November 21, 2022

Madam President, if
anything, I would suggest that the public interest
would be even more so by understanding the extent to which the Government was able to answer these questions and what their answers were, given that this
highly promoted and oft -mentioned Government initi ative seems to have fizzled out! And I think one of our
duties here —
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, point
of order.
The President: Yes. Minister, wha t is your point of
order?

POINT OF ORDER
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: [The Senator] is going
into a full -out speech, Madam President. And I have
simply asked that the questions, due to [them being]
4 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate no-longer -relevant at this time, be deferred or revised
to come back at a later time.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Senator De Couto, . . . with the issue
. . . I think we are all aware that there is a matter relating to the source of these questions. So I am agreeing with the Minister that the matt er be deferred to a later
time when such answers can be given.

Thank you, Madam
President. I would disagree that they are not relevant.
But I will certainly follow your lead, Madam President.
Thank you very much.
The President: Senator De Couto, I am not saying
that they are not relevant. I am saying that in light of
the issue in the public domain at the moment with the
company, we will defer the matter. Thank you.

Thank you.

The President: We now move on to the Orders of the
Day. I call on Minister Darrell.
You have a comment, Minister Darrell, that is
on the—

[Inaudible interjections and laughter ]
The President: I beg your pardon! I am not trying to
rush through this agenda. I do apologise, to o.
Yes, we have had two Statements, the first
being in the name of Minister Darrell. And that had to
do with the increase in the Afterschool Programme
support. So, I would therefore put to the floor if there
are any questions.
Senator Smith, you have the floor.

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President, and
good morning.

The President: Good morning.

QUESTION 1: INCREASE IN AFTERSCHOOL
PROGRAMME SUPPORT

Sen. Ben Smith: First, I would like to thank the Mini ster for bringing this forward. We in the Opposition are
in strong agreement that the Afterschool Programme
is an important initiative. And the fact that there seems
to be not enough available, anything we can do to
support families at this time is important.
I just have a couple of questions that came
out of this Statement. So, the Minister said that there
are eight staff who will be brought into the programme
in order for them to increase to the level that they need to. Can the Minister let us know what will be the
qualifications needed for somebody to take up these
jobs? Are these teachers who are doing Afterschool Programme? What is it that we are expecting from
these people who are, in essence, extending the
school day and providing activity?
You would expect that they would still have to
have some certification or something that allows them to continue to work with children. So, if you could give
us some insight into that, it would be helpful.
Thank you.

The President : Question one. Thank you.
Does any other Senator —
Senator Robin Tucker, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: INCREASE IN AFTERSCHOOL
PROGRAMME SUPPORT

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I share the comments of my colleague, Senate [Opposition] Leader Ben Smith, as it relates to the importance of ensuring that we have af terschool pr ogrammes for our children.
My question is [on] the reference to the current Afterschool Programme being oversubscribed
and having a wait list of 97 clients. At what point does
the Afterschool Programme assess parents’ interest in
registering t heir children for afterschool care? I am
just querying that because we are only in November, and our school only started two months ago. I would have thought that would have been prior convers ations. So, I look forward to that answer.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to put a question to this Statement?
Hearing none, then, Minister Darrell, it is over
to you.

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President. Give me one second just to get these questions together.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR

The President: And while you are doing that, I would
just like to acknowledge the presence of the Technical
Officer from the Department of Youth and Sport.
Thank you.

[Question period, continuing]

[Pause]
The President: Two more questions each, and two
supplementaries.

[Pause]


Bermuda Senate Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: All right, Madam Pres ident. I do have the answers. And I am going to answer in reverse order.
So, the first question from Senator Tucker
was, At what point do we assess the interest of [after-school] programmes? I have been made to understand that a survey is sent out just before the end of
the previous school year, or the last school year, so
that would be June. And it is sent out kind of like a
questionnaire that asks parents, you know, In antic ipation of the upcoming school year, do you intend to
utilise the Afterschool Programme service? As a r esult, some parents do fill it out; many parents do n ot.
So once September comes, we sometimes
find ourselves, based on personal circumstances at
the time, with individuals who decide, Well, last year I
might have had a pickup service. And sometimes outside factors are connected to this. Some private firms
who have a pickup service, and if that pickup service
in September has decided that they are not going to
budget for it, then the shortfall then kind of gets put in
front of government. And [the parent] says, Well, my
preferred option is no longer available . Therefore, I
need to go to a government afterschool. And as a r esult, if we had 10 people who signed up, we may see 15 people who are interested. So that is kind of why
the numbers get to the point that they do despite all of the efforts made by the staf f in June to assess the
interest.
As far as the first question, there were different levels of staff that we look at when having these
afterschool programmes. And I did have the opportunity to meet them last week. I went by the office, and I was very surpr ised at what I saw. These staff me mbers, from the workers to the senior workers to the
supervisors, do not just show up at 3:30. They actually
put together lesson plans ahead of time. They get into
the office in the morning. In the afternoon they then
transport themselves to their location.
And for someone who is working, they have a
high school diploma, [which] is one of the qualific ations that is needed. For the senior worker they would
need relevant certifications that go along with, you know, obviously, teaching or managing kids. The s upervisor will have some equivalent experience in sim ilar programmes. There are different criteria for differ-ent levels of workers in the Afterschool Programme,
so we are not just picking individuals off of the street. I
hope that answers the two questions.
Also (I am sorry), they do need to be SCARS
trained. They do need to have CPR training. And they
also must have their up- to-date First Aid certifications.
And contrary to what many may think, you do not
have to be a fully qualified educator to take part or
teach in the Afterschool Programme.
The President: Second question?
Senator Robin Tucker, do you have a second
question? QUESTION 2: INCREASE IN AFTERSCHOOL
PROGRAMME SUPPORT

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, I do. Thank you to the Mi nister for his responses.
My question is in response to his reply to me.
I just wanted to know if there are contingencies. So
are there additional spaces that are held for the chi ldren, knowing that there will be parents who are d elayed or run into various issues that prevent them
from registering their children in advance? I just want
to know if they have that contingency. And if so, how
many spots do they hold? Because 97 students on a
waiting list seems like a lot to me.
Thank you, Madam Preside nt.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Well, from my exper ience as an educator and actually having some experience working at summer day camp way back in my
earlier life, I do know that there are criteria that are set up. Each “supervisor” (let us say) is able to supervise
a certain number of students. I think many years ago it
was a one- to-seven ratio.
So what would happen if a programme decides that, based on their enrolment in June (just h ypothetically speaking on numbers here, but I know this
is how it goes), say we hire three personnel at a particular school. We know that we will have 21 spots.
We may only have 15 enrolments in June.
And I know that the department has done a
good job of moving around resources . But as you
have noted, I have no doubt in my speech that, due to
many circumstances, mainly the economy right now,
we have seen an influx of demand. And as a result,
we are going to make some resources available, as
stated in the Statement, to staff -up the Afterschool
Programme to relieve some of our community stak eholders of some of the burden they might be paying for private or other afterschool care.

The President: Senator Robin Tucker, you have a
third question?
Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, Madam Preside nt, Thank
you. I do.

The President: Yes.

QUESTION 3: INCREASE IN AFTERSCHOOL
PROGRAMME SUPPORT

Sen. Robin Tucker: So again, thank you to the Mini ster for his reply.
My third question then becomes, What plans
will be in place considering that we will soon be closing some primary schools? What plans does the Go v6 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate ernment have to deal with the afterschool issues at
that time, once we start closing off primaries?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: That is interesting. I did
ask that question when I did visit the headquarters the
other day. And it goes back to the supply and demand
that is kind of shown in June. If we notice that there is
a particular school that is going to be closed, then we
will get a school nearby and try to make the necessary
contingencies to service the students in that area if a
school is closed.
I just want to go back to a few other questions
that you had. The contingency that they do have is
actually 12. So, they will hold actually 12 spots outside
of what people have asked for. Every school has a
wait list. Some schools’ are higher than others. And in
comparison, a lot of the private afterschool pr ogrammes, we have seen them actually discontinue.
So this is putting a strain on ours.
Right now we currently operate 15 afterschool
programmes, and we will continue to assess that
number and resources will be directed to assist the
schools that have increasing population. And we will
decrease our resources in schools that may no longer
have that demand or in the future may close.

The President: Senator Smith, do you have a second
question?

QUESTION 2: INCREASE IN AFTERSCHOOL
PROGRAMME SUPPORT

Sen. Ben Smith: Yes. Thank you, Madam President.
Considering that we are talking about bringing
eight new staff members in, can the Minister tell us
[whether] those staff members are trained- up and
ready to go? Or when can we expect for them to be able to come in so that this wait list can be reduced
and those students can be part of the Afterschool
Programme?
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: We are looking to get
the staff members in as early as December.
When school goes back in in January we can
increase the numbers of the Afterschool Programme.
Many of them are trained. I am made to understand
there are résumés that are on the director’s desk and
the supervisor’s desk. And we are just simply waiting
for resources to become available so they can be hired.

The President: Third question or supplementary?

QUESTION 3: INCREASE IN AFTERSCHOOL
PROGRAMME SUPPORT

Sen. Ben Smith: Third question. Thank you, Madam
President.
So, understanding that you would have a pool
of people who are trained and interested in doing this
kind of work, is there some way that we can establish
that there is a certain number and what that group will
be doing from year to year? Because it must be difficult if you are somebody who is trained and interested
in this job and you have to wait to this point where
there is like a fluctuation. Because you are talking
about a job that starts at 3:30 in the afternoon. I am
pretty sure they are going to have to plan or schedule
their day. And here we are trying to bring them in after the fact. Is there a way for us to make sure we have trained them, ready to prepare, and this is the number
that we need?

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, the
makeup of many of these workers who we are looking
to hire, or we already have in the Afterschool Pr ogramme . . . and Senator Smith may be pleased to
know that many of them are actually younger indivi duals or individuals who have other interests. Some of
them are entrepreneurs who may enjoy that flexibility.
They have other jobs. Maybe they will work on their
entrepreneurial business from nine until midday. They
will come into the office, and they will set out their
programme and objectives for afterschool from 12:00
until 3:00. And then at 3:30, they will actually go to the location and carry on.
I understand the question. But to understand
. . . like I said, I am glad that I did have the opportunity
to visit the Afterschool Programme offices last week
and to see how they (I will use this term) buzz around
and the energy that they have. This job actually suits them well. They like the flexibility. And the heads of the departments, the supervisors, the directors are
well aware that at any time some of these workers
may actually progress on to other careers of their
choice. It is the nature of the Afterschool Programme.
It is also the nature of summer day camps. I
mean, I was a supervisor at a summer day camp many, many years ago. A nd I do not think anybody
thought that I would do that for the rest of my life. But
it was necessary to get into the community at the time.
And that is the makeup of these workers, so it works.

The President: Are there any other questions from
Senators on this Statement?
If not, I thank Senators and thank the Minister
for responding to them.
We will now move on to the second Statement
that was given by Senator Lindsay Simmons, the Junior Minister for Social Development and Seniors. And that has to do wit h the Mirrors Programme.


Bermuda Senate Would any Senator wish to ask questions on
this Statement?
Senator Robin Tucker, you have the floor.

1QUESTION 1: MIRRORS PROGRAMME —
AN UPDATE

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President,
and also thank you to the Junior Mini ster for bringing
this Statement to us today.
My question has to do with the actual merger
itself. I am wondering whether the Junior Minister
could tell us specifically what efficiencies are expected
to be realised as a result of having shared services
under the Child and Family Services Department’s
umbrella?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on the Mirrors Programme Statement?
Hearing none, then we will await a response
from Senator Lindsay Simmons.

[Pause]

Sen. Robin Tucker: Madam President.
The President : Yes.

Sen. Robin Tucker: I do have a second question, if it
is helpful to just give both questions at the same time.

The President: Absolutely. Certainly , you may place
your second question.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Oh, sorry. He is asking me to
hold on a second.

The President: Oh. All right.

[Pause]

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Excuse me, Madam Pres ident. Sorry. My technical officers are having a problem with the ir network. They are just wondering if we
could have the questions in writing and we would be
able to then come back to give the oral answers to
you.

The President: Senator Tucker, can the question be
put in writing?

Sen. Robin Tucker: They can be, Madam President,
but could I just make another suggestion? Could I just
not ask my two questions, and then we can have the

1 See Question Period recommitted at page 36 questions answered before we leave, before we end
today’s session?

The President: Certainly. You put the first, so you
can put the second.
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: If you give me the questions
in writing today, I could get the answers for you.
Sen. Robin Tucker: I would prefer, Madam President,
if we had an oral response simply because if I have
supplementary questions, I would like the opportunity
to be able to do that.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: No, I will. What I am saying
is, if you send it to me in an email, I would send it to
them and they will get the answers. But they just cannot listen right now.

Sen. Robin Tucker: I see. Okay.

The President: Senator Tucker, you will do so?
Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes. I will do so. Thank you,

All right.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you.

The President: Thank you. So the decision is that
you will place the questions in writing to Senator Lindsay Simmons, and she will try to get the response be-fore the end of the session today. Thank you.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
The President: As we are going to have the questions answered at the end of the day, would any other
Senator have any questions to put to the Junior Mini ster?
Hearing none, then we will move on with our
agenda.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

The President: I call on the Minister to lead us into
that. Minister Darrell, you have the floor.

MOTION

THAT CONSIDERATION BE GIVEN TO THE
SPEECH WITH WHICH HER EXCELLENCY THE
GOVERNOR WAS PLEASED TO OPEN THE
PRESENT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
8 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Madam President, I move that the Senate do
now take under consideration the Throne Speech with
which the Deputy Governor, acting on behalf of Her
Excellency, the Governor, was pleased to open the
present Session of Parliament.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Then we will proceed.
Minister, when you are ready you can lead us
off.
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, first and foremost, good
morning.
The President: Good morning.

DEBATE ON THE
2022 THRONE SPEECH AND REPLY
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: I wish to start my co mments by first of all reiterating what a Throne Speech
really is. There seems to be some confusion amongst
some individuals floating around as to what the expec-tations of a Throne Speech are. So, Madam Pres ident, I decided to actually do just a little bit of research from some other circles. And I started to come up with
a definition of the term Throne Speech. Madam Pres ident, may I read this definition?

The President: You certainly may, Minister.
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: The definition of which I
came up with, Madam President, reads as follows:
“The throne speech is written by the government of
the day . . . to outline the government’s broad goals
for the coming legislative session. ”
Madam President, the Progressive Labour
Party has a solid history of outlining their legis lative
agenda. Many times these speeches that bring the
message home to everyone are written in a way
where supporters and the community can clearly understand. Some recent Throne Speeches even had titles. In 2017, the title of the Throne Speech then was
“Building a Better and Fairer Bermuda,” Madam President. In 2020 after another landslide election, the Throne Speech then was entitled “Rebuilding Berm uda with Bermudians at Heart.” And just last year, Madam President, we will recall that the Throne Speech was entitled “Social Renewal and Economic
Recovery.” So again, Madam President, this Gover nment has a strong history of clearly laying out what they are going to be doing in their legislative agenda.
But sometimes, Madam President, it is actually easier t o explain something to individuals by telling
them the opposite. So, in this vein, Madam President,
allow me to explain in clear English what a Throne Speech is not. A Throne Speech is not a platform. The
Progressive Labour Party laid out their platform in
2017, and again we laid it out in 2020. So there is no
need to spend an hour of people’s time telling them
what they already know or waste 18 pages —yes, 18
pages written— in a green booklet with, I might add,
pictures of grass roots on the front. And I wil l use this
word rambling with a dark clouds speech. Now, let us
hold on to that.
Last Friday it was a painful exercise, Madam
President, to listen to a Member of the Opposition who sits in another place accuse the Progressive Labour
Party Government of not having a plan. The individual
in another place also accused this Government of
having no direction, amongst other falsehoods. In another place we heard that the Progressive Labour Par-ty should grow and increase the economy. The question was asked, Where is the roadmap? And in stating
the obvious, we heard from another place that these are challenging times. Again, an hour telling us what
we already know. Again, let me reiterate. I will title that
The Dark Clouds Speech.
Madam President, I always have a s tory. So
let me give a story of a good friend of mine whom I met when I was 17 years old, the year when I was
preparing to go off to university. This friend of mine
was a good footballer. I see him every now and again.
He is a good father, and we always ha ve a laugh, b ecause 14 years ago he had a hit song. And that song
was called Dark Clouds. He goes by the stage name
of C’daynger. And every once in a while, Madam
President, I find myself just singing the tune of his
song because it is very motivational for myself. And the words of that song still resonate with me today, Madam President.
The chorus is very catchy. I am not going to
sing it, do not worry. But the words go
“Dark Clouds
Can’t rain on my parade
No, never gonna cover up my sunshine
With your shade.”

