November 18, 2022

Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: What I can say is that the bank,
with the Ministry of Finance, certainly worked with the regulator to ensure that all was in place. So I am not
entirely certain what the Honourable Opposi tion
Member is asking specifically. But what I can say is
that, especially when it came to a lower down pa yment and those types of things, they were checked off with the Bermuda Monetary Authority, and the Bermuda Monetary Authority is comfortable with this
[programme] advancing.

Thank you.
Supplementary?
Okay, yes.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you.
As you know, Mr. Speaker, I worked in banking. And I heard the Premier’s response in regard to my question about, after 10 years. I would jus t like for
the Premier to understand . . . or asking the question,
Is he aware that the terms of the mortgage will change after the 10- year guarantee has expired? And as the
terms of the mortgage will change, it provides instit utions with the ability to re- underwrite the mortgage. So
can he speak to that?


Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: The Honourable Member is ma king an assumption that the terms will change. What
we have been informed is that the terms will not change. And I am happy to seek additional clarity for
the Honourable Member if he wishes. As with all
things it will be determined on the individual performance on the loan. For clarity, insofar as the issue
when the guarantee falls off, the guarantee does fall
off when the loan- to-value is under 80 per cent.

Okay.
Third question? None? Okay. Thank you.
Premier, those are the only questions for you
today.
Thank you, Members.
The next questions this morning are for the
Attorney General.
Madam Attorney General, you have questions
from a few Members. The first is from the Opposition
Leader.
Opposition Leader.

QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON CONSTITUTIONAL
REFORM
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: First of all, I would like to
thank the Attorney General for her report.
My first question is, Why did we engage Dr.
Carlyle Corbin for the constitutional reform report
when we had prepared a similar report by the Berm uda Independence Commission under Premier Alex
Scott in 2005?

Attorney General.

Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My report today was not focused on the def iciencies of the Bermuda Independence [Commi ssion’s] report. It was drawing a comparison in terms of
the work that has not been completed subsequent to
that report, which we as a Government have under-taken to continue. I am happy to lay the report so the
Member can be supplied with the so- called deficiencies if I am able to identify them in a way that is sati sfactory to him. But that is not our focus today. Our f ocus is to continue the work of that commission, which
was from 2005, which is a sad indictment on all of us, given that the UN has a mandate for decolonisation
that is now 60 years old.
Thank you.

Attorney General.
Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The report will be comprehensive —it is co mprehensive with regard to the issues that [the Honourable Member] raised. I am sure when it is tabled in this House on December 2, the Member will be able to
get a greater insight in terms of the questions that he
has raised. It is ver y comprehensive.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for this Stat ement. I was hoping to hear more about it. Since my
24 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly time in Parliament, this discussion has been had on
and off.
So my question reall y is, in the vein of matur ity as the Honourable Minister mentioned, and being
[that there is] information all about it and allowing the public to become aware of this report, I was just cur ious. There has been a lot of talk about, Why was not
the report made public in its commission in and of i tself? Why did we not allow the public to be aware that
we were going to commission a report on this matter?

Madam Attorney General.

Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Cabinet is awar e of direction of travel with
regard to the constitutionally informing at the appr opriate time. The Government is always ready and wil ling to best inform the public. There is no secrecy
around this matter. There have been questions that
have been raised fr om members of the public with
regard to the cost. The contract will be published, and
the report will be made public for all to see.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and
I thank the Honourable Attorney General.
Mr. Speaker, my question relates to page 13
of the Attorne y General’s Statement. To be clear,
starting with, “To be absolutely clear, there is no for-mula or pathway to sovereignty for Bermuda which
excludes an unambiguous democratic mandate from
the Bermuda electorate.” Would the Honourable A ttorney General pleas e define what the “unambiguous
democratic mandate” is? Is that specific to . . . is that
either a referendum or is that the result of a general
election?

Attorney General.

Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That is for the Gov ernment to determine.
There are various options, and the two that he men-tioned are options for this Government to consider at
the appropriate time. But let us be clear, the dem ocratic will of this people will dictate the outcome of that
exercise either way .

Opposition Leader.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Can the Attorney General
confirm that they would prefer to have a general election over a referendum?

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think that clearly the Opposition is stretching
this morning. I suggest that he wait until we have a
fulsome discussion on the subject matter.

[Crosstalk and l aughter]

Thank you. Thank you
again, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for
that update.
I share in his sentiment of the frustration of all
of the work that has to be done. I am actually glad that the work is being done. It needs to get done so we
can get some of this stuff underground. And we are
feeling the pain, yes.
But I wanted to understand a little more if he
could give details on the Harrington Sound Road, which I travel on a daily basis. Not too long ago w e
had a hole open up close to where the quarry is there
around Shark Hole, yes. And I was just wondering, did
we ever assess exactly what happened there? B ecause that particular area had just been trenched. And
to see it open up like that, I think the publ ic has been
curious as to why that happened, knowing that this
particular area has been a tough area for deaths on the road, as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
And I thank the Honourable Minister.
Would the Honourable Minister clarify or have
any information relating to, given that there are so
many traffic interruptions on the road and it will be that way fo r a little bit going forward, is there any place
that a member of the motoring public can see where the roadworks or traffic interruptions will take place? The Speaker: Minister.

Mr. Speaker, there
was a map produced about a year ago that set out all
of the locations. (That is the wrong map.) I can ensure
that it is issued again, but it was very comprehensive
in terms of identifying all of the locations where the
work is being carried out. It identifies . . . this is dated
April 2022. So it is updated on a regular basis and
published on a regular basis. I think you can even find
it on both the BELCO and the Government websites. But I can arrange for it to be shared with Members.

Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, would the Minister please pr ovide any information about whether there would be a
similar schedule or mapping of any road repaving as a
part of the scheme to repave the roads once the
roadworks have been completed? He mentioned in
the Ministerial Statement that there would be repaving
following the roadworks. Just curious whether there is a schedule and a map for that.

Mr. Speaker, no, there
is not a schedule and there is not a map. What I said
in the Statement was that the work had begun on Harrington Sound Road, and that is what is being carried
out at present. And it will go all the way to Flatts Vi llage. But if people travel on Harrington Sound Road,
they will notice that there are gaps in the repaving
works. Some of that work has been done.
As an example, if you drive from the North
Shore roundabout to the quarry you will find that there
are various stages where there has been remedial
work done. The work has now started near the St.
Philip Church, I think it is. And it is going forward. Both lanes are being done together. They will continue on to Paynter’s Road where, if you drive from Pa ynter’s
Road to Devil’ s Hole, that work has already been
done. I should alert colleagues that you will see some construction work going on in some of those areas as
we go forward, because what has happened is that
the trenches have been done and the piping has been done. But th e cables now have to be pulled. That will
require minimum disruption, and probably just a few
holes that need to be dug to be able to pull the cables.
Once Harrington Sound is finished, we will be
in the next year’s budget. And so in the Budget Statement in 2023, we will have approved funding for
road paving, and I will be able to indicate where it is
we are going to go from there. I want colleagues to
26 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly understand that I am aware, based on my travels from
Southampton to Hamilton every day, where every
pothole is.

[Laughter]

The Minister had mentioned
that the budget for this year is being used for the r epaving. And I know that this is speculation, but can the Minister give any indication that there will be a priority
to increase, maybe substantially increase, the paving
budget for 2023/24, given the fact that last year I b elieve it was like $60,000- odd was all that the Minister
was given for repaving? That there w ould be more in
the budget next year for repaving.

Let me say that I will
put in the request to the Ministry of Finance and see if
we can have some success there. Because I am sure
that the Minister of Finance gets as many of the complaints about roadworks as I do, which suggests to me
that people are aware that the roadworks are going on and that the roads are in a [poor] state.
So I was asked recently whether the gover nment would pay for the repairs to people’s vehicles. If
you kn ow the roads are in a [poor] state, slow down! I
know where every pothole is between town and Heron
Bay. If you ride the road every day, you know. And we
have the worst patch of road in the whole country, as
far as I am concerned, between T. N. Tatem and P rice
Rite.

There are a few in Somerset we could
name, but we leave that for now.
Thank you, Minister. Minister, there are no
further questions for [that Statement].
The next Statement that has questions this
morning is the Statement from the Minister of Economy and Labour in reference to Bermuda Immigration and Protection.
Minister, the Opposition Whip has questions
for you.

QUESTION 1: BERMUDA IMMIGRATION AND
PROTECTION AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
And again, thank you to the Honourable Minister for
bringing this Statement forward.
On page 2 of his Statement he speaks to the
problem that he is seeking to remediate in the Berm uda Immigration and Protection Act. Could the Minister
elaborate on why having more people reside for lon ger in Bermuda is a problem? What exactly does this
amendment seek to remediate?

Yes. Thank you. Thank you,
Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the update from the Minister.
I got a bit confused about some of the percentages, and I am hoping for some clarity. I think the first question that I have is, Can the Minister tell us
typically how far out do cruise ships schedule a
cruise? So when they are looking to do bookings, is it
like a year, two years?

Yes. So my supplemental
question is, I am trying to understand because the Minister says that the PLP Government is responsible
for 19 per cent of the increase. So when I look at the
numbers for 2017, he mentioned 2016 numbers. But
2017, there was an election in July. The cruise ship
industry had already had its schedule put in place,
and it increased to 161. So when he says there was a 19 per cent increase with the PLP, that is not an acc urate number because the cruise ship industry had already booked 2017, and it increased to 161. And that
was not due to the PLP Government. Can he clarify that?

Yes.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, I think what we
are talking about at that time, in 2016 there were
397,000, number of passengers. Okay? Here is the
key point. In 2022, it was 395,000. But the real ec onomic impact came under the Progressive Labour
Party. And that is what we are really trying to refer to,
because in 2016 there was $76 million of economic
impact. Under the Progressive Labour Party in 2022, it
is $156 million.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I mean, listen. I heard this Statement back in
2019, I think it was something like that. The same
thing! Exact same information was said. My point is
that the numbers here . . . can he explain the misleading numbers here? They are not responsible for a
19 per cent increase. It is impossible; 2017 went to
161 ports! It cannot be 19 per cent. It is misleading.
Can he take it upon himself to give us accurate fi gures? They are not responsible for 2017’s cruise line
numbers.

Okay.
Minister.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, the Honourable
Member, for some reason, ignores that $157 million
increase in economic activity. He talks about increase
in charges. Under the leadership of the Honourable
David Burt in 2019 we recognise and recall those
ships [which were doing the dredging.] They dredged
from the North Shore here. And at that time, RCL
[Royal Cruise Line] was carrying a mortgage.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, sir. But you were wise
enough to work out something else, and I will tell you
what it was.

An H on. Member: Ooh!

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: They, RCL, refused to have
any increases in 2019, any increase. We were wise
enough to talk to them and ask them, if we passed the
mortgage on to the BTA, which was about $7 million,
would you allow an increase? The y said yes. But we
also worked on the infrastructure fund, which they
were not wise enough to think about either. So we
included $25. There was no problem with the cruise line; they agreed with it. But we got a significant
28 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly amount of increases in revenue under this Gover nment.

[Crosstalk ]

Okay. Is it fair to say then
that your figure of 19 per cent increase reflects also
2017 ’s cruise line numbers increasing and revenue
increasing?

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, would you r ather have $156 million in your bank, or would you
have 19 per cent increase in passengers? It is not
about worrying about how many numbers come here.
The question is how were we able to derive a signif icant amount of revenue dollars.

[Inaudible interjection]

Ah, ah, ah, ah! We do not need assi stance.
You can answer. We missed your answer in
the back -and-forth.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, here is what
we said. Since the PLP has been in Government in
2017, there has been increase of 19 per cent in cruise
ship calls. Now, the Honourable Member is worried so
much about calls, I am worried about dollars. And that is what the Government was working on. Once again I
will say, they were not wise enough to recognise that they could renegotiate the deal with RCL, which we
did. And we were able to achieve a significant amount
of revenue on behalf of the government, on behalf of the people of this country.

Regarding the increased
number of cruise calls to Bermuda, my question to the Minister is whether there is any thought b eing given
and work/collaboration with Public Works and the like,
WEDCO, to make sure that the infrastructure, which
will be ageing every season, whether the infrastructure is being examined on a regular basis to make
sure that Bermuda can accommodate incr eased calls
of cruise ships. And also, if we are having increased
numbers of cruise ships, whether we are prepared for
the influx of anchoring, having to anchor ships —


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Jason Wade: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and
I thank the Honourable Minister for bringing this Statement to th e House.
My question relates to the final strategy.
When will that be drafted and circulated?

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you for the question.
I do not want to give an exact date. I will say, though, that we are almost there. And very soon we will have something to bring to the House.

Thank you very much, Mini ster.
Also, second question: You mentioned about
transport challenges, one of the number -one issues
with tourism was transport challenges. Can the Ho nourable Minister give us any idea or thoughts on how
they are going to alleviate thi s? I know they are in di scussions, but this has been a challenge for years and
years now. And knowing that our Honourable Tourism
Minister is doing such a fantastic job with cruise ships
and the number of people who are going to be on the
Island this upcom ing season, how are we going to
handle these challenges within not even a year?

On a sad note first of all, I would
like to give thoughts and prayers to the family of . . .
funny, I do not even know her first name, because
Mrs. Peach , is what I have always called her, from St.
George’s on Cut Road. Her son and her daughter . . .
her son who is affectionately called by us as “Peachy”
is a member of the Bermuda Police Service. Let them
know that they are in our thoughts and prayers.
This one, Mr. Speaker, I am pretty sure the
whole House will want to be associated with. Congratulations to our Information Officer Derek Lamb
and his fiancée, Ashleigh Lowe, on the birth of their 9
pound, 15 ounce daughter, Isla. Mummy is doing well,
for the mothers in here because you would under-stand that.

[Laughter]



Bermuda House of Assembly Mrs. Renee Ming: And also to let the House know
that she would be the great -niece of former Speaker,
the Honourable Stanley Lowe, and also the great -
niece of the Lt. Col. Edward Lamb. So I am sure that
the House will congratulate the new father on the birth of his daughter. And I can tel l you he is extremely excited.
I would also like to congratulate Dwight Ro binson on his move from the Director of the Royal Bermuda Regiment to his new career in career management of the officers.
Also, I am sure that others will speak to this,
but congratulations to McKenzie- Kohl [Tuckett]. Her
performance and her speech in the UK House of Commons is one that we will all remember. And I think we as women were extremely proud because she re presented not only her country well, but she represent-ed women well , as well. I will associate the House
with those comments as well, Mr. Speaker.

And a hearty congratulations to . . .
this morning we had our Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast, so thank you to the organiser of that, and al so to
the member who brought somewhat of a sermon t oday, Pastor Cyril as he is commonly called in St.
George’s, for his words of wisdom, supernatural wi sdom, and unity that he spoke to the group who were there. Highlight the words “St. George’s” there.

And my last one, Mr. Speaker, is to
the RAA [Royal Artillery Association] club in St.
George’s because they hosted the remembrance ser-vice and wreath- laying in St. George’s last weekend.
They explained the difficulty in keeping that service
going. But they manage to do it every year and also
provide a wreath- laying service and a luncheon afterward. And we are extremely proud of them for what it is that they do to keep that going.
So, thank you, Mr. Speaker and listening audience.

There we go.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: I would like to send condolences to the family of Charlie Marshall, as we all
know that he was very instrumental in the develop-ment of our young people through football. He was
commi tted to football all of his life, committed to sports
and had set up a legacy that will support our young
people who are interested in the sport. I would like to
associate the Honourable Member Michael Dunkley
with those comments.

I would suggest the entire House.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay. I will be happy to
associate the entire House with those comments.
I would like to also send condolences to [the
family of] a dear friend of mine who passed, Ralph Oggiano Smith. He worked in Works and Engineering
for a number of years, and he will be sorely missed.
He and I grew up together from little boys.
I would like to also send condolences [to the
family of] two cousins of mine, Paisley Burgess
[Caines ] and Albert Simons . It was interesting, we
went to Paisley’s funeral on Saturday. Albert sat in
front of me and Honourable Member Derrick Burgess.
He turned around and said, Cousins, how you doing?
Little did we know that was going to be his last comment to us.

Ah.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: So it was very, very em otional for a number of family members.
I would like to also associate myself with the
comments made about Dwight Robinson. I saw him
on TV last night, and he was talking about his new
role as career development in the Regiment. You
could see the enthusiasm and passion that he had for that.
And McKenzie- Kohl [Tuckett], I have her in
my response, and you will hear more about her then.
Those are all that I have. Thank you.
Oh, Bill Dolan , yes, Bill Dolan. He was a bank
colleag ue of mine. He worked in treasury and corp orate banking for a number of years. He was a true
gentleman. He was a true banker. And he passed
very recently. And I wish Lisa Dolan and his children,
Christian , and his daughter [Brooke] condolences.
Thank you.

I was going to look to someone who
was ahead of you, but you are on your feet. Go right
ahead.

Hon. De rrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to be associated
with the remarks concerning the Honourable Member
Cole and my cousins Paisley Burgess Caines and Albert Burgess Simons. Both of them were members
of the most exciting County Cup team in Bermuda,
Cleveland County, up in Harris’s Bay, and they both
represented Cleveland County in County Cup.
Also, Mr. Speaker, one that you would know
who passed about a month ago, Carlton P. Smith. The Honourable Deputy Speaker, Mr. Lis ter, would know,
who ran for the PLP I think it was in the 1970s in
Smith’s South. Mr. Speaker, I would like to associate
Diallo Rabain and the whole House, particularly on the Progressive Labour Party side. Mr. Smith, Carlton
Smith, I have known him —well, he has known me all
of my life. He certainly was a good building contractor.
And I knew him mostly as my Sunday School Superi ntendent at St. Philip.
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Yes, I went to Sunday
School.
[Inaudible interj ections and laughter ]

Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: He was a man who
adored his family, his wife Barbara, and his children,
Pluke, who passed I think it was last year, and his
daughter who is still alive, and grandchildren. And certainly his nieces and ne phews. Carlton will be sorely
missed by all, not only his own family, but those in the
Harris’s Bay area.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to—we had two
sudden deaths in Hamilton Parish, one of Jacqueline
Outerbridge, stalwart at St. John AME Church. She
leaves to mourn her husband, [Ken] Outerbridge; chi ldren Pam, Kendaree and Quinn Outerbridg e; and
numerous relatives, grandchildren, sisters and many
folks. And she will be sorely missed in Hamilton Parish.
Also, one of the best fishermen in the world,
Linwood Outerbridge, who also died the day before
yesterday. He leaves to mourn him his wife Marva,
children Dwayne and daughter Jeanna and some
grandchildren. I would like to associate Diallo Rabain,
my cousin Cole, and definitely the parliamentary representative, Wayne Furbert. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Deputy Speaker.
MP Cannonier. Mr. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
On a high note, I want to thank the Minister on
some of the work that he has been doing. I had the
opport unity last night to meet with Elliot School, so
Principal Cr eighton. And I want to thank her for the
great work that she is doing. We talked about what we can do for kids, what we can do as a community and
for families and how we integrate that into the El liot
School. I have fond memories of Elliot School, partic ularly in beating them up in football, 11 –1, 12 –0, stuff
like that. So I remember the school very well. So I was
happy to be a part of it. And I am broadening my
friendships. I was there with the Mi nister and my
cousin Famous down there, the Honourable Member.
Things are wonderful.

[Inaudible interjection and laughter ]

And Lindsay, Senator Lindsay. Ah, yes indeed.
And on an even greater note last year —
[Honourable Minister] Weeks will appreciate this
here— we talked about Dandy Town, the senior team
and the junior team. And I just want to say that I had
the opportunity. Again, my friendships are broadening.
I was there with the Minister of Tourism, and we had a
great time wit h the Under -13 Tournament, Where
Dandy Town! Yes. I declare my interest. My grandson
is on the team. We had a great victory. It is good to
see. Unfortunately, they are losing their coach, senior
coach. But the organisation of the Dandy Town Hornets is doi ng a fantastic, fantastic job. And I cannot
say enough about clubs like them and others who are
doing a great job with our juniors. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.

Go right ahead.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today on two notes of condolences. The first and I do not want to make assum ptions for the other side, but I would certainly like to
associate the Members of our side for this, Mr.
Speaker. I extend condolences to the fam ily of Mr.


Bermuda House of Assembly Roland Simons , who passed away in October in his
81st year. Mr. Simons was a life member of the Pr ogressive Labour Party in his early years and offered
himself as a candidate in the belly of the beast, otherwise known as Paget. In the general el ections of June
1972 and May of 1976 Roland ran against William
Masters and David Wilkinson, securing just over
12 per cent of the vote. Roland was prepared to take
the risk that could be occasioned by a young Black
man running for the Progressive Labour P arty in P aget of the 1970s.
History records that among his fellow candidates were Dame Jennifer Smith, L. Frederick Wade
and Lois Browne- Evans. He was also a committed
member of the St. Paul AME Church for many decades, not only worshiping each Sunday dev otedly, but
serving on various committees, as well as in the senior choir. My thoughts and prayers certainly, Mr. Speaker, are with his sister, Julie Ann Tarrence;
nephew, Sahid Tarrence; niece, Tanika Tarr ence; and
foster son, Samuel Sandy of Gu yana.
I would also like to ask the House to send a
letter of condolences to the family of my constituent,
Ethel Lilian Louise Richardson, mother of eight, who
sadly passed away earlier this month in her 98
th year.
I had the privilege of joining her and her family at the
Seventh- day Adventist Church, Devonshire Seventhday Adventist Church on Roberts Avenue a few
weeks ago. And I did not realise how big that family
was, Mr. Speaker. There were people from every end
of the Island. So my heartfelt prayers go out to her
children, grandchildren, great -grandchildren and
great -great -grandchildren.
Mr. Speaker, the final note is a matter of congratulations. It is a little bit strange one because you
are in this one as well, Mr. Speaker. But as you r emember, the last time that the House sat on Oct ober 7, we did leave this space early to go to the West
End. We did not make it back, as the Acting Speaker
banged that gavel down really fast on that night —

[Inaudible interjections and laughter ]

Hon. E. David Burt: —which happen ed.
But, Mr. Speaker, when the community comes
together, it is incredible to see what the community
can accomplish. And last month I was honoured to
attend the official ribbon- cutting for the Clyde Best
Mural Wall and to meet with the artist who created this
amazing mural that runs across the entire Clyde Best
Lane in Somerset. So, Mr. Speaker, I would ask this Honourable House— it would be difficult to send a letter to yourself —but to congratulate you, Mr. Speaker,
for your work in coordinating it; artist and coordinator of the project, Barbara Dillas ; the entire Best Wall
Committee, Dawn Simmons, Kimberly Best, Kim Wilkerson, Rotimi Martins, Dr. Dana Zhyon Selassie, Shantia Tankard Jeremy and Tinashae Johnsons,
who made this new Bermuda landmark, Mr. Speaker, a reality. And I would certainly like to associate the
whole House with that, even those persons who represent blue- and-blue.

[Timer chimes]

All right.
There appear to be many Members who still
wish to give condolences and congratulatory remarks .
We are at 12:30. If there were only a couple of Members I would probably proceed on and then go to
lunch so that we can start with the Reply. But it seems
like we have quite a few Members. Am I correct, or
are there just a couple of Members left?

I have seen quite a few Members trying
to get my attention. With that being the case—
Premier, I am going to ask that we go ahead
and break now, and we will co me back at two. We will
finish the condolences and congratulations, and then
we will proceed with the Orders of the Day with the
Opposition Leader giving his response.
Is that acceptable by Members?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to start off by offering hearty congratulations to all of those responsible for putting on a very successful Butterfield Bermuda
Championship at the illustrious Port Royal Golf
Course at the end of October. The Bermuda Tourism
Authority, headed up by Ms. Tracy Berkeley, and Chairman of that of course is the Honourable Wayne
Caines. But terfield Bank, Bruno Sports headed up this
year by a lady, Ms. Danielle Bianca. And of course the
Bermuda Government golf courses, the Port Royal
and Ocean View teams, came together to put on a
successful event.
But I have to single out the agronomy staff of
which I had the opportunity to walk past them officially
on the Thursday and Friday. They were sitting out taking a keen interest, and I was able to salute them. J ason Jackson, who we seconded last year to get us through that event, Mr. Cal Roth, the P GA agronomist,
commented that in the four years the courses are in
the best playing condition that he has seen. So kudos
to that 100 per cent Bermudian team who put on a
world -class international event. And MPs Tyrrell and
Burgess would like to be associat ed.
I would like to also send congratulations out to
the gentleman from Glebe Hill in Tucker’s Town, Mr.
Bob Corrao who has been very much responsible for the resurrection of the Bermuda Goodwill Golf Tournament. I was involved in that tournament this week.
And anyone who does the Bermuda Goodwill has
been a staple part of our tourism economy for many
years. But Bob has made it his purpose to make sure it comes along. And with the help of Karen Marsh and
Scott Roy, they actually had 40 teams here this week ,
and I can see it growing back to the strengths that it
does [and the] great economic impact that this pr ovides.
Mr. Speaker, on a sadder note I would like to
have condolences sent to the family of Ms. Madge
Pascoe from Ferry Reach; Ms. Trudy Snaith, fro m
Sandys Parish; Quinton “Tiny” Ming; indeed the great
Eldon Raynor; O -Sensei [Frederick] “Skipper” Ingham;
and a good friend of mine, Ms. Peggy Fox, from St. George’s, who has passed away.
And finally, in whatever few minutes I do
have, back to the great champion from Ireland (I had
the honour of singing “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”), Séamus Power, a good bet winner whose idols in Ir eland I hobnobbed with some 40 years ago. Very proud, very humble winner indeed. We hope that all of those who played in Bermuda will avail themselves
to—
[Timer rings.]

Would any other Member?
I recognise the Honourable Minister of Se niors and Social Development.
Honourable Minister, you h ave the floor.
Hon. Tinee Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I also would like to start off with
congratulatory remarks. And this is particularly going
out to the Child Development Programme. The Child
Development Programme has been putting on a series of fatherhood workshops for the month of N ovember.
I would like to associate my colleague, Mini ster Rabain, with these comments.
I had the opportunity to attend one of the parenting workshops. I just have to say kudos to that
team who is putting this on. I believe it is something that is well- needed for fathers and the fathers who are
participating. Every week they get more and more par-ticipation. There are myths out there as though fathers do not require support. And what was interesting out
of that was how many fathers who shared in this
group were using social media as their support sy stem, by way of TikTok, Google, and their paediatr icians. And there was very little contact, particularly
with family and friends anymore, as it related to get-ting advice and resources to help to raise children. But


Bermuda House of Assembly it is a great forum for fathers. If our listening audience
is out there, please seek out Child Development Pr ogrammes so that you can be a part of that pr ogramme.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to send condolences
to [the families of] a couple of constituents of mine. I
would like to be associated with [the condolences to
the family of] Peggy Linda Fox, who my colleague,
Kim Swan, just mentioned. Ms. Peggy Fox had been
part of the deaf community, and she us ed to constan tly reach out to me via WhatsApp. But I just want to
point her out because during the election of 2020, Ms.
Fox came to vote. And there were two particular persons in the St. David’s area who had the same name.
Because we were going through CO VID-19 and pe ople were wearing masks, and she being part of the
deaf community, she could not read the lips of persons who were corresponding with her. So it just
makes us . . . you know, it was a relevant and i mportant lesson that we have learnt in that i t is important to make sure that we are taking all sorts of
voters with different abilities into consideration. So I
just want to send condolences out to [the family of]
Ms. Peggy Fox.
As well as Mr. Harry Frick, who is also a constituent of mine, condole nces to his family. Mr. Alwyn
McKittrick, condolences to his family. Also associating Minister Rabain with that. Mr. McKittrick, a very well -
known educator —

[Timer rings.]

Thank you.
Before I acknowledge anyone else, let me just
acknowledge Madam President [of the Senate], who
is here sitti ng in the Chamber with us this afternoon.
Welcome.
Deputy Premier, you have your three minutes.

[Congratulatory and/or Obituary Speeches continu ing]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to be associated
with the condolences given to the family of Trudy
Snaith. Her husband, Dr. Kenneth Snaith, is well -
known in the community. Ironically, he is one of the
individuals who can claim strong lineage from both
sides of the aisle, obviously growing up in Somerset,
but actually having strong, deep roots in St. George’s and I believe having his practice there. So condolences to [his family]. He was the uncle of one of our
Members, as you would know, Jamahl Simmons (who
is not here).

Yes.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: So co ndolences to that whole
family.
[I would like to be] associated with the cond olences to the family of Mr. Quinton Ming, Tiny Ming, a
former constituent of mine, who had a great passion
for the community of North Shore when he lived there.
Only in the last few years they had moved out, but for
most of my time as a Member of Parliament, he and
his wife lived in the constituency. So condolences to
the whole family. I know he was closely tied with our Member, Mr. Caines, of [constituency] 14 as well. I
believe his son is a quite active member in the constituency of [constituency]14.
I do not know, Mr. Speaker, if we gave condolences to [the family of] Ms. Marilynn Simmons. Did
we actually recognise her passing?

I do not think it has been done yet.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I think we all know Dr. De lmont Simmons and his wife. Dr. Delmont Simmons is
one of the earl y practitioners of his particular profession. He is retired now, I believe. But many in the
community would recognise, particularly the women of
the community would know him well for, his pioneering work in the area of women’s health. But the pas sing of hi s wife was a shock to everybody who knew
her.
Also, Mr. Alwyn McKittrick, who was also noted by the Member who sits for constituency 4. I knew
Mr. McKittrick from [when I was] a very, very young boy. He was my scoutmaster when I was a scout, and
I met him then, a man of great compassion for young
people and for education. Never did I see him that he
did not actually speak to me. He remembered me as a
little boy being one of his young children in scouts. But
also his son works in my Ministry. So it would behove me to mention him. But I knew Mr. McKittrick personally, having been one of the people obviously steered
by his guidance and his passion for young people in
and outside of the education field.
So, thank you, Mr. Speaker for the opportunity
to speak. I hope the House can note those persons
and their passing to their families. Thank you.

Thank you.
36 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Any other Member?
I recognise the Minister of Education.
Minister, you have your three minutes.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to be associated
with the remarks for Mr. McKittrick. I did attend school with his son, Aran, who does work for government
now.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to send condolences to the family of Ralph “Oggie” Smith.

Oggiano.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Oggiano, whom [Honour able Member] Cole Simons should know. He was a
very, very good friend of my dad and was absolutely
devastated when my dad passed. So I understand
that he was sick for a little bit, and he ended up . . . he
passed here recently.
Mr. Speaker, I [wish to be] associated with
remarks that have already been said for Carlton P. Smith; for Paisley Caines, or Paisley Burgess, as
some of us would know him by; and of course Edward
Albert (Manga) Si mons. These are all persons who
actually lived in the same neighbourhood within a
stone’s throw of each other. It is very interesting to see this happen. I would also like to add to that list
Ms. Dionne Woolridge, who also passed; and
Shondelle Paynter, who has just recently passed as
well. I had a very close affinity to several of these
people, having grown up with them. Paisley was the
father to one of my goddaughters, and Dionne was the mother to one of my godsons. So I knew them
quite well.
The interes ting story about Mr. Manga is I
really got to know him well when I was managing the
bar at Harrington Workmen’s Club, because he
worked there as a bartender. And there were two particularly funny stories that stand out when with him.
One was when we started paying our bartenders, and
we had to do them by online transfer, this is when all
of the paperwork had to come out. And that is when he came to me and said he did not realise his name
was Edward. He had been called Albert all of his life.
And when he went to open a bank account, he had to
take his ID. And he was like, What is this name here?
The other one was, I happened upon a copy
of the Bermuda Recorder. It was 20 years to that date,
and they were doing a story on the boys who sit on
the wall at Devil ’s Hole. There he was 20 years ago
sitting on the wall. And there I was sitting with him on
the wall 20 years later and sharing his picture. So he
was really tickled pink to see that he was still there.
Mr. Speaker, I see I am running low on time.
The Sp eaker: Yes.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: I just want to send congratulations now, a little bit happier, to the six -a-side r esults. They had the six -a-side competitions between
the high schools, middle schools and primary schools.
Primary School A was Warwick Academy; Primary
School B was Saltus Grammar Middle; School over 13
was Saltus Grammar; Senior School was Berkeley
Gold; and Middle School Girls was Whitney Yellow.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It was about five years that I
did that, and during that time a lot of the time was
spent after meetings talking about our kids. And
McKenzie’s name came up so often. I j ust want to certainly say how proud I am sure she is of McKenzie today.
The other matter I wish to ask is that congratulations be sent to Christ [Anglican] Church Devonshire. Every year on the Sunday after Reme mbrance Day they have their memorial and wreath -
laying ceremony in remembrance of those who passed in the wars. I would certainly like congratul ations to be sent to them and especially to Father Jay
Tucker, who is now leading the flock there. Thank you
very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Honourable Member.
Does any other Member wish to— Minister
Weeks.
Minister Weeks, you have your three minutes.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Speaker;
good afternoon.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to start off my r emarks by associating my comments with [Major]
Dwight Robinson, a member of the Bermuda RegiBermuda House of Assembly ment. I know him well and I wish him well in his new
endeavour.
I would also like to be associated with the r emarks for Ms. McKenzie- Kohl [Tuckett]. She is a
young lady who has really got a brilliant future, and we
look forward to seeing her progress as she gets older.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the seven police officers who were recently congratulated by the Commissioner of Police,
Darrin Simons, and his senior command for helping to
make Bermuda safer. Mr. Speaker, the seven officers:
Acting Sergeant Christopher Rodrigues, as well as
Constables Gregory Stienlet, Christopher Regan and
David McHugh, were all recognised in their roles for
doing their duty to keep Bermuda safer. Mr. Speaker,
Sergeant Tiffany Caisey and Inspectors Kenten Trott
and Shakisha Minors were also officers who were
acknowledged and congratulated by the Commissioner of Police and his senior command in doing their
jobs to keep Bermuda safe.
Mr. Speaker, as I go on, I would like to be associated with the obituary and condolence remarks for
Ms. Dionne Woolridge, a long- time friend of mine. I
knew her and her mom and her sons. My heart goes
out from my family to hers.
Mr. Speaker, before I take my seat, I would
like to also be associated with the remarks of condolences for Mr. Quinton John Augustus, commonly
known as “Tiny,” Ming. When I first became an MP,
before the boundaries were adjusted, he was one of
my constituents. Always, always there, he always said
. . . he was always there with kind remarks and gui dance because not only was he my constituent, but I
was definitely a new MP. And I knew him through St.
Paul and at Heard Chapel. He was always there to
guide me—

Thank you, sir.
Does any other Member wish to make a contribution at this time?
MP Si mmons -Wade, you have your three
minutes. Mrs. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker. Good afternoon, everyone.
I would like to send my congratulations to
Warwick Workmen’s Club, who recently celebrated
their 100
th anniversary. Some Members attende d the
very, very successful gala on November 5th. I will say
this is really a rock and a landmark in the Warwick
community. People who come in there are members
for life. They have programmes for the youth and pr ogrammes for the seniors. They also reach out, I guess, further than Warwick in regard to sharing what
they do with the whole of Bermuda.
One of the things that they do is provide an
environment for children to feel safe with their after -
school programmes and their teen sports. So I would like to c ommend Warwick Workmen’s Club for having
100 successful years in serving the community. And I
encourage them and other community clubs to conti nue doing what they are doing, and I encourage other
community clubs to do the same.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker.
I would first like to just start off on a sombre
note giving condolences. First off to Ms. Inez Furbert
of 3 Clouds Avenue, a constituent of mine, so sending
condolences to her family.
Next to Mr. Dennis Figureido. While I did not
know him, I knew his son Timmy Figureido, who was
also the former national team -keeper for Bermuda.
But in my initial early years of playing for the Somerset Trojans, he was also the goal -keeper for the Somerset Trojans. So I have a few stories of him. But con-dolences to him and his family.
Also, to [the family of] Mr. Cyril Maybury of
Simmons Lane, Somerset. While I did not know him, I do know his sons and some of his relatives. So again,
condolences to the Maybury family of Somerset.
On a lighter note, I would also like to be ass ociated with the congratulations to Warwick Workmen’s
on their 100
th anniversary. There were already comments mentioned by the previous speaker.
Also, since the last time I have been in this
House, there was an anniversary for Restoration Mi nistries of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which is the church I attend, and their 18
th anniv ersary that
they have been around. So congratulations to them.
Also, Mr. Speaker, last week the red and
black, the Somerset Trojans, Silver City —

But I would like to send congratulations to the mighty Somerset Trojans for wi nning the Dudley Eve Cup.
Also, Mr. Speaker, and I can associate Mini ster Rabain with these comments. This past weekend our very own Rian “8track” Williams, who is a producer, produced a song that was nominated for a Gram-my Award this past weekend. I cannot remember the
name of the song, but the artist is Protoje. It is a reg-gae song that he produced. So again, Bermudians are
making their mark on the world stage and being recognised at the Grammys, which is something that ev eryone watches. S o again, congratulations, Mr. Rian
8track Williams, for that. I am not sure if they won the
award, but —

[Inaudible interjection]

Thank you.
Does any other Member wish to make a contribution?
MP Dunkley, you have your three minutes.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker,
and good afternoon to colleagues.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to be associated
with the comments of congratulations by Honourable
Members and certainly the Minister of National Secur ity to Major Dwight Robinson for his outstanding work. A fine gentleman, indeed.
I would also like to be associated with the
comments by the Minister as well in regard to the
Bermuda Police Service and the seven officers who
were congratulated for the work that they have done.
Mr. Speaker, on my way into the Chambers
after lunch, I heard comments by the Junior Minister,
Honourable Member Kim Swan, in regard to the
Goodwill Tournament. I would like to be associated
with those comments and recognise the fact that the
gentleman, Bob Corrao, has reinvigorated that tour-nament, which I bel ieve is the longest and oldest Pro
Am golf tournament in the world! We can recall when 100 or 120 clubs used to come through the Island. It dwindled just to a handful, five or six. Mr. Corrao r ebuilt it himself and this past week had a number of clubs come back in. I think it was about 40 in number.
And I actually bumped into somebody who played it last night at a function that I was at, and the person raved about how well organised it was and that next
year they would do their best to bring in more people
from the area where he golfs. So Mr. Corrao is making
a difference. And I think a letter from your offices
would certainly be appreciated.
Mr. Speaker, turning to a sadder note, I would
like to be associated with the condolences sent by the Honourable Premier to my constituent, Roland S imons, who passed away a short time ago. I was never
under any illusion that he would vote for me.

[Laughter]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Because, Mr. Speaker, he
made it quite clear the first day I went on the doorstep
wher e his vote was going. And in spite of my best i ntentions, or as my mother would say occasionally, my
bull-headedness, I kept going back to the house not
so much because I believed he would waver from
where he always stood, but because I believed that
every body is important and it is good to have conversations with everybody, because even the people who do not support you have something to say. And I always said to Mr. Simons that One day I will be your
Member of Parliament and I’ll still talk to you even
though you don’t vote for me. And so to his family,
May he rest in peace. I enjoyed my time on the doorstep with him.

Good.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Even though some might
think it was wasted time, Mr. Speaker, but not I.
I associate with the condolences by the O pposition Leader to Bill Dolan, and certainly by the O pposition Leader to former Senator Charlie Marshal. I guess you could sum him up in just a few words to
say that he was a man of great integrity, a man of
character. And right to th e end, Mr. Speaker, he kept
giving back to the community.

Hello, Members and those
in the listening audience.
I just wanted to stand really to specifically associate m yself with the comments of condolences to
many persons who have actually been mentioned a lready, but they are all in my constituency. I want to
make sure that I reinforce that. There has been
Shondelle Paynter. Again, other Members have a lready made these comments.
But I want to just highlight also . . . I knew him
as “Manga,” Minister Rabain. And it is interesting in
the Bermudian context that we know people for a long
period of time and sometimes we forget what their (quote –unquote) real name is. And that happened in
that instance when I found out that it was he who got into the recent accident. My memory of him was that
he was an older gentleman. And sometimes we form
these opinions of people, right? But I can assure you
when it came to the last election, he was one who
came to me and said, Anthony, I want to make sure
that my name is on the register. How do I go and
make sure it’s registered? And of course, he did come
out and vote.
So to his family, I certainly do extend cond olences. To Ms. Shondelle P aynter’s family, another
one who died suddenly . . . and these are relatively
young people who died suddenly just a couple of days ago.
To the family of Dionne Woolridge, that one
was special to me because her son Kenai is the same age as my son. And they both recently graduated from
the Berkeley. When I went to her service, what was
very warming is that she had three sons, and her ol dest son actually gave a tribute to her. He spoke about
how inspirational she was to the extent that he said he
is now going to dedicate what he does going forward
in his mother’s memory. One of the things about D ionne was that she was very, very helpful, very well -
known in the community, a good cook. I know that
when we were beginning school, I think it was 2019 or
maybe 2020, there was a time when a lot of the
school grounds were actually not cut; the grass was
not cut. And she was one of those who came and
helped us to get Harrington Sound ready, like cutting down the hillside and all the rest of it. So again, I just
want to extend condolences to her family.
And then on a brighter note, as MP Lister just
said, for Rian Williams. Rian Williams is actually a
young person, young in the sense that he is 39. And
he is very engaged in the music industry. He also does a lot of work on behalf of one of the (I will say)
music stations. In that regard he is very instrumental
because he assists many people now in ensuring that
you can go beyond literal airwaves. You can now use Facebook and other avenues to ensure that the listening audience has a broader context now. They can
actually see you and hear you, and that actually is encouraging a listening audience. And it also helps us
in Bermuda to share information in a wider context.
Thank you.

Thank you. Yes.
I would just take a few moments because I
would like to be associated with the condolences to
the family of Trudy Snaith. [She] certainly is going to
be a miss, a huge influence on women both in Bermuda and overseas. And I certainly had had the o pportunity to work with her through the International Women’s Forum. When she was president I was her vice president. And the lessons that I learned through
her were invaluable and have, of course, led me to a
place where I now have a chance to be in as the president of the International Forum. So I just have to
acknowledge the influence, the positive influence that she had on myself and als o my daughter, who got
very much involved with her Protocol School. And I
can remember all of the exercises and making sure
that my daughter was learning and using the appr opriate etiquette in social environments and such.
I am saying all of that to say th at it is so easy
for us, especially in a small community like Bermuda,
to lose touch with the things that really matter when
we are together in groups, whether they be small or
large. But there is a certain etiquette, there is a certain way of being. And T rudy was able to really bring that
to the table and share it and maintain a very fun- loving
and always smiling, always bubbly, always optimistic
view, which is sometimes hard to find in these challenging times. So I am reflecting on her and absolutely
paying my respects to a woman of substance who
made a huge contribution to Bermuda.
Then on another sad note, I just want to
acknowledge the death of a constituent, Mr. William
Lusher, who was one of my tougher constituents. He
used to call me over to his hous e, and he would really
challenge me with every topic. So I just want to send my condolences. Thank you.

I would like to be associated with the congratulations to McKenzie- Kohl
Tuckett. I watched the presentation in the House of
40 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Assembly, and I could not have been prouder. I mean,
she really just was outstanding. The London Office
tweeted that she represented our Island well with her
eloquent and passionate speech on the necessity of
cultivating opportunities on Island for young Bermudi-ans. That is something we can all follow. As a Member of this Government, I undertake that this is exactly
what we will continue to do.
I would also like to extend congratulations to
Mr. Daniel Woods, who is a trainee estate surveyor in
the Department of Public Lands and Buildings who just received his Royal Institution of Chartered Su rveyors designation. He is an outstanding young man.
We have two trainees at the moment. And I wish to
congratulate him on his efforts.
I would also like to be associated with the
congratulations to Major Dwight Robinson on his tra nsition from Director of Music to Director of Emplo yment Opportunities within the regiment, and wish him
well.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, I would like to congrat ulate the Association of Bermuda International Companies and Keep Bermuda Beautiful, who have devised
a programme for int ernational companies to take care
of the railway trails. And it covers the entire Island. I
attended a reception this week where they have divi ded the railway trail up into 17 areas.

And they are undertaking to look after the railway trails in conjunction with
the Department of Parks. This is an impressive
demonstration of international businesses’ commi tment to this country by their resources, not just by
their funding. [At] the reception certificates were presented to these companies, and they all are enthus iastic about looking after the railway trail. And so I wish
that we would congratulate them on the programme,
the Adopt -A-Spot railway trail project. And I undertake
that I will poke in this now a littl e bit to see if we can
collaborate between the Department of Parks, who has funding for overtime for railway trail work, to see if we can collaborate between the two and improve the
state of the railway trails Island- wide. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.

Thank you, Minister.
Does any other Member wish to make a contribution at this time?
There are none.
Let me just make a couple of comments m yself before we pass on. And I will start where the Mi nister left off. I would like to be associated with the r emarks to Daniel Woods and continue to encourage
him.
I would like to be associated with the remarks
that many have said today about our young Youth Parliament member who represented herself and Bermuda extremely well on the first occasion for a
Bermudi an to be able to speak within the Chambers of
Parliament in London.
And I would like to be associated on a sadder
note with the condolences to the Raynor family on the
passing of Eldon, a cousin of mine.
Also to the passing of Senator Marshall. As it
was s aid, he was right up to the end still very giving
and committed to the betterment of Bermuda. I can
speak personally to that and that many know that I am
involved with the Clyde Best efforts that are being done to recognise in many ways that when we are out
reaching out for assistance in some areas, even in his
sickness Senator Marshall reached back to us and
directed us in many ways of where we can be funded
and stuff. So I appreciate that, and my condolences to
his family.
To the condolences that have bee n expressed
to the Maybury family, I would like to be associated
with those. I have grown up with the Maybury family
for most of my life in the Somerset community and
know Mr. Maybury well. So my condolences go to his family.
And on a lighter note, I would just like to
acknowledge that the United Holy Church of Bermuda is currently celebrating their 100
th anniversary this
week. There are many activities that will be done early in this week. And they will conclude on Sunday with a
service. But tomorrow night is their gala banquet. And
I am sure many of us in this Chamber have been i nvited to attend that banquet as well. As part of the cel-ebration of the 100
th anniversary, the special honouree is Bishop Stephen Jones, who gave the prayer
at the opening of Parl iament. My congratulations go
out to the church on their 100th and also to Bishop
Jones on his recognition.
With those few remarks, we will now move on.

MATTERS OF PRIVILEGE

There are none.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

GOVERNMENT BILLS



Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: I believe we have six Government Bills
today. The first is in the name of the Minister of F inance and Premier.
Would you like to introduce your Bill?

FIRST READING

CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT (NO. 4) ACT 2022

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am introducing the following
Bill which, according to section 36(3) of the Bermuda Constitution Order, requires the Governor’s recommendation, so that it may be placed on the Order P aper for the next day of meeting. The Bill is entitled the Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 4) Act 2022. And as per section 2(1) of the Provi sional Collection of Rev enue Act 1975, the provision of this Bill shall have statutory effect from the first reading.

Thank you. Would you like to do the
third one?

FIRST READING

DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING
AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am introducing the following Bill for its first
reading so that it may be placed on the Order Paper
for the next day of meeti ng: the Development and
Planning Amendment Act 2022.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, thank you.
The next introduction of a Bill is from the Mi nister of Education.
Minister.


FIRST READING

BERMUDA EDUCATORS COUNCIL
AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am introducing the following Bill for its first
reading so it may be placed on the Order Paper for
the next day of meeting: Bermuda Educators Council
Amendment Act 2022.

Minister of Economy and Labour.

FIRST READING S

EMPLOYMENT (MINIMUM HOURLY WAGE
ENTITLEMENT) ACT 2022

BERMUDA IMMIGRATION AND PROTECTION
AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Speaker, I am introducing
the following Bills for their first reading so that they
may be placed on the Order Paper for the next day of
meeting: the Employment (Minimum Hourly Wage
Entitlement) Act 2022 and the Bermuda Immigration
and Protection Act 2022.

This now leads us to the Orders of the
Day. And the reason we are here this afternoon is to
have the Reply to the Throne Speech that was deli vered on the 4th of November. The camera coverage
42 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda House of Assembly will begin now for the speech by the Opposition Lea der. And when the speech is done, the [filming and r ecording] will cease.
Quick question. Do you need a moment to
break down your stuff afterward?
[
Inaudible response ]

Okay. I am going to ask that when we
finish the Reply from the Opposition Leader, we take a
five-minute recess just so he can dismantle the camera work and be out of here, and we will continue after that.
Is that all right, Members? Thank you.
The last piece before I call on the Opposition
Leader is that I am going to have the Deputy in the Chair in a few minutes because I have a personal matter that I have to attend to.
But we will start.
The Premier will lead us. (Yes, I had not forgotten that piece; I was trying to do a little housekeep-ing before we got there.) But the Premier will lead us into the next item on the Order Paper, and then the
Opposition Leader will give his Reply.
Mr. Premier.
MOTION
THAT CONSIDERATION BE GIVEN TO THE
SPEECH WITH WH ICH HER EXCELLENCY THE
GOVERNOR WAS PLEASED TO OPEN THE
PRESENT SESSION OF PARLIAMENT
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that consideration be
given to the Throne Speech with which the Deputy
Governor was pleased to open this present session of
Parliament on behalf of Her Excellency the Governor.

Good afternoon.
REPLY TO THE SPEECH FROM THE
THRONE, BY THE OPPOSITION LEADER
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: It gives me great pleasure
to deliver the official response to the Government’s
Speech from the Throne, which outlines the PLP
Government’s plans for the coming parliamentary
year. Mr. Speaker, as Catherine DeVrye said, “Like
tiny seeds with potent power to push through tough
ground and become mighty trees, we hold innate r eserves of unimaginable strength. We are resilient,” but for it to work, for Bermuda to go on and do great things during these challenging times, there must be a plan. The same applies to Bermuda and her people,
and we know that in the middle of economic and s ocial difficulties, we will see and grasp real opportun ities as they arise. 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. The PLP have not delivered.
The Global Economy
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: According to the OECD
Economic Outlook, Interim Report September 2022,
the world economy is paying a high price for Russia’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 [gross domestic product] stagnated 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 inflation in the first half of 2022 was at its highest point since the 1980s. With
the recent indicators taking a turn for the worse, the
global economic outlook has darkened. Despite a
boost in activity, and as COVID -19 infections drop
worldwide, global growth is projected to remain su bdued for the second half of 2022 before slowing fur-ther in 2023 to an annual growth of just 2.2 per cent.
The Domestic Ec onomy
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, the biggest
and most challenging issue facing Bermuda today is
inflation. Moreover, the escalating cost of living, which
is around 9 per cent to 10 per cent, is the highest it has been in 20 years. Recently, the Federal Reserve
increased the US base rate by 75 basis points with the hope of arresting inflation and decreasing the cost of living. It is their hope, at best. While this rate [i ncrease] only works positively for the few who have savings or little or no debt, most families already have stretched budgets and will face higher mortgage and credit card payments. It also means that many bus iness owners will be faced with making tough dec isions to keep their businesses open and afloat.
For those wishing to purchase a home, 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. As long as we have the Ukrainian war, increased energy bills, the disruption of the supply chain, the remnants of the COVID -19 challenges and


Bermuda House of Assembly the cost -of-living increases, we will have to brace ourselves for further impact. This could also mean that
Bermuda may be faced with weak growth, low productivity, underinvestment and a widening gap in inequal ity.
Mr. Speaker , the continued increases in interest rates will drive our workers into more debt and
other financial hardships, especially if they have mor tgages and credit card debt. These same workers will
continue to find themselves in increasing difficulties
when pay ing their bills this year. To remedy this situation, local banks must do their best to help people in
financial stress because of international influences
which are beyond their control. This could take the
form of payment deferrals, interest -only offerings, and
the reduction in fees and charges.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance must lay
out a plan to help people, especially if the local banks’
interest rates continue their current path of between
6.25 per cent and 6.75 per cent and rising. Bermuda
needs a plan to help homeowners who are at the end of the line financially. People are making difficult
choices. They must choose between food, health care
and electricity as their income is not stretching far
enough to cover their living expenses. The One B ermuda Alliance believes that the priority of the PLP
Government should be to grow and strengthen the economy and to continue to help ease the cost of li ving for families.
Mr. Speaker, considering this, Bermuda is in a
tailspin and this year’s Speech fro m the Throne has
given the people truly little hope or aspiration for a brighter future. We were all expecting a clear indic ation from the Throne Speech that Bermuda and our
people are well on the way to economic recovery. I nstead, we received a disheartening economic speech
which lacked substance and with no recovery plan to
shed light on a progressive path forward. Premier
Burt’s 2022 Throne Speech lacked new and innov ative direction. It was more of the same—Premier Burt at his best, providing a lot of talk with truly little action.
Mr. Speaker, Bermuda must grow her ec onomic pie, and handouts will not help the process.
The cannibalisation of the farming, fishing and courier
package industries will not help to grow our economy.
In fact, nothing in this y ear’s Throne Speech speaks to
how the Burt Government is going to grow our eco nomy. There is no real stimulus package in sight. What
does the PLP Government’s thriving economy look
like, and how will it be achieved? Where are the real
solutions for reducing the cost of living? Where is the
PLP’s roadmap to arrest the crippling escalation of our energy bills, health care costs, and our food costs?
Bermuda needs a creative and workable ec onomic recovery plan which does more than address infrastructure development and tax concessions. Gi ven the economic malaise faced by the global comm unity and Bermuda, this Government must make ec onomic diversification a real priority beyond the digital and e- commerce industries. This Progressive Labour
Party Government should also drive economic growth
to improve living standards and fund sustainable i nvestment in public services. This should be supported by a reasonable approach to the public finances and reducing debt, while also reviewing the adequacy of
our tax structure.

Bermuda’s Taxation System

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: In fact, the PLP’s 2020
Throne Speech proposed that the Tax Reform Co mmission of 2018 update its recommendations in light
of the new economic realities created by the pandemic. Our question to this Government is, Why has this
not been delivered? When does the Government i ntend to re- embody the Tax Reform Commission?
Have they refreshed themselves with the 2018 report? And what has been done thus far to implement any of
the recommendations? We submit that t here are recommendations found in the report which are fair and
equitable, do not place undue burden on the lower -
paid workers of this country, and do much to effectiv ely broaden the tax base without stifling the economy.
However, just like the SAGE Repor t, the Fi scal Responsibility Panel’s report and other similar r eports, the Administration has not put into practice meaningful or substantial recommendations made by these commissions. Finally, Bermuda’s national debt
currently stands at $3.5 billion. Wher e is the Progressive Labour Party’s debt reduction and debt management plan? The Progressive Labour Party Gover nment does not have any regard or concern about the
trajectory of Bermuda’s debt. Instead, they are pas sing the burden of debt onto our children and gran dchildren, and they are not having it. Considering this,
our young people are voting by leaving the Island.

Tourism

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, Bermuda
desperately needs to revitalise its lagging tourism i ndustry and products. Further, t he Bermuda Tourism
Authority [BTA] must be given the economic and human capital to get on with its job, with minimal inter-ference from the Government and politicians. Mr.
Speaker, speaking of human capital, if the Bermuda
Tourism Authority is going to revi talise tourism, it must
start at the top of the organisation. There is no clarity
as to where things stand with the appointment of the
chief executive officer. Considering this tenuous situ ation, the acting chief executive officer and the chief
operating officer are doing the best that they can with
the hands that they have been dealt, given that the
organisation has been operating at a less -thanoptimal standard for over two years.
Mr. Speaker, a lot of confidence has been
placed on the opening of Fairmount Southampton H otel. Many people see it as the rebirth of Bermuda’s
44 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly tourism industry, even though the status of the deve lopment’s contract has yet to be confirmed. Mr.
Speaker, despite this, the BTA is not waiting for the
opening of the hotel. They are r eviewing and refining
tourism’s Strategic Recovery Plan. We understand
that Bermuda is nowhere near top- of-mind for international tourists. In fact, Bermuda is near the bottom of
the list. We as a tourism destination have lost our
competitive advantage and our sales team has not
focused on the US East Coast, Canada, the UK and Western Europe. In fact, in recent years we have lost market share in most areas. Despite our repeated efforts and public outcry, the Progressive Labour Party
Government’s insistence on the travel authorisation
form has caused a deep scar on our reputation as a tourism destination.
It appears that under the Progressive Labour
Party Government, its tourism team became comfor table with focusing on the traditional US East Coast
market, while our competitors to the south took a
more aggressive marketing approach. Today they e njoy more positive results which reflect their marketing
approach.
Mr. Speaker, when it comes to service levels
and standards, we take the view that Bermuda should reintroduce or revisit its tourism appreciation and
training programmes, as this has proven to be very
successful in the past. On the matter of new inward
tourism investment, except for the $365 million renovation of the Southampton Princess, or Fairmont
Southampton, the pipeline for future investment pr ospects is dry. Consequently, Bermuda’s 600 Airbnb
accommodations have played a vital role in supporting Bermuda’s tourism industry, and they now have b egun to enjoy the green shoots of success.
Mr. Speaker , Bermuda must do a better job of
managing Bermuda’s narrative. We must not allow overseas agencies and jurisdictions to define our
message for us. In addition, the BTA and the Depar tment of Tourism should implement a local campaign to encourage both Bermudians and guest workers to
become sales ambassadors for Bermuda’s tourism
industry when on holiday or when travelling on bus iness.
Mr. Speaker, when it comes to inward tourism
investments, we believe that the Government does not need greater discretion i n granting relief to deve lopers and investors in attractions, restaurants and
hotels. Instead, we believe that the Tourism Inves tment Act is currently adequate as is, as it provides transparency and full oversight by our Parliament. The
Premier indicated t hat Bermuda is not competitive
when it comes to attracting hotel investment. The One
Bermuda Alliance asserts that this challenge lies
squarely at the feet of the Progressive Labour Party
Government, who has been in power for 20 of the past 25 years.
Durin g the five- year period when the One
Bermuda Alliance ran the Government, we were ex-traordinarily successful in attracting tourism inves tment capital. The St. Regis Hotel, The Loren and A zura hotels are a testament to our success.
Mr. Speaker, let us be clear: The Progressive
Labour Party Government should not and must not compromise the BTA’s mandate and authority. As you
will recall, a former PLP Tourism Minister said that he
was going to rip the engine out of the BTA, and that
he did. As mentioned, other than the promised refurbishment of the Fairmont Southampton, the Progressive Labour Party has made no recent substantive contributions to Bermuda’s tourism product.
In contrast, the One Bermuda Alliance Go vernment set the pace in attracting new investors t o the
Island. Without question, these initiatives we planted
are still keeping Bermuda’s economy afloat today. The
One Bermuda Alliance placed tourism in the hands of tourism professionals with the creation of the Berm uda Tourism Authority. As a result, the country saw
almost immediate benefits such as the following:
• the five- star St. Regis Hotel which now graces
the town of St. George’ s. The seed was planted and germinated because of the One Bermuda Alliance Administration and management;
• the five- star The Loren hotel: This boutique
hotel was developed and birthed under the
auspices of the One Bermuda Alliance Go vernment;
• the new Azura hotel complex, which is currently in the last stages of completion on the
South Road in Warwick;
• the new L. F. Wade Airpor t, which was a ttributed to the One Bermuda Alliance and the Honourable E. T. Bob Richards and his cab inet colleagues. Again, this world- acclaimed
airport provided a great ly needed boost to
employment, our economy, and our tourism
infrastructure and product ; and finally,
• Bermuda’s America’s Cup in 2017, which is
widely thought of as one of the greatest spor ting events ever hosted in Bermuda as it
brought much- needed employment and ec onomic benefits to the Island. In fact, because
of this OBA brainchild, Berm uda continues to
host Sail GP [Grand Prix] five years later.
It is because of the solid foundation laid by the
One Bermuda Alliance during its years as Gover nment that Bermuda’s tourism sector is afloat today.
Mr. Speaker, Bermuda’s tourism cannot thrive
without adequate airline carriers. Therefore, the Tour-ism Redevelopment Plan must also include increasing
our airlift and getting Bermuda’s airline carriers and
partners sorted out. The Government knows that the
loss of our Boston route deeply affected our core
eastern seaboard markets and those who rely on the
direct flight for overseas medical treatment. Other key air links to experience drastically reduced service i nBermuda House of Assembly clude New York, Miami and Toronto, which for months
has been a hit -or-miss as far as fli ghts are concerned.
When it comes to the development of an ai rline strategy, all stakeholders should be involved. That
should include the Airport Authority, the Bermuda Tourism Authority, Bermuda’s airline consultant,
Skyport, the Bermuda Hotel Associati on and the Mi nistry of Transportation. The stakeholder team should
find a leader who will guide the initiative to ensure that
Bermuda has dependable air services. They must
continue to court and build positive relationships with the airline network planner s. If we are going to i ncrease concessions for hotels, it must correspond with
investments in our airline strategy. They should also
ensure that Bermuda has a highly visible presence at the famous Routes World conferences where Berm udians can reinforce the strength of their relationship
with existing carriers that currently service Bermuda
and extend a welcoming hand to potentially new carr iers who want to extend their footprint and network.
Mr. Speaker, in 2022, the Opposition asserts
that the BTA is on the correct path by focusing on
sports tourism, super yachts, the UK market and developing and launching a new branding campaign.

Small Business

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, throughout
the past 24 months, a number of small businesses
have been absolutely decimated. Local businesses
which have been around for decades were forced to
close or dramatically downsize. Many of the surviving
businesses have had to reconfigure their business model. It appears that the Island is [systematically]
shutting do wn. What is this Government doing to remedy this?
Mr. Speaker, the Opposition passionately b elieves that businesses must be allowed the freedom to
grow and that Government must support, not kill, their
aspirations. We recommend that for the time being
corporate taxes must be kept at a minimum. This
Government must do all it can to encourage entrepr eneurs and silent investors to invest in small busines ses to increase business productivity.
With respect to customs duties, we recommend implementing a tax deferral scheme for between one to three months to enable retailers to pay
their customs duties after their products are sold and
not at the time the products are imported. In addition,
there must be true equity when it comes to Bermuda’s
immigration policie s. These policies must be just as
user-friendly to local small businesses as they are to
our international business sector and partners.
Mr. Speaker, from Somerset to St. George’s
the stories are the same. Small businesses lament
that they must give busi ness away because they ca nnot get local employees to service their clients. We
have heard the repeated refrain, We want to hire
Bermudians, but they do not stay. The sentiment is prevalent within the landscaping, restaurant, farming
and the grocery sectors . In fact, one small busines sman told me that he is trying to get one expat guest
worker for his workforce of 15 Bermudian employees,
but the application continues to be rejected, while a chain of convenience stores has all ex -patriot workers.
Where is the equity?
Mr. Speaker, the other challenge for small
businesses is securing financing from local banks.
These small business entrepreneurs feel that they are
unacceptable or unwelcome when they go to the banks to ask for support. This must change, and the
Government has a role in making this change, despite
the support and guarantees provided by the Bermuda
Economic Development Agency. To help our economy grow, this Government must cut the bureaucratic
red tape when dealing with government agencies for small businesses and other stakeholders.

International Business

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: As stated in last year’s
Throne Speech [Reply] regarding international bus iness, the Fitch Rating Agency believes that the tax
advantages held by Bermuda’s insurers and re insurers will eventually be reduced because of the recent
G20 endorsement of a 15 per cent global minimum
tax. Thankfully, the Fitch agency said, “Bermuda’s advantageous tax status for the (re)insurance industry
will be reduced at the margin with the expec ted passage of the recent multilateral agreement to establish
a 15% global minimum tax rate under Pillar Two of the OECD Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and
Profit Shifting (BEPS).”
Fitch made it clear that Bermuda will continue
to benefit from an established position in the global
reinsurance marketplace with demonstrated underwriting expertise, a strong and efficient regulatory r egime, Solvency II equivalency and reciprocal area st atus in the US. For this reason alone, Bermuda must continue to support international business. We must
continue to collaborate with them so that as their
businesses flourish, our economy will flourish. In fact,
we should work with the CEOs in the executive suites,
as they may be a source of innovative ideas and may be able t o suggest policies that will help Bermuda
flourish both economically and socially.

Immigration and Labour

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, from an ec onomic perspective, Bermuda will not improve without
a larger and stronger workforce. Bermuda needs m ore
job creators and more people paying taxes and co nsuming services.
As you may or may not know, the Burt Go vernment has spent the people's money on a software
system to manage the work permit processes, but we
have yet to hear about its progress. Work permit ap46 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly provals are still taking a considerable amount of time
to process, and receiving documentation once permits
have been approved is taking months. There are i nstances where people have arrived on the Island without work permit documentation. As a result, they are hamstrung by their inability to settle here and do
things like opening up bank accounts and renting
properties, as work permits are often required. Bermuda must do better. Having new residents receiving
approval for a work permit, then havin g to wait for
months for the work permit documentation to be approved, is embarrassing, especially for a country that
wants to continue to attract residents to come and
work and live on the Island. This is costing Bermuda
financially.
Mr. Speaker, we in this Opposition support the
Government’s current efforts, including the Economic Investment Certificate and Residential Certificate Pr ogramme. This Government needs to address the
tough questions such as, What should a transparent,
equitable route to achieve full Bermuda status look like? There could be a co- operative cross -ministry
initiative between the Ministry of Finance and the Mi nistry of Labour. Collaboratively, they must present m utual benefits for job seekers, corporations who are
looking for economic incentives, and local resources.
The Government can achieve its immigration prior ities, making this a win –win for all of the relevant
stakeholders.
On the issue of the [new] Department of Labour, which is being established to ensure that wor kers’ right s are protected and employers have certainty
in the application of Bermuda’s labour laws, we in the Opposition reserve our judgment on that development
and would like to ensure that women and gender affairs are covered. In addition, we would like to see
what will be done to support the employment of people with disabilities.
Mr. Speaker, it just makes sense that the
Government should make life easier for industry
groups that are keeping the economy afloat. This
means that as the insurance sector experienc es a
hard market, the Government should increase speedto-market by cutting red tape. In addition, they should
further incentivise spending in Bermuda and on Ber-mudians with good corporate citizenship benefits such
as charitable giving connected with publi c policy ou tcomes, and employment and training for Bermudians.
The enforcement team at the Department of Immigr ation must also be empowered to bring cases to court quickly and efficiently. Those who contravene the trust
we put in them as job creators must be publicly held accountable for their disregard of Bermuda.

Education

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: The Government should
continue with the implementation of the educational reforms with the participation of our parents, teachers and stakeholders. The Department of Education must
ensure that our students have the required prerequ isite skills to enable them to successfully transfer from
parish schools to middle schools and to our senior
signature schools. The current reforms in education must help every child to fulfil their potential, raise
standards, and improve the quality of schools and
higher education.
Mr. Speaker, the One Bermuda Alliance and
the Bermuda First Group promoted an Education A uthority for years. Recent reports from Bermuda First
indicated th at the realities of today’s education underline the need for the creation of an independent a uthority for public education to be responsible for the performance management of educators. It would also
be responsible for researching and implementing a
holist ic public education system, be appropriately
sized and structured, and develop a learning environment to facilitate optimal student success. In fact, the
Minister of Education made a commitment to deliver
on the Education Authority. This was a promise not
kept. When will this Government deliver on an Educ ation Authority?
Mr. Speaker, like most sciences, global education always evolves. Now more than ever we need to view education through a different lens. We need to
look at the destination of our students from a career
perspective —Where are they headed?—instead of
just looking at their academic qualifications. We must ensure that all subjects are equally weighted. Voc ational subjects are just as important as academic subjects. In fact, educational snobbery and biases regar ding the development of our young people through the
academic routes versus the vocational routes have no
merit. There must be equal opportunities and i mproved outcomes to help both students and teachers
realise their full potential. More resources and capital
should be directed toward professional development
and training so that our teachers can be the best that they can be. We must elevate the status of our teac hers in our school system. Mr. Speaker, a good teacher
produces talented stud ents.
As stated last year, another significant issue
which must be addressed is the publishing of the r esults of all of our external and internal exams in all of
our schools, not just our private schools. This is vital
because these exams hold everyone acc ountable.
These results should be used to judge the performance of our students, our teachers, our principals,
our schools and our school system.

Youth and Sports

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Conspicuous by its absence in the PLP’s Throne Speech is their com mitment to Youth and Sports. Mr. Speaker, recently Bermuda hosted the World Triathlon Championship S eries, and Dame Flora Duffy OBE walked away with a
convincing gold medal performance in the Elite Wo mBermuda House of Assembly en’s Race. Thousands of Bermudians came out to
support our Bermudian Flora and the other Bermudian
athletes who participated on the international stage
with other Olympic and World Championship medallists. Mr. Speaker, we wonder how many other future international young athletes there are. With the proper
training and the support of the Bermuda Government,
their families and support teams, our young people
can reach this pinnacle of success, whether it be in
track and field, soccer, tennis, cricket, or equestrian
sports.
Mr. Speaker, if we invest earlier, we m ay be
able to produce more athletes like Clyde Best, Clarence Hill and Flora Duffy. The Government of Berm uda must demonstrate more commitment to youth and
sports. They should have had a more prominent role
in the Throne Speech. The recent introduction of the
Sports Policy was followed by changing the Minister,
who spent an inordinate amount of time to develop
this policy. What is going to happen next? We all
know the impact that sports can have on young pe ople. Sadly, sports was ignored in the PLP’s Throne
Speech.

Families and Children

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, many families
are in crisis, and we see evidence of this manifest in
the form of abuse, health outcomes, violence and
several other ways. The Burt Administration must establish clearer pathways for families to get the support
they need early —before the problems elevate to crisis
level.
Early intervention is critical to provide the
support needed to address some of the issues they
face. As part of the Child and Family Services D epartment’ s Psychoeducation Programme, millions of
dollars have been spent over the years to send Ber-mudian children to overseas treatment facilities, with
varying results. A report on the feasibility of establis hing a local treatment facility should be commissioned
by the Government to determine the cost of establis hing it and whether it would be more beneficial to the children to receive treatment locally in a familiar surrounding with supportive networks rather than being
sent overseas. A comprehensive review of protocols surrounding children that are in the care of the D epartment of Child and Family Services should also be
conducted.

Exodus of Families and Young People

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, other growing
concerns are the challenges faced by our yo ung pe ople who fall between the ages of 20 to 35 years old.
Candidly, they see no future opportunities in Bermuda for their passion- based careers, or any entrepreneur ial opportunities for that matter. They find it difficult to find jobs that they love doin g and are prepared to sac-rifice the stability of 9- to-5 jobs to follow their passions. Bermuda’s young people want an environment that is progressive and more receptive to their lif estyles and career choices.
In fact, they are remedying these dilemmas
with one-way flights to the UK, the US and to Canada
to chart a new path. They see Bermuda as a place to
make fast money, a place that will give them an ec onomic foundation and eventually help them to leave
and settle in other jurisdictions overseas. Mr Speaker,
again the exodus of young human capital and brain drain was recently reaffirmed by Ms. McKenzie- Kohl
Tuckett, one of Bermuda’s many shining stars, when
she recently delivered a speech to the UK House of
Commons. She indicated that one of the top signif icant issues in the Government’s National Youth Policy was the exodus and relocation of our young people. She went on to indicate that the primary reason for
their flight is unemployment and the unemployment of
degree holders. She indicated that these young people were struggling to feel at home post -university,
and they felt that there was a lack of opportunity for
them here in Bermuda. She also warned that the I sland suffered from a brain drain and a loss of qualified
talent.
Mr. Speaker, this Government must also do
more to develop and support the performing arts in
Bermuda by promoting local artists and [entertainers]. In addition, we should also have a national performance centre and an institute for the arts. We in the
Opposition would like the Government to continue to
establish more tech fairs to expose our young people to the forefront in robotics, coding and animation
skills.

Seniors

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: In the 2020 Throne
Speech, the Progressive Labour Party Government
promised a National Sen iors Strategy and a Prevention Plan for Seniors’ Abuse, and it still has not fully
materialised. Bermuda’s seniors have contributed to
this country and paved the way for future generations.
They should be valued. The One Bermuda Alliance
takes the view that when it comes to seniors, the Government should do the following:
• Keep them healthy . There should be a recreational cent re dedicated for senior s’ use and
that promotes regular physical activity, community and social engagement. Soon to be
vacated primary schools could be utili sed for
such a purpose.
• Help them get around. Transportation is a real
issue for many seniors , given the unreliability
and expenses of bus and other public
transport services, and the disrespect that
some seniors experience. There should be a free or subsidi sed minibus service or register
of taxi drivers who could transport seniors to
48 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly grocery stores, to attend doctors ’ appointments and do banking and other errands .
• Protect them . There needs to be a higher
standard and calibr e of overs ight for ind ependent caregivers .
• House them . Most seniors in Bermuda live
solely from their pensions. For those who do
not own their homes, a substantial portion of
their funds is spent on rent. There should be
affordable housing units specifically designed
to accommodate seniors ’ needs .
• We should be giving tax relief for seniors ’ care
and other personal care items to help them
lower their overall costs.
Mr. Speaker, w e recommend changes to the
National Social Insurance Reform, which will also i mpact our s eniors. We acknowledge the Government’s
intention to move forward with a sliding- scale model
which will be similar to the UK model. We agree that contributions based on salary earned is reasonable.
On the other hand, how will the benefit payments be
determ ined and paid? The devil will be in the details.
In light of this, the One Bermuda Alliance will reserve
judgment on this proposal until all the details and i nfrastructure are defined.

National Health Care

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, Bermuda has
the unenviable reputation of having the third- highest
rate of diabetes amongst OECD countries. A full 13
per cent of our population are [afflicted], and 50 per
cent of our residents have at least one of the following chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease or
kidney disease. According to the Ministry of Health,
one in three residents has high blood pressure and/or
high cholesterol. In addition, $29 million are spent every year on dialysis, and demand for these services
grows a minimum of 10 per c ent per year.
On the matter of uninsured residents, approximately 12 per cent of Bermuda’s residents are uni nsured, and 23 per cent of our population takes the
view that health insurance is unaffordable, and there are those who are underinsured. From a cost perspec tive, 11.6 per cent of Bermuda’s GDP is spent on
health care, which is the third- highest in the OECD. In
addition, my research in the Ministry of Health also
indicates that health [care] expenditures grew by an
astronomical 92 per cent between 2006 and 2017.
Mr. Speaker, the Ministry of Health must finalise Bermuda’s Health Strategy. This strategy should
address the promotion of healthy living, preventative
care and mental health. It should be patient focused,
with individual patient ID numbers. I t must utterly u nderstand patient needs and provide universal health care coverage. It should also harness health care
technology for better efficiency and patient outcomes.
In addition, KEMH [King Edward VIII Memorial
Hospital] must clearly define its operating model. Is it a for -profit hospital or is it a not -for-profit community
hospital, which can make it more affordable? What
model is being used? The Government continues to
inject money into the Bermuda Hospitals Board.
These are unbudgeted funds, and this option of f inancing is unsustainable.
When it comes to national health [care], the
One Bermuda Alliance recommends that the Progres-sive Labour Party [Government] should [do the follo wing]:
• Develop a national health care plan to ensure
that every Ber mudian has health insurance
coverage. It must be evidenced- based and
managed by independent professionals .
• Ensure that each patient has a unique patient
identifier [UPI]. This will ensure that everyone
has coverage, reduce duplication of services, and driv e down the cost of health care for all.
It will assist in services being streamlined and produce a true number of those who are uni nsured or underinsured to develop solutions to reduce this figure.
• Create a national physical fitness program me
to encourage well-being, sound health, exercise and good personal diet, from primary school throughout life.
• Work with health care providers to ensure that
health care reform results in improved popul ation health and more affordable health care.
• Legislate that insuranc e plans that offer mental health coverage must cover it in the same way as medical coverage and not discriminate or offer lesser coverage for mental health services .
• Provide additional assistance to those who,
for whatever reason, simply cannot afford i nsurance.
• Explore possibilities of allowing [ fully] dependent elderly parents to be covered on their
children’s health insurance plan.
The focus should be on the provision of patient-centric services, giving the patient more options
to be in control of their own health choices which are
not defined by the practice of socialised medicine. In the meantime, the excessive cost of health care in Bermuda, and the fragile and worsening financial position of our only hospital and the Bermuda Hospitals
Board must be addressed. Government cannot continue to inject unbudgeted capital. This model is irr esponsible and unsustainable.

Mental Health

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, Bermuda has
a small population of people who sleep and beg on
the streets. A simple strol l through town shows ev idence that the numbers are increasing. We must f ocus on homelessness, untreated mental health and
related behavioural problems. Bermuda needs a cenBermuda House of Assembly tral facility [that] people with drug and mental health
issues can get to without the need for transportation,
as getting to Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute is not on a
bus route and is challenging for some people to get to.
Mr. Speaker, the One Bermuda Alliance
would ensure the police are visible in Hamilton and that they have specialist mental health training to appropriately deal with people with mental health issues
and other crises (e.g., domestic violence). Untreated
or unaddressed mental and related behavioural issues
add financial, human and other resource burdens on the hospital, police force, courts and prisons. It does
nothing to help the individuals, potentially puts the
public at risk and is not good for the tourist experiences. Crime against tourists will be more of an issue if not addressed. It is a situation that should not be ignored.

Domestic Abuse

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, the Progressive Labour Party [Government] must proactively address domestic abuse. This is a complex matter and
there is no one thing that can be implemented to pr event it. However, we belie ve that an action plan
should be created. It must be collaborative with a f ocus on education, training, the safety and the security of victims of abuse, and interventions for abusers.
Bermuda should also have a specialist domestic vi olence court to functio n like the mental health court,
which would specifically address the needs of both the victims and abusers.

National Security

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, the lack of
mention and attention to national security in the
Throne Speech is a worrying s ign. While the services
within the Ministry of National Security served the I sland well through the COVID -19 pandemic, perhaps
this Government has forgotten the challenges they
faced, such as manpower and working conditions in
the Department of Corrections , manpower perhaps at
its lowest level in years currently, and budget constraints within the Bermuda Police Services. Mr.
Speaker, while significant funding is tied up in violent crime and corruption investigation, community policing
is being scaled back.
Mr. Speaker, one of the fundamental respo nsibilities of any government is the security of its cit izens and ensuring a safe environment in which all can
thrive. This begins by valuing all of our uniformed per-sonnel instead of disrespecting them, by provid ing the
best possible conditions of service and physical env ironment. It also requires vigorously confronting the causes of crime as well as being tough on the perp etrators of the crime itself.
Mr. Speaker, the Progressive Labour Party
Government has bee n defunding the police by slas h-ing their budget. They have also not provided our fir efighters with the necessary equipment and have al-lowed conditions at the prisons to fester. The One
Bermuda Alliance believes in law and order, and we
value the demanding work of our uniformed service
men and women. Their performance during the
COVID -19 crisis underscored their commitment and
diligence, and we all owe them our gratitude for their
service. They worked above and beyond anything we
could have asked for. Theref ore, the One Bermuda
Alliance recommends that the Progressive Labour
Party Government [do the following]:
• Fully invest in our uniformed services men
and women by ensuring they do not lack for
basic needs such as clothing and equipment,
and equip them with modern technologies to
better ensure safety and crime prevention, i ncluding body cameras for police officers, updated fire equipment and emergency ambulances .
• Address the serious facilities deficiencies at
Bermuda’s prisons to ensure that prison offi cers w ork in a safe and healthy environment .
• Ensure our uniformed services are fully staffed so that services are routinely provided,
with reduced reliance on overtime pay , and
the promotion of well -being for those who give
service to our Island.
• Provide clerica l support to our uniformed services so that they are free to concentrate on their important core tasks and not be bogged down by non- critical duties .
• Provide on- call mental health and social
workers to support the police in responding to noncriminal calls to provide de- escalation or
crisis assistance.
The OBA believes that strong preventative
and rehabilitation program mes are important in mai ntaining safe communities, to provide ongoing support
to victims’ families, to support and guide at -risk youth
and t o give offenders a second chance.

Gang Violence

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, unfortunately,
there have been reoccurring spates of violence in
Bermuda. The sad reality is that our community appears to have become numb to this anti -social beha viour and has accepted it as [the] new way of life.
Alarmingly, there have been eight murders this year, with many more shooting incidents, violent attacks and brawls. This is unacceptable and says that gang
violence is alive and well, and that we have a real s ocial problem which needs to be addressed as a matter
of urgency.
As for the scale of the gang challenge in Bermuda, the Minister of [National] Security indicated at a recent gang symposium in October that the Island is
facing a crisis in gang violence and candid discus50 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly sions must be held with stakeholders to resolve the
problem. He stated (and I quote), “ it poses a grave
threat to our young people, our peace of mind, our
schools, our societal expectations of normal beha viour, and the very fabric of our Berm udian culture . . . I
find it utterly unconscionable that around 1000 people” (are actively involved in gangs. And they) “can cause
this much disruption and devastation to a population
of just over 60 thousand people on a 21- square- mile/4
square mile wide island” (end quote).
Mr. Speaker, as a country we must also stop
living and believing that we live in a dreamland. When
it comes to youth and gang violence, we must stop
saying that this is not who we are and this is not who
we want to become. Gang viole nce reflects our soci ety and how society has managed its young people.
We all must take ownership of this problem, and we
all have a role to play in addressing this problem.
Mr. Speaker, the Premier and the Progressive
Labour Party Government have once again placed independence on the parliamentary agenda. They have sanctioned and produced a report entitled “A ssessment of Self Governance Sufficiency in conform ity with internationally recognized standards.”
Collectively, we ask, Why?
• Why now, when Bermudi an families are trying
to figure out how they are going to eat and pay bills and are concerned about their f uture?
• Why now, when our young people are moving
to the United Kingdom in droves?
• Why now, when as we speak, increasingly
more of our Bermudian resi dents are securing
British passports?
• Why now, when our young people are getting
home fees when attending UK universities
and colleges ?
To raise independence now is yet another
stark reminder that Premier Burt and his Government have utterly lost touch wit h the people.

Transportation

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, the current
state of Bermuda’s roads is a direct reflection on the
state of our economy. If anyone wishes to understand the recession, notice the inability of the Progressive
Labour Party [Government] to afford repairs and i mprovements to our roadways. Clearly, the PLP Go vernment does not have the funding nor the desire to
address the severity of our hazardous roads which its
citizens are subjected to on a daily basis, not to men-tion our tourists. Care and management of our roadways is dependent on the collaboration of national
stakeholders including Works and Engineering,
Transport Control, the Bermuda Police Service, the
Road Safety Council, Internet providers and the util ities. Very littl e effective activity has taken place to
improve overgrowth, potholes, speeding, poorly r epaired road paving, and the regretful road traffic acc idents and fatalities.

Taxis

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: The taxi industry is an iconic feature of Bermuda’s touris m product, but they are
fighting for their existence as Transport seeks to consolidate the industry into one public service. Taxi owners should not have to compete with other public
service vehicles which offer a very different customer
experience. Making changes without taking the we lfare of our taxi owners and their cultural significance
to heart is in direct contradiction to delivering the best
Bermuda customer experience.

Buses

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, electric buses,
mini- cars, bikes and scooters are a growing industry.
And when it comes to growing pains, residents are
already reporting the irresponsible use of rentals such
as riding cycles on sidewalks, not wearing helmets
and using handheld devices. Government must work
quickly to put legislation in place for responsible use
and safety of our users.

National Debt

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, with Berm uda’s national debt approaching $4 billion, we must
build a vibrant economy where jobs are created with a
focus on equity, diversi ty, free trade and real opport unities for Bermudians. We must find investors to support small businesses and our local economy. We
must buy Bermuda. To mitigate the rising cost cha llenges, the One Bermuda Alliance has called for the
elimination of the sugar taxes, a reduction in the foreign currency purchase tax for one year, and an
amendment to customs duties that will allow our r etailers to pay customs and import duties at the point of
sale and not in advance. We would also consider the
reduction of the c ost of public transportation by 12.5
per cent for one year.
We support Government’s recent reduction in
customs duties payable for essential foods and fem inine hygiene products. We would also invite the Government to eliminate all pink taxes , which will a lso include contraceptive products and place a moratorium
on new hires in the civil service. We must encourage
the Government to review our tax system for adequacy and economic sustainability.

Global Warming and Climate Change
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: On the matter of global
warming and climate change, when is the Gover nBermuda House of Assembly ment going to craft and develop a national global
warming adaptation plan for Bermuda? What strat egies are we going to share with the people of Berm uda to mitigate climate risks, which are threatening our
families, our homes and our environment? Look at the
frequency and intensity of our hurricanes, the ongoing
calving of our coastal cliffs, the rise in temperatures in
the summer and the threat to our mangroves. When it
comes to reducing Ber muda’s carbon footprint, the
Government should aim for more electric and hybrid vehicles for Bermuda’s roads.
Considering this, it is unconscionable that the
current Transportation Minister is currently entertai ning the thought of reintroducing customs duties on electric vehicles. If the Burt Administration is serious about lessening global warming, they must not move
forward with the proposed taxation on electric veh icles. They must reinforce the Island’s green agenda and provide the appropriate incentives and tools to
make it happen.

Conclusion
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, while the
Throne Speech opened by stating that “Bermuda has
been tested,” we in the Opposition believe that Bermuda has been tested and the Government has failed the test miserably. They have not adequately suppor ted Bermuda and her people. Leaders in the Burt Gov-ernment are more concerned about political control
versus principled leadership. They have not and will
not set the country up for success. The Government
must remain focused on building Bermuda’s social
support programmes and initiatives. They must also
continue to support the growth of Bermuda’s domestic
economy and that of our international business industry.
This PLP Government must deliver the Bermuda we all want, the Bermuda we all deserve! We
deserve a Bermuda where we have equitable access
to quality education and training. A Bermuda where
we have efficient and reliable infrastructure and services. A Bermuda where we have access to timely and affordable health care. A Bermuda where our
unique environmental and cultural assets are pr eserved. A Bermuda where small business, entrepr eneurial and creative talents thrive. A Bermuda where
we are safe and secure. A Bermuda where people
consider us the destination of choic e. A Bermuda
where all of our people are positive contributors to our society and love, nurture, protect and support each
other.
Let us all ensure that the Progressive Labour
Party does less talking and more positive action. They
must empower our people, s ecure their peace, pr ovide them with opportunities and invest in their prosperity.
Thank you, Mr. [Deputy] Speaker.
[Desk thumping]

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

The resumption of the Throne
Speech debate. First up will be the Member with Go vernment, the Hono urable Minister Jason Hayward.
You may take your seats.

DEBATE ON THE 2022 THRONE SPEECH
AND REPLY

Hon. Jason Hayward: Good afternoon, Mr. Deputy
Speaker. Thank you for allowing me time to have i ntervention into today’s debate.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the o nly part of what was
delivered just now that resonates with me is the cover
of that particular document.

[Laughter and desk thumping]
Hon. Jason Hayward: And it is not because the document is green, but because the cover of the doc ument has sprouts on it . And it reminds me why I joined
the Progressive Labour Party, why I got into politics. I
got into politics to plant the seeds of justice.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, there is a quote,
“There’s a reason that justice is often referred to as a
seed . . . it’s not s omething we can expect to see r esults or feel changes from overnight. ” That quote is
from Christine White.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, instead of sprouts on the
front of the document, it should have been a forest —a
forest of injustice. Because the Opposition can hig hlight that the Progressive Labour Party has been in power for 20 of the last 25 years. But they fail to state
that injustice, the seeds of injustice, were planted over 400 years ago. The seeds of injustice had been planted over 400 years ago, and as a result we are now
doing the work to plant the seeds of justice, to chop
down the forest of injustice. That cannot be overshad-owed.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, my grandmother turned
90 this year. When I asked my grandmother what she
would like to see for the future, she simply said, Change. She said that she has participated in every
march for the last 50 years. I had a conversation with
my grandmother after that, and we did have a measured conversation and she said, Yes, I can admit
things have got ten a lot better , but more is needed.
And I reaffirmed with my grandmother that this is why
52 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly I continue in my role as a member of the Progressive
Labour Party, because they know that more change is
needed.
The only line that I support in this document is
the line that says, “They must empower our people,
secure their peace, provide them with opportunities
and invest in their prosperity.” We have done so, and
we will continue to do so, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
We have made progress that assists Berm udians at every stage of their l ife: from early childhood
to adolescent years, into their teenage years, to early
adulthood, to when individuals become part of the
workers of society, to when they become seniors. And
[in] my submission today I hope to demonstrate the
work that we have done, the work that we continue to do, and the work that we plan to do in those regards.
Persons choose to put blinders on the work
that has been done. This particular Government r eleased a document [entitled], “Five Years of Pr ogress.” They called it elect ioneering. Why was it l abelled electioneering? Because meaningful progress resonates with people. As we talk about the work that
we do for our children and our youth, let me start
[with] individuals at their earliest age. We have made
a commitment to introduce a First 1,000 Day[s] initi ative, that is to support children and their families [so
they can] get the necessary support at an early age so they can have the best chance of a full, dignified qual ity of life to ensure that they are on the right trajectory at an early age.
This also complements the work that we do in
our Child Development Programme where we assess two-year-old children and ensure that they have the
intervention services that are needed after the assessment has been done. We do that so that we put
our young people on the best possible trajectory so
that we provide early intervention to support our
young. In addition to that, in this Throne Speech we
committed to increasing child day care allowance. We
want to expand the number of parents wh o actually
can benefit from this allowance and also increase the
amount of funds provided to those parents. This is not
a financial handout. This is to ensure that all of our young people have access to childcare. Childcare is
the best opportunity to devel op our young people s ocially [and] emotionally [and] to allow them to develop
the cognitive skills they need so that they can be successful in primary education and beyond.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we will also continue
with the Bright Start Programme. The Bright Start
Programme allows three- year-olds to go into our
nursery school system after they have had an assessment from the Child Development Programme.
And if those individuals are potty trained, there are
spots available for those individuals to enter our
nursery school system at an earlier age. This is direc tly done to support the development of our young persons and also ease the burdens on families. Mr. Deputy Speaker, this Government understands the importance of technology. We understood
what happened when we had to close down schools
in a pandemic and classes were remote. Mr. Deputy Speaker, this Government made a commitment to ensure that our primary school students have
Chromebooks. Those [Chromebooks] assisted fam ilies who did not have that technology in house. But it
also allowed our students to become more computer
literate in a digitised age. Where technological advances are moving from the fringes of our society and becoming more mainstream, it is important that our
kids have access to technology . That was a commi tment that was made and a commitment that was delivered on.
In addition to that, so that they can best utilise
the Chromebooks, we also have Wi -Fi in our school
system so that they can be interconnected with information on the worldwide w eb. As one progresses in
age, this Government then developed a National Youth Policy, a specific plan that has goals in it, designed to intersect with every phase of a young per-son’s life. These policies set out age- specific goals to
keep young people safe and protected from harm;
achieve full potential in learning development and ed-ucation; minimise antisocial behaviour; increase employment and entrepreneurship opportunities; engage
in sport, culture and recreation; support young people to be active and healthy; enable participation in civic
engagement; and encourage diversity and inclusion.
We have a committee in place that is actively
working on ensuring that there is coverage and str ategic initiatives set out to achieve each of those goals. We have not abandoned our young people. The fact
that the document can be referred to means the document exists. The document exists for a specific reason, so that we have a framework and a roadmap as to how we better support young people.
We have also implemented a Na tional Youth
Employment Strategy. The National Youth Emplo yment Strategy aims to close the gap between the desire for our young people to be employed and them
having opportunities to be employed. We do recognise that youth unemployment was extremely high i n
Bermuda, hovering around 30 per cent. And so as a
direct result of the information that was provided to us through these statistics, we thought it best to put a
strategy in place to directly combat that negative st atistic. And this is not just to assist our young people in
education, it is also to assist those young people who
are outside of our education system. So the primary target [is] those persons between the ages of 18 and
26 years old.
The plan aims to achieve a number of goals:
facilitate access to training and employment opport unities for Bermuda's youth; provide career guidance
and resources for Bermuda’s youth; support access to work experience opportunities such as internships,
traineeships, and apprenticeships; motivate Berm uBermuda House of Assembly da's youth to dev elop the highest level of proficiency
in their chosen field; ensure that qualified and competent young people are provided opportunities for development, mentoring, coaching and growth to su pport promotion within their chosen career; and remove
entry -level barriers for young persons seeking employment.
We did ask our young persons and employers
why that level of unemployment, youth unemployment
exists within our society. Admittedly, there was a lack
of job opportunities for our young people. [There] was a lack of experience that was required; limited access
to resources; lack of opportunities for less -
experienced job seekers; career choice uncertainty; and misalignment of qualifications, and the skill sets that are demanded in the workplace. All of those see k
to be addressed with the goals that we put in place;
that is, to increase local training opportunities and
promote pathways to secure employment; expand
career support services for young people from high
school through to early employment; support and promote science, technology, engineering, arts and
mathematics; expand apprenticeship and internship opportunities; support and promote youth entrepr eneurship; promote and support vulnerable youth; r evise policies to improve social protections for young peop le and facilitate the repatriation of young Berm udians back home.
In the last sitting of the House of Assembly, I
gave a Ministerial Statement where I outlined the work
that was being done in alignment with the Youth E mployment Strategy and what we are doi ng in this quarter to ensure that we support. I will give those updates
on a quarterly basis so that everybody is cognisant of
the services that we are providing for our youth, so
that everybody is cognisant of the bridge we are connecting between our youn g persons and jobs; ever ybody is cognisant of the pipelines that we are putting
in place for our youth; everybody is cognisant of the
additional knowledge that we will provide to the community so that our young persons and their parents
can make better car eer decisions. That is deliberate
action that we have set out to do and deliberate action
that we are doing to support our young persons.
In addition to that, when we talk about supporting our young persons, it does not stop there. The Minister of Educati on introduced a College Promise
Programme. We have also increased the level of f inancial aid so that our young persons can attend Bermuda College.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, through our actions it is
demonstrated that we care about our young persons. Through our actions, we have demonstrated that we
have put plans in place. Through our actions we have
demonstrated that we are implementing these plans
and they have meaningful outcomes.
Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, I want to now talk about
how we better support the worker s in this country. So
we are walking through this journey, I just spoke to how we support our young persons from birth right up
into getting employment. Now they become workers.
This Government is committed to creating a Depar tment of Labour, a department that will promote labour
standards and workers’ rights, ensuring that we have signed labour relations, compliance monitoring and
enforcement of labour laws and that we are advancing
labour policy.
The Opposition, in their Throne Speech Reply
said they are lukewarm about this initiative. How could
they be lukewarm about ensuring that we have better promotion of workers’ rights? How could they be
lukewarm about ensuring that our laws are enforced?
How could they be lukewarm about ensuring that we
have a harmonious industrial relations climate? How
could they be lukewarm about us putting a mechanism in place to further advance labour policy? What is accepted is that these individuals are not fully cognisant of what is required for us to have a system in
place t hat works on behalf of the workers of this country.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we will be moving forward with the implementation of a minimum wage.

[Desk thumping]

Hon. Jason Hayward: I am often reminded by the
Deputy Premier that this initiative was in the fi rst PLP
Election Manifesto. Let me just say: The seeds of justice were planted then and the sprouts are now begi nning to be seen. This is a continuation of work, but it is
what is absolutely needed to ensure that workers r eceive a fair day’s wage for a fai r day’s work. We want
to ensure that all segments of our society that are in our workforce have access to funds that would allow
them to provide for their basic needs. And so we will
set a minimum wage of $16.40. Some say it is too
low. Others say it is to o high. Nobody can disagree
that this is justice at work.
Additional to advancing a minimum wage, Mr.
Deputy Speaker, we will be putting building blocks in
place, a relatively new concept that falls in line with
the reform that we are doing to Financial As sistance
[FA]. This is a short -term benefit that will be provided
when persons find themselves in hardship for a short period of time. Instead of going through the entire f inancial assistance process, one who may have just
been laid off from work or who ma y have just lost a
loved one due to death can come to Financial Assi stance and seek assistance with some of their basic
needs, whether it be rent, whether it be health care, whether it be food, or their utilities.
We want to ensure that we are broadening
social protections for our people. And we have demonstrated since we have been in Government that
this is exactly what we have done. We have expanded
social safety nets. We have broadened social protec-tions and we will continue to broaden those social pr otections. This Government has here in place [pr o54 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly grammes] to work for the people of this country, and
when they find themselves in need, the necessary
support ought to be there. It is our responsibility to
ensure that it is there. And we have demonstrated that
we have a commitment to those persons . . . providing
funds to those persons who need funds.
I want the paradigm of Financial Assistance to
be shifted. They should not view it with any sort of stigma. The way in which it should be approached is,
if you find yourself in this country in a position of need,
then this Government is here to assist you. The same
way we assisted individuals who did not think that
they would be in a position of need during the pandemic. And we provided unemployment benefits.
There are people who did not qualify for financial assistance. And we created a new scheme called the
Supplemental Unemployment Benefit to provide assi stance to those individuals. We have demonstrated, and we will continue to demonstrate, that we are moving forward with a human- centred approach to ec onomic recovery, one that puts our people first.
Something that we did that was fundamentally
important for us to do, that is often overshadowed, Mr.
Deputy Speaker, is that we extended FA benefits for
an addition al two years. At that point in time, 100 fam ilies would have timed -out of Financial Assistance. We
extended the maximum payout from 60 months (which
is five years) to a seven- year period. That is how this
Government demonstrates its commitment to our
peopl e.
As it pertains to workers, we have also r educed payroll tax for workers making under $96,000 a year, improving the purchasing power of those per-sons. We often said that our taxation system needs to
be more progressive, and we are making our tax sy stem m ore progressive. This is a demonstration of that.
You see, when prices rise by a few cents, and it takes
$30 or $40 a month out of individuals’ pockets,
households feel that, and we see the complaints in the
blogs and everywhere else. But when we adjust taxes
and put thousands of dollars back into people's poc kets, I do not hear any fanfare. But these are things
that we do to support the working- class people of
Bermuda. You see, the seeds of justice take some
time to be seen.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we revised our labour
laws and implemented a labour code. But there are
some fundamental things that we did that make us
world leaders. For example, the requirement for all
employers to provide a written policy against bullying
and harassment and sexual harassment in the wor kplace makes Bermuda a world leader. Countries
around the world are still trying to determine how they
ratify Convention 190, [Eliminating] Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. We need not ratify a
convention to do the right thing. We have done it on
our own. And it is important that this policy is in place
because it impacts thousands of employees on a daily
basis. Bullying harassment in the world of work is real. It has detrimental effects on individuals. They talk
about domestic violence and how we should support
[policies to deal with] that. But imagine you being a
domestic violence victim at home and then come into
work and have to deal with bullying harassment. When do you escape the abuse? Well, at least this
Government is trying to m ake the world of work a better place so that this person can find some refuge.
We have extended bereavement leave so that
persons can go to the funerals of their grandparents
and great grandparents, and grandparents can go to funerals of their grandchildren and great grandchi ldren, because some members in this community were
not raised by their mothers and fathers. They were
raised by their grandmothers and great grandmothers.
And those individuals should have rights to leave the
workplace to go and grieve with the rest of the family
in peace. But why do we have to write that in law?
What employee goes to the boss and says, Can I get
off to go to my grandmother's funeral? And they say,
No. This exists in our society. So we have to codify it
in law. But this is this Government’s commitment to
supporting the working- class people of this country.
The next one we put in place was to ensure
that a 30- minute meal break is taken after five hours
of work. What employer tells their employee they have
to work for five hours straight and then not get a
break? It happens in our society.

[Laughter]
Hon. Jason Hayward: This is not a laughing matter.
This is not a laughing matter. How could the Oppos ition be over there laughing on such a serious matter?
You know what? It is a reflection of part of our society.
You are telling me that this person cannot get
a bathroom or water break or get food so that they
could be productive for the rest of the afternoon or go
to a doctor’s appointment? People are skipping going to a doc tor's appointment to stay at work because
they cannot get time off, a half an hour. And then
guess what? That person dies and the only thing the
employer does is replace him. This is what we talk
about when we start to say what makes the Progressive Labour Party different. We put standards in place
that improves workers’ rights.
And yes, we support our unions because in
unionised environments, we do not have to legislate
that. Those are found in collective agreements. And
more employees within this country should join unions
so that they can get an advancement on their rights and benefits in the workplace. There is a power behind collectivism. I have always advocated for the
workers of this country. I will continue to do so. And as
the Minister of Economy a nd Labour, I am proud of
the work that this Government has done. The pr ogress is undeniable, but those things do not get spo-ken about.


Bermuda House of Assembly We have had a commitment to our seniors. It
was this Government that increased the pensions for
our seniors. I heard in t he Reply [to the Throne
Speech] where sometimes the pension is the only i ncome one has to pay their rent. So why did they make the conscious decision not to increase the pensions of
our seniors?

[Desk thumping]

Hon. Jason Hayward: It is this Government that i ncreased those payments and we increased it above
what was said, which was the rate of inflation. We
went above the rate of inflation because our seniors
deserve it.
Mr. [Deputy] Speaker, Government has also
expanded home healthcare and seniors care benefits
under both FutureCare and HIP. It is a fact. A fact! We
increased FutureCare prescription drug benefits from
$2,000 to $3,000. Another fact. All of that is to reduce
the financial burden on our seniors.
When a senior is in need and goes to Financial Assistance, if that person has reached the age of
65, it is an easier gateway to Financial Assistance benefits. And that person can stay on Financial Assi stance until they pass. And when they pass, it will also
assist their family with their funeral. W hen our seniors
need assistance, we have provisions and benefits in
place to support those individuals. Yes, we do need to
now look at the level of services that are being provi ded and we will do so. We have a rapidly ageing pop ulation, and we need to ensure that we have the proper support systems in place so that they can age in dign ity.
There is one thing that cannot be said about
the Progressive Labour Party, [which] is that we do
not care about our seniors. Mr. Deputy Speaker, you
are an avid advocate for our seniors. And you ensure
that in our meetings . . . you keep us in line as it pertains to what our seniors expect through the social
contract that they signed with us when we raised our
hands to be MPs.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, it is this Government that
recently launched a programme to ensure that our
young persons can have access to capital to purchase
their own house at reduced rates. I heard a lot of technical questions this morning, but where is the
round of applause? The level of support? Where was
the Opposition Leader [stating], This is an awesome
programme. I am going to now talk to my employer (who is a bank ) to determine whether or not we can
do the same thing at another institution? I did not hear
where he said he did advocacy in his place of employment, but he wants to complain about the tec hnical things.

[Inaudible interjections ]

[Gavel] Hon. Jason Hayward: How are we measuring the
credit score? I did not hear.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Point of information.

How long was he there? How long
were they in Government? What did they do? Nothing!

[Inaudible interjections ]

Hon. Jason Hayward: Loughlands is a community
built by whom? For whom, Mr. Deputy Speaker? How
many families continue to benefit from that seed of justice that was planted?
The Housing Corporation has done an aw esome job with ensur ing that they work with tenants as
much as possible to ensure that units remain affordable. While landlords are gouging, the entities under
this Government are providing the affordable housing
that we need, and we will continue to do so. And that is why I am pleased in the Throne Speech, [with] the
expansion of units that will come online to support our
working- class families.
See, when people start to talk about Maslow's
Hierarchy of Needs, the PLP definitely ticks a number
of those boxes. There are some [ who] believe that
persons should achieve that with the level of independence. But the forest of injustice that had been
planted 400 years ago disrupts that level of indepen dence from happening sometimes.
I heard a lot about the Government does not
have an y plans regarding economic growth and development. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Ministry of Economy and Labour is primarily responsible for economic
growth, economic development and the expansion of
jobs in society. To say we do not have a plan is foolishness.

[Desk thumping]

56 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Jason Hayward: So the number one point in
our plan is to ensure that there is retention and expansion of local and international businesses in our
community. The main goal of business retention is to
ensure that we have a jurisdicti on that provides a
business ecosystem and business environment that
allows companies to thrive.
We have the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation who supports small and medium -
sized enterprises in all sorts of ways, whether it be
training, workshops, grants, incubators, accelerators, you name it. The main goal of business expansion is
to ensure that we allow businesses to grow and that
we strategically attract new business to our shores. I
did not hear in the Reply the statistics around the ex-pansion of our international business sector. International business now represents 28 per cent of our
economy, Mr. Deputy Speaker, the largest year -onyear growth since 2007. Growth of 8 per cent ha ppened last year, 2020/21, [with the] expansion of em-ployees. Yes, we have some work to do on the bac kside of a pandemic. But certainly when we have that
level of economic performance coming out of that sector of our community, there should be some acknow ledgement.
We want to ensure that we increase foreign
direct invest ment. Direct investment creates jobs as
far as innovation. It drives business activity. The D epartment of Economic Development has a primary objective to assist with connecting foreign investment
to the local economy and also sharing Bermuda’s value propos ition so that individuals know the investment
options. And we continue to reaffirm out on the road
that Bermuda is the best place for individuals to put
that capital to use. And that resonates with investors
worldwide. And that is why companies continue to
move into Bermuda. Continue. That's a fact.
Yes, we have to do a better job at marketing
and attracting more businesses. I think sometimes we
take for granted, living in Bermuda, that the world
knows what we have to offer. We have to do a better
job of getting out there in the world and sharing that.
And that is the primary responsibility of the Business Development Agency who have been doing that work
and will continue to do that work, notwithstanding we
lost Fairmont Southampton. Conferences are still coming to Bermuda and making best use of the space
that is available because they want to operate in this
environment. They know our blue- chip jurisdiction.
I do not know what the Opposition was talking
about, where we rely on external agencies for reassurance. We know Bermuda is a premier business
jurisdiction. I need no external agency to affirm that for
me. We know that the Bermuda Monetary Authority
(BMA) is a world- class top -notch regulator. I do not
need an external agency to reaffirm that to me. I see
the companies that come. And when I have direct di alogue with these companies, they tell me that they are impressed with the level of service that they received, the regulatory environment, the sophistication of the
Island, [and] the ecosystem that is maintained by this
Government. Business knows that it has Gover nment’s ear. We will ensure that small and medium -
sized businesses in this country know that they have the exact same ear. And we have started with that
engagement.
Entrepreneurship is something that is promoted in Bermuda. Bermudians are extremely innovative. Everybody has a little side hustle now. One only has
to go to a vendor’s market to see the level of entr epreneurship that exists within our community. We
need to provide a greater level of support so persons
can scale up their own small business ideas, the e ntrepreneurship innovation so that they are full -fledged
businesses. And that is why the Bermuda Economic
Development Corporation over the last 15 years has participated in Global Entrepr eneurship Week. Global
Entrepreneurship Week is represented by . . . it is held
in over 200 countries around the world. It touches
over 10,000 persons around the world, and Bermuda
is proud to be associated with those activities that is supporting young, budding Bermudian entrepreneurs.
And we have committed to continue with that
investment in our entrepreneurs. So much so that we have opened up a new office in North East Hamilton
so it can act as an accelerator and an incubator for
young start -up business es. We are going to put those
hubs in the EEZ in St. George’s as well as the EEZ in
Somerset so that in those hubs they have the same
level of support so we can see expansion of bus inesses throughout the Island.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we put an Economic R ecovery Plan in place. We set up a PMO office. The
Project Management Office [PMO] is primarily responsible with liaising with the primary stakeholders within
the ministries who are responsible for the execution of those plans. On a monthly basis that particul ar office
puts out a report so everyone in the country can know
the progress that is made on our Economic Recovery
Plan. The Opposition, in particular, MP Richardson,
continues to say that he has not heard an update. B ecause the updates are on the website for him to read
at https://www.gov.bm/economicrecovery .
[Desk thumping and i naudible interjections ]
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Deputy Speaker, Wor kforce Development is the last piece of our puzzle
when it comes to supporting our economy and what
we are doi ng. We need to ensure that we have talented individuals who can fuel the skill sets that our employers need. And where there are gaps and they
cannot be filled, we do have to work to ensure that
those employees are brought in in an efficient manner
so that they can provide the value that companies
need so that they can be successful.
This Government has never had a problem
with work permits, but we always wanted to ensure


Bermuda House of Assembly that Bermudians got the opportunity first. Some people want to skip over that step. Once you have
demonstrated that there is no suitably qualified Bermudian for that role, then we can talk about how we
can bring in the labour as soon as possible. Yes, if you need that particular worker, it is best that this
worker is working now [rather] than six months later. It
is in all of our benefit. You can read a report where
there is a lag and backlog of work permits. No such
lag and backlog currently exists. And when individuals
need assistance, they get assistance. Maybe indivi duals can testify to that. Or maybe they won't.
But we do have a looming challenge on our
hands which is our ageing population. We have done the work in terms of determining the level that we want to expand our workforce by. We will begin a
round of consultation to ensure that all stakeholders
within our community are cognisant of the challenge and can collectively work on a solution moving forward. It is estimated that we need at least 8,418
workers by 2026. That is a moving target. That will change as our population levels change. It will change
as the level of our seniors change. But it is pegged to
the old age dependency ratio. So, we are no longer
just throwing out numbers and say we need “X”
amount of people. It's based on something.
But the first solution to the problem is ensuring that every able- bodied Bermudian is in the wor kforce. After that, we talk about how we expand our
working population through immigration. Then we talk
about new business development and ensuring that
we have organic growth, and then how we can adjust
our labour policies. I worked on a report about i ncreas ing the retirement age. The Government led by
example and increased the retirement age of public
servants. This benefits many public servants. How
much extra money does three years of pay cheque s
put in a worker’s pocket versus pension payments?
Another thing that goes unmentioned, when
they talk about how we support workers in this country, and we want to ensure that there is an expansion
of debt in t he private sector as well. Stop just telling
people, On the basis of you going 65, you have to
leave the workplace , when that person is capable and
able.
There is a ton of things; I have only touched
the tip of the iceberg. But guess what, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The tip of the iceberg demonstrates the pr ogress that we have made. The tip of the iceberg is the
sprouts on the front of this booklet that has been
sowed by the seeds of justice that we in the Progressive Labour Party are committed to.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

[Desk thumping]

You have those fancy red socks
on.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, I know, but I just had
to pull them up before I stood up.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am obviously pleased
to have the opportunity to speak today.
I have spoken on a number of different
Throne Speeches through the years. And one thing
that I find interesting and intriguing about Throne
Speeches is that the side who sits where the sun doesn't get in your eyes, when you are in the other
place, will talk about how great their record is. And the
side who sits in the seats where the sun will always
get in your eyes, and no one will close the blinds on
the other side, will criticise the record and say how they can do things better. And Mr. Deputy Speaker,
what is interesting about that is that this often is the
nature of politics. And as I have grown with exper ience in the service of people, it becomes more interesting and more intriguing to listen to those comments.
Also, Mr. Deputy Speaker, as I have grown
with experience and scars from politics, from not getting ever ything right, I realise now more than ever that
people are tired of that type of debate. Now, before I
go any further, I want to congratulate the Honourable
Minister. He spoke for about 45, 50 minutes, and
while I did not agree with everything he said, I t hought
it was a well -presented speech. He had obviously
done his homework. He spoke with passion. He spoke
with commitment. And the Minister has shown that he
cares about the direction that we all want to go in, and that is progress. The Minister is very good at politics,
but he spoke about progress, and I found him to be
accessible and care about what is going on. So, I
commend the Honourable Minister for that.
My comments today will support some of what
the Honourable Minister said, but I want to draw som e
constructive comparison to the challenges we face.
And so, as I say that, Mr. Deputy Speaker, let me start
here by saying, earlier, with the experience I have had
in politics and some of the scars that I have gained in
politics, it is very clear to me that in 2022, while we
say we hear the people, while we say we listen to the people, and we all say that the people support us,
sometimes, and too often, we get disconnected from
the people because we start to believe our own message without actually having the people hear it and
then listen to what they say. That is a criticism of ev ery Government that I have known in history of me fol-lowing politics.
58 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly You get caught up in your own message and
you believe it so much, like it will be the be- all and
end-all. B ut you are starting to miss some of the root
elements of success that you need to have to move
forward. And so in the Honourable Minister’s speech, he did a good job of talking about some of the pr ogress that the PLP has made and some of the justice.
And I know the Honourable Minister as a former l abour person in capacity, but he still has labour in his
heart, in his roots, [he] stands for justice. And I think
all of us in this House also stand for justice. Some might say stand for what is right and good, a nd we
work towards it. And every Government of this country
along the way has pushed for justice. But it is up to
the people to decide if that has actually come fast enough. And so the Honourable Minister, his mother
[sic] when he asked her, and it appears he has a
strong mother [sic] , and that is a good sign.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Grandmother. Sorry,
grandmother and strong mother too.
But that is a good sign when you have your
family tell you what you really need to hear and n ot
what you expect to hear. Like my mother listens to Parliament all the time and she will always call me. And in the beginning, she would always say, especially when it was a rough day in Parliament, Oh, you did
a good job today . You did good job today . And I said,
Mom, I expect you to say that. But when I came home
from school with a bad report card, I didn't get out of
the car until you gripped my ear. So, I want you to tell
me how I can do better in representing. So now she
tells me the tough love.
But it appears that the Honourable Minister’s
grandmother tells him the tough love because, Yes,
things have got ten better , but more change is needed.
And that is what it is about in life, Mr. Deputy Speaker, more change is always needed. You cannot get di sconnected from reality. And the old saying that you
don't understand a man's troubles or a wom an’s troubles until you can walk in their shoes , is true. And the
successful politician learns how to understand how
Minister Weeks is feeling in his shoes when he goes
through some type of tragedy.
I am saying this today because, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, we all need to have more understanding of what our people are really feeling. Because in 2022,
after the challenges we faced with COVID -19 and the
war in Ukraine and the cost of living hitting the country, and I will go into those in some more detail in the hour I have, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

[Laughter]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Well, I saw the clock just
started. I was wondering if it was malfunctioning.
The Deputy Speak er: I got you covered.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Got me covered. I knew
you would.
But, Mr. Deputy Speaker, with all those challenges and I think most people who know me well
enough will know that I can play politics, but I'll be fair.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we face huge challenges in our
country right now and this is not blaming the PLP, the
current Government. For any Government to come up
here and try to cast it that we have made significant progress, we are doing a disservice to our people.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, if you will allow me to r efer to a statement by the Honourable Premier this morning in regard to its title “The New $50 Million
Guarantee [for Mortgage Programme].” And here is
the context which I need to speak to, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, for all of us to do better and for the people to
be in a better position this afternoon, tonight.
The Honourable Premier said on the bottom
of the page, as he was coming to the close, second
last paragraph, he said, “While the Opposition talks, this Government has a real record of delivery.” (I am
not going to get into the record of delivery.) “We will
continue to execute Bermuda’s Economic Recovery
Plan, which has contributed to the best economic
growth of the Island since 2007.” The best economic
growth to the Island since 2007, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that is what jumped off that page to me. We are going
back 15 years; 10 of those years the PLP was in Government. They won't speak to the five years the OBA
was in Government other than criticism, and that is cool, that is part y politics.
But if I put that out on social media tonight or I
walk around the streets over the weekend and I say,
Do you think that this G overnment has delivered the
best economic growth in this Island since 200 7? The
comments would be negative at best because people
are not feeling that. We have already acknowledged that the cost of living is out of control. That is not the
PLP’s fault. That is something that is difficult to get a
handle on. Governments all over the world, even
some of the largest countri es who produce a lot, export a lot, are struggling with it just as much as we are. But in a small community you feel it more, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
So that record there, the best economic
growth . . . and so I ask the Government today, show
the people what y ou really mean by that. Give us the
facts that relate to them here in November 2022. B ecause, if you can, maybe we are in a better position to get some more progress, to see some more justice.
But I cannot believe that this statement is correct.

[Hon. Den nis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: And so herein lies the real
challenge, Mr. Speaker, and if you will allow me to
then reflect on the Government’s Throne Speech.


Bermuda House of Assembly The Honourable Premier says that . . . and I
quote the last page, page 9, Mr. Speaker. The Ho nourable Premier [said], “Madame President and Members of the Senate;” (And I acknowledged Madam
President in the room this afternoon. I appreciate her interest in the debate.) “[Mr. Speaker and] Members of
the House of Assembly; another vestige of the British
colonial influence is the Westminster System and its
core adversarial nature.”
Well, Mr. Speaker, yes, but that is politics. It
is like that in the States. It is probably worse. They have just had mid- term elections and all they talk
about is, We saved democracy. What do you mean?
Democracy is allowing your people to have the free-dom of expression to go and vote. How have you saved democracy? You haven't done anything yet.
But here we as politicians, we like to spi n it. And the
people will just shake their heads. Well, that is not
correct. But what really bothers me about that [he
says], “This model sees Honourable Members ‘facing off’ against one another,” (Which I already acknowledge that we need to do better.) “R eferences
to this style of Government as a ‘healthy democracy’ seem not to reflect the developments in those areas
where this system endures.”
And then the Honourable Premier goes on to
say, “On August 1
st 1620,” (that is 400 years ago, Mi nister, that you were talking about) “Governor Butler
addressed the first sitting of this Legislature and, in
words that apply to the women and men elected and
appointed to serve even today,” (the Honourable
Premier wrote and the Deputy Governor read out, Mr.
Speaker) “ . . . Coming hither, we must bring equal
minds with us; that is to say, without having our minds
so pre- occupied and taken up before, as no room is
left for justice and right . . . .” And the Premier goes on
that we need to work together, Mr. Speaker.
Well, t hat comment about the best economic
growth on this Island since 2007 clearly does not a llow us to do that, Mr. Speaker. And that is why we get caught up and progress and justice is impeded by the
handbrake we put on as politicians, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker , another point that I wanted to
touch on was a comment made by the Honourable
Minister, I wrote it down, and I think it's fairly accurate
(if I can read my scribble). And this comment to me
also outlines the challenge that we, as politicians face.
I talke d about the challenge of the party politics and
getting removed from the reality that we face, Mr.
Speaker. But here is another challenge that we face. The Honourable Minister said that if you find yourself
in this country in a position of need, this Gover nment
is here to assist you. I think everyone in this Chamber
and the other Chamber would support the sentiment
of those comments, Mr. Speaker, because Gover nments are there to serve the people. Governments are there to help the people. And Governments are there
to put up a framework to allow progress and prosper i-ty and also a safety net to allow individuals who are
struggling to get some type of support.
And having said that, Mr. Speaker . . . but
think about it. Again, we, as Members of Parliament,
make a statement that is so deep that if you take it in
any context, it can be spun in different ways. And I
draw this back to one of the big challenges we have
today, [which] is immigration, Mr. Speaker. We do not
know, as far as I know . . . and maybe the Mini ster
can give an update sometime down the road, the ex-act number of people who have left the country with a plan not to return. That plan might change. They can
always return; you are Bermudian, you can always
come back. But people have emigrated and [ther e
are] reasons why they emigrate. So herein is one of
the challenges that we face, because quite often pe ople emigrate because they have educational opport unities. And once they get there, then the educational
opportunity is something that allows them to c apitalise
on a work responsibility and opportunity in another
place. And they cannot meet that same opportunity
here.
Other times, Mr. Speaker, it is because of the
cost of living. And something blew me out of the water
first thing this morning, Mr. Speaker. I wake early ev ery day. I try to get in a little bit exercise to keep my
heart rate so I don't get too upset up here. I went down to the gas station (I needed some caffeine on
my way to work) just when it opened up, and I got a
coffee down there. And a gentleman was reading the
paper over in the corner and when I came in he came
over to me and said, Dunkley, let me tell you something. I never ask people for any money.
And I said, Well, I don’t loan people money. I
will help people where I can, but it's n ot giving money.
But he said, No, no, no, no, no. I need some
money because it's cheaper to be homeless in the UK than homeless in Bermuda . And I was blown away. I
did not know what to say. So, I went and ordered my
coffee. I came back to him and said, What do you
mean?
He said, You guys talk so much up there that
you have more people now struggling to make ends meet. I want to leave the Island. I can't even afford to
leave the I sland. So I'm stuck. I'm stuck in paradise.
Now, Mr. Speaker, that’s not just a PLP pro blem. That is a Bermuda problem that we face with the
cost of living. There is no doubt people are leaving
Bermuda because of the cost of living. It could be sen-iors with the cost of living there and the cost of insurance. And Government has said t hat they are trying
their best to put some programmes in place to help
out. And I think allowing seniors to work past retir ement is certainly a way to go because so many people want to continue to work. I think it helps keep them younger. And I know a number of people over that
magic age that want to continue to work and they
should be allowed to continue to work. But a lot of people here also are emigrating nowadays, young
60 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly people, because they need to get away. They are b eing harassed or bullied in schools here, and they need
to get away to a safer environment. Or some people
are running away because they want to leave som ething behind, good or bad.
Also, Mr. Speaker, back to this comment
made, if you are in this country and you need help,
this Government w ill assist you. This last remark goes
right back to that comment. I had a gentleman, Mr.
Speaker, who used to work for me. A good worker. I
brought him in. He had some challenges. We helped get him straight. He was working hard, but he wouldn't
take care of himself. [He] got overweight, smoked.
[He] was eating way too much. My brother found him
one day . . . and I’m not mentioning any names, so it
is anonymous. And I do not think this gentleman
would have a problem with me even saying his story
because he c alls me all the time. He was a picker. My
brother had to rush him from picking because he was
having a heart attack on the job. He was 60, 70
pounds overweight, smoking. We knew it had to hap-pen. We tried to work with him to get through it. And
we told him it was unsustainable what he was doing.
We could not have him doing that type of work.
You know what he did, Mr. Speaker? He em igrated to the UK because his daughter lived over
there. He still calls me now and tells me how great the life is because the U K has given him dwelling. They
take care of his healthcare. He has had three more heart attacks and he has to have care come in every
day. They take care of his meals. And he still has a
little extra cash to do some of the side activities he
wants to do.
So, Mr. Speaker, for us as politicians to say if
there is a need, we will help you, . . . sometimes that
help we give people has to be able to get them to go
in the right direction. Because once you give people
something for nothing, they will never want to [go]
back and will never want to change. That real life story tells you that, Mr. Speaker. So here is the challenge
that we find, Mr. Speaker. And I know the Honourable
Minister talked about Financial Assistance and it is a
tough one to deal with because everyone has their story, and where do you draw the line and what is appropriate? What is inappropriate, Mr. Speaker? That is
the challenge we face.
So now more than ever when we were dealing
with an economy that is struggling, a cost of living that
is as high as I ever remembered in my life, and I r emember in the 1979/80 when I first graduated from university, it was it was quite high, but nothing like
this, Mr. Speaker. These types of challenges we face never have any totally correct answers. They have
initiatives that are good, but somehow you have to
wean people off those and get them back into the
mainstream of contributing.
That is the challenge we have in Bermuda.
Like the Honourable Minister said, they have an ec onomic plan. They want to continue to support interna-tional business, and that is 28 per cent of our econ omy. And we in the Opposition know that we need to do that. I have spoken about it number of times. And I
give the Government all the kudos for continuing to
nurture international business because without them
things would be much worse off than they are today,
Mr. Speaker. There is no doubt about it. Without them,
things would be much worse off than they are today,
Mr. Speaker.
But we cannot forget, while Bermuda is still
considered a blue- chip jurisdiction, we are losing
ground, Mr. Speaker. And we cannot forget, Mr.
Speaker, . . . and I see the Premier looking at me
side-eyed. And I am not saying that in a negative
comment. I'll get to that in a second. We cannot for-get, Mr. Speaker, and this pertains to tourism as well,
that we get caught up in the 65,000 of Bermuda and
the beautiful country that we have. And we forget that
even in places like Atlanta, Georgia, where I was
blessed to be recently with family, I mentioned to a
person that I was from Bermuda and they said,
Where's that? Atlanta, Georgia! And I say that b ecause if we do not keep preaching who we are [and] what we stand for, we are falling behind because ot her people are doing it better than us. You can just look
at business that other countries have picked up. They
are doing it better than us. So, we support outreaches
to allow Bermuda to continue to put more business in rather than lose people to emigration. Put more bus iness in; put more tourists in, Mr. Speaker.
International business was successful through
COVID -19 because they managed to find a way to
conduct their business. From whom? People still
needed to have reinsurance in many areas. So, they
were successful. But they were hurt at the end of
COVID -19 because of the t ravel authorisation [TA].
And I know for a fact that many of those businesses took conferences, milestone achievements, to other
jurisdictions because of the TA, Mr. Speaker. So, I'm thankful that the Government has finally got rid of it,
probably nine months too late, but I am thankful that
the Government did it. But now we can start to build
again from that.
You know, the Honourable Minister Hayward
talked about increase in foreign direct investment. That is something that the OBA has talked about in
our time in the Government and even in our time in
the Opposition. And to the Honourable Premier, who
is now in his seat in the Chamber, I will say again that
the OBA is willing to work with the Government in i mportant areas —and in every area. And this is one area
we can work together because I do not like it that Bermuda is struggling. I do not want to sit on Go vernment benches just because I would be the Go vernment rather than the Opposition. Because if the country is still struggling, you got a hell of a job to do,
and it is not easy.
So, we are willing to work together because
direct foreign investment is one of the quickest ways


Bermuda House of Assembly for us to rebuild the engine of Bermuda that is struggling. And now that people are starting to understand
that we can move on fr om COVID -19, there is a lot of
money that is coming off the sidelines, and people want to invest it, whether it is in business [or] whether it is in hotel development.
But, Mr. Speaker, we need to be able to fan
off some of these opportunities that are not successful. And why do I say that, Mr. Speaker? Because
when the Opposition speaks, [even] if we have some
criticism, from time to time we get it right. We might not always have it right. But from time to time, we
have [been] right. We have been critical of the vertical
farming and look what happened, Mr. Speaker. It is on
hold right now, Mr. Speaker. And the challenge with that is that everyone in the industry in Bermuda did
not have much support for it. And then the arm in
Government, the BEDC [Bermuda E conomic Development Corporation], went out and got behind it wit hout Bermuda involvement. And now we see it going nowhere, Mr. Speaker.
Well, we need to understand that if the experts here in Bermuda believe there are challenges, we should try to work through it with them to get in a
better position because farming initiatives are i mportant to this community. Certainly as we as we try to
make sure we have sustainable development and Government’s commitment to climate change, which
we support. I mean, we cannot just keep talking about
it. It's real. We live out in the middle of the ocean. We
know what is happening, Mr. Speaker. I have lived on
the ocean all my life and I see the ravages, how it has
changed through the years, Mr. Speaker. So Gover nment needs t o understand that here in the Opposition,
when we criticise, like we did with Arbitrade, Mr.
Speaker. We criticised Arbitrate in the very beginning
and we were proven to be right. Perhaps if those
comments were taken on board, we could have saved
some of t he challenges and the embarrassment that
we had, Mr. Speaker. But we didn't.
Now, Mr. Speaker, going back to the Premier’s Throne Speech read out by the Deputy Governor,
if you will allow me to go back to the last two pages again. There are two issues, Mr. Speaker . . . Mr.
Speaker, this is the last two pages. There are two items I would like to just touch back on. It is about this working together. And I have already been there, but I
want to go back again, Mr. Speaker, because I am
tired of adversarial politics , although if I had to, I would
get back into the gutter when I need to because
sometimes enough is enough.
But the Opposition is genuine about working
with this Government. And if you can look at the O pposition Leader, he is a man that will have a conve rsation with anybody. And he is not a hateful person.
He is very engaging. He brings a great deal exper ience to the table, and he is a person who will work with the Government. I can name all my six colleagues up here . . . sorry, five colleagues up h ere, Mr. Speaker, the same way. Mr. Caines sits behind
me. I am starting to think he might be coming across
pretty soon.

[Inaudible interjections and laughter ]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: He is getting close. I think
he likes —
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
But, Mr. Speaker, if we are serious about that,
the Premier and his colleagues need to show that they
are going to turn over that leaf and be the Gover nment that will consult and lose some of their oppos ition angst when we had the blockade because of the
airport debate.
Mr. Speaker, can you imagine if the PLP was
the loyal Opposition now and the OBA was the Go vernment and we were implementing primary school reform, what would happen? I do not need to state. General public would tell you. There would be demonstrations. And the Honourable Premier says, there
was consultation. Mr. Speaker, just like when they
demonstrated against the OBA, we had consultation
but they shut it down. They shut it down, Mr. Speaker!
Right?

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: And the Honourable Premier can wrap up. But I must be touching a [nerve].
They shut it down. Immigration reform. The first meeting was shut down. Just down the hall, Mr. Speaker.

Hon. E. David Burt: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Point of order. We will take your point
of order.

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]
Hon. E. David Burt: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
The Honourable Member is completely mi sleading this House. The record will reflec t on the matter of the airport, there was a press conference two
weeks after the Throne Speech without a single mention of the airport where the former Minister of Finance
announced that they had entered into an agreement to privatise the airport.
In addition, Mr. Speaker, when it came to
Pathways to Status, right after the bye- election which
brought this Honourable Member into the House the
very next day, the former Member from that side a nnounced what they were going to do on Pathways to
Status. When this Honourable Member started with
education reform, there was an outline and it went out
62 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly to broad public consultation before any decisions were
made, and the decisions were public. The Honourable
Member is misleading the House.

Be mindful of that, Member, and continue on.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, I hear the
Honourable Premier, but I will move on. I have to di sagree with what the Honourable Premier says, Mr.
Speaker, because it is clear that this Opposition is willing to listen and work and not shut things down.
Could you imagine, Mr. Speaker, and I am going to move off from this point from here. But the for-mer Finance Minister, who challenged the Premier, resigned over issues he had with Fairmont Southam pton and Gencom. Can you i magine if the OBA was in
that position what the PLP in Opposition would have
done? Because the waters were definitely muddled by
the Premier’s announcements through time, if you
track them. They were definitely over here, back over here and a real confusion, and the situation changed
and the waters are still muddled. Timelines have been
missed. We move on. Can you imagine if that was the
OBA? Gencom would have probably fled the Island
because there would have been demonstrations, Mr.
Speaker.
But we know ho w important —we know how
important —that development is, Mr. Speaker. And we
want to work with the Government to make it happen.
But we cannot even get clear answers on what is taking place with the timeline. So, Mr. Speaker, if the
Honourable Premier wants to be genuine about wor king together, the door will be open with the Oppos ition.
The last thing I will talk about, Mr. Speaker, is
independence. The Honourable Member from consti tuency 8, Cole Simons, Opposition Leader, I think hit
the nail on the head. Mr . Speaker, I have no issue
with the subject of independence and debating which
way Bermuda wants to go. But now, as we face, certainly the most difficult time in this century, and perhaps the most difficult time in my adult life, the em otive issue of independence, my fear would be, Mr.
Speaker, that it would take us away from the very real
progress we need to make. And I warn Government in the politest terms that we need to be focused on the
game.
Too many Bermudians are struggling. I do not
need to go over the reasons why, Mr. Speaker. And it
is not entirely the Government’s fault. But they need
results. Because I do not want to see people continue to leave the Island. And I do not want to see those
people here struggle more because of the challenges
that they face. We support Bermuda from one end of
the Island to the other, and any progress this Government can make, and any good initiative they can
make, we will be there. But when they slip, we will call them out. But we will always be ready to work with
them.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One second left.
[Timer chimes]

Thank you, Honourable Member.
Does any other Member wish to make a contribution at this time? Minister Wayne Furbert, you have the floor.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to stand once
again to debate or discuss the Throne Speech. Mr.
Speaker, as you are well aware, it has been about 26
years now I have stood . . . not in this place, but in the
House of Parliament in regard to—

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Well, one of those days will
come. The Honourable Member says I should just
retire, but we can send someone down to Hamilton
Parish and try retirement and then I will decide whet her I am going to do it or not.

[Laughter]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Hamilton Parish will d ecide—
[Inaudible interjections ]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Honourable Member,
Mr. Speaker, my good friend Mr. Michael Dunkley,
said we should all be singing Kumbaya . It kind of
started off lik e that , and now the Honourable Member
is trying to interpolate. I kept quiet when the Honour able Member was speaking. But this is not . . . my ho nourable friend, Mr. Jim Woolridge, who has passed
away, once said to us all that this is no Sunday
School. Thi s is no Sunday School. As a matter of fact,
this is probably one of the quietest parliaments that I
have been in over the last 20- plus years that I have
served in this House.
But it is good for us [from] time to time to
come together and discuss issues. A nd I have no
problem with that. The Honourable Member, Susan Jackson, came up this morning and gave me a nice hug, as we normally do.

You like that.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Oh, yes, I like that fine.

[Laughter ]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: And [she] said, You know,
I'm the Shadow Minister. I was not aware who the


Bermuda House of Assembly Shadow Minister was. But I was glad to be once
again, talking to the Honourable Member Susan Jac kson. And yes, we will . . . we will talk. Any time you
have any questions, I will be glad to listen and take
some of your . . . listen to what you have got to say.
I must say that the Honourable Member, J ason Hayward, was right on target. He spoke well for
50, 40 —I can’t remember how many minutes it was.
But he spoke well. And I think what stood out . . . and I
think what also stood out for the Honourable Member
Michael Dunkley was what his grandmother said.
More change is needed. I mean, that was . . . that is
powerful. That is powerful. And as we go on and every parliament changes and ever y government changes,
there will be more changes needed. We are not living
in a perfect world. There will always be some changes. I mean, I have been married for 40 years and
there are more changes that need . . . more changes
needed in me personally!

[Inaudible interjections and laughter ]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: More changes are needed.
So we recognise that change is needed in this place.
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure I will be here for
30 minutes, but I will try to keep it as brief as possible.
The Honoura ble Member, the Opposition Leader,
made some points which I just want to correct him on.
I think it is important. He mentioned something about
deferment of duty. I think that is what he was talking
about. Duty regarding retail stores. I would refer the
Mem ber to the Government's website. It talks about
the guidance on customs duty deferment.

Hon. E. David Burt: It exists, Cole.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: It has been existing for a
while. [It states:]
“Introduction
“Importers may apply to Customs to defer duty payment on goods for business purposes.
“Import duty is normally payable when goods are —
“imported
“removed from a bonded warehouse.
“By deferring duty payment, the time of payment is delayed until a later prescribed payment day.”
The Honourable Member had asked for, if you
recall, I think it was three months. Am I correct? I think
. . . I could be hearing wrong. There are two kinds of
duty deferment. Short term, up to six months —

Yes.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: —long term, over six
months. So this Government understands that retail
stores, in regard to deferment of duty. So it has been
in existence for a while. So Honourable Member, I just
want to . . . I did not want to embarrass that gentl eman, but I thought it would be important that at l east the public is aware of that this actually exists right
now.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Absolutely right. But he only
wanted three months. We gave over . . . up to six
months, over six months. So the Honourable Member
should be aware of that.
The Honourable Member also spoke, and I
will be speaking about this later on. I think it had to do with airline strategy. And he says when it comes to the
development of the airline strategy, all stakeholders
should be involved. [This] includes the Airport Author ity, the Bermuda Tourism Authority, Bermuda Airlines
Consultant, Skyport, Bermuda Hotel Association and
the Ministry of Transportation. I wasn't sure if the Mi nister, the Honourable Opposition Leader, was aware
that these things exist right now. They exist as we
stand here right now.
What we will do, Mr. Speaker, is to be more
active as the Ministry of Transport in working with
these authorities, the Airport Authority [and] Bermuda
Tourism Authority . . . I mean, [Bermuda] Airline Consultants and Skyport to get some things done. So I
just want the Honourable Member be aware that those
developments actually exist and are in place right now. We will be including the Bermuda Hotel Associ ation on that particular committee, though. That is the
one body that is not there. They do just have discussions with them, but we will also be including them in
the actual meetings.
Mr. Speaker, we are all well aware in this
Honourable House that platform items speak to policies and priorities, particular ly for a particular time . . .
Throne Speech, sorry. The Throne Speech speaks to
a particular time period policies and priorities. Platform
items, which are mainly generated by parties, political
parties, speak to promises that the Government wants to do o ver a period of time, five years, which is the
normal period of time that a parliament stays in session, unless the Premier of the day wants to call it earlier. And that has been done.
You recall that Sir John Swan called an election. It was three times i n five years. But normally a
period of time [is] five years that Government lays out
over a period of time. So, the way the Opposition
spoke in the Throne Speech Reply, none of those
items could be done all in one year. You must admit. It
has to come with funding, it has to come with consu ltation, things take time. So the Government laid out in
the Throne Speech its policy and priorities that it
wanted to do this year.
But if we look back over time . . . if you look at
some of the things that the Government has done, the Government talked about in 2017 building a better
and fairer Bermuda. If you recall that. Mr. Speaker, we
also spoke about that the Government would conduct
a thorough review of transportation and will produce a
64 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Green Paper on the future of transport in Bermuda
that will provide various options for modernisation.
Mr. Speaker, the reason why it was a nnounced again this year is because in 2017, when the
Government talked about its priorities, [it was] to make it happen. The Green Paper is rig ht here. Now we are
in the consultation stage discussing particularly with
the . . . the—
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: We have been discussing
with the taxi drivers, discussing with the limousine drivers, discussing with visitor trans portation, env ironmental factors, cruise ships and ports, and the list
goes on and on.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: So, the question is . . . what I
am trying to say to the Honourable Member is that the
Government has the whole idea of a five- year plan.
Not necessarily that it is all going to come out at one time.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: So it is very important. The
Honourable Member, Michael Dunkley, like he said,
started off very nice talking about how nic e we are
going to be, and now the Honourable Member wants
to interpolate. And I understand that. He said he understands politics. The one thing the Honourable Member understands is politics.
We also listed at that time that we recognise
the challenges that we had in buses. And the Go vernment talks about increasing the bus fleet. Well, since that time, thanks to the Honourable Member,
former Minister Lawrence Scott, who was involved in
these things, 12 diesels and 30 EV buses since 2017.
That was the priorit y in the 2017 Throne Speech. I am
trying to say that everything cannot be done at one
time, and we still got time to go. This Government’s mandate does not finish until 2025. So, you will not
find everything even in this . . . even in this particular
Throne Speech.
Mr. Speaker, as you are aware, there was no
traditional convening of Parliament in 2019. But the Government pursued and put on, in particular when it
came to the cruise line (as I laid out this morning), the
number of passengers has increased over the years.
I'm not sure if you are all aware that in, I think it was 2011 or 2012 when the Tourism Authority produced,
and I was the Minister of Tourism at the time, and
Transport, as a matter of fact . . . in fact, Minister of
Tourism and Economic Devel opment (although it was
called Business Development at the time). We had a plan to make sure that there would be 429,000 passengers by the year 2022. We did not quite make it, 395,000. But the projection for 2023 is 500,000- andsome passengers. So the whol e plan of making things
work was in operation.
Unfortunately, 2020 and 2021, when we were
anticipating that we would have more cruise lines, more passengers, unfortunately, we all know what
happened. I believe that, based on the plan, we could
have made i t to 429[,000] or 492[,000] passengers by
2022. Unforeseen circumstances led us [so that] we
did not get there.
Mr. Speaker, if you recall, the Throne Speech
rang out the theme “Rebuilding Bermuda with Berm udians at Heart” in 2020. And it talked about soci al renewal and economic recovery. And there has been a
significant amount of . . . and the Honourable Member, Jason Hayward, laid out some of the ideas that we have accomplished over the time. You cannot say the Government has not done any particular thing. We
laid out the idea and, again, Lawrence Scott working
with his team [with] the cruise line, we have actually
done significant . . . and the Bermuda Tourism Authority with their plans as far as what the projection will
take place. The cruise line has do ne significant growth
in that particular year.
Mr. Speaker, many of you have talked about
air service. And I mentioned the team that is in place
to look at the air service development strategy. That
was in the Throne Speech Initiative of 2021. This has coincided with the success of the cruise industry. The
Ministry of Transport’s Air Service Development Strategy continues to position Bermuda for a transform ational change in the commercial aviation industry to be
ready for uncertainty and to aid economic rec overy.
And so, in the last 18 months the airline industry f ocused on contingency plans and recovery. However,
the industry is now focusing on the future and the i nvolved consumer habits, and Bermuda must be ready to adjust with these changes.
So, every Thr one Speech . . . what I am sa ying, Mr. Speaker, is that there has been initiative b eing put forward by the Government, and sometimes
we may not accomplish the full aspect of that initiative
of that particular year, and it could come down to, as I
mentioned before, the pandemic, which slowed up
some of the progress within the thrive or the pace that
the Government was trying to do. But it also could
come down to other things, where other priorities may
kick in, particularly during that Throne Speech. But yet
we have laid out the ideas of, particularly when it
comes to the Throne Speech. As I said, it is not just
based on one year, but based on a period of a go vernment’s being, in particular, the government.
Mr. Speaker, also in the Throne Speech Initi ative of 2021 we talked about digital fare media that is
yet still to be worked on. The Ministry of Transport is
keen to provide the public with access and service
involving technology [and that] remains at the for efront. Currently persons travelling by public transport ation are only able to pay fares with cash tokens, paper


Bermuda House of Assembly tokens and passes. The aim of the Ministry’s existing
legislation is to make provision to expand payment
options for persons travelling on public transportation,
buses and ferries. In addition to payment by cash,
tickets, passes and tokens, passengers will be able to pay the fare by electronic ticketing. That is still yet to
come into place. And we are working on that within
the Ministry as we speak.
Mr. Speaker, I thought it would be important
that I talk about some of the past things that we have
accomplished through the Throne Speech. But I thought it was important that we looked also at some
of the highlights of the plans that the Ministry of
Transport will endeavour to facilitate for the ini tiative
outlined in the 2022 Throne Speech. One particular
concept is the harmonisation and modernisation of our
public service vehicles.
Mr. Speaker, public service vehicles are key
factors to our visitor experience and ultimately our
tourism industry. As the Ministry of Transport is a vital
partner to the Ministry of Tourism, the primary focus of
the work is to ensure improved service, customer and
driver safety, and consumer protection. Public service
vehicles are a crucial component of the passenger
transport mix in Bermuda. They allow customers to go
from the chosen pickup point directly to the destination at their preferred time. The evolving shifts in de-mographics, technology and social attitudes are
changing people's expectations of public service veh icles and how they seek and use the service.
Mr. Speaker, I have had the opportunity over
the last week . . . you know I love stopping by and
talking to individuals. And I have talked to many taxi
drivers over the period . . . over the last couple of
week s. And we have had some very good discussions
[about] what they would like to see done. And these
discussions will continue. So, Mr. Speaker, as Berm uda continues to rebound from the COVID -19 pandemic, the need for more efficient service continues to
grow. We must remain innovative and focused on the
opportunities that will be beneficial for both the visitors
and the service providers.
The Ministry intends to work with all stak eholders to develop a system with a collaborative
transport approach. So the ini tiative is aimed to ensure a level playing field for the industry to better deal
with the continuing changes and better meet customers' needs; improve the public service vehicle sector
to ensure enhanced service customer and driver saf ety (as I mentioned b efore); regulate the provision of a
robust public service vehicle licence system and ensure that the public’s travel safety is there.
Mr. Speaker, the other one that we had mentioned in the Throne Speech had to do with national
electric vehicle policy. Mr. Speaker, we will set out a
plan to phase out the sale and importation of internal
combustible engine vehicles by 2035. I just saw a st ory where Japan and China are getting rid of the m icrowaves. Yes, I saw this in a news article just now where there are going to get rid of microwaves and it
has to do with producing radiation and cancer, so
something that is there. I am sure many people in the
health departments throughout the world will read that
concept, what the Japanese and the Chinese are do-ing. But th ey will not be producing microwaves within
those countries. Times are changing. It is amazing
how the world is looking at different aspects of using
. . . whether it is microwaves or combustible engines.
So transportation is a primary contributor of
greenhouse gases around the world. And reducing or eliminating emissions from transport will not only r educe Bermuda’s contribution to climate change but
improved local air quality and reduce Bermuda’s dependence on foreign oil. Bermuda has already exper ienced s uccess this summer from the launch of the
operation of the first 30 electrical public buses. And there are more that will be coming in. But first we want
to get a better . . . the buses that have been approved
by Cabinet, thanks. But we just want to ask a few more things to make sure that everything is in place,
particularly when it comes to . . . we understand that
when it comes to the button on the buses, it needs to
be in a certain location. So we want to make sure we
give a thorough review on that befor e we have the
final order take place.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: These changes do not i nclude maintenance. So, right now by using electric
buses the Government has been able to save, or the Department of Public Transportation [DPT] has been
able to save about $50,000 in fuel costs alone. So
there are some economic benefits for us to move in
that direction. About 120,000 litres of diesel fuel were
avoided through August. [That is] equivalent to the
fuel burned over a typical eight -hour transatlantic
flight. It is interesting.
The Ministry’s introduction of a national electronic vehicle policy can only multiply the benefits experienced this summer. With the electric buses alone,
as a global vehicle market moves towards electric v ehicles it will become increasingly important for Berm uda to prepare for this transition. Electric vehicles offer numerous benefits, including environmental friendl iness, as has been mentioned, as electronic vehicles
have zero exhaust emissions, healthier air quality for
residents which reduce various health risk, reduced
noise pollution, lower maintenance costs for the veh icle, and lower fuel costs.
We should be aware that more than 20 cou ntries across the world have announced vehicle electr ification targets in the form of banning internal co mbustion engine vehicles and requiring electric vehicle
sales with one of the most noteworthy being the UKs
ban on diesel and gasoline powered vehicles. Sales start in 2030. So they are even starting sooner than
us. I did hav e a discussion with the individuals who
66 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly are working on this project with and I asked, Can we
get some things in place earlier? I know one easier
target is, of course, bicycles. So we are having di scussions [regarding] cycles. So some things may
come on ear lier because we will not wake up on January 1, 2035, and everything is in place. Some things
may come in place even before then. But 2035 is our
deadline to make sure things are in place.
As you are aware, Bermuda has already embarked on the electric vehic le transition with fully electric rental car fleets and select private vehicle sales.
Some enterprises are shifting to EVs and the recently
introduced electric public buses . . . [Bermuda] being
less than 25 miles long and two miles . . . as a matter
of fa ct, I think, the longest, the widest is probably
about a mile wide in Bermuda. This gives Bermuda a very advantageous point. We can move things much
faster and consider that a vast country being consi dered, the United States or other jurisdictions around
the world, we can move much faster. As you are
aware, the Minister of Home Affairs is encouraging
people to use other systems for burning electricity. I'm
sure as time goes on BELCO will be also working on
those things.
Project Ride, Mr. Speaker, is the last thing I
will speak about. This was developed to provide our young riders (and this is way back in some years) with more tools to establish safe riding habits. Project Ride
is an auxiliary cycle training course, concentrating on
attitude and skill development. Most of these partic ular skills are, as a matter of fact, taught by teachers.
They actually use the facility at TCD [Transport Control Department] to train our students. The students are taught the art of strategic riding. Most of us, when
we were m uch younger (12, 13, 10 [years old]), just
jumped on a bike around our yard and just rode
around before we got out on the roads. But times
have changed. Times have changed. Our roads are
more congested. I remember when they used to have
those racing bikes. People would be racing from Ha milton City down to Hamilton Parish with not much traffic on the road. But nowadays you cannot do that, and
you should not be doing that. So, we have moved t owards encouraging our students to take Project Ride.
But one of the most important things that we
have done is . . . well, probably have not done, is that
. . . so we go down TCD and we train, and we do the
rides. But we are encouraging our students, based on
the Project Ride programme, to now do some type of
riding testi ng on our roads. And I asked the question,
How will that work? Particularly, students will have a
type of earphone within their ears, I guess, and the rider who is riding behind them will say, you know,
turn right, turn left, those type of things, to make sure
that they are doing the Project Ride, . . . not perfect,
but at least to a skill level that they can get there. So
things are changing. And it is important that we move
in that direction. The Ministry of Transport will do other things.
This is not jus t the three things, basic things, these
are things are outlined in the Throne Speech. But there are more things that we are working on. Like I
said, we are working with the taxi drivers. And in par-ticular I met with them twice now, and will meet with
them, I believe again next week, to discuss other
things that they would like to have take place. We are
having meetings with the limousine drivers.
But one particular thing, as I have said from
the start when I was there, the airlines are our top pr iority. Th at is air service. Our second priority is air service. Our third priority is air service. Like you can
guess what our fourth priority is. Air service. We have
got the cruise lines here and now it is important that
we get . . . we build up the discussions. So we will
have some discussions with JetBlue and American
[Airlines] over the next couple of weeks.
So, Mr. Speaker, with that short brief, I got
about three minutes left, but as I promised, I will not
be much long. But thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.
And somewhat coincidental, or com pleme ntary, that I get to follow the Minister of Transport, one,
because I do not want to speak too much to transport
issues this evening. I have another concern of priority.
And the other reason why I found it quite complementary is because the Minister of Transport was able to lay out a fulsome description of what he intends to do
within his Ministry over the coming months and the next year. And that is the kind of explanation and d escription that I believe many of the people who are
interested in the Thr one Speech would like to have.
They would like a fulsome description of what is going
on in the Ministry and how the Minister plans to prior itise and approach his challenges and such. And I do
not feel as though we really got that in the nine pages
of the Throne Speech this year, Mr. Speaker. And so
it was a little disappointing.
I guess for me the disappointment comes
mainly because there is no vision. I personally did not
feel as though there were any real sightlines to the future, although there are cer tainly some admirable
and ambitious programmes that have been listed wit hin the nine- page Throne Speech, and I would like to
speak to a few of them. Unfortunately, I just did not
feel as though there was a hopeful excitement and
enthusiasm and enough detai l and definition to get the
community excited about understanding what some of
these initiatives will really be all about.


Bermuda House of Assembly I am going to start with the First 1,000 Day[s]
Initiative. It has been listed here, and it is talking about
the pathway of our chil dren from pregnancy right
through the first 1,000 days of a child's life. And that is admirable. And certainly I would not have been able to provide the support and receive the guidance and the
education that I needed when having a child and having to find out how to parent and how to care for m yself and my child as they developed through those
critical months and years. But for the people who are
out there right now, who may be preparing and trying hard to start a family, may already be pregnant, the
1,000 Day[s] Initiative, in and of itself, does not really
provide the content and the substance that I personally believe [that] we, as a Government, have a respo nsibility to share with our citizens as quickly as we can.
And so all I can do within this situati on is create my
own vision.
Certainly when I date myself back to having
my children, which is nearing the 30 year mark, I r emember somebody actually coming to me in the early
stages of my pregnancy and identifying who I was
through my physician. And I rem ember that the Child
Development Project was literally at the hospital,
meeting my child, checking on my physical health and
well-being on the day that the child was born. And I
can remember having the follow -up, the telephone
calls, the home visits, the i nvitation to bring my child
into the Child Development Project as the child
reached the ages of 18 months and two years, et
cetera. And it was a real relationship. And it was
something that gave me a lot of comfort as a young
mother having a child for the first time.
And Mr. Speaker, let’s face it, I personally do
not believe that perfection necessarily exists. So,
there are always going to be questions, and there are
going to be little challenges, and little, sort of, special
little bits about our childre n, or our pregnancy, or our
child rearing that that challenge us. And we need the guidance from someone, or some people, or a pr ogramme that has the experience and the exposure to
many different kinds of child development challenges.
And so they can provide some guidance.
There is no real feeling of a vision within this
1,000 Day[s] Initiative that gives me the comfort that people, women, will know where to go. Or is som ebody going to come to [them]? What happens?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of clarif ication, if you
take it?

Sure.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you for mentioning
that. I did want to let you know that the Child Development programme still does exist. This will be an
enhancement of that. Everything that you have spoken to still exists. They visit you in the hospital. You are encouraged to have your 18- month check -up,
your two -year check -up. What this is doing is now taking it beyond the two- year check -up to a three- year
check -up.

If that had been in the
Throne Speech, we could have saved . . . we could
have saved a little time.
So I am going to move on. I am going to move
on, because I felt as though we were experiencing a
similar situation.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
I just point out the clock. The clock hasn't
started.

So, Mr. Speaker, as I look
again through some of the initiatives that have been
introduced or are going to be expanded upon during
this next session of Parliament, I do reflect on things
like the Child Day Care Allowance Act 2008 and the amendments that will be included in this.
But I am curious, Mr. Speaker, about the . . .
you know, they say that with every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, w hen I was thinking
about the Child Care Allowance Act I thought, Well, you know, this is fantastic, and absolutely let's expand the pool of parents that will be eligible for a child day
care allowance. That is a wonderful opportunity and
certainly an assis tance for young parents. But I was a
little concerned and would like to hear a little bit more about paying additional amounts of money for the
childcare allowance.
Now, I do not know how things have changed
over the past five years or so, as I have not r eally
been privy to that kind of detail. But certainly there was a time, and I am not sure if Government would
necessarily want to be involved with this. But the cost
of childcare is oftentimes driven and motivated by what the Government or what the going rates for
childcare costs would be. So, if we are going to give
68 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly parents more money for childcare, then I would wonder, and I would like to know if that means that across
the board this is now going to give licence to other
childcare facilities to now raise their child day care
tuitions as well?
So, as much as it sounds very fruitful and
supportive from expanding the parents and providing
additional funding, I am just curious about the other
side of that and whether it ultimately will increase the
prices of tuition and other day care allowance in day
care situations where there isn't necessarily an allo wance so that parents are now forced to pay higher tu ition fees simply because there is more money that is
coming through Government to pay for certain day
cares.
It is a similar situation with the Financial A ssistance Act. If I had known through the Throne
Speech a little bit more about how there is going to be
an adjustment to the schedule of allowable expenses,
and the Minister has certainly reflected on thi s in past
debates where he has made it clear that at some point
we need to take a look at the basket of goods that is
provided to those who are seeking Financial Assi stance and whether we need to adjust the prices according to the rate at which prices are increasing and
whether this schedule of allowable expenses is going
to be appropriately reflected. Certainly, in the past we have had quite a bit of debate around what the infl ation rate actually is in Bermuda, and there have been many debates around what that is. So I am going to
be somewhat generous and say that, I guess probably
the last time I heard about it we were hovering at the
high 2 per cent, maybe early 3 per cent inflation rate,
when, globally, we are hearing that inflation is hovering around 9 per cent.
So, all I am saying around that is that it was
fine that we are going to make amendments to the
Financial Assistance Act 2001. But if we are going to
increase the expenses for those who are receiving
support from Financial Assistance, that we ar e going
to increase those expenses in a realistic margin so
that it is relevant in the grocery stores and the ma rketplace versus the inflation that may not be accurat ely reflective of the cost of materials within our grocery
stores and other markets. The Minister also mentioned that there are going to be building blocks, that there would be occurrence for families who may find
themselves in financial challenges, with financial cha llenges just for a short period of time and, certainly,
following our experiences with COVID -19, I get it. You
know, I was made redundant during COVID -19, so I
understand the pinch.
But my concern is that I don't know how the
distinction would ultimately be made between those
who are on financial assistance who presently have
given up every asset they have—they cannot really
have much savings, they can't really have any real
material assets, travel is restricted and the like. And
then somebody may lose their job and not be able to get a job. I don’t know how long this “Building Bloc ks”
sudden hardship is going to last for. That was not i ncluded in the Throne Speech. But, you know, I mean,
realistically, it can take a year to 18 months som etimes to find another job after you've lost one. And if
folks are getting that kind of financial support from
Government and these households, because it's just a
temporary loss, still have a house. They still have a
car. They still have a bike. They still have savings. So
I would like to know . . . and, again, it feels as though
these are the spaces that were created between the
lines of what is, to me, an abbreviated Throne Speech that doesn't really provide any assistance to give people a vision of what that's going to look like. [This] allows a lot of people, including myself, to jump to conclusio ns, which I'm sure is not what the Government
would necessarily want people to feel.

Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
So going back to the initial vision, Mr. Speaker, I believe that there are a number of people in Bermuda across the board of all demographics, people in Bermuda that have a hope that this Government,
young, bright, energetic, would really be able to pull
together and provide a management and performance, be able to take full responsibility for Gover nment, and blow our socks off. And, yes, we have absolutely seen some high performance through COVID -
19. All the energy level was there. But now we are
looking at the reality. And yes, there have been a lot
of unexpected shifts in our society because of the trauma of the last couple of years.
But one of our biggest concerns, Mr. Speaker,
is the exodus of so many young people and the gro wing population of young Black males and young Black
females that are leaving the Island at a time when we
have probably the best example of role models of a
young generation of government officials. And their
peers are leaving. I can't reconcile, Mr. Speaker, how
we can have finally achieved a situation where we've
got all of the players in place, and somehow it's not
resonating with their peers of all people. So I 'm loo king between the lines of this Throne Speech trying to find the space, the words that say that we are here,
and we are paying attention, and I just am not feeling
it.
Mr. Speaker, when I say I'm looking for a v ision, you know, I just picture, yes, y ou know what?
Maybe there are circumstances beyond our control.
And everyone has their own personal reason for wanting to up and leave Bermuda and go and live som ewhere else. But I just would like to know what more
we can do to maintain that relationship, even if it is


Bermuda House of Assembly across the oceans, whether it's in Canada, the US, the
UK, Europe, wherever our young people are going,
because it's not all bad.
I mean, I certainly remember a time, and it's
probably the most memorable statement (I'm sorry, but it is) from Premier Brown when he said if he could
send every 19- year-old Black male overseas for a period of time so that he could have exposure to the i nternational world, he would do it. So for whatever re ason, for good, bad or indifferent we are in a space right now where there is a noticeable exodus. All I am
asking the Government to do is to somehow find a
way to create an opportunity to build relationships and
maintain connections with these folks who are leaving
to move overseas. And some of it is through no f ault
of our own, Mr. Speaker. I mean, we're in a world right
now where kids are becoming global nomads. They
don’t want to live anywhere. They just want to travel
from one place to the other. But there is no reason
why we should lose track of them.
With a ll of the digital technology that we've got
now, with all of the ability to get on a plane and phys ically fly to other places, I just would like to see us cr eate some form of connection so that it is not just a,
you know, It's wonderful. The Premier is goi ng to be in
the UK. Here is an email, come and have dinner,
come to a reception. Yes, that’s fine, but I would like
to see something more wholesome. I would like to see somewhere where our young people, no matter where
they are in the world, can go to a space, whether it's a
digital platform or a physical place (preferably digital),
and would have some connection with Bermuda so
that they have their own unique space and relation-ship with Bermuda so that we can stay connected and
stay in touch.
Mr. Speaker, I also worry for our seniors.
Many of them are sitting at home. They are still sheltering in place like [we are] still in the height of
COVID -19. They aren't able to come out. And they are
not able to come out, not necessarily because of their health conc erns, which is a huge issue, but they are
not coming out [because they] can't afford to leave the
house. And in many cases they are living in the dark, they are eating very little food. They are coughing to
the point where they almost sound like it could be
pneumonia and they are suffering in silence. Suffering in silence, Mr. Speaker.
Now, I know that for years we have been looking at programmes like ageing at home, which is a whole strategy. There has been report upon report
upon report written about age ing at home. It is a fantastic concept, but who is going to finally push the button and start acting on it? I just feel as though we
keep creating one committee after another council
after another committee after a statutory body. Let’s
just do it. There are great ideas.
We've had MP Burgess. We've had MP Si mmons -Wade. Even going back to the OBA Gover nment, there were people at that point who were i n-volved with the ageing at home concept. And we still
just seem to wallow about. So, some people have
been hearing voices. What do we do? Well, let’s start
by protecting them. We've been talking for years
about creating an office of the public guardian. I don't see this as a huge cost for Government, but I do see it
as some heavy lifting from a legislative perspective.
We know that they are going to have to come up with
some amendments to a series of pieces of legislation
to probably make this work. But I would really like to
see more effort to protect our seniors. And I believe that we can start doing that by creating an Office for
the Public Guardian and the legislation to support that
Now, there was at one point the vision of almost creating a cottage industry for ageing at home for our seniors. And a cottage industry would be, you
know, sort of a more coordinated approach to creating caregivers and health care providers and mobile services and community centres that really evolve around
and provide specific services, bespoke services for
our seniors. Something that is well organised, there
can be frequently com municated activities with our
seniors, really creating an environment where the senior is feeling comfortable being able to live at home
without having to feel as though they are isolated and
left behind.
Mr. Speaker, we still have quite an issue
around w omen and domestic violence in Bermuda.
There is quite a bit of legislation that I believe could be
amended to make things a little easier for the victim.
This is not a Bermuda thing, necessarily, but [it
seems] all the attention goes to the perpetrator. I don't know what that's all about. And maybe that is why
some of this activity goes on with the perpetrators is
that they need the attention. I don’t know. I'm not the
professional. But I would like to see us provide more
attention to the victim and what we can do to amend
or strengthen legislation to protect the victim.
Now, some of our community groups have
spoken to things like, maybe what we need to do is
consider how a perpetrator gets bailed out once they
are arrested in a domestic violence, family vi olence
situation. I have heard suggestion around how we
might be able to have the police pursue charges or
start an investigation without having the victim as the main person who has to instigate such an investigation. It's not my area of expertise, but I certainly know
that from an emotional perspective, whether it is a
male that is being victimised or whether it is a female
being victimised, that there has got to be more that we
can do with our legislation, in particular, to provide some form of protection for those who are faced with
these kinds of violent activities.
Mr. Speaker, the One Bermuda Alliance, the
Opposition, had their first Opposition Bill. We worked hard on it. It was the Equality Act. The Government
didn't like the idea. They said it was not well put t ogether. But quite a few months have passed and there
has not been any movement, any conversation, any
70 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Ministerial Statement about how we might be able to
improve on that Equality Act. I mean, personally, I
would like it to have been an Equal ity and Equity act. I
think equity is probably more important than equality. And those who have, you know, visualised the distinc-tion between equality and equity would certainly u nderstand the importance of including that in any legi slation. And so it woul d be very nice if over the coming
year, or, if it has to wait, until there is another Throne
Speech, to see women, in particular, but individuals,
being able to have a piece of legislation that protects them and provides some support around making sure
that they are protected and have access to that which
is equal and that which is equitable.
Mr. Speaker, I know that the Education Mini ster has a tough job. He really does , probably one of
the toughest of all the Cabinet. I am somewhat r elieved and hopeful t o hear that there is an Education
Authority being considered and progressing. And not because of all of any kind of negativity or weakness
around what exists now. But at some point I do b elieve that there is the benefit of having an objective
view of the education system. Because everyone that
I have seen the Minister working with, the teams . . . I
see the photographs, I read all of the articles. Ever yone is in the trenches. Sleeves are rolled up. And I commend the Minister for all of that effort. But once things start rolling and sometimes people will make a
reference of, you know, like you can get too close to
something after a while and it starts to look the same.
You can't quite see where the spots are that you need
to fix or switch around a little bit. And I believe that an
Education Authority would be able to have that objective eye, so that once we get to a certain point in our
education reform there would be an independent and
objective view to be able to guide and manage the
forward trajectory of our education system moving
forward. So, it was comforting, and it was good to see
that the independent Education Authority remains on
the docket for the Education Ministry moving forward
in 2023.

Members may not realise
it, but this is actually the first time that I really had a
chance to speak in the House in this in this format, because once I got elected, we went through the
COVID -19 experience and had so many remote sessions. So I am very thankful for the opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, I will start by saying this: Imit ation is the sincerest form of flattery. And sometimes
what happens when you imitate somebody is that you
inadvertently give them a compliment. And for today, I
am going to say thank you to the Opposition Leader,
Cole Simons, because what he really did in his Reply
to the Throne Speech was imitate the PLP and, inadvertently, from his point of view, probably compliment-ed us. I will say something similar for the honourable
colleague, Mi chael Dunkley, because when he stood,
he took a while (and I would say several minutes). But
really what he could have done was simply say to MP
Jason Hayward, w ell done, well done, well done.
So here I go. For the listening audience, I
want us all to understand that there is a process, and
MP Furbert talked about a little bit, and that is that the
Throne Speech is part of a process. And the process
is thus: First of all, we have to prepare ourselves for
the election. And what do we do? We go through, we canvas, we talked to members, we got a good sense
of what's going on and we go from that and we deve loped a platform. The platform can be summarised as being the promises that we intend to carry out if we
are elected. That takes place. Then you go through
the election and hopefully you win the election. Once
that's done, the platform then provides the guidance
[for what you are] going to be doing for the entire time
of your governance.
As an MP said earlier, the maximum period in
Bermuda will be five years, but very often you don't go
to five years for whatever reason. So then, on an annual basis, we have the Throne Speech. And what the
Throne Speech is intended to do is to determine or to
illustrate what is intended for that next parliamentary session, i.e. , by changing the laws, and what have
you. So that is what we do. Every year we go through
and we determine to for the public what is going to be
the legislative agenda for that year, and that is what
Premier Burt would have done with the Throne
Speech las t week, or two weeks ago.
As you go through, as with anything else, of
course, what you do is you make some adjustments based upon timeframes and anything that might be
unseen or untoward. And clearly during the recent
times, what's been unseen or untowar d from the last
election up until now was, number one, the COVID -19
experience (I will call it the COVID -19 experience),
and what the COVID -19 experience required was for
everybody to go through an unprecedented time
throughout the entire world. We have never seen this
before. So the PLP had to adjust its agenda to corr elate or to make way for those adjustments.
The other thing that the world is doing right
now is going through what I would call an unprec edented period of inflation. And a lot of is going t o be
because of the war between Russia and Ukraine. And


Bermuda House of Assembly I do not know if we have seen fully the impact of pri ces, but we know that there is going to be continued
price increases mostly because of the grains that
would have come through Ukraine. So, we will see
how that goes.
Now, Mr. Speaker, if you permit what I am going to do is actually go through and show you some of
the areas to illustrate for you and the listening aud ience some of the areas by which the OBA have been
complimentary, if not imitating, what the PLP has
done. I will start off first of all . . . and Mr. Simons is
returning now so he can hear some of these things first hand.
It is quite surprising to me, but, guess what?
The actual colour of the document is . . . what? PLP
green!

Some Hon . Members: Yes. Absolutely.

What a first start. And a
few of the previous speakers spoke to the fact that the
picture or the illustration on the front is of, what?
Green shoots, which speaks to what the PLP has
talked about all along —we have to have these shoots
and they will grow into firmer trees as we go forward.
And that is where the PLP is moving forward as the
Government of Bermuda at this stage.
So let me now go through what I will call the
Honourable Cole Simons’ Reply. On page 1 it talks
about “The biggest and most challenging issue faced
today by the people of Bermuda is Inflation. Moreover,
the escalating cost of living, which is around 9- 10%, is
the highest it has been in 40 years.”
Guess what, Mr. Speaker, and listening audience. What is the PLP doing? The PLP put in place
. . . actually many years ago because I was the first
chairperson the Cost of Living Commission, now
chaired by the Honourable Deputy [Speaker] Derrick
Burgess, Sr. A few weeks ago we had lots of discussion because the Government actually put in place (I
think the effective date was November 1) where certain goods were brought to zero customs duty with the
intent of reducing the prices of goods in the grocery stores effectively. Some people asked the question in
terms of why were there 21 goods. The reality is there
were actually 33. And the reason why we said 21 ini-tially was because those were the new items and
there are other items that made it up to 33. And now,
as I understand, the three leading grocers in Bermuda
will have those items in what I call a hamper, that you
can go back and purchase those things, and you
should receive a general 10 per cent discount as ev idence that the reduction in custom duty is going to be
passed on to all of us, the consumers, as we go and
purchase these goods.
What I have encouraged and others have encouraged also is for persons to keep an eye on these things because that's how were going to be sure that this plan does come into effect and has a positive i mpact on all of us as consumers.
Mr. Speaker, on page 2 of Mr. Simons’ Reply,
he talks about, “For those wishing to purchase a
home, 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.”
Mr. Speaker, everyone will know, including
Mr. Simons, that the Government has recently initiat-ed the $50 Million Guarantee [for Mortgage] Pr ogramme, which the Premier gave a statement about
earlier today. It has been such a success that persons
. . . I believ e he said it was 91 persons so far. Was it
91 persons, Mr. Premier? Ninety -one applications,
thus far, have been received and are going through the process of being processed. I am excited about
this because, Mr. Speaker, persons have asked me
just as I wa lk about the street, Well, MP Richardson
(or Anthony), ‘How does this project work?’ Because
many persons want to participate or at least try to be
part of that process.
Today's new information to me, though, was
that I thought initially the goal was going to be for per-sons who are aged 35 or younger. But today I am i nformed its age 40 and younger. Therefore, persons
who now are between 35 to 40 will realise that they
too can apply for this new benefit and hopefully be successful.
Mr. Speaker, one thing t hat's interesting for all
of us to understand is that without being overly dr amatic, home ownership actually increases responsibi lity. Why does that happen? It happens because if you know that you have to pay a mortgage of x -thousand
dollars per month, you and your wife, your spouse or
whomever is responsible, are actually more likely to
ensure that you work hard to be able to continue to
afford your mortgage, to keep your house. So, there is
a significant social benefit to what the Government
has done in t he context of this $50 Million Guarantee
[for Mortgages] Programme with the Bermuda Commercial Bank.
What is also interesting is that obviously pe ople are trying to figure out how they can benefit. And, as has been said already, the initial focus is going to
be for those who are first -time homeowners who are
aged 40 and under to make application to be properly vetted by the Bermuda Commercial Bank and hopefully be successful and then move forward. This mor ning, Mr. Speaker, the Honourable Cole Simons asked
some technical questions about the whole mortgage
programme, and he did say he worked at the bank for an extended period of time. And guess what? He is
not the only one who has worked in a mortgage env ironment in Bermuda. So it is quite acceptable that
when Anthony comes to get a mortgage, they will understand the entire programme and say, Anthony,
guess what? You can have this $250,000 guarantee
for the first 10 years of your mortgage and then be-yond that the mortgage carries on.
72 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly So there is no reason wh y all of these factors
cannot be taken into consideration at the initiation of
the mortgage. Therefore, if Anthony understands the
process there is actually no change. I will go ahead. I
will make my payments. As the Premier said this morning, once the loan -to-value amount drops below
80 per cent the guarantee falls off. And guess what?
Someone else then has the opportunity to benefit from that programme. So it is one of the benefits that will
continue to roll over as we go forward. So that is one
of those significant benefits.
I will say to everyone, actually, that it is i mportant that when we have these initiatives that we act
in concert together to benefit. And so, yes, it is a tr emendous programme. There may be some small d etails to be worked out, but t hose small details should
not detract from the benefit of the programme that is
being offered because it is a tremendous benefit.
Mr. Speaker, if you allow me, I will defer a
slight moment.

What I often do is refer to
an analogy which goes back to some degree of my
childhood. And that is part of my childhood was, well,
in my middle years, actually, was growing up at what I call the familiar Dock Hill. Now, at Dock Hill there is
the Dock Hill itself. And if you go down to Devonshire
Dock, there are a lot of boats there. I often reflect on
the fact that if you are off the shore and a small boat
springs a leak, what do you do if it is you and one ot her person? You don’t then fight about what caused the
leak. You actually decide that you have to get back to
the shore. One person must row and one person must
bail. That is where we are. And that is why emphasi sing the fact that when we have these programmes we must speak to the benefit of the programmes because
we need to be more positive to move Bermuda forward to an expected end.
Mr. Speaker, we then carry on to the Honourable Cole Simons’ Reply on page 2. He then says
“The Minister of Finance must lay out a plan to help people, especially if the local banks i nterest rates continue its current path of between 6.25% and 6.75% and rising. Bermuda needs a plan to help homeow ners who are at the end of the line financially.”
Well, Mr. Speaker, I said already and ever yone knows that the Government has already put in place a plan to do just that. Again, imitation is som etimes the greatest form of flattery.

Mr. Speaker, again on
page 2, we drop [down] a little bit further and the Honourable Cole Simons’ has said “Bermuda must grow
her economic pie, and handouts will not help the pr ocess. The cannibalization of the farming, fishing and courier package industries will not help to grow our
economy.”
Mr. Speaker, the Honourable Minister, Jason
Hayward, spoke already about the Go vernment’s
Economic Recovery Plan, which is well underway. I
will make some comments in a minute about that, but
if we talk about the economic investment certificate, it
is a tremendous programme whereby we knew that
there has been significant benefit to t he economy
based upon those persons who have taken that up and come to Bermuda and started to work.
Mr. Speaker, I will also say this. In my personal life, I suppose in my private life, I do have interaction with many individuals of high net worth. And I
will say this right now. Very recently, an individual
came to Bermuda just for a vacation for a five- day
family vacation. Male, wife and I think two or three
children. He was literally leaving the Island. My comment to him was, How was your vacation?
His response was, I loved it so much. How do
I buy a property?
What was my response, Mr. Speaker? My r esponse was, Well, Bermuda has an economic inves tment certificate programme. What you have to do is buy a house or make an investment of a minimum
value of $ 2.5 million.
What did he say? Please send me the information.
So another opportunity, Mr. Speaker, for this
plan to take place and to move us forward. So, what I
am saying here is that the Government, of course, is
moving forward with these economic objectives to e nsure that Bermuda can move forward, notwithstanding
the unnecessary criticism, sometimes, that comes
from Members opposite
Mr. Speaker, if we carry on, the next speaker—

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, point of order.

Mr. Speaker, Thank you.
I am not saying he did not say that. I am sim ply telling you what has happened and what the exper ience was in recent times.
Mr. Speaker, If we move to page 6, the Opposition Reply says “This government must do all it can
to encourage entrepreneurs and silent investors to invest in small businesses to increase business
productivity.”
One comment, and I am saying it intentionally
to be repetitive but also to add emphasis, is that he is suggesting a tax deferral scheme. And the Honour able Minister Furbert already spoke to the fact that this
is already in place. Again, Mr. Speaker, imitation
sometimes is the greatest sense of flattery.
If you then turned to page 7, Mr. Speaker,
“The other challenge” (according t o MP Simmons) “for
small businesses is securing financing from local
banks.” Mr. Speaker, all of us know, or many of us
know, that one of the tremendous successes of the
Bermuda Economic Development Corporation is the fact that it has a tremendous amount of resources
available to persons who want to start a business or
who are already in business and need to expand or
find additional advice. It is absolutely incredible the
fact that I, or anybody, really, can go to small bus inesses (as I call it), present an idea and they can take
that idea, critique it, improve it, and then get you on a
firm footing. And beyond that, they can actually offer a
guarantee to a loan . . . sometimes they actually can
give you a loan themselves. But they can actually act
as a guarantor, which reduces the risk to the banks,
and therefore you are able to get a learn and move
forward.
I forget which Minister said it, but an MP said
earlier (I think it was one MP Haywood, actually) one of the tremendous benefits now is to walk around and
be in communication with people and see how many
people have actually started their own businesses
based upon their personal expertise. One example comes to mind, and I'm saying this (I won’t call the
name, but I will say it) because the person actual ly
opened a business in my constituency. The person,
Mr. Speaker, was actually a qualified lawyer. And I
understand that she was a high- flyer when it came to
being a lawyer. But guess what, Mr. Speaker. Her desire was to sell beauty products, and she actually
gave up the career of being a lawyer to further her
passion and open her own business. Now she is, of
course, succeeding in that regard, Mr. Speaker. So, to say that the Government itself is not assisting small
businesses is clearly not factual. Mr. S peaker, if we then move to page 8 of the
Reply, it talks about the fact that . . . and it is a beaut iful thing. And MP Simons just commented about this. “We in the Opposition support the Government’s current efforts, including the Economic Investment Certi ficate & Residential Certificate Program.” Imitation is
excellent when it comes to flattery.
Mr. Speaker, remaining on that page, on
page 8. “It [just] makes sense that the government
should make life easier for the industry groups that
are keeping the ec onomy afloat.”
Mr. Speaker, this goes without saying. The
Government, the PLP and all of the Ministers and all
the Members and all the rest of us clearly support this.
It is an unnecessary statement, almost, to say that we
do not support business in Bermuda. Clearly, if we do
not do that we are going to all suffer. And, as I said earlier, we need to row the boat together and we're
going to move ourselves forward. Minister Hayward
has already emphasised the fact that he is in regular
contact with these busi nesses that have come to the
Island. And they themselves expressed significant
admiration, if you will, of the local business environment and how easy it is to do business in Bermuda.
Now, clearly, we are not perfect. But it is more
appropriate that the b usiness environment in Bermuda
is actually working very well, and Minister Hayward
even went on to state the fact that there has been an increase in the economic activity in the IB sector post
COVID -19. Like, during COVID -19, for example, we
still saw an i ncrease in activity . . . in addition to an
increase in employment in that sector.
Now, yes, there are some other issues or aspects to be dealt with. But we have to stay on course
and recognise the positives that do exist. And so,
again, Mr. Speaker, Mini ster Hayward has told us a lready that there has been an increase in activity in that sector. And so to state the obvious, yes, it does
make sense that the Government should make life easier for the industry groups that are keeping the
economy afloat.
Mr. Speaker, I'm starting to smile now because imitation still comes through for education, on page 8 of the Reply, it says “The Government should
continue with the implementation of the educational
reforms with the participation of our parents, teachers,
and other stakeholders.” Minister Rabain is in his seat.
He has been going around the country from one end
to the other and at the end and back again to continue
to ensure that there has been an effective implementation of the education reform to the extent th at parents themselves are fully behind it now and it is moving forward. And the Government’s Throne Speech
talks about the fact that we are going to introduce legislation now to ensure that the primaries can go to P6
and P7 to ensure that the primary process does co ntinue and our young people will have the benefit of a
continued education.
74 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, it is well known that I am one of
those that is a full proponent of public education. And I
heard MP Foggo correcting my grammar there. But
anyway, I am one of those proponents for public education because I believe that to the extent that we as
parents support our children, and our children are
prepared to learn, there is a tremendous benefit in
going through the public education system. And, yes,
there is a distinction, or difference sometimes, between public and private. And the reality is that private education, right, does not have to provide the signif icant safety nets that are provided through public education, and they have the ability to say no. And s o I
get to a point where my child is in private education.
They can decide for whatever reason that, Anthony, your child must leave and we have to go. Therefore,
they have a different . . . I want to call it a different
ecosystem. So it is good to note that, again on page 8
now, that “The One Bermuda Alliance and the Berm uda First Group promoted an education authority for
several years.” And guess what, Mr. Speaker imitation is flattery.
On page 4 of the Government’s Throne
Speech, that is what it says for Minister Rabain, that
the government is going to introduce legislation to get
that process moving forward. Mr. Speaker, imitation is
definitely the best form of flattery.
If we move, Mr. Speaker, now to page 11, we
have it under Seniors. We read from the OBA now,
“We recommend changes to the National Social I nsurance Reform, which will also impact our seniors.”
And guess what, Mr. Speaker? We agree that contr ibutions based on salary earned is reasonable.
Mr. Simons, surely, imitation is the best form
of flattery.
Then, Mr. Speaker, we come down to this
comment under National Health Care, and it says
“From a cost perspective, 11.6% of Bermuda’s GDP is
spent on healthcare, which is the third highest in the
OECD.”

[Inaudible interjection]

Yes, exactly.
And guess what, Mr. Simons, you have now
said that you support the National Health Strategy. So
Minister Kim Wilson, guess what? Thank you, MP
Cole Simons supports what you are doing so we can
keep on moving forward, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, now we come down to this
comment on page 12. “In addition, KEMH” (our hospital) “must clearly define its operating model. Is it a for profit hospital or is it a not -for-profit community hospital, which can make it more affordable?”
Mr. Speaker , I have to be (what is the word
now?) careful. Clearly, Mr. Speaker, the Bermuda hospital is not for profit. It is not for profit. It is owned
. . . like we know it is not for profit, Mr. Speaker. I mean that beggars belief that that comment could be
in the [Reply].
Clearly, MP Cannonier, clearly it beggars belief that this comment could be in the [Reply].
[Inaudible interjection]

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it beggars belief that this comment could
be in the [Reply] knowing how the hospital actually
operates.
And what is also unfortunate is what I call an
internal inconsist ency because on the one hand it
asked that question. And then further down it talks
about the fact that the Government cannot continue to
support the hospital. And so, again, I will just say that
it beggars belief that that statement is actually in the Reply.
Mr. Speaker, I want to say on almost a sad
note, I guess, that one of the negatives that came out of the COVID -19 experience was that many, if not all
of us, had to remain at home. And it is a fact that the incidents of domestic violence did increase quite si gnificantly. I do commend MP Jackson and her comments in that regard. But guess what, Mr. Speaker,
the Government is already working around pr ogrammes to ensure that we are able to positively i mpact the family structure. In this regard it is Minist er
Tinee Furbert who has a real passion for strengthening the family and is putting into place many pr ogrammes as we move forward.
I will also say Attorney General Kathy Si mmons has a huge heart when it comes to the support for Child and Family Services. We had many conversations in terms of the programmes that are in place,
and even her personal commitment to go over and
beyond to ensure that many children themselves were
secure notwithstanding their family circumstances.
Mr. Speaker, I noticed the first time I talk I am
going to run out of time, so I am not going to talk too fast. However, I will say this.
Mr. Speaker, on page 10, page 15, sorry, it
says “The current state of Bermuda’s roads is a direct reflection on the state of our economy.”
Mr. Speaker, how can I be polite? This is r idiculous, because the Honourable Minister Lieutenant Colonel Burch has said already, right . . . he told us
already that we have to go through this process of
improving Bermuda’s infrastructure now. Yes, it is i nconvenient. You drive and the roads are bumpy. No
question about that. However, we have to understand
the context of that. And the context is that BELCO has to make certain repairs or changes, improvements to
its infrastructure. We are also going to put in place t he


Bermuda House of Assembly water and sewage lines. And so, Mr. Speaker, the
reality is that we have to all be practical, endure the
inconvenience for the greater good, knowing that, give
us maybe a year or two now, that everything will be in
place. When we have all these hurricanes and storms or whatever the case may be, the chances are that
our power supply will be more secure than it has been
in the past.
I will say this also. A person that drives on a
regular basis between Devil’s Hole and St. George’s
on Harrington Sound . . . I fully appreciate the fact
that, guess what, they have started to re- surface, r epave the road from Fractious Street coming west. And
so now, instead of the bumpy -bumpy, I have a nice,
smooth ride as I go definitely from the latter part of
Harrington Sou nd around the corner to Wilkinson A venue and up and over the hill. And. So I commend that. Again, I am not quite sure why they will put this
statement in the Throne Speech Reply.
Mr. Speaker —

[Inaudible interjection]

Yes, it was ferry, Mr. Cannonier.
Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the taxis,
again, I will say that I agree that there needs to be
some changes in the taxi industry. But what I will say
is this. The cost of things is actually comparative.
What I mean by that is this. We will pay for things as
long as we believe that the value proposition is correct. And I said it before, and I'll say it one more time
tonight that when I talk to visitors, what they say to me is that they will pay more for transportation as long as
they perceive the value to be there. A clean car, nice
car, well -dressed, well -presented drivers, they will
pay. They do not mind because that's what they are
used to doing. So my comment there for sure is that if
we collectively improve our value proposition, Berm uda will have less of an issue than people think.
Mr. Speaker, I know I am down to one minute
and 39 seconds. What I will say as my last comment
is that they spoke about independence, why now? Mr. Speaker, my comment is why not now?
I will put it thi s way. I have two young children.
One is now 17 and one is almost 21. At some point, they will be moving out. And so right now, they may
be worrying about university and that kind of stuff,
Right? But guess what? You can do more than one
thing at a time. T here is no reason why we should not
now be laying the groundwork for a future convers ation for a future decision so that we are well positioned to make a sensible and reasoned decision when it
comes time for whatever is going to be proposed.
So, Mr. Speak er, I will end where I started.
And that is to say that imitation is the sincerest form of
flattery. Thank you, MP Cole Simmons. Thank you,
MP Dunkley. Because guess what, you have flattered
us by choosing green for the colour of your Reply. The green shoots and many of the comments that you
have made in your Reply have actually been a dupl ication of what was in Premier Burt’s initial Throne
Speech. So I will say thank you to you, MP Cole S imons. Thank you to Mr. Speaker, and thank you to
those in the liste ning audience. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am actually not even sure where to start. I
want to say that the Honourable Member who sat
down that I enjoyed that, actually. I felt that he had a
line and length that he stuck to, and some of the stuff that he was saying made sense.
I guess some of the challenges that I have
with some of what he said is that things are in the
pipeline. And I am curious as to what is in the pipeline
because the new airlines left us. Right? The farms have run away. We're still trying to figure out what’s
going to happen with Southampton Princess. Elbow
Beach was at the t able with investors ready to get going. We've heard nothing about that. So I would like to
hear a little more from Government as to exactly what
is in the pipeline.
Now, I appreciate a lot of what has been said
today by our Government. I don't think that there is an
argument or I don't think that there is an issue with
much of what has been said. I agree with the sent iments of our first speaker, the Honourable Minister,
Jason [Hayward]. A lot of what he had to say actually
should be happening. The one cons tant in life, Mr.
Speaker is change. And not everything can be done
all at once. But I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that
while we were Government, it seems like every time
we turned around it had to be done by tomorrow. But now the Government has been in power for the last
five years, going into six years in 2023, and it has
been a common theme with everyone that has spoken
thus far that it is in the pipeline, basically. It's on its
way, and it's about to happen.
Now, listen, I've heard some good stuff that's
been done by this Government. That's not really my challenge about the good that has been done. My
challenge is in 2022 going into 2023, this is where we
are. The world is going to war, and it's already there.
We learned from COVID -19 that we are going to have
supply issues. That is already happening in countries
like the United States. Yes, and Bermuda. What I
want to know is what are we going to do about it, because are we in trouble. If we do not get a grip of what
is happening, we already see where we are complai ning about the food prices, the issue with all of this here is that we cannot control this. You can put duty to z ero. It doesn't matter. Food is going to go up. So put it
to zero. Yes, people are going to benefit. But in the
76 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly end, in the grand scheme of things, guess what?
You're going to pay more unless we change how we
are buying.
I said this in a former speech when I said, li sten, we are going to have to knock the structure that is in place and create new wealth with new pathways
and new av enues in order to lower the cost of Berm uda. The question is, is Government ready to do that?
Is Government ready to actually do that? What I see
right now is that we're going and having discussions
and creating boards with the very people who are still buying from the same suppliers abroad. It is not going
to change.
So continue to talk to the same guys, go to
the same groceries, go to all of these guys. They are not going to change what they are doing. It is an opportunity for us to create new wealth for some others.
And I dare say that look like some of us. Where is your grocery store? We need to do it.
So I heard the Government saying all of these
things, but let’s go. I just told the Honourable Member
Burgess, I said, Derrick, listen, I want to give y ou
some ideas that I have on how we can do this. We
can. You've got support from guys like me who want to do this. And yes, some of the established the retai lers and wholesalers are going to be upset. I don't
care. So if you want that chocolate bar for a better price, as I talked about, let’s do it. Let’s do it. So, you
know, we can make this happen.
The reality for me is what is happening today.
I get my electricity bill, my lack of light bill. Oh, my
goodness. It is just me and my wife. I say What?! I
don't have to declare my interest. My daughter is a
corporate attorney there. Yes, my oldest one. I don’t!

[Inaudible interjection and laughter]

So I'm looking for some r elief.
What we're dealing with right now . . . you go
to the grocery store. Every time I go down to the gr ocery store in St. George’s, the Honourable Member from St. George’s. Renee [Ming] knows Kalla . Ever ybody knows Kalla . And he rips into me about the stuff.
He likes to buy juice boxes. They are like $8 now for
three. It's like, what? I can't survive. So we got some challenges.
Thousands have left the Island, so we are
down in numbers and we certainly are not being born fast enough to keep up. So when you cannot keep up
with supply, what do you have to do? You have to find
out somebody who has got supply and bring it in. And I am talking about human capital. We need to create
8,000 more jobs. That's what we need to do. And
that's what I am looking for.
When are we going to create some jobs so we
can get people working? This will, in essence, allow
entrepreneurship to thrive. Right now, everybody is
buying online. Anybody going into retail right now is going to have a real difficult time. And my suggestion
is because online shopping is going through the roof
and Government is getting a hefty and a substantial
duty off of these goods coming in, what we need to
do, and I think it was talked about, Oh well, we are
supplying some relief for retail operators. Listen, I am
not going to go and fill out a form as a retail er so that I
can have a bonded warehouse, pay $2,000 to get it done, go through the form . . . if you look at that form,
that's a serious form you got to fill out to have a bond-ed warehouse. Most retailers in Bermuda do not even know. Most retailers, I guarantee you, don’t even
know that they can get temporary relief.
My belief is that you need to do it across the
board for retail. They need cash flow. That's what they need to survive. And one of the things that we can do
with online shopping because we ar e making so much
money is tweak it a little bit. You can go up half a per
cent or whatever the case may be. They are still going
to buy it online because it's an addiction. Simple as
that. Just like a sin tax. Cigarettes, you name it.
Okay?
I don't know. To this day I don't know why.
Every time I turn around, my wife got three or four
packages. What? What is this? I don't get nothing. I
got the same suit since Methuselah. All I am saying is
that there are opportunities to tweak this thing. So allow for the retailers . . . use the money that you're
making from online shopping to give them the relief
permanently. Across the board we allow for duty to be
delayed for all retailers without having to apply. That is
the way to go. We can do it. Sit down, tweak the numbers. But rather, what we are doing is (and we have
heard in this House in the past, this past year going
forward into this year, with health) we are going to
start looking at pharmaceuticals and the pharmacy fee
and the likes. I declare my interest, m y wife is a pharmacist. I was the general manager of People’s Pharmacy. Blacks are now getting into the industry, owning their own businesses. And now we are going to penalise them —the very people were trying to empower.
That is not the approach. When the doctors
have been raping this country since Lord knows when, and we are not going to the doctors who are going to
People’s Pharmacy saying, Hey, look we are going to
put more stuff on you and make it more difficult.
Come on, man. Even Dr. Brown, when he was
premier, said we should go after the doctors. I mean,
come on. Go back in the book, mate. Yes. You’re
missing my point? The point is we’re looking in the
wrong areas.

We were looking in the
wrong area to make cuts. And if we listen to one a nother, then we will see these opportunities. And I will
not get frustrated because, you know, I get frustrated


Bermuda House of Assembly when these byes don’t listen. So I am trying to listen
to them. All right?
We have got opportunities, huge opportunities
to empower our people. And I don’t like walking up the
street like this morning getting a coffee and one of the
guys, he’s a civil servant, says to me, Hey look, bye,
Brown people are suffering, you know. And I k now
that the Government is hearing it every day. All you
have got to look at is today, just today, to get a real
feel for where we are. Outside of all of the good that
the Government is doing right now, you could close your eyes, throw a dart and whoever i t touches they
do not have much good to say about where we are.
So we need to do a better job at getting out
there with what the answers are. Repeat them, repeat them, repeat them, or otherwise, when we leave this
House like we did at lunchtime, you are going to see
more people picketing because they are frustrated.
Now, I learned a lesson about leadership. Don’t take it
personal. It’s tough when you got placards out and
people shouting and pointing at you. It’s tough b ecause it’s a tough job, Ministers. I know it is. It is
tough. But the reality of where we are right now is that people are picketing outside the House of Assembly
and people are complaining, complaining and complaining. And the only place they know to direct that
complaint is the Government.
We know that. That was a tough four years
and a couple of months. We know what it’s like. So now we got to figure out outside of this lovely book
here which, you know, we did ours green. I’m not sure
how come you guys did yours purple. I know purple is
the colour of . . . is a royalty, but it is also the colour of
the New Age people is the colour of imagination. Look
it up is the colour of imagination, colour of imagination
and spirituality as well.

[Inaudible interjection]

It doesn't matter how many
people are picketing, right?
It doesn't matter. We had one lady on the hill
there who was on a hunger strike by herself. So it
doesn't matter, right?
It's what people feel. And it was three or four.
I can guarantee you this. It's like putting . . . you know,
those of us who are maybe over 50. When we were young, we used to put popcorn in a pot and we would
wait to hear that first one go off. Yes! Something’s
happening. And a second one. Well, I will dare say this. Wh at I saw today downstairs is one or two popcorns popping off. And when I go online and I look at the town hall meeting that went off the other day,
that’s another three or four popping off. All I am saying
is that at some point in time, it is going to go y ouknow -what.
And we, all 36 of us —I am not just talking
about Government —have an opportunity to dissuade
that activity, because as a Government, when we
were OBA, we saw it —misunderstandings, misdirected, not understanding. We are not listening to
each o ther. So that is why I enjoy . . . I really enjoy the
Minister, Jason [Hayward]. And in the Reply they held
line and form. But guess what? I just gave you several
instances where we can improve. And I've been sa ying [these things] for a couple of years and not one of
them has been taken up. And it will improve Bermuda
drastically and empower the right people that we want
to empower, because contrary to what some people
believe . . . they get fooled by these colonial eyes.
I’m Black just like everybody else in here is
Black, okay? Yes, serious.

[Laughter]

You know? Well, let’s be
real clear. OBA is the UBP. The OBA is the UB P. You
know, we've got all the White boys. Guess what? Guess what, Mr. Speaker? I'm going to start saying
PLP is the new UBP, because I got two former UBP
members who are now a Minister and a Junior Mini ster. You ain’t got that over here, and it ain't going to
happen! It ain’t going to happen.

[Laughter and general uproar]

But this is the reality of
where we are today.
Premier, you laugh because your reality is
coming right now. If I look in the paper today —we are
78 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly talking about today —and the picketing that's going on
down side, you've got one of your former members,
he is probably still a member of PLP. Guess what he
says about this Throne Speech. I am sure you read it. You like to read everything. It's the worst he's seen!

Hon. E. David Burt: No, I don’t. I don’t read the Royal
Gazette.

Former members! And then
you got quotes by the former Finance Minister. The
reality is that we are not going to get anywhere as far
as improving the plight of Bermudians, period —
period! —if we don't work together. If we don't work
together . . . it is not on me . . . on us. Completely
misg uided. I just mentioned all of the solutions that
have been going on for years. Not one of them taken
up.

This Honourable Member is
talking about What are you talking about ? When we
became Government, the hospital had so much money in its coffers, right? And the Finance Mi nister said,
No, no, no, hold on a second. You’re not holding onto
those millions and millions of dollars were aiding you
and helping you and putting things in place. And
you’re hoarding all this money? And this Honourable
Member gets up and says it’s not for profit. I know; we
know that. But he should know because he’s been
there. Massive amounts of money over there, sitting
there, invested. OK? Invested. So we have got opportunity. That is all I am saying, Mr. Speaker.
You know, I like to liven up things here a little
bit. I started falling asleep, you know, and you know.
Here we are now. We are talking about what
is in the pipeline, though. I want to know what’s in the pipeline. And my concern is that I do not see anything
in the pipeline. What exactly is going to right now . . .
and my two suggestions are this: Number one, get some investment into this country as soon as poss ible. We know that takes time. We see what’s happe ning with Fairmont Southampton Princess. We know that that takes time. But in four years we had three
hotels built, renovated and built. We're waiting. We're waiting. We're waiting.

[Inaudible interjections and laughter]

Yes, I understand that you
want to talk about Morgan’s Point. But I tell you what.
I'll tell you what. Oh, yes, Yes. Let’s be fair. I'm going
to be fair with you.
When we met with Gencom . . . okay? When
we met with them over the Southampton Princess, do
you want to know one of the first things that came out
of their mouths was? Morgan’s Poi nt never had to be
paid off . Ask them. Go ask Chris [PHONETIC]. Car eful! Go ask Chris. I'm telling you who to ask. It did not have to be paid off.

The Premier knows who I
am talking about. Exact words! The Opposition Leader
was there. Morgan’s Point did not have to be paid up.
And I can tell you this here. If we were Government, we would have never had to take it over. Investment
would have been found just like we got St. Regis, The
Loren, and Azura going. We would have got it going. It
had its hiccups. But remember this. We acquired that
headache. We acquired that headache. And I will
never, ever, Mr. Speaker, apologise for investing in Bermudians.
Hunt is a household name, Okay? Hunt is a
household name. Like I said, we would have found the solution. Solutions were on the table. And if Gencom
can say that to the Opposition, my goodness . . . my
goodness. Please go back and talk to them. I didn't
hold no words with him. So here we are now, as far as Gencom is concerned, Fairmont Southampton Pri ncess, we are still waiting for an update as to where we
are with this here. Promises have been made, just like
in 2021 the Premier said that we wo uld have a casino
by 2021. We are still waiting, waiting. It’s in the pipeline. It’s in the pipeline, right?



Bermuda House of Assembly [Inaudible interjection]

We are all on this small I sland together. We got to make something happen at
the end of the day. That's what I'm getting at. You
know, I have livened in up a little bit. We got to make
something happen. A nd as I said prior, maybe some
Members were not in here. I appreciate what has
been said in this House today. And, yes, you know, people are going to go back and forth. Most people
are not even going to take note of what we have said
tonight, right?
The k ey is this: We have got to get the messages out there that our people are going to be okay
in 2023 because I can assure you, based on all the
indicators, Bermuda is going to have a seriously rough
time in 2023 because of external factors that we have
no control over. And that is why it is important to move with some urgency. And I know people don't like that
word, “urgency.” But we have got to move with some
fervour and with some urgency because more aid is
going to be needed. And the question is, where is it coming from?
A lot of times, Mr. Speaker, it is not even
whether or not we are getting aid or have promised aid to folks. It is the implementation of it. And so pe ople start rumours. If it takes so long to get aid to somebody or if it's done incorrectl y, or if the wrong
people are getting the aid that should not be getting the aid, then people talk and they get upset. So we have got to sharpen our tools and maybe sometimes,
Government, that means talking to the guys on the
other side.
Yes. Yes. I am wi th them. We need to get it
done. We need to get it done.
One of the other things that was said (and let
me just turn to it) . . . just so you know, that was a
surprise to me. Green? I like it. Nice, new shoots. Well done, Opposition Leader.

[Inaudible i nterjection]

Yes, imitation. That’s it. R emember that when you wear a red tie next time.
Where is it . . .? In the face of these trials (in
the very beginning here) . . . and it ties into another
point that I want to make about tourism. “In the face of
these trials, the Government is determined to lead an economic recovery that is centred on restoring the
hope of the people today . . .” Yes.
My fear is that people are not feeling hopeful
for 2023. And I will do what I can to ensure to promote
the policies that this Government has put forward. I
congratulated the Minister of Public Works on the rel ationship between ABIC and with the trails in Bermuda.
Fantastic! I think that it is an incredible, incredible
partnership there. I know the issues that we had trying
to keep that place in pristine condition. And it costs a
lot of money to have small contractors doing it. So the good that it is being done we must speak of it. But the
hope in Bermuda right now is waning. And I do not
think any one of us in this room when we leave and go
into town or go wherever we . . . we are walking into
some serious issues.
Last night I had t he opportunity to be with the
Tourism Minister. And I lead with him because, you
know, . . . Is it his son that goes there? Elliot.

[Inaudible interjection]

No, no, no, no, no.
Minister of Education. I said tourism? Educ ation. He went to Elliot? Okay. Okay. And it was an i nteresting exercise that we partook in. The exercise
was, we needed to answer what we thought young
people’s issues were and what they were facing t oday. And then we talked about families and what fam ily’s issu es are. In that community, just the Elliot community in Devonshire community there, . . . as well as
80 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly my cousin. Is he here? He is down there, yes. I think
I'm still invited to his clean up in Devonshire. So we
had the opportunity to talk about how we can
strengthen the communities and the school.
I got to give the principal . . . she was stepping
out of some of her lane, quite frankly, because some of the suggestions that came across I took a peek at
some of them, of the issues, and we have got some
challenges. We have got some real challenges. And I
know that it is not going to be easy for the Minister of
National Security, based on some of the stuff that I saw up on the board. Certainly is not easy for single
family homes who are struggling, some having t o
catch a bus two and three times just to keep up and
get the kids out and the likes. So I was glad to hear of some of the young programmes that are going to be
put in place for our young people. But our young people are vulnerable right now. And we got to find a way
to fix that.
I heard some of them. But then we got to give
aid to the parents and also give aid to the communi-ties. A lot of money has been given to some of the
sports clubs. We got to probably look at others. But
that is a challenge because w e are talking about
spending money. And the only way that we can spend
is if we are getting it coming in. And so that's where
the urgency has to be. We have got to get the inves tment into the Island.
And the second thing that I said that we need
to do in my last three and a half minutes here is the
tax system in Bermuda completely needs to change. It
is not fair. I have heard Members over here talk about
it. It needs to be fixed, completely redone and fixed. And we can do that more immediate than it is goi ng to
take to get some infrastructure in. Go after that. That's
the low hanging fruit. We can change the tax system
within months, so that it is more fair; more fair, more
equitable.

So I am saying it has to be
more fair, more equitable. We have been talking wit hin our caucus, within our room, about what needs to
happen because the wealthy . . . okay? The wealthy
need to pay more. Okay? I am telling you right now,
the wealthy need to pay more, period. They need t o
pay more. And the wealthy businesses that are here need to pay more. OK? We need to tax them. It is as
simple as that.

[Inaudible interjections and laughter]

Keep talking.



Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. L. Craig Cannonier: So on the one hand, get the
investment coming into the Island. Change the tax
system so that it allows those on the lower tier, and
some things have happened, to be able to benefit. We
got new laws coming into place for salaries. That is not going to go too far. I fear that some people are
going to just start laying off. But then that's where we
have to have a watchdog as well.
Based on the climate and the economy and
where it is, we have got so many closed buildings on
this Island, so we need to pay closer attention to what's going on. We have heard the Minister say that
he will, and I am sure that the Premier will have all
kinds of things that he wants to say once the last of us
has spoken.
But I think I 've been very clear. And if they
want to talk about, just like I said to the Honourable Member Burgess, I am more than glad to sit down in
the session to explain what I personally believe needs
to happen. And I'll do that with the tax system, inves tment, as well as how we lower the cost of living in
Bermuda, which is a long conversation. And we need
to do it, not within a minute. So this cheeky stuff about
explain, explain, is fool hearted by the leader of this
country, and I think he needs to pay attention to
what's going on outside this House of Assembly with
the picketing.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, MP.
Does any other Member wish to make a contribution?
Minister of Education.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I was . . . I was very . . . that was
a very entertaining speech from that former [Premier]. I see some of my Members are like, what's really going on there?
One thing that really stood out, Member, is
when you mentioned that you had heard that it didn't have to be paid off, when you were talking about Morgan’s Point. And you were very, very specific about that. Just a reminder of some of the facts: That project
was in default prior to 2017. It was in default prior to
2017, and the former Finance Minister was the one that was in charge. He said it had to be paid off. So I
am not sure what you're trying to imply there. Are you
trying to imply that our former Minister of Finance did
not know what he was doing at that particular time? I
believe in his integrity. I believe that he is a very . . .
he was a very good person when he was there, and
he knew what he was doing. And if he came and said
this is what needs to be done then that's what needed
to be done.
Now, if you know something else . . . we ll,
what we have been hearing, Mr. Speaker, is . . . it is a
tactic that the Opposition has used. The only time
where they have been aligned was saying that this Throne Speech does not have detail; it does not say
what it is that we are going to do. Other than that I
have yet to hear any one of them actually speak to
their Reply and what it contains.

Ah!

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: They spent the entire time
complaining about what the Progressive Labour Party
has said. The only person who has even made really
good mentioned or stuck to even talking about what was in there was the Opposition Leader because he
had to read it.

[Laughter]

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Everyone else stayed away
from it. I don’t know if that is indicative of what th eir
vision is. If it is the Opposition Leader’s vision and no
one else had any input into it, perhaps that's what it
was. But why they do not talk about what it is that they
are going to do and continue to talk about what we haven't done and what we haven' t included in our
[Throne] Speech just continues to baffle me.
But picking up on what my good friend from
[constituency] 7 talked about is imitation . . . I am tr ying to remember exactly what you said.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Imitation is the best way of
best way of sharing flattery because you read through this document . . . and this could be one of the reasons why when the Members stood up they weren't even making mention to their document, because it
was a duplicate of w hat we are already doing up and
down.
Mr. Speaker, now the Member from [constit uency] 10 spoke earlier. And he said that the people
are tired of this type of debate. I listened to him be-cause he was being actually sincere, that people are
tired of people getting up and speaking just because
it's something to do. People are tired of . . . he was
intimating that people are tired of just listening to us
going back and forth and not really talking about much. People have spent 30 minutes speaking and,
you know , you can grab maybe two or three nuggets
out of what has been coming from the other side. So,
as that Honourable Member spoke about, that people
are tired of hearing that type of debate, the Member
from [constituency] 7 pointed out that that's exactly all
we have been getting all day long.
Now, education is a passion of mine. And I
have been here for over five years. And despite what you hear coming from the other side, this Government
has been laser focused on what it is that they want to
do and going about getting it done. We hear from the
other side just get on with it , get it done. It has taken
too long. If we were in, if we had done that, the
82 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly crowds will be marching on us. No. The crowds were
marching on you because they didn't like what you
were doing, period, no matter how long it took. All
right?
This Government was re- elected in 2017 on a
manifesto that we were fulfilling. We were re- elected
in 2020 on a manifesto and given a larger mandate
based on what it is that we were doing. We can talk
about it being in the pipeline, but it is actually happening. Just this day I got a message from a parent. And we talk about green shoots. [I got] a message from a parent whose son was the recipient of a programme
that we brought in, that we brought in four years ago.
If this programme was not brought in this child probably would not have made it to university. He may not have gotten his graduate from the university he went
to actuarial science. He is now employed. And that's
what his mother was sending us a mes sage about, to
say, thank you. Thank you for what you did, your v ision of what my child needed five years ago.
That is what offshoots are, they are about
knowing what people need in the future. Your team is
too focused on trying to create flashes in the pan that
look great, that look great now . . . that look great now,
but they do not have anything to show for it years from
now. Okay? That is what it is. And I can go back to
when we sat in that other place. And I can quote one of your Members where [he] m ade the promise of
2,000 jobs. And he said, and I quote, I foresee in two
years from now, we will not have just 2,000 jobs. We
will have over employment. Those were his words.
When you were voted out you were minus 4,000 plus.
Okay? Minus 4,000 plus.
Now I can sit here and repeat everything that
my side has talked about because we know where we
stand. We know what we are doing, and our people
know what we are doing.
You know, I had the pleasure of attending an
education conference that we were invited to because
they heard about what we were doing, and we put in
the necessary work to say this is what we're doing in
Bermuda. These were from educators all around the
world, some of the very experts that the Opposition Leader truly does admire because they are all about
private schools. And they were so impressed with what we are doing here in this Island. They were i mpressed with the way that we are going about having
cooperative design work of revamping the school sy stem.
Mr. Speaker, I have a WhatsApp group called
OBA Education Updates. The Opposition Leader is a
member of that group. The Member, Susan Jackson, is a member of that group. The Opposition Whip is a
member of that group. The Shadow Minister of Educ ation is a member of that group, and young former
Senator Robinson is a member of that group, Mr. Speaker. I post information about what is going on in
Education all the time.
Hon. E. David Burt: Ah!

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Here is an invite, come to
this. We are going to have this, come to that . Here are
some websites to look at. Here are the things that we
are doing. Here is what is happening in Education. But
yet again, for the third year in a row, I have to listen to
a Throne Speech [Reply] that talks drivel about Education as if they do not eve n know what's going on.

[Desk thumping]

Hon. E. David Burt: Talk about it. Tell them the truth!

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: That they don't even know
what's going on, Mr. Speaker.
In the Throne Speech [Reply] . . . and I quote
from there. It is so contr adictory it absolutely baffles
the mind. He said “We need to look at the destination of our students from a career perspective— where are
they headed? Instead of just looking at their academic
qualifications. We must ensure that all subjects are equally wei ghted. Vocational subjects are just as i mportant as academic subjects.”
Mr. Speaker, we spend 30 months putting t ogether signature schools that opened up a trade
school at one of our senior schools. What is going on?
What else can I do, Mr. Speaker?
Hon. E. David Burt: Exactly!
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: What else can I do?
I go directly to the Member and say this is
what's going on. If he scrolls up he will see what we
call Taster Programme websites, Mr. Speaker. The
Taster Programmes are put together s o everyone in
Bermuda can see what a signature programme is so that they can be educated on helping their children
decide which one fits them. And you know why we did that, Mr. Speaker? Because persons who do not go to
public school wanted to know what's going on too,
because private school students are coming back.
Mr. Speaker, I do not know what else we can
do, but I will show you how schizophrenic this Throne
Speech [Reply] is because two paragraphs later, when he talks about instead of looking at academic
qualifications, two paragraphs later he says “another
significant issue which must be addressed is the pu blishing of . . . external and internal exams in all our
schools . . . .” Mr. Speaker, as I told the Royal Gazette
on Tuesday who said when are you going to publish
your IGCSE results? Mr. Speaker, there is a requir ement to graduate from senior school in Bermuda. That requirement issue must pass four IGCSEs at a minimum —math, English, social studies and science.
Mr. Speaker, we had a bumper crop of students graduate this year. In fact, we had more males graduate than females for the first time in forever. But
guess what, Mr. Speaker? Every single one of them


Bermuda House of Assembly passed their IGCSE exams. Why does the Opposition
Leader need to know who got an A and who go t a B?
All that does is decrease the confidence of our st udents because we are trying to put them in categories.
What we are trying to do, which he says we should be doing . . . what we are doing, Mr. Speaker, is provi ding our students with the opportuniti es to be succes sful in life. And we have realised, and if anyone from the Opposition showed up to any of these meetings, is
that the world is changing. So the way that we look at
Education must change.
It is now possible, Mr. Speaker, to essentially
do in six months what would have taken you four
years, 10 years ago. We have to embrace that. We can have a young student sit and do a coding course for three months and be far more advanced than
someone who has gone and done a bachelor’s degree, which is what they would have done a few years
ago. That's what we need to embrace, Mr. Speaker.
So, if we continuously look at Education through the
lens of our forefathers, we will always do our children a disservice. And this Throne Speech [Reply] and the
initiatives of the One Bermuda Alliance do our st udents a disservice.
We are not here to continuously compare our
students to private school students. Those are two
different systems. The private school system, Mr. Speaker, is a business. And I am not knocking them,
because it's a model that works. It's a business. And when you run a business you get employees, in this
case students, who fit the business model. When you
have a comprehensive system like the public school
system, it does not matter what that employee or st udent can do, you still have to figure out how to teach
them. So, Mr. Speaker, if we are going to continuously
try to compare a functional academic student, a pr ogramme that does not occur in any of our private
schools or a student in the ASD programmes which
do not occur in our private schools, to students who
do not fall in any of those programmes, we are conti nuously going to have disparity and you are continuously going to erode the confidence of the very st udents you're trying to teach.
As the say ing goes, and everyone has been
sent this video, if you judge a fish by the way it
climbed a tree, it will always think it's stupid. Stop making our children think that they are stupid. If you
want to help, come and see what we are doing. If you
want to he lp, listen to any of the things that I send to
you. If you want to help, just open your mind to what we are doing and why we are doing it and the way we
are doing it.
He talks about the Education Authority. Mr.
Speaker, we have been speaking about the Education
Authority since Plan 2022. Guess where Plan 2022
started? When that Member was the Minister of Edu-cation. That's how long we have been talking about an
Education Authority, Mr. Speaker. Five years! But, Mr.
Speaker, the one thing we will not do that the other side seems to be happily attracted to, is do things just
because it seems good and it looks well because we
can get it done right away. We are going to do this
right. We are going to do everything that we need to
do to ensure that our children are the beneficiaries of the policies we put in place. And that means, Mr.
Speaker, putting them out front. It means . . . it is not
about how well it makes me look. It is about how well
we make our students look. So, if it takes us another
year to put this together, which is what it will take at
least, this Education Authority will take another year,
Mr. Speaker. But when it does come to fruition, it will
work. It will not fall down. It will not trip, like the former
incarceration the One Bermuda Alliance did when
they moved to the middle school system in 1996.
Mr. Speaker, when we go out and we talk to
our parents, guess who they are? They are the par-ents that went through that system. We have to be
sensitive to them. Every single one of them that we
talke d to talk about the trauma they went through because they were pushed into something that was half -
baked when it started. We need to learn from that.
And, Mr. Speaker, I will stand here time and time
again and say that this is something we all need to be
part of. The Member from [constituency] 7 pointed out
quite correctly that we have gone up and down this
Island and called out every single person and asked
them to come and help. Come sit down with us, help us design this, because we all need to be pushing
forward. Every single time I get a video from Finland,
or from Singapore, or from Thailand or whatever, the
one thing that's missing from that, Mr. Speaker, which we do not seem to get is that the entire country is pul ling behind education. The entire country. Everybody is on the same page. Everybody is marching to the
same beat. If we want to have a solid education sy stem, that's what we need here, Mr. Speaker. We need our people to know and value education, know and
value what we are doing and understand what we are
doing.
But, Mr. Speaker, I do want to thank the O pposition because they continuously bring up these things and it actually shows us that we have to do better. We have to do a better job of reaching the people
who claim to be listening, but ev ery time they open
their mouth, show us that they are not. They are the
ones we need to come on board and show us what it
is that they think that we are doing wrong, to show us
the things that need to be done right, Mr. Speaker. So
I appreciate what is wri tten here. I appreciate this because it actually shows us where we are going in the
right direction and where we need to do things a little
bit better. So I do thank them for this, Mr. Speaker.
But, Mr. Speaker, when we speak of educ ation, and Minister Ha yward spoke to this, we have put
so [many] things back into education to increase the
ability of our children and adults to upgrade them-selves. When we talk about the College Promise Pr ogramme, that is a programme that allows any student
84 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly graduating from the Berkeley Institute or CedarBridge
Academy with a 3.0 [GPA] to attend the Bermuda College tuition free. Mr. Speaker, when people think
about that programme, they do not fully . . . I don't believe they fully understand that. Then we talk about
the Dual Enrolment Programme. We have MP Ric hardson and his son who was a beneficiary of the Dual
Enrolment Programme, 16 years old now in an advanced junior year in college because he was able to
do two years here in Bermuda tuition free.
When we talk about helping our people, we
are not talking about giving just instant gifts. We also have to educate them to understand that what they
are getting now will pay dividends in the future. Do
what you need to do now. Do what you need to do now. Gain the things that you need now and look how
much it will benefit you in the future. At the graduation
this year at the Bermuda College, Mr. Speaker, a parent came up to me almost in tears and said, You
know, I didn't think of it this way. But you guys have
saved me $70,000 becaus e that was the tuition that
we would have had to pay if our child had gone direc tly off to school and was unable to do what he needed to do right here in Bermuda. That is helping people.
Right? People may not see it as help at the time, but
you have to sti ck to the wicket and you have to co ntinuously push them, get them to understand, and
they get it after a while.
Mr. Speaker, we are talking about the College
Promise Programme. Seventy students at the Berm uda College, 70- plus students at the Bermuda Colle ge
right now tuition free, saving 70 sets of parents tuition they would have had to pay it if those children went overseas, who probably would have already come
back to us because they would have been saying,
Can I get a scholarship? Can I get an award? and
those sorts of things, Mr. Speaker. That is what pr ogress is, Mr. Speaker.
When I became the Minister of Education, Mr.
Speaker, it was July 2017. In the first Cabinet I had to pass a Bill to fix Dellwood School that had been shut
down almost six months earlier due to asbestos. This
is the type of issue we talk about, Mr. Speaker, when
you are focused and laser focused on what needs to
be done now. We had an Opposition that was worried about, as we keep saying, a boat race. And, you know, we say America’ s Cup. It happened, right? And
that is the past. But, [just] look at where that money
was spent and where it should have gone, Mr. Speaker.
Guess what, Mr. Speaker? We were able to
put Wi -Fi in all of our schools in short order because a
boat race happened, and then the boat race people
left and said, [We are] not coming back . But all that
[Wi-Fi] equipment we paid for [used by the boat race
people] was just sitting there collecting dust. So we
said, But the schools didn't have [Wi -Fi]. So we said,
Well, w hy can’t we have it in the schools? And they
said, Take it, we don’t have any use for it. So, Mr. Speaker, when you have those sorts of outlooks and those sorts of things that you are looking at versus
what your people need and what your people will
need i n the future. You have to be able to look at this
and plan. Stop asking for instant fixes because this is
one of the things we need to break with our people.
Instant fixes are sometimes okay. But they are not
most of the time.
We were able to do those thi ngs and say,
Hey, [to be] where we want to be five years from now
we need to plant these seeds now. And we planted
those seeds now. The College Promise Programme
was planted in those early years. The grants through
Bermuda College were planted in those ear ly years.
The expansion of the Dual Enrolment Programme was
planted in those early years. The idea of signature
schools was started in those early years. Yes, it took us 30 months to bring it to fruition, but we did it, Mr.
Speaker. And our students are better off for it and
they will be better off for it. Next year we will be intr oducing our Parish Primary schools. Again, Mr. Speaker, I looked in agony when I read, and I quote, “The Department of Education must ensure that our st udents have the required pr erequisite skills to enable
them to successfully transfer from Parish Schools to Middle Schools and our Senior Signature Schools.”
Mr. Speaker, the parish primary schools will
replace middle schools. You will go from parish prim ary school directly into the senior school. But if our Opposition had come to any of our meetings, if they had
come and actually participated, they would know that.
They would not put something in here that is not even possible.
Mr. Speaker, that is what frustrates me about
this. I want to collaborate. I offer that collaboration and
I ask for that collaboration.

Oh my.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: I do not believe . . . you
know what? I do apologise, Mr. Speaker. I believ e Ms.
Susan Jackson responded and said, thank you, once,
because she was the one that wanted to know what
the Taster Programme looked like.
The Whip is one of the newer additions to the
group. He has only come on in the last couple of months. But, you kno w, even though, Mr. Speaker . . .
and I fully invite them —any of them, all of them —we
will be continuing our open sessions for our primary schools where we invite the public in to look at what


Bermuda House of Assembly the blue printing is and give us ideas of what they
think is go od, what they think we can do differently. I
sent that out this week and said, Here's what we have
done this week and will be doing them again next
week. Contact the school. So I am looking forward to
anybody from the One Bermuda Alliance joining in on some of these sessions as we move over.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Well, I do thank you. That
is the Opposition Leader saying he went to the Francis Patton one. That's progress, Mr. Speaker. That's
progress. It's all right, Mr. Speaker.
But, Mr. Speaker, getting back to what the
Member from [constituency] 10 said, he is right, when
he said the people were tired of that type of debate,
tired of these types of documents being written, not
because it's factual, not because they have actually
paid attention to what is going on, but because it is
something to say, Mr. Speaker. We can do better than this. We can all do better than this. Our people deserve better than this. And so what I fully expect is
later on this year when I bring amendments to add
Primary 7 and Primary 8 to our primary schools, I expect no questions from this other side, but we just
pass this without any fuss.
When I bring the legislation to implement a
history and legacy committee to record the rich history of our s chools later this year, I expect no opposition
from the other side. When I bring legislation to begin
the origins of creating an Education Authority, I expect
no opposition from the other side. I fully do because these are the things that they have said they want. We
are already on our route. But that's okay. We know
where we are going. We just want them to catch up.
As a matter of fact, I kept stopping the bus so
that they could get on, but for some reason they just didn’t want to get on at that time. But I will keep wor king on them, Mr. Speaker. We will keep working on them, Mr. Speaker, and they will find a way to get on
board team Bermuda as we move forward.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[Desk thumping]

Okay, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
thank you for the opportunity to contribute. I am not
entirely sure that I can make the full 30 minutes. I am
still getting used to this whole parliamentary process. But I can tell you I have quite a bit to add to tonight's
debate.
I would like to open by reiterating the point
from my colleague from constituency 10 about wor king with the Government. I know we have had quite
the to- ing and fro- ing tonight about what exactly that
means and whether or not it's authentic and who is
genuinely saying it and who is on various platforms
and who is not paying attention and all of that. But I do
not think that it is a frivolous offer. I think it is quite genuine. And to that end, I look forward to working with them on a going- forward basis where we do find
similarities where we can do that. Lord knows that I've
been stopped enough times to say that when the
Government gets it right, we appreciate you backing them up, but when you disagree or have an altern ative point of view that you say that. So, without much more on that point, we will do so.
I would like, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to say that I
am looking forward to the amendment Bills like the
trademarks, intellectual property, digital asset bus iness, [and the] Companies Act, especially. I know
these things can be quite technical and, to be frank ,
quite boring. But they make a big impact in our economy. My wife was a paralegal working in the intellectual property practise of a local law firm, and obviously
more than a few mortgage payments have been made
on the back of that. But apparently it is also something that Bermuda is well placed to do and can do quite
well. It is one of the few digitised back -office registries
that we can support. And unfortunately, the Cayman
Islands got ahead of us on that and ate our lunch. I
have seen more than a few C aymanian businesses do
quite well with that. So I am glad to see that we are
updating that framework.
With that being said, Mr. Deputy Speaker, another good idea that I would like to bring attention to is financial assistance and child care allowances. I do
think it's quite important that we take care of those
who need our assistance. I think I have said it before, and I will always say it again. I think it is probably the
area that I agree with the Honourable Minister the
86 18 November 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly most. And that is that a society i s measured by how
well it takes care of those who are most disadva ntaged. And I do think that it is important that we go
down that road.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I want to talk about how I
weighed up the ideas that were in this year’s Throne Speech, because I do think it's actually quite i mportant. We have some huge pieces of legislative
work coming this year, including Minimum Wages and
the Tourism Investment Act. And the key question is
not, is this a good idea or a bad idea? But is it the right idea for the right time? And to my mind, Mr. De puty Speaker, I like to evaluate it using a medical practise that I learned. I was very lucky when I was in the
Regiment. We went to the United States Navy's field medical service school, where we turn out all of our
medic s from and we learned quite a lot. One of the
things we learned was something called diseases, symptoms and signs. And obviously the disease is
something that's wrong. The symptom is what shows
for it. And so that is what I am going to use for this example.
Bermuda, Mr. Deputy Speaker, undoubtedly is
going through some existential crisis at the moment.
Obviously, the cost of living crisis is quite significant,
as is global inflation. And these are challenging us in
ways we have never been challenged before. I think the Premier in his Throne Speech actually outlined
this at the beginning by saying Bermuda has been
tested. And this test is going to keep happening. We
are not in control of global inflation and we are not in
control of the supply chain crisis t hat happened because of macro- economic impacts from, most especially, China and other places. And the cost of living crisis is not academic to us. In the US, where they are
looking at inflation and things are impacting their lives,
they are impacting ours two or three times more. So
we are living through quite a significant set of risks.
Also, we see the increase in violent crime.
And our communities are extremely sensitive to crime.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we have always been a friendly
people. We have always had our doors open. We
have always been a trustworthy group of people. Our
families all know each other. Crime impacts Bermuda
in the worst way possible. So, to that end, if we see
that increasing, increasing, we have got a real pro blem on our hands. We have got increasing substance
abuse, and everyone knows about our healthcare
problems right now, Mr. Deputy Speaker. So, to that
end, the disease that is impacting Bermuda is really
quite significant.
And I would argue, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that
immigration and emigration are two big problems.
When I talk about emigration, talking about a lot of people leaving Bermuda right now, last week or the
week before I had another cousin leave to go to the UK. But what it really means for us, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, is th at we have a shortage of workers. We
have an ageing population. That means that as we are losing residents on the Island our healthcare costs
are going up. That means that the cost of supporting
our elders, who have already done everything that
they can for Bermuda and sure as heck deserve all
that support, it means that they are going to be the ones who are most hurt. And we still have underfunded pension schemes.
So we have got more than a few problems.
And the size of our economy as it shrinks and shrinks, because we are losing consumers, means that the
cost of living crisis is going to be irreversible without some form of structural reform, to my mind, Mr. Deputy Speaker. So, the ideas, the agenda that is certainly
being put forward by the Government in the Throne
Speech . . . my question is, are we treating the sym ptoms or the disease itself?
To that end, I appreciate the child care allo wance and the financial assistance. Again, this is the
kind of thing we need to do to make sure that we are
taking care of one another. My question is, does it
treat the symptom? Or does it treat the disease? The
same goes, even though we reserve judgment as it relates to the Labour Department and what that is going to look like, again, what I would argue is that Bermuda and Bermudians should evaluate these ideas
on whether we are actually treating symptoms or we
are treating diseases. To that end, I would recommend that we focus on more structural reforms when it comes to what we have to do.
I will try to cross referenc e my comments to
the [Reply] to the Throne Speech in reply to the Hon-ourable Member from [constituency] 13. I did not i ntend to, but I definitely want to rebut that in any way,
shape or fashion that the Opposition has a disjointed
approach. Our caucus is quite rambunctious, and all
of those policy ideas come out of that. So I definitely
want to make sure that we speak to and acknowledge the work of so many people who are working to save
Bermuda in all of the political environment and parties.
To the end, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I do think the
solution that we need to implement to take care of the
actual diseases is (and I think we agree to this) energise the economy. I note the Honourable Member
from constituency 17, when speaking about youth unemployment, said that some of the feedback he got,
the reason for youth unemployment from the youth, was the lack of job opportunities. And we have already seen quite a few people speak to the necessity
to increase the number of jobs in Bermuda. And if we
do that, we know full well we will reduce the cost for
childcare and food, and other things will fall away.
Also, Mr. Deputy Speaker, as it relates to tax
reform, this is an area that has been bandied about
now for the better part of 10 years, if not longer than
that. An d it seems as if it is . . . I am not even sure
why it does not seem to move any further over the years. But I would note for the benefit of the Member from constituency 13 that is on page 3 of the [Reply]
to the Throne Speech. Also, Mr. Deputy Speaker,


Bermuda House of Assembly making business easier is going to go a long way. We
need to cut so much red tape in this country. When I
started my company, Mr. Deputy Speaker, some six,
seven years ago, it was the first time that I had actually undertaken a payroll tax return. That was s omething. That took a long time. And I am in compliance. I
like forms. Yes. So, yes, and I can only imagine. The
Honourable Member Cannonier spoke about bonded
warehouses and retail. I cannot even imagine what
that must look like. But I can tell you, even in my small
world with a few regulatory returns that I have to make
it is typically quite problematic and difficult, to be
frank.
As the Honourable Premier knows, I work in
regulatory compliance. So that means I make a lot of
filings with the Bermuda Mone tary Authority and the
Registrar of Companies and places like that. It is diff icult to do this. And one of the problems we face in
Bermuda is the harder it is to do, the less capital
wants to do it. So we really do shoot ourselves in the
foot when we make the red tape longer and longer.
I also want to speak, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to
immigration reform, most especially status. Again, for the Honourable Member from constituency 13, that is
on page 8. Unless we deal with the question of status,
we are only going to be nibbling at the edges of the
immigration problem. We definitely have to get to grips with our population and our declining population.
As it stands right now, the Honourable Member from
constituency 17 has made a point publicly of saying
that our ageing population is going to cause a problem
for our workforce on a going- forward basis. And again,
unless we do something quite drastic and quite ser ious in the short term, I just don't think that we will be actually addressing the disease, but in fact, again,
looking at only the symptoms.
I would also like to speak, Mr. Deputy Speaker, about the technical details because that has act ually been raised a couple times. The Honourable
Member from (I want to say) constituency 11, in one
of his opinion pieces had said, that I typically speak on
the technical parts of a Bill, which I do. And I apprec iate that. But I wanted to sort of refute the Honourable
Member from constituency 17 on the importance of
getting the technical bits right. The devil is in the de-tails, Mr. Deputy Speaker. In every single remediation
project I have ever been contracted to oversee and
implement, the success has always been determined
on how deep I go into the details. And lots of people
do remediation projects in Bermuda. Lots of remedi ation projects fail. And I would argue that almost all of them that fail was because someone didn't go deep enough into the details.
With that said a good example of how we can
improve that in the civil service, how we can improve it across Bermuda, it does not even have to be the civil service. I mean, anywhere where there is bureaucracy
and red tape, we need to cut at it. A good example is
the Honourable Member from constituency 17 brought up that there are economic recovery plan updates
monthly, and ga ve me an address, a website to go
look at. I looked it up and I went through it. And the
one section I did read was called Further measures to
expand the resident population . And with your permi ssion, I will read that update.
It doesn't give a date or any thing. It just says
that "On September 1, 2020, the Repatriation & Mixed
Status Families amendments to the Bermuda Imm igration and Protection Act 1956, came into force. On September 14, 2020 the Department of Immigration
began accepting applications for matters covered under the legislation. As of the end of March 2022, the
department had also received 125 applications for
PRC and Bermudian Status.”
That is the update. It is not that it's . . . like I
said, I do not want to always get into a fight about an
idea that is good or bad when I do not have all the
information, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The only thing necessary, or, rather, I should say that if we definitely
want an idea to fail, then we should definitely not pr ovide all the information about it both to this Honour able House, to each other, and to the public. I guaran-tee you will make our projects that much harder to
succeed the harder it is to find the information.
And this goes also to the Honourable Member
from constituency 10 when he was referring to the
Premier’s statement in the Throne Speech, the best
economic growth since 2007. And that is quite a
statement. In my field, when we make statements like
that, we have to quantify them. Right? Because
someone is going to spend a lot of money based on those statements, and they typically want quantific ation, very, very specific details. Again, Mr. Deputy Speaker, it's these terms that are either loosely d efined or ambiguous. That is the kind of stuff that
makes business harder in Bermuda. And that is the
kind of stuff that is lying at the bottom of all of this.

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Deputy Speaker, would the
Member wish to yield for a clarification? I am happy to
tell where it came from.