December 14, 2022

Good morning, Madam Presi dent.
I hereby present for the information of Senate
an Assessment of Self -Governance Sufficiency in
Conformity with Internationally Recognised Standards—Bermuda, as produced by Dr. Carlyle G.
Corbin, international advisor on governance.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
The third announcement is in the name of
Senator and Minister Owen K. Darrell, spokesman on
Education.
Minister Darrell, you have the floor.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Good morning, Madam
President.
The President: Good morning.

BERMUDA EDUCATORS COUNCIL (EXEMPTIONS)
(2022 TO 2023 SCHOOL YEAR) ORDER 2022

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: I hereby present for the
information of Senate an Order entitled the Bermuda
Educators Council (Exemptions) (2022 to 2023 School
Year) Order 2022, as made by the Minister respons ible for Education in exercise of the power conferred
by section 5 of the Bermuda Educators Council Act
2002.
Senators may access copies of the Order on
their tablets and on the parliamentary website.

The President: Thank you, Minister. I think you have
a second announcement. You can continue.

BERMUDA COLLEGE ANNUAL REPORT 2021/22

BERMUDA COLLEGE AUDITED FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED
31 MARCH 2022

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
hereby present for the information of Senate the A nnual Report of the Bermuda College for the year 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022; and the Audited Financial Statements of the Bermuda College as of March
31, 2022.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
The final announcement is in the name of
Senator Leslie Robinson, the Junior Minister for Economy and Labour.
Senator Robinson, you have the floor.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Good morning, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Good morning.

DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
ANNUAL REPORT FISCAL YEAR
ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Sen. Leslie Robinson: I hereby present for the information of Senate the Annual Report of the Depar tment of Financial Assi stance for the f iscal year Ended
31 March 2022.
Senators can access copies of the report on
their tablets and/or on the parliament website.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.

NOTICE S OF MOTION S
The President: There are none.

PETITIONS
The President: There are none.

STATEMENTS

The President: The first Statement is in the name of
the Mi nister, Honourable Owen K. Darrell, the Minister
of Youth, Culture and Sport.
Senator Darrell, you have the floor.

INCREASE D ACCESS TO THE
NATIONAL SPORT CENTRE

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President , in the 2022 Nati onal Sports
Policy , the Government underscored a five- year
commitment “to inspire and enrich participation in
sport and enhance the international success of our
athletes .” The policy highlights the need to “increase
free training access to NSC [National Sports Centre]
for athletes competing in international competitions.”
To this end, Madam President , the Ministry of Youth,
Culture and Sport, through the Department of Youth,
Sport and Recreation will advance this initiative which
aims “to achieve sporting excellence regionally.”
Preparation is integral to the development of a
healthy training regime and athletic success. Athletes are encouraged to physically ready themselves during
training and before an event to reduce the likelihood
of injury occurring. The body must be prepared to endure the physical demands and stress of the activity
being undertaken. Madam President , according to
Global Human Performance, athletes training 10 to 15
hours per week were consistently making good i mBermuda Senate provements in their progress. Often this looks like five
days of a two- hour practice with two to three days of
additional training in strength, skills, endurance and
speed training. Attaining "physical readiness ” for international competition is paramount to our Bermudian
athletes achieving sporting excellence regionally. This
is goal number two within the 2022 National Sports
Policy.
Madam President , the National Sport Centre
provides world -class training facilities that can assist
our national athletes and teams in preparation f or international competition with improved access to trai ning. The National Sport Centre’s booking policy currently states that “National Teams receive complimentary training time access at the National Sport Centre
two weeks prior to the National Sport Centre ’s approved international off Island competitions. The N ational Team practices must compris e at least 85 per
cent of their team members.”
Outside of the aforementioned time, Madam
President , national athletes and teams must pay to
use the National Spor t Centre facilities in preparation
for international competition. It must be noted that
preparation for international sport begins months prior.
This can be costly, and we have national teams representing Bermuda that are insufficiently prepared as
their budget dictates the frequency of training.
Madam President , in 2007 while preparing for
the ICC World Cup, the Bermuda Cricket Board decided the best way to prepare their players [was to]
immerse [them] in a semi -pro environment. The i ncrease in usage at the National Sport Centre facility
allowed the Bermuda Cricket Board staff to create a
professional environment for players months before
the tournament, which included strength and condi-tioning training for at least six days a week.
Madam President , Ber muda’s own Dame Fl ora Duffy, Olympic, Commonwealth and World Champion in the sport of Triathlon, in an article in Built for
Athletes , speaks of her typical training sessions being
between 20 and 30 hours a week. The Ministry recognises , Madam President , that sport matters and it has
approved that the free training access will increase from two weeks to two months prior to international
competition for national athletes and teams at the N ational Sport Centre to achieve sustained competitive
excellence.
Madam President , as our national sports of
football and cricket prepare for their busy 2023 international duties with Gold Cup, World Cup and ICC
qualifier s, they and all national sport s governing bodies now have increased access to the National Sport
Centre to do so. Accordingly, the Government will
continue to find ways to help “raise the value of sport
in Bermuda and increase participation and regional
success” for all.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Owen Darrell. The second Statement is in the name of Senator Leslie Robinson, the Junior Minister for Public
Works.
Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

UPDATE ON THE TYNES BAY
WASTE -TO-ENERGY FACILITY
REFURBISHMENT PROGRAMME

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
I have received the Parliamentary Questions
from Senator Douglas S. J. De Couto, and I am
providing the response via this means to both answer
his questions as well as provide a more fulsome update on the progress of the Tynes Bay Waste- toEnergy Refurbi shment Programme.
Madam President , in February 2022, the then
Acting Minister of Public Works advised the Honour able House of Assembly on the projected [BMD ]$150
million capital programme for the complete refurbis hment of the Waste- to-Energy Facility and the commencement of said programme. Subsequent to that
announcement, the substantive Minister provided an
update to the Honourable House in September of this
year informing of the Tynes Bay Stabilisation Pr ogramme at the estimated sum of $22 million over the
next three fiscal years.
Madam President, please indulge me while I
recapitulate what was detailed by the Honourable Mi nister in said S tatement:
1. Additional challenges have arisen since the
original refurbishment programme announcement
such as the catastrophic failure of one of the two
overhead refuse cranes in April 2022, in which no one
was injured; however , it has slowed [daily] operations .
2. Delivery times for procurements have i ncreased significantly attributed to global supply -chain
issues re sulting from the fallout of the COVID -19 pa ndemic and the current economic climate affecting
commencement of refurbishment works .
3. The original plan which would see all refurbishment works completed within five years will be
pushed back to an unspecified date, and the facility is
incapable of lasting this time to await the major refurbishments to commence.
4. To preserve the f acility and reduce the risk
of catastrophic failure, the Cabinet authorised the
three- year Tynes Bay Stabilisation Programme which
will see a number of projects commence to bridge the
gap between their current condition and the newly renovated facility. These will see the repair or r eplacement of the following:
• two overhead refuse cranes ;
• the low -voltage switchgear system ;
• the high- voltage switchgear systems ;
• two auxiliary transformers ;
• the flue gas monitoring equipment ;
• turbine overhaul; and
44 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate • various instruments associated with the feed
water tanks system and sea water band
screens .
5. The cost of this programme will be spread
over thr ee fiscal years with $7 million in this fiscal
year; $14 million next fiscal year (2023/24); and finally, $1 million in the 2024/25 fiscal year.
Madam President, I cannot emphasi se
enough that the overall refurbishment of the Tynes
Bay Facility is a v ast and complex undertaking of na-tional importance. A nd I am pleased to say that works
have already commenced. To date, the Ministry has
been focus sing its efforts on critical plant upgrades
which have been identified using the following criteria:
1) equipment al ready critically failed;
2) equipment obsolete, thus repairs are not feasible; and
3) equipment that will likely fail within the next 24
months that has potential to shut down the entire plant.
Bearing in mind these criteria, since the refurbishment programme commencement , the following
work has been completed:
• clinker crane replacement;
• main UPS battery replacement;
• bulky waste shear overhaul;
• feedwater pump #2 replacement; and
• boiler #2—critical tube replacements and sy stem re placements .
Madam President, as aforementioned, the
Stabilisation Programme will see the following works
beginning or completed within the next calendar year
on:
• the feedwater #1 replacement (works are currently underway);
• the boiler #2—critical tube replacements and
system replacements;
• the refuse crane replacement;
• the band screen replacement;
• the replacement of plant transformers;
• the low -voltage switch gear; and
• the high- voltage switch gear.
However, it should be made clear that the
work ongoing and scheduled is not the full extent of
the renovations and upgrades required for the Tynes
Bay plant. The full renovation requires a much larger
capital project that has already been mentioned and
the preparation for which is advancing concurrently to these critical upgrades.
Madam President, I reiterate this is a large
project which has required mechanical and electrical
specialists over the years, not just in the past but in
the future as well. These individuals would be a mix of
both international , used primarily for specific projects ,
and local specialist s to assist in facilitating the completion of works for smaller projects.
Madam President and Senate colleagues, you
may recall critical work on the Tynes Bay facility dates back to year 2020. Madam President, the first critical
work projec t geared toward maintaining the plant occurred at the end of 2020 which saw:
• 70 Works and Engineering staff support aspects of emergency repairs such as providing
labour support, mechanical support and electrical support;
• 40 local contractors and companies support
the project by providing equipment, accommodations, material suppliers, engineering
expertise, transport, general supplies, m echanical and electrical contractor, construction
and cleaning staff; and
• 21 overseas consultants who supported and
perfor med speciali sed work for emergency
boiler and plant system malfunctions .
Madam President, a second critical work pr oject associated with the major boiler took place in A ugust of 2021 and involved the aforementioned 70
Works and Engineering staff, approxim ately 50 different local contractors and 60 overseas contractors performing similar functions as just mentioned. Madam
President, a third critical work project associated with
the major boiler commenced in September of this year
and is due for completion i n April of 2023, which will
similarly involve the same labour requirements of approximately 70 Works and Engineering staff, 50 local
contractors and 60 overseas contractors.
Madam President, as work is currently ongoing for both the refurbishment program me and stabil isation programme simultaneously , the financial costs
associated are complex and not easily conveyed as
each contract, invoice and/or fee is submitted in di fferent and various ways. For example, the purchasing
equipment from a vendor may only require an initial
deposit in the first instance, while others expect full
payment; a contractor may be paid on salary, while
others are hourly . Some may even submit invoices
week -to-week , while others may submit monthly.
However, I will endeavour to provi de a detailed overview as follows:
• Contingency equipment support . That is,
equipment to support plant breakdown conti ngencies as well as project support contingen-cies. The approximate expenditure in 2021
was $700,000.
• Emergency repairs and support . This includes
economi ser repairs, superheater repairs, w aterwalls repairs, refractory repairs, third- party
inspection and refuse crane repairs. The approximate expenditure in 2021 was $3 million.
• Upgrades to equipment and systems . This includes the clinker crane replacement, bulky
waste shear overhaul, feedwater pumps replacement, boiler tubes replacement, plant UPS replacement and third-party inspections.
The approximate expenditure in 2021 was $8
million .


Bermuda Senate • Project consultants . The consultants provide
project management support, operational
support and emergency contractor support for
various ongoing issues equates approximately
to $350,000.
Madam President, these two programmes are
vital to ensure the waste that Bermuda produces is
properly disposed of. I am su re my Senate colleagues
will recall the national disruption caused by the inoperability of the Tynes Bay Waste- to-Energy Facility
and the unfortunate alternatives faced due to the circumstances in November 2021, such as landfilling at
the Marsh Folly facility. This Government will continue
to work diligently to support our previous commitment
to avoid a repeat of this practice. As the Honourable Minister said in his previous Statement, this work
when completed will see the management of the
country’s waste requirements for the next 25 years.
Madam President , as is customary, I shall
keep Senate informed of the progress. Thank you.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
The final Statement is in the name of Senator
Arianna Hodgson, Junior Minister of Finance.
Senator Hodgson, you have the floor.

ECONOMIC AND FISCAL UPDATE

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, it is an honour today to
provide an economic and fiscal update to this Honourable Chamber. This S tatement will c over the latest
report from the Fiscal Responsibility Panel, the Government’s mid- year financial performance, and the
Government’s Pre- Budget Report, which were also
tabled last week .

Fiscal Responsibility Panel Report

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam Presi dent, the
2022
Bermuda Fiscal Responsibility Panel Report [the R eport], has been published on the Ministry of Finance
section of the Bermuda Government portal
(www.gov.bm ). The Report represents the eighth annual report of the Fiscal Responsibility Panel (the
Panel), which was established in 2015 as an international independent committee to review, monitor, assess and publicly report on the fiscal progress of the
Bermuda Government.
The Panel is com posed of a team of international experts chaired by Jonathan Portes, a former
government chief economist and UK Treasury official
and now a Professor in Economics and Tax Policy at
Kings College in London. The other members of the
Panel are Marian Bell, a former external member of
the Market Policy Committee at the Bank of England
who also previously advised on fiscal matters to the
Government of Jersey; and Victoria Perry, a US tax lawyer who recently retired from the International
Monetary Fund, having spent many years providing
technical advice to countries on tax policy and rev enue administration.
Madam President, t he Fiscal Responsibility
Panel Report contains a comprehensive analysis of
Bermuda’s fiscal and economic position, its strategy
and related actions. The Panel provided their assessments, highlighted critical risks facing Bermuda
and provided recommendations for several key areas
impacting Bermuda's fiscal and economic outlook.
These include fiscal and tax strategy, expenditure policy, economic and fiscal developments, the international tax landscape, energy and climate change, the
Economic Recovery Plan, immigration, pensions and
health.
Madam President, the Panel endorsed key
aspects of the Government’s fiscal and economic
strategy including the Government’s commitment to
remain within its fiscal guardrails for the ratios of gross
and net debt to GDP. The Report commended the
adoption of a target for a budget surplus of $50 million
in 2026/ 27, in line with their previous recommendation. H owev er, as I will cover later in my Statement,
[the Report] also identified challenges in reaching that goal. The Panel also positively endorsed work being
done with regard to the Economic Recovery Plan,
substantive tax reform, immigration reform and climate
change. The Report also includes recommendations
for consideration by the Government . These include
the following concerning fiscal and tax strategy.
Madam President, with regard to fiscal strat egy, the Fiscal Responsibility Panel Report reiterates
its rec ommendation that the Government should plan
for an annual budget surplus of at least $50 million for
2026/27 and subsequent years. This is recommended
as the absolute minimum needed to make appreciable
inroads into Bermuda’s large external debt burden. The Panel reiterates that further structural increases
in revenues from taxation are required to ensure the
Government achieves this target.
Madam President, with regard to tax reform,
the Report stated, “Since its inception the Panel has
recommended fundam ental reforms aimed at broadening the tax base, increasing the progressivity of the
tax system, and increasing revenues, including taxing
individual capital income . . . [T]he Government i ntends to consult on a number of these issues in the
Pre-Budget Report, including revisiting some of the
earlier recommendations from the Tax Reform Commission . . . [The Panel recommends] that the Government commits, in the next Budget, to legislating
and implementing a set of reforms along the lines set
out above.”
Madam President, the Panel concluded its
report by saying, “The Government is addressing
many of the most serious problems facing the country,
including issues raised in our previous report. The
overall fiscal strategy set out in the 2022 Budget is
46 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate more coher ent and credible than that in prior budgets,
but further action is required to deliver it. The fallout
from the pandemic is largely behind now, though new
global problems —inflation, fuel prices, and worsening
climate change—now face the country. The Gover nment has responded with an ambitious and challeng-ing agenda: the Economic Recovery Plan, the Berm uda Health Plan, the Climate Task Force, an agenda to
reform the pension system, and the recent Ministry of
Economy and Labor report on demographic pressures. What is now required is implementation and
delivery.”
Madam President, the Fiscal Responsibility
Panel plays an important role in fiscal policymaking in Bermuda. It represents the only independent asses sment of the Government's fiscal strategy and plans,
and makes recommendations to ensure the Gover nment of Bermuda is progressing toward meeting its
fiscal targets. The independent panel, which met with
members of the Government, Opposition, trade unions, international business and local business, deli vered a broad endorsement of this Government's fiscal
and economic strategy. I take note of their call for de-livery and implementation of the promised reforms,
and this Government will continue to tackle the difficult
issues in a thoughtful fashion to ensure succ ess for
Bermuda’s future.
Madam President, I reiterate the Gover nment’s appreciation to the members of the Bermuda
Fiscal Responsibility Panel for their detailed and comprehensive review of the Bermuda Government’s f inancial position. I urge my honourable colleagues to
take note of their report and their recommendations as
we debate issues later today and during next year’s
budget session.

Government’s Mid- Year Fiscal Performance
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, following
the Government’s mid- year assessment, total revenue
is revised to be $1.1 billion, approximately $30 million above initial estimates. This increase is primarily due
to the continued economic recovery with better -thanexpected increases in tourism -related revenues, payroll tax and stamp duty. The increase in revenue has
more than offset the estimated $17.8 million loss in
revenue from the aircraft register as a result of the
Russia/Ukraine war.
Madam President, total Current Account expenditures are now projected to be $956.8 mill ion,
$11.7 million above the 2022/23 original estimate of
$945.1 million. The projected increase is primarily
driven by the Government’s economic relief package and other additional spending items, which were announced earlier this year, as a result of the previous
year’s budget performance being better than expected. Interest/guarantee management costs are
projected to be $138.3 million, $10.5 million more than
initially budgeted largely as a result of one- time costs associated with the recent government debt refinancing. It is worth noting, with the latest transactions the Government has fully refinanced its near -term external debt with more than four years until the next bond maturity in January 2027. This means that the Gov-ernment is largely protected fr om rising interest rates
in the medium term, as there is not expected to be a
need to borrow additional funds to finance Gover nment’s ongoing operations.
Madam President, Capital Account expenditures are projected to be $85 million, $12 million more
than the $73 million originally budgeted. The projected
increase is a result of the approved $7 million to fund critical refurbishments to Tynes Bay to ensure our l ocal waste disposal facility is able to function, and a
further $4.1 million to assist the Bermuda Housing
Corporation in providing additional affordable housing
for the people of Bermuda.
Madam President, the revised budget deficit
for 2022/23 is now projected to be $72 million, $2 mi llion, or 2.9 per cent, more than the original estimate of
$70 m illion. This revised projection is expected to be
achieved despite the significant economic relief pac kage to assist persons dealing with the impact of rising
global inflation, the elimination of duty for essential
goods, the freezing of fuel prices at the pump to counter the high energy costs resulting from the Russia/Ukraine conflict, the additional investments in affordable housing and infrastructure, and the afor ementioned one- time expenses due to the successful
debt refinancing. When combining the revi sed deficit
for this fiscal year and the expected deficit from the
last fiscal year, the Government’s net debt is in a
much better position than forecasted during Febr uary’s budget presentation.
Madam President, the March 31, 2022, net
debt level was $66 million lower than previously for ecasted in February’s Budget Statement. In addition, as
at March 31, 2023, net debt is now forecasted to be
$115 million lower than originally estimated in the
Budget Statement projections. Yes, Madam President, that was not a misstatement, and I will repeat it for
Honourable Senators, that the Bermuda Gover nment’s net debt is now forecast to be $115 million
lower than was projected just 10 months ago.
Madam President, time and time again, this
Government has demonstrated that it is a good steward of the public purse. Though the Opposition may focus on a few missteps, I remind the public that no
government gets it 100 per cent right 100 per cent of
the time. Madam President, even Lionel Messi can
miss a penalty every now and then. Time and time
again, this Government has demonstrated that we can
be trusted to be good stewards of the public purse.
We have delivered relief to Bermudians who are challenged with the highest global inflation seen in 40
years, we have made invest ments in affordable housing and critical infrastructure, we have successfully
refinanced our debt despite challenging market condiBermuda Senate tions and we are meeting our budget targets. Our midyear performance sets a strong foundation as we approach next year's budget.

The 2022 Pre- Budget Report

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, when we
return for the next parliamentary session in 2023, it
will be for our budget session. One of the key steps in
the budget process is the publishing of a Pre- Budget
Report. Accor dingly, the 2022 Pre- Budget Report was
tabled last week on behalf of the Ministry of Finance. As honourable colleagues will be aware, a Pre- Budget
Report [PBR] outlines the priorities for the next budget
in a medium -term framework, covering external developments and internal strategies. The Government
should be accountable for developing strategies to cope with both domestic and international turbulence,
and the strategies contemplated should be transparent and open to feedback.
Madam President, in the Pr e-Budget Report,
we have laid out the Government’s economic and fi scal policy challenges and provided fiscal policy options for public consultation while soliciting feedback
from those affected by any policy changes under consideration. Like most small states and territories, Bermuda’s economy is vulnerable to external events, underlining the need for financial and fiscal prudence.
This vulnerability is compounded by Bermuda’s continuing budget deficits and high level of government
net debt, standing at $3. 1 billion.
Madam President, accordingly, this Gover nment must take appropriate action to address the
problems the Island faces. It is also important that
stakeholders and citizens understand these challeng-es, are aware of the factors influencing the Gover nment’s fiscal policy decisions and utilise the opportunity to give their views. This will facilitate the achiev ement of the best outcome for Bermuda. Madam Pres ident, this Government has already committed to the development and implementation of a robust and pr udent fiscal and economic strategy based on fundamental principles of sound fiscal management. These
include the following:
• prudent management of financial risks;
• fiscal policies that enhance the Government’s
fiscal position and are consistent with a reasonable degree of stability and predictability; and
• policy decisions which are constructive, mai ntain the integrity of the tax system and have a
positive impact on future generations.
Madam President, actions taken in this regard
have already had a positive impact on Bermuda’s
economic and fiscal position, as previously highlighted. Our programme has been positively assessed by
key credit rating agencies, with Bermuda’s debt being
given solid credit ratings and its economic outlook being determined to be stable. The Fiscal Responsibility Panel has also commented favourably on many of the
critical initiatives that the Government is undertaking to address identified challenges and prepare for the
future. This Government remains committed to the
continued strategic implementation of a well -
considered and sound fiscal and economic plan.
Madam President, the key factors which
therefore must be considered in the framing and com-position of the 2023/24 Budget are as follows:
• the Government’s 2020 General Electi on
Campaign Platform and the 2022 Throne
Speech to ensure that the commitments made
are appropriately met;
• relevant economic considerations , whether
globally in relation to our major trading par tner, or the economic realities that exist in the Bermuda cont ext;
• taxation sensitivities —recognising that international business is a key contributor to tax revenue, consideration has to be given to the
potential competitive impact of decisions being made on this sector;
• the need for continued fiscal discipline to f urther reduce deficits on the path toward a balanced budget in fiscal year 2024/25 and ult imate reduction in debt levels;
• the requirements for continued investment
and support for the initiatives within Berm uda’s Economic Recovery Plan;
• continued effective use of zero- based budgeting and the use of public value assessment
outputs to enhance efficiency and cost -
effective utilisation of resources ;
• the appropriate evaluation of the highlighted
risks and implementation of the recommendations from the 2022 repor t of the Fiscal R esponsibility Panel, whose role and work have
already been addressed in this Statement. In
this regard, consideration will also be given to the recommendations by the 2018 Tax R eform Commission; and
• feedback from the Pre- Budget Report cons ultation.
Madam President, before providing a brief
outline of key proposals for tax reform contained in the
Pre-Budget Report, I think it is appropriate to highlight
certain key economic considerations which are rel evant in the Bermuda context. In partic ular, I would
note that global growth is projected to remain unchanged at 3.2 per cent in 2022 and to decline to
2.7 per cent in 2023. This is the weakest growth pr ofile since 2001 with the exception of the global finan-cial crisis and the recent COVID -19 pandemic.
The main factors affecting the global economy
include Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the highest global inflation in 40 years, the lingering effects of the
COVID -19 pandemic and the economic slowdown in
China. The US economy has been less affected than
most countries by the Russia/Ukraine conflict, but is
48 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate being particularly impacted by surging levels of infl ation and tightening monetary conditions, which are
expected to continue to slow spending across the
economy. Real GDP in the US is anticipated to grow
by 1.8 per cent in 2022, then 0.5 per cent in 2023 and
1.0 per cent in 2024. Notwithstanding the positive
steps being taken to stimulate growth in the Bermuda economy, as the US is Bermuda’s largest trading
partner and the source of most of the vis itors to the
Island, the United States’ economic performance will
impact the pace of Bermuda’s economic recovery.
Madam President, having given consideration
to all of the factors previously noted, specific key pr oposals are presented for consideration and feedback in the Pre- Budget Report. Madam President, these
include changes to the payroll tax framework in rel ation to both employee and employer tax rates. The proposals for changes to employee payroll taxes i nclude changes to rates to reduce payroll taxes for
lower - and middle- income workers. It is proposed to
exempt the first $48,000 of labour income for all wor kers from payroll tax. This proposed change will r emove 30 per cent of the workforce from being liable
for payroll tax while providing relief t o these workers
who are most affected by reduced purchasing power
due to high global inflation.
To compensate for lost revenue, the next
three tax bands are proposed to be adjusted upward. The result of these proposed rates will see all persons
earning under $105,000 annually paying less in payroll tax compared to the prior year.
Madam President, the Pre- Budget Report also
proposed a reduction of employer payroll tax for small
and medium -sized businesses with payrolls under $1
million, hotels, restaurants and retail stores. Further,
the Pre- Budget Report proposes the elimination of
employer payroll tax for farmers; fishermen; educ ational, sport and science institutions; and small bus inesses with an annual payroll of less than $200,000.
Madam President, additionally, in a sensitive
and considered way, proposals have been made for
limited increases in taxation, which can have a meaningful positive impact on revenues without compromi sing Bermuda’s competitive position or materially r educing spending and investment. It has been high-lighted in the report that Government does not intend
to continue with the extension of pandemic -related
payroll tax concessions, which were put in place to
assist businesses.
Madam President, we have also appropriately
taken into account the recommendations of the 2018
Tax Reform Commission, with new withholding taxes
being proposed on managed services and dividends for local companies. In addition, amendments to the
framework for company fees are included for consi deration. The report also includes a number of other
proposals that have been suggested by key business
and union stakeholders in the Bermuda community. Madam President, the Pre- Budget Report is
an important document that promotes transparency in
the budget process, rei nforces accountability and allows for effective collaboration on matters that will have a significant impact on individuals and busines ses in the community. It is hoped that feedback will be
provided to strengthen and undergird the robust approach this Gov ernment takes to economic, fiscal and
financial management.
To close, Madam President, as we have stated on many occasions, this Government is committed
to taking care of its people while ensuring that its fi scal and economic policies contribute to sustained growth and stability. Our track record has been pos itively assessed, and we remain committed to a path
that will ensure a bright future for the generations to
come.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson, Junior Minister for Finance.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

The President: There are none.

FIRST READING S OF PUBLIC BILLS

CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT (NO. 4) ACT 2022

FUELS AMENDMENT ACT 2022

DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING
AMENDMENT ACT 2022

BERMUDA EDUCATORS COUNCIL
AMEN DMENT ACT 2022

BERMUDA IMMIGRATION AND PROTECTION
AMENDMENT ACT 2022

EMPLOYMENT (MINIMUM HOURLY WAGE
ENTITLEMENT) ACT 2022

INSURANCE AMENDMENT ACT 2022

BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY
AMENDMENT (NO. 3) ACT 2022

MORGAN’S POINT COMPANY ACT 2022

The Preside nt: The following public Bills have been
received from the Honourable House of Assembly and
are now read for the first time. Their titles are, respectively: The Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 4) Act
2022; the Fuels Amendment Act 2022; the Development and Pl anning Amendment Act 2022; the Berm uda Educators Council Amendment Act 2022; the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Act


Bermuda Senate 2022; the Employment (Minimum Hourly Wage Ent itlement) Act 2022; the Insurance Amendment Act
2022; the Bermuda Monetary Author ity Amendment
(No. 3) Act 2022; the Morgan’s Point Company Act 2022.
And I remind Senators that these Bills will be
taken up on our Orders of the Day.

FIRST READING OF PRIVATE BILLS
The President: There are none.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE V ISITORS

The President: Before I do the Questions and Question Period, I would just like to acknowledge and to
welcome the Deputy Premier, Honourable Walter
Roban, the Minister of Home Affairs, in the Chamber.
I also acknowledge the Permanent Secretary
for Works & Engineering, Mr. Randy Rochester, who I
believe is in the Gallery. And we have other personnel.
[Inaudible interjection]

The President: Oh, I beg your pardon. I did not see
Minister Burch.
Minister Burch, welcome to you as well, sir.
And ot her personnel whom I will acknowledge
once I get all of their names. Welcome to you all.

QUESTION PERIOD
The President: We will first start with the first Statement that was given by —
[Inaudible interjection]

The President: Oh, I beg your pardon. All right. We
will start with the oral answers to the Parliamentary
Questions from Senator Tucker.
Senator Hodgson, I believe you are representing Senator Lindsay Simmons for the responses. You have the floor for these questions.

[Crosstalk ]

The President : All right. Senator Tucker, you have
the floor and you can ask your first question.

QUESTION 1: CO -PARENTING MEDIATION
COUNCIL
Sen. Robin Tucker: Okay. Thank you, Madam Pres ident, and good morning to everyone who is in the
Senate Chamber this morning. My first question was, Can the Junior Minister
please provide the Senate with an update on the establishment of the Co- Parenting Mediation Servic es [sic] Council as set out in section 36GA of the
Children Act 1998?
Thank you, Madam President.

The Preside nt: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident, and thank you, Senator Tucker, for the question.
On February 22, the Ministry of Social Development and Seniors, through an expression of interest, invited individual s to apply to serve on the CoParenting Mediation Council. The request was sent
out by a press release and social media, and as a r esult of the application process members have been
appointed by the Minister.
The President: Thank you.
Senator Tucker, do you have a supplementary
or a second question?
SUPPLEMENTARY
Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, Madam President, thank
you. I have a supplementary question.
Can the Junior Minister please provide the
names of the people who were appointed and their qualifications, please? Thank you, Madam President.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, the r esponse can actually be provided as the answer to
question 2. Should we move on to question 2 perhaps?

The President: Yes, if that is your preference.
You can put your sec ond question, Senator
Tucker, and she will answer the first supplementary then.

QUESTION 2: CO -PARENTING MEDIATION
COUNCIL

Sen. Robin Tucker: Okay. Thank you, Madam Pres ident. The second question was, Would the Junior
Minister please provide the Senate w ith a breakdown
of the Co- Parenting Mediation Services [sic] Council
members, including member names, qualifications, and identifying each sector the member represents?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.

Sen. Arianna H odgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I also wanted to clarify that [rather than] the
title being the Co- Parenting Mediation Services Council, it is actually the Co -Parenting Mediation Council.
50 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate As per the Act, the Co- Parenting Mediation
Council comprises s even members. But at this time,
the statutory council comprises five members. These
are the following persons:
• Ms. Alicia Russell, Chairperson, who is a
trained mediator certified in Alternative Di spute Resolution. She is representing the pr ivate sector .
• Ms. Kathy Burgess, the Deputy Chair, who is
a lawyer and a trained mediator, who specialises in family mediation, financial family mediation and domestic abuse, which includes screening for power imbalance for family m ediators. Ms. Burgess is actually also certified
in Restorative Practices and again is a repr esentative of the private sector.
• Ms. Gwendolyn Creary, who is a trained m ediator specialising in family mediation and
domestic abuse that includes screening for
power imbalance with family mediators. S he is
a licensed Master Social Worker, a limited l icensed psychologist, a trained mediator and is also trained in Restorative Practice, again
from the private sector.
• Ms. Maureen Trew, who is a public officer and
the Senior Programme Manager for the D epartment of Child and Family Services.
• Ms. Keeka Simons, who is a lawyer and
member of the Bar Council and a trained m ediator. Ms. Simons has experience as a court -
appointed special advocate who advocates for the best interests of children in the State of
Mary land. Again, she is a representative of
the private sector.
The Department of Child and Family Services
contracted Ms. Gwendolyn Creary as a service pr ovider to carry out the mediation functions of the M ediator Coordinator. Worth noting is that there were
four males who actually submitted expressions of i nterest; however, all four males were not trained as
mediators, although keen to have training, and there
were some who were actually co- parenting. In keeping with our statutory requirement, the Ministry is continuing to search for two male mediators to serve on the council.
So, if there are any male trained mediators,
we would ask that you reach out to the Ministry of S ocial Development and Seniors at 444- 2466.

The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hod gson.
Senator Tucker, do you have a supplementary
to that or [will you] move on to your third question?
SUPPLEMENTARIES
Sen. Robin Tucker: I would just like to ask a suppl ementary. I would like to know if the council is actually fully functioning now w ith the absence of the two
members.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I can confirm that they still are operating. And to date they have had approximately five meetings. At this time, they are
currently working on reviewing the regulations for m ediation practices.

The President: Yes, do you have a supplementary
or—
Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, please, Madam President.
Can the Junior Minister provide any type of
timeline that they are working toward in terms of com-pleting the review of the details? Thank you.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Senator Tucker, although I
cannot confirm an exact date, I can say that it will be
soon.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
May I move t o the third question?
The President: Yes. You may certainly do so.

QUESTION 3: CO -PARENTING MEDIATION
COUNCIL

Sen. Robin Tucker: Okay.
The third question is, Would the Junior Mini ster please provide the Senate with the names of the
individuals and/or s ervice providers hired to deliver
court -ordered family mediation services, including
their qualifications and dates of appointment? Thank you, Madam President.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
To date, two persons have actually served in
this role. Initially in 2014 there was a Ms. Miriam Sha-ya-King, who was re- assigned from her normal duties
within the Department of Child and Family Services to
provide mediation services for the department. However, she actually resigned from the departm ent in
August 2021. Subsequently, in January 2022 the D epartment of Child and Family Services contracted with Ms. Gwendolyn Creary as a service provider, and
since then she has been providing court -ordered fam ily mediation services. As noted previously, Ms . Creary
is a licensed Master Social Worker, a limited licensed
psychologist and a trained mediator. She is also
trained in Restorative Practices from the International
Institute of Restorative Practices.
The President: Senator Tucker, do you have a supplementary?


Bermuda Senate SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. Robin Tucker: I do, Madam President.
I am just hesitating now because I am not
sure if this is going to be considered a different question. But I am interested to know where the families
who need to have court mediation serv ices, what services are actually available to them? What is the role?
If I need to tie it to something else? What is sort of, if
the Junior Minister can break down for us what kind of
services these service providers are actually delivering, a general over view. Because service providers
are being hired to deliver services. I am just curious
as to if she can give some detail around specifically what it is that they are doing.

[Pause]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Senator Tucker, as per the
Act, it reads [at sectio n 36GA(5)] that “The mediation
coordinator shall, for the purposes of the Co-Parenting
Mediation Council, have the following responsibil ities—
“a) to provide information on co- parenting
mediation and the applicable process to
parents who are considering the option to
mediate;
“b) to keep statistics on how many parents
select mediation as an option when it is offered by the court, and the outcome of
the mediation sessions undertaken;
“c) to keep statistics on how many parents
apply for legal aid and the outc ome of
such applications as well as that of the
mediation sessions undertaken;
“d) to receive written complaints from parents
against registered co- parenting mediators
and present them to the Council for r eview in accordance with the disciplinary procedure set in the Regulations made
under section 36GB(3); and
“e) if requested by the Council, to monitor s elected mediation sessions to observe the
conduct of the mediator for the purpose of
maintaining the quality and operational
standards set by the Council. ”
This is actually found in the Children Act,

Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
That is your third and final question. Thank
you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Now, Senators, we will move on to the Stat ements that were given today. And we will start with the first Statement that was delivered by the Minister, the
Honourable Owen Darrell. And that is the Increased
Access to the National Sport Centre.
Would any Senator care to ask questions on
this Statement? Senator De Couto, you have t he floor.

