we have already been
here and introduced the owners to Bermuda. We have
already been here and introduced brokers to Bermuda.
Now we are introducing captains to Bermuda.
And you would have seen just two weeks ago
the Minister responsible for Works, ther e with my colleague MP Ming, and the new mayor, Mayor [Quinell]
Francis, and the former mayor, Mayor [George]
Dowling [III], opening up the marina in St. George’s so
that we are part of that experience in St. George’s, the
first port that they will see when they come into the waters of Bermuda. They will see the marina at Hamilton
Princess. And dare I say other properties that have
docks there, quite honestly, I can envision some of them moving into that opportunity to host superyacht
business. Newstead, for instance. Dare I say, a rejuvenated Lantana in the future? Because you have to project positively in order to see positive things happen. We in this country have been the country of no and the
country of doom and pessimism. But in my trade it is
important, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to be positive and look
forward confidently for a realisation that is in the best
interest of our people.
The Labour Minister, the young Mr. Jason Hayward, speaks so well with empirical evidence to support
what he says. I marvel at how he does it. And I glory in
his spirit. [He] has said and he is tackling a thorny issue
of how that [we] need to grow the econo my, but he did


Bermuda House of Assembly not just say, We are going to grow the economy. And
to use the Bermuda vernacular, chuck it in your laps.
No! He is working on the how. How do we grow our
economy? How do we expand our workforce? And it is
something that is necessary.
I spok e in December, the Hansard would reveal, and did some country analysis to prove that 1,000
additional workers in the workforce would contribute a
billion dollars’ worth of economic activity in this country.
And the knock -on effects of that type of increase in the
workforce, whether or not it be repatriating Bermudians, or having folks coming here to . . . with the increase of industry, will serve this country well. Why?
Because persons like myself and growing numbers of
us are now relying on our pensions to be there on the
15th of each month. And our contributions to the pension pool has decreased . . . it causes the contributions
to decrease.
This country needs a greater tax base. And this
Government is tackling that, methodically, in a sensible way. And I am proud to be a part of that. The growth of
our tourism industry against the backdrop of years of decline of hotel beds, which [were converted] to condominiums, which people are living in, many of whom are
objecting. We need to change that narrative to s upport
the Southampton Princess redevelopment. Why? So that we can get greater airfares for the airlines coming into this country. And when I talk about airfares, I have
been looking very recently at the fares to my cousins
down in Bahamas and you can get a flight for $370 to
Bahamas from Newark, but you also can get a fare for
$570 if you book at certain times and the like. Not too
dissimilar from the rates to come to Bermuda. But we need more hotel beds that the Fairmont Southampton
redevelopment, with residences that will provide a hotel
component, will provide in very large measure.
Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, another plank (as I wind
up) in our tourism redevelopment is entertainment and
cultural tourism. And I was on hand Saturday, as were
others. The Honour able Minister Tinee [Furbert] and I
were there. Honourable Minister Weeks was there. I know the Premier happened to be there. And I know
MP Foggo came at different times because it was a
two-day affair. The power of prayer worked, and the
heavens were . . . the rains held off and that powerful,
spiritual, cultural reconnection occurred.
More than 30 persons visited Bermuda because of a community connection that took hold of the
past that they were disconnected from their families, and the reconnection is now causing us to have connections in Long Island, in Connecticut, in Massachu-setts, Rhode Island, along the coastal areas and the
interiors of those particular areas where Native Americans are connected with Bermuda. And those who
have those types of famil y connections could always
feel that type of connection when they travelled around North America, Canada and the United States and
even down in the Caribbean because of the migration of those communities up and down the continent. And
it is now connected t o Bermuda.
That is what cultural tourism is all about. I can
see, envision in another 40, 50 years the way in which
Cup Match grew from 1902, the way County Games
grew from twelfth fairway in Mid Ocean Club to where
it is today, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker. I can envision that
powwow being a major cultural event that brings tourists as far away as Nevada where the Paiute Indians
have their communities, and other Native American
communities who are about in North America, Canada and in South America as well. Such is cultural tourism.
Such is the connection that I experienced when
even yesterday being there for the [Bermuda] National Trust Awards on behalf of the Minister to see the cul-tural connections and to be very honoured to see Mr.
Dale Butler get recognised t here for the redevelopment
of the Gombey House out there in his home, making
sure that this heritage is kept alive and kept front and
centre. And others who are doing things in the communities, whether or not it be in St. David’s or even
whether or not, Mr . [Deputy] Speaker, it be the rejuvenation of Whale Bay Battery up in Southampton, as we
are just quietly doing with the good work of the Parks
Department in concert with the superintendent, Jayson Jackson, up there at Port Royal, doing good work. Just
working to gather on a limited budget, but taking resources and just making that fortress, which forms part
of our national fortifications, more habitable in 2023
than it would have been in maybe 2013, or the like.
Our Government has a working plan. And that
working plan consists of many very successful initiatives that have already been executed. And yes, it is up
to us to be able to share some of those things. Because one, in closing I will say, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, when I
first came into the Legislature i n 1998, whether it be the
Senate or whether it be the House of Assembly, there
were always reporters here in this Chamber, recording,
writing about what was said, irrespective they might
have taken the tint in one direction or the other, but it
was conveyed.
Many times, many things of great quality are
said here about what is being done in this country and they would choose to selectively malign persons of . . .
particularly of the Progressive Labour Party. And it is
up to us to make sure that it is in the Hansard so that
future generations looking to know what time it really is
in this country. Good works done by a government
since 2017 to advance platform initiatives that have
been laid out would easily be ignored and overlooked by persons who mi ght be the owners of institutions that
have a natural bias against.
And, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, in closing, I just
want to say thank you to all those persons whose shoulders I stand on, who filled in the gap and helped my
mom with her three boys, and we were not special. Many of them, like Lloyd James and Dudley Simons,
they were doing it for many in the community. Many
were teachers. Many were taxi drivers. Many were just
1570 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly people who cared who knew what time it was in your
family and were prepared to step i n.
May that spirit grow in very large measure, Mr.
[Deputy] Speaker. And thank you and may you have a
very blessed Father’s Day, and to all my colleagues in this Chamber and who work within the Legislature and
the Government, Happy Father’s Day. Thank you.