Madam President, what we heard on Friday in
this Dark Cloud Speech in another place was indivi duals throwing out a bunch of allegations. And all that did was show me and show others that clearly they
are either not paying attention to what this G overnment is doing or, which is even worse, that they are
choosing not to listen or (dare I say?) they may be
lacking some understanding about what the Gover nment is doing. So, Madam President, with that in
mind, it actually brings me great joy today to al low the
sunshine of this Progressive Labour [Party] Gover nment to shine through. We are not going to spend any
more time talking about the dark clouds of another
place, Madam President.
But as the Government Senate Leader and as
a member of a team of indi viduals who are working
hard for the people of Bermuda, I would like to lay out


Bermuda Senate three things today in my opening remarks. I am going
to start by showing where the Reply of the Opposition
Party is full of inconsistencies and suggestions (that
they made on F riday) which actually have already
been put in place by the PLP Government. A colleague of mine (who sits in another place) used the
words that it was flattering to see. He actually said
thank -you to the Opposition for recognising the good
things that we are doing for the people of Bermuda.
The second thing I will do in my presentation
this morning, Madam President, is discuss in extreme
detail some of the past Throne Speech initiatives that
actually have been completed in 2021/22. And then I
will finish u p by further highlighting the proposed initi atives from the Progressive Labour Party’s 2022
Throne Speech.
So let us start with the 18- page document that
we saw on Friday. They gave me a nice booklet right
here, Madam President. And I smile because I can
guarantee you that this booklet, which is Kelly green—
most people do not know, but it is PLP green —with
grass roots on the front. Unfortunately, it was 17 pages of either giving us suggestions of things we are
already doing, pointing out what we are doing well and
then some other stuff that is just way off base. But,
thank you. I will make sure it does not get mixed up
with my other PLP documents.
The One Bermuda Alliance speaks about the
economic conditions in Bermuda. Well, Madam Pres ident, I would like to give them some breaking news.
The economic growth in 2021 was actually 5.4 per
cent, which is the fastest since 2007. And what this
shows, Madam President, is that the Progressive L abour Party Government is successfully executing
Bermuda’s Economic Recovery Plan. We heard talk
on Friday from another place about a customs duty
deferment. More breaking news. If they were paying
attention, they would see that this already exists. So
thank you for pointing out some more of what the Pr ogressive Labour Party i s doing well.
And we heard them talk about the tourism
record. They bragged about St. Regis. They did not
point out how many concessions a former Gover nment gave St. Regis. But yet, they like to poke holes
in what the Progressive Labour Party is doing to bring
further tourism investment to Bermuda by way of the
Fairmont Southampton, while all at the same time
completely ignoring the debacle, which is Morgan’s
Point, to the tune of $210 million. And I heard him
brag about it in another place the currently $ 45 million
price tag that we have on an airport through a mini-mum revenue guarantee. How can you, Madam Pres-ident, listen to someone brag about how pretty an ai rport is and how many awards the airport may be wi nning, yet completely ignore how much can be d one in
this community with the $45 million and rising that we continue to pay out in a minimum revenue guarantee?
And we wonder why in some cases they say we are in
an economic mess. The recent record of the Progressive Labour
Party and all of the work that has taken place this year is a clear indication, Madam President, of the good
work that the Progressive Labour Party is doing. Let
us start in February. You remember that in the Budget Statement earlier this year this Government promised
that we would provide relief now and more relief to
come. And, Madam President, we did that. We r educed the taxes for those making less than $96,000.
We reduced private vehicle licensing fees by 10 per
cent. Further on in the year in March we ensured that
we had further relief. We froze fuel prices, which are
still frozen, saving Bermudian families $23 at the
pump, and taxi and minibus operators $35 at the
pump. After we made what was previously an aut omatic process of increasing fuel prices . . . we froze
that.
Madam Pr esident, let us not forget in educ ation the $150 support we gave to parents for each
public school student in the system. When it comes to
the environment, we electrified Bermuda’s bus fleet.
And there is more to come in that area. Obviously, a segment that is very dear to myself in the Ministry that
I hold is young people. And how can we forget that the
Minister of Economy and Labour announced that
there will be a work permit moratorium on 52 job cat egories to ensure that Bermudians, young Bermudians have opportunities to work here in Bermuda?
More recently, [there was] an announcement
that sent shock waves across this Island. We saw how
the Government is going to put a pilot mortgage guarantee programme, the Stamp Duties Amendment Bill, to make it easier to transfer mortgages, making banks
more competitive. All of these have been done in this
year alone, Madam President. And it goes on.
So, Madam President, I reject the accusations
that we heard from another place on Friday that the
Progressive Labour Par ty does not have a plan. Not
only do we have a plan, Madam President, but we in
real movement are executing that plan. Bermudians
are taking notice. And every single day when you walk
the streets, you will hear Bermudians say, Thank you.
Keep up the good w ork. I don’t know where we’ll be
without some of the things that the Government is doing. That, Madam President, is an indication of a plan
and a plan that is working.
Madam President, I would like to take a m oment to discuss some of last year’s Throne Speech initiatives, continuing along the vein of things that
have been completed. This continues to show that
when the Progressive Labour Party says that they are going to do something, they actually do what they say
they are going to do. Catchy phrase that we like to
use—promise made, promise kept.
I am just going to pick at a few ministries. The
good thing about being here today, Madam President,
[is that] I do not have to do it on my own. Because you will hear later on in this debate from my able Junior
Minister colleagues about more that the Progressive
10 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Labour Party has done from last year’s Throne
Speech that is helping the community.
First, let us talk about education. In September (and I made a Statement on this) we opened the
first signature senior s chool at the Berkeley Institute
and CedarBridge Academy. When it comes to
transport, we saw that during the height of the pandemic, Bermuda was successful with its homeporting
initiative with Viking Cruise Line and regular calls from
Crystal Cruises, Norwe gian Cruise Line and one visit
from The World. What this did, Madam President, was
see 36 additional calls and a total of 14,203 visitors to our shores. The economic impact of these visits was
approximately $11.4 million.
In the area of finance, and I jus t mentioned
this a moment ago, but I will repeat it because it is
such a big deal. The mortgage guarantee programme
is an initiative which allows eligible persons to get a
discounted mortgage rate on the basis of a portion of
their mortgage being supported by a government
guarantee. Madam President, this speaks to the Go vernment’s commitment to building a nation of owners
and is the first of three phases of this programme. And
it is open to first -time homeowners, and the subs equent phases will be open to persons seeking to r efinance their existing mortgages. This is a big deal, Madam President. It is something that the community is crying out for. This guarantee has a commitment of
$50 million, and at this point would allow for approx imately 250 persons to b enefit.
Let us talk about Youth, Culture and Sport.
We have seen the creation and the implementation of
the National Youth Policy and the creation and impl ementation of the National Sports Policy. I did listen
with interest in another place, Madam President,
where there was an individual who questioned, Will
these goals and will these initiatives actually get off
the ground? Well, you would have seen in a Stat ement that I gave earlier that we are already starting to put some of these plans and some of thes e goals into
action. Madam President, I can guarantee you that in
the two sessions that we have left before we break for
Christmas, you will see more of these goals and ta ngible results of our taking these policies and putting
these goals directly into act ion.
So, if I may answer some of the critics or
some of the criticism that I heard in another place on
Friday, again I would implore individuals to pay attention. Because we are working.
Madam President, I would now like to move to
the third area that I said I was going to speak on. And
that is to highlight some of the big- ticket initiatives that
we would have seen in this year’s Throne Speech.
One of the first big- ticket items, obviously, is Financial
Assistance. The amendments to the Financial Assi stance Act of 2001 and regulations of 2004 were advanced to the next stages of Financial Assistance r eform. Changes will be made to the schedule of allo wable expenses to reflect a realistic cost of goods and services for which assistance is provided. There is no
shortage of stories, Madam President, where indivi duals unfortunately find themselves on Financial Assi stance. And they are receiving relief that is inadequate to cover their expenses. Groceries have gone up. Electricity has gone up. So as a result, we need to
relook at that.
Building blocks is a phase of this reform. It will
assist households who require immediate assistance with expenses for a short period, where hardships
such as a redundancy or a change in household com-position due to tragic circums tances. These are real -
life issues that affect real people, Madam President.
And I do not have to tell you that in the position that I
sat in previous to the one that I have now, these st ories were heartbreaking, whether it be an email, whether it be a phone call or whether it be a third- or
second- hand story from a family member because the
individual affected was too embarrassed to speak
about these circumstances that have changed and
how they cannot make ends meet.
Another one of the big- ticket initiati ves from
this year’s Throne Speech which everyone is talking about is establishing the minimum wage in Bermuda.
As we have heard, the Government is delivering on
this promise to establish a minimum wage in Bermuda
with the tabling of an Order to prescribe a minimum
hourly wage pursuant to section 11 of the Emplo yment (Wage Commission) Act 2019. Another big issue
that was in this year’s Throne Speech that we will absolutely incorporate is the issue of housing. This Go vernment will secure available and affordable rental
units because we note that it is increasingly difficult to
do for members of the public.
What we are going to look to do is mirror the
success that we saw at Loughlands, Perimeter Lane,
Ewing Street and Harbour View Village. The Bermuda
Housi ng Corporation will increase its rental stock by
an additional 77 units and affordably priced through
the rent -geared- to-income programme. In tourism a
big-ticket item is that the Government will actually
formally repeal the Morgan’s Point Resort Act of 2014, [with] a new Act of the legislature tabled to create a
corporate entity comprised of qualified directors to
oversee and direct the completion of the project.
In many Statements you have heard me say
in this House at this place, Madam President, is [in
regard to] education and the reform of public educ ation. Madam President, you would know, everyone
would know, that education reform remains Gover nment’s greatest priority. In this session, as you heard,
the legislature will consider the amendments to the
Education Act 1996. And you will see P7 and P8 classes to support the opening of parish primary schools
at Francis Patton and Purvis Primary. This is a big
deal, Madam President. And the Government, as we
heard questions on Friday, will advance a Bill to c reate an Education Authority. And once it is established,
the Authority will continue to implement change and


Bermuda Senate necessary reforms to meet the needs of young people
in Bermuda.
In the area of community and culture (again,
as you, Madam President, would know, having established a History and Legacy Working Group), one of
the key recommendations of the Government [is to]
advance a Bill to establish a History and Legacy
Committee with responsibilities to work with the community to preserve and honour the history of educ ation in Bermuda. And, which we did hear on Friday, public works. The Government will continue to prior itise the improvement of Bermuda’s infrastructure.
Speaking of phase 1 of the water and sewage infr astructure, we will see the installation of new sewage
treatment, water production facilities, as well as a di stribution system. And finally, one of the other big- ticket
items which obviously causes a huge stir is the assessment of self -governance sufficiency. This is the
first step, and it will be the basis of the necessary
wide-ranging community discussion and education
that must accompany any future action in this area.
So, Madam President, what I have laid out in
my opening remarks today is definitely a clear exam-ple that, contrary to what you may hear from other
individuals in their dark cloud speeches, the Progressive Labour Party is building on a solid record of delivery. And we have made massive strides when it comes to building a better and fairer Bermuda.
Madam President, I look forward to the debate
today, especially hearing more from the Progressive
Labour Party’s Government Senate team, as they explain what we are doing for the people of this country.
This Government has a proven and well -documented
record. And I think most would agree that over the last
five years, Madam President, the Progressive Labour
Party have a clear plan, a clear roadmap. And it is
clear what is going to happen next as this Gover nment helps the people of Bermuda.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Ben Smith, Opposition Leader, you
have the floor.
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I thought that was an interesting introduction that the new Minister gave us to
start our Reply to the Throne Speech debate today.
He started off talking about the dark clouds that were
presented in another place. It is an interesting comment, specifically on a day like today when there ac-tually are dark clouds outside. I am going to go into
this conversation with this: It is important that you let
your population know that there is the potential of bad
weather ahead. In the past, quite some time ago, you would have had to wait until you saw the clouds, and
that is when you would k now a storm is coming. But
now we have technology, we have scientists, we have all kinds of experts who can tell us that bad weather is
coming. It allows for people to prepare for the bad
weather, because, Madam President, when the dark
clouds come and ope n with the rain, the people who
have shelter will not get wet. But the people who do
not have shelter, those are the ones whom we have to
make sure we have given the opportunity to have
shelter.
So, Madam President, when the Opposition is
making sure to paint the picture of what the country is
actually going through, it is because we have to r emind the Government, because sometimes, they do
not seem to fully be aware of everything that is going
around in this Island. But, Madam President, I am not
going to be negative throughout because the Government is doing things. They have initiatives that have been put in place that are helpful to our country.
But we cannot sit here and pretend that ever ything that they are doing is helping us to get out of this
dark cloud situation that we are in. Because, Madam
President, the Minister just talked about the plan and
promises made, promises kept. And how the Throne
Speech is them just laying out their agenda for this
year, and that everybody should know what the Go vernment is doing because they laid it out in their election platform. But, Madam President, the same way
the weather changes, the environment in Bermuda
has changed. And you would expect that we would see the urgency for the emergency that we are going
through.
So, promises made, promises kept. They
promised to dismantle the engine of the BTA [Berm uda Tourism Authority]. Promise made, promise kept.
The result is the tourism numbers that we have, the
air arrival numbers that we have, which happen to
impact the revenue that comes through the brand- new
airport that was put in place by the One Bermuda All iance Government. You have to make sure that you
are covering both of those lines. So, Madam Pres ident, the people in Bermuda who are struggling, ha ving a hard t ime paying their BELCO bills, health insurance, making ends meet . . . a year ago in this Chamber I had to remind the Government of the similar
comments. The dark clouds are still here. But I guess
we are not supposed to talk about them. So if you are a senior who is living in your house with all of your
lights turned off, keeping one loaf of bread and a box
of milk to survive, do you think they think it is sunshine
outside? Or do they think there are dark clouds?
Madam President, although you can applaud
the $16.30, $16.50 minimum wage, put it together. After deductions, that person is making $500. You can
go to the grocery store and spend $500 because the
prices have gone completely out of control. Those
prices cannot actually be corrected by this Gover nment, so I am not going to blame them for it. The su pply chain and all of the issues that are happening out-side of our country are out of our control. But, Madam
President, when you have an opportunity to tell your
12 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate population the truth so that they can prepare for the
bad weather, you do not do that by giving out false
inflation numbers when the rest of the world is in double digits, when the rest of the world is preparing for
bad weather. You are doing a disservice to your coun-try if you are not preparing t hem for the bad weather.
Madam President, I believe that the popul ation was looking for some bold moves in this upcom-ing session, bold moves that they did not see. We
pointed out that as a Throne Speech it did not have a
lot of details on it. But as the Minister pointed out, we were looking for things that they did not expect to go
into that Throne Speech. But if that is the case and it
was not going to go in the Throne Speech, I think it is
important that the Government tell the population a real plan wit h action items and timelines of how we
are going to get out of the problem that we are in t oday. I know the Minister knows that everything that we
want to do, and a lot of the things that they want to put
in place . . . because we are carrying $6 billion i n debt
for finances, which we have to find from somewhere
. . . whichever way you want to look at it, that impacts
every decision that the Government can make.
So let us discuss the dark clouds further. R ecently, we saw some statistics of what our population
looks like and where the population is going. It would
be interesting once we have a census to actually be able to get into the real details. But some initia l numbers came out that showed the birth rate versus the death rate in Bermuda. And it was a startling number.
I want to say the difference was about 200 people.
Madam President, on that track, in five years we will
have 1,000 fewer people. Ten years, 2,00 0 fewer. And
that is not taking into consideration emigration, because more and more of our young people, more and
more of our hard- working Bermudians are being
forced to make the decision that I am sure no one e ver thought they were going to have to make. They
were going to have to leave their beautiful Bermuda
home to go somewhere else to survive, to go to
somewhere else to retire. But that is what is actually
happening.
So, Madam President, it is an interesting
thing. If you have a hole in your bucket and you are
trying to fill it up with water, every time you do that the
water is running out of the bottom. You have to plug the hole before you put more water in. The death- tobirth rate issue is one part that is moving people out of
our country. We also have people emigrating. So now
less and less are being able to pay into the overall pie.
And that is what is going to increase the cost of living,
because the burden of the out -of-control debt has to
be put on the shoulders of the people in Bermuda.
And young people are saying, I’m not going to pay the
burden that’s been left behind. Why should I stay
here? There is no opportunity for me.
So, Madam President, we have to increase
the size of the pie, which means that this needs to be our focus. I believe there is agreement from the Gov-ernment side that we probably need about 8,000 new
jobs. And we are going to have to train our Bermudians and educate our Bermudians to be able to take on
the opportunity of those jobs created. But, Madam
President, the problem that we have now is, the entire
world is trying to attract people to do the exact same
thing that we need. They are trying to bring in those
businesses that are going to create jobs. They are
trying to attract the best and the brightest from around
the world to work in those industries in their country.
The days of thinking that we are just competing in our neighbourhood is long gone.
So, Madam President, immigration becomes
critical. And although we have continued to think that we are in the position to be able to dictate, we are losing the battle, because, Madam President, when we
make the decision to say we are not going to allow this particular job to come in, or we delay that process
for so long, that company is still hiring the person;
they are just d oing it in a different jurisdiction. They
are weighing up the interest of their being in Bermuda
or being at a different jurisdiction and what the costs are for that. And then all of the support that goes
along with that hire also gets hired in that other country. We are cutting off our nose to spite our face because the world has shifted, and we are pretending
that it has not.
So, Madam President, we are going to have
to try to keep all of the people who are here paying into our system staying here, becaus e there are mult iples in this country who are creating their exit strat egy. And that is a terrible thing to even think about, but
that is where we are. So, if I do not point it out because I do not see it being put forward as a priority,
then I am doing the same, which is not letting our
people know that the dark clouds are here and may
continue. But that is our responsibility.
But as I said, there are things that the Government is doing, and they are doing well. So, talking
about education. Everyone knows that education has
needed to be reformed for an extended period of time.
And I am not going to speak out negatively on the
changes that are being made when it comes to parish
primary schools, when it comes to signature schools.
But we are going to want to get continuous updates,
to see the progress of these changes. And the reason
that we are going to ask for that is because the accountability is the piece that has been lacking for way
too long. So, in the Reply to the Throne Speech, in
another place the Le ader of the One Bermuda All iance asked for the results of public schools to be ci rculated the same way it is in private schools. Well, Madam President, that brought a reaction for the
comparison between private schools and public
schools and what public sc hools have to do that pr ivate schools do not have to do, and all the rest that came along with that conversation by the Honourable Minister in another place.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, we still have to hold up our
hard- working students and expect the achievements.
And the Minister who sits here comes to this place
often and talks about the achievements of our young
people. So why would we not be willing to show those results?
Within that conversation, Madam President,
they talked about all of the different parts of education that the public education system has to deal with that
private education does not because they get to
choose who is in their schools. Well, Madam Pres ident, I want to know what the plan is for the students
who have challenges. There are far too m any parents
of children with autism and dyslexia and other issues
with their educational development who have felt that they are not supported, that they do not have a plan
for how to help those students. And it has frustrated
those parents. So [when] the expectation is that the
public schools are the ones that are having to deal
with that and the parents are complaining that this is
not what is happening, you see why I have to point it out. Because it is important that all of those students
are being addressed.
Madam President, recently we heard a father
stand up at an event and talk about the violence in our schools. Madam President, part of getting an educ ation should be the right for our students to be in a safe
environment and not to feel that they are threatened.
Our low birth rate means that every single one of
these students has to be our jewel. And we have to
treat them that way. And if they are feeling threatened
going to school there needs to be an immediate plan
of how we are going to change that. And I have
brought this up before, Madam President. This cannot
be left to National Security. This has to be an educ ation plan that deals with the violence that is happening
in our schools and with our young people, and how
our young people are being brought into gang and
criminal activity because of the environment that they
are being pulled into.
Madam President, everything that I just said is
going to cost money. It goes back to the problem. It is the reason why our economy and how we are going to grow the pie and get the economy moving forward has
to be our priority, because it is connected to every other part that we look at and want to have happen in our country.
Madam President, it was interesting to me to
hear in another place that the Minister of Immigration
and Labour thought that all of the work permits are
being processed and there have not been any delays.
I think the restaurant industry, I think the international business, I think multiple industries in Bermuda would
disagree with that comment . As I said before, we are
competing with the rest of the world. And when you
look at the amount of time that it takes to process in Bermuda, it actually does not make sense.
Madam President, the Minister pointed out in
his opening remarks that the Government stopped a bunch of categories for a period of time. But as I
asked then, and I will continue to ask, Show us the
data. What analysis was done prior to making that
decision to say that we had the Bermudians trained in
those fields, interested in taking up those jobs, ready
to go when we closed the category? Or are we literally
doing it because it seems like this is something that
[should be done so that] people will think we are doing
something? Madam President, the end of that whole
period, we should have had some data that said to us,
We closed these categories; these 10 people were
hired. They are continuing in that job. But as usual,
very little data coming back.
Madam Pr esident, it is interesting. When a
government says that they are doing everything that
they can, but when asked questions they want to d eflect, it makes it . . . not because we know that what
they are saying is wrong. But if you answered the questions, it would help. Madam President, as an example, this morning we asked questions. The Minister answered those questions, and now everybody has a
better understanding because he gave thorough an-swers to those questions. But that is not the norm.
Madam President, tourism. Tourism has been
a continued issue in Bermuda. I have said before that I grew up in a hospitality household. Many Bermudians were able to be educated off of the salaries that came from hospitality in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. We have moved pret ty far away from that hospitality
industry, that pillar that was an important part of our
country. Madam President, I do not want to see a nother article from another island talking about how
great they are doing with new airline routes, increased
airlift c ompared to statistics from 2019, which was
their best year ever. We are comparing our numbers to bad years. As a matter of fact, I have a question
about this idea that the GDP grew from 2020 to 2021.
Are we comparing that to the worst COVID -19 year?
Is tha t what we are doing?
Madam President, it is important that when
you talk about the things that you have done, that you
have accomplished, your plan and the promises made
and promises kept . . . I guess the questions would be
. . . the recovery plan had ver tical farming in it. That
has been stalled; cannot even ask questions about it. Fish processing plant, it actually seems like where we
are right now is that the environmentalists are telling
us that we actually do not have fish stocks and there
already was a fish processing plant in St. George’s.
So that one seems to not be talked about anymore. We have myUS post, where we go get involved with an American company, and now there are lawsuits
that are happening with that. There was an arbitration
centre that was being built, or not built. Now it is just
an empty hole that everybody gets to look at when
they are driving in Hamilton. Oh, and then there was,
we were going to balance the budget. Promises
made, promises kept.
14 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate But, Madam President, the One Bermuda A lliance that the PLP Government likes to talk about all
the time . . . it is interesting, because with the majority
that they have you would think that they would be wor-ried about what they are doing and their plan instead of this lowly Opposition over her e. And the first thing
they always want to talk about is Morgan’s Point,
Madam President. It is very interesting. Because
when you come in as a government and you are
handed lemons, because that was a really bad site
. . . and the Government tried to do an ything they
could to get investors to fix the site. It did not work. I
accept that. I am not going to apologise for trying to
bring business to Bermuda, for trying to create jobs for
Bermudians. But in just over four years, St. Regis h otel, The Loren hotel , Azura complex, a brand- new
world -class airport. The Government does not deny
the world- class airport that was on time, on budget.
They are complaining because of the revenue guarantee that, if they actually got airlift going, they would not
have to keep paying.
Then we have the America’s Cup, you know,
the billionaire boat race that they want to talk about.
But, Madam President, wow, with the cost of living
here we should be trying to attract billionaires to Bermuda to spend their money in our community! Why
should we apologise for that? But, Madam President,
instead we are going to continue to talk about cruise
ship numbers. Now, I have no issue with cruise ships.
But just understand, that is a significant difference
from air arrivals. I just looked at what it is to book a
cruise to Bermuda out of the East Coast. And I could
not believe it. It was $260. When is the last time you could get a flight to Bermuda or out of Bermuda for
$260? It is a huge contrast from the billionaire boat
race trying to get people who have money to spend
money, to grovelling to get somebody to buy a
cheeseburger on Horseshoe Bay.
So, Madam President, really what we have
now is that we have to put all of our hopes in the
Fairmont Southampton project. It is a $400 million r efurbishment project. I have a question: Do we know
today that they have the financing for that project? Yes or no? And if they do not, when is the start date of
this project beginning? Because I am pretty sure that
if it does not start by January 1, the opening d ate will
not be until the middle of 2025. And the bookings will
not start at the beginning because conventions book
in advance. And they are not going to do it until they
know the hotel is open, operating and working.
So are we going to be in this situation for an
extended period of time? Or, Madam President, ma ybe the Junior Minister of Tourism is going to give us
some information on how we are going to bring in
more airlines and how we are going to get our gat eways moving again. I know the Government does not
like to talk about Cayman [Islands], but, boy, it must be nice that they are now going to have air arrival from Los Angeles and air arrival from Minneapolis
added to all of the other airline arrivals that they have.
Madam President, our community cont inues
to have significant issues with gang violence, domestic violence, antisocial behaviour, criminal behaviour, drug trafficking. And our uniformed services are our
front line for how we are protecting and serving our
population. So when the Opposition brings up that
they did not see a lot in the Throne Speech regarding
the uniformed services, Madam President, it is because we think that that should be a priority. But, yes, there is something in the Throne Speech about the
fire service, which is probably because of the amount
of attention that the fire service received in the last six
months. But let us hope that the fire service will co ntinue to get proper support and that this is not just an opportunity to keep them quiet.
Madam President, the Minister f inished his
speech talking about a topic that was in the Throne
Speech that obviously piqued a lot of people’s interest. And that was independence. I apologise because
they do not want to call it independence; they have other words for it. You know, it is kind of how that
works, right? You like to wordsmith it, call it something
else, wrap it up in another package, put a green bow
around it and say that that is not what it is. But this
has been the plan. So the question becomes the PLP
Government’s agenda. You know, the one that is not
showing up in the Throne Speech; the one that had
independence in it the whole time. You know, in 2020
when the then Leader of the Opposition was saying, If
independence is what you’re talking about then put it in your platfor m. But no, because that is not the point.
But then you put forward a cannabis Bill that
is flawed, knowing it is flawed. So the people who
wanted to have cannabis reform did not get what they
wanted. But when you started the project, you knew that you were going to give them a flawed Bill that was
not going to get Royal assent so that you could pick a
fight with the UK. It is interesting because we have
just come out of a pandemic when many Bermudians
would have seen what that relationship with the UK is.
Bermuda was first in line to get (I believe the word that
was used by the Government was) trinkets. I believe
that was the word. But, Madam President, those life-saving trinkets that we received, that is our relationship. And I am not saying that it is not important for us
to have a mature conversation about independence.
But, Madam President, I am saying we need to have a
mature conversation about where our country is and
where our country is going and how we as a country, which means not just PLP supporter s, not just OBA
supporters, but everybody in Bermuda, is going to dig
us out of this enormous hole that we are in.
Madam President, I believe that our focus
should be on Bermuda becoming a desired destination—a desired destination for our young people to
come back to, a desired destination for businesses to
want to come and set up in, a desired destination for


Bermuda Senate our citizens to want to retire in. But, Madam President,
as long as we continue to worry about what cover is
on a book and what colour that cover is, because we
are acting like, you know, one team wears one colour, one team wears the other colour. Guess what? All of us here in this room, Bermudians in this room, are
here because we want to do what is in the best interest of all of our community. And when we walk out of
this Chamber, whether we are wearing a green tie, a
red tie, whether the cover of your book is red, white,
blue, green, the people in our country who are suffer-ing do not care what the colour of that cover is. The
people who cannot pay their light bill do not care what
the colour of that cover is. The people who are making
the decision right now that they are going to leave their home that they have been in and their family has
been in for generations so they can move to another
country, t hey do not care about that.
Or maybe, maybe what we will hear once
again is that they do not understand and they do not
care, because we have heard that in here before.
Madam President, there are things that the Gover nment is doing to move forward. But the y need to accept the number of failures that are happening and
that the emergency that this country is going through
is going to take all of their focus. And being distracted
by whatever the report is that they went out and paid taxpayers’ money to get seems odd at a time when
people cannot pay to eat, when we have an increase
in the number of people in our country who do not
have shelter, and when we have an education system
that is in the process of changing and teachers are
frustrated whether we like to talk about that or not.
Multiple people are reaching out to say, Things are
not going as well as the Government is portraying.
Madam President, yes, the Opposition would
love to know that there is going to be sunshine coming through the dark clouds. But w e are going to need a
Government that is focused and that is doing all it can, not for some, but for all. And, Madam President, if
they think that the plan that they are following is
enough for the population of Bermuda and they think
that the plan that they are following with all of these failed initiatives is enough for Bermuda, I guess they
do not see the dark clouds outside.
But, Madam President, we will continue to
point out, The bad weather is here. The population
needs to prepare for it. Because as inflation continues
around the world and the potential of recessions in
other much larger countries that have more resources
than us . . . if our people are not prepared, we all are
going to suffer the consequences. And because there
is no money put aside for the rainy -day fund, we act ually cannot help as much as we would like to help.
So let us make some real progress. Let us put
some real initiatives forward instead of continuing to play the same game and listening to the same rhet oric. Madam President, I hope that this is the beginning
of the change that Bermuda needs so that we can move toward a successful future. But the Government
is going to have to acknowledge the dark clouds and
how they are going to deal with it instead of wasting
precious time.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Ben Smith, O pposition Leader in the Senate.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR

The President: And before I move on to determine
anyone who wants to speak, I would just like to
acknowledge in the Gallery the Shadow Minister, Mr. Scott Pearman.
Welcome to you, sir.

[2022 Throne Speech and Reply , debate thereon continuing]
The President: Would any other Senator care to
speak at this time? Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I am just going to speak briefly on the highlights of the Throne Speech that are impactful to me. I
think in recognition of the fact that so many Bermudians in our community are struggling, the Throne Speech spoke to several important issues to assist
those in need, and I support and applaud the Go vernment for that recognition. For example, I agree in
principle with the increased child care allowance benefits. The increases to those benefiting from Financial Assistance I certainly agree with in principle. B ut one
of the concerns that I have and have had for a long
time relates to the many young men and women in
our community, our school -aged young men and
women who are unable to meet the qualifications of
Bermuda’s workforce. As has been referenced a lready i n the Throne Speech, reform of public educ ation is Government’s greatest priority. While I very
much support this priority, we need to understand exactly what this means and track the progress and success of this.
I would very much encourage Government to
be very transparent about the metrics they would be adopting to assess the success of reform. For exa mple, we know from previously released grade test a verages of our public school students that we are well
below the grade averages of their peer group in other
countries. We need our youth to be successful in their
careers, and thus education reforms must result in
improved grade scores which we publicly announce, share with our students and parents, and have a
community discussion around so that improved e du16 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate cation of our youth can translate into their achieving
their educational and career goals.
Madam President, while there are many initi atives referenced in the Throne Speech that should
assist Bermudians during these difficult times, there is no referenc e to where the increased revenues are
going to come from to pay for these initiatives. Madam
President, Bermuda has never fully recovered from
the effects of the global financial crisis which occurred
in 2007 and 2008. It took a couple of years for Bermuda to feel the effects of that crisis because the departure of approximately 5,000 jobs did not happen
overnight. I am very concerned about our government
debt, but even more concerned about our inability to
prepare a balanced budget. We have had a succes-sion of Finance Ministers over many years present
three- year plans toward a balanced budget. We have
not been able to achieve this, and I am very concerned that the upcoming 2023/24 Government
Budget will be no different.
If projected revenues are less than projected
expenses and materially so, this will add to our Island
debt and put even more pressure on government f inances.
So, Madam President, for me the takeaway is
the biggest question about the Throne Speech,
[which] was the omission of what I believe needs to be a top priority, that being the need for proactively i ncreasing the number of people in Bermuda to increase the tax base so desperately required with our ageing
population.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator John Wight.
Would any other Senator care to speak at this
time?
Senator Robin Tucker, you have the floor.

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I, like my Senate colleagues, am grateful to
have an opportunity today to offer some comments on
this year’ s Throne Speech. Madam President, there
were some positive initiatives noted this year. But unfortunately, most of them lacked any type of detail as
to how these things might be accomplished.
I was surprised, with all of the issues facing
Bermuda as we de al with mounting debt, increasing
cost of food and supplies stemming mostly from the Ukraine/Russia war, a tourism industry that is barely
showing signs of life, airlift challenges, the growing
number of people needing charitable support, that the
Throne S peech, which is intended to inform us of the
Government’s legislative agenda for the year, did not
include much information about what plans there are
afoot to address our economic challenges, or assurances that give the public details about what will be done to help safeguard us during current uncertain
times and the more challenging times that are on the horizon. Madam President, with that said, I will pr oceed with some of the key takeaways that I got from the Throne Speech. It was announced that amendments will be presented to increase the category of
persons eligible for the day care allowance and to i ncrease the amount of the award provided. Madam President, ensuring that parents receive the support
they need to send their children to day care so that
they are taken care of and to give them a good start in
life is a good thing. We know from a recent Financial
Assistance Department annual report that there had been a decreased spend on day care allowance,
which was directly attributed to a decline in the number of children that qualified for receiving the allo wance. It is a difficult thing to know that children who ought to have been considered were excluded and
therefore could not get the award. Not much detail was given about what category of persons was excluded, so I look forward to learning about the details
of how the pool of persons will be expanded and the
related criteria.
Madam President, while expanding the pool of
persons may be a good thing, it cannot be lost on us that an increase in the amount of allowance parents
receive has the potential to further drive up day care
costs. Many parents, Financial Assistance clients and
parents who are not Financial Assistance clients, are
already struggling to pay for day care. So any poten-tial impact that any rise in day care costs may have on
them must be considered and perhaps could be ba lanced with some type of incentive for day care owners to help maintain and control costs for parents.
Madam President, upgrading the schedule of
allowance expenses can offer people some relief. But
if it is done with assurance that all amounts awarded
are in step with Bermuda’s actual inflation rate it
would be a good thing for all persons, and particularly for our seniors on fixed incomes who make up the
majority of persons on Financial Assistance. I reco gnise that it was said earlier that the schedule of allo wable expenses would be updated in accordance with
the actual inflation rate. So I look forward to actually
seeing those numbers.
Madam President, the announcement of the
First 1,000 Days initiative is a little unclear since it was announced in another place that many aspects of this
initiative are carried out by the Child Development
Programme and they already exist. So maybe the
Junior Minister could provide some clarification as to
the difference between the existing programme and this newly announced programme. That would be most helpful to me and the public who, like me, may
also be unclear about this. With that said, Madam
President, I believe that taking a pr oactive approach in
the first 1,000 days of a child’s life can greatly improve
a child’s health, development and life chances [and]
will benefit society as a whole. But I wonder what plans the Government has to target those who would


Bermuda Senate be reluctant to take advantage of this programme and
to fully commit to participation.
Madam President, I would also like to have
seen the initiative go a little bit further to include infl uencing and establishing policies that address the
needs of the most vulnerable families that involve
across -the-board governmental department collabor ation. A complementary programme could be designed
that would also extend to parents and children in the
family. This can be an important investment in aiding
in prevention and early intervent ion to support parents, children and families during such a critical per iod.
Madam President, I was also pleased to learn
about the additional support being given for domestic violence victims and the multi -agency risk assessment
conference model tool to be used. Issues around domestic abuse are often complex, and I am very happy
to see that a model is being undertaken that has as
one of its key objectives to safeguard victims. I am a
supporter of bringing key agency representatives of multiple perspectives, input and expertise. Domestic
violence and domestic abuse are prevalent in Berm uda and clearly must be addressed. Protection and
support, though, must be provided for victims whether
they are male or female and those who witness the
abuse.
I was a bit surprised not to see any details
that actually spoke to abusers being met with a swifter hand of justice and getting them the services they
need to stop their abusive behaviours. And I raise
that, Madam President, because this is a sense of
urgency that we have as it relates particularly to do-mestic violence issues. And unfortunately, that sense
of urgency is still not being seen, in my opinion, as it
should be.
Madam President, while I am very happy to
see some action being taken to protect domestic vi olence victims, I continue to be disappointed that we
have yet to have a conversation about a specialist
domestic violence court to handle the intricacies of
domestic relationships or strengthening of legislation
that sends a clear message to [abusers] that we will not tolerate the abusive behaviours in this community.
Additionally, Madam President, I just want to
really sum up by noting a few things, especially be-cause we are in a crisis. And while, as my Senate co lleague has already mentioned, t here is a picture being
painted of what the Government is telling us is ha ppening, I think every one of us knows people who are
struggling. Every one of us has heard the stories of
people who are, you know, stretched to try to make ends meet. And I think t hat we need to be able to be
honest about what is happening, again (as my Senate
colleague mentioned), because people need to ad equately prepare. You cannot prepare for something
that you do not know is coming. We need to be able to
be honest about where w e are and let the people
know where we are. So with that, Madam President, I would ask,
How do we actually know how many people have left
the country? We have not had a census since 2010.
How do we know? We can speculate on the reasons
why they are leavi ng? And most of us will know
someone who has left, but when are we going to
commission whether it is a census or some type of
report to actually get the information, get the data so
we can make decisions based on factual information?
How are we going to entice people to come home if
we cannot even entice people to come and stay for a week? I have heard so many complaints about the
infrastructure and the roads and the grass that is
growing through the sidewalks and the weeds and all
of that type of thing. Ho w are we presenting ourselves
to visitors?
What do these comments have to do with the
Throne Speech? In my opinion, Madam President,
everything, because, again, this is about benefiting
our people. This is about making sure that our econ-omy is doing what it ought to do in order to entice
people so we can have the revenue needed to be able
to do all of the things that we need to do. And, Madam
President, I would like to have applauded the Go vernment for taking some bold and exciting steps. As I
mentioned, t here are some things in here that are very
positive. But unfortunately, we do not have sufficient details, and not enough of it is actually addressing the real issues that we are facing today.
Madam President, Bermuda is in for more
rough and rocky days, and the impacts are going to
be felt mostly by the people who can least afford it financially, mentally, physically. And no responsible
government should let that happen.
Thank you, Madam President. That concludes
my comments.

The President: Thank you, S enator Robin Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak at this
time?
Senator Lindsay Simmons, you have the floor.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
We all sat on Cabinet Lawn on Friday, the 4
th
of November 2022 to hear this Government’s Throne
Speech. Personally, I am proud of the work that the
PLP has been doing and continues to do for our people. Madam President, we have all heard the Oppos ition saying that the Throne Speech was short and
without direction for Bermuda. I beg to dif fer. I know
the Throne Speech had everything that our party is
working hard to pass in the upper and lower Houses.
This Government continues to put Bermudians first
through the policies, Bills and incentives for this fiscal
year.
Madam President, I also had the opportunity
to listen to the Response to the Throne Speech. And, Madam President, I must say I was not impressed
18 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate with the Opposition’s Reply. I was unmoved. But what
I did hear without the Opposition’s being completely
forthright is that they support ed some of our Throne
Speech. As one of the PLP MPs beautifully pointed out in another place, if you allow me to quote, Madam President?

The President: You certainly may.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: “Imitation is the [sincerest]
form of flattery.” When we imit ate, we inadvertently
pay a compliment to the original person. In this i nstance, the OBA has imitated our Throne Speech to a large degree, which inadvertently shows that they e ndorse what we are doing.
Madam President, I agree with our MP in constituency 7. When you look at the Opposition’s R esponse to the Throne Speech, the first thing you see
is this booklet that is beautifully covered in PLP Kelly
Green, as my Minister, our Senate Leader pointed
out. And the photo reminds me of the PLP and our
grass roots. Clearly, this book is subliminal support of
my party. I believe that they are waving our green
pompoms as I speak. So thank you to the OBA for
silently agreeing with what we are doing to put Bermudians first.
Madam President, on the first page of the R esponse, boldly written in quotes . . . Madam President,
if I could quote it?

The President: You certainly may.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: “There must always be a
vision. There must always be a well -documented plan,
and there must always be economic support. Without
these key elements, there is no future for Bermuda and our people.” I believe, Madam President, that
there was a typo in the last sentence. Madam Pres ident, this is what I believe it should have read: The PLP has [delivered] and is delivering.
Still on the first page, Madam President, the
OBA continues to talk about the PLP. They quoted Catherine DeVrye, the former Countess of Warwick. Let me rephrase this. What they were trying to say,
because there is no way they were referring to the
OBA: We the PLP have unimaginable strength. Our
forefathers planted the seedlings for this party to grow as strong trees. Just look back at the last election
when no one wanted to go against Minister Hayward,
Minister Weeks or MP Tyrrell. Before October 1, 2020, we had already won three seats. They could not even
fill the whole team. We, the PLP , were guarded
through the most difficult times by the steady hands of
our Leader, Premier David Burt, and our Deputy
Leader, Walter Roban.
So this party is resilient and continues to map
out the future for my daughter and the future gener ation. Madam President, I could talk about every point
that was made in the Reply to the Throne Speech. But I will limit my speech to a few ministries and what we
are doing to help our people.
Madam President, on the second page of the
Reply to the Throne Speech, we have the OBA talking about owning a home in Bermuda will be out of reach for Bermudians. This is simply not true. Madam Pres ident, we just launched the $50 Million [Guarantee for]
Mortgage Programme. I am happy to report that this Government is putting our people first again. We are
giving opportunities to those who may not have even
been able to own a piece of this rock. This will see many first -time homeowners in Bermuda. Anyone 40
and under can apply. Madam President, personally I
would not qualify for this. I am 41. But I am excited to
see many people given the opportunity. I have talked
to many people, and they are excited about this pr ogramme and [being] given a chance to pass on a
house to their family. I spoke to a lady who has three
children. She did not have enough money down. But
with this programme, she now can qualify to buy a
home for her children.
Madam President, when I last checked, 91
applications have been submitted. This is wonderful news. I personally know of three people who have
applied for this loan. So again, kudos to MP Adams
and the Premier for making sure that Bermudians
have the opport unity to own a piece of Bermuda. We
have created a nation of owners with the pilot Mor tgage Guarantee Programme. We will also [be tabling] the Stamp Duty Amendment Bill. This will make it easier to transfer mortgages, making banks more compe titive. This Go vernment will be increasing the stock of
affordable housing. We know that we need to upgrade
our existing units within the Bermuda Housing Corporation and providing new units.
Madam President, during the worst of times,
the Ministry of Economy and Labour has continued to
make way for Bermudians. Our population that was affected most were able to keep their heads above water by supporting businesses and creating jobs.
This Ministry has different programmes to help support families in this difficult time. Ma dam President,
amendments to the Financial Assistance Act 2001
and the [Financial Assistance] Regulations 2004
would advance the next phase of Financial Assistance reform. This is important for realistic cost awards.
Madam President, as my Senate Leader
pointed out, Building Blocks, a phase of this reform,
will assist [households] requiring immediate help with
expenses for a short period. Madam President, any of
us can find ourselves in this situation. Our Gover nment is making sure that we have a phased reform in
place. I know of a person who lost their parent and
found themselves in this situation. This reform would
have allowed them to get help for a short term. This
reform is much needed, and I am glad we continue to
put our people first.
Madam President, once again this Gover nment will deliver on its promise to establish a minimum


Bermuda Senate wage in Bermuda. Listening to the public, this is more
than wanted and needed. This will regulate what is
needed in our Island so that the working population
will be able to g et fair pay for their work.
Madam President, the Government will a dvance a Bill to create a Department of Labour given statutory authority to posts within the department to
ensure that workers’ rights are protected and emplo yers have certainty in their applications of Bermuda’s
labour legislation. Madam President, young people
and employment is key in Bermuda, providing Berm udians with education, training, support and emplo yment opportunities. We must increase internships.
And international business [has] record numbers this
year. The Government asked the industry to provide more jobs for Bermudians, and they answered the
call. But we cannot stop there.
Madam President, FinTech education pr ogrammes —13 students [in] the pilot programme this
summer were prov ided free training, education and
access to FinTech and digital asset industry experts
and leaders. Madam President, I could go on and on.
The signature schools will help prepare students for a
career, and this is much needed. Enrolment at Bermuda College is up by 41 per cent, and the funding for
overseas schooling has increased by almost 50 per
cent.
Madam President, I will shift and talk about
the environment. When we talk about the environment
and Bermuda, Bermuda is one of the leading examples of taking charge. The Ministry of Home Affairs
are keen to make sure that we are reducing our carbon footprint. The environment is important, and while we are just a speck when it comes to the global
greenhouse gases, we still have a lot of work to r educe our foot print. We will complete the solar on the
Airport Finger project. We are putting solar on go vernment buildings. We are making it easy for Berm udians to install on their rooftops. And one of the bi ggest things that we are trying to reduce is the use of single-use plastics. This Government will introduce a
Bill to reduce single- use plastics, and this will be a
phased- out approach.
A Marine [Development] Act to provide a
framework for management of the Marine Spatial Plan
and introduce a governance structure of the Blue Economy Fund and the investment model of the
Green Energy Fund.
Amendments to the Electricity Act 2016 to
create a Community Solar, an investment opportunity
for Bermudian entrepreneurs and solar installers,
which through the Green Energy Fund will provide
access for families unable to afford the installation of
the cheaper source of energy.
Madam President, this Government continues
to protect the environment.
Madam President, our greatest treasure is our
people, and our most precious gems ar e our children.
This Government realises that we have to do ever y-thing to make sure our gems have the best start in life with the child development. Madam President, Bermuda’s children present the most precious opportunity
for the continued success of our homeland. A child’s
earliest years are the most formative and vulnerable periods of [their] life featuring intense brain development, formation of first relationships and the definition
of the psyche.
Madam President, experiences during these
crucial periods often set the trajectory for health and
wellness in life. The Government would therefore i ntroduce a First 1,000 Days initiative, a pathway that
will provide the foundation leading to a healthy life for
children. This will be done by mapping all touchpoints,
the need and drives for services, documenting the
gaps, disparities and inequalities so that services are
improved, leading to better opportunities and i mprovement of qualities.
Madam President, please allow me to speak
on two topics that I hold near and dear to me. Both of
these fall under the Ministry of Social Development
and Seniors. They are domestic violence and foster care. People who fall under these are our most vulnerable. This Government, under the Ministry of S ocial Development and Senior s and under Minister
[Tinee] Furbert’s lead, will make sure that both of
these most vulnerable [populations] are protected and
safeguarded. Madam President, this Government spoke about domestic violence in our Throne Speech,
and we have a plan. Personally, I am looking forward
to this coming to fruition. As a survivor of domestic
violence, I hold this plan to heart.
Since giving my motion to adjourn [speech]
last year, I still have many people reaching out to me. We have many people who are ashamed to speak
about domestic violence. I know of a few who are now
getting the support they need. This should no longer
be a taboo subject.
Madam President, the pandemic magnified
the unfortunate fact that economic stress led to an increase in social dysfunctions, domestic abuse and
family violence. As outlined in the 2022 Speech from
the Throne, the Government, in partnership with
SafeLives UK, will introduce a multi -agency risk assessment conference model in which all necessary
agencies are engaged in a more coordinated plan of
action to manage [the] conduct of predators [and to]
provide protection for victims of domestic violence.
The COVID -19 pandemic magnified the unfortunate fact that economic stress led to increased s ocial dysfunction and domestic abuse and fami ly violence in some extreme cases. A multi -agency risk assessment conference is a meeting in which repr esentatives from crucial agencies share information on
the high- risk domestic abuse cases, representatives
such as the police, child protection, housing, health,
domestic violence practitioners, probation and other specialists from the public and private sectors relevant
to the case at hand. I believe that this will help to r e20 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate duce the amount of domestic violence in Bermuda.
And I am happy that this Governm ent is making sure
that domestic violence in Bermuda is looked at ser iously. Madam President, one life lost to domestic vi olence is one too many.
Lastly, Madam President, the Independent
Living Transition Programme that is under the D epartment of Child and Family Services is well needed.
As someone who has been a foster parent since I was
24, this programme has been missing. And now this
will bring children who are ageing out of the guidance that they need to be able to become productive me mbers in society. The Child and Family Services D epartment’s Independent Living Transition Programme has been developed to provide stable housing and intense support and guidance to young persons ag eing out of the care of the Director of Child and Family Services who do not have identified transition plans.
Could you imagine being 18 and not having anywhere
to go? Well, this is why this programme is necessary.
So, thank you to the department and the Minister for making sure that this programme becomes reality.
The purpose of this programme is to assist
the young person in the development of the life skills
necessary to become successful and productive cit izens. This programme has been needed and it will
protect our children. We will see young adults who will get the support they need. They will also help them
with getting jobs, opening up bank accounts and so
on.
As we see, our Throne Speech has a lot going
on. We continue to put Bermudians first. We continue to make sure that our people are protected and saf eguarded, and ini tiatives are done to make sure that we
continue to put Bermudians first.
So, Madam President, with that said, I would
like to thank the Premier, the Ministers, MPs and Senators for working hard to keep their promises and
always putting Bermudians first.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay Si mmons.
Well, it is now almost 12:25. And my question
to you all is whether or not we just continue or we
break for lunch at this time.
Break for lunch?
Senators, we will now break for lunch, and we
will continue when we return at two o’clock.
Thank you.

Proceedings suspended at 12:25 pm

Proceedings resumed at 2:00 pm
[Sen. the Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright, President, pr esiding]
DEBATE ON THE
2022 THRONE SPEECH AND REPLY

[Continuation of debate thereon]

The President: Good afternoon, Senators. The Senate is back in session. And for the listening audience
the Senate has been considering the Throne Speech
with which the Deputy Governor acting on behalf of Her Excellency the Governor was pleased to open the
present Session of Parliament.
We did have a number of Senators speak on
the Throne Speech this morning. So, we are continuing this afternoon. I therefore open the floor now for
any other Senator who wishes to speak at this time.
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you for the opportunity to make some remarks on this important topic.
Madam Presi dent, technical definitions aside,
most people, if asked what they think the Throne
Speech is for, would say it is where the Government is
going to tell you what the Government plans to do and
why they plan to do it. And I think we can fairly say
most people would expect these plans to have som ething to do with what is going on in the country today, what the most important problems are and what is impacting the people the most.
Madam President, with the exception of a very
few, very remote glimmers, this G overnment’s plans
shed no light on how the PLP Government hopes to
address the most important issues facing the people
of this country today no matter how loudly they speak or claim success. By way of example, I will give you
their recovery plan. They had four main points. The
incinerator, vertical farming and North East Hamilton
were three of those points. We know that vertical farming has stopped. We know that investment in an
incinerator will actually be an outflow of money for foreign parts and labour c onsultants. And as far as
North East Hamilton Development goes, nothing is heard yet. So, I really do not know how they could
possibly claim success if that is what is happening
with their top four initiatives.
Madam President, what do the people want
and what do the people need? They want to know that
there is economic opportunity for all and that they have a path to a prosperous future. They want affor dable and accessible healthcare. They want a good education for their children. They want to be safe in a
strong community. And they want to enjoy a sustainable environment. Madam President, you might well
ask me, How exactly, Senator De Couto, do you know


Bermuda Senate what the people want and need? I know there are
some in this Chamber who question other’s abilit ies to
understand what people in the country want.
Madam President, I have no unique claim to
this knowledge, and I have not had to use any special
powers. I have used the same tools available to all
leaders of this Island, whether they have chosen to
use them or not. I , along with my One Bermuda All iance colleagues , have listened to people— hundreds
of them —on their doorsteps, on the phone, on social
media. I cannot comment on what streets Senator
Darrell is receiving praise upon, but I suggest it is
probably the sidewalk in front of Alaska Hall. Maybe it
is about the renovation. I have observed what is ha ppening in our communities and what is happening in the world. And importantly, Madam President, I have
refrained from confusing my personal agenda and
interests with what is most important for this Island
and her people.
Madam President, we have heard a lot today
about the economy. This Island’s economy is in a tough place. Even after accounting for COVID -19 we
have failed to bounce back like many other countries, for example, that have experienced the benefit of a
post-COVID-19 demand for travel. And we have seen
some examples of that. And unfortunately, the PLP
Government has held the economy back by a failure to take bold, impactful action and, in some cases, actively interfer ed with economic growth. If our Island’s
economy is like a person dying of thirst, the Gover nment is busy splashing it with drops of water when instead it should be drilling new wells and building
reservoirs of water to supply us in times of drought.
I will not pretend that the way forward for
Bermu da’s economy will be easy. There is no “one
weird trick,” like they say on the Internet, that will
solve our problems. But prerequisites for finding a
path forward must include an honest and factual assessment of the reality of what people are facing t oday, the political courage to make some tough choi ces, judgment and discernment, and, of course, accountability. I will just repeat those because those will
be my theme. An honest and factual assessment of
the reality of what people are facing, political cour age
to make some tough choices, judgment and discer nment, and accountability.
Madam President, let me start with account ability. Twenty years of PLP Government’s financial
irresponsibility have left this country in a place where
it has very limited, if any , room to manoeuvre economically. A crushing debt consumes one- seventh , Ma dam President, one- seventh of every Bermudian’s tax
dollar just to pay the interest. Imagine if that money
was available to pay firefighters, fund small busines ses, support greater airlift to Bermuda and, most i mportantly , improve our social services. But this PLP
Government insists on always referring back to ever ything that is the OBA’s fault. Well, here are some things, Madam President, the OBA would like to be accountable for:
• the development of three new hotels (and
we did hear quite a lot of this from my colleague);
• construction of a world- class airport to r eplace the one left unmaintained, leaking and unsafe for workers by the PLP Government;
• delivery of a world- class international spor ting event that stimulated the economy and
put Bermuda on the map; and
• if you remember, Madam President, one of
the first acts by the OBA Minister of F inance, seeking a loan to pay the civil service upon discovering that the outgoing PLP
Government had left the coffers bare.
On accountability , [if] the Government will not
take responsibility for their actions and results a nd the
state of the country, you cannot expect them to be
able to fix it.
Madam President, let me turn to honesty and
facts. And I will echo the comments of my colleague Senator Smith here. It took the Government most of
this year to finally admit what Bermuda’s inflation rate
really was, or at least a number closer to reality. Over many months the Government continued to insist that
inflation in Bermuda was somehow magically far lower
than the rest of the world, including the source of most
of our goods, the United Sates. But everyone in Bermuda who was not in Government could see plainly
that was not the case every time they went t o the
store and bought food, clothes or anything imported.
Madam President, it was Upton Sinclair, the
famous American writer and muckraking journalist,
whose work exposed terrible labour and working con-ditions among other things, who said, “It is difficult to
get a man to understand something when his salary
depends on his not understanding it.” Clearly, [if] the
Government cannot admit that a problem exists then
they will not be able to solve it.
Madam President, political courage. It does
not take a PhD in economics to appreciate that if there
were more people in Bermuda the economy would be
stronger. There would be more demand for goods and
services. There would be more travel. There would be
more tax revenue for the Government to fund its pr ogrammes and services. This Government has finally even admitted that we need 4,000 to 8,000 more peo-ple on this Island working. But where is the compr ehensive immigration reform that will bring fairness to
children and young adults who have only known lives
here, or allow wealthy businesspeople who want to be
here to invest and grow businesses s o that they will
continue to put money into our economy and tax dollars?
And Madam President, never mind the el ephant in the room that the Immigration Department does not cur rently operate efficiently and effectively
with our current regulations, which stymi e local bus i22 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate nesses. Will the PLP Government have the courage to
take this on after stoking division and resentment
leading up to the 2017 election? This will not be easy.
But with a clear set of principles and open and honest
consultation with the right groups there can be a pathway to success that is in the best interests of ev eryone in Bermuda.
Speaking of political courage, Madam Pres ident, another tough topic that must f inally be addressed is tax reform. Nobody wants to pay more tax. But the math cannot be denied. This Government has backed Bermuda into such a corner that the only realist options for reducing the crippling PLP debt must
include raising more revenue and controlling spending. We have heard in the past about the Tax Reform Commission. But where is it? Is this report sitting on a
shelf along with all the other reports that the Gover nment has ignored? The Government’s plan to intr oduce a sliding scale contribut ion for social insurance
may be a step in the right direction, depending on the
details. However, a fuller plan must be created across
the board in consultation with all the stakeholders
such as local and international business, careful consideration of the global tax environment and considering the full picture of taxation on our Island.
Madam President, I said that judgment and
discernment would be important to help turn around
our economy. Let me give some examples , or, I
should say , counterexamples , because good judgment is most easily identified by its absence. The
Government has announced numerous initiatives that ,
quite frankly , have failed. In fact, if we put the Go vernment ’s resume on the Job Board, I doubt they
would get a call. Madam President, it is one thing to
make a try at something, to take a legitimate business
risk and have it fail. It is another thing when it was re latively obvious in the beginning that it was fishy or
unlikely to work out and you have a repeated history
of this.
Madam Pres ident, we heard from the Senate
Leader about the Government’s track record. So, let’s
talk about that record. Let’s start in the beginning with
Savvy Entertainment and $800,000. Who really thought a record producer wanted to come to Berm uda physically to do his work in the age of the Internet and video conferencing? Cabinet clearly failed to en-gage a minimal level of judgment on this decision.
Moving on to Arbitrade, Madam President.
And I will keep this one short , because I think ever yone knows that once p eople start talking to you about
magic piles of gold bullion it is time to leave the con-versation. The issues with this company were obvious to everyone except, it seems, the Premier.
Madam President, vertical farming and
Kalera. It has been known for a while that Kalera, the company itself, was not working out well. But even a few weeks ago, the Minister did not seem to be aware
of this. This demonstrates to me a lack of attention at
the very least and negligence at worst. Second, as we live in a country w ith some of
the most expensive shipping and electricity in the world it is not hard to come to the correct conclusion
that a high- tech, energy -intensive approach to farming
would perhaps not be the best investment. It just r equires thinking about it past t he first page of the Po werPoint slides. I honestly cannot explain how the Go vernment thought this was a good idea other than that
they suspended their own faculties of judgment and
discernment and completely ignored the information
provided to them by loca l farmers.
Madam President, speaking further on judgment and discernment. Gencom. Why , after Gencom
could not even make their own redundancy payments ,
would we bend over backwards to grant hundreds of
millions of dollars of concessions to this company?
We know that it was a bad deal because the Finance
Minister, who was actually experienced in these
things, quit in protest. The Premier rushed this
through speaking of a national priority. But to this day
all we have continued to receive are empty promises
that things are being worked on.
We know that none of the other hotels r equired these levels of concessions. So perhaps the
problem is not the concessions. Perhaps it is som ething between Gencom and Government. Hence, you
can understand our reluctance to g ive the Gover nment any more leeway in the area of concessions ,
given their inability to pick a good partner. And my colleague, Senator Smith, has already discussed that
the timings on these projects are highly unlikely to be
as predicted by the Government.
Madam President, why is this Government not
out there beating the bushes for new investors , either
for the Southampton property or any of the other potential properties in Bermuda like Elbow Beach ? This
should be a national priority. But as far as we can tell
there are no new projects in the pipeline and nothing
is happening. You would be forgiven for thinking that Government would prefer that projects are failing so
they have excuses and someone else to blame rather
than actually making things better.
And Madam President, you will notice that I
have refrained from the topics of crypto and FinTech. I
would just urge people to look at the front page of the
Wall Street Journal today which calls out the Bahamas and be glad that it was not us. Madam President, if this Government had demonstrated honesty, accountability and judgment, Bermuda would be in a
better place today.
Madam President, near the beginning of my
remarks I talked about the desire for economic oppor-tunity and a pathway to prosperity among other goals ,
or what we call making Bermuda the destination of
choice for Bermudians. We can break that down into a
few categories. And we have heard some of them ,
again from my colleague Senator Smith. Let’s start with young Bermudian students or those people at the
beginning of their journey into adulthood and the


Bermuda Senate working world who are thinking about their future. Can
they even figure out how to make the numbers work,
pay the rent, pay for food, buy a car or transport, raise
a family and provide for them and start their way to
retirement if that is their aim?
On top of that, let’s overlay the cultural and
social issues. We know today that young people are
more progressive. They are looking for a more vibrant
and socially aware kind of living. But this current Go vernment, despite having the word “ progressive” in its
name, has been generally regressive. This is a Government that has spent a million dollars of taxpayer
money to remove the right of ga y marriage, they k iboshed the Equality Bill, failed to protect our environment with the pollution at BELCO, allowed unauthorised construction in environmentally sensitive areas
and has ceased basic air pollution monitoring. Never
mind the intended reductio n of opportunities for those
in the artistic and creative careers that come when the
economy shrinks.
Is Bermuda the kind of place where our young
people even want to be anymore? It ought to be. And
it can be, Madam President, if we move in the right
direction. But not the direction this Government is going.
Madam President, the second category of
person I look at is the Bermudian overseas who has a foothold in her profession. Maybe she has studied
overseas. She has gotten her first work experience
and taken those first steps down the career ladder —
up the career ladder we would hope. And now she
says, Is it time to move home to be closer to my family? to enjoy the Bermudian lifestyle, the nature and
the culture that we all enjoy. Can she find the right
kind of job to continue her career here? Can her fam ily afford to live here? Will her children get the right kind of education? Madam President, the answers
right now are not clear, if not negative. Let’s change
those answers to yes.
Finally, Madam President, and we have a lready really heard about this, but consider those
about to retire or perhaps are already into their retir ement years who struggle with groceries, medicine,
BELCO bills, rent or property maintenance. We do not
want them to have to move overseas just to survive.
Getting the answer to Can I stay in Bermuda? to be
Yes is an urgent need for Bermuda, especially given
our ageing population. The Government’s plans need
to address all of these categories of people if we are
to make Bermuda a destin ation of choice for Berm udians.
Madam President, let me now address a few
other specific issues. Regarding the improvement of housing and encouraging home ownership, the mor tgage guarantee could be a good idea. Some details
are still outstanding that I would personally like to see answered. Why is only the Bermuda Commercial
Bank involved, when it is not the most prominent bank
for consumers? Is this a special favour to the bank to grow their customer base? Or is there something
about —

[Inaudible interjec tion]

Well, I would like to
know the answer.
Or is there something about the scheme that
is not attractive to the other banks? We would like to
know. It also seems that after a certain period of time,
the deal between the bank and the consumer might change. Will we see increases in the mortgage terms
after the 10 years runs out on each mortgage guarantee? Madam President, this could be a great, great
thing. But the devil is in the details. And to be honest,
based on this Government’s track record, I have a lot
of concerns about the details, as do many Bermudi-ans.
The Government could also seriously attack
the problem of building and renovating housing in
Bermuda in a cost -effective manner, keeping high
quality but reducing unnecessary cost in overhead
materials and design. Perhaps there could be collaboration between Government, architects and contractors to create innovative ideas. And of course, there is
always the option to create more dense housing in
areas such as the City of Hamilton. So, that could be
of great positive benefit for Bermuda.
Madam President, small business is a lif eblood in this economy, offering a route to prosperity
for generations of Bermudians. These businesses are
also where Bermudians can build careers that work for their personal mix of experience, talent and interest. But these small businesses face many headwinds. We have heard about the issues with immigr ation processes which can hold back even small enterprises. And while the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation has useful programmes, the red
tape and cumbersome processes can make them too onerous for some businesses to pursue. Government
is too often directly focused on picking specific wi nners and losers in local business, often with overseas
partners , as mentioned before, with typically disa strous results. We would like to see Government en-sure that transparent and fair processes are followed
in awarding contracts , and fully consult with and take
into account the knowledge and requirement of ex isting industries.
Madam President, here are a few examples
where the Government should have operated differ-ently. Vertical farming. Government insists the farmers were [consulted], but in reality, they were left in the
dark as Government developed plans t o compete
against them. This , despite the presence of many l ocal farming innovators in Bermuda who are naturally
the most motivated to make the new ideas work. Why
not listen to, work with and support them to improve Bermuda’s agricultural output in a way that suits local
conditions? I go back to listening and consulting.
24 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate We also know MyBermudaPost where the
Government chose to start competing against an existing package- forwarding industry in Bermuda, which
has several local firms and employs numerous local employee s. Given that the government prices in this
initiative are at the lower end of the private sector’s
prices and are operating at what we could presume is
lower efficiency than in the public sector, it is safe to
assume that the Government is losin g money as it
competes against the private sector.
Or put another way, Madam President, your
taxpayer money is subsidising Government’s efforts to
compete to take business away from the private sector. This assumption is strengthened by the fact that
Gove rnment is either unable or unwilling to provide
basic facts and figures about this operation. This is no
way to stimulate local business.
As a third example, I give you the solar or PV
industry, photovoltaic. Here we have a local industry
that brings tangi ble benefits of energy, efficiency, and
cost savings to the Island with several players of var ious size and scope who have been working and thinking about this problem in Bermuda for a very long
time. I have spoken with some of them, and I know
that as an industry they have tried to come up with
ways to streamline and reduce the expense of solar
installations in Bermuda including how to make them more practical for renters or people on lower incomes.
But Government has not seemed to engage with their
ideas. The Throne Speech made reference to a G reen
Energy Fund and a Community Solar project. I understand that overseas consultants are being paid for this work. But my inquiry has revealed that the local indu stry has not been consulted unfortunately , and frankly
unsurprisingly , given this Government’s inability to
engage outside of its own echo Chamber.
Madam President, as a final example of a lack
of transparency in engaging commercial partners, I
give you the Travel Authorisation (TA) Form and
resQw est. Thankfully, this debacle is now behind us,
but at what cost to Bermuda? Millions of dollars were
paid on a no- bid contract that was granted to the
Premier’s advisor. How many other local IT busines ses might have been able to bid on this contract competitively if existing Government processes had been
correctly followed, lowering the cost and improving the outcomes? We will never know, Madam President.
To make matters worse, although the TA
Form is over, based on prior answers received in this Chamber we can presume that resQwest still holds
the personal data on almost every Bermuda resident’s personal vaccination and travel records. And given resQwest’s lack of a proper privacy policy or data r etention policy, I would call that very poor accountability
with critical private data of Bermudians.
Madam President, the principal of resQwest
continues to serve as the Government ’s and the
Premier’s chief ThinkTech advisor while sitting on the board of one of the local FinT ech companies. I am sure there are many subtilties in this particular rel ationship. But it is not hard to see why giving a specific company the inside track to government policy decreases confidence in fairness and transparency.
Madam President, the one thing that we do know is
that fairness and transparency , and confidence in
those two things , is a vital component of economic
growth. If you wish to attract investment , you must
have fairness and transparency. This is why Bermudians are saying that with this Government , it is not
what you know but who you know. And who can
blame them? Madam President, we heard in the Throne
Speech about digital this, blockchain that. And we
have seen how this Government spends the people’s
money on self -promotion —fliers in mailboxes, slick
video production and photoshoots at public meetings—and using the Government Tree Frog app to
promote its own political parliamentary agenda as a
political megaphone without even mentioning the R eply to the Throne Speech . Does this seem like the
most useful and appropriate way to spend the taxpa yers’ dollar, Madam President?
I would suggest that if this Government wanted to use technology to improve things, they start with
basic government services and embrace the promise
of digitalisation. Why do we need to stand in line for so many g overnment services? Why does every department have its own way to pay? While there are
definitely some government departments that are
making serious efforts to improve what they do, they
seem to have been left to fend for themselves which produces a patchwork of processes and systems,
many of which often seem to be broken. Where is the
coherent, consistent, government -wide effort to i mprove how services are delivered to people in a modern and efficient manner?
Madam President, let me share an anecdote
with you. This month I had cause to reach out to the Department of Immigration with a query . So of course,
I looked them up on the website and emailed the off icial address. The email address did not work. Then, I called the department, and I pressed the numbers for
the areas with which I needed to consult. I pressed a few more numbers and I ended up back at the main menu. I was stuck in an endless loop of telephone tag.
Finally, after calling enough times and trying enough
times, I did meet a very lov ely lady who sent me to the
voicemail of the correct person. By the way, she did
not know the email address was broken. But a few
days later, there was still no response to my voicemail, so I repeated my calls and after enough
endless button pushing, I finally spoke to a person
who gave me the answer I needed.
Madam President, I am relatively tech savvy
and, as some might put charitably, relatively persi stent. So, I was able to eventually find out what I nee ded. But Madam President, is it any surprise that the
average Bermudian, perhaps especially our older


Bermuda Senate Bermudians, is completely at a loss when trying to
deal with Government to go about their business? The
only area that gets attention and seems to work well is
Government’s incessant machinery of self -promotion.
I would hope that the Government could apply this
level of interest and attention onto how it actually
works for the people. And let me just add a note to my
anecdote. You cannot actually blame the civil service
for this because if they are not gi ven the appropriate
direction, strategy , and resources , they will not
change what they do. That accountability has to come from the top.
So, Madam President, to summarise all of my
aforementioned points, I would like to see the Go vernment stop spending its time and energy on pet pr ojects and personal interest which at best fail to a ddress the issues facing Bermuda’s people (which we have heard in quite some detail from my colleague
Senator Smith) and at worse squander Bermuda’s
financial and reputational as sets. Instead, I urge this
Government to listen to our people and admit honestly
where the country is today, to consult with a true co llaborative attitude, to act with integrity and transpar-ency, to exercise good judgment and decision- making
and finally to insist on and act with accountability.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak at this
time?
Senator Arianna Hodgson, you have the floor.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, as you know, the Throne
Speech opens every new session of Parliament. It introduces the Government’s goals and objectives and
provides an indication of how it will go about achieving
them.
Over the past two years or so, governm ents
alike have dealt with the COVID -19 crisis while also
trying to move forward safely, sustaining and building on the progress that has been made over the years. In Bermuda, we are no different. This Government’s
COVID -19 pandemic response was one that protected
Bermudians and even set the example for other juri sdictions. At a time when healthcare systems were
struggling with an outbreak, this Government acted
quickly to create the Government’s Bermuda Molec ular Diagnostic and Research Laboratory [MDL] which
enabled the Island’s testing capacity to expand dr amatically , with Bermuda among the leaders in the
world per capita testing. The creation of MDL meant
that we were able to establish the first local testing
capacity in the Caribbean outside the official CARPHA
lab in Trinidad.
At a time when we were unsure about our
hospital’s capacity, we managed to add nearly 50 ad-ditional hospital beds to enhance the hospital’s ability to care for patients with COVID -19. And we were also
able to provide free c oronavirus vaccinations to all
who wanted it. As a result, Bermuda has one of the
highest vaccination rates in the region which enabled
the Government to fully reopen Bermuda’s economy. When families and businesses were suffering to stay
afloat, this PLP G overnment provided over $80 million
in unprecedented direct assistance to Bermudian residents and businesses impacted by the c oronavirus
pandemic including $60 million paid out in support to those who are unable to work. As a Government that
recognises that entrepreneurs are essential players in
the economy, we also allocated $12 million to the
BEDC to support small and medium -sized businesses
across the Island.
Madam President, since 2017 in particular,
this Government has successfully introduced initi atives that support our people, create economic growth
and take into account the interdependence that exists between different sectors. When the Opposition
claims that we have not done enough to address the
cost of living, it seems as though they have forgotten all of the legislation that we passed together, Madam
President. It also seems that as educated M embers of
this House they are totally ignoring the fact that corporate greed is a key driving force behind the rising cost
of living. And no, I am not blaming any one particular entity , as I understand the goals of business. Howe ver, there is something to be said about price increases
to simply pocket more profits.
Madam President, when we think about the f inancial position that we find ourselves in, I wish to
highlight that despite the combined $250 million in payments for the failed Morgan’s Point development,
this Government has been able to reduce taxes for
workers while also increasing funding for education,
training, healthcare and, most importantly, yout h development. Governments around the world are stepping up their efforts to spend more of their procur ement budgets with small and medium -sized enterpri ses. And I am particularly proud that we have also
been able to reform the Government procurement
process to ensure that more small businesses, Black -
owned businesses and women- owned businesses get
access to Government contracts.
Madam President, we are constantly looking
at ways to incentivise, to support, and to otherwise
sustain entrepreneurship, making it easier and more
appealing for small businesses to work with the Go vernment. I think that it is also worth noting that we i ntroduced tax on dividend payments for the first time,
earning the treasury $15 million in the first year and
reinvesting those additional funds into education,
healthcare and youth programmes.
Madam President, since 2017 we have done
a lot. We have provided a payroll tax rebate for 75 per
cent of Bermuda’s workers who make less than
$96,000 a year. We have frozen vehicle fuel prices
before they rose to record levels globally, which saved
26 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate families $23 each time they filled their cars and even
more for taxi drivers. We reduced the payroll tax to the
lowest levels in history for workers making less than
$96,000 per year , and were able t o maintain pension
increases for Bermuda’s seniors in 2017, 2018, 2019
and 2021 at or above the rate of inflation. You would
also note that we have had no across -the-board i ncrease in government fees since 2018, and a 10 per
cent reduction in private car r elicensing fees in 2022.
Madam President, we have worked with the
industry to eliminate import duty on eggs, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli and a host of other items. And we
provided duty relief to sporting clubs and youth pr ogrammes. We managed to provi de 41 additional affordable housing units through the Bermuda Housing
Corporation with even more on the way. Thank you to
a Minister who works so tirelessly.
We granted all new businesses a one- year tax
holiday and eliminated payroll taxes for disabled employees. We granted additional powers to the Cost of
Living Commission to investigate pricing. We changed the law to cap banking fees and end unjust banking
practices that add to the cost of living for Bermudians.
And we have even amended the Residential C are
Homes and Nursing Homes Act to provide for better
standards of care in our homes.
We enacted a charter of rights and respons ibilities for seniors, expanded the home health and seniors care benefit under FutureCare and the Health
Insurance Plan (HIP) t o provide additional income to
families while reducing cost to our healthcare system.
We increased the FutureCare prescription drug benefit and introduced a prescription drug benefit under HIP for the first time. We created a new maternity care
benefit for uninsured women to ensure good maternal
health for all of Bermuda’s mothers. We introduced a
national drug formulary to set maximum prices for
common medications and to reduce costs to consumers.
We introduced interest free home improv ement loans of up t o $15,000 for families who need
help modifying their home or that of their senior loved
one. We also introduced local radiation therapy cov-erage for HIP and future care persons. Madam Pres ident, we have even gone so far as to install fitness equipment in public parks throughout Bermuda to promote healthy lifestyles and make equipment accessible to all.
Madam President, I think it is worth noting that
this PLP Government provided teachers, g overnment
and hospital workers with their first pay raise since
2011 , and that we created the Tax Reform Commi ssion charged with making our tax system fairer and
enhancing our international competitiveness to i ncrease the number of jobs available on Island. We
established the Economic Development Department to advance the growth and diversification of Berm uda’s economy, doubled the guaranteed capacity of the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation [ BEDC ] and increased funding to allow more local businesses
to receive support.
We created a number of programmes through
the BEDC to cultivate and encourage entrepreneurship amongst young Bermudians and to develop the
next generation of business owners. As you all know,
we created the Wage Commission that researched
and recommended a minimum living wage for Berm uda. And we also implemented the Youth Employment
Strategy to facilitate greater opportunities and educ ational pathways for all young Bermudians between 18
and 26 years.
We launched the Short -Term Stimulus Pr ogramme in the wake of the economic downturn sparked by the COVI D-19 pandemic. And we created
an economic recovery plan which provided a clear path to growth, employment and greater economic equity. We established the Work from Bermuda pr ogramme and the Economic Investment Certificate and
Residential Certificate Policy , established the office of
FinTech to support and promote the growth of the
digital assets industry in Bermuda.
We passed new labour legislation which
strengthened trade units while increasing employee
protections against bullying and sexual harassment,
enacted comprehensive immigration reform, simplif ying the process for children born to Bermudian par-ents to attain Bermudian status. We established a Commission of Inquiry into Historical Land Losses to
investigate cases of injustice. We created a G ang Violence Reduction Team [GVRT] to focus on implementing programmes that reduced gang violence and ant isocial behaviours.
We changed laws to make luring and grooming while in a position of trust in relation to children under the age of 18 a criminal offense and even enacted legislation to criminalise revenge porn. We de-criminalised the possession of up to seven grams of
cannabis and passed legislation to expunge the crim inal records of those found guilty of nonviolent cannabis possession. We passed legislation t o create a
regulated cannabis licensing regime in Bermuda to increase tax revenue while also increasing protections
against abuse by young persons.
We reinstituted the pupillage programme for
aspiring Bermudian barristers to train under the s upervision of a designated barrister. We were the first
Government to provide public notification when sex
offenders were being released after their prison sentence. We created the Bermuda Coast Guard to pr ovide new opportunities for young Bermudians to serve
their coun try. We eliminated mandatory conscription
for males into the Bermuda Regiment and launched
the land title registry to provide an affordable option
for Bermudians to secure their deeds.
We implemented roadside sobriety testing to
reduce drunk driving on Ber muda’s roads. We were
also able in these past few years, Madam President,
to officially launch the National Youth Policy and to


Bermuda Senate implement a National Youth Policy Working Group.
We also were able to implement a National Cultural
Heritage Policy to preserve and protect our culture
and promote and develop our creatives. And we have
also afforded greater recognition for athletes of excel-lence such as Olympian Clarence Hill. And if I were to
continue to delve into the other successful initiatives
that we have been able to roll out we would be here a
bit later I guess than we had hoped.
In many ways the pandemic served as a cat alyst for government transformation. It was a clear indicator that there was a critical need for g overnment
support for our most vulnerable and a reminder that
we are only as strong as our weakest link.
Madam President, g overnment’s basic functions are providing leadership, maintaining order,
providing public services, providing national security
and economic security and providing economic assistance. The biggest challenge of Government and pu blic policy , however , is to know when and how the
world has changed and what exactly that means for our people. On the tail of a global pandemic, it is clear
that leadership looks different during different stages,
that maintaining order means different things to different people, that public services and the means of delivery , again , look very different for different people.
The nuances of national and economic security are
sure to change depending on t he season and state of
affairs. And providing economic assistance or the means by which we are expected to provide economic
assistance can also look very different.
Madam President, historically and constit utionally, the Opposition is understood to have three
main roles. The first is to oppose the Government.
The second is to criticise it. And the third role, Madam
President, is to seek to replace the Government. An
effective Opposition is in everybody’s interest. When I
think about the role of the Opposition, I can complet ely appreciate that the OBA exists to challenge the
Government, to ask the right questions and to hold us
accountable. But what I cannot accept is t he division
that is caused when we have an Opposition that is
simply antagonising.
When I read the commentary and listen to the
dialogue in both this House and in other places, I am sure that this OBA Government actually supports the work that this PLP Go vernment is doing. As the record
will tell, they actually agree with most, if not all, of our
policies. Instead of saying, Yes, we agree, and admi tting that the PLP Government is actually implementing
policies that are good for the people of Bermuda, they
try to attack the timelines and in some instances the who.
The Royal Gazette, Madam President, also
insists on painting a gloomy picture of the growth, de-velopment and overall performance of this PLP Go vernment. Madam President, if you would have known
me as a younger person, a teenager, you would know
that I had mastered the art of being contrary for the sake of it. I took pride in playing devil’s advocate.
Now, with my latest responsibility as a Senator and
public figure, Madam President, I am mindful about
being contrary for the sake of being contrary. I am
also cautious of spreading doom and gloom. And there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic. In his final
State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama
focused on the desperate need for a renewed e ngagement in and optimism of all politics. If you would
let me share a quote.

The President: By all means.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you. He stated:
“[W]hatever you may believe, whether you prefer one
party or no party, whether you supported my agenda
or fought as hard as you could against it —our collective futures depend on your willingness to uphold your
duties as a citizen. To vote. To speak out. To stand up
for others, especially the weak, especially the vulnerable, knowing that each of us is only here because
somebody, somewhere, stood up for us. We need every American to stay active in our public life—and
not just during election time—so that our public life
reflects the goodness and the decency that I see in
the American people every single day.”
And I would like to think I share these same
sentiments for Bermuda and her people, Madam President.
Following the release of our 2020 platform,
the OBA made comm ents about empty promises and
big dreams. Time and time again they have also claimed that we are not honest about just how gloomy
some of the realities may be. While some may agree
in selling doom and gloom, it would be irresponsible of
this Government to share this rhetoric. If we are being
honest with ourselves, Madam President, things are
never all bad or all good. And there are things that we
can be excited about.
When we ran in the 2020 election, we promised that we would create economic growth and r ecovery, that we would develop an equitable education
for all Bermudian children, that we would enhance
healthcare in Bermuda and meet the needs of our
seniors and differently abled, that we would invest in our workforce, particularly our youth, and that we
would become a leader in sustainability and renew able energy. We pledged to improve transportation and
road safety on our Island, to build a safer community
and to reform our criminal justice system. We pro mised to bring Bermudians together through celebr ations of culture and sport. And ultimately, we commi tted to improving the quality of life for all Bermudians.
As you know, Madam President, fiscal and
monetary policies are areas where everyone has an opinion, but few tend to agree. While reducing debt
and stimulating the economy are the general goals of
most governments, achieving those objectives often
involve tactics that appear to be mutually exclusive
28 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate and sometimes downright contradictory. When we
look at the important work that we are doing, we must
recognise that success cannot be fairly measured in
terms of gains of capital alone or even a certain
amount of debt reduction.
So, yes, while economic recovery is our
greatest priority, we also promised that we would continue to work towards improving lif e for all. This means
that even when the numbers are not what they could
or should be, people remain at the core of our pol icies. For us, it is about people- centred economic development because it will mean nothing to reduce debt while failing to address t he societal issues plaguing our Island.
As a labour party, Madam President, we exist
to give ordinary people a voice. Our desire to lead rests on the idea that we must seek power in order to
improve the lives of our people. And when I say “our
people, ” Madam President, I am speaking about an
entire people. This is because it is naïve to believe
that the decisions we make as leaders impact one
subgroup of people or another. When we look at go vernments and healthcare and education systems, we see just how far -reaching our actions actually are. I nclusiveness means treating everyone fairly and allo wing the same opportunities to all regardless of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, cultural background. And it is the idea that everyone should feel safe, su pported and encouraged. I believe that a focus on i nclusion enables countries to unlock the potential of
their diverse populations. And I believe that is essential to advance in democratic values such as respect
for diversity, human rights and equality bef ore the law.
Madam President, a child’s earliest years are
the most formative and vulnerable periods of life, featuring intense brain development, formation of first
relationships and definition of the psyche. This Government understands that experiences during this cri tical period often set the trajectory for health and wel lness in life and has determined that we will introduce
a First 1,000 Days initiative that will provide the foundation for leading a healthy life for children. Madam
President, we know t hat the well -being of children affects not only them and their families but society as a
whole. Children who flourish in the early years are more likely to become productive citizens and contri bute to prosperous economy and participatory democracy. And inv estment in a child’s well -being generates
returns over the long term and affects the prosperity
and viability of society well into the future.
In this legislative year, this Government will
seek to amend the Education Act 1996 in order to es-tablish P7 and P8 classes to support the opening of
parish primary schools at Francis Patton Primary and
Purvis Primary. The Government will also advance a Bill to create an Education Authority. Once esta blished, the A uthority will continue to implement change
and neces sary reforms to meet the needs of young
people in Bermuda. Madam President, there has been a good bit
of discussion surrounding the creation and implemen-tation of a National Youth Policy as well as the N ational Sports Policy. Knowing the talent we have on Island, these policies are something that we can all be proud of. In fact, they are proof of this Government’s
commitment to ensuring that we develop and empo wer our youth and that we raise the value of sport in
Bermuda, increasing participation and regional success. Our children are counting on us to deliver on
policies that ultimately ensure their success for deve lopment.
Through my discussions with peers and colleagues, I have learned that the issues are all the same. The only difference is our various stages of life.
Building on the progress of last year’s legislative
agenda we will deliver on our promise to establish a minimum wage in Bermuda with a tabling of an Order
to prescribe a minimum hourly wage rate, pursuant to
section 11 of the Employment (W age Commission)
Act 2019.
When we announced this Government’s
commitment to creating a nation of owners, we
acknowledged the various changes that persons face
when looking to find affordable rent al units. To put it
simply, it is increasingly difficult. Mad am President, I
am happy to report that the recently launched Mor tgage Guarantee Programme has been well subscribed and that during this session we will be advised
of the next phases of that programme which will i nclude the transfer of existing mortgages on certain
qualifying criteria. Concurrently , the Bermuda Housing
Corporation is also working to increase its rental stock
by an additional 77 units. This will be affordably priced
through their r ent-geared- to-income programme.
Since joining the Senate, I have come to find
that the Companies Act is perhaps Bermuda’s most
intricate legislation, and subject to regular amendments to meet the changing needs of corporate o perations and regulation. And during this session the
related legislation will be amended to streamline the
regime of ministerial consent and permissions for
basic operational matters and company formation and
changes in ownership structure. The amendments will
reduce the costs of doing business in Bermuda and will remove a layer of ministerial oversight that is i ncongruous with the pace of which business affairs
should be conducted in the 21
st century.
Each of us are aware that the state of Berm uda’s pension funds must be sensitively and prudently
addressed. Unfunded liabilities must be confronte d.
And social insurance contributions [must be] made progressive. And our social insurance system must be
made to conform to our ideals of equity. The Gover nment will introduce amendments to the Contributory
Pensions Act 1970 to make provision for sliding scale
and contributions based on salary earned and other uniform contribution irrespective of one’s income.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, I find it insulting that the
OBA would claim that we have failed to support Bermuda and her people. Our families are not just struggling with the increased cost of living, the rising energy costs, and barriers in healthcare. Our families are
dealing with the impacts of dysfunctional family rel ationships. Our families are dealing with mental and
chronic illness. And they are dealing wi th the impacts
of alcoholism and incarceration. They are also dealing
with two years of disrupted education and conflict in
all its many forms.
Madam President, in the past few years I
have personally witnessed young adults take a more
active interest in t he politics of the day. While some
are seen to disengage politically, many are actually at
the front of major political movements. They are organising groups, sparking movements, and driving
rallies and boycotts around the world. They are entering the conv ersations and making bold contributions.
Last night, I read a post that says, Never forget three [types of] people in your life: Who helped
you in your difficult times who left you in difficult times,
and who put you in difficult times. Madam President, if
you know me, I do not like to go back and forth about
who created which debts or who mismanaged which
policies, but I do know that this PLP Government has
proven time and time again that we are responsive to the people we serve and tha t our people matter.
When we went to the polls in 2020, we knew that the years ahead would be challenging. But the voters
spoke and chose a Government that is committed to
helping Bermudian people when things get difficult.
The truth is that governments ar ound the world are
being called to deliver better outcomes, to improve
citizens’ experiences of public services, and to make
constrained budgets reach even further. The only way
we can successfully answer these calls is to focus
relentlessly on our people.
This year’s Throne Speech, like the one b efore, may not have been lengthy. And, quite frankly , I
do not think it needs to be. But it reaffirms our goal of
focusing on the investment in policies needed to spur economic growth, essentially getting Bermudians back to work, restoring hope, sparking entrepreneurship
innovation and building a more prosperous Bermuda
that provides opportunity to all Bermudians while cr eating wealth for future generations.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson, Junior Minister for Finance and Health.
My understanding is that our newest Senator
would also like to speak.
Senator Leslie Robinson, the floor is yours.

MAIDEN SPEECH

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President. I just want to also comment on a couple of
things , if you do not mind, Madam President . And that
is part of the R esponse to the Throne Speech 2022
that was put out by our colleagues from the Oppos ition.
Firstly, I want to say that when Minister Darrell
spoke earl ier about the colours of the actual present ation, I was taken aback as well because when I came
in I actually thought that our own party platform had
done a revision because the colours are very, very
green I must say. And we might even want to use some of these colours in our own promotional mater ial. So, thank you very much, Opposition.
But Madam President, I actually want to say
something about the colours because I know that the
Opposition mentioned that colours do not mean an ything. But in fact, they do. Right now is a time when
we are trying to encourage young people and others to be able to have small businesses and engage in
small businesses. And one of the things that we encourage is that they look at their own personal branding. And so, it is important that the branding, when you look at it, is visual in such that it brands you as
who you are. And so, again I look at this green and I
say to myself, Wow, they are branding themselves
just like us . And so, I say it does matter what colour
your information comes in.
But more importantly, Madam President, I
want to just speak about a couple of things that are
actually in the R esponse. And I want to I guess in
some ways follow on from what [Senator] Hodgson
said in the fact that much of what is said in h ere act ually supports the work of this Government.
One of the things that this report states . . . it
says number one, “We were all expecting a clear indi-cation from the Throne Speech, that Bermuda and our
people are well on our way to a healthy economic recovery.” (They said that is what they were expecting. )
“Instead, we received a disheartening economic
speech, which lacked substance, and with no recovery plan to shed light on a progressive path forward.”
But, Madam President, if you do not mind me
reading just a little bit from this intro, the Opposition
talks about the global economy , and I am going to
read what they state here, “According to the OECD Economic Outlook Interim Report for September
2022, the world economy is paying a high price for
Russi a’s unprovoked, unjustifiable, and illegal war of
aggression against Ukraine. With the impacts of the
COVID -19 pandemic still lingering, the war is dragging
down growth and putting additional upward pressure
on prices , for food and energy. Global GDP stagn ated
in the second quarter of 2022, and output declined in
the G20 economies. High inflation is persisting for
longer than expected, and in many economies infl ation in the first half of 2022 was at its highest since the 1980s. With recent indicators taking a turn for the
worse, the global economic outlook has darkened.”
30 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate I will stop there, Madam President. But I go
back to the statement saying, “We were all expecting
a clear indication from the Throne Speech, that Be rmuda and our people are well on our way to a healthy
economic recovery. Instead, we received a dishear tening economic speech, which lacked substance, and
with no recovery plan to shed light on a progressive
path forward.”
Well, if I read that, and I read what they stated
in the global economy overview, I cannot see where
our Government is actually going to be able to at this point be so upbeat and excited about our economy.
Then we are living in unprecedented times. They say
we received a disheartening economic speech. But
when you read about the global economy, it is di sheartening. You know, we had a pandemic. And then
Russia went to war on Ukraine. And we have had r ecession; we have inflation. So, of course, we are not
going to be able to be all excited about our economy.
But it is about making one step, and one positive step,
and steps at a time.
Madam President, I also want to mention another item that the Opposition brought out in their R esponse to the Throne Speech. This item is to do with
purchasing a home. “For those wishing to purchase a
home,” (they say,) “it will become more out of reach
for them than ever before, as the cost of financing continues to escalate with no end in sight.” I say this
upon t he backdrop of the Mortgage Guarantee Pr ogramme. And while the OBA is saying that there are
issues, and we know, with trying to purchase a home,
we have come up with at least one solution to help
with that. My colleague on the other side just mentioned th e fact
that there is a particular bank that we are working
with. And yet they state here also in their Reply, “ To
remedy this situation, local banks must do their best to help people in financial stress . . .” So we are doing
that with a local bank. And yet they then want to put doubt in people’s minds about the fact that we may
have only done this with one bank. And yet what?
There must be something wrong with the other
banks? We are doing what they are saying. We are working with a bank! And we are trying to help with
the purchasing of new homes, particularly for our younger generation, our youngsters, which we must do.
So, Madam President, just one more item I
want to mention as well that I see here, if you do not mind.

The President: Absolutely. Carry on.

Sen. Leslie Robinson: In the international business
section it states that we “ must continue to support I nternational Business. We must continue to collaborate
with them so that as their businesses flourish, our
economy will flourish. In fact, we should work with
CEOs in the executive suites, as they may be a source of innovative ideas and may be able to suggest policies that will help Bermuda flourish econom ically and socially. ”
Well, I say again that what they are saying
here is what this Government is doing. Our Gover nment works with the CEOs through the associations like ABIC and ABIR and BILTIR and BCN . They work
with those who are coming in who want to do bus iness here and create direct foreign investment. They are working with them. And so, Madam President,
when I look at items, . . . and I have not had time to
look at everything, but when I look at items in this R esponse to the Throne Speech, the items that the O pposition is raising are aligned with what we are doing anyway as Government.
I will close by saying that, particularly when it
comes to our economy and even to our social pr ogrammes, we must be cautious, but yet focused and
deliver with clarity on what we have to do. Our age
that we live in is what we call the microwave- andpopcorn worl d, where we want things to be done i nstantly. It is all about instant gratification. It is all about
finding solutions right away without thinking, collab orating, having some purpose and having some real
clear purpose to deliver what we have to do.
Madam President, I am probably one of the
older ones in the room. I remember the days when we
didn’t have microwaves and we had to put our food in a pot and [on] the steamer on top to heat up our food.
I remember, Madam President, when we had the old -
fashioned T Vs. We did not have remote controls, and
we had to go up and turn the dial. And of course it
was a black and white TV. And there were only two
channels —two stations, that was it —that worked. T oday you have your remote control, and you can buy packages and get 400, 500 channels, 1,000 channels
in an instant. And of course, I had no Internet. And as I tell my young people all the time, you know, I had to
go to a library and study. You do not have to go to a library anymore; it is at your fingertips.
So I clo se my comments by saying that we
must be deliberate, but we must be thoughtful and we must be cautious in what we do. When it comes to
government policy, when it comes to economic recovery, we are not living in a time where we can just i nstantly fix things . There are too many matters that are
happening around Bermuda globally that are impac ting us. And so that is why a cautious but focused ap-proach, with clarity of purpose, is what this Gover nment is [doing] and will continue to do.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Leslie Robinson.
And the first time a Senator speaks in the
Senate, it is their maiden speech. And I would like to
commend you on your maiden speech today.

[Desk thumping]



Bermuda Senate The President: I would just like to say for each of the
Senators here that it has been a most comprehensive
debate from each and every one of you who have
contributed. And I thank you for that. It has been
good. Many of the issues that have been raised by you all, I cert ainly have had some concerns, whether it
has been in health, finance . . . you -name- it. But ce rtainly the Government has undertaken a number of initiatives that I think will be helpful to the general pu blic. You have identified many of them, and I will not
repeat them here. But, they are positive. And comments that have been made by the Opposition I think
could be taken on board, whether you may consider it
today or tomorrow. But certainly, they are all here to
improve the situation for all Bermudians.
I would just like to say, reflecting on what Ms.
McKenzie- Kohl Tuckett, who spoke at the [UK] House
of Commons recently [said], she mentioned that she
was very concerned about the exodus of young people from Bermuda. Not just our young people, but
people who have degrees. And I would like to think that this is something that could be taken on board by
the Government and by all of us, actually.
How do we attract the young Bermudians who
are well qualified [and] overseas? How do we attract them back to Bermuda? Many of them are well qual ified. And as she said, the fact that she raised it on the
floor of the House of Commons I think should cause
us to be concerned about that. Because we know that
our birth rate is very low. Our death rate is very high in
comparis on. And we need to keep those individuals
whom we train and educate— we need to attract them
back to this Island.
And as somebody in the health profession
formerly, I can tell you that we do recruit a number of
health professionals from all around the worl d. And
those of you who know who is admitted to the hosp ital, who have family members or friends, know that
there are a number of people whom we have to recruit
to work in our hospital. And when you think about the
hospital and the fact that we cannot staf f it appropr iately or adequately, that should cause us some concern.
So, there are a number of things that we need
to do. I recognise and I acknowledge that financially at the moment, economically we are in a difficult time. But this is something that we need to put on our
agendas going forward. So, I thank you all for your
contributions today. I think it has been a good debate.
I will now hand it back over to our Minister,
Mr. Owen Darrell. You have the floor, sir.

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, before I close or move on, I
would like to just take some time to reply to some of
what I have heard today in this debate. And before I
go any further, I do want to commend my team of
Government Senators, especially the newest whom we have just heard from. I was not expecting her to
speak today. But as we, the Progressive Labour Party, have such a wonderful record on what we are doing for the people, I know she was inclined to speak
and also pull out some of the contradict ions that become very obvious as you sit here on this side of the
Senate. And I would just like to go back and respond
to some of those.
We started with the Opposition Senate Leader, Senator Smith, with more of what we heard on Fr iday in another place, ac cusing the Progressive L abour Party of having no real plan and no real tim elines. He went on to question and make a comparison to Bermuda that, when it comes to hotels, other i slands are doing great. And that is just laughable. The
reason why some of those other islands —and we
talked about this in a previous debate —are doing so
well is because they give huge concessions, especial-ly hotel concessions to allow hotels to be built, which
will allow increased airlift. Yet we had to fight and d ebate and had delay s just to get a small concession for
the Fairmont Southampton, which has delayed the
project, and as a result has delayed some of the i ncreased airlift that we would love to see.
So, it is shocking that [the Senator] would
make the comparison to other isl ands, yet when we
are trying to do something just remotely similar here, we get great pushback from the One Bermuda All iance and others.
Again, it was shocking to hear that one of the
key factors, or three of the key factors that have caused our economy t o kind of look terrible . . . the
One Bermuda Alliance are still bragging about what
they did and their pretty airport and the awards it wins.
Let us just forget the $41 million that could be used on
some of these other projects that they are speaking
abou t. You know, we are more interested in the
awards that we got and that the project was on time
and it looks pretty. But once again, I think that as we
will get to Senator De Couto’s points later, they are a
little disconnected as to what they think the peo ple are
saying about them.
We heard from Senator Robin Tucker, again
on the same wavelength, the PLP has no plans. And I
just want to ask, How can you possibly say that? I
mean, we have a list of accomplishments that the
Progressive Labour Party has done. But, hey, by my
account they had a book of 17 pages of not much of
anything. And I am sitting here on a computer, and I
can scroll through 23 pages of accomplishments over
the last five years that the Progressive Labour Party are doing to assist the peopl e of this country.
So, Senator De Couto decided that . . . he
says that we are only talking to people who stand out-side Alaska Hall. Well, I will say this: At least people
know where to come to find their representatives, b ecause the One Bermuda Alliance would be hardpressed to talk to my friends and to find out where they should come to talk to them. But I will leave that
32 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate there. I am so glad that Senator De Couto is so concerned about the renovations that are happening at
Alaska Hall. Maybe he will join us for our Christmas
party.
And he asked a direct question, Madam President.

[Inaudible interjection]

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Let me stay focused
here.
A direct question. I am going to actually answer this question. So once again in their theme of
contradictions and dark clouds, Senator De Couto
asked a question. I wrote it down. He threw cold w ater, first of all, on the Mortgage Guarantee Pr ogramme, which has almost 100 people already signed up ready to go. It is one of the biggest announc ements the Progressive Labour Party has made in
years. And basically, what I got from him was, Well,
that’s not a big deal. All I’m concerned about is why
some of my friends of the banks in Hamilton didn’t get
include d in this deal.

I believe Senator Darrell
is misrepresenting my comments. I do not think I r eferred to any —

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: I am getting there, Ma dam President. Let me get there.

The President: Continue, Minister Darrell.
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank yo u, Madam
President.
Senator De Couto did say something to the
effect of, Why didn’t the other banks get involved?
And I would like to be transparent. Before we announced this, the other four banks, years ago, were actually approached regarding how they could get
involved in an initiative such as this. And specifically
for one reason and one reason only —to help lower -
income families get mortgages. Guess what, Madam
President? The other banks said no.
So I am not sure how he wants me to include
other banks and other individuals when they say no. But as we have seen in kind of your playground, if
somebody gets a nice shiny toy and it looks nice and it is working great, all of a sudden, Can I have a turn
on that? What can I do? So once the programme is
announc ed, it should not be any shock that some of
these other banks that said no are trying to ask, Well,
if knew that was going to be the deal and we knew
that, then we would have probably said yes. But it
should not shock you because other than reducing
head c ounts, increasing fees, recording and boasting
about massive profits, really certain institutions in this
country do not have a good record of trying to do what
the Progressive Labour Party is doing. And I am so
glad that an MP who sits in another place was able to
head this up and take on this Mortgage Guarantee
Programme for the betterment of Bermudians.
I would like to also point out some other contradictions that I saw as I was sitting here reading this document from the One Bermuda Alliance. In their
Reply on page 3, they talk about the Tax Reform
Commission report. And if I may quote, Madam Pres ident?

The President: You may, Senator.
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: They say, “And what
has been done thus far to implement any of the recommendations?” That is on page 3. And then you get to page 15, and they say that will reduce the foreign
currency purchase tax. Well, it was the Tax Reform
Commission that recommended that we increase the
foreign currency purchase tax. So what is it that the One Bermuda Alliance want? Do they want us to i mplement the recommendations or not? I do not think that the One Bermuda Alliance, like I said earlier,
have really taken time to focus on what it is that we
are doing. And I think they are just using their time to make noise.
On to Senator De Couto’s earlier point. He
questioned who the Progressive Labour Party are talking to. I made a speech some time ago, Madam
President. And there was a point in time where som ebody said to me that, you know, the Senate doesn’t really matter. And on an afternoon when there was a
lot of other stuff going on, I might have thought, Well,
maybe it doesn’t matter. I might have wondered, Well,
how many people are actually paying attention to what
we are saying in this place? And to listen t o some of
the messages that I get as we sit here from individuals
who are proud of what the Progressive Labour Party
are doing, they are saying, Well, what’s coming next?
And they have great hope and anticipation of how
their lives are going to improve under the Progressive
Labour Party Government. I have to apologise to
some of them. Because they sit by their radios and
they have to listen to hours and hours of an Oppos ition Reply that really is not saying anything.
One person (and I smiled) said to me, C an
you please turn his microphone off? And I said, Well,


Bermuda Senate let’s listen. And they said, But he’s not saying anything. So I would push back on Senator De Couto’s
comment that people are not listening to the Progressive Labour Party. And that takes me into som ething
that he said that I found extremely disrespectful. Senator De Couto . . . I did not [ rise on a] point of order , I
let him finish. He said that the Progressive Labour
Party are using government money for our own self -
promotion.
No, Senator De Couto. What we are doing is
communicating to the public [about] all of the good things that we are doing for them. Because even as I
am sitting here, and as much as we had press conferences, as much as we sent out press releases, as
much as it has been covered, as much as people are
talking about it, someone said to me, What’s the
Mortgage Guarantee Programme? So what that
means is that . . . and I heard someone say this in
another place. Even when you think that you have
said it over and over and over again, and you think
that people are understanding and people are getting it, then, I think my colleague said ( let me get it right),
there are many people who are actually just hearing it for the first time.
Once again I will commend my Senate colleagues today for going through this 23- page list of
accomplishments of the Progressive Labour Party Government so that the individuals who may not have
heard previously the things that we are doing to make
their lives better and to turn the economy around can
have that Ah -ha moment and say, Thank you. Thank
you to my representatives who are working hard on
my behalf .
So, Madam President, thank you for allowing
me, my colleagues, as well as the Opposition, to take
some time today to go through the Throne Speech, to
speak about the Throne Speech Response so that
members of our community can know what we are
doing on thei r behalf.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister.

[Pause]

The President: I beg your pardon. I need to refer
back to the Minister with respect to the debate that we
have had today.
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, I move that the following
message be sent to Her Excellency the Governor:
May it please Your Excellency:
The Senate has the honour to thank Your E xcellency for the most gracious speech which the Deputy Governor, acting on your behalf, was pleased to
open the present session of Parliament.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The message will be sent.
Thank you, Minister.

[Motion carried]

MOTIONS
The President: There are none.

CONGRATULA TORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES

The President: Would any Senator care to speak?
Senator Smith, Opposition Leader, you have
the floor.

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
Firstly, I would like to start off by giving cond olences to the family of Nora Sharpe, who passed
away recently at the age of 97, just messages of con-dolences to the entire Sharpe family for the loss of the
matriarch. I know that all of them are missing her.
On a more positive note, I would like to give
congratulations to Mr. D aniel Woods, who just passed
the . . . it is called RICS, which is the Royal Institute of
Chartered Surveyors. I was able to attend an event
which was his celebration of finally being able to pass
that certification. This is a young man whom I have
been working with. He is actually also volunteering his
time as a coach, working hard in the community. And I just wanted to let him know that I am proud of the accomplishment and look forward to what he continues
to do in our community.
I would also like to giv e congratulations to the
Bermuda Carifta Triathlon team who recently was able
to get 13 medals over the weekend. I was able to attend on the Sunday and watch the Aquathlon, which is
the swim –run version of the event and watching a
large contingent of young people wearing the blue and
pink. It was really exciting to just see early on a Su nday morning at Clearwater young people really wor king hard to represent Bermuda. So congratulations to
them. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Ben Smith.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
I see Senator John Wight.
You have the floor.

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to congratulate Flora Duffy. I do
not think we had a chance since our last session to
congratulate Flora on a very inspiring and amazing
victory. I was right at the water when she got out, and
the chorus of cheers was deafening. And I am sure it
made every Bermudian proud to be cheering on such
34 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate a wonderful person and athlete. So I congratulate Fl ora Duffy on her great victory.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to start with the list of condolences. Last night I had the opportunity to attend the
Smith’s Parish Council’s candlelight vigil that they had
to remember loved ones who had recently passed
away. MP Richardson obviously was there, and Mini ster Tinee Furbert was there as well. It was held at
Warrior field. Representatives from the various
churches in Smith’s Parish were also there and parti cipated, [as well as] several people from the communi-ty. It was such a beautiful event. So I do want to say
thank you to St. Philip Church and Smith’s Parish
Council in total for organising and hosting that event.
I just want to name off a few people who were
remembered last night. And apologies if I have forgot-ten anyone . . . I do not think so, but in case I have.
Mr. Paisley Caines; Dionne Woolridge; Romel Woolridge; Albert (Manga) Simons. Those are individuals
who were recognised last night.
I would also like to extend condo lences to the
family of Daniel Outerbridge, who also is part of con-stituency 7, who has recently passed away.
I would also like to extend condolences to [the
family of] “O -Sensei ” [or] “Skipper” Ingham. Skipper
was my husband’s sensei. He actually has bee n
known to my family for quite some time. He and Kri stina were at my wedding 34 years ago. So he actually
meant a lot to my husband, and so I want to extend
condolences to them and his entire family.
I would like to say congratulations and officially welc ome our new Senate colleague. I am waving at
her from across the room. So I would like to say welcome and congratulations to her on her appointment.
I also want to mention congratulations to,
again, McKenzie- Kohl Tuckett. I mean, everyone has
been overly and uber -ly impressed with her. And certainly I did see her presentation, and I too was overjoyed and impressed by her presentation as well.
I would like to join with Senator Wight’s co mments congratulating Flora Duffy. And as well I would
like to say con gratulations to all of the men who parti cipated in the AXA XL Man on the Run 5K. I was a spectator of all, with one of my Senate colleagues in
here, Minister Owen Darrell. And it was so wonderful to see so many men participating in that event! I was
hugely impressed and thankful to be able to witness
that. So again, congratulations to everybody who participated.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker. Would any other Senator care to speak?
Yes. Senator Lindsay Simmons.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
First, I would like to give condolences to [the
family of] Quinton “Tiny” Ming. Mr. Ming used to drive
us around. I used to live in North Shore years ago.
And he used to pick us up and take us to Sunday
School and different events. He was somebody who
was always a smiling person, always willing to help
and go the extra mile. So, condolences to his family,
his wife , all of his children and grandchildren.
I also want to congratulate McKenzie- Kohl
Tuckett. Sh e is an amazing ambassador for Bermuda.
I remember having to interview McKenzie not too long
ago. And she lit a fire in me. I wish I spoke as well as [she does]. McKenzie is amazing, and Bermuda is
brighter with children like McKenzie coming through
the ranks.
I also want to congratulate Minister Darrell for
his appointment. I know that I sit behind him now, and
I am going to sit back and enjoy what comes out of his
mouth.
So thank you, Senator Darrell, and congrat ulations on your appointment.

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

Thank you, Madam
President.
I would like to associate myself with the co ndolences to the family of Nora Sharpe. Many of her
family members are in Warwick North East, as well as
for “Skipper” Ingham. And I would like to associate myself with the congratulations for Dame Flora. I have
nothing to add that has not already been said.
Madam President, a few weekends ago I had
the pleasure of enjoying a lively event at the Warwick
Workmen’s Club as they celebrated their 100
th anniversary. I want to thank them for their hospitality. There were many highlights, so I cannot pretend to go
through them all. Perhaps the Minister will fill in after
me. They have quite a lot of characters up there, and
some great history and some stories.
Of note, they had Glenn Fubler give a presentation about the history of Black clubs in Bermuda. Now of course, that audience was no stranger to his
topic. But as you can imagine, I may have learned a
few new things. It is important that we acknowledge that, and that we understand that. But most importantly, it was a good time. I did not get to sit with [Senator]
Darrell. I believe his ear was being bent by the club
treasurer. But I did get to enjoy the company of some
of his other PLP colleagues.
I would like to congratulate the Bermuda D ebate Society who just hosted their annual debate


Bermuda Senate tournament. I believe after two years off they finally
had that going. I was unable to attend, and some of
my colleagues judged. But I have judged in the past,
and I can assure you, Madam President, I am always
well impressed by these talented young people.
Also, this weekend was an event celebrating
United Nations [International] Day of the Girl, also
suspended for two years. Again, I could not attend that. But I know that it was extremely well attended,
and I know the organiser, and I know it was a fabulous
event for young ladies.
Then something I found particularly of interest
is the cardboard boat challenge. And I would like to
congratulate the Warwick Academy team for winning that. For those of you who do not know, you have to build a boat out of cardboard and get in it and see
who floats. And that is put on to promote architecture
and engineering. And I think it is a pretty cool event.
So again, congratulations to the participants and organisers of that event.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I would like to associate myself with the r emarks that have been made by most of my Senate colleagues today. But I also wanted to send condolences to the family, and particularly the wife of, Mr.
Charlie Marshall. I had the opportunity to attend . . .
well, I was actually traveling back to Bermuda one of
those days, and my mother had served him years ago
at Halfway House in Flatts. We were talking about his
passion for young people and his passion for the community. And he told me, If you want to make sure
your child will get a great education, you make sure
she gets into a sport. Although I could not get her to
try football, she has recently joined the Pacers Track
Club, and it has just been a pleasure to join a community that I was not part of growing up. But it is exci ting to see all that does happen for our Bermudian at hletes. So I just wanted to send my condolences to his family.

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

Sen. Leslie Robinson: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to congratulate Mr. St. Clair
“Brinky” Tucker of St. David’s. He is known as a former police officer and of course as a cricket player. But he recently spoke at Harvard University an d gave
a cultural exchange speech about Bermuda’s connec-tion with Native American Indians, and it was part of Native American Indian Month in the United States.
So we would like to congratulate him.

The President: Thank you.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
No?

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President.

The President: Yes, Minister Darrell. You have the
floor.
Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, I would just like to start by
lending my condolences to some na mes that have
already been mentioned. To the family of Mr. “Ski pper” Ingham. I do know his daughter, Shomeiko. And I
always tease her as her father was one of the top
martial artists in the Island. I know her as one of Bermuda’s top dancers in the Island. I do know that they
are having a memorial service tomorrow, and I just
want to send my condolences to his wife, Kristina; his
children, Zenji, Shomeik o and Ricardo.
Also, as we broke for lunch today you would
have noticed that there was a lot of activity next door
at the St. Paul AME Church. And that is because they
were laying to rest Mr. Quinton “Tiny” Ming. As an i ndividual who grew up in the AME church, I was very
familiar with Mr. Ming, as well as his wife, whom I
know as Aunt Joan; his children, [and his son, Qui nton] also known as Sinny. So, condolences to his
family.
Also, condolences to [the family of] a legend
of the Devil’s Hole family, Mr. Albert (Manga) Simons,
who unfortunately lost his life far too soon earlier last
week.
Also, I want to mo ve on to a happier note with
some congratulatory remarks. As was mentioned by
Senator De Couto, I did attend the 100
th anniversary
celebrations of the Warwick Workmen’s Club. And to
anybody who has been to Warwick Workmen’s Club
in their hall, you would not have recognised that it was
the same location the way that this committee trans-formed the hall. And that is significant because whenever you can use your own premises to put on an
event like that, we all know that it raises funds, and
that is one thing t hat many of these community clubs
do need to continue to offer programmes and to upgrade their facilities.
So I want to say congratulations to a few of
the executive committee. I am not going to go through them all, but the President, Mr. Lorenzo Tucker; the
Vice President, Mr. Nadanja Bailey; and my first
cousin, who is Mr. Kian Butterfield, who, yes, Senator
De Couto, demanded that I sit at his table during the
event. And it was good. I am glad I did sit there. He
was able to tell me about many of the historical nuances of Warwick Workmen’s Club and what they are
36 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate doing, a lot of interesting things that I did not know. So
I was happy to attend that event.
Congratulations again to Ms. Flora Duffy for
wowing the crowd through the streets of Hamilton.
Also I had the opportunity to attend the Carifta
Triathlon for young people. And that was actually the
weekend after the World Triathlon in Bermuda. The
Bermuda team did get an overall of second place, so
congratulations to all of the individuals who came
down, the young people who did participate in the
Carifta Triathlon.
Also, I had an opportunity to attend a wonderful event called Women in Formation, which was put
on by the Bermuda Olympic Association. At this event they honoured 15 female athletes, top athletes, I call
them legends of their sports . And it was definitely an
education for me to learn about sports that I may not
have grown up following, and to recognise what these
females have done in their sport. Again, like Senator
Tucker mentioned, the Man on the Run.
This weekend past I attended two events, one
was the Caribbean Equestrian Association show
jumping eve nt. I thank the President [of the Bermuda
Equestrian Federation], Ms. McKeisha Smith, for invi ting me, and all others who took time to walk me through the sport of equestrian and what some of the
difficulties are and to highlight some of their shining stars at the Bermuda Equestrian Federation.
The final event I did attend this weekend was
an event put on by the Sisters of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority. They hosted a netball tournament, and it was
to promote healthy lifestyles in Bermuda. I did stop by
there. I did not play any netball this time, but I was
glad that I did get invited to be a part of their event.
Finally, I would like to send congratulations to
one of my dear cousins who helps me any time I call
him, Mr. DeRoy Butterfield. Mr. DeRoy Butterfield was
most recently elected as the President of the Leo pards Club Bermuda. And we do know the legacy that
the Leopards Club has as far as culture in the Island.
Congratulations to Mr. Butterfield, who is now the
President of the Leopards Club. And I did sto p by ye sterday to share my congratulations in person.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Darrell.
I would just like to extend condolences to Dr.
Kenneth Snaith, a well -known dentist in the St.
George’s area and his family, on the recent passing of
his wife, Trudy Francine Snaith.
Also, this is very recent, and I thought I would
say it here because we are not going to be meeting for another week or more. Condolences are also extended to Mrs. Phyllis Caisey and her family on the
death of her h usband, Oliver Caisey just yesterday.
Finally, the congratulations that have already
been extended to Flora Duffy, I wanted to be assoc iated with that, as well as McKenzie- Kohl Tuckett. I am
sure I expected Minister Owen Darrell to speak on that because she was a Youth Parliamentarian, and I know he had a part to play in training the Youth Parliamentarians. So congratulations to her.
And with that, that ends this. But before we
move on to the adjournment, I have just been handed a message by Senator Lindsay Simmons that she has
the answers to the questions that were presented and
asked by Senator Tucker.
So, Senator Lindsay Simmons, you have the
floor.

QUESTION PERIOD
[Recommitted]

QUESTION 1: MIRRORS PROGRAMME —
AN UPDATE

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
The first question from Senator Tucker was,
What efficiencies will be realised as a result of having
shared resources under DCFS [Department of Child
and Family Services]?
DCFS has a unique mandate that caters to
provi de support and resources to families and indivi duals in the unit. This demographic aligns with the Mi rrors Programme which focuses on Bermuda’s youth,
more specifically young men and their related concerns. DCFS has the flexibility to adjust, to adapt and
take on responsibilities for providing the Mirrors Pr ogramme with managerial and administrative oversight
with access to professional personnel if needed. Out
of the four other areas assessed, the Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation, Department of Court
Services, Department of National Drug Control, DCFS
received the highest numerical alignments.
Madam President, the second question was,
What key enhancements to the Mirrors Programme
should the public expect from the move to DCFS?
Improved managerial oversight, shared administration resources, clearer workflow of processes
and procedures, good governance, improved controls, and new community programmes being designed and
offered.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay Si mmons.
Minister Owen Darrell, over to you.

ADJOURNMENT

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, I do now ask that we adjourn to December 7.
The President: December 7?



Bermuda Senate Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Yes.

The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
the motion to adjourn?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

I have to te ll you, Ma dam President, I am vexed. I wish this was the kind of
venue I could stand up and bang my lectern and make
a lot of noise. I am vexed! Twice now, Madam Pres ident, I have come to this Chamber with questions on behalf of the Bermudian public, and t his Government
does not know the answers, or does not wish to give
the answers. I do not know which is worse. Either this Government is embarking upon initiatives, Madam
President, with the taxpayer money where they do not
even know how it is going to work out—

The President: Senator De Couto, can I just interrupt
you? Are you referring to the decision that I made this
morning with respect to the [vertical] farming?

I am referring to the
Government’s request to not consider the question.

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, a
ruling was made on that. So for the Senator to speak
on that I think is out of order.

The President: Senator De Couto, are you referring
to the [vertical] farming? Because I have indicated that
I have made a ruling on it. It is not to be discussed at
this stage. So if you have another issue that you want to raise with respect to particular questions that you
had asked, I will allow that. But not related to the [vertical] farming questions.

Understood, Madam
President.
Madam President, we have heard a lot about
independence. And I attended an interesting presentation last week, and one of the general topics raised
at the flip side is accountability.

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President. Ma dam President, point of order. The President: What is your point of order?

POINT OF ORDER

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: The Senator is speaking
of a term that the Progressive Labour Party has mentioned not once in this debate or in debates in any
other place, Madam President. So I would ask the
Senator, if he is speaking about something that he
has heard about, that he actually speak on what we
said and not what he thinks we said.
Thank you, Madam President.

Madam President, let
me rephrase. Ignore my previous comment, and let
me restart.
I attended an interesti ng presentation on Fr iday that talked about the topic of independence in the general sense. And one of the main points was that
the flip side of independence is accountability. And,
Madam President, I will put to you this is a Gover nment that is scared and afraid of accountability. I look
to this Chamber. I know in the past —

Sen the Hon. Owen Darrell: Madam President, point
of information.

No, Madam President.

The President: Senators, for information or for clarif ication, it is up to the Senator who is speaking to indicate whether they w ill accept that. Just for the new
Senators so that you understand. But a point of order,
I am required to allow the point of order to be taken.
So a point of clarification, a point of information, the
Senator speaking can accept or deny.
Senator De Couto, do you accept a point of
clarification?

I was talking about accountability being the flip side of independence, Madam President, and that this Government on a regular
basis evades, avoids, makes excuses and disregards
accountability. And I am going to give a pretty big example.
If you remember, at the beginning of this year,
Madam President, we talk ed about the Fairmont
Southampton Hotel Act. And one interesting feature of
38 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate that is that the Bill went to Parliament. It made reference to materials that the Minister had seen as part of
the Act, Madam President. It was not even provided to
the parliamentarians, Madam President. And no public
information had been given. And it was not until that Bill came to the Senate and it was unclear what the
position of the Senate would be that, magically, lo and
behold, this information appeared. Public information
sessions were had. Further briefings and details were
given.
Madam President, that is an example of the
role of this particular Chamber in providing account ability to get valuable information from this Gover nment. And I do not understand why they do not giv e
that information out. Really, you have two conclusions to draw. It would reflect badly on the Government, or
they just do not know it. Either one is no good for this
country.
We have seen it with respect to accounting. I
have some other examples, but I suspect they will be
disallowed. Let me talk about the accounts and audits. Accountability. If you cannot make your audit dates,
you do not change the law to say you can be late. You
figure out how to fix it so you can deliver those audits
on time so you c an demonstrate to the people how
their money is being spent. You do not pass a law so
you do not have to use the government Auditor Gen-eral if you cannot satisfy her requirements. You get on
with it and you satisfy the requirements. They do not
come up fro m a vacuum, Madam President.
I do not understand. I do not understand what
is going on with this Government. And I have got to tell you, the people do not understand. I said in my statement during the debate that this Government
needs to listen more. And Minister Darrell twisted that
around and said the people are listening to the Go vernment. That is not what I said. The Government
needs to listen to the people. But he could not hear
that. And then he talked about how the Government
ought to be getting thanks and praise. That is not what
the Government is here for, to receive thanks and
praise! The Government needs to get its act together.
The Government needs to stop abusing the people’s resources to promote its political agenda. It pumped
out all the vari ous parliamentary Bills on the official,
what should be nonpartisan, Bermuda Government
communications platforms. But where was the Reply?
That is political interference, Madam President.
Well, I will not bore you with anymore. I think I
have made my key points. Thank you for your time,
and have a pleasant afternoon.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Senator Lindsay Simmons, you have the floor.
MIRRORS PROGRAMME

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I am not going to be too
long. I just really . . . because we spoke about Mirrors
today, I just want to talk about going actually through
the 8 Keys of Excellence Programme myself that I was teaching at Dellwood. And I want to thank Jeanene [Todd] and Ms. [Kimberley] Jackson for bringing
the programme to middle schools. It gives all students . . . they are excited to learn. I remember befor e I was
a politician, every month we were given a different
key. And the group of young ladies I worked with, we
were determined every month to win. And we won
mostly all of the keys.
We did one on the PLP Government. And
those young ladies were excited t o talk about what
this Government was doing for them or what they co ntinue to do for them. I actually had a conversation with one of the young ladies about two weeks ago. And
she said, Ms. Simmons, remember when we did a
presentation on the PLP? Who would have known you
would have been there?
I said, I know. I did not realise I was going to
be a Senator either.
But she said, You know what? That was one
of my best projects I did. I learned a lot about government and what the Government does. She said,
You guys continue to fight hard. Put our people first.
That gave me a sense of hope that our young
people are listening to us and are rallying behind this
Government.
Mirrors is doing amazing. They are making
sure that we give our students tools in their tool box
that will carry them through life. I always say to my
daughter, The best thing Mama could do for you is
make sure you have a solid education. All of these
different tools that we give to our children to put in these toolboxes will be stuff that they wi ll never lose. It
is important that we take time to instil these different
programmes and show them what the importance of
these programmes is.
Mirrors is not just given once a year to Paget
Island to have a barbeque. It is about building strong independe nt Bermudians, putting Bermudians first. So
I am excited that this programme is falling under the
Department of Social Development and Seniors. I am
the Junior Minister so I can be a part of their growth
and I can continue to learn from them. Kudos to Mi rrors for putting our Bermudian children first. I am excited that we are actually going to start to take this programme into the primary schools. So not only will it
be in middle schools; it will be in primary schools as
well, and hopefully in the high schoo ls as well.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay Si mmons.

B ermuda Senate Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Hearing none, then Senate stands adjourned
until December 7. Thank you.
[At 3:56 pm, the Senate stood adjourned until
10:00 am, *Wednes day, 7 December 2022.]
[*The Senate did not meet on 7 December 2022]
40 21 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

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