QUESTION 1: INCREASED ACCESS TO THE
NATIONAL SPORT CENTRE

Thank you, Madam
President.
Of course, Senator Smith is not here. I know
he would love to speak to this. Certainly, we commend allowing this premiere facility providing more
access to our local athletes. Would this access i nclude the pool? That is my first question.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President,
teams that are currently using the National Sport Centre, and I did not mention in the Statement, are currently football, rugby, cricket, track, swimming and
hockey.
To answer the question, yes, swimming is part
of the national sports governing body, so the answer would be yes.

The President: Thank you.
Do you have a supplementary, Senator De
Couto, or a second question?

Would the Minister be
able to provide an estimate of the additional costs i ncurred by this and if they are included in the budget or not? Thank you.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: That is an excellent
question, Madam President, and I would invite the
Honourable Senator to read the Sports Policy, where
it does say that in order to cover these costs, the
Government will increase funding to the National Sport Centre over the next five years.

The President: Senator De Couto.

No.

The President: Would any other Senator care to ask
questions on this Statement?
Senator Robin Tucker, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: INCREASED ACCESS TO THE
NATIONAL SPORT CENTRE

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam Presi dent.
My question really is just around the fact that
the Statement read that football and cricket are Ber-muda’s national sports. So my question really relates
more so to whether there is an intent by the Ministry to
increase the promotion of those sports in high
schools. I mean, football is a big thing; obviously,
cricket is a big thing. But is there training at the high
school level to sort of, you know, create elite athletes
who would actually benefit from this aspect of the
Statement? So in terms of being able to use the facil ities and all of that, is there sort of a feeder programme
to that? Thank you.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, that
is an excellent question. And as on page 22 of the
National Sports Policy, which I also invite Senator
Tucker to read, there is a full list of over 20 national
sports governing bodies that are recognised by the
Bermuda Government. And as we have just seen in a press conference that we had two days ago, there are
increased organisations that are supporting sport in
our public schools. Most recently, we did a press conference a few days ago on an organisation that is i ncreasing cricket. And what we saw at that press conference were high school and middle school PE
teachers who actually came with some of thei r elite
athletes. So as has happened for a very long time
now, I commend our physical education teachers in
the primary schools and middle schools and high
schools who identify athletes who may be at the top of
their class and channel them into some of our national
sports governing bodies who will then take them to the
elite athlete status.
And I can go no further than one of my former
students, Mr. Dominique Mayho, who was given a bike while he was at the Berkeley Institute, by I think it
was Peter Dunn i n the Bermuda Bicycle Association (I
may have that wrong.) And anyone who follows c ycling now would know that Mr. Mayho has gone around the world and won many races locally and i nternationally as an elite athlete. So there has been no
shortage of examples of individuals who have come
through the public education system and other sy stems who have gone on to be channelled in the right direction to become national elite athletes.
The President: Thank you, Minister.
Are there any further questions?

Sen. Robi n Tucker: No, thank you, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
And thank you, Minister.
We will now move on to the Statement that
was delivered by the Junior Minister, Senator Robi nson on the Tynes Bay.
Would any Senator want to ask questions?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON THE TYNES BAY
WASTE -TO-ENERGY FACILITY
REFURBISHMENT PROGRAMME

Yes. Thank you, Madam President, and I am grateful for this opportunity to
ask questi ons, and I am grateful to the Government
for providing this detailed Statement in response to
my previously written questions. As you know, I have not had the best success with those, so I am thankful.
Going to my questions, I have taken care to
read the Statement, which was just made available to
me 45 minutes to an hour ago. So apologies if perhaps I have not quite understood all of the details in it.
But I am sure that the Government Senator will be
patient with me.
Of the $22 million, how would you br eak that
down in total between staff costs and equipment costs? And I am happy to take a rough percentage or
a rough number here. Thank you.

The President: Senator.

[Pause]

The President: Senator De Couto, there is a request
from the Minister that you ask all of your questions.

So my s econd question
would be, How would you break down that $22 million
between monies spent locally with local firms and
workers and so forth, or within the government staff,
versus spent overseas, whether it be for equipment or
for overseas consultants, speci alised knowledge
workers, things like that?


Bermuda Senate And if you will allow me, Madam President, I
may just provide my third question as well?

The President: Yes, please. They do want all questions that you have at the moment . . . well, your three.

QUESTION 3: UPDATE ON THE TYNES BAY
WASTE -TO-ENERGY FACILITY
REFURBISHMENT PROGRAMME

Thank you.
Can the Government provide an estimate of
the relativity between the per person cost for a local worker, whether they be a local contractor or the gov-ernment, versus one of the overseas workers? And
frankly, I would be happy with a, It’s more, it’s less or
it’s the same.
Thank you, Madam President. Those are my
three questions.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator —
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON THE TYNES BAY
WASTE -TO-ENERGY FACILITY
REFURBISHMENT PROGRAMME

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I quickly read through this Statement. And I
guess my initial thought is that I am just pleased that
the cash outflows will be much less than the initial es-timate was about a year ago on the initial Statement
by the Minister or Junior Minister at the time referencing $150 million. That was certainly my view, you
know, [it was] more than needed to be spent on either
a new Tynes Bay or refurbishments. So, I am pleased
that the cash outflows are much less and will be staggered over a few years. So, I guess the devil is in the
details, but just based on my initial read of it, this is
certainly a more desirable option for Bermuda than
the one about a year ago that was announced. So
those are my comments, Madam President. Thank
you.

The President: And we were seeking your question,
your specific question. Do you have a specific question?

Sen. John Wight: It was actually more of a comment
than a question. So I do not have a question.
The President: That is fine. Thank you.
We will give Senator Robinson a few minutes
to seek the answers.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: I am ready, Madam President.
The President: Certainly. Proceed, Senator Robi nson.

1Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you.
With regard to the first question, I believe it
was about staff or labour costs versus equipment.
Roughly 60 per cent is equipment and 40 per cent is
labour staff costs. With regard to the second question,
regarding overseas versus local, approximately 70 per
cent overseas and 30 per cent local. And then finally,
you mentioned about higher or lower, et cetera. Overseas expertise is normally higher.

Thank you. I certainly
appreciate that, Senator Robinson, and I appreciate
the effort put into the detail.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you.
If there are no further questions on this
Statement, we will then move on to the final S tatement that was given by Senator Arianna Hodgson,
Junior Minister of Finance. And that was on the Ec onomic and Fiscal Update.
Would any Senator care to ask a question on
this Statement?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: ECONOMIC AND FI SCAL UPDATE

Thank you.
I believe that the report stated the single
most —perhaps I am misquoting here. But basically,
the single most important problem facing Bermuda is
the size and composition of the population. I know the
Governm ent has stated that we need to grow that
population, the working population, and I think som ewhere on the order of 4,000 to 5,000 people. I wonder if the Junior Minister could provide an update on the
Government’s plans with respect to that initiative.
Thank you, Madam President.

[Pause]

The President: Senator De Couto, is that your one
and only question, or do you have additional questions?


1 See further answer at page 55
54 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Dr. Douglas De Couto: No. I will continue,
Madam President, if you desire. Yes.

The President: Well, the r equest is to . . . that was
your first question. And I would allow a supplementary
at that time.

My second question is,
given that the Fiscal Responsibility Panel Report has
a very strong recommendati on against any gover nment guarantees, and that there are currently over $1
billion of government guarantees outstanding, what is
the Government’s position on issuing any further guarantees going forward? That would be my second
question.

The President: Mm-mm.

QUESTION 3: ECONOMIC AND FISCAL UPDATE

Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor. And I
ask you to also do the same if you have more than
one question.
But your first question is?


QUESTION 1: ECONOMIC AND FISCAL UPDATE
Sen. John Wight: Madam President, can I ask that I
just refer to a couple of sentences from the Bermuda
Fiscal Responsibility Panel Report, which will lead to
why I am asking the question?

The President: Yes.
Sen. John Wight: So, Madam President, in reading
through the report, the panel references the fact that
“a relatively small deficit in 2023– 24, and by 2026– 27
the surplus would reach $86 million, well in excess of
the target of $50 million, and a welcome step toward
bringing down the debt to revenue ratio more rapidly.
We describe this as the ‘policy scenario, ’ since it is
consistent with the revenue and spending growth pr ojections incorporated in the Budget.
“But it also seems completely unrealistic, particular [sic] as regards spending. The Budget assumed that current spending only grows by 0.5% in
2023– 24 and 1.5% a year thereafter. But spending
(excluding spending directly related to covid) has risen
by about 5% per year over the last 2 years. There will be further upward pressure on spending in both the
short term, as a consequence of political pressure for
the government to provide additional support for households to deal with the cost of living crisis, and
over the medium to long term. ”
So with that, Madam President, my question
is, What will Government be doing differently in the
next several years to provide the scrutiny over spending that has not been apparent for the last two years?
Thank you, Madam President. That is my
question.
The President: Thank you. Thank you, Senator
Wight.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?
No.
Senator Hodgson, when you are ready you
can respond.

[Pause]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I am just
gathering the information here to provide responses
for all four questions posed both by Senator De Couto
and Senator Wight.
What I can say is that our approaches and our
position are generally unchanged, that we would take
a prudent approach and that we would make dec isions in the best interests of the public.
The Clerk: The microphone was not up.

The President: I am not sure . . . did you hear the
response, Senator De Couto?

Would it be correct to
say that Government has no specific plan to increase the working population to the amount that it had indicated would be required?
Thank you.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: That would, of course, not
be the answer, Senator De Couto.
[Laughter]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: In this instance you would
actually know that, I guess, the particular answer that
you ar e looking for would actually come from the Mi nistry of Economy and Labour, of which I am no longer
the representative. However, I am looking to get the
best response to your questions.

The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.

Thank you.

The President: And, Senator Hodgson, if you need
more time, would you care to do it at the end, you
know, later then?

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes. I think that would be in
the best interest of time, if you will oblige.
The President: So, Senator De Couto, if you have
any further questions, you have asked two already,
then you can ask a third if you wish or a supplementary. You have had three. Well, a supplementary.

No, I do not have any
further supplementaries. Thank you, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Fine.
Does any other Senator have questions? I
know Senator John Wight did.
Hearing [none], then the decision is that
Sena tor Hodgson will provide responses maybe at the
end of this session today.
With that said, we will move on with our agenda then.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Oh, excuse me, Madam Pres-ident.

The President: I beg your pardon. I am sorry.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: No, that is okay.

The President: Yes.

Sen. Leslie Rob inson: I just wanted to make one
clarification on the Tynes Bay Statement and just to
wrap it all up with Senator De Couto’s question. I just
wanted to make it clear that the $22 million is needed
to address the critical issues that the plant is currently
facing to maintain the operations, but that the $150
million will still be needed to be spent. So I just wanted to clarify that.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Senators, we will now move on with our
agenda then.

ORDERS OF THE DAY
The Presi dent: These are the items that may be considered under the provision of Standing Order 25.
The first is the second reading of the Customs
Tariff Amendment (No. 4) Act 2022. And that is in the
name of Senator Hodgson, Junior Minister for F inance.
Senator Hodgson, you have the floor.

STANDING ORDER 25
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the provisions of Standing Order
25 be granted so that the Senate may now proceed with the second reading of the Bills entitled the Customs Tar iff Amendment (No. 4) Act 2022, the Fuels
Amendment Act 2022, the Development and Planning
Amendment Act 2022, the Insurance Amendment Act
2022, the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment
(No. 3) Act 2022 and the Morgan’s Point Company
Act 2022.
The Preside nt: Is there any objection to that?
There is no objection.
You will move on them in turn.

[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Customs Tariff
Amendment (No. 4) Act 2022, the Fuels Amendment
Act 2022, the Development and Planning Amendment Act 2022, the Insurance Amendment Act 2022, the
Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment (No. 3) Act
2022 and the Morgan’s Point Company Act 2022 to be
read a second time on the same day as their first
reading.]

56 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes. Thank you very much,
Madam Presi dent.
I move that the Bill entitled the Customs Tariff
Amendment (No. 4) Act 2022 be now read a second
time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT (NO. 4) ACT 2022

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, honourable colleagues are
requested now to give consideration to the Bill entitled
Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 4) Act 2022 . Madam
President, this Bill proposes to amend the Customs Tariff Act 1970 (the principal Act) with the introduction
of a zero rate of duty for frozen bread imports. This
measure affects the First Schedule to the principal
Act.
Madam P resident, honourable colleagues will
recall that in October this year the Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022 amended the Customs
Tariff Act 1970 to reduce the rate of import duty to
zero per cent for 21 categories of goods. This was
done pursuant to the recommendation of the Cost of
Living Commission on an economic relief initiative for
a basket of essential commodities. Fresh and chilled
bread were amongst those essential goods affected.
Frozen bread was inadvertently omitted although the
original policy intent had been to include all bread in
this relief.
Madam President, with due consideration of
the substantial amount of frozen bread imported into
Bermuda, it is now proposed to round off the essential
basket of commodities by including frozen bread in
addition to fresh and chilled bread, thus making the
basket more complete. Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President.
We in the Opposition have no objection to this
Bill. And we are led to understand that in fact most or
a large fraction of the bread imported into Bermuda is
in fact frozen. So, we are glad for this oversight in the
Act to be corrected. And I would just take this opportunity of course to urge the listening audience to purchase locally produced bread as much as possible. But no objections. Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I fully support this initiative. Thank you.
The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.
It is over to you then, Senator Hodgson.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
And we too encourage persons to buy locally,
of course.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 4) Act 2022 be
now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended
in respect of this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill entitled the Customs Tariff
Amendment (No. 4) Act 2022 be now read a third
time.

The President: Is there any objection t o the third
reading? No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING

CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT (NO. 4) ACT 2022

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill do now pass.

The President: Is there any objection to the passing
of the Bill?
No, there are no objections.


Bermuda Senate Therefore, the Customs Tariff Amendment
(No. 4) Act 2022 is now passed.

[Motion carried: The Customs Tariff Amendment (No.
4) Act 2022 was read a third time and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senators. Thank you,
Senator Arianna Hodgson.
We will move on to the second reading of the
Fuels Amendment Act 2022.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. There is a lot on the Order Paper.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Fuels Amendment Act 2022 be now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to the second
reading of this Bill?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

FUELS AMENDMENT ACT 2022
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I rise to introduce for t he
second reading the Bill entitled the
Fuels Amendment
Act 2022 . The Bill seeks to introduce a few clarific ations to the recently passed Fuels Act 2022 to ensure
that the responsibility and authority of the Regulatory
Authority is appropriately applied to the fuels industry.
Madam President, this Bill seeks to fine- tune the pri ncipal Act before the hard work of creating regulations
begins in earnest. When the princ ipal Act was tabled
in the Senate, Senators will remember that there ensued a lively discussion around the definitions that would define to whom the Act would apply. Perhaps
most importantly, Madam President, it should be noted that this Bill demonstrates the good faith and consultation with which we will move forward as regul ations are being drafted. There was a question about
certain definitions, and this Bill answers those questions swiftly and comprehensively, as promised.
Madam President, before moving on, although
she is absent, I would like to recognise the input pr ovided by the Honourable Senator Kiernan Bell, who
identified those definitions that required further clarif ication. Madam President, the Fuels Act is meant to
apply only to those entities in the actual business of
importing and/or selling fuels. There is a need to ensure that, for example, entities like hardware stores
selling small quantities of fuels like butane for lighters
or charcoal for barbeques would be exempted from
regulation. Not making that distinction could have r esulted in an onus to retailers, but also a burden to the regulator, neither of which would be in the best interest of the industry.
Madam President, this Bill narrows the definitions to ensure that only those whose primary bus iness is the importation or sale of fuels will be regulat-ed under the Fuels Act 2022. Furthermore, this Bill
refines the very definition of “fuels” to specifically exclude renewable energy, which already has its own
regulatory regime in place to in turn ensure that no
unintended or unnecessary additional burdens are
placed on that industry. Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President.
Well, I of course am grateful to Senator Bell
for identifying the issue that has led to this amendment. We in the Opposition in general are concerned
about the nature and the process by which this Bill
was brought forward and it has caused us to now be
revisiting it the second time. And our understanding is
that in fact the relevant parts of the industry were not
even properly consulted. So in fact, we in the Oppos ition, if I recall, had a rushed briefing at the end of
Senate one day where we could hardly get a schedule
to even learn about what the objects and point of the
Bill was. We also understand that the authority is nowhere near in a position to create the relevant regul ations that this B ill would enable.
So in fact, we have rushed through the Bill
one time, with a mistake. Thankfully we are now able to correct that oversight. But to what end? There is
nothing in that Bill that can now be applied. We could
have had plenty of time. I understand that the relevant
members of the industry have been consulted once,
maybe.
In my job I work with lots of areas, and I am
sure others do, where the underlying things are in fact
. . . they are just complex in and of themselves. And
they merit a lot of scrutiny and review and consult ation. That is not a statement on any of the individuals involved in the process. That is a statement about the
underlying topic, the underlying thing that we are dealing with here, being the energy policy and the fuels
policy, themselves being legitimately complex and
requiring all of the inputs of the relevant stakeholders.
So our concern with this Bill is, you know,
there has been one oversight. What oversights might remain? It is hard for us to feel confident that ther e are
not things yet to be considered due to the lack of consultation on this Bill. Which you know at the high lev el
makes sense. But we do not know what we do not
know, Madam President. And that is what I am trying
to say, because of this Government’s r ush to impl ement this.
58 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Senator De Couto, do you have a
question on it itself then?

Yes.
So my question to Senator Hodgson would
be, How would the Government summarise the results of the consultation with industry on this Bill and the
scope of that consultation?
Thank you.
The President: Thank you.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this Bill, or comment?
Senator Hodgson is conferring, and she will
respond in due course.
[Pause]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. And some sort of thank -you to Senator De Couto for his questions.
I want to make it abundantly clear, first and
foremost, that there was consultation with the relevant
stakeholders not only beginning in 2015 and 2016, but
that conversation actually continues up until today
where we are actually working to develop the regul ations.
Again it was an error. We were able to, I
guess once again, see that the legislative process
does work, and that when members bring their skill
sets to the table, we are able to enhance the legisl ative process for all who are actually involved. I just
want to reiterate that we did consult with all retail ers,
that we have had those conversations , and that RUBiS and Sol were actually included with this consult ation process.

Thank you. I appreciate
the answer.
The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson. And
you can move the Bill t hen or at least proceed.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I just want to for the record also state that
every station owner was invited to [be a part of the] consultation. So if there is one thing the Ministry
wants to do, it is have those conversations with the relevant persons to make sure that the legislation is
as full as it can be.
With that being said, I move that the Bill ent itled the Fuels Amendment Act 2022 be now read a
second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended
in respect of this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Fuels Amendment Act 2022 be now read a third
time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.
BILL

THIRD READING

FUELS AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill do now pass.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill is passed.
[Motion carried: The Fuels Amendment Act 2022 was
read a third time and passed.]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson. And thank you, Senators.
We now move on to the third item on our O rders of the Day, and that is the s econd reading of the
Development and Planning Amendment Act 2022,
and this is in the name of Senator Simmons.
But, Senator Arianna Hodgson, I think you are
going to present this Bill?


Bermuda Senate Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes. Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President , I move that the Development and Planning Amendment Act 2022 be now read
a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING
AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I rise to introduce for the
second reading the Bill entitled the Development and
Planning Amendment Act 2022 . This Bill s eeks to
amend the Development and Planning Act 1974 to make use classes orders made by the Minister under
section 14(2)(f) subject to the negative resolution pr ocedure and to revoke the Development and Planning
(Use Classes) Order 1975.
Madam President, t he proposed amendment
to section 14 of the Act will allow for an expedited legislative process which provides the flexibility to make
new use classes orders or any future changes to such
orders where required. Madam President, this Bill will
also revoke the Development and Planning (Use
Classes) Order 1975, which was last amended in
1984 and is therefore extremely out of date as a means of classifying current typical uses of buildings.
Madam President, the new draft Development and
Planning (Use Classes) Or der 2022 intends to provide
an updated and more appropriate classification of uses of land and buildings.
The 2022 Order is not being tabled as it will
become subject to the negative resolution on the passing of this Bill. However, Honourable Senators
will be aware that the 2022 Order has been circulated
for their reference. The 2022 Order also provides
clarity and appropriate differentiation between various
types of uses and allows for certain changes of use to
be made without requiring the submission of a planning application. For example, under the 2022 Order,
a real estate office could be changed to a bank or a
doctor’s office without the need to apply for planning
permission.
Madam President, the 2022 Order also repr esents a necessary first step for fur ther future changes
to Bermuda’s planning system. One of the most not eworthy changes are the forthcoming amendments to
the Development and Planning (General Development) Order 1999, which will introduce permitted
changes of use wherein the Planning Commiss ion will
not be required to change between classes in certain limited instances. Under such provisions, a restaurant
could be changed to a shop without the need to apply
for planning permission.
Madam President, the Development and
Planning Amendment Act 2022 and associated Order
are critical to the development of future planning pol icy and the ongoing streamlining measures of the D epartment of Planning. The approval of and amend-ments to future use class orders via the negative res olution procedure is an efficiency in itself, while the
2022 Order will allow for certain changes of use to occur without the need for planning permission, which
will be further facilitated by the amendments to the
1999 Order.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Robin Tucker, you have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I think that efforts to streamline planning pr ocesses where practicable are good and that it abs olutely makes sense. But I think it is equally important
that there be a balance of the needs of the small bus iness owners that this change may benefit and the
needs of area residents who may be impacted by
such a change. No one wants to prevent small bus inesses or business owners from progressing or seeing them hindered by red tape or bureaucracy. Successful business in Bermuda is a good thing for all of
us.
But, Madam President, I do have a concern
about this change in process. My concern is that , really for some of our residential neighbourhoods, this
change in law could negatively impact residents. For
example, my understanding of this change could r esult in the neighbourhoods . . . for example, if there
was a mom -and-pop shop with relatively low foot and
vehicular traffic coming most ly from area residents, a
change in business to such a thing as a restaurant,
say, that would increase traffic, . . . you know, would
increase foot and vehicular traffic, [create] parking
issues and those types of things. So while it would be
good for business, will it be a good thing for the res idents in the area? That is a key issue that I would like
to raise here.
In addition to the concern expressed for res idents who may be impacted, [we are concerned as to
changes still being] subject to no compromises on
Planning Department internal standards, particularly
as it relates to inspections and health and safety and
the well -being of residents due to the absence of parliamentary oversight. [Besides those two points], we
absolutely support the change.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
60 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I think Senator Tuc ker expressed that very
well. So I am very much in favour of the Bill, but I think the concerns that she has raised are very valid ones
that Government should consider, going forward.
So thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Wight .

[Pause]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
In response to the questions posed by Senator Tucker and the comments by Senator Wight, I did
want to make it clear that a lot of their concerns are
actually beyond the scope of what we are dis cussing
in this legislation. Any changes in terms of vehicular
traffic or the impact of the vehicular traffic is actually
subject to consideration by Public Works. So any —
Sen. Robin Tucker: Excuse me, Madam President.
Can I just make a point of clarification?

The President: Do you accept?

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes.

The President: Go ahead, Senator Tucker.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you. Yes.
So the comment really was not to do with the
traffic, per se. You know, specifically, it was just an
example of the types of impact that a change of use
could have on an area, on area residents. A change of
use of a facility or a building or a shop onto the area
residents, just one of the things that could contribute
to issues for residents.
Thank you, Madam President.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: And still yes, Madam Pres ident. In that instance, this would be subject to consi deration by Public Works. So any approval for changes in use in that sense would be weighed by the Ministry
of Public Works.

The President: Thank you, Senator.
Hearing no other comments or questions,
Senator Hodgson, then you can carry on and move
your Bill.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes, Madam President. I move that the Bill entitled the Development
and Planning Amendment Act 2022 be now read a
second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended
in respect of this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill entitled the Development
and Planning Amendment Act 2022 be now read a
third time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING

DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING
AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill do now pass.
The P resident: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled Development and Planning Amendment Act 2022 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Development and Planning
Amendment Act 2022 was re ad a third time and
passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senators, and thank you,
Senator Arianna Hodgson, for Senator Lindsay Si mmons.
We now move on to the fourth Order of the
Day, the second reading of the Bermuda Educators
Council Amendment Act 2022. And this is in the name
of Senator, Minister Owen Darrell, spokesman for E ducation.


Bermuda Senate Minister Darrell, you can proceed.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Good morning and
thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Bermuda Educators Council Amendment Act 2022
be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

BERMUDA EDUCATORS COUNCIL
AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, this
Bill provides for committee fees to be paid to members of the Exemption Committee and to validate the
previous payment of fees to members of the Exem ption Committee. The Bermuda Educators Council Act
2002 (the Act) established that the Bermuda Educ ators Council (also known as the BEC), whose principal functions are to the registration of teachers and
paraprofessionals, improving the standards of teac hing and maintaini ng and improving standards of pr ofessional conduct of educators. The registration of teachers is a long- established practice in many other
jurisdictions but a long time in the making in Bermuda.
Prior to the introduction of the eventual implement ation of t he Act, there were no legislated educational
and training criteria required for persons to teach our
children in Bermuda’s schools.
As per the Act, not only must persons meet
criteria in order to be registered as educators, but it is also unlawful for per sons not registered by the BEC or
exempted by the Minister of Education to teach in
schools. Madam President, the BEC is a body corpo-rate, not a government authority as defined in the
Government Authorities (Fees) Act 1971. It is funded
by registration fees, but the Minister may also provide it with a grant. The Act also established the Exemption
Committee, which is a public authority because it performs a public function on behalf of the Minister in that
it advises the Minister on whether to grant exemptions
to persons to allow them to teach in schools.
As per section 5 of the Act, where there is a
need in schools in Bermuda for persons who possess knowledge of and skills in particular subjects taught at
schools, the Minister may by Order exempt a specified
person or persons falling within the specified classes
to possess such knowledge and skills in order to allow
that person or persons to teach in schools without
meeting the registration requirement of the Act. This
statutory decision- making power requires the Minister
to act on the advice of the Exemption Committee,
which consists of five members, two of whom must be registered educators nominated by the BEC. Exem ptions are given in circumstances where there is a
shortage of available registered teachers and/or
paraprofessionals for areas of teaching or support
needs in Bermuda’s schools.
Madam President, the first recorded Bermuda
Educators Council (Exemption) Order is dated 2011, where 23 persons were exempted across a range of
subjects including Englis h, motor mechanics, music,
Spanish, physical education, art, math, science and special education. Technical officers advised the Mi nister of Education of efforts put in place to decrease
the number of exemptions granted. This has helped to
ensure that, wit h very limited exception, all students
are supported by appropriately educated and trained
teachers and paraprofessionals. This has involved
putting conditions in place that require exempted per-sons to pursue and make continuous progress toward
completing teacher and paraprofessional training.
There are now teacher training programmes
offered by the Bermuda College and scholarships
provided by the Ministry of Education to assist future
qualified educators to complete their education and
become registered educators. The latest Bermuda
Educators Council (Exceptions) (2022/23 School
Year) Order 2022 provided exemptions for only seven
persons to teach for the current school year. And conditions were attached to each exemption.
Madam President, it is unfortunate that it was
only recently discovered that the fees paid to the E xemption Committee since at least 2011 were not pr ovided for by the BEC Act or the Government Author ities (Fees) Act 1971. Due to the passage of time since the first Exemption Order was passed, I can only
speculate that an assumption was made that the E xemption Committee was covered by the Government
Authorities (Fees) Act 1971. It should be noted that
these fees were paid over a number of years under various Administrations and various Ministers of Ed ucation. Madam President, this Bill seeks to ensure that
the Exemption Committee fees are covered by legisl ation. It also specifies that where before the commencement of this Bill, fees paid to members of the
Exemption Committee shall be deemed to have been
validly paid.
As various board and committee fees are paid
from the same budget cost centre, and as payments
were made for a period exceeding 10 years, the Mi nistry of Education cannot give specific amounts of
funds that have been paid. However, I can say that
there has been an Exemption Committee in place annually since 2011 consisting of five members who met
a few times per year at a cost of $50 per meeting. The
Ministry of Education budgets annually for the Exem ption Committee. Therefore, the anticipated fees for the
current fiscal year have already been budgeted.
Madam President, I hope that my fellow Senators will accept the Education Minister’s undertaking
62 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate that this was an unfortunate oversight, and he welcomes their support in rectifying thi s matter at hand.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Owen Darrell.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR

The President: And before I open the floor to questions, I would just like to acknowledge and to welcome
the Minister of Education, the Honourable Diallo R abain.
We welcome you to the Chamber.

[Bermuda Educators Council Amendment Act 2022,
second reading debate, continuing]

The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator Robin Tucker, you have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
And I thank the Minister for his update and his brief.
Full disclosure—I was a member of the Board
of the Bermuda Educators Council up until a couple of
years ago. And so I know first -hand how hard this
group works and how hard they work, for lack of a
better term, to get themselves together.
The Opposition supports the amendment and
understands the need there is to correct this oversight. I have to say that I am concerned, and I will
echo a portion of Minister Darrell Owens’s statement
when he said this error happened over multiple, or
both, Governments. So, I am not pointing fingers. But
I will say that I am particularly concerned that despite it happening under both Governments it had not been
picked up before. That causes me grave concern, particularly when one considers that payments are being
made to board members, and there is no record, there
is no checking, there is no tracking. That is hugely
problematic in my estimation.
I guess the only q uestion that I would have
aside . . . my biggest question was going to be exactly
how much money had been spent on the Exemption
Committee members. But my question then becomes, How do we, or what measures have been taken to
ensure that we have correct ed this issue? And if there
is an issue in other areas, [how do we ensure] that it is
going to be corrected in other places as well?
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.
Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President. I am very much in favour of correcting . . .
there was no intent to conduct inappropriate behaviour. It was just a simple oversight. To use the Junior
Minister’ s reference analogy earlier, even the great
Lionel Messi misses a counter kick sometimes. So I
give all Governments since that period of time a free
one on this one. So I am fully supportive. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?

Thank you, Madam
President.
I would just like to commend the Ministry of
Education for acknowledging this oversight and ensuring that it has been rectified. And I certainly would like
to commend the Exemption Committee for the work
that they do that ensures that we have the highest
quality of educators available to ensure the ongoing
instruction of our students and the continued advancement of our education system.
For the individuals who have served on this
committee over the years, as I am sure the Senator will agree, the compensation pales in comparison to
the amount of time that they have put in to ensure that
our education system progresses. So I would like to
just commend the Ministry of Education, along with
my colleagues.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Hearing no others, then Minister, it is over to
you.
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President. And I wish to thank Senator Tucker for her
comments and her service previously on this board.
And as we have seen, understandably, and I think it
was acknowledged in my brief, that yes, this is an unfortunate oversight. It has lingered far too long. And as
we also heard earlier, part of this legislative process in
Parliament, the work that we all do here is to correct
things that may not be moving exactly how they are
supposed to do and make them right. So I also commend the Minister and his team for picking this up,
making it right and giving a full and wholesome expl anation on why we are doing it and how it will impact
positively Bermuda’s youth going forward.
So with that said, Madam President, I would
like to move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in
respect of this Bill.
Sorry . . .

The President: Yes. Do the second reading first.



Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that the Bill entitled the Bermuda Educators
Council Amendment Ac t 2022 be now read a second
time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
now move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in
respect of this Bill .

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that the Bill entitled the Bermuda Educators
Council Amendment Act 2022 be now read a third
time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING

BERMUDA EDUCATORS COUNCIL
AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I
move that this Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Bermuda Educators Council Amendment Act
2022 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.
[Motion carried: The Bermuda Educators Council
Amendment Act 2022 was read a third time and
passed.]
The President: Thank you, Minister, and thank you,
Senators.
We will now move on to the next item on our
Order Paper, and this is the second reading of the
Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Act
2022, and this is in t he name of Senator Leslie Robi nson, the Junior Minister for Economy and Labour.
Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President. I move the Bill entitled the Bermuda Immigr ation and Protection Amendment Act 2022 be now read
a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

BERMUDA IMMIGRATION AND PROTECTION
AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, Senators
will recall that on November 18, 2022, via a Ministerial
Statement, the Bill entitled the Bermuda Immigration
and Protection Amendment Act 2022 , [the principal
Act] which we call BIPA, was tabled in the House of
Assembly. The purpose of the Bill was to clarify the
operation of the unrestricted period of residence of
visitors to Bermuda.
Madam President, to avoid any confusion, the
Bill assists in making clear in the Bermuda Immigr ation and Protec tion Act 1956, section 28(2), that the
“unrestricted period of residence” for visitors to Bermuda will be six months from the date the visitor lands
in Bermuda to be a cumulative maximum period of six
months in any twelve- month period from the first arr ival date within the twelve- month period. Madam President, currently a visitor can remain in Bermuda for a
maximum of 180 days.
The Bill will remove the ability for visitors to
remain in Bermuda beyond their allowed length of
stay, which we call ALOS, thereby circumventing i mmigration control. It will also remove the ability for vis itors to leave Bermuda and return the next day and start the count anew for another six -month period.
Madam President, monitoring visitors’ stays
comes under the direct remit of t he Compliance Section of the Department of Immigration, aided by the new Border Management System (which we call
BMS). The team will be able to proactively address
potential issues when visitors have reached or are
about to reach the ALOS of 180 days. With an upgrade to the BMS to accommodate calculating each
visitor’s ALOS, it is not anticipated that visitors will be
in breach of BIPA, thereby negating the need for i nvestigations or deportations.
However, if visitors have remained in Berm uda, for example, for several years, the natural justice
process will be followed before a decision to direct
them to leave Bermuda is rendered by the Minister.
Such per sons could be given limited time to settle
their affairs and leave Bermuda, and will likely be
placed on the Bermuda stop list for at least seven
years.
Thank you, Madam President.
64 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Robin Tucker, you have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
Certainly, we in the Opposition recognise the
importance of securing our borders and making sure that our visitors have a wonderful stay, but then that
stay is limited and they actually leave the Island when
they are supposed to. So we are in support of this
amendment, and so we have no objections.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I am in support of the Bill. Just the concern I
have is that this will mean that [there will be] even fewer people perhaps taking Bermuda- owned taxis,
eating at Bermuda- owned restaurants.
So, if people who would otherwise be permi tted to be here currently are now forced to leave the
Island, that just means fewer people, fewer consumers in Bermuda. So that is the only downside I [see].
But I am supportive of the Bill.

The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Hearing none, then it is over to you, Senator
Robinson.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: I move that the Bill entitled
the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment
Act 2022 be now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Leslie Robinson: I move that [Standing Order]
26 be suspended in respect of this.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 s uspended.]