Thank you, MP Swan.
Any further speakers?
There appear to be none.
Premier, you are next.

PLP ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, it is great
to be up at 3:56 pm on a Friday afternoon —

[Laughter]

Hon. E . David Burt: —recognising that I am the last
speaker in today’s session and it would be time to go
home.
Mr. [Deputy Speaker], I will make my comments brief today, as many Members have spoken today about the work of which this Government continues
to do. So, while we are treated to front pages and stories, while we are treated to front pages of sensational-ism, there is real work that this Government is doing to
deliver.

Agreed.
Hon. E. David Burt: Last year we came to this Honourable House and said that we are going to look at our
budgets, recognising the impact of the war in Ukraine was having on food prices and fuel prices to do what we can to deliver relief and to provide more assistance
to pers ons. And so, whether it was capping the price of
fuel, which we did last year, . . . whether it was the work
that you did as Chairman of the Cost of Living Commission, working with grocers to eliminate duty on staple
goods for a reduction, you know, there was a whole lot
of noise last year, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, about the price of eggs. But there are not many people making noise
about the price of eggs now.

[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. E. David Burt: It will change, and it will continue
to go.

The D eputy Speaker: That’s right.

Hon. E. David Burt: But here is what is important to
tell you. The Government continues to work. I hear
comments from people who say that the Government
does not listen. Here is what I can tell you, Mr. [Deputy]
Speaker. We do not have a choice but to listen. We do not. Because we canvass. We are out on the doorsteps. We hear persons. We are in the communities.
They just come to us. They come to the Cabinet via our
caucus. We understand. And that is why we are responsive.
Look at what was done today. The announcement by the Minister of Economy and Labour. In 2007,
the Progressive Labour Party was elected in an election manifesto that said that we would implement FutureCare and day care. You remember that election
campaign, I am sure. You were on the ballot. I was not,
Mr. [Deputy] Speaker.
And at that time, in 2009, we delivered the
Child Day Care Allowance, which was set at $800 and the maximum amount to earn that was $70,000. Mr.
[Deputy] Speaker, $70,000! In 2014, the One B ermuda
Alliance Government reduced that benefit and the eligibility fell from those persons making $70,000 down to
$55,000. Last year when we reviewed, we said we
would deliver on expanding child day care support. Because, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, you cannot be in a society where you are saying that you want people to have more children, noting how expensive children are, and
then not provide the support for those persons in order
to make sure that having children does not put them at
a severe disadvantage.
And so, Mr. Deputy Speaker, today , families
with an annual household income of $130,000 or less will be entitled to support for every single child that they
have of that age. It is huge! It is an expansion. And unlike before, where it cutoff, it is tiered. So not only is
there an increase in the amount of funds that persons will receive who are at the lower end, so those persons who are already receiving will get an increase, but also
on a more broad basis there will be more persons who
are able to have that assistance. That is fair and that is
right. And you know what, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker? That
is listening and responding to the challenges that are
faced inside of our community.
You heard the Minister of Economy and Labour, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, speak ear lier today about
the minimum wage. Yes, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, we now have for the first time in our history a statutory minimum
wage. And yes, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, there are persons who were abusing labour in this country. And when you talk about listening, listening in a tripartite
fashion to employers, to unions and work with the Government to make changes and upgrades to put in place
items to protect workers in this country. That is called listening and responding.
The other day I was out and there was this gentleman who had said to me, Well, the Government is
only taking care of international business and isn’t wor-ried about us.
And I had to tell the gentleman, I said, You do
realise that international business att acked this Government for what they said was an increased tax bur-den on them, while we reduced taxes for 86 per cent of
persons in this country and 86 per cent of businesses?