Sen. Leslie Robinson: And I move that the Bill ent itled the Bermuda Immigration and Protection
Amendment Act 2022 now be read for a third time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection. BILL

THIRD READING

BERMUDA IMMIGRATION AND PROTECTION
AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Now I move that the Bill be
passed.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Bermuda Immigration and Protection
Amendment Act 2022 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Bermuda Immigration and Pr otection Amendment Act 2022 was read a third time
and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson, and
thank you, Senators.
We now move on to the sixth item on our
agenda, our Orders of the Day. And that is the second reading of the Employment (Minimum Hourly Wage
Entitlement) Act 2022. And this is also in the name of
Senator Leslie Robinson, the Junior Minister for
Economy and Labour.
Senator Robinson, you can proceed when you
are ready.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
I move the Bill entitled the Employment (Mi nimum Hourly Wage Entitlement) Act 2022 be read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

EMPLOYMENT (MINIMUM HOURLY WAGE
ENTITLEMENT) ACT 2022

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, I am
pleased to introduce the Bill entitled the Employment
(Minimum Hourly Wage Entitlement) Act 2022 , which
seeks to establish the regulatory regime around the implementation of the statutory wage scheme and
introduce enforcement provisions to support a statut ory minimum wage rate for Bermuda’s workforce. The
new statute fulfils Government’s 2020 Throne Speech commitment to take under consideration the final aspects of the wage reform in support of Bermuda’s
workers.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, as Honourable Senators
will be aware, the c ommitment to establish a minimum
hourly wage for Bermuda’s workforce has been ongoing for a number of years. Madam President, in Oct ober 2019, the Employment (Wage Commission) Act
2019 came into operation, which established a Wage
Commission tasked with inquiring into the provision of
a statutory wage scheme and recommending the Mi nister responsible for Labour a minimum hourly wage
and living wage rate. Madam President, in January
2020, the commission was presented to the Bermuda
public and began its work i n earnest. In April 2021, the
commission provided the Minister responsible for Labour with its report on a minimum hourly wage rate, which detailed its recommendations for a minimum
hourly wage rate in Bermuda.
Madam President, during their deliberations ,
members of the commission provided feedback from the various stakeholders. And it was suggested that
from a business perspective, a minimum wage of
around $15.00 per hour could be tolerable; however,
one that was around $18.00 per hour or more could
have potential negative impacts on the targeted wor kforce, as employers may reduce workers, reduce
hours or close down altogether.
Madam President, the Ministry of Economy
and Labour published a position paper in August 2022 entitled Establishing a Minimum Wage in Bermuda.
The position paper detailed, among other things, what
a minimum wage is, why there is a need in Bermuda
and the overall benefits to creating a statutory minimum hourly wage rate. The paper explains the var ious options proposed by the Wage Commission, highlights which categories of workers will be affected by
its implementation and sets out how the statutory mi nimum hourly wage rate is calculated.
On the recommendation of the Wage Commission, the Ministry of Economy and Labour has set a minim um hourly wage rate of $16.40 to come into
force on the 1
st of June 2023. The minimum hourly
wage rate is to be set at 50 per cent of the median
hourly wage, which at the time of the report of the
Wage Commission in 2021 equalled $50.75 per hour.
The minim um wage rate that will come into force on
the 1st of June 2023 will be $16.00 plus the 2022 annual average, which equates to $16.40. Additionally, Madam President, a hybrid minimum hourly wage rate
will be set for workers who receive service charges
and gr atuities, and personal care workers who pr imarily receive remuneration through commission.
These workers will have a basic wage set by their employers, and the service charges, gratuities and
annual commissions that they are entitled to will be added to their basic wages to guarantee the statutory
minimum hourly wage rate of $16.40.
Where workers’ basic wage plus service
charges, gratuities and/or commission does not
equate to the statutory minimum hourly wage rate,
their employer will make up the difference. This hybrid minimum hourly wage rate will include service char ges and gratuities, but will exclude voluntary tips.
Madam President, this Bill provides for an
employee’s entitlement to a minimum hourly wage,
which means that every person deemed an employee under this Bill, unless expressly exempt pursuant to
the Employment (Wage Commission) Act 2019, is
entitled to be remunerated by his employer at an hourly rate of pay which is not less than the hourly rate of
pay to be set by order of the Minister responsible for
Labour.
Madam President, all employees are entitled
to be paid for hours worked at the prescribed rate of pay. And the ability to ascertain whether an employer
is complying with his obligation to provide a minimum
hourly wage pursuant to the Bill is important. This Bill
provides for the retention of records by an employer to
show that the employer has [complied] or is complying
with the obligation to pay the statutory minimum hourly wage rate to his employees. Additionally, this Bill
provides for the retention of records, as I mentioned
before, and the Bill provides for an employee who has
reasonable grounds to believe that the employer has paid them at a rate which is less than the minimum
hourly wage to submit a complaint in this regard to an inspector appointed by the Minister for the purposes of the Act.
Madam President, inspections and enforc ement pursuant to the Bill are imperative to ensuring that all workers are treated fairly with respect to wages they receive, and the statutory minim um wage rate
is being paid accordingly. An inspector will have the
authority to investigate an employee’s complaint
against his employer regarding failure to pay the mi nimum hourly wage, failure to produce an employee’s
records or failure to allow an employee to exercise
their rights under the Bill.
Madam President, inspectors are an integral
part of the regulatory framework of this Bill. Inspectors have the power to require the production of relevant
documentation for inspection and examination, and
the power to enter any relevant premises for the purpose of exercising their powers. Madam President,
the Bill provides for inspectors to issue enforcement notices to employers who have failed to correctly r emunerate an employee or employees for a specific
pay period or periods. An enforcement notice may
require an employer to pay outstanding wages owed
to an employee at a rate at least equal to the minimum hourly wage.
When an inspector finds that a complaint of
non-payment of the minimum wage under the Bill i s
well founded, the Bill provides for inspectors to make
a declaration to that effect and make an award that
the employer pay the employee the difference between the wages he was paid and the minimum hourly
wage plus an additional 10 per cent of the minimum
hourly wage for each pay period that the employee
was not correctly remunerated. Additionally, Madam
66 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate President, when an inspector finds that a complaint
relating to an employer’s failure to provide some or all
of an employee’s records to said employee, or an employer’s failure to allow an employee to exercise some
or all of their rights under the Bill is well founded, the
Bill provides for inspectors to make a declaration to
that effect and make an award that the employer pay
the employee an amount not less than $500.
Madam President, the Bill provides for an appeals process against an enforcement notice issued by an inspector. Appeals will be heard by the E mployment and Labour Relations Tribunal. Additionally,
any party to an appeal may appeal the decisi on of the
Employment and Labour Relations Tribunal to the S upreme Court on any questions of law arising from its decision. Madam President, the Bill introduces a civil
penalty regime which will entail a faster, less laborious
process [to handle] breaches of the Bill. Civil penalties
for noncompliance shall be calculated at a rate equal
to twice the amount of the minimum hourly wage in
respect of the worker that the failure relates to for
each day that the failure persists.
Madam President, this new statute will have a
positive impact on Bermuda’s workforce, as every employee is entitled to receive a dignified and more
equitable wage, and employees will be remunerated
with increased fairness. The enhanced protections for
a minimum hourly wage will increase efficiency and
enhance social protection. Madam President, this new
statute will give employees the necessary protection
needed to ensure that the right to receive a minimum
hourly wage is protected and enforced and will serve its purpose for many years.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Leslie Robinson,
Junior Minister for Economy and Labour.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Robin Tucker, you have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
So, we in the Opposition agree that people
have in Bermuda––workers in Bermuda must have a
fair and reasonable wage in order to sustain themselves and to meet their basic needs. We also recognise that there are some employers who already pay
minimum wage and above. But there are also others
who seek to take advantage of their employees by
paying them low wages. And obviously, this legislation
seeks to address that very scenario, and it provides
employees with a recourse if their employer tries to
pay them lower than what would be the legal minimum
rate.
I do want to point out that workers do need to
understand that the proposed hourly rate, at $16.40
per hour, is the gross amount. And a lot of people get
confused between gross and net. So net is what you
get in your pocket, and gross is what you get before
deductions, or what is awarded before deductions are taken. So, $16.40 will be subject to deductions. And
obviously, we do not know yet what that is going to look like. But $16.40 for a lot of people is a lot better
than what they are currently experiencing. So, I do acknowledge that.
So, Madam President, I have to say that it is a
bit of . . . I am going to deviate from my notes for a
minute and just speak from my heart. The minimum wage is a bit of a c hicken- and-egg situation because,
Madam President, we have to as a country balance
the needs of people with our economy. And so paying
a minimum wage for some employers will be difficult.
And in that difficulty , they may end up having to . . .
and the Juni or Minister did speak to it. They may end
up closing their doors, which will mean people will lose their jobs. On the other hand, we need to make
sure that the economy is uprighted so that people can
be adequately supported and employers as well as
workers can be adequately supported.
It is a difficult situation, Madam President, for
any government to be in. I will acknowledge that. And as I said, Madam President, I am not an economist,
but I understand that a stable economy must work in tandem with the mi nimum wage. In some research
that I have done I have seen that there were concerns
raised by several countries when minimum wage was
first introduced that, you know, there would be job
losses and so on and so forth. And then there were
others who had repor ted that they have been quite
successful.
One of the things I think that is different for us
that I think there [should be] consideration for is that
we are hopefully almost post -pandemic. And that has
had a critical impact on businesses and workers. And so, Madam President, while I support, we support the
awarding of a minimum wage, I truly believe that we
have to be uber -vigilant about . . . and this is not a
statement saying that Government is not. I am just
saying that we have to be very, very, very di ligent
about uprighting our economy. So there has been an
economic recovery plan. There have been some hits and some misses. But what we really need to see is
more hits because the introduction of the minimum
wage, while it is a good and positive thing, [i f] presented in an environment whereby we are looking at
shops closing up, businesses are dying off, [it could
create problems]. Our visitor numbers are, you know,
improving, but we are not where we once were.
So with that, Madam President, I would just
like to say that I support a minimum wage, but I do
believe that it has to be in tandem with increasing and
improving drastically our economic position.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Would any other Senator c are to speak?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.


Bermuda Senate I would like to provide an unbalanced view —

[Laughter]
Sen. John Wight: —which is, I think, raising some of
the points which have recently been expressed. So,
as I look at this, there are certainly opportunities and
risks involved. So, the opportunities are certainly that
for those who are earning less than $16.40 an hour
and struggling to meet their financial needs for themselves and their families, this is a positive thing. So
that is the opportunity. But the risk, as has been expressed by two others before me, is to use a simple
example, if a business can only afford to pay $100 to their staff and they have 10 employees, and if all of
those 10 employees have to get a raise because of
this, then that business may only be able to have 9
employees going forward, or 8.
So, we will have to await [to see] what the
consequences are. Hopefully there will be no cons equences or unemployment. But I think it is important
to provide a balanced view that when this has happened successfully and unsuccessfully in other countries, it comes at the risk of potential unemployment.
So I will not vote against it, Madam President. It is
good for those individuals who are earni ng less than
$16.40 gross to be able to support themselves and
their families. But I think we just have to have our
eyes wide open to what those consequences are for
businesses going forward.
So, thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator John Wight.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President. I will probably be echoing a lot of my colleague’s comments.
I wanted to give some context because I have
seen Members of the Government out in the public saying things like, The One Bermuda Alliance does
not support a minimum wage. I am going to make it
super clear that this is a Member of the Government Party who has made those statements in public. And I
just want to correct that for the public. You have heard
my colleague here, I think quite clearly. And Senator
Wight noted that it is a tough topic.
There are pluses and minuses, and people
can have different perspectives. If you are a small business owner, you may legitimately think, I would
love to pay my employees more. I would love to hire
that fifth employee. I just can’t. That is math. That is
not a value statement. It is just how the things work
out. And in our caucus, you know, we had a robust
debate about this because we have a broad range of
people in our caucus, from labourers to corporate
types like myself and small business owners. So, we really cover the ground. So just to be super clear, we
certainly support this concept. Who coul d not?
I think I would like to see this concept go a
little further. We heard a little bit from Senator Robi nson about the tips and the wages and gratuities. In some jurisdictions, in fact, there are regulations pr otecting those tips for the workers that state who
should receive what. And again, one of these things,
we might say 80 per cent of the establishments on this
Island do the right thing by their employees. You
know, if you go in there and you have a lunch or a drink and you say, Hey, they gave me good service.
I’ll put an extra dollar or two. And if I am feeling really
good today, maybe I put an extra five dollars. It is not
clear that this goes to the workers. And I think there is
some work that could be done here that would ensure
that when a cus tomer believes that they are providing
a tip, a gratuity, servicing that is the direct result of the
quality of the work by the worker, that this is protected
and there is certainty about where that goes. So that
is something I would like to see in the fut ure that
would address this.
And Senator Wight talked about what I would
call the law of unintended consequences. So, it is a
little tricky for us to say what this will do. And I did
read some of the prior legislation, and I believe that
. . . Let me just go to the 2019 Act [at section 10(3)]:
“In making its recommendations, the Commission
shall specifically state the eff ect . . . on—
(a) the economy of Bermuda as a whole;
(b) the competitiveness of the economy of Bermuda . . .”
And I would put it to you, Madam Pr esident,
that I have read the reports that are available, and I
would submit that they do not provide this information,
which I think is pretty critical for us to say much concrete about this other than the moral statement that it
is a good idea. While people can say, Well, you know,
Senator De Couto, let’s just get on with it. And when it
comes to putting things in black and white, that is
where these things are going into legislation and regulations, and we are here to get into the nitty -gritty.
As we hav e gone through earlier today, it is
hard for us to draw conclusions. You know, my ques-tions would be, for example, how many people would
be impacted by this legislation? So how many people
would expect to get a raise? An additional question
would be, How m any businesses would be impacted
by this? And a third question would be, What would
the economic impact be on those businesses?
So that would outline some of my concerns,
which is not to take away from the general agreement
in this. But I believe there is some further work and
information that could be provided around it.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator Dill, you have the floor.

68 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Rev. Dr. Emilygail A. Dill: Thank you, Madam
President.
I would just like to take the time this afternoon
to commend the Ministry of Finance and this Gover nment for their courage to introduce and implement a
minimum wage policy for Bermuda. I also want to uplift the efforts of this Government to ensure that each
member of this community not only survives but
thrives. And that their continued efforts are evident as
we continue to see policy that is being implemented,
and certainly the report that was made by the Fiscal
Responsibility Panel that basically endorses and cel ebrates t he achievement that this Government has
made and certainly has put in recommendations on
ways that we can continue as a community to ensure
that the least of these are taken care of.
So I just want to thank the Junior Minister for
presenting [this Bill] t oday and certainly my colleagues, who have certainly shared both the challenges and the opportunity that this legislation repr esents. But it is our prayer that as we go forward, we
will see it proves to be positive for this community and that we continue t o advance and ensure that all are
taken care of.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Emily Dill.
So, it is over to you then, Senator Robinson.
Sen. Leslie Robinson: Madam President, I just want
to provide a couple of quick res ponses to what the
Opposition has raised. First of all, it is correct, it is
$16.40, and it is subject to deductions. That is correct.
Also the Wage Commission will be responsible for
evaluating the facts of the implementation of a mini-mum wage on business es and the economy. The
Wage Commission is tasked with providing a report
on the minimum wage every three years, and through
robust consultation all of these aspects will be consi dered. And that is in response to the two Senators in
the Opposition.
Also, the Minister is considering amendments
to the Employment Act 2000 as it relates to the regulation of tips, gratuities and service charges within
those businesses that accept the same.
Finally, the position paper entitled Establis hing a Minimum Wage in Ber muda speaks to the var ious industries and general numbers that will be affected by the implementation of a statutory minimum
wage rate. So I would encourage Senators to go back
and read that. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson. You
can now move your Bill.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thanks.
I now move that the Bill entitled Employment
(Minimum Hourly Wage Entitlement) Act 2022 now be read a second time. The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STA NDING ORDER 26

Sen. Leslie Robinson: And I also move that [Standing Order] section 26 be suspended.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]
Sen. Leslie Robinson: I now move that the Bill ent itled the Employment (Minimum Hourly Wage Entitl ement) Act 2022 be now read for the third reading.

The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.

[Pause]

BILL

THIRD READING

EMPLOYMENT (MINIMUM HOURLY WAGE
ENTITLEMENT) ACT 2022

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Yes. I move that the Bill now
be passed.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Employment (Minimum Hourly Wage Entitl ement) Act 2022 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.
[Motion carried: The Employment (Minimum Hourly
Wage Entitlement) Act 2022 was read a third time and
passed.]
The President: Thank you, Senators.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President,
could we possibly move to Or der No. 8 before we
break for lunch? As we have some technical officers here. I do not anticipate it will be very long.

The President: Hold on a second.

[Crosstalk ]

The President: Senators, as the Minister has r equested, we will now move on to Order No. 8.
Senator Arianna Hodgson, the Junior Minister
for Finance, you have the floor.


Bermuda Senate Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment (No. 3)
Act 2022 be now read a s econd time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY
AMENDMENT (NO. 3) ACT 2022

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, the purpose of the Bill ent itled the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment
(No. 3) Act 2022 is to amend the Bermuda Monetary
Authority Act 1969 [the Act] to provide for the follow-ing:
• to enhance and to update the classification of securities that comprise specified securities
under the Act;
• to update matters related to the external r eserves of the Authority;
• to make provision for annual fees payable by
persons registered under the Investment
Business Act 2003 as Class A and Class B registered persons; and
• to correct fees related to persons who are
permitted to carry on the business of mai ntaining the custody of private keys under the
Digital Asset Business Act 2018.
Madam President, the Bermuda Monetary A uthority is the independent regulator of the financial
services sector in Bermuda. The Authority operates
pursuant to the Act, which provides it with a number of
principal objects, including supervision, regulation and inspection of financial institutions operating in or from
within Bermuda.
Madam President, section 11 of the Act grants
the Authority the power to provide and issue currency
notes and coins in Bermuda. The Senate is advised
that for every Bermuda dollar, denominated note and
coin the Authority issues to the public through banks,
the Authority receives the face value of such in US
dollars. As a consequence, the Authority recognises
the liability in its balance sheet —that is, the value of
notes and coins in circulation. The US dollars received from the issuance of currency, notes and coins are
invested and form part of the external reserves which
support the notes and coins in circulation liability.
Madam President, section 19 requires the A uthority to maintain a reserve of external assets which shall be in value not less than an amount equivalent to 50 per cent of the total liabilities of the Authority in
relation to the face value of currency notes in circul ation. The Senate is advised that as a matter of prac-tice, the Authority has been keeping a reserve of external assets above 100 per cent for the past five
years. Madam President, the external reserves of the Authority may be held in the following:
a) gold;
b) notes or coin or bank balances in Bermuda;
c) balances of money at call in overs eas banks ;
d) treasury bills maturing within 184 days issued
by a foreign government whose currency is
freely convertible;
e) specified securities for balances with Crown
Agents pursuant to section 19 of the Act.
Madam President, the external reserve r equirement ensures that the Authority maintains suff icient liquidity in case of significant currency redem ption due to various factors such as economic crisis or
the Bermuda dollar losing its value. Madam President,
the Authority, acting on the advice of the Bermuda
Monetary Authority Investment Committee, has r equested that the types of investments which may be
invested in by the Authority should be updated to ensure that the Authority has the flexibility to meet the
requirements of the Act in a challenging global ec onomic environment. As part of this exercise the A uthority has further determined that the Act should be updated to mirror the approved securities provision
set out under sections 4(5) of the Public Funds Act
1954.
Madam President, key highlights of the
amendments are as follows: The Authority intends to
establish that it may hold a local reserve in addition to
an external reserve. The purpose of this amendment is to remove any doubt as to whether the Authority
may hold local reserves, given that the Authority is
currently committed to hold reserves of notes and coin
or bank balances in Bermuda in any freely convertible
currency. The requirement to maintain reserves with
Crown Agents will be repealed. The Authority has not
held funds with Crown Agents for m any years, and
there is no likelihood of this occurring in the future. Section 24 of the Act prohibits the Authority from purchasing shares with any company, including the
shares of any banking company. It is proposed to r epeal this provision to remove any inconsistencies noted within the Act which currently permit the Authority to invest in quoted securities without limitation. A
“quoted security” is defined to mean securities, including debentures and fully paid shares.
Madam President, the Senate is advi sed that
as a practical matter, the Authority’s current inves tment guidelines preclude the Authority from investing
in shares of any company. Madam President, the
group of specified securities the Authority may invest
in will be updated to mirror certain aspects of the Public Funds Act 1954. The list of specified securities will
70 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate be expanded to include, but is not limited to, the following:
• mutual funds;
• futures contracts;
• private placements;
• asset -backed securities; and
• mortgage- backed securities.
Madam P resident, the investment business
framework was amended earlier this year to provide for two new classes of registrants in addition to l icensed persons: Class A and Class B registered persons. Class A registered persons are persons formed
or incorporated i n Bermuda to carry on investment
business and are licensed, registered or authorised in
another jurisdiction by a recognised regulator, but do
not maintain a place of business in Bermuda; while
Class B registered persons are persons or classes of
persons s pecified by the Minister of Finance as eligible to be registered based on the services they pr ovide on an exclusive basis to persons with financial
means and knowledge of investments including high
income, high net worth, sophisticated private investors and investment funds, or fewer than 20 persons,
where investment services are not provided to the
public. Madam President, presently all investment
providers are required to pay annual fees to the A uthority based on the type of investment activity which
they provide to their respective clients. These fees are
listed in the Fourth Schedule of the Act.
Madam President, during the 2021 consult ation process, it was acknowledged by the Authority that the fees payable by a standard or test licence
holder were not appropriate for registered persons,
given the differing levels of regulatory oversight r equired in respect of a licence holder and a registered
person. During the consultation period, the Authority
advised that an annual fee proportionate to regulatory
oversight for registered persons would be determined
and communicated at a later date.
Madam President, based on further analysis
that has now been conducted on this issue, the A uthority has determined that an annual fee of $850 is appropriate, given the natur e and scale of supervisory
oversight warranted for registered persons. Accor dingly, the Authority is proposing to amend the Fourth
Schedule to reflect this annual fee for both classes of
registered persons. Madam President, the Fourth
Schedule to the Act w ill also be amended to clarify the
amendments made earlier in 2022 under the heading
Digital Asset Business Act 2018 so as to ensure that
all fees previously consulted on by the Authority are
correctly referenced.
Madam President, I wish to express my si ncere thanks to the Authority, the Ministry of Finance
technical team and the Ministry of Legal Affairs for
their assistance with the development of this Bill.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson. ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESI DENT

SENATE VISITORS

The President: And before I open the floor, I would
just like to acknowledge the presence of technical officers from the Ministry and the Authority.
Welcome to you both.
[Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment (No. 3) Act
2022, second reading debate, continuing]
The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President.
I will acknowledge this is a relatively technical
Bill and, of cours e, would in general defer to the expertise of the BMA [Bermuda Monetary Authority] and
their goals in carrying out their mission and so forth.
But I do have a couple of specific questions that I hope could just be explained a little bit for us.
I notice t hat, as the Senator said, this is expanding the universe of assets that the reserves can
be invested in, and two things did stick out in my
mind. They can now invest in a business of size of
$50 million equity, reduced from what was previously
$100 million. And I believe they have now also taken
on the capability to invest in deri vatives. And I know
the Senator . . . and just bear with me. My question
will be . . . to just kind of explain the thinking behind it.
But I want to just give some context as to my concerns, and that will perhaps help them provide the
more focussed explanation.
I know the Senator said that this was to bring
these investment guidelines in line with other gover nment investment guidelines. But I would perhaps put it
out there that the guidelines for investing the reserves
for the currency are perhaps [or] might be subject to
more stringent controls than the general guidelines.
And given that this $100 million equity number is perhaps even an older number . . . you know, as things
inflate and companies get bigger, I am not sure why
we would want to be investing in small companies or taking on derivatives which can generally be quite
risky. And of course, in the hand of the right professional, they are tools to be used. But there could be
reasons why they were not included in the guidelines
in the first place, so this makes sense. Things like
mortgage- backed securities.
So perhaps if we could get some colour and
some commentary on it. If there were specific plans that the BMA had in mind or how they are thinking
about those issues.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.


Bermuda Senate Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I may not have fully understood this Bill, and if
I have not, then I am sure the Junior Minister can clarify it for me. But when I read through this, it appeared as though the Authority now has the ability to
purchase shares of any company including the shares
of a company that they would have responsibility for,
any company that is incorporated in Bermuda. So I
guess my question is, Did I interpret that correctly?
And with the BMA having such a wonderful reputation globally, why would we want to adopt a Bill that pr ovides even the inkling of a possible conflict of interest
if the BMA is now permitted to invest in a company
that they oversee and have responsibility for in Bermuda?
So, thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.

[Pause]
The President: Senators, Senator Hodgson is conferring with the technical officers, and she will respond
as soon as she is ready.

[Pause]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, the short
answer would be that the purpose of this legislation i s
to open the general provisions, except in those cases where the entities are of course regulated by the BMA. It is also worth noting that the BMA has an i nvestment, an internal investment committee that pr ovides additional internal investment guidelines that, you know, set the framework for how the BMA operates. And of course, in the same case as the deriv atives that were mentioned by the Senators, these bits
are subject to the investment guidelines that are pr oduced by the investment committee.

The Pres ident: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
Senator Wight, you have a follow -up?
Sen. John Wight: A follow -up. It is just that I am not
sure that [response] answers my question in terms of
a potential conflict of interest. If the BMA is permitted
to invest in a r egulated company, why is that a good
thing for Bermuda? If I have misunderstood that, then
I am hoping for an education.

The President: Senator Hodgson.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: No. So, they will not be able
to invest in entities that are regulated by thems elves. Sen. John Wight: Thank you. I appreciate the clarif ication.

The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson. Now you can move the Bill. Thank you.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment (No. 3)
Act 2022 be now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I move that [S tanding Order] 26 be suspended in
respect of this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill entitled the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022 be read
a third time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading? No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING

BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY
AMENDMENT (NO. 3) ACT 2022
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I move that the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment
(No. 3) Act 2022 do now pass.
Is there any objection?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Bermuda Monetary Authority
Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022 was read a third time
and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senators.
Do you want to move—
72 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I do
now move that we break for lunch unti l 2:00 pm.

The President: Thank you, Minister.
Senators, we will break for lunch and return at
2:00 pm. Thank you.

Proceedings suspended at 12:43 pm

Proceedings resumed at 1:59 pm

The President: Good afternoon Senators and listening audience. The Senate is resuming with our Orders
of the Day. I trust , Senators , that you all enjoyed your
lunch and are ready to resume our Orders of the Day.
At this time we will have the second reading of
Insurance Amendment Act 2022. That is in the name
of Senator Arianna Hodgson, the Junior Minister of
Finance.
Senator Hodgson, when you are ready you
can start.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITORS

The President: And j ust before you do, though, I
would just like to acknowledge the technical officers
from the BMA that are back with us. I welcome Mr.
George Alayon, [Jr.] and Ms. Elizabeth Copeland.

The President: Senator Hodgson, y ou can resume.

Sen. Adrianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Insurance Amendment Act 2022 be now read a
second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

INSURANCE AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. Adrianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I am pleased to present the Bill ent itled the Insurance Amendment Act 2022 to the Senate this afternoon. The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Insurance Act 1978 to primarily provide for the follow ing:
• To provide for a new class of innovative i nsurers for the long- term insurance business
sector together with the relevant fees. • To further specify that insurance marketplace
providers are within the scope of the functions
and powers of the Authority
• To further enhance the regulatory framework
for innovative insurers and innovative intermediaries.
• To streamline the regulatory framework for
dual licensed insurers.
Madam President , Bermuda’s financial service sector is subject to the regulation and supervi sion
of the Bermuda Monetary Authority. The Authority was
established in 1969 under the Bermuda Monetary A uthority Act 1969. The Insurance Act 1978 provides the
Authority with substantive licensing, supervision and
intervention powers to regulate the insur ance industry
in Bermuda.
Madam President, the licensing and superv isory process is prescribed by law and supplemented by subsidiary legislation and guidance notes. These
detail the classes of licence based on the nature of
the business and related risks, reporting requir ements, statutory financial statement filings, and vetting of controller shareholders, amongst other aspects.
Madam President, the Authority is authorised
to act as advisor to the Minister of Finance on policy
matters related to any financi al institution. Accordingly, the Authority proposes laws where it can do so appropriately and consistently with its functions under
the Bermuda Monetary Act 1969. It can also respond
to an invitation to do so from international standardsetting bodies, as well as other countries.
Madam President, in furtherance of the
aforementioned, the Senate would be aware that the Authority is a member of the International Association
of Insurance Supervisors [IAIS]. Presently, the managing director serves as a member of the IAIS Exec utive Committee, while other senior mem bers of the
Authority serve as Chairs and Vice Chairs of several subcommittees, including, but not limited to the following:
• the Macroprudential Committee;
• the Insurance Capital Standard and Comparability Task Force;
• the Policy Development Committee;
• the Implementation Assessment Committee;
• the Coordination Group;
• the Climate Risk Steering Group;
• the Distinguished Fellows Task Force;
• the FinTech Forum; and
• the Operational Resilience Task Force.
Madam Pr esident, by way of background, the
Senate is advised that the IAIS is a voluntary membership organisation of insurance supervisors and regulators from around the globe. Established in 1994, the IAIS is a primary international standard- setting
body responsi ble for developing and assisting in the
implementation of supervisory material for insurance supervision.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, the Senate will recall that
the BMA launched the Insurance Innovative Fram ework (the Framework) in 2019. The Framework comprises two components: an innovative hub and a regulatory sandbox.
Madam President, the regulatory sandbox allows innovative insurers and innovative intermediaries
to be licensed for a limited time period in a controlled
environment. Successful applicants can be reclassified either as a full insurer or as an insurance
intermediary at the end of the relevant time period.
Madam President, the innovative hub permits
other companies to discuss their ideas with the A uthority’s innovative working group. In those cases
where a proposal has not been fully developed, at the
end of the discussion process, successful applicants
are able to offer their products to the insurance sector
or apply for a sandbox licence or a full licence.
Madam President, key highlights of the
amendm ents are as follows. Madam President , the
introduction of a Class IILT is in response to the A uthority’s experience with the regulatory sandbox and
innovative hub applicants since inception. Based upon
this experience, the Authority proposes to introduce a
new innovative class for innovative insurers within the
long- term business sector. Madam President, the
Senate is advised that persons who carry on business
as general insurers in an innovative manner are permitted to obtain a sandbox licence, and a post sandbox licence. Presently a company that wishes to carry
on long- term insurance business in an innovative
manner may obtain an insurance sandbox licence.
However, the Senate is advised that there is no post
sandbox licensing framework for the long- term in novative sector, which is similar to the Class IIGB sandbox
licence for general insurers.
Madam President, in order to promote consistency of terminology and to further enhance the innovative insurance sector, it is proposed to amend
the Act to enact a pos t sandbox licence to permit longterm insurers to continue to carry on business in an
innovative manner after the exit of the sandbox.
Madam President, Class IILT insurers will be
subject to many of the same supervisory requirements
as those insurers in ot her classes, as follows:
• reporting and statutory financial filings and
auditing requirements;
• requirement to file a declaration of compl iance;
• requirements to appoint and improve actuary
to opine on the adequacy of the relevant i nsurers long- term insurance reserves on an
annual basis;
• requirements to meet head office requir ements in accordance with proportionality upon
consideration of the insurer’s nature, scope
and complexity of business model;
• requirements to meet risk -based capital r equirements; • requirements to comply with all sanction
measures and anti -money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations applicable to
them.
Madam President, where it is determined upon application that a company applying to be a Class
IILT insurer also performs any activities supervised by
the Authority under the digital asset business and digital asset insurance frameworks, the company shall
also be required to apply for the appropriate digital
licence registration. In cases of this kind, the Authority
will adopt a consolidated supervisory approach to ensure a holistic view of the business risks and to have
an effective and efficient application of the respective
regulatory frameworks.
Madam President, housekeeping amendments are required to fix the scope of the Authority’s
oversight of innovative insurers and innovative intermediaries. This will include, but is not limited to matters relating to revocation or variation of an exem ption, exclusion from statutory financial statements and
removal of the requirement for C lass ILT to appoint an
actuary. Madam President, it is advised that the
housekeeping changes set up above covering matters
related to innovative insurers and innovative interm ediaries were the result of the Authority’s oversight of
the sandbox framework.
Madam President, section 2 of the [principal]
Act covers matters related to the Functions of the A uthority. Presently, section 2 covers persons carrying
on insurance business, “insurance managers,” “br okers,” “agents” and “salesmen.” It is proposed to expand the scope of this provision to include insurance
marketplace providers as a housekeeping matter in
line with the introduction of this class in 2019.
Madam President, the Senate is reminded
that an insurance marketplace is defined in the Act to mean “a pl atform, of any type, established for the purpose of buying, selling or trading contracts of insurance.” An insurance marketplace provider is defined
to mean “a person carrying on the business of an i nsurance marketplace.” To date, the Authority has l icensed two insurance marketplace providers. One is
operating within the insurance sandbox and the other
one as a fully licensed insurance marketplace provi der.
Madam President, section 24 of the [principal]
Act requires insurers carrying on long- term business
and general business to maintain separate accounts
for each line of business. Where an insurer proposes
to transfer assets from its long- term business fund to
its general business fund, the insurer is required to
determine and confirm if it would be able to maintain
enhanced capital requirements and minimum solvency margins following the transfer.
Madam President, similarly, where an insurer
proposes to transfer assets from its general business
to its long- term business fund, they are required to
determine and confirm that they meet the applicable
74 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate enhanced capital requirements, its minimum margin of
solvency and liquidity ratios, with respect to its general
business following the transfer.
Madam President, as a part of the Authority’s
ongoing review to ensure that the legislative requir ements are relevant and effective, it is proposed that
references to the enhanced capital requirement [ECR]
be removed from the current wording of section 24, as
the ECR is for commercial insurers and is determined
based on the consolidated economic balance sheet,
making it impossible to compute an unconsolidated
ECR based solely on either the insurer’s general
business or long- term business books.
Madam President, nonetheless, it is proposed
to amend section 24 of the Act to mak e it mandatory
for the relevant insurer to seek the permission of the
Authority and also demonstrate that the relevant r equirements cited above have also been met.
Madam President, this change as proposed
will allow the Authority to satisfy itself that pol icyhol ders will not be exposed to any unexpected solvency,
market or liquidity risk as a result of the transfer based
on a holistic v iew of the company's solvency and l iquidity positions.
Madam President, it is proposed to amend the
Act to establish fees f or new Class IILT insurer s,
based on the total assets as follows:

Registration fees for Class IILT where total
assets do not exceed the following:
Do not exceed $150 million $25,000
Ones that exceed $150 million, but
do not exceed $350 million $28,000
Those that exceed $350 million,
but do not exceed $2 billion $31,000
Those that exceed $2 billion, but
do not exceed $5 billion $61,000
Those that exceed $5 billion, but
do not exceed $10 billion $65,000
Those that exceed $10 billion $100,000

Madam President , the Senate is advised that
the annual fees are identical to the registration fees
and the amendment as set out in Schedule 2 of this
Bill.
Madam President, Schedule 1 of the Bill
makes consequential amendments to the Insurance Accounts Regulations 1980. As previously stated,
Schedule 2 of the Bill makes consequential amendments to the Bermuda Monetary Authority Act 1969 to
provide registration and annual fees to the new Class
IILT insurers based on total assets.
Madam President, the Senate is advised that
the consultation process commenced in December
2021 and concluded in May 2022. Reference is made
to the consultation paper entitled “ Legislative E nhancements to Innovative Class es, Introduction Innovative Long- Term Insurer Class and Enhancement s to
Section 24 Dual -Licensed Insurers to Maintain Sepa-rate Accounts.” The Authority has advised that there were no material objections to the proposals.
Madam President, the Authority “envisions
that market developments over the next decade will lead to the convergence of insurance, capital markets,
artificial intelligence and distributed leger technology
. . . both with and without the use of digital assets.”
The Authority’s experience in running both the
regulatory sandbox and innovative hub since its intr oduction in 2018 solidifies this view. The current pool of
companies under the sandbox and innovative hub have business models that use applied technologies
ranging from smart contracts, decentralised finance,
blockchain and decentralised ledger technology, artif icial intelligence and machine learning systems, as
well as the use of oracles and parametric insurance
that offer unique solutions to century -old problems in
the insurance and financial service industry.
Madam President, the insurance capacity for
digital asset businesses is still currently scarce, both from the PNC and long- term sector. As more jurisdi ctions introduce a robust regulatory framework for digital asset businesses, similar to the digital asset bus iness and the digital asset issuance f ramework, and as
the overall digital asset business sector matures, i ntroducing Class IILT could be a growth area for insurance indemnity coverage for the long- term sector as it
is envisioned to complement the Class IIGB offering
on the PNC sector. The Aut hority is in the process of
reviewing the licensing application of a crypto life i nsurer requesting a full IILT licence. But as the licence
does not yet exist in the Act, the Authority will place
them in the sandbox class in the interim as a Class
ILT insurer.
Madam President, a floor amendment was
approved by the House of Assembly on 9 December 2022. The Senate is advised that the floor amendment
affects clause 40 of the Bill; it is proposed to delete
clause 40 of the Bill. The relevant position of the Act
has not concluded the consultation process.
Madam President, as per the Authority’s normal sector custom and practice, the Senate is advised
that these amendments represent a collaborative effort between the Authority and various industry stak eholders.
I would like to thank all those persons within
the Authority, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Ministry of Finance, and the private sector who have
assisted with the development of this Bill.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senat or Arianna Hodgson.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President. This must truly be our Christmas session,

B ermuda Senate given the large number of highly exotic Bills from the
BMA. So, thank you for that.
We clearly want to encourage the right kinds
of businesses to come to Bermuda, and I will not use
the words “take advantage of,” because I do not think that provides the right sense, but work together with
our world- class regulator, the BMA, especially as we
face things like the global taxation issues. If there are
businesses that will stay here, it will be because of
things like, obviously, the human capital and the good
weather, and the beaches, [and] primarily the BMA, which is one of our greatest strengths for business.
I am getting nervous, Madam President,
around things like digital assets. And I know I have talked about this before. I am struggling to understand
what I would call the risk/reward relationship on engaging in these things. For those who follow the finan-cial press, you will have seen this company, FTX,
which went to The Bahamas. And there was a big to
do about how the Bahamian regulations were som ething that was good for FTX, and it has blown back on
The Bahamas.
Now, I am not in the least saying that the
BMA’s regulations are anything like the Bahamian regulations. In fact, I have looked at what I believe
would have been . . . and again, I am not a lawyer, but
I have looked into the BMA regulations. And my u nderstanding is that they would have prevented some of things that, in fact, the head of the FTX company has now been arrested by American authorities for.
So, where am I going with this? I am trying to
understand what the practical kinds of things are that we would see being done to take advantage of this
addition to the BMA’s arsenal of tools and regulations.
Are they the kinds of businesses that we want Berm uda to be associated with? Will they truly bring value to
Bermuda? Or are they going to be these speculative
cryptocurrency -type things that have led jurisdictions,
like the Bahamas, into, frankly, terrible press in the
world.
So I guess . . . let me sum it up. My question
would be, Can it be explained to us the real business that would be done by a company that would take advantage of this regulation? Thank you. Like, one ex-ample would suffice. Thank you, very much.
The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.
Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I just want to include that I am in favour of
this B ill. I s upport i t. So, thank y ou, M adam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.
We are now awaiting the Junior Minister who
is conferring with the technical officers. [
Pause]
Sen. Adrianna Hodgson: Again, I like to give short
answers where appropriate.
In this instance, we do have a separate and
very comprehensive digital asset business legislation
that actually provides, I guess, a credible framework
for the digital asset sector to be regulated. And so be-cause of that existence in tandem with the Insurance
Act that exists, we are able to ensure that issues that
have happened with FTX will not happen in our juri sdiction.
[
Pause]
Sen. Adrianna Hodgson: Further to my response
provided, we are not able to provide [an example of] a company, per se, that would be able to benefit from
this legislation. This legislation provides the avenue for persons in the insurance industry to actuall y explore all of the opportunities within that space.
I think it is also worth noting that FTX is not a
regulated entity. And so if they were here registered in Bermuda, there would have been a different outcome
on all sides. Right? So I hope that satisfi es the questions from the Opposition.
In light of that, I move that the Bill entitled the
Insurance Amendment Act 2022 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objections.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen
. Adrianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect to this Bill.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objections.
[
Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]
Sen. Adrianna H odgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I move that the Bill entitled the Insurance
Amendment Act 2022 be now read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.
BILL
THIRD READING
INSURANCE AMENDMENT ACT 2022
76 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Adrianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I move that the Bill do now pass.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Insurance Amendment Act 2022 to do now
pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill has passed.
Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson. And
thank you to the technical officers who have taken the
time to be here with us.

[Motion carried: The Insurance Amendment Act 2022
was read a third time and passed.]

The President: Senators this now mov es us to the
final Order of the Day, the second reading of the Morgan’s Point Company Act 2022. And this is also in the
name of Senator Arianna Hodgson, the Junior Mini ster for Finance.
Senator Hodgson, when you are ready you
can resume.
And I would just like to say thank you to Mrs.
Cheryl Lister for meeting with the Senators this noon to answer some questions. I think that was very beneficial. I just would like to say that prior to Senator
Hodgson speaking.
Thank you.
Sen. Adrianna Hodgson: Madam President, I move
that the Morgan’s Point Company Act 2022 be now
read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

MORGAN’S POINT COMPANY ACT 2022

Sen. Adrianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, in my capacity as Senator,
and on behalf of the Minister of Public Works, I now
move that the Bill entitled the Morgan’s Point Company Act 2 022 be read for the second time.
Madam President, the purpose of this Bill is to
facilitate the incorporation of a company under the
Companies Act 1981 to be owned by the Bermuda
Government and which will be used to acquire land
assets at Morgan’s Point. Madam President, the
broad history of the Morgan’s Point Project was i ncluded in the Statement provided earlier today. How-ever, I think that certain points should be highlighted
given the significant impact that this project has had
on the country’s debt levels. Madam President, this previously little- known
expanse of privately owned land in Warwick, called Southlands, became a rallying point of environmental
objections when three Bermudians purchased it and
outlined plans to transform that site into a hotel. I nstead, Bermuda’s Base Lands were contemplated as
a preferred location.
In April 2011, the land at Southlands was
swapped for the land at Morgan’s Point. That agree-ment set out the terms and conditions of the swap and
has been discussed as part of an Act of the Legisl ature to enshrine the permissions and the rights over
the land to the benefit of the developers. Madam
President, at that time the proposed development at
Morgan’s Point included an 80- room boutique hotel
with 313 additional residences, and a 325- room luxury
hotel with 337 additional residences. Madam Pres ident, it is unfortunate that the financial viability of this
project had, however, been in question for at least the
last six years of its operation, and we would all later
learn that t he lending in support of its development
was not grounded in financial viability, but instead on
a $165 million Bermuda Government guarantee. Thus, Madam President, the Bermuda Government,
as guarantor of the various tranches of loans, is and
has been the largest creditor of the project.
Madam President, you will recall that the
Bermuda Government paid approximately $168 mi llion to acquire the loans and then later paid $11 mi llion to acquire the claims held by Bermudian subcontractors who had been left unpaid by the failure of the
project. Madam President, on the basis of those
claims an application was made to the Supreme Court
of Bermuda on the 23
rd of March 2020 which sought to
appoint joint provisional liquidators, otherwise known
as JPLs, over the insolvent entities holding various
parcels of land at Morgan’s Point. That application
was successful, and JPLs were formally appointed on the 26th of March 2020.
Madam President, from the time the insolvent
companies have been in the hands of JPLs, it is the
JPLs who have been responsible for seeking ways to
monetise those assets while concurrently undertaking
various maintenance works at the site. Madam Pres ident, this work was essential to protect the assets so
they can be used to satisfy the claims of the Bermuda
Government as the sole secured creditor and majority
unsecured creditor in due course. Madam President,
from the time the JPLs were appointed until now, they
have also been charged with seeking monetary value that can be used to satisfy creditors. As the largest
creditor, any plan proposed would have to have the
agreement of the Government of Bermuda for it to be
successfully approved.
Madam President, over the course of two- plus
years, no bids have been received by the JPLs that would materially or substantially address the amounts
outstanding on the loans, or any value that can be
seen as meaningful on behalf of the people of Berm uBermuda Senate da. Madam President, the time has therefore come for
the assets contained in the insolvent estate to be
transferred to the ownership of the Bermuda Gover nment. We no longer need to incur the costs of utilising liquidators to progress this project, and the establis hment of this company will allow for the transfer to be
effected.
Madam President, that will be effected by t he
creation of the Morgan’s Point Company by way of this process, which we used to bid on the assets from
the JPLs exchanging some portion of the claims owed
to the Bermuda Government for the assets held in the
insolvent estate. This is done by the way of what is
known as a credit bid. Madam President, the credit bid
will see some portion of the claim assigned to this
purchase and cancelled in exchange for land assets
held in the estate. Madam President, those assets will
be placed into the company created by this Act and
will then become the direct responsibility of the Bermuda Government.
Madam President, the Act facilitates the appointment of a board of directors to be made up of market professionals and public officers with direct
oversight of the assets. Madam President, the board
of directors will be charged with the design and exec ution of the plans for the completion of certain aspects
of the project and, importantly, at all times under the
direct supervision of the responsible Minister, the
Cabinet, and this Honourable House.
Madam President, the goals for this undertaking are clear. The intention is to take ownership of the assets, provide appropriate governance, undertake design and review to determine the best use for the
assets and then to exec ute on that plan so as to put
the assets to work and regain value on behalf of the
people of Bermuda.
Madam President, you will not be surprised to
learn that much of the work giving options to the Ber-muda Government have already been undertaken and
when in final form will be presented to this Honourable
House. Madam President, at this stage, however,
what is being done is a preliminary step establishing a
corporate body and, in due course, an effective governance so that the work on regaining value for the
people of Bermuda can begin.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill? Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President. I think conceptually we can all agree that
we need to find a way forward on this project. And we
would welcome that.
What would be interesting to know . . . I guess
we may have to wait, based on the Senator’s stat ement as to what is envisioned up there, how it will work with the Government, would the Government be
providing guarantees again? Would the Government be providing concessions again? These are hot topics
that I think the people of Bermuda would like to know.
As we know, there are some outstanding projects that
are not progressing, which have been provided guarantees and concessions by this Government.
So, I think I did ask the question earlier
[about] what the Government’s position on guarantees going forward is, so I wonder if the Junior Minister
would be able to answer that in the context of this.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
As you mentioned, it was very helpful to have
FS [Financial Secretary] Lister here to provide some
clarification on this Bill . Something that certainly, when
I read it, I could not quite understand what the benefits
were of adopting a new board in that we, in effect
Government, have been attempting to sell this property for several years, but through the liquidators that
were brought in to represent the creditors. I understand now that it is actually more cost -effective going
forward to have the Government administer it and find
a buyer than it would have been through the continu-ance of liquidators.
And now, as I understand it, the shareholders
will effectively be the Government through the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Public Work s. So, the
clarification that I was looking for was provided to me
by FS Lister , so I appreciate her involvement to further
educate us on this matter.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam Presi dent, just to
clarify . . . Senator De Couto was hoping for some
clarity around the future plans or . . . what was the
exact question? Sorry.

The President: Senator De Couto, do you want to
clarify your question or your comment?

Yes, Madam President.
While I appreciate that we have been promised a description of the plans in the future, and I can apprec iate that it may not be suitable to get into more detail
now, as much as we would like to know, I wonder if
we could have an understanding of the Government’s
view of the “use of things” such as guarantees and
concessions in this project through this vehicle.
Thank you.

78 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Arianna Hodgson: What I can say, Madam
President, is that, as indicated in our Statement, they
are current ly looking at what the best use for the assets would actually be. This Government’s priority is just maximising value for the Bermudian public. And
so, with regaining value on behalf of the people at the
forefront, we would do all we can to maximise again
this opportunity. I hope this answers . . . and I will be
sure to bring back the fullness of the plan as soon as
it has been approved by Cabinet and takes the appr opriate steps through the channels.
The President: [We] appreciate that response, Senator Arianna Hodgson. So, you can proceed with moving your Bill.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. And again, thank you to the FS for her explanation and just commentary around this situation. It has helped my own understanding of why this is so important to move this project forward.
So, I move that the Bill entitled Morgan’s Point
Company Act 2022 be now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Arianna Hodg son: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in
respect of this Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I move that the Bill entitled the Morgan’s Point
Company Act 2022 be now read a third time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING

MORGAN’S POINT COMPANY ACT 2022
Sen. Arianna H odgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I move that the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Morgan’s Point Company Act 2022 do now
pass.
Is there any objection to that motion? No objection.
The Bill has passed.
Thank you, Senator Hodgson, and thank you
all Senators.
[Motion carried: The Morgan’s Point Company Act
2022 was read a third time and passed.]

The President: That completes our agenda for the
Orders of the Day. We will now move on.

MOTIONS

The Presiden t: There are none.

CONGRATULATORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES
The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this?
Senator Emily Dill, you have the floor.

Thank you Madam
President.
I would like to take this opportunit y to just
congratulate . . . it has been really beautiful this season, as we begin to emerge from the COVID -19 pandemic, to see all of the different schools and organis ations, Sunday Schools, whatever, the different Chris tmas programmes. But in particular I would like to congratulate the United Dance Productions under the direction of Ms. Suzette Harvey for their soulful Chris tmas presentation. Last weekend they had a recital
which included students from their school from age 6
up. And we would just like to congratulate her on the
work that she continues to do with the youth in our
community.
I would also like to take this opportunity to
congratulate Mr. Dale Butler and the Atlantic Publis hing House who last weekend held an event called “ Up
Front” which gav e the community an opportunity to
interact with Rev. Dr. Kingsley Tweed who was one of
the individuals who was quite instrumental in the Theatre Boycott which took place in 1959. In fact, he was
one of the persons who very fearlessly vocalised the
intent of the individuals who were speaking out against segregation in Bermuda. So, we want to congratulate Mr. Dale Butler and his team. It was quite
interesting to hear Rev. Tweed as well as to be intr oduced to his music prowess because he is quite a
great piani st, and he sang, and it was a wonderful
evening.
I would also like to congratulate the Anglican
Church of Bermuda which reached a significant mil estone this past weekend. They ordained three deacons at the cathedral. This ordination came at the end
of a three- year study process where they have intr oduced the Anglican Theological Institute in conjunction


Bermuda Senate with Saint Mellitus [College]. And there were three
individuals who were ordained at that time: Reverend
Wendell Dill was ordained as an assistant priest at St.
John; Reverend Lorita Packwood for St. Paul in P aget; and Reverend Jennie Foster -Skelton will assist at
the cathedral. What was very historic about the ordi-nation was that this was the first time in the history of
the Anglican Church in Bermuda that females were
ordained. So, we would like to express our congratul ations to all [those ordained] and certainly we will be praying for their success as they assist in the respective parishes.
On a sad note, I would like to share my condolences to the famil y of Mr. Keni Outerbridge, a former student of mine who was killed last weekend in
the Ord Road area. I remember fondly Keni who had a
pleasant teddy bear -type personality. And he had an
extremely keen mind and a very strong work ethic at
the time that I k new him. And this was exemplified in
his performance in the work study opportunities that
he engaged in with our community partners. I remember him as a young middle schooler. And certainly we
are deeply saddened to hear of his passing and we
pray that his family will be comforted by the support
and love of the Bermuda community and pleasant memories of his life and short sojourn here on earth.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
Congratulatory and Obituary speeches?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President.
I would like to associate myself with the comments and the condolences for Mr. Outerbridge’s
family and friends.
It being the end of the year I would like to further extend my condolences to the family and friends of all those who have been murdered or killed this
year. I believe the number is nine. I know that this is
heavy on all of us.
I would also like to extend my condolences to
the family and friends who have perished in traffic au-tomobile accidents. Those have also been too numerous to mention.
On the upside I would just like to extend
Christmas greetings to everybody in Bermuda, to the Senate, to everyone in the pol itical parties, and to
everyone who has been working hard in Bermuda to
make this festive season a success. Again, I would
like to associate myself with [Senator] Rev. [Dr.] Dill’s comments on that. I think it has been . . . so far the
season is looking gr eat.
So, thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak? Senator Tucker, you have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to associate myself with Senator
Rev. Dr. Emilygail Dill’s [comments] as well as my
Senate colleague, Senator [Dr.] Doug De Couto’s
[comments] in extending condolences to the families
of all of the people whom they have mentioned.
I also would like to extend condolences to the
family of t he young person who passed away last
night in a road traffic accident on Hog Bay Level .
And also I would like to broaden just a little bit
to remember the families of those who have passed
away this year. And certainly we are entering into a
season that wi ll undoubtedly be very difficult for them
not having their loved one with them. So, I do just
want to extend to those who are listening to us that we
are thinking of them. They are in our prayers and they
have not been forgotten.
I would just like to do one point of congratul ations. It actually happened at the end of November, but this is our first real time that we have been able to
get together and I have remembered to actually say it—to say congratulations to St. Philip [AME] Church
on their Women’s Day event at the end of November.
They invited me to attend. I actually am thinking that
somebody really thinks I need to go to church because I have gotten a bunch of invitations. And I am
happy to say I have attended them all. Every time I
have been invited I have shown up. I really did have a
wonderful time at each of the places. And I did say
that St. Philip’s really is the . . . the . . . what is the . . .
the friendly church on the sound. They absolutely are.
I had a fantastic time with them. So thank you, Madam
President.
Also, in closing, I do want to again join with
the Senator Doug [De Couto] and extend a very Merry Christmas and a happy, restful, peaceful New Year to
everyone.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to extend condolences to the fam ily of both husband and wife, Ken Egbert [Dunbar] Outerbridge and Marguerite Jacqueline Marie Outerbridge, husband and wife both passed away within
days of each other. And of course the family had to
have a double funeral at Bailey’s Bay Cricket Club.
They were both stalwart persons in the Hamilton Parish community and the Bailey’s Bay Cricket Club
community. And in particular, Mrs. Jacqueline Outerbridge was a stalwart member of St. John AME
Church, president of the lay organisation for a period
of time. I know working with her in the lay organisation
she loved her church. She loved the Lord. So, I am
80 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate extending sympathies to the entire family because
they had to bury mother, father, grandfather and
grandmother all in the same day.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson, it is
very sad.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Minister.

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, as many would know, I am
relatively new to this role which I hold as Minister of
Youth, Culture and Sport. And sometimes we go through our day -to-day duties and we think that everyone who surrounds us is simply doing a job and they
do not need to be congratulated for the good work that
they do. I am going to take a different approach this
morning and in my congratulatory speech I am going
to congratulate some of the Members of the depar tments who work in the Ministry of Youth, Culture and
Sport. And I want to start with the Director of Culture,
Ms. Kim Dismont -Robinson, who basically heeded my
request and my call to get out in the community and
experience some of the cultural events that I may not
normally or regularly do. People would know that I do
like sports and I get to a lot of sporting events. But I
wanted to get out and see some of the cultural events
that may not be as popular on the surface.
So, I want to start by congratulating the Chair
(who is actually sitting here today) of the Bermuda National Museum, as well as the Executive Director, Ms. Elena Strong. I got invited up to an exhibit by Ms.
Meredith Andrews a couple of weeks ago and it was
called “Homestead.” And I have been up there a few
times and, you know, you take your children up to the
Bermuda National Museum and you focus on the view
from the Commissioner’s House and I was very, very
happy to be invited to this exhibit by Ms. Andrews.
And I have committed to Ms. Strong that I will be going back.
And I want to say congratulations for the work
that they are doing up there to feature a lot of the
Bermuda artists, and there have been a few others
over the years and there will be more. So, I want to
say congratulations to [them].
Also, congratulations to the Director of the
Bermuda National Gallery Mr. Gary Phi llips, and his
staff, along with the Director, Mr. Peter Lapsley, and
also Ms. Eve Godet [Thomas]. I had the opportunity to
go there and see the Bermuda [Nat ional Galley] biennial exhibit and I was blown away by the exhibits that I
did see there. I want to encourage more people to go to the Bermuda National Gallery (it is right there in
Hamilton) and see some of the work, especially many
people who I know had exhibits, former students, acquaintances who had their exhibits there. And I want
to say congratulations for the work that they are doing
out there. Also, I cannot go without congratulating Ms.
Suzette Harvey. In my household she is now known
as Aunt Suzie as my daughter does dance for United
Dance Pr oductions. And they had their “A Soulful
Christmas.” Again, in their 30
th anniversary of bringing
dance across this country. Unfortunately, I was not
able to attend; however, I have seen by all accounts
that it was an excellent show and everyone would
know the type of work that she puts on.
Also, in some of the other departments, the
Director of the Department of Youth, Sport and Rec-reation, Ms. [K.] Charryse Bean, of leading her team
and assisting me in putting on an amazing series of
events. One started the other night, Zone- In Youth
Forum event, where we simply go to the youth in the
different community centres and sit down and listen to
what they have to say and hear directly from the youth
of this country. S o congratulations to Ms. Nadine Henry and the staff over there for assisting and putting on
these events. And I am happy to go and meet directly with these . . . as well as the members of the Sports
Department, as well as the Islands who have taken
great j oy in showing me around these different departments and all that this Ministry has to offer.
So, congratulations to my entire Ministry and
the departments as well as our stakeholders. You
know, we had our “ Eggnog Dialogue.” We went out
and saw the cultural stakeholders of Bermuda and
that was organised by Ms. Carlita Lodge. So, I am very happy and very pleased with the work that this
Ministry and the departments are doing and we cannot wait to showcase more. And I want to say congratulations to all the work that they are doing for that
Ministry.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
It seems that everyone has spoken so I will
just make a comment, and that is that I want to ass ociate myself with the comments that have been made
by Rev. Dr. Emily Dill. As an Anglican myself I was
very pleased with the ordinations that we were certainly seeing at the cathedral. Reverend Wendell Dill
and Lorita . . . (I am forgetting their names) but I know
there were three—and Jennie [Foster -Skelton]. So I
would just like to associate myself with that achiev ement by the Anglican Church because I think that is
great for Bermuda.
I would also like to associate myself with all
the other comments that have been made. I think as
Senators you have identified all the issues with regard
to the deaths on the road and people who . . . families
who are suffering, have suffered this year either through murders or deaths in their own family, and I
am also not lost on that because of deaths in my own
family . But I just want to thank you all for having those
expressions of condolences to all families which have
lost a loved one during this year, for whatever reason,
either on the road or through murders, and it has just


Bermuda Senate been a very difficult year even with CO VID-19. So, I
thank each one of you for acknowledging that you associate yourselves with the stress and the concerns
that have beset families in Bermuda. So, thank you for
your comments. I just associate myself with them all.
Also, I want to associate my self with the congratulations that the Minister Owen Darrell has expressed for all the various departments. And some of
these people who head up these departments I know
personally and they have done a stellar job in spite
of––and I just want to associate myself with his co mments.
With that said, we will now move on. I hand it
over to the Minister.

ADJOURNMENT

Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
I do ask that this Senate do now adjourn until
Wednesday, February 8, [2023].

The Presi dent: Thank you for that.
Would any Senator care to speak on the m otion to adjourn?
I see Senator Emily Dill. Yes, Dr. Dill, you
want to speak on the motion to adjourn? You have the floor.

ADDRESSING THE ILLS OF BERMUDA

Thank you, Madam
President.
In my earlier comments, I shared [information]
regarding the ordination of the first females in the A nglican Church in the Island of Bermuda. In the ordina-tion sermon, Bishop Nicholas Dill referenced the fact
that when he had shared regarding this historic event
in the life of the Anglican Church in Bermuda, that the
person who he was speaking to was quite shocked
because their sister Anglican communions in the Caribbean had passed this milestone over 30 years ago.
And upon reflection I would have to agree that in the
midst of celebration we have to gravely admit that in
our idyllic Island home, in some ways, we are signif icantly behind our counterparts in other parts of the
world.
I recently began to read the book Held Ca ptive: A History of International Reinsurance Industry in
Bermuda which was written by Catherine Duffy. And
actually, in an interview that was held with Ms. Duffy,
they talked about the fact that when the idea of intr oducing the international insurance indust ry in Berm uda was first touted, the individual said, We are going
to create a Switzerland of the Atlantic. And in just . . . I
said l et’s see what is going on in Switzerland and if we
have indeed achieved that goal.
Sadly, while we have in many ways mirrored
the progress in terms of the establishment of the i n-ternational insurance industry that, at this time, Swi tzerland is known to be the happiest country in the
world. And some of the things that make it the happiest country in the world is that the gap between the
top 10 per cent and the bottom 10 per cent of salary
earners has shrunk significantly over the years. They
have extremely low crime levels. They have universal
health care. And the international business community, in addition to providing jobs and contributing to the
economy in terms of real estate, et cetera, has also
made a concerted effort to ensure that they also contribute to the public purse in a way that individuals
who live in Switzerland can enjoy a good quality of
life, that each indiv idual can enjoy a good quality of
life.
So, as we embark on this Christmas holiday
season . . . I can remember maybe 25 years ago or so
when one of the issues that was raised in the comm unity was the fact . . . you know, at that time we were
struggling and there were many people who had gone away and studied, and they were not included on the
payrolls of the international business community. And
also, the international business community at that time was not contributing to scholarships to our students.
I can remember with a group of high school
students we, in partnership with Bermuda Broadcas ting, had a telethon. We did a survey out in the community and we talked about the ways in which if they
contributed more to this community we could help to
address some of the ills that we were experiencing at
that time, you know, the economic disparity that exis ted.
There were those who said to me at that time,
Oh, don’t broach that. They will never do that. They are already contributing. They have to pay high rent.
They are creating lower -level jobs. But when those
conversations were had, what ended up happening
some 25- plus years later, now we see scholarships
coming, we see Bermudians being elevated to pos itions of leadership and being able to actually work in the areas that they are trained in.
So we are now in a position where we have
seen the global inflation rate, the highest rate of infl ation in over 40 years. We have just come through a pandemic and there are needs in our community that
remain to be address ed. And we will need the help of
everyone in order to get to where we need to be as a
community so that we can minimise the divide between the haves and the have- nots so that we can be
able to implement the solutions that are needed in
order to be able to address the needs that are in this
community.
So, I once again say in this season of good
will . . . and I heard one of our former Premiers say
that one of the challenges that we have in this community today is that we do not adhere to the 10 commandments, and in particular the commandment to
love your neighbour as you love yourself. So as we
embark on this Christmas season, as we prepare for
82 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate another year, it is my prayer that each and every individual who is a part of this community, that every
leader in every industry seriously consider what are
the ways in which we need to change and in which we
need to contribute to this community that we too can
be on the list where the residents are some of the
happiest in the world.
And with that I say to each and ev ery one of
you that I wish you all a very, very Merry Christmas. I thank our legislators. I thank our civil servants. And
we wish the entire Bermuda community a very, very
Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New
Year for all.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn? Senator Tucker, you have the floor.

HOLIDAY CONCERNS AND GREETINGS

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I will be brief. I did just want to, again, remind
everybody about the holidays. The holidays bring lots
of merriment, a lot of fun, relaxation, socialising and
the like. But the holidays also bring drinking, drinking
and driving. With drinking comes, sometimes, acc idents and the lik e. It also is a time that is very stres sful for some people. And so I want us to remember that aspect as well, just about the stress. Some people experience anxiety because of the holidays. Some people get overwhelmed by it. Some people get overwhelmed by the fact that they do not have as much as
other people who will be celebrating, and all of that. So I want us to remember that.
Also, with merriment comes . . . and the other
things that I mentioned like drinking, is domestic vi olence. And we need to rem ember that this is often a
by-product when we are entering into these holiday
periods. Not only domestic violence, but also sexual abuse. So, you know, as people are partying and
hanging out with each other and socialising and stuff
sometimes children are caught in aspects of sexual
abuse at some of these events, or people being at
houses and that type of thing. So I want to encourage
parents, please, please, please keep an eye on your
children. Because, again, this holiday season som etimes is a perfect storm.
Then also, we have the aspect of general vi olence that takes place, again, drinking and partying
and so on and so forth. So, I want to encourage us as
we are going into this holiday season to go in inten-tionally so we know that sometimes people get i n accidents when they have been drinking. Make a concerted effort to say, you know what? I am going to be
out drinking, I am going to have a designated driver.
Be intentional about it. None of us . . . anyone . . . any
Government Senator, legislator, anyone . . . none of us want to be here when we resume and say we are
giving condolences to [families of] people who have passed away over the Christmas holidays. So, we
want to encourage people to do that; encourage people to take care of themselves. Again, road traffic ac-cidents, murders, these types of things we already
know these things escalate during the holidays. So,
let’s get ahead of it and be intentional about how we
conduct ourselves.
With that said, I would also want to point out
that we have a lot to be grateful for. For those of us
who are here who are in Bermuda, that have made it
through the whole COVID -19 experience, we have a
tremendous amount to be grateful for. But I also want
to point out, again . . . and we have said it over the
years that we have been going through COVID -19, we
wanted to thank all of the healthcare workers and all of that, but this is probably going to be the first time in
quite some time that they are not inundated with having to deal with COVID -19 experiences. I recognis e
that COVID -19 is still out there, but it is nowhere on
the scale that it has been in prior years. And so my prayer is that all of those workers who were sorely impacted over the last couple of years that this year
will be a time where they are able to ex hale and sit
and relax and enjoy their families and enjoy the hol iday season.
The last thing I do want to say is that I would
encourage us to do what we do best. We have had a
difficult . . . on the other hand, aside from COVID -19,
we have had a difficult time. There has been . . . and I
am talking about from the political standpoint. But I want to encourage us as a collective to remember that
we are Bermudians first and encourage us to do what
we do naturally which is that we take care of each
other. We encourage each other; we disagree som etimes. But we encourage each other and we are there
for each other.
So, with that I again want to say, as Senator
Dill did and everybody else, and I said it already, but I encourage everyone and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. And if you do not celebrate Christmas, I
wish you a great relaxing and peaceful holiday, and
also a great New Year.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak at this
time? Minister Owen Darrell, you have the floor.

REFLECTION, RECOVERY AND LOOKING AHEAD
Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President,
thank you.
As we are in this final session before we
break for the Christmas break, I want to take this opportunity to first and foremost reflect on where we
were just one year ago. One year ago, when many


Bermuda Senate individuals thought that COVID -19 was coming to an
end, I think we were inundated with the Omicron var iant, and it may have manifested its way in in unique
ways where people did not think it was that bad, but it
took us into 2022 in a pretty rough state. And when
we got to that point many people felt, Well, are we
going back to where we were in 2020? Many people
did not know if this was ever going to end. Many people were wondering, Well, how many more family
members or friends do I have to lose to this?
There was a time that we used to come to this
place and in other places, Madam President, where
there was not a week that went by that we did not
have to have a different publi c health emergency or
we were not putting different policies in place and
people were even getting frustrated with the Gover nment health workers and calling us dictators because
they felt restricted.
Well, Madam President, with the onset of this
coronavirus and as that came to an end in the early part of this year, we actually saw ourselves faced with
other problems which anybody who saw it coming
would have known what was coming and that is the
economic effects of people being laid off or not being
able to go to work or not being able to bring in the
type of returns that they may have been getting pre
COVID -19. And I am proud to be a part of this Pr ogressive Labour Party Government that actually had
the foresight to see some of these problems that were
going to come. And in the COVID -19 relief that was
put in place by the Government and other relaxation
of certain rules which helped people to kind of ease some of the . . . not only hurt that they were feeling
socially, but a lot of the economic pains.
We wo uld have seen earlier this year the i ntroduction of the Economic Recovery Plan and some
of the relief that the Government was able to get in
place for our citizens. And as we look back on that,
and I am not taking us down a too political road, but
we can s ee that those types of fixes have caused us
to have a year that we saw things getting back to
normalcy. We were able to go to County Games this
year, as we have in the past. We were able to have a
full and vibrant Cup Match celebration holiday up at
the Somerset Cricket Club. United Dance Productions, to use them as an example, were able to showcase the talent on this Island that we may not have
been able to see in person for the last two and a half
years.
And Madam President, I can say that Berm uda most definitely is a resilient group of individuals.
And, as Senator Tucker did point out, there are some
people who will still have personal pain and personal struggles getting through this holiday season. But I
think if we all look back on what we have all been able
to do collectively, whether you have red pom -poms,
whether you have green pom -poms, whether you
come from the western end of the Island, the east or central. You know, we all even politically have had our own disagreements maybe inside of our own c aucus
meetings that we have had to come through.
And as we move to this time of year it is really, really refreshing as I have been able to go to the
community clubs and, you know, be reminded of what the Christmas time and the Christmas spirit in Berm uda looks like. It has been many years since Harrington
Workman’s Club can show off their new club at Christmas time. I mean, I was asked a couple of
weeks ago to write down my children’s names for a
youth Christmas party so they can come. And those
are the ty pes of things that my son, who is six, would
not remember ever doing before. He would not r emember going to a Christmas celebration where Santa comes and gives gifts because three years ago he
was way too young to remember that.
So, as Senator Tucker prepares, I am sure, a
wonderful feast with her seven grandkids (I wonder if I will get an invite), and as Senator De Couto prepares
his celebrations with his family and all of my colleagues as well, as they go into this holiday season
. . . we saw one Senator had her daughter here this
morning and you could just tell she was glowing knowing that it is only a matter of time before Christmas
gifts come under the tree. And I just want to say that
all of this comes from the collaboration of us as legi slators. And k eeping in mind why we do what we do.
And keeping in mind who we are to serve and what is reminded to me many times is that we do this and it is
servant leadership. And I just want to congratulate all
of us in this Chamber and all of the Members of the
Legislature who sit in another place and say thank you
for all that you do for the people of this community.
And as we move into this holiday season, I
would like to wish each and every one of us a happy holiday season. If you do celebrate Christmas, Merry
Christmas. Take some time, relax, renew, rejuvenate
and come back in the New Year with a new energy, or
the continued energy to continue working for the people of this country.
Thank you, Madam President.

GRATITUDE EXPRESSED
FOR PARLIAMENTARY STAFF
The President: Thank you.
I would just like to follow on from Minister Darrell has said and to thank all Senators for the work, the work that you have done throughout, but partic ularly since reconvening, I really appreciate all that you
have done to continue the business of the Parliament.
I would like to thank particularly also the parliamentary staff who work tirelessly past the time that they spend
here with us. And they ensure that we function and
that we work well. And I really want to let them know
that we appreciate all that they do to help us to
achieve our work. So thank you to the parliamentary
staff.

84 14 December 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate [Desk thumping]

HOLIDAY CONCERNS AND GREETINGS

The President: And I want to also wish each and ev ery one of you a very, very happy, festive Christmas
and New Year celebration. And I think that each one
of us who have spoken on the motion to adjourn r eminded us that there are people who are hurting. But
at the same time we need to do what we can in the
area in which we function to help one another, to su pport one another, support families.
I think, Senator Tucker, when you spoke
about what happens, as a health professional who has worked in the hospital and in mental health, I
have seen it all insofar as what can happen when
people let their guard down and when they drink and
do whatever. And we are all aware because we read
the papers and we listen to the radio. So we want to
wish everyone out there in Bermuda a very enjoyable
happy Christmas with their families but also remember
the reason for the season.
So, I wish you all to have a wonderful, wonderful Christmas and New Year. And I look forward to seeing you all in the New Year.
So, with that, Senate is adjourned until Febr uary 8, [2023]. Thank you.

[At 3 :15 pm, the Senate stood adjourned until
10:00 am, Wednesday, 8 February 2023.]