Bermuda House of Assembly And he was like, Well, I didn’t know that.
And I am like, Yes. I have said it m any times
here. We have said it many times. A piece of mail out
to every single household. But guess where you won’t
read that? On the front page of the Royal Gazette . You
will read the attacks , though. You will read the criticism.
But you will not read [about] the work and progress of which this Government continues to make.
But here is the thing, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker. We
will not be deterred. We have a Throne Speech to deliver on. We have a platform to deliver on. And we will continue to make those promi ses a reality, just like we
did today. When we come back in two weeks, there will
be more promises to deliver. And two weeks after that,
there will be more promises to deliver. Because that is
what a government that is listening to the people, delivering f or the people, will accomplish.
Earlier this week I had a meeting with the Progressive Labour Party and I was pleased to report that
out of our new Mortgage Guarantee programme there
are 28 persons on their way to owning a home. Under-stand, 28 persons wh o would not have been able to do
that if it was not for the work of this Government. A public officer the other day had said, What are we going to
do about my high mortgage rates? And I reminded that
public officer that you can move your mortgage to a different space and save money. And we eliminated the
taxes on that transfer. That is a government that is listening and working, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker.
I am going to close here, before I wish everyone a Happy Father’s Day. In the Ministry of Finance,
we cont inue to collect data, we continue to aggregate
data, we continue to make sure that it is able to be eas-ily accessible for our decisions. And though we hear persons speaking about the economy, and the challenges of which we are facing, our economy has re-turned back to pre- pandemic size. That is a fact. Economic growth continues. That is a fact. And here is what
is most important. In the first quarter of this year, payroll
taxes, when they came in and were filed by employers
in April of 2023 versus April of 2022, there were more
than 1,700 (that is correct) 1,700 additional employees
that payroll tax was filed for. [There were] 1,700 additional persons [working] to have payroll tax filed for them. Year over year, 1,700.
We are making progress and we will cont inue
to make progress, and the hard- working women and
men of this Progressive Labour Party Government in
totality, not just the Cabinet, but the caucus, the persons who sit in the other place, will continue to pro-gress, listen, adjust [and] implement. Beca use that is
what is necessary for our citizens. We hear the complaints about what is taking place, about the infrastructure of the country. The people of this country must be
reminded that there is [more spending], the highest infrastructure spending this year, [than] in the last 15
years. That is what we have committed to.
As I said during the Budget Statement, I could
have easily delivered a balanced budget. I could have not cut taxes for 86 per cent of the workers and businesses in this country. I could have not given the Minister of Public Works additional funds to deal with the
challenges of the infrastructure of this country. It does
not matter if you have a balanced budget if the country is unbalanced. And that is what we are working toward.
And it is important to note, we had . . . we had
. . . and I hear the Members of the Opposition laughing.
That is fine. Let them laugh. Let them chirp. We will
continue to deliver. They cut day care; we increased it.
They cut investment and infrastructure; we ar e putting
it in place. That, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, is a difference.
And that Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, is what people must understand. There is a different approach. As the Minister
of Economy and Labour said, A human- centred approach. A human- centred approach. And so we will
continue to progress. We will continue to implement and we will not be distracted by those who want to talk
about things other than the work that the Government
is doing for the people of this country.
Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, allow me to c lose here.

Yes.

WISHES FOR A SAFE AND ENJOYABLE HOLIDAY
WEEKEND
Hon. E. David Burt: This weekend is National Heroes
Weekend where we acknowledge the national heroes.
Something else created by the Progressive Labour
Party. And so, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, we will take time
to acknowledge our national heroes. But what is also
important on thi s weekend is Father’s Day. And so I
would like to, on behalf of the Government, extend a
Happy Father’s Day wish to all of the fathers in this
country. From those who have been a father for a very
long time, like you, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, or to the newest fathers in the country , such our Information Officer ,
Mr. Derek Lamb, who will be celebrating his first Father’s Day.

Yes.
[Desk thumping]

Hon. E. David Burt: And I also want us to remember
those in the community who, very tragically, will not be
celebrating Father’s Day. My mind is cast back to the loss of young Marco Warren. His young son will never have a Father’s Day with his father. And I hope and
pray that justice in that situation will be done, because
as people say, Marco Matters . His life matters. His family matters. And his son, who will not get to celebrate
Father’s Day with his father, matters as well.
So, with that, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, I hope that
all persons have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend. Remember the reason. It is National Heroes Day.
Although there will be a lot of dancing and celebration,
1572 16 June 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly let us remember that this holiday is National Heroes
Weekend.
Thank you, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker.