October 12, 2022

Yes. Good morning,
Madam President. I would like to nominate our new Senator,
Kiernan Bell.

The President: Is there a seconder for this?
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: I second that, Madam President.
The President: Thank you.
Are there any other nominations for the pos ition?
Senator Smith?

[No audible response]

The President : Therefore, as there is no other nom inee, I now inform the Senate that Senator Kiernan
Bell has been nominated as Vice President for the
Senate, and s he has been duly elected by the Senate
body.
[Senator Kiernan Bell duly elected as Vice President
of the Senate. ]

The President: I now call on Senator Kiernan Bell. If
you wanted to say a few words, you can do so.

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
First of all, I would like to thank you very much
for your kind welcome to the Senate. Last week I did not speak on the adjournment because I was getting
in the way of everybody and lunch. So I would like to
say a very warm thank you to all of the Members of
the Senate who extended a very warm welcome to me
last week, as well as to all of the staff of the Senate
who have provided me with s o much information and
helped me make this transition to this particular office.
I am also grateful to my fellow Members of the
Senate for the appointment as vice president. I shall do my very best to discharge those duties to the ful lest extent that I can under our Constitution.
Many thanks.

The President: Thank you, Senator, Vice President
Senat or Bell.

CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES
[Minutes of 5 October 2022 ]

660 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: Senator Bell.

[Crosstalk ]

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you
Madam President, I move t hat consideration
of the Minutes of the meeting of Wednesday, the 5th of
October 2022, be taken as read.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Senator Bell.

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Madam President, I move that the
Minutes of Wednesday, the 5
th of October 2022, be
confirmed.

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

[Minutes of 5 October 2022 confirmed]
The President: Thank you, Senator Kiernan Bell,
Vice President.

MES SAGES
The Clerk: There are n o messages, Madam Pres ident.
The President: Thank you, Mr. Somner.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES
The President: There are none.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
The President: We have at least three announc ements. The first one is in the name of Senator Lindsay
Simmons, the Junior Minister for Social Development and Seniors.
Senator Simmons, you have the floor.

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2022

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I hereby present for the i nformation of Senate the Annual Report of the Human
Rights Commission for the year ended the 31
st of December 2021.
E-copies of the report can be accessed on
Senat ors’ tablets or the parliament website.
The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons. I believe the second announcement is also in your name.
You have the floor.

REGISTRY GENERAL ANNUAL REPORT FOR
YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2021

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I hereby present for the i nformation of Senate the Annual Report of the Registry
General for the year ending the 31st of December
2021 .
E-copies of the report may be accessed on
Senat ors’ tablets and/or the parliament website.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons.
The third announcement is in the name of
Senator Owen Darrell, the Junior Minister for the Ca binet Office.
Senator Darrell, you have the floor.
Sen. Owen Darrell: Good morning, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Good morning.

OFFICE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND PR OCUREMENT ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2021

Sen. Owen Darrell: I hereby present for the information of Senate the Annual Report of the Office of
Project Management and Procurement for the year
ending the 31st of December 2021. This is the first
annual report produce d by the office.

The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.

NOTICE S OF MOTION S

The President: We have a notice of motion, and that
is in the name of Senator Arianna Hodgson, the Junior
Minister for Health.
Senator Hodgson, you have the floor.

PUBLIC HEALTH (COVID- 19) EMERGENCY
EXTENSION (NO. 1) ORDER 2022

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I hereby present for the consideration of Senate the draft Order entitled the Public Health (COVID -
19) Emergency Extension (No. 1) Order 2022, pr oposed to be made by the Minister responsible for
Health under the provisions of section 107A of the
Public Act 1949. And I give notice that at a later point
in this meeting I will move that the said draft Order be
approved.


Bermuda Senate The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.

PETITIONS

The President: There are none.

STATEMENTS
The President: We have at least three Statements.
The first is in the name of Senator Owen Darrell, the
Junior Minister for Public Works.
Senator Darrell, you have the floor.

BERMUDA HOUSING CORPORATION
RESIDE NTIAL RENTAL UNIT
RENOVATION PROGRAMME

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I rise today in the Senate
for the purpose of providing an update on this Admi nistration’s 2020 election pledge to continue increasing
the stock of affordable housing throughout the country; expand the rent -geared- to-income programmes
and construct residential developments in the ec onomic empowerment zone; to increase the supply of quality, affordable residential accommodation; and drive down rental costs for Bermudians.
Madam President, principal Members in the
Senate today should already be aware of the Stat ement made by the Honourable Minister of Public Works on October 7, 2022, in another place, in which
it was announced that the Government is actively a ddressing the ongoing affordable housing issue by the
Cabinet, recently approving the
Bermuda Housing
Corporation’s [BHC] resident ial rental unit renovation
scheme at an estimated sum of $21,605,000. Madam
President, to [recapitulate ] what was detailed by the
Honourable Minis ter, this programme will see 77 new
affordably priced residential rental units to be renovat-ed and added to t he BHC’s stock, and 60 currently
occupied residential rental units under the BHC be
earmarked for renovation.
Madam President, a significant portion of the
BHC’s mandate is to provide affordable housing to
ensure this rent -geared- to-income based scheme,
which is capped at 35 per cent of the total household
income, is utilised. This system allows for low - and
middle -class income families to afford a quality stan dard of living, as well as save 10 per cent of their
household income. These new rental units wil l use the
same mechanism.
Madam President, this is just P hase One of
the Government’s overall vision to address affordable
housing. The next phase will include the development
in Hamilton’s E conomic Empowerment Zone to construct affordable units for sale and the expansion of the private sector rental programme which allows for
privately owned units to be rented to the Bermuda
Housing Corporation, with guaranteed rent and inter-vention by the corporation when tenants do not ho nour their commitment. This Admi nistration recognises
Bermuda’s extremely high cost of living specifically in
this instance, the increase in housing prices, mor tgage interest rates and rental prices being on a continuous rise.
Madam President, locally the monthly rental
rates range as follows:
• for a studio apartment, $1,100 to $1,800 per
month;
• for a one- bedroom apartment, $1,500 to
$2,000 per month;
• for a two- bedroom apartment, $2,200 to
$3,000 per month; and
• for a three- bedroom apartment, $3,200 to
$5,000 per month.
Madam President and Senate Chamber colleagues , do we honestly expect hard- working families
to pay these exorbitant rates in comparison to their monthly income to have a roof over their head, while
in addition paying high utility bills, high fuel costs and
paying the ever -increasing grocery costs , all of which
the public agrees is too high? The answer is no , Madam President . No, t his Administration does not . Thus ,
the reasoning as to why this programme is desperat ely needed.
The Government has done a great deal of
work recently to address the cost of living, such as the
duty reductions on essential goods and freezing the
price of fuel at the pump in February. This is just a nother move to further showcase this Administration’s value s.
Madam President, as previously stated, t he
total cost of the programme is estimated at $21,605,000 and will be spread over the next three
and a half fiscal years ––with the initial $4,250,000
capital grant set to be given to the BHC immediately for the commence ment of the programme. The r emaining funds will be requested through the relevant
years’ budgetary process. Madam President to be
more fiscally prudent in the completion of the pr ogramme, the Cabinet wisely waived all customs duty
fees associated with the importation of goods r equired. This decision will save an estimated of
$3,240,750.
Madam President, it has been more than 10
years since there was any type of building pr ogramme, the last being the Perimeter Lane C ondos
constructed by the corporation. Just for emphasis,
none occurred during the One Bermuda Alliance tenure. So we are starting again to increase the inventory
as pledged. Madam President, I associate myself with
the Honourable Minister , the Bermuda Housing Corporation Board, M anagement and staff in expressing
delight that fundin g has been provided for this initi ative and Government can further deliver on the goals of this Administration. Thank you, Madam President.


662 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
I think the second Statement is also in your
name, the Introduction of Signature Learning Pr ogrammes. You have the floor.
INTRODUCTION OF SIGNATURE LEARNING
PROGRAMMES IN SENIOR SCHOOLS
Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, this morning I am pleased
to provide you and the Members of the Senate and
the community at large with an update on the opening
of Signature Schools and the introduction of Signature
Learning Programmes in our two senior schools, t he
Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy. This is
undoubtedly a significant milestone achieved in the ongoing work of education reform for our public school system, work that has covered some 30 months of belief and determination.
Madam President, much work has been [ha ppening] and continues to happen to ensure that our children, Bermuda’s children, have an educational experience that prepares them for their future and connects them with their community. It has been said
on several occasions that Bermuda’s children are
Bermuda’s future.
With this, Madam President, it is with great
pleasure and gratitude that I inform the Senate that on
Monday, September 12, a new chapter in education
reform was celebrated. On this day, a total of 289 incoming S1 students entered the Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy to undertake Signature Lear ning Programmes in Health and Social Care, Finance and Insurance Services, STEM [Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math ], and Trades and Professions.
Madam President, in celebration of this new chapter in
learning for our Bermuda children and Bermuda as a
whole, the school hallways at both the Berkeley Inst itute and CedarBridge Academy were lined by st udents, educators, school leaders, Ministry and Educ ation Department staff, alumni and community partners as they clapped [during] the procession of incoming
S1 students who will be embarking on a transform ative journey and a new way of learning. Madam Pres ident, I would just like to interject that I am sure many
of us have seen those videos.
Madam President, it was deeply mov ing while
welcoming our S1 students to both schools, knowing
that the work and effort, some 30 months ’ worth, had
been put into implementing the Signature Schools and their Signature Learning Programmes—programmes that will serve our children well for the years to come.
Madam President, this is the change our community
has been demanding for years. Learning for our chi ldren that is personalised, flexible, relevant, futurefocused, inspiring and authentically Bermudian. Areas of learning that students have chosen for themselves. Learning that will open up further study and career opportunities. Madam President, the Signature School at the
Berkeley Institute will feature Signature Programmes in the follo wing:
•Financ e and Insurance Services, which i ncludes programmes in
oAccountancy ;
oBanking and Financial Services ;
oBusiness Administration and Ma nagement ;
oFinTech; and
oInsurance.
•Health and Social Care, which includes [pro-grammes in
]
oHolistic and Allied Health Care Services ;
oMedic inal Sciences and Services; a nd
oSocial Sciences and Services .
Madam President, the Signature School at
Cedar Bridge Academy will feature signature pr ogram mes in the following:
•Science, Technology, Engineering and Math[STEM] , which includes programmes in
oAnimal and Veterinary Sciences;
oComputer Science;
oCreative Technologies;
oEngineering; and
oEnvironmental Sciences;
•Trades and Profession Learning Programme,
which includes programmes in
oAutomotive Technology;
oCarpentry;
oCosmetology;
oCulinary Arts and Hospitality;
oElectrical;
oHorticulture; and
oTextiles and Design.
Madam President , a press release was sent
out on the first day of the school academic year , stating that this change has been built by Bermudians for
Bermuda through engagement with teachers, st udents, parents, and business and community leaders.
I take this opportunity to acknowledge and sincerely thank every educator, school leader, learning partner and team member who has contributed to the most
significant and essential cause of doing what is best
for our children's future.
Madam President, the learning that our S1
students are currently engaged in will create a ge neration of young people who are engaged, adaptive,
entrepreneurial, innovative, culturally connected and
empowered. These attributes will shape our young
people to be creators of future jobs, to be active cit izens and to tackle increasingly complex challenges.
Madam President, while I am very excited for
what has been achieved to date, this is just the begi nning. While our educators at the Berkeley Institute and
CedarBridge are delivering our first year of Signature
Learning Programmes, they are also beginning to work on developing what is required for the S2 and S3


Bermuda Senate levels. And we are not stopping at just what happens
in the Signature Learning Programmes. Teams of
teachers at both senior schools are also focusing on
redesigning the first two disciplines in the core curric ulum, Mathematics and Science, and on scaling a new
model of advisory which caters to the m ore criticalthan- ever area of social –emotional learning.
Madam President, while so far this Statement
has been focused on providing updates to the
achievements and work underway in our Signature Schools, it would be remiss of me if I did not quickly refer to the remainder of the school transformational
work underway right now . This includes the developmental work to prepare for a third Signature Senior
School offering Hospitality and Tourism; Education Services Signature Learning Programmes; and the
phas ed introduction of parish primary schools at the
Francis Patton and Purvis Primary School sites.
Madam President, in speaking with my co lleagues and the Minister of Education, he shared a
personal experience that he encountered while visiting many of the Community Socialisation Pop- Ups that
were held last week by our school transformation team. You would have heard [the Honourable Mini ster] talk about the 93- year-old Mr. Furbert whom he
spoke with at the Parish Primary School Pop- Up at
Crawl Hill Gas Station . He talked about the parent
whom he spoke with at the Senior Signature School
Pop-Up at the National Library last Friday who sent
her children overseas for school . He talked to the
young professional who spoke about her child at a public primary school when he stopped to visit them at
the Pop- Up at Lindo’s in Devonshire on Monday evening. And lastly, he talked about the mother who told
him about her older children's struggles in the public
system and the hope she saw for her younger children
at the Pop- Up which was at Nellie’s Walk on Wednesday. The thoughts expressed were all the same, that
this is the change our community has been asking for.
Madam President, before coming into power,
this Government made an earnest promise to Berm uda and her people t hat it was to “Reform public educ ation by phasing out middle schools and introducing signature schools at the secondary level . . . .” Our
public school system is moving in this direction. The legislation was passed last year to shift from a three-tier to a two- tier system. This year the phased intr oduction of Signature Learning Programmes for our S1
students was achieved. We will continue in a staged
way to transform the quality of public education so
that each and every young person—my daughter and
son included, Madam President —in Bermuda can
achieve great learning and life outcomes.
Madam President, this Government is serious
about transforming public school education because we value our young people. This is demonstrated not only by our commitments but also by our approach to
delivering on those commitments. Of course, we are focused on quality and fidelity, but given that much of this work is unprecedented in Bermuda, we need to
balance that with a new set of practices centred around collaboration, a l earning mind- set, and large
doses of determination and perseverance. This will ensure we can continue the work to reform our public school system .
Madam President, important work is to create
the necessary opportunities for our children to follow their passions and interests, build on their talents and
capabilities, and achieve their careers and further aspirations. We will continue to be relentless in our focus and efforts because the work is to impact future generations, and it is not just our children w ho depend on
the work, but also the success of Bermuda.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you Senator Darrell.
The third Statement is in the name of Senator
Arianna Hodgson, the Junior Minister for Health, and it
is [entitled] Next Steps for Universal Health Coverage.
Senator Hodgson, you have the floor.

UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE
NEXT STEPS FOR
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, last year the Government
of Bermuda took the first steps toward delivering on its
promise to implement universal health coverage
for all
residents. Our vision for health care seeks to ensure
that “ all people have equitable access to needed i nformative, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and pall iative essential health services of sufficient quality to
be effective, while also ensuring that people do not
suffer financial hardship when paying for these services and critical medicines .” Bermuda is very fort unate in that we have a health system that is well -
developed and well -supported by dedicated professionals. However, the overall lack of affordability and
sustainability of our health system is alarming for this
Government. Bermuda has one of the highest per
capita health expenditures globally, but our population
health outcomes do not reflect this.
Madam President, this journey of change is
complex, but our goals are very clear. We must
achieve better health outcomes, particularly of chronic
disease management. We must ensure the availability
of essential health services [which] residents can be confident that they can afford when they need them.
We must strive to be efficient and effective in the delivery of these services, and eli minate waste and duplication where it occurs in the health system. Just
how important is this journey of change?
Madam President, Dr. Dean Okereke of the
Bermuda Hospitals Board is the project lead on an
eye-opening study of superusers of the hospital’s
emergency department. Superusers are individuals,
often with complex care needs, who make a dispr o664 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate portionate use of health resources. Of the 778 emergency department visits in a year made by the top 50
most frequently attending superusers, there were 101 admissions resulting in 1,002 inpatient bed days.
While 10 per cent of attendances at emergency are for scheduled visits such as IV medications and blood transfusions, 60 per cent of patients present with the
same issues nearly every time, and chronic condi tions
are a recurring theme.
I know I need not remind the Senate that
emergency department treatment is one of the most
expensive ways to receive regular medical care. But if you are uninsured or underinsured, it can be viewed
as the viable option. A revamp of our health care sy stem is necessary to help these individuals access care
more appropriately, to ensure that we as a community make best use of our vital hospital resources, and to deliver better value care for all of us.
Madam President, Honourabl e Senators will
recall that last year the Ministry of Health brought t ogether a core group of stakeholders from across our health system to serve as the UHC [universal health coverage] Steering Committee. Supported by KPMG, the Steering Committee developed a high -level
roadmap for strengthening Bermuda’s health care and delivering on universal health coverage. The commit-tee took note of health care systems in other jurisdi ctions, and it is clear that there are many different sy stems used worldwide to achieve universal health co verage. However, it bears repeating that the approach
taken here on our Island must be Bermuda- centric.
Madam President, we know that the goal of
achieving universal health coverage will be accomplished in stages over several years. During this time, this Government will work with our many stakeholders to ensure our decisions and actions are based on and
framed by a patient -focused approach that puts p atient experiences and outcomes at the centre of the
work on universal health coverage.
Madam President, since delivery of the
roadmap, the UHC Steering Committee has restarted
its work and is expanded now to include the Chief
Medical Officer, representation from the Department of Information and Digital Technologies and new pa-tient representatives. In this foundational year, the Ministry is working with the Steering Committee on a number of priority projects, as follows:
• The National Digital Health Strategy . A project
working group is set up to deliver on a Throne Speech initiative to develop a national strat egy for digital health that leverages health i nformation systems and connectivity to capture improvements and efficiencies for patients, health care providers and health system payors. Digital health innovation is more than electroni c medical records. It has the potential
to be a key enabler in the transformation of Bermuda’s health care system . • Merging government insurance funds . Another project working group is driving forward the merging of government insurance funds, which is also a Throne Speech initiative. The
group is starting with the administrative merger of the government employee health insurance [GEHI] with the Health Insurance D epartment. Management Consulting Services is working with the different departments to d evelop a new organisational chart, and to identify and assess service efficiencies and gaps .
• Agree our starting points . The work of determining the baselines of our population’s health needs is just starting now. It is i mportant to know and agree our baselines to ensure our efforts are aligned with what the community really needs. With that estab-lished, the baselines provide a meaningful starting point for the metrics that will monitor and measure our performance in the future. It
is not enough to simply make changes; we
must know the improvements those changes bring and know also when we need to correct course. We are fortunate to have project management assistance for this from public registrars in training with the United Kingdom
Health and Safety Agency.
Madam President, I will pause here to bring to
the attention of Honourable Senators a survey currently being conducted by the Bermuda Health Council right now. The purpose of the survey is to understand the different views of people about health and illness. The survey is intended to support and enable improvements to the health care system. This is an-other step on our journey, and I would urge the public to go to bhec.bm
to express your interes t in participa ting so that we can continue to build our information
base.
• Integrated Care Pathways . Work on this
Throne Speech initiative is due to begin shor tly. Supported by KPMG, the intention is to
map selected patient care journeys to provide
a comprehensive view of the current state of
care for the specified conditions. The objective is to address the highest priority and highest care needs first, [then] deliver value
and be patient -centred with an integrated a pproach to the care delivered. The mapping exercise will bring out opportunities to improve
care and address “ pain points ”, both clinical
and organisational , along the whole pathway ,
and we welcome this .
• Develop Pan- system for Governance. There
are many stakeholders involved in Bermuda’s
health care system, and the [ transitional ] governance framework is organised to provide a
structure for contributions and information-sharing across the whole of the system. With
the UHC Steering Committee overseeing


Bermuda Senate overall progress toward universal health coverage, a number of additional stakeholder
working groups and forums will provide a cr ucial opportunity for joined- up and timely collaboration on projects, policies and plans.
Madam President , these stakeholder working
groups and forums are being formed now. They are
as follows:
• The Clinical Senate comprising a wide range
of the system’s practitioners and professionals, plus the statutory board chairs, will focus
on medical and health matters .
• Health Financing is a group for those involved in revenue raising, pooling of funds, purchase
and provision of health services, where the
chief focus is on strengthening health system
financing. We expect employer groups to be
well represented here .
• Health Insurers have been invited to form a
group to provide crucial technical input on risk
pooling, benefit design, service costs, med icine costs, usage, value, waste reduction,
et cetera, as these matters arise .
• The Health Advocacy forum will advocate for
patients’ health and well-being, with a focus
on health equity. We anticipate active partic ipation and engagement on the part of patient
groups, unions and third sector organisations .
• The Service Providers Forum will engage the
range of provider organi sations and practices
working within the health system, such as diagnost ic labs, health and hospital centres and
medical practices. The chief focus will be on
business operations and access to care. [The
Service Providers Forum] is distinct from the
Clinical Senate in that it is business -centric,
rather than treatment - or care- centric.
Madam President , we recognise there is overlap between these stakeholder working groups and
forums –and indeed overlap of representatives b etween the groups —and that is perfectly fine. The main
aim is to provide a structure that supports opportun ities for participation, information sharing and feedback and discourages silos. Invitations to participate in the
stakeholder working groups and forums are being i ssued now. I would appeal to the chairs of the numerous boards, councils and associations w ho have r eceived or will receive an invitation to select designates
from among your group to be a part of this transform ational programme.
It is vitally important for the work on universal
health coverage to include engagement of and colla boration with the wide range of stakeholders who form
part of Bermuda’s health system. We have a direction
of travel, but there are many questions to answer and
decisions to make that will need broader input than is represented solely by the UHC Steering Committee or
the M inistry of Health itself. We know the insight and
feedback of our health system partners will be inval u-able as we improve health care access, experiences
and outcomes for all who live here. We look forward to
all of the many contributions.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson, Junior Minister for Health.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS
The President: There are none.

FIRST READING OF PUBLIC BILLS

PAYROLL TAX AMENDMENT
AND VALIDATION (NO. 2) ACT 2022

STAMP DUTIES AMENDMEN T ACT 2022

CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT (NO. 3) ACT 2022

FUELS ACT 2022

GARAGES LICENSING ACT 2022

PARISH COUNCILS AMENDMENT ACT 2022

WEST END DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
AMENDMENT ACT 2022
The President: The following public Bills have been
received from the Honourable House of Assembly and
are now read for the first time. Their titles are, respectively, the Payroll Tax Amendment and Validation
(No. 2) Act 2022, Governor’s recommendation sign ified; the Stamp Duties Amendment Act 2022, also Governor’s recommendation signified; the Customs
Tariff Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022, Governor’s recommendation signified; the Fuels Act 2022; the Gar-ages Licensing Act 2022; the Parish Councils
Amendment Act 2022; and the West End Develo pment Corporation Amendment Act 2022.
Senators, these Bills will be taken up in our
Orders of the Day.

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

QUESTION PERIOD

The President: Senators , we will now entertain questions on the first Statement that was delivered by
Senat or Owen Darrell, and that is the Bermuda Housing Corporation Residential Unit Renovation Pr ogramme.
Would any Senator . . . Senator Ben Smith,
Opposition Leader, you have the floor.
666 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you and good morning, Ma dam President.

The President: Good morning.

QUESTION 1: BERMUDA HOUSING
CORPORATION RESIDENTIAL RENTAL UNIT
RENOVATION PROGRAMME

Sen. Ben Smith: And thank you to the Junior Minister
for presenting this Statement this morning.
My question comes from page 2 of the Stat ement. It is second paragraph where the Statement
reads, “ intervention by the Corporation when tenants
do not honour their commitment.” Can the Junior Mi nister give us an indication of what kind of intervention
occurs when a tenant is not able to pay their rent wit hin this system which is run by the Bermuda Housing
Corporation? Thank you.

The President: Thank you.
Would any other Senator care to raise a question on this Statement?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: BERMUDA HOUSING
CORPORATION RESIDE NTIAL RENTAL UNIT
RENOVATION PROGRAMME

Thank you, Madam
President.
I definitely applaud this initiative, and I would
actually like to contrast [it to] the initiative we heard
about last week, which was also referred to in the
Statement, with freezing the price at the pump. We
know that the price controls that the Government did
with those gas prices then had to be fixed with the
duty breaks, which ultimately were not going to benefit
consumers. So I contrast that to this Bill, w hich I think
is really important to provide low -cost housing, or affordable housing, and [has been] long needed.
A couple of questions that came to my mind. If
I read this right or heard it right, there are 60 units that
will be renovated that are current ly occupied. Now, I
would like to understand where the residents of those units will go during renovation.

QUESTION 2: BERMUDA HOUSING
CORPORATION RESIDENTIAL RENTAL UNIT
RENOVATION PROGRAMME

And then my last question would be with respect to building affordable housing. We know that the Government, this PLP Gover nment, has done that in the past with the Grand Atla ntic, for example, which did not result in affordable housing that was taken up by anybody. And I would
like to understand, What were the lessons learned so
that this important initiative could be successful this
time around? Thank you, Madam President.

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

QUESTION 1: BERMUDA HOUSING
CORPORATION RESIDENTIAL RENTAL UNIT
RENOVATION PROGRAMME

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
And, again, thank you to the Junior Minister for bring-ing the Statement.
I think that overall it is a great idea to provide
additional affordable housing. My questions are, I would like to know if the Junior Minister could expand
on what the Government would define as “affordable
housing.” As many projects have been completed, as
my Senate colleague just mentioned, some would ar-gue that the housing has not necessarily been affor dable. So that would be the first question, How would
they define what actually affordable housing is?

QUESTION 2: BERMUDA HOUSING
CORPORATION RE SIDENTIAL RENTAL UNIT
RENOVATION PROGRAMME

Sen. Robin Tucker: And also, my second question
would be, What would a renter expect to pay as part of the BHC [Bermuda Housing Corporation] scheme?
Because we got a breakdown of what the current
market would be for accommodations in various cat egories. So by contrast, it would be helpful to know an
estimate of sorts about what people would expect to
pay for rent in those categories under this affordable
housing scheme? Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robin Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?
Hearing none, then, Senator Darrell, it is over
to you when you are ready.
Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
The first question by Senator Sm ith. Basically,
the Statement talks about, this will be a secondary


Bermuda Senate programme which looks like the BHC will take over
private rentals. And then it says guaranteed rent. I
mean, one of the main issues, as I am sure you would
know, of why Bermudians, some Bermudians are r efusing to rent their private homes right now is because
they feel that they will not get rent paid on time and
the entire rent that they are due, which is actually
causing Bermudians not to get housing.
So this guaranteed rent and intervent ion, as I
understand it, is that the corporation will have guara ntees in place [such that] if tenants of those private
rentals do not pay, then the corporation, the Bermuda
Housing Corporation, will cover those rents so that the
renter, the owner, feels co mfortable in renting to Bermudians. That is the first one.
Senator De Couto’s question asked about,
while this renovation is taking place, where will the 60
people go? The Bermuda Housing Corporation will do
its level best to find accommodations for the i ndivid uals who are being displaced. As you do know, there
are . . . and I do not have a list right now, but there is
a list of properties and units that are about to come
online. So we will just be probably moving those from
one to another until we get the [unit] inventory back or
increased. There are many properties. I know Harm ony Hall, a couple of them down in the East End that, if
they are not fully renovated at this point, are close to being renovated. So we can move some of the clients
around as we ma ke housing better for Bermudians.
How long will this take? Right now I do not
[know], and the Statement did not speak to a definitive time. But we will make sure as a Government that we
get this right. And it will take as long as necessary to make sure that Bermudians have affordable housing.
But with that said, as you hear the cries of Bermudians every single day, housing is one of the number -
one factors of the cost of living and the dire straits that
a lot of people are in. So it will take enough time to get
it right, but as soon as possible.
What does the Government define as afford able?, from Senator Tucker. Affordable means different
things for different individuals. And everyone’s ci rcumstances is different. And this is one of the pro blems that many people in Bermuda are running into,
that we put definitions in place to define what affordable may be for one person, but that may not be the
case for another person. So right now I think we can all agree that if you have multiple families with chi ldren al l living in one dwelling because they cannot
afford to pay, then it is not affordable. So we look to
bring down the average cost of rent. Based on what
you see here, affordable would be less than what is currently the average. And if people can use that i ncome to save and afford other necessities to make
their life better, then I think that we are hitting the
marks with what affordable is. Like I said at the begi nning, affordable means different things for different
people. I have missed Senator De Couto’s question,
What will the BHC renter pay? What was . . .

The President: Senator De Couto, would you —

Sen. Owen Darrell: Oh, that was your final question?
Go ahead if you can repeat it.
The President: Was that Senator De Couto’s question?
Sen. Owen Darre ll: I am not sure whose it was. It
was the final question.
The President: It was Senator Tucker’s. Sorry.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
So the question was really on the back of the
first question about, How do we define affordable? So
I just wanted to know if the Junior Minister could pr ovide some context for the public so they can sort of
understand, based on the categories that were given. So a studio apartment starting around $1,100 and so
on. What would the Government’s affordable hou sing—what would the rents potentially be in these categories?

Sen. Owen Darrell: All right. So to give an example, if
someone is making $4,000 a month, the maximum
that they will pay based on the 35 per cent of their
household income would be $1,400. So I think that is
what you are looking for. Also, there are different
rental bands for the BHC. So that is why I said affordable means different things for different individuals,
based on what their income is.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you.
Senator De Couto, do you have a supplementary question?

Yes. It was with respect
to the building programme, to build affordable units for sale, if I said that correctly. And my question is, Given
that the Government has done these initiativ es in the
past and nobody has bought them at the prices that they were able to be sold for, what were the lessons learned that will make this version of the programme a
success, which I think we all want it to be?
668 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Thank you, Madam President.

The President : Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator Darrell.
Sen. Owen Darrell: I cannot speak to what will ha ppen. But I know what the Government is trying to achieve, Madam President. Thank you.
The President: Thank you.
Senator Smith, you have a second question?
Sen. Ben Smith: Madam President, I just want to
have a supplementary off of my first question.
The President: Fine.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. Ben Smith: And I thank the Junior Minister for
his response, because it was toward what I was thinking when I asked the question. There has been an
issue in the community where people are finding that
they are renting to Bermudians. And in some cases
when, because of the issues in the economy, some
people are unable to make the payment, which then
leads to the homeowner who is renting the apartment
to have to go through a really long, difficult process,
[and then] a lot of times [it] ends up in the courts. And
it has increased costs, and there are a bunch of i ssues, specifically to seniors who rely on the rent.
So when I saw here that there was this pos ition of intervention, I was curious about what that was going to look like. So here it says that this is an expansion of the private sector rental programme. So
my first question is —my supplementary question to
that is —

The President: Yes, your supplementary.

Sen. Ben Smith: Can the Junior Minister give us an
idea of how many rentals are actually in this pr ogramme presently as we are looking to expand it?
And if the Junior Minister can let us know, of those
that are rent ed, have we had issues where there
needed to be intervention? Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Senator Darrell.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
I am waiting to get those numbers now if I can
get them. May we just stand by for a few seconds,
please, while I get those answers?
The President: Certainly.
In the meantime, does any other Senator care
to ask a question?
Senator Smith, you have a third question? Sen. Ben Smith: This is my second question.
The President: Your second question.
Sen. Ben Smith: So Madam President —

The President: Supplementary.

Sen. Ben Smith: This is actually my second question.
The President: Oh, I thought you asked—

Sen. Ben Smith: No. I only asked one question.

The President: One questi on and one supplementary.

QUESTION 2: BERMUDA HOUSING
CORPORATION RESIDENTIAL RENTAL UNIT
RENOVATION PROGRAMME

Sen. Ben Smith: I only asked one question and one
supplementary, yes.
So this is based off of just looking at these
numbers. And I am going to base this off of some
conversation that we had last week and I am looking at the three- bedroom apartment line where it says
$3,200 to $5,000 per month. And we learned that
there are some rentals for one single person who are
getting a housing allowance for $4,500. The reason I
bring that up is because there are cases in Bermuda
where exorbitant amounts are being charged and paid, which is also what is creating this issue along all
of these numbers. You know, when you look at a st udio apartment that is $1,1 00, there are some studios
that are set up in a way that makes that —

The President: Your question is —

Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, with great r espect, the Senator has not got to a question.

The President: I was just going to say, Senator.
Sen. B en Smith: I was just going to say, within this
programme that we are looking at not only from the
rentals that were coming from the private sector, I am
just wondering if there will be an opportunity for the
Government to look at some of these rentals that are
happening in Bermuda at these lower -level numbers
that are not actually liveable. Because there are pe ople who are charging these prices, and we are having
an expectation. The Government is creating a pr ogramme right now to try to make sure that, I would
hope —

Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I still do not
hear a question from the Senator.


Ber muda Senate The President: Yes.
Sen. Owen Darrell: It sounds like a debate on housing to me, Madam President.
The President: Senator Smith, pl ease stat e your
question very succinctly.
Sen. Ben Smith: I am asking whether the Government will be looking to provide a standard for the
houses that are presently being rented out to Bermudians at these lower rates, which are not liveable.
Th
e President: Senator Darrell.
Sen
. Ow en Darrell: Thank you. I can answer that
question. The answer is absolut ely. The Bermuda
Housing Corporation, in conjunction with the Bermuda
Government, is definitely hearing the cries of . . . I
mean single mothers, fathers, the children and som etimes fa milies as well who are just not making the
types of income to live in, as we say, affordable hous-ing. And as a result, some of the landlords are taking advantage of that, knowing that we are in desperate times. And like Senator Smith says, it is unfortunat ely
forcing people to live in conditions that are inhumane. So, yes, the answer to your question is yes, the Gov-ernment is aware of that and is looking to make ser ious changes to that.
Now back to the question that Senator Smith
asked regarding, Do we have challenges from time to
time? The answer is yes. The Government and the
BHC do have challenges from time to time with rent-als. And we are looking to take even further appropr iate steps. I do not have exactly [the numbers on the challenges that] are right now. But there is a list of
things that are being taken with landlords to address
these challenges that we have, one of which may be
bringing their rental units up to suitable standards.
The other one, he asked for a number. Right
now the BHC has approved about approximately 650 rental units. And going back to the complaints part. If
people want to go outside of the BHC, complaints can
actually be taken to the Consumer Affairs, who actual-ly assist in looking at rental issues. And this was for-merly under the Rent Commission.
All right? So I hope that answers some of the
questions. And as Senator Smith did point out, this is
a very serious topic, and the Bermuda Government is
definitely looking to take steps to improve the housing situation for all Bermudians.
Th
e President: Thank you, Senator Darrell, and
thank you, Senators, for your questions.
We will move now on to the second Stat ement, and that is again Senator Darrell, on the Intr oduction of Signature Learning Programmes in Senior Schools.
Would any Senator care to ask questions on
this Statement? Senator Tucker.
QUESTION 1: INTRODUCTION OF SIGNATURE
LEARNI NG PROGRAMMES IN SENIOR SCHOOLS
Se
n. Robin Tucker: Yes. Thank you, Madam Pres ident. Again, thank you, Madam President. I think that
this is a wonderful initiative, and I certainly thank the
Junior Minister for bringing the Statement. And yes, to the Junior Minister, I did see the video of all of the hand claps and high- fives and all of the students coming in. And it was good to see.
I note from the Statement that CedarBridge
has trades and professional learning programmes. And one of the selections is culinary arts and hospi-tality, and culture. So what I would like to know first of
all is as it relates to hospitality. A related aspect, I guess of hor ticulture would be agronomy as well,
which is an area that I know in Bermuda is hard to fill.
So my question is, How many students are
actually enrolled in the culinary arts and hospitality programme? And if I may, I can go on to the second question as well.
Th
e President: Second question? Yes.
QUESTION 2: INTRODUCTION OF SIGNATURE
LEARNI NG PROGRAMMES IN SENIOR SCHOOLS
Se
n. Robin Tucker: Yes.
So the second question is, on page 4 of the
Statement, the second paragraph, in the last sen-tence, which points out “developmental work to pr epare for a third Signature Senior School offering Hos-pitality and Tourism . . . .” I would like to know if the Junior Minister can explain what the differences will
be between the hospitality programme currently offered at CedarBridge and the hospitality portion of the third Signature Senior School that would be also offer-ing a hospitality programme? Because it appears that there are two different options going on there.
Thank you, Madam President.
Th
e President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions?
Senator Darrell.
Sen
. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
As you can appreciate, a lot of these questions are very technical as far as exact numbers. So I am still awaiting the exact numbers on Senator Tuc ker’s first question on how many students are actually
enrolled in the hospitality programme right now. And
then once we get that, I can segue into a second question about the difference between hospitality that is happening now at CedarBridge and the potential third Signature School of hospitality. I just want to make sure I understood the question.
670 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate The President: Thank you.
And while you are waiting to get the answers,
would any other Senator care to ask questions on this
second Statement?
Senator Smith.
QUESTION 1: INTRODUCTION OF SIGNATURE
LEARNI NG PROGRAMMES IN SENIOR SCHOOLS
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
Just if the Junior Minister could give us . . . so
I think everybody was excited to see the new chan ges. And I also saw the video that was shared with me
by the Minister about the openings and the excitement
of those new students going into the programme.
Could the Junior Minister [share] if there has
there been any feedback, now that we are actually almost approaching the half -term mark, whether there
is any feedback from that first -year group since they
have been involved in this new method of learning, just so that it kind of adds to the continued excitement of the community of the direction that we are going?
The P resident: Thank you. That is your first question.
Sen. Ben Smith: Yes.
The President: Thank you.
Senator Darrell.
Se
n. Owen Darrell: While we are still waiting for the
technical answers for Senator Tucker’s questions, I can speak to that.
As most people in this Chamber will know, I
am a former educator. And a lot of my lifelong friends, professional friends, are still in the education world.
And they have reported to me that they are very excited. They see changes in the students who are coming in. Th ey are eager. A lot of time, people are always
eager to be the first of something. So they are very eager. I must give credit to the boards of both schools.
I know that there has been tremendous support from
the Chair of the Berkeley Institute, Mr. Craig B ridgewater; and the Chair of the CedarBridge Board, MP Jason Wade. They have provided the support, the resources for the new students who have come in [for] the kind of transition that the school is going through.
Now, I mean, you talk to some educators and
everything is not rosy. But I think that we are on a more positive track, and still the feeling of excitement as to the new learning that is taking place. Obviously, we also know that more numbers will come to light once the first grading periods have come due, which
we have not gotten to yet. But as for now, the atmosphere and enthusiasm of educators, students, parents and stakeholders in the community alike are still very, very positive.
Thank you for asking that. The President: Thank you.
Sen. Owen Darrell: The first question, Senator Tuc ker, they are still looking for the exact number of st udents who are currently in the hospitality segment now. But for your second one, the difference between culinary arts taking place now and the new signature,
the third signature will be more expansive. CedarBridge has been kind of holding culinary arts because
it is significant to the economy until the third signature school actually comes online. Culinary arts is just one portion of hospitality and tourism. This signature is
under development with business and industry par tners. So it will not be duplicated; it will be expanded and then moved to the third signature school.
The President: Senator Tucker, you have a suppl ementary to that response?
QUESTION 3: INTRODUCTION OF SIGNATURE
LEARNI NG PROGRAMMES IN SENIOR SCHOOLS
Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes. Thank you, Madam Pres ident, and thank you to the Junior Minister for provi ding that information.
I would like to know, I realise that the third
signature senior school is in the developmental stage. But can the Junior Minister give some idea as to what the target would be to actually have that signature school online? Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you. That is the third question.
Sen. Owen Darrell: I do appreciate your question,
Senator Tucker. And I know that everybody wants to know how long. Everybody wants this done tomorrow.
But one thing that this Government has been told by
the professionals, as well as our local professionals, our educators, is that it is more important to make sure that we get this right. There have been some an-nouncements that have been made over the last co uple of years about different changes in education. And sometimes when we make those announcements, people panic right away and they think it is going to happen tomorrow, whether it be, in their eyes, positive or negative.
So I do not have an exact timeline for the third
signature right now. But I do tell you that everything that we are doing is going according to plan to move our education system in a better direction than where it has been previously.
Just to follow on, and I do not know if I can do
this, Madam President, but I will do so. Further examples of Senator Smith’s questions . . . young people
right now, as I told you, are excited to be in school.
They feel like the learning that they are doing is act ually more connected to their life as to what is going on now, as well as what is going on in the future. And it

B ermuda Senate feels more authentic, more authentic learning and
more m eaningful to them.
Senator Tucker, the third signature school is
due to open in September for S1 students, September
of 2023. This will be both for hospitality, tourism and education services for S1 students.
The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Senator Bell, did you have a question that you
wanted to ask?
QUESTION 1: INTRODUCTION OF SIGNATURE
LEARNI NG PROGRAMMES IN SENIOR SCHOOLS
Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
Yes, I did have a question. And apologies if I have missed something.
But I wondered if the Senator could speak to
the industry recognised certifications which may come
out of these Signature Learning Programmes or their
pathway to them so that I can understand how that assists these students as they transition to working life. Thank you.
The President: Thank you. Thank you, Senator Bell.
And I think, Senator Smith, you had a follow -
up question?
Sen. Ben Smith: Just quickly, I wanted to ask a question based off of the response that the Junior Mini ster—
The President: Supplementary question?
SUPPLEMENTARIES
Sen. Ben Smith: Supplementary, yes.
By stating that it is going to be available in
September of 2023, can the Junior Minister give us any indication of the facility that has been chosen to be that school? Because obviously it would have to be
prepared between now and September 2023. So if he
could give us the answer to that.
Based off of the trades and profession, I know
in the community we have heard for several years about the need of a technical school. My question t o
the Junior Minister is, After seeing what this signature
is and what is being given in the trades and profession, can he let us know whether the community should feel that this is covering what they have been asking for from a technical school perspective? Thank you.
The President: Thank you, Senator Smith.
Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you.
To the Vice President’s question, all sign atures have been developed with industry and academ-ic credentials in mind. We have been working with partners and higher education institutions to ensure
that all articulation agreements are being put in place.
I think the answer to your question is yes.
The site for the third signature, Senator Smith,
is still under consideration.
The President: Senator Darrell.
Sen. Owen Dar rell: Oh, the final question. Should the
community feel that their concerns regarding technical studies and technical schools, or should they feel comfortable that a student in these signatures will get that sort of technical education that they have been
asking for?
I think the answer would be yes. But obviously
the proof is always in the pudding.
The President: Thank you. That exhausts all questions.
Sen. Owen Darrell: However.
[
Laughter]
The President: Senator Darrell.
Sen. Owen Darrell: Regarding the trade schools, it is
important to point out to Senator Smith and others
listening that the trade school, this version is a con-temporary and more modern version of a trade
school. Trades are not what they used to be, as an ybody would tell you. You know, my father is a tradesman, and I have listened to his stories from 40 years ago, and they are not what they are now. Mechanics often need as many professional and technical skills as they do hands -on skills. And this is true for all
trades. They have been professionalised; hence we
may be moving in a different direction of what (and I will call his name) the old -school tradesmen like Oliver
Darrell tend to recognise and feel comfortable with.
So it is kind of a two- part question. And you
ask those tradesmen like Oliver Darrell to be patient and understanding that trades education is moving in a different direction, but you can rest assured that your water pump will still be able to be fixed.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator D arrell, and
thank you, all Senators who have asked questions. It has been a very interesting presentation.
We will now move on to the third Statement.
This is Next Steps for Universal Health Coverage that was presented by Senator Arianna Hodgson, Junior
Minister for Health.
Would any Senator care to ask questions on
this Statement?
Senator Tucker, you have the floor.
672 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate QUESTION 1: NEXT STEPS FOR UNIVERSAL
HEALTH COVERAGE
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
And of course, thank you to the Junior Minister for
bringing this Statement.
I think that we all have commonality of thinking as it relates to the health care issue in Bermuda. My question really comes from page 3, the second paragraph, which, Madam President, if you do not mind if I can read it?
The President: Yes, you may.
Sen. Robin Tucker: And basically it says, “I know I
need not remind this Senate that emergency depar tment treatment is one of the most expensive ways to receive regular medical care. ” And I think that this is absolutel y true. And the fact is that many people do
not understand how this impacts [our healthcare sy stem]. So rather than go to their primary care physician if they are insured, then they will go to the hospital, which obviously plays a big part in driving our c osts
up.
The President: And your question is?
Sen. Robin Tucker: So my question is, What is the
Ministry going to do to help educate people of the fact that using ER services in that way, or “superusers”, as
I think the term was, is playing a significant part in also driving up health care costs?
And, Madam President, just to be clear, I am
speaking not only of people who are uninsured, people who are underinsured, but also people who are insured who do similar. So rather than go to their pr imary care physician, they will go to the hospital for various reasons.
I think that education would be important. So I
would just like to know what the Ministry will do to as-sist with educating the public about that.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.
QUESTION 1: NEXT STEPS FOR UNIVERSAL
HEALTH COVERAGE
Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
In listening to the Junior Minister’s speech on
the universal health coverage, one of the things that came to mind for me was that the project manage-ment for universal health care going forward will be critical to the success of this project. And in another forum, I have been party to a few meetings where KPMG was the driving force in the project manage-ment up to this point in time. I heard, although I have
not had this confirmed to me, that going forward, there
will be less of a role for KPMG and more of a role for the government project management department. So my question to the Junior Minister is, Could she pr ovide some education for the Senators and for the li stening audience on what role for project management
will be played by the government internal team versus
the outsourc ed work that will be provided by KPMG?
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.
We will wait for Senator Hodgson to get a r esponse.
Unless there is any other Senator who wants
to ask a question?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.
QUESTION 1: NEXT STEPS FOR UNIVERSAL
HEALTH COVERAGE

Thank you, Madam
President.
I think we can all agree this is a vital and urgent problem for the Island, and in fact it is a similar problem around the world. I was reading about it with
respect to the United States in the New York Times
yesterday. So we definitely need this to be successful
for everybody here in Bermuda.
I feel like we have been hearing about this
work for many years now. My impression from the Statement was that we are still in the beginnings of
much meaningful consultation. So I would just like to confirm that there is still a lot of meaningful consult ation to be done. And then given that this is being pr oject management, I would expect to have a quite organised timeline.
So my second question would be, How long until you
think Bermudians will see the benefits? Thank you,

Thank you, Senator De Couto. You
had two questions.
We will wait on Senator Arianna Hodgson t o
set a response.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I am still
awaiting the details from the support team. However, I hear one question from Senator De Couto as opposed to two, so I just wanted some clarity.
[
Crosstalk]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: The question that I heard
was, How long before Bermudians would see the benefits of the work? Oh, and is there a timeline? I will take that back.


Bermuda Senate The President: Each of these Senators has asked
one question of Senator Hodgson.

[Pause]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, in the
interest of time, can I have some time to gather the answers and provide a response before the end of
today’s session?

The President: Certainly. So you are not able to a nswer any one of the questions at this time?

Sen. Arianna Hodg son: Sorry. No.

The President: Fine.
Then, Senators, then we will —
Senator Darrell?

Sen. Owen Darrell: If I may, I just want to put it in the
public domain for Senator Tucker. The first question
she asked was actually, How many students are act ually cu rrently enrolled in the hospitality programme,
signature? And currently, [with] S1 students, there are
eight enrolled in that programme.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: And Senator Hodgson, are you i ntending to provide an answer at the end of the session? How much time do you want to address the
questions from the three Senators?

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, I can actually provide the answers to the questions posed by
the other Senators.
Through universal health coverage, the Go vernment actually seeks to provide people with the
coverage they need so that they do not go to emergency. A large part of this is transformation, and this
will require education. While we are doing our part to
share this information, we will be scaling up the efforts
at sharing this information in a manner that is more, I
guess, palatable for the public. It is a concern, and I think it will also be addressed as we move through the
health care reform process so that persons are more
aware of their inputs and th e results in our health care
system.

The President: So there is a response to Senator
Tucker’s question.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Regarding KPMG, as we all
know, they are still involved. And they have been r ecently contracted for phase two work. I can share that
the Ministry is actually in the process of setting up
their programme management office. So we will be needing to hire a programme director, which will also
require a budget that we are currently working on.
The President: Senator Wight, did you hav e a follow -
up question, or second?

QUESTION 2: NEXT STEPS FOR UNIVERSAL
HEALTH COVERAGE
Sen. John Wight: I do, yes. Thank you, Madam President.
So having heard that answer, which was very
helpful, Junior Minister, does that mean that KPMG
will no longer be commissioned to work with the go vernment on project management going forward?

The President: That was your second question.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Well, I did confirm that they
would be assisting us through phase two. So I cannot
speak to the followin g phases at this time. But they
have been contracted through this phase that we are
entering.
The President: Senator Wight.
Sen. John Wight: Can I just confirm that this does
include project management work as well?

[Pause]
The President: While we are waiting for Senator
Hodgson to get a response to the question that [Sen ator] John Wight has indicated, I see that Senator
Tucker would like to ask a second question.

Sen. Robin Tucker: A supplementary question.

The President: Or a supplementary question?

Sen. Robin Tucker: Yes, yes.
The President: You can state your supplementary
question.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I would just like to get some clarity around the
reason that it would be deemed necessary to wait. We
have funds set aside for health promotion and educ ation out of sugar tax monies. And as well as, we have
an urgent need to stop people from being superusers
at the hospital. So I am just wondering why we would wait on getting that information out there no w when
clearly there is a need to do so now rather than wait
for universal health coverage programme to roll out.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
[Pause]
674 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, to speak
to Senator W ight’s question, at this time we do antic ipate a continued engagement of KPMG, but we ca nnot say how and doing exactly what at this time.
And I am still endeavouring to get the answers
for Senator Tucker’s question.

[Pause]

The President: And also, Sen ator De Couto’s question.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: To Senator De Couto’s
question, we all know that this is a multi -year endeavour. There will be, I guess, milestones along the way.
We will look at three years. We will look at five years.
And if he revisits the roadmap that was produced —
earlier this year and last year it was shared —he would
have a better understanding of those goals that we
are looking at to move through.
And again, I am just waiting for confirmation.

The President: Senator De Couto, you ha ve a—

Based on the Junior
Minister’s response, should we understand that things are progress ing, still progressing and on track accor ding to the timeline published last year?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you.

[Pause]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President.
The President: Yes, Senator Hodgson.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: The short answer to Senator
De Couto’s question is yes. We are progressing as
outlined in our 2022– 2027 Health Strategy. Regarding
the work that needs to be done to share the message, regarding superusers and all of those bits, I can say
that we are working on a communications plan for
phase two. And that is one of the central components
of that phase, ensuring that the public has that information. And I was actually pleasantly surprised when I
learned about this programme, I think a month or so
ago. And I was li ke, Well, wait. Why doesn’t the public
know? You know, there is a lot of great work being
done within our hospitals, within our health care sy s-tem. And I think we can all do a better job of sharing all of those good things that are happening.

The Presiden t: Thank you.
Senator Tucker, third question?

SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. Robin Tucker: No. Just a second supplementary.
I would just like to know what the timeline for
phase two rollout would be.
Thank you, Madam President.

[Pause]
The President: Senator Hodgson, are you waiting for
an answer to the final question of the rollout?

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes, Madam President.

[Pause]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I just wanted to confirm that the phase two
work will exist in budget year 2021/22, but it will likely
spill over into the next fiscal year. Thank you.
The President: Thank you. Have you answered all of
the questions?
Now then, we will move on with our agenda.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

The President: The first Order of the Day is the second reading of the Payroll Tax Amendment and Val idation (No. 2) Act 2022, Governor’s recommendation
signified. And this is in the name of Senator Arianna Hodgson, Junior Minister for Finance.
Senator Hodgson, when you are ready, you
can present your Bill for the second reading.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the provisions of Standing Order
25 be granted so that the Senate may now proceed
with the second reading of the following three Bills:
• Payroll Tax Amendment and Validation
(No. 2) Act 2022;
• Stamp Duties Amendment Act 2022; and
• Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022.

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



Bermuda Senate [Motion carried: Leave granted for the Payroll Tax
Amendm ent and Validation (No. 2) Act 2022 , the
Stamp Duties Amendment Act 2022 and the Customs
Tariff Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022 to be read a second time on the same day as their first reading.]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President , I move that the Bill entitled
the Payroll Tax Amendment and Validation (No. 2) Act
2022 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
There is no objection.
Carry on, Senator Hodgson.

BILL

SECOND READING

PAYROLL T AX AMENDMENT
AND VALIDATION (NO. 2) ACT 2022

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I am pleased to present
this Honourable [Senate] with the Bill entitled the Payroll Tax Amendment and Validation (No. 2) Act 2022 .
This Bill includes both substantive and consequential
amendments which are aimed at clarifying and updating our tax laws. Madam President, this Bill will amend
the Payroll Tax Act 1995 and the Miscellaneous Taxes Act 1976 to clarify that certain gratuitous payments
received by employees are not subject to payroll tax.
This change is intended to eliminate uncertainty in the
hospitality industry in relation to customer gratuit ies,
or tips as we so often say.
Madam President, it is quite normal for customers receiving personal services or hospitality -
related services to leave tips for their service provider, whether the gratuity is paid separately in cash or i ncluded as a line item on the customer’s bill. In Berm uda it has become common practice to include a suggested gratuity amount on a customer’s bill. The suggested amount is based on a standard percentage
and may be increased or even decreased by the customer.
Madam President, while this practice is co nvenient for the customer, it is also quite beneficial to
employees. Customer tips provide a much- needed
boost to the salary or wages of many employees
working in the hospitality industry, which can be signi ficantly impacted by the seasonal nature of the bus iness. The customer gratuities can help to offset any reduction of income during the times when there is a
slowdown in business. As this part of an employee’s
income is provided by the customer, it is not consi dered part of t he employer’s payroll for tax purposes
and should not be treated as such. Madam President, while this is generally the
approach taken by employers for most customer gr atuities, some employers in the hospitality sector have
treated automatic gratuities as subject to payroll tax,
while others have correctly excluded them. The differ-ent treatment is very likely due to a lack of clarity in
the law that will distinguish gratuities initiated from and
paid by the employer from those paid by the customer. The res ult is an uneven application of the payroll
tax law where some employees are erroneously pa ying tax on customer tips while others are not.
This proposed change to the legislation will
make it clear specifically to employers in the hospital ity industry that customer gratuities are not subject to
payroll tax.
Madam President, there are some who think
that we are giving too many concessions or too many exemptions from taxes. However, this Government is
committed to providing relief and assistance to the
people of this country who need it most. Madam President, the relief provided by this Bill is not an introduction of new tax relief. However, it is codification of the
existing policy approach that has been administered
by the Office of the Tax Commissioner for decades
and will help workers who can certainly benefit from
such action. It should also be noted that currently that
office receives a number of calls from employees seeking clarification about the tax treatment of customers gratuities generated from thei r services. Ha ndling these calls and processing refunds for erroneous
payments of tax uses critical resources within the O ffice of the Tax Commissioner that would be better allocated to other necessary tasks. It is vital to both the community and the gover nment to ensure that tax
laws are applied evenly and that no undue tax burden is placed on persons working in this sector.
Madam President, the Government has been
consistently working to make sure that those who are most vulnerable or who are the lowest i ncome earners
receive the help they need to continue to subsist in a
time and place where the cost of everything has substantially increased. This Government has also
pledged to give more support to Bermudian entrepr eneurs. In cases where we have viable op portunities to
eliminate unnecessary financial burdens that dispr oportionately impact local business owners and self -
employed persons, we will do so. Accordingly, Madam
President, this Bill will exclude from tax the value of
the employer contributions to c ontributory pensions,
health insurance or approved schemes in respect of
self-employed persons and deemed employees.
These amounts are already excluded from tax in r espect of standard employees. But there is no excl usion for payments made in relation to self -employed
persons and deemed employees.
Madam President, this amendment would
broaden the application of the law and bring equity to
the treatment of employees, self -employed persons
and deemed employees within the payroll tax regime.
676 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate This Government wa nts to encourage self -employed
persons and deemed employees to develop schemes
and benefit plans that provide similar benefits as
those typically afforded to employees. We believe that
this Bill will be an enabler for greater incentives to be realised by b oth local business owners and self -
employed persons.
Finally, Madam President, today’s Bill will validate the prior policy determinations and treatment of
customer gratuities as excluded from remuneration for
payroll tax purposes. This Bill will also valid ate any
orders made by the tax commissioner on behalf of the
Minister of Finance to approve, vary or revoke approval of contributory pensions, health insurance and
other approved schemes. Last year changes were made to the Payroll Tax Act 1995 authorising the Mi nister of Finance to delegate authority to make these types of orders to the tax commissioner. The aim of
this delegated power is to reduce bottlenecks and i mprove efficiency in the approval process. That delegation order has now been published. This validation will
cover any such orders made by the tax commissioner
since April 1, 2021.
Madam President, in closing I would like to
thank the technical officers within the Office of the Tax Commissioner for their work on this Bill and for their
continued work on behalf of the government, providing
tax administration services to the people of this country. I would also like to thank the staff in the Ministry of
Finance and the Attorney General’s Chambers for
assisting in the efforts to bring forth this Bill .
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Thank you, Madam
President.
I think this Bill is welcome. I understand when
people have to fill out these payroll tax returns that it
can be quite a lot of head- scratching and quite a lot of
discussion as to the treatment of various items. And I
am glad to see this clarification.
I wish the Government could have gone further. [Pleas e] let me speak about that. I know that in
some operations the employees may not see all of the tips and gratuities that the customer thinks that they
are paying. It can be quite unclear as to exactly where
that money is going. We often see establishments
[where tips are] included twice on the bill and then on the credit card slip. And I know in some jurisdictions
there are in fact regulations or laws or policies that will
stipulate exactly how these tips, gratuities, service
charges as provided by customer s must be treated
and must be distributed to the employees. And I think
if we had something like that, this would provide an
even further protection to the service workers, whet h-er they be in the front or the back of house in the hospitality industries or wherever they may be.
And then I do have a relatively detailed question, which is, I was unsure why certain sections were
left to be gazetted by the Minister to come into effect as opposed to immediately on approval of the Bill.
And if the Junior Minister could comment on that, I
would be appreciative.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Senator John Wight, you had a question or
comment? Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I am in favour of this Bill. I thi nk it provides
clarification and consistency from employer to employer, so that is a good thing. The only question I
have is, Has Government quantified what the decrease in payroll tax is likely to be by the application of
these rules? There was indication that many emplo yers are currently including it in payroll tax. So just finding out what the quantification is, the decrease in taxes going forward, would be helpful.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator John Wight.
Senator Ben Smith.
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
Just following on from what Senator De Couto
was saying, I guess the question that I would like to
ask is, even within the Statement, I think it is important
that we are trying to protect a group who in hospitality
a lot of times do not make a lot of money from their regular pay. So the gratuities is where it is coming
from. So if that gratuity number, let us call it 15 per
cent or 17 per cent, is being divided up within different
segments of the establis hment, we are giving this pa yroll tax break in essence to the group that we are tr ying to target. But if we do not know exactly who is taking that 17 per cent, potentially what we are also doing is giving a break to a group that maybe should not
be receivi ng the gratuity in the first place.
So if the Junior Minister can give us some
clarity on whether that has been looked at or is that something that will be looked at in the future?
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Ben Smith.
[Pause]

The Pr esident: I cannot hear you. Can you —

[Pause]



Bermuda Senate The President: We are waiting for Senator Hodgson
to get a response for these questions that have been
asked on the Bill.

[Pause]
The President: Senator Hodgson, do you need more
time?
[No audible respons e]
The President: Senator Hodgson.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, what I
can say is that we have had a lot of conversation
about the need for clarity, the need for support and
protection for persons particularly within the hospitality
industry.
There was a question about why it was left to
come into effect. And I just wanted clarity whether or not this was about the changes for self -employed persons and deemed [ employees ]?

The President: Question for Senator De Couto.

Thank you, Madam
President.
It was sections 2(b) and 3(d), so I think they
are related to the health insurance and social insurance payments is my understanding. But I want to
understand why there may be a delay there. It may be
a technicality, but I just would appreciate understanding it. Thank you.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Regarding the changes for
self-employed persons and deemed [ employees],
these changes are definitely needed, of course, to
bring equity to the standing of self -employed persons
and deemed employees in line with that of regular
[employees ]. The delayed operation of this change will
actually give the Office of the Tax Commissioner the
time required to update their forms and filing systems to enable the proper treatment, of course, of the con-tribution amounts.
It would also enable a clean start for the beginning of a new tax period for the Office of the Tax Commissioner. And this will eliminate any unnecessary administrative burdens for the staff. And it will
also allow the department to foc us on the preparations
required to implement this new policy.

Thank you. That was
enlightening.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Regarding the general questions also asked by Senator Smith and Senator
De Couto, the answer is that we will continue, again,
to protect the workers. So we have had the convers a-tion, and I am sure the efforts are ongoing to best pr otect our workers within the hospitality field.

The President: Senators, you have received the r esponse from the Junior Minister. If there are no other
queries, then we will move on.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill entitled the Payroll Tax
Amendment and Validation (No. 2) Act 2022 be now
read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
There is no objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

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

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

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill entitled the Payroll Tax
Amendment and Validation (No. 2) Act 2022 be now
read a third time.

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

BILL

THIRD READING

PAYROLL TAX AMENDMENT
AND VALIDATION (NO. 2) ACT 2022

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

The President: It has been moved that the Bill do
now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill has passed.
[Motion carried: The Payroll Tax Amendment and Validation (No. 2) Act 2022 was read a third time and
passed.]

678 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson. And t hank you, Senators.
Senator Hodgson, you will now move on to
your second Bill, which is the Stamp Duties Amendment Act 2022.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Stamp Duties Amendment Act 2022 be now read
a second time.

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

BILL

SECOND READING

STAMP DUTIES AMENDMENT ACT 2022
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I am pleased to present the
Bill entitled the Stamp Duties Amendment Act 2022
.
This Bill makes changes to the Stamp Duties Act 1976
in relation to the exemption from stamp duties for
qualifying first -time homeowners and qualifying mor tgage refinance transactions. So, first -time homeow ners and qualifying mortgage refinance transactions.
Madam President, this Government has declared its commitment to encouraging homeownership in Bermuda and to lo wering interest costs, particularly
in relation to mortgage financing. This Bill is another
positive step being taken to fulfil the promises made in
that regard. Specifically, this Bill will eliminate the
three- year requirement to live in or complete const ruction of a subject property for any first -time homeowner
to obtain the exemption; establish a pre- qualification
procedure for determining eligibility for the exemption;
and clarify the application of stamp duty exemption to
mortgage refinancing transacti ons.
Madam President, we are all aware of the ri sing cost of living in Bermuda and other places around the world. Over the years it has become increasingly
difficult for first -time homeowners to contend with the
rising cost to purchase a home, particularly since they
do not have the option to use the proceeds from the
sale of an existing home to offset purchasing costs.
Banks are also providing lower ratios of mor tgage financing as related to the value of the home
being purchased. Therefore, down payment requir ements have also increased, compounding the effects
of higher sales prices.
Madam President, for a first -time homeowner,
the combination of these things can be a significant barrier to buying a home in Bermuda. This is especially true for working famil ies who are already feeling the
pressure of rising prices for household items and ev e-ryday living expenses. Madam President, the Stamp Duties Act 1976 currently provides an exemption from
stamp duty for qualified first -time homeowners in rel ation to purchases of $750,000 or less. However, the exemption is conditioned on the first -time homeowner
residing in the property for three years or completing
construction of a residential property within three
years of the purchase date, in cases of land. As a r esult, first-time homeowners must pay the estimated
stamp duty, which is held in escrow until the Office of
the Tax Commissioner confirms that the exemption
applies. Following that confirmation, the first -time
homeowner is able to receive a refund of the stamp
duty amount paid at the time of the transaction.
Madam President, while the current process
has been in place for some time now, it creates an
undue financial burden for the first -time homeowner.
We must also recognise that many Bermudian hom eowners either cannot afford to live in their own homes
or choose to rent their properties out and take advantage of rental income opportunities. In the case of new construction, there are any number of things that
may occur that are outside the control of the property
owner, but which may cause substantial delays in
completion of the residence, like supply chain disruptions or financial challenges.
Madam President, the current requirements
related to occupancy and construction are simply u nhelpful to a first -time homeown er trying to navigate the
property market in Bermuda. These restrictions create
[financial], and in some cases operational pressures
that do not serve the best interests of first -time hom eowners, the Government or the public as a whole.
Madam President, we have seen time and
time again the positive financial impact that investing in real property can create. For many families, hom eownership is a useful tool for creating intergeneratio nal wealth. In today’s economic climate, however, it has
become more and m ore difficult for first -time hom eowners and working families to buy properties. While
we are not in a position to alleviate all of the challenges and potential barriers to homeownership for first -
time buyers, we can provide some help by updating
the legisl ative framework.
Madam President, this Bill will eliminate both
of the three- year post -conveyance requirement for
residency and construction. Instead, a prequalification process will be implemented during which
eligibility for the first -time homeowner exemption will
be determined by the Office of the Tax Commissioner
in advance of the conveyance. Going a step further,
this Bill will provide assurance to first -time homeow ners, financiers and other parties to the transaction that
successful pre- qualification for the exemption will
eliminate the need for first -time homeowners to pr epay the stamp duty. First -time homeowners will undoubtedly benefit from this change.
In addition, Madam President, this Bill will
clarify the law to reflect an express exemption fro m


Bermuda Senate stamp duty in respect of mortgage refinance transactions of $750,000 or less. This change is in line with
the exemption for any transfer or assignment of a
mortgage up to the same amount.
Madam President, mortgage refinances are
sought for various reason s, including better interest
rates, better payment terms or to extract equity from a
property where the outstanding principle of the loan is
substantially less than the fair market value of the
property. From a practical perspective, a refinance
transactio n may be completed with the same or a di fferent lender from that which issued the prior mor tgage. As such, there may be no actual transfer of assignment of the mortgage being refinanced.
Madam President, when the current stamp
duty exemption for transfer or assignment for qualif ying mortgages was inserted in the law in 2012, the
intention was that eligible mortgages issued to r efinance a prior mortgage would be covered by the ex-emption. However, in the last 10 years there have
been few, if any, exemptions r equested for refinance
transactions. This may be the result of how the exemption is interpreted by industry professionals and
borrowers. The lack of a specific reference to ref inanc ing may not have effectively conveyed the intent
to include qualifying refi nance transactions as eligible
for exemption.
Accordingly, Madam President, this Bill will
clarify the exemption to refer to any transfer, assignment or refinance of a mortgage of $750,000 or less.
This change will remove any actual or perceived
doubt about application of the exemption to qualifying
refinance transactions.
Madam President, in this Bill we are clarifying
the existing relief while also making it more accessible
and more useful for the people of this country who
need it. This should certainly be beneficial to those
persons who are able to take advantage of the opportunities that can result from this change.
Madam President, this Government has consistently worked to provide relief from undue financial
and administrative burdens for Bermudians. We are
delivering on our promises and doing the hard work
necessary to improve our laws so that they work better for all Bermudians. We have already reduced pa yroll taxes for people earning less than $96,000 a year,
reduced vehicle licensing fees by 10 per cent, provi ded land tax relief for charities and registered care
homes, limited increases in fuel prices and introduced
a multi -layered economic relief package to help su pport Bermudians. And today, Madam President, we are debating multiple Bills to prov ide additional support for Bermudian homeowners, employees, entr epreneurs and businesses.
Madam President, I am proud of the work that
we have done as a Government to help the people of this country in these uncertain economic times. I want
to thank the technical officers within the Office of the
Tax Commissioner for their work on this Bill and for the future work that will be done to implement these
changes. I would also like to thank the staff of the Mi nistry of Finance and the Attorney General’s Chambers
for their effort to bring forth this important piece of legislation. Thank you, Madam President.

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

Thank you, Madam
President.
In general, we do support and welcome this
Bill. We fully support anything that will encourage
homeownership, which is noted as one road to buil ding wealth, especially intergenerational wealth, and
providing housing sec urity. So, I am very glad to see
this and to note that it does seem to fix what in effect
was a mistake in the 2009 legislation that caused it to
not have the intended effect.
My questions are—I probably have three or
four. So my first question would be, How quickly can
we expect the precertification process to be arrived at
and communicated in a way that all of the relevant
people in the professional industries that would be
involved can understand, interpret and correctly ad-vise people so that they can plan and actually use this change?
What would the requirements be? I think that
is going to be important for people to understand.
Since the original legislation, a lot has
changed in Bermuda in the market, [for example] infl ation. And the original legislat ion, I believe, refers to a
$750,000 threshold. I would venture to this Senate,
Madam President, that we might consider a larger
number as a more practical number for people who
are trying to get into their first -time housing situation.
Then I do have anot her concern, which is I
know that the Government, the tax commissioner and all of the related entities who are involved in real estate transactions are working very hard, but generally
seem to be quite backlogged. So transactions are taking a long time due to the various procedures and policies. So will the tax commissioner and the relevant
bodies be effectively resourced to review these appl ications and get these pre- certifications? Or will this in
practice be something that people will just probably not b e able to take advantage of because it will not be
practical?
But other than that, I mean, I hope we can get
this going. I hope people are able to take advantage
of it on a practical matter. So we would be in support.
Thank you, Madam President.

The Presi dent: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.
680 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I am in support of this Bill. I guess the only
question I would have is the logic in repealing the r equirement for the first -time homeowner to now not
have to actually reside in the property. I would say it is
more typical for it to be a requirement to be an owner -
occupied property for tax relief. So I guess my only
question is, you know, why was that change deemed
necessary?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.

[Pause]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Sorry. For clarity, Senator
Wight, were you asking why we decided . . .
Sen. John Wight: Yes. I can understand the logic,
and it is great to provide relief to Bermudians who are
owning and occupying their own homes. I guess just my own personal view, there is less of a need to pr ovide relief to Bermudians who are looking at this as a business venture to rent thei r properties out. So just
understanding the logic in changing the rules to pr ovide relief to not just owner -occupied but those who
choose to purchase the property and rent it out to third parties.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Sen ator Wight.

[Pause]
The President: Can you expect a response shortly, or
do you want to move on?
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, the si mplest answer would be that the Government is trying
to encourage home ownership regardless of what that
looks like. And so, by I guess extending or expanding
the benefit, we are hoping that more persons would
be able to benefit. That is the short answer, of course.
I do not believe that there were any other
questions at this time.

The President: Senator De Cout o.

Thank you, Madam
President.
I do not think my questions were answered,
my questions regarding timelines and resourcing to
enable this to become effective for the Bermudian
public.
[Pause]
The President: Senator Hodgson, are you able to
obtain that answer now, or do you want more time and
you can get it at the end of the session?

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: I think it would be a wise use
of time to move forward. And I will endeavour to get
the response to Senator De Couto’s ques tion before
the session is out, yes.

The President: Fine. Thank you.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Sorry, Madam President.
Again, the short answer is that yes, we do
have the resources.

The President: Senators, Senator Hodgson has endeavoured to get the response to the questions that
you had asked, Senator De Couto.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: His question was answered.
Yes, we do have the necessary resources —

The President: You have the necessary resources.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: All is in order to move forward.
So, Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled the Stamp Duties Amendment Act 2022 be now
read a second time.

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

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

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

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

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill entitled the Stamp Duties
Amendment Act 2022 be now read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.

BILL

THIRD READING



Bermuda Senate STAMP DUTIES AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Ma dam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Stamp Duties Amendment Act 2022 do now
pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill has passed.

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

The President: Thank you, Senator Hodgson.
And now you will move on to your third Bill,
which is the Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill entitled the Customs Tariff
Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022 be now read a second
time.

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

BILL

SECOND READING

CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT (NO. 3) ACT 2022

Sen. A rianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, Senators are requested
now to give consideration to the Bill entitled the Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022 .
Madam President, the Bill proposes to amend
the Customs Tariff Act 1970 with measures that
1. create specific national tariff codes for
certain essential commodities and assign a rate of duty of zero per cent;
2. make consequential amendments to t he
tariff codes as a result of the creation of new national tariff codes;
3. amend the duration of duty relief available to the Bermuda Hospitals Board; and
4. insert duty relief to the local commercial
manufacturing of bread and baked goods.
The various measur es of the Bill affect both
the First Schedule and the Fifth Schedule to the pri ncipal Act.
Madam President , in June of 2022 the Cost of
Living Commission Amendment Act 2020 was brought
into force. It is the recommendation of the Cost of Li v-ing Commission f or an essential basket of 33 co mmodities to be implemented and further recommenda-tion for duty rates on the essential commodities that
were not already at zero per cent to be amended to
zero per cent.
Madam President, the Cost of Living Commission further recommended the implementation of a
new duty relief for local bakers and home bakers to
include commodities deemed essential for local bakers of bread. This was required as such businesses
were not included in the definition of specified bus inesses under t he Cost of Living Commission Act
1974.
Madam President, the major features of the
Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022 are
adaptions to extend the essential commodities list of
2018 that eliminated duty on eggs; potatoes; caul iflower; broccoli; carrots; turnips; oranges; apples; c ereals; and products of the milling industry which would
include flowers, starches, malt, inulin, and wheat gl uten. These changes were part of the first budget of
this new PLP Government as a move to reduce pri cing pressures on essential and healthy goods to assist
hard- working Bermudians with the cost of living.
The recommended commodities to be
changed to a zero duty rate are: ground beef; chicken
(fresh, chilled or frozen); turkey (fresh, chilled or frozen); butter; green b eans; fresh bananas; pepper;
cooking oil; tuna (canned and dry packed); pasta; bread (fresh or chilled); jam; peanut butter; tomato
ketchup and other tomato sauce; bath soap bars;
laundry detergent; dish detergent; napkins and napkin
liners for babies; sanitary towels, pads , and tampons.
Madam President, we live in unprecedented
times. We have lived through a once- in-a-century
pandemic. Now we are facing global inflation not seen
in a generation due to the coronavirus pandemic,
supply chain issues and the w ar in Ukraine. The cost
of food is increasing throughout the world. In the Uni ted Kingdom, soaring prices of essential items such as milk, eggs and cheese pushed their inflation rate as
high as 10.1 per cent in July. In May, Canada saw
food prices rise by 9.7 per cent with items such as
chicken increasing from $12.58 in April 2021 to
$15.32 in April of 2022, and ground beef rising from
$9.19 in April 2021 to $10.82 in April 2022.
The United States, which all in this Honour able House will be aware of is where we import the m ajority of our food items from, has seen year -on-year
increases as high as 39.0 per cent for essential items
such as eggs. And even in Japan, which has one of
the lowest inflation rates of the world's major economies at 2.8 per cent, cons umers are still feeling the
effects of rising prices, with food prices in that country
increasing by 10.0 per cent.
These unprecedented times and the challenges that we are facing require steady leadership and decisive, thoughtful action. This Government i s
determined to do all that it can to provide relief for the
682 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate hard- working families of this country as prices conti nue to rise. Madam President, in the 2022/23 Budget
Statement the Honourable Premier and Minister of
Finance promised relief now and more reli ef to come.
And in that Statement to the House of Assembly, [the
Premier] announced a number of relief measures to
support Bermudian families and businesses, such as
a 10 per cent reduction in private vehicle licensing
fees, reduced taxes for workers, tax relief for charities
and care homes, and no across -the-board increase in
government fees, halting a standard practise to i ncrease all government fees by 5 per cent every other
year. And equally important, this Government pledged
that 50 per cent of any bud get surplus will be returned
to the taxpayer so that the success of the Government
is a shared success with taxpayers.
Since that Statement in February, we have
continued to keep our promise of relief now and more
relief to come by freezing fuel prices at February levels, saving families $23 at the pump and taxi and mi nibus operators [an average of] $35 each time they go
to the pump. We have provided $150 to support parents of public school students with essential supplies,
and next week the application for the payroll tax r ebate of $250 for persons making under $60,000 and
$100 for persons making under $96,000 will go live
and put more money back into taxpayers’ pockets.
Madam President, eliminating duty on [21]
more essential items is a further step that t he Government is taking to provide relief to the people of this
country as we do all that we can to assist our citizens
with rising global inflation. The delivery of this i mportant initiative is thanks to the work of the Cost of
Living Commission under the diligent leadership of the
Honourable Deputy Speaker, MP Derrick Burgess.
The Cost of Living Commission was tasked by the
Government with developing a basket of essential
goods and recommendations on how the cost of those
goods can be reduced.
Madam Presi dent, thanks to the hard work
and dedication of the Cost of Living Commission and
the cooperation of local grocers, the Honourable
Premier, Minister of Finance, was pleased to say that
three major grocery chains on Island have confirmed
an agreement to reduce items in the full basket of essential goods by 10 per cent. This includes those
goods where duty was previously eliminated in July
2018 and the 21 items covered in the Customs Tariff
Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022. They are also ready to
compete against on e another to offer the best price on
essential goods. Madam President, the Honourable Premier and Minister of Finance knows that there are many concerned about seeing a reduction in food
prices in our local stores. However, the Honourable
Premier and Minis ter of Finance has said that in meetings that were held with grocers and wholesalers, as
well as members of the Cost of Living Commission, he
is fully confident that they will continue to work collectively to ensure that Bermudians will see savings on esse ntial goods. Madam President, it is important to
note that in addition to the 21 essential goods in this Bill, which include ground beef, chicken, turkey, butter, processed cheese slices, cheddar cheese, green
beans, fresh bananas, pepper, cooking oil, tun a, pasta, bread, jam, peanut butter, bath and soap bars,
laundry detergent, dish detergent, diapers for babies,
and sanitary towels and tampons. Reductions will also
be made t o essential goods that are already at zero
per cent duty, such as eggs, milk, canned milk, flour,
rice, carrots, oranges, hot cereals and salt.
Madam President, the Honourable Premier
and Minister of Finance has reiterated that he believes
it is an important point for the people of Bermuda to
understand that reductions of at least 10 per cent will
also be made on the items where duty was previously zero per cent due to the agreement reached between the Cost of Living Commission and local grocers to
ensure that Bermudians have lower prices for essential items. And to confirm that these r eductions are
being passed on to consumers, the Cost of Living
Commission will require prices of essential goods to be electronically reported, and that information will be
able to be accessed by the public.
Madam President, this elimination of duty on
more essential goods is a win for consumers and a
win for hard- working families and taxpayers of this
country. It also shows that the Government is using
the full talent of its team to deliver on the promises
made to the people of Bermuda to provide more rel ief
in these unprecedented times.
Madam President, there are some who will
argue that this relief is too broad. The Honourable Premier, Minister of Finance, does not agree. An ything that this Government can do to reduce the pres-sure of global inflation on working families in Bermuda
should be welcomed. The Government made the d ecision to extend the duty cut to all importers so that
relief can be as wide as possible, from the largest grocers to the vendor selling laundry detergent on the
side of the street.
An amendment to the Bill was offered by the
Honourable Premier and Minister of Finance that will allow the Cost of Living Commission to get not only
electronic pricing information from local grocery stores, but also from wholesalers of food and other
esse ntial goods. This amendment has been shared
with the Clerk and Members of the Opposition.
Finally, Madam President, in the Gover nment’s discussions with grocers and wholesalers,
there was extensive discussion regarding the sugar tax in Bermuda. Honourable Members should be
aware that the Ministry of Finance is currently carrying
out a review of the sugar tax to reduce the number of
items to which the sugar tax is currently being applied.
Some of the changes will be able to be done admini stratively. Others m ay require that we come back to
this Honourable House to make further amendments to the Customs Tariff [Act]. This is work that is being


Bermuda Senate led by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, and we will
look to complete this review quickly so that items that
have a small amount of added sugar are not subject
to the sugar tax. The grocers and wholesalers have
assured us that any changes will be reflected in pri cing going forward.
Madam President, returning to the principle of
the Bill, the changes are not confined to creating new
specific provisions for the essential basket of 33
commodities recommended for duty reduction. The
amendments also include clarification of text to ensure the application of the nomenclature to assist the i mporter. For example, ground beef wil l have a specific
national code, and sliced cheese will also have a spe-cific national code. Madam President, all of the Cus-toms Tariff Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022 related
changes to the First Schedule of the principal Act are
to reduce the commodities deemed essential commodities to a zero duty rate, as well as to insert appl icable tariff codes related to the relief to be granted to
local bakers and home bakers of bread.
Madam President, in order to assist with the
recommendation of the Cost of Living Commis sion,
the Bill proposes to introduce in the Fifth Schedule to
the principal Act the new end- use Customs Procedure
Code [CPC] 4241, providing 100 per cent duty relief
for goods imported and used wholly and exclusively in the local manufacture of bread and baked goods by
an approved business. Under this new end- use relief,
the Minister will have enhanced authority and flexibility
to approve appropriate businesses and goods for i mport duty relief. This new relief requires the Minister to
publish policy guideli nes on the approval of the scope
and quantity of goods for any particular approved
business. The policy guidelines will be published on
the government portal.
Madam President, I now progress to the pr oposed amendment to an existing relief that was intr oduced by the Customs Tariff Amendment Act 2022 for
the benefit of the Bermuda Hospitals Board.
The Customs Procedure Code, or CPC 4240,
was introduced and came into effect on the 1
st of April
2022. The purpose of that relief was to offer assi stance to the Bermuda Hospitals Board, in offsetting
additional operating expenses on hospital consumable
operating supplies. Madam President, today I am also happy to update this Honourable House on another
form of relief that the Government is providing to the people of Bermuda. On the 15
th of July the Honour able Premier and Minister of Finance announced that
the government workers would be providing a payroll
tax rebate to 75 per cent of Bermuda’s workers. Persons making under $60,000 will be eligible for a tax
rebate of $250, and persons making less than
$96,000 will be eligible for a payroll tax rebate of
$100. Madam President, the application for the payroll
tax rebates will go live before the end of next week
with the deadline for application set for December 15
of this year. Payments will be processed within 10 working days of receipt of a completed application.
Further information on the process will be published
on www.gov.bm in the coming days.
As the Honourable Premier and Minist er of
Finance has mentioned previously, as Government financial performance continues to improve and as we
consider the impact of this improved performance on
the total budget, the Government will continue to
share its success with the people of Bermuda. A nd we
will even look to expand the rebates we are giving to taxpayers to assist with the cost of living.
Madam President, these are unprecedented
times for Bermuda. But just as we rose to meet the
challenges of a once- in-a-century pandemic, together
this c ountry will rise to meet the challenges of global
inflation not seen in 40 years. Bermudians can be assured that this Government will also meet these chal-lenges and is committed to easing the burden of rising
prices due to global inflation.
We will outline further relief measures in the
coming weeks and will return more funds to working
families who need it most. This Government will keep
our promise and ensure that our improved financial
results are shared with the hard- working taxpayers of
this country as our economy continues to rebound and
grow. Thank you, Madam President.

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

Thank you, Madam
President.
That was quite a wide- ranging brief. And I
hope, Madam President, you will permit me the lat itude to address the many numerous topics which
were covered by the Junior Minister’s brief with r espect to this legislation. But I am sure you will let me
know if you disagree.
The first thing I can say is I am so pleased,
incredibly pleased, to finally see this Government admit that we are seeing global inflation not seen in a generation, 40 years. The OBA has spent months, the
whole year, banging the drum on this because we
have been out and speaking with people. We have
been seeing the impact. We have been listening to it.
The bugs have been in our ears —
Sen. Owen Darrell: Point of information, Madam
President.

So it is nice to finally
see the PLP Government agree with the OBA instead of trying to explain to the Bermudian public why the
price increases that they have felt everywhere are not
actually happening. So I thank you for that. I am in
agreement with you on that.
But I would [ask], Is this Government doing all
that it can? And the answer to that is no, not at all.
You know, we heard about the gas price freezes in
this brief. And last week we realised that they had to fix the gas price freezes by giving a duty break that
would only be felt by the companies that sell the gas.
So the consumer would not see the effect of the that
duty break. It was actually fixing a prior problem. The
Government is trying to help people; I will salute that.
It is trying to help people with price caps. Generally, we have s een that this does not work. And that whole
issue with the gas, the fuel duties, is an explanation of that.
Now, these duty breaks are okay. We will take
them. The impact will be small for many items. Now, I
am not going to call out the name, but on Berne ws
there was an interview last night with a local retailer
who in fact will lay it all out with much better explan ation than I can about the subtleties of how the local
consumer will feel the impact of this. And the short
answer is, for some things they mi ght see something
right away. For some things they might not see impact
for three months or longer. I mean, let me [give] you
the example of cheddar cheese, or rat cheese, some
might say. Because even people like me from Paget
enjoy a little rat cheese. I believe the tax on that is
5 per cent. Now, that is the first cost. But you would
understand there is the shipping cost, there is the wharfage cost, there is a fuel surcharge cost, there is
the margin. And I believe ––but what I heard on this
interview, som e items like that we might only see a
2 per cent benefit to the consumer.
Some items have a 25 per cent duty that is
being taken away. Now, those items the consumers
will see the benefit when the retailer finally gets them in the door. So this is a step i n the right direction. I
also note, though, and I think while we are giving
credit, we must give credit to the retailers who have
agreed to reduce the prices of the whole basket of key items by 10 per cent, many of which have nothing to
do with the duty br eak. So if we are to give credit, let
us give the credit to the retailers. But I have to ask,
and you know, I will give credit to Government for
working with them to negotiate that. But my understanding is that this is not by legislation; that is by their grace, shall we say. So I would be curious to know
how long we should expect that to last. And what do
the grocers get in return, short of a good feeling? We have heard about the sugar tax. I do not
know why this is so complicated. Just get rid of it! Jus t
do it. I do not know why we are not reviewing duties,
the whole system of duties and how it affects retailers.
For example, could retailers not have to pay duty on everything that comes through the docks? That would
provide them a cost savings that could be directly
passed to their customers, [just] for example.
For people who want more information about
this, there was also a nice article today in the Royal
Gazette that outlined the BIU’s [Bermuda Industrial
Union] position on this. And I think it would be fair to
say I may not always be aligned in sort of political ph ilosophy or details of policy with the BIU, but I can tell you that the OBA is as equally committed to better
outcomes for Bermudians as the BIU is with respect to
cost of living. And they give quite a lengthy list of items. And the major thing that will prevent the Go vernment from taking up some of those ideas is, frankly, the Government’s inability to have enough money
to properly manage its finances to fund these things,
to take care of p eople who need it. So I would urge
this Government to get their financial house in order
so it could properly provide the relief that people want.
I am going to go back to this comment, Is the
Government doing all that we can? To which you know my answer is no. We have to admit and we
have to own the fact that costs for many of these
items that are affecting people [from] day to day are
strictly out of our control —global fuel prices, international food prices. And I would like to make sure that
the people listening really understand that. And I would like the Government to admit that and then
make plans accordingly.
So here are some ideas that I would like to
offer to the Government to consider above and beyond a general review of the tax structure, since we
were talking about quite a few tax structures in this
brief. We talk about the cost of food. We have heard about this vertical farming thing. But I have spent
some time speaking with local farmers, and their general view is this is not at all going to affect the cost of
food. Because the schemes the Government is trying
to come up with have not been well -consulted and are
not likely to work. But perhaps the Government could
take on a moon- shot-type project in collaboration with
the local agricultural ind ustry in a way that works for
Bermuda, where we can source our own foods, esp ecially for those who are most impacted by the food
prices.
And again, we heard reference on the fuel
prices in the [brief], Madam President. So again the cost of energy. We shoul d be striving to achieve a
reduction in our energy dependence, both because of
the supply chain and the costs, and because of how it
causes us to send foreign currency overseas. Why
does the Government not have an aggressive pr ogramme of making it easier f or people to deploy low -
cost solar systems on their houses that renters could


Bermuda Senate put in? My understanding is the local solar industry
has tried to work with Government on these issues.
So I will not get into more details on those.
But I raise them because the y are examples of pretty
obvious areas where the Government could be wor king to create real change for Bermudians rather than,
frankly, taking credit for things that other people like
the retailers are doing. So, you know, with that said, I
definitely supp ort this Bill. But it is barely half a step
on a long journey that I would like to see this Gover nment take for the betterment of Bermudians.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
I wanted to ask the Junior Minister, first recognising that this is obviously very important and welcome to the population of Bermuda, who are facing
inflation. My understanding of these changes is that
these are intended to address what is a current crisis.
I wonder if this would be also an opportune moment to
indicate that the zero per cent duty on feminine h ygiene [products] (and I acknowledge the conflict of
interest that I have) is perm anent. It would be great, I
think, for 50 per cent of the population to know that
this cost that they all face, disproportionate to the ot her 50 per cent, has been now acknowledged and will
be recognised permanently.

The President: Thank you, Senator Kier nan Bell.
Senator Lindsay Simmons.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
So the question raised by my Senate co lleague on the other side, Is this Government doing
enough? And we have barely made half a step, he
said. Madam President, I want to applaud the Premier
and the PLP Government for taking the initiative to cut costs for Bermudians. Obviously, we could always do
more. But this takes time. And the Government is
about the people of Bermuda. They are doing what they can to make sure that money goes back into the
pockets of Bermudians, that money is saved in their
pockets. So I want to applaud us again for taking the
time to realise that the cost of food, the cost of fuel are
a global problem, not just a Bermuda problem —a
global problem. But they are willing to take the time to
realise that we need to find ways to help cut costs so
Bermudians are able to keep money in their pockets.
So again I thank the Government. I wish that
the Senators or the Senator on the other side will rea lise that these steps taken by this Government are
steps that should be applauded and not necessarily —
it is always negative. Like sometimes we need to come together and realise that we are working to help
Bermudians, not just our own selfish agendas here,
that the P LP is doing what they can to help Bermudians.
So again thank you to the Premier and this
Government for looking out for the interests of Bermudians and putting Bermudians first, as always.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Li ndsay Si mmons, for your comments.
Senator Ben Smith, Opposition Leader [in the
Senate], you have the floor.

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I just want to start with, I
believe as part of the brief that the Junior Minister
started this debate with, she said that there would be
a 50 per cent rebate on the budget surplus. So can we
get clarification that there is actually a budget surplus?
Just because, though that was the term that was used
as opposed to the fact that we have a deficit that we have not fully —we are not going to have as big of a
deficit, and we are actually spending a portion of a
deficit as opposed to a surplus, which I believe ever ybody in Bermuda would be really excited to know that
this was the position we are in if that is what the Junior Minister meant when she said that in the [brief].
So, Madam President, the Senator who just
finished speaking, Senator Simmons, was saying
about the Opposition being negative on this. It is not
about being negative. We jus t need to point out that
when you spend the time to pat yourself on the back
for certain things, you have to be fully engaged to
what it is that has happened that has led to this point.
Yes, there is a global issue, but some of the issues
that are being rectified are self -inflicted. Because we
are having to lower the duty rate on certain items, but
the Junior Minister during the brief said that most of the items that are purchased for Bermuda come from
the US. And the increase in the tax to purchase US
currency would have meant that the price of every
item that we brought in went up.
So when you talk about Bermuda being expensive, understand that this is something that was
implemented that made everything in Bermuda more
expensive that comes in from the Unit ed States. So
when you are now reducing certain items, remember
that baked into that is the extra cost that comes from
the US currency purchase tax.
I would also like to touch on this sugar tax i ssue, which I believe a lot of people would know was debated in great detail when it was brought forward. I
myself, when in another place, discussed the fact that
you have to be careful when you implement this kind
of tax that it does not just become another sin tax, the
way that we deal with nicotine and with alcohol. The reason that I brought this up is because there were
very specific goals that were put in place for the sugar
686 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate tax, which were that we have a high amount of diab etes in the country, we have a large amount of obesity
in the country. And what we were t rying to do was
tackle it by making items that were sugary more ex-pensive. But at the time we were also discussing mak-ing items that are healthier less expensive. There was
also supposed to be an education programme that
was going to come from the funds that were created
by this sugar tax.
Well, Madam President, since that has been
implemented, the data that we would all have been looking for to (1) see what impact it has had on our
country during the period that it has been in place, [it]
does not exist. A nd further to that (2) in most cases,
we realise that you are just putting that sugar tax fund into the bigger pot, and it is used for all of the things
that happen in Bermuda. And that is why we are not
seeing the education policy we were looking for and
the targeted healthy changes.
The reason I bring that up is because when
you implemented the sugar tax, did we know exactly
how the retailers were going to deal with that sugar
tax? In some cases, when you put up something by
75 per cent, did the retailers then take that tax and
spread it out amongst multiple items so that the number was not so drastic in change? Because once
again, if that is the case, what we have done is made other items more expensive. And that is the reason
that my colleague has said one of the ways that we
could reduce the cost in Bermuda for food items today
would be to get rid of the sugar tax, considering it did
not . . . or up until this point we have not seen the d etails to show that it has done what it was supposed to
do. But fur ther to that, it has maybe unintendedly
caused more items to be more expensive.
So, because in the brief the Junior Minister
touched on multiple items and talked about multiple things, not just what we are seeing in front of us, could
she talk about what t hat impact would be from a cost
[standpoint] to what people are purchasing if you r educed the increase to the US currency and if you got
rid of the sugar tax? Because I believe that there are
people in Bermuda who will, yes, be very happy that there are some items that are going to cost less. But
when it comes down to it, people in Bermuda are suffering. When they go to the grocery store, they are making decisions based off of the fact that the money
in their pocket is not going as far as it used to go. And
we are seeing that in everything that we are discus sing here today.
Before I end, I just want to second the position
that was put forward by Senator Bell to see whether
those feminine products moved to zero tax could be a
permanent position. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Ben Smith.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
No? We will wait to get a response.
Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I would just
like to take a few moments to speak in support of this
Bill that was brought forth by my Senate colleague.

The President: Senator Darrell, you can carry on.

[Laughter]

Sen. Owen Darrell: Oh. Sorry.
The President: That is all right.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to just take a few minutes to
speak to thi s Bill that was brought forth by my Senate
colleague, Senator Hodgson, and at the same time
push back on some of the (and I will use this word) ridiculousness that came from one of the OBA Senators, who seems to take great pride in coming to this
place, Ma dam President, and—I do not know, just —
The President: Senator Darrell, speak to the Bill,
please.

Sen. Owen Darrell: —and put all sorts of fallacies in
front of us.
But I would like to point out that this Gover nment, this PLP Government, before COVID -19 as well
as after COVID -19, has gone to great steps to conti nue to assist people of this country in working through
unprecedented economic times. I know that there
were people whom I talk to every day who are very happy that the Government has at least put some
money in their pocket where they can get some fresh
uniforms for their students. I can tell you the work of
some of my PLP colleagues who sit on these different
commissions that look at ways that we can continue to improve some of the infrastructure around this country, while at the same time keeping money in people’s
pockets so that they can, as Senator Smith says, go
to the grocery store and make choices that are in their
best interest, maybe health- wise or for their family —
then the money that is i n their pockets.
So, Madam President, I just want to take this
moment to applaud Senator Hodgson for bringing this
to this place and to point out that the Progressive L abour Party, for the better [part] of the five years that
we have been in term here, ha ve done many things to
assist the people of this country.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Senator Hodgson, do you have a response to
any of the concerns that have been raised? If not, you
can move . . .
Minister Pe ets, you were indicating you want
to speak, you have the floor.



Bermuda Senate Sen. the Hon. Dr. Ernest Peets: Yes. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Senate, Madam President.
Given the time of the day —

The President: Yes.

—and the length of
our Orders for today, I just wonder if I can make the
motion for lunch.

The President: Certainly.
There is a motion for lunch, Senators.
Therefore, I must ask the question of Senator
Hodgson on whether or not she wants to pass this Bill
before we go to lu nch if there is no further discussion.
There are specific questions that have not been specifically . . . there have been comments. And I do not
know if you have questions that you want to answer, or you want to pass the Bill at this stage.

Sen. Arianna H odgson: Yes. Well, one of the clearer
questions was whether or not the duty on feminine
hygiene products will be permanent. And the short
answer is that it will extend until there is a time where
we indicate that it will no longer be extended.
Other quest ions about sugar taxes or perhaps
the comments , as I stated in the brief, we are looking
at the sugar tax, and we are looking at what we can
do to be more efficient in that space.
So, Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled the Customs Tariff Amend ment (No. 3) Act 2022
be now read a second time.

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

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

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

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

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Bill entitled the Customs Tariff
Amendment (No. 3) Ac t 2022 be now read a third
time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.
BILL

THIRD READING

CUSTOMS TARIFF AMENDMENT (NO. 3) ACT 2022

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

The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Customs Tariff Amendment (No. 3) Act 2022 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
There is no objection.
The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Customs Tariff Amendment
(No. 3) Act 2022 was read a third time and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Senators.
We will now break for lunch, and we will return
at 2:15.

Proceedings suspended at 12:39 pm

Proceedings resumed at 2:03 pm

[Sen. the Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright, President, pr esiding]

The President: Good afternoon, Senators. The Senate is back in session. I trust you all had a good lunch.
We are continuing with our orders of the day,
and the fourth order of the day is the second reading
of the Fuels Act 2022. And that is in the name of Lindsay K. Simmons, Junior Minister for Home Affairs.
Senator Simmons, it is over to you. You have
the floor.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I move that provisions of
Standing Order 25 be granted so that the session may
proceed with the second reading of the Bill entitled
Fuels Act 2022.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Simmons.

[Motion carried. Leave granted for the Fuels Act 2022
to be read a second time on the same day as its first
reading.]

688 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, I move
that the Bill entitled Fuels Act 2022 be now read a
second time.

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

BILL

SECOND READING

FUELS ACT 2022

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I rise to introduce for the
second reading the Bill entitled Fuels Act 2022 to provide the supervision, monitoring, and regulation of the
fuel sector by the Regulatory Authority, the RA. This
Bill is a landmark in the local fuel s industry as it will be
the first time that all matters regarding the businesses of fu els will be regulated under one piece of legisl ation. This Bill is the framework that defines the powers
of the Regulatory and the Minister. The purposes and
principles which will define the regulations are found
in clause 42 of the Act.
Madam President, this Bill enshrines in legislation the goals and principles outlined in the [Natio nal] F uels Policy 2018 under the section s “Enable a
least-cost f uels sector, ” “Ensure a secure supply of
fuels, ” “Promote efficient procurement of fuels, ” “Maintain a safety regime for the fuel sector to protect public
health and the environment, ” “Promote low -carbon
alternatives, energy efficiency , and fuel conservation
for transport and stationary uses of fuels. ”
Madam President, I would like to emphasi se
that this Bill is the culmination of all the work and consultation that resulted in the development of the policy
that was published in 2018. The consultation began in February 2017 with one- on-one meetings and pr ogressed to an all -day policy development consultation
works hop event in April 2017. The participants inclu ded representatives from the Regulatory Authority, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources,
Department of Planning, Ministry of Public Works,
Department of Marine and Port, Transport Control
Depart ment, Ministry of Finance, HM Customs, Emergency Measures Organi sations, Bermuda Fire and
Rescue Service, RUBiS Corporate and Retail, Sol
Corporate and Retail, Collingwood Holdings, Ascen dant Group, Chamber of Commerce, Bermuda Hotel
Associations, Bermuda Environment and Energy Sustainable Group, Green Rock, Atlantic Energy, Syner-gis.
Finally, the Bill was distributed to the fuel sectors in late August 2022. The Minister held another
meeting on September 2, 2022, inviting all relevant
industry stakeholders . The Department of Energy sent notes out which included responses to all concerns
raised on the 8
th of April 2022.
Madam President, you will agree that given
the policy was published in 2018, this fuel legislation
is long overdue. In fact, Madam President, as noted previously, work on the F uels Policy was initiated in
2015 under the former OBA Administration and a first
draft was produced in 2017 prior to the election of the PLP Government. The final draft of the policy was
published in 2018 by this Gover nment.
Madam President, the operations of the fuel
legislation will be included in the RA’s work plan and
budget in the next fiscal year 2022/ 2023. This Bill will
not become operational until the RA is ready to pr oceed with its functions within the Act.
Madam President, the benefit of introducing
this Bill includes :
a. transparency and pricing;
b. codification in the sector market ;
c. effective management of critical infr astructure including effective maintenance of storage tanks and distribution systems ;
and
d. effective monitoring of enforcement .
This legislation will ensure that customers will
get some level of comfort that prices are what they
should be and new fuels which are on the near hor izon can be integrated safely and seamlessly to Bermuda’s energy mix when they are commercially vi able.
If we fail to plan for future causes by . . .
caused by climate change, supply chain issues, global
market forces , and evolving technologies , we surely
will struggle when these events are upon us.
Madam President, this new B ill is purpose -
driven, q uite analogous to the Electricity [Act] 2016,
and embraces some basic intentions outlined in
clause 4 of the Bill : ensuring reliable supplies, ensuring operational and environmental safety, and ensuring economic efficiency , ensuring regulations to the
fuel sector, securing of services, ensuring responsible
pricing to customers, and providing opportunities for
competition.
These should all be familiar echoes of effe ctive legislation in place for other regulatory industry sectors. Whi le this is not to say that the fuel industry
has been acting contrary to these purposes, now this
legislation will provide the assurance that these purposes are enshrined in industry’s very ability to oper-ate, ensuring all Acts in this sector are responsiv e to
the needs of our people, our environment, and our economy.
Madam President, it should be noted that a
number of government entities are responsible for oversight of different components of the fuel sector. In respect to pricing, the Ministry of Financ e is currently
the market regulator and has responsibilities for pri cing. Matters of environmental protection and certain permissions are under the Ministry of Home Affairs ,


Bermuda Senate specifically the Department of Planning and Environmental and Natural Resources . Matters of occupational safety and health are under the Ministry of
Health, and Infrastructure [is under] the Chief Fire O fficer. There is a lack of central coordination that ties
all of these areas together. This Bill makes the RA the
nexus with the ultimat e responsibility for oversight of
these areas. Under this new legislation, the market
regulation and the fuel sector will be moved under the
auspices of the RA which was always designed and
intended as a multisector regulator.
Madam President, [Senators] will likely be
mainly concerned with pricing, and rightfully so, as the
price of fuels drives up the cost of nearly every other
good and service, including electricity. Dating back to
1974 , and in response to the 1973 oil crisis, the fiscal
regulation of f uels has rested with the Ministry of F inance. In the interim 48 years since then, the fuels
industry has seen a great deal of change, and shifting
the work of pricing to the RA will moderni se the pr ocess, align an organi sation that speciali ses in market
regulations to do what is best.
Madam President, as with other sectors, the
RA regulates the Fuel s Bill’s prescribed principles u nder which the RA must operate, and the rules of en-gagement are clearly laid out. The very specifics of
changing margin approved of conducted will be determined by the RA and in consultative and iterative
progress through the general determination proc edures just as it will be with sectors it regulates at pr esent.
Madam President, this Bill provides principles
of the pricing method ology, which the RA is bound [to]
by law. These principles are familiar and exercised in
the other sectors, adapted specifically for the fuel s
sector. Broadly, the principles of pricing include pri cing must be based on actual, justifiable cost to the
licensees on the use and useful assets and an agreed
rate of return. The methodology must be transparent. Pricing must allow the licensee to always remain
whole for the prudent ly incurred expenses , a necessary part of any good regulatory covenant. And pricing
must protect the interests of the consumer.
Madam President, the most important el ement s of the market regulation of the fuel s industry
are transparency and fairness. One of the hallmarks
of good governance for which the RA has become
renowned is its trans parency with which it operates.
Every decision the RA renders can be found on its
website and is required to be published by law , as are
the necessary submissions from the regulated ent ities.
The published information includes the legi slative authority on which decisions are made and details the rational e and deliberations of the RA. This
should be welcomed news for not only the customer but also the regulated entities because they will have
confidence in the rigor of the process and the reasons
the RA has for any decision it makes. Another assur-ance for both customers and industry is that no dec isions can be unduly delayed. This should be a regul atory certainty that will translate to into investor conf idence which is beneficial for everyone.
Madam President, while there are enviro nmental and safety regulations in place under other
legislations , which will remain , the added layer of vigilance this Bill provides is ensuring that the ability to
carry out business in the fuel sectors will be inextric ably tied t o compliance in other areas. To put it clearly,
the buck will stop at the RA. Repeat offenders in this space of environmental protection or operational saf ety and health may find their ability to continue doing
business affected through legal actions, fines, and
potential suspensions or revocation of licenc es in i nstances [of] egregious or repeat offenders.
Madam President, our fuel industry has done
an admirable job over the years to ensure continuity of
services and safety . But the stark reality is that it is an
industry with multiple single points of failure. This reality is born out of necessity. It is not part of any nefar ious design. And the other side of the coin is that with
multiple single point s of failure, t here is a risk to cu stomers, the enviro nment, and ultimately the economy.
This Bill seeks to mitigate and manage these risks to
ensure that these elements [of] the fuel industry ’s critical infrastructures are given the status and attention they deserve. This legislation will help ensure that the
critical infrastructure remains well maintained and pr otected from neglect and wilful damage alike. By d efending and identifying these elements of critical infr astructure, the best interests of the economy and the environment will be given an additional layer of pr otection beyond what is already in place.
Madam President, with lofty goals and good
governance come the necessity for real and robust
enforcement. To ensure that those goals and purposes are met, this Bill lays out the ability for the RA to
gather information to monitor and ultimately to enforce
requirements of the licensure. The informationgathering powers of the RA are brought under this
legislation but cannot be abused by the regulator. I nformation must be gathered for the purpose under the legislation , not because of a whim.
Madam President, I must reiterate that this Bill
seeks to protect all parties to the fuel sector —the customers, the consumer, and the licensee alike—at all
times. The RA will under legislation be held to high
standards of practice, transparency, and confidential ity, just as it has with other industries under its auspi-ces. Madam President, the RA will also have the abi lity to issue penalties for offences and other means by
which the goals and purposes of this new legislat ion
will be effectively met. This Bill broadly defines of-fences to the operator as well , meaning that their assets and operations will now have additional protec-tions under the law. These penalties will be propor-tional and actionable in the courts.
690 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Madam President, resiliency in the face of
climate change is where we must remain ever vi gilant
and unwaveringly focused. By turning our attention to
this framework now, we are planning for our future in
a sensible and measured fashion. Too often it is easy to put off this future- proofing because it does not d irectly reflect our current reality, but to put this on the
horizon rather than in the present would be irrespo nsible.
Madam President, I would like again to note
that this Bill is a good and robust foundat ion with the
details being defined further in the regulation, q uite
analogous to the development of the regulation, in the
electronic communications, electricity, and subsea
cable sectors . The regulations were developed in
consultation with industries and are defined in clause
42 of the Bill. These regulations will
1. further provide for applications for fuel l icences and types of classes of those l icences;
2. provide for all actions to the licences and
conditions of those licences;
3. provide measures that require the lice nsees to provide and/or publish various i nformation;
4. define critical infrastructure assets and prescribe rules governing those;
5. prescribe thresholds or restrictions for the
licensees;
6. provide for safety measures, service
standards and consumer protection;
7. define offences and prescribe penalties
for those offences;
8. provide for objections and appeals;
9. provide for savings and transitional mat-ters;
10. provide for exercise of any of the functions of the Regulatory Authority under
this new Act or the Regulatory Authority Act of 2011; and
11. prescribe any other matters or measures
the Minister may deem necessary for the
Regulatory Authority to carry out its func-tions and duties in relation to the fuels
sector.
Madam President, it has been asked why we
are proceeding now with this Bill, given the great deal
of work that still has to be done. It follows that the Act
must be passed first to be given the authority required
to create the ensuing regulations which I have ident ified previously. This was the same proces s followed
with the previous path of the Electricity Amendment Act which created the electricity sandbox. The oper ational details are in the regulation which are now being
finalised. The amended Act will be made operational
once the regulations have been produced.
Finally, Madam President, I would like to emphasise that we have assured the fuel sectors that we will be consulting with them on each of the regulations prior to them being finalised. I can also state that this
Bill will not be enacted until a number of regulations
required to allow for the effective operations of this Act
have been produced.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay Si mmons, the Junior Minister for Home Affairs.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENAT E VISITORS

The President: Senators, before I open the floor for
each of you to participate, I would just like to
acknowledge the presence in the Senate of the Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs , Ms. Ro zy Azhar;
the Director of Energy, Jeane Nikolai , and also the
Energy Policy Analyst from the Department of Energy,
Mr. Adrian Dill. Welcome to all three of you.

[Fuels Act 2022, second reading debate, continuing]

The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator Tucker, you have the f loor.
Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
First, I would like to thank the Junior Minister,
the PS , Mrs. R ozy Azhar, Mrs. Nikolai , Mr. Dill, and
the entire team that have . . . and everyone that has
had a hand in preparing the very comprehens ive Bill ,
which I believe started its original journey back in
2015.
Madam President, I do not think that any of us
would deny the fact that robust local oversight and
accountability is paramount , particularly for an industry that is heavily regulated in other jurisdictions. So,
putting in place a local framework that enables the
Bermuda Regulatory Authority , which also has r esponsibility for monitoring and regulating our electric ity, our submarine cables, and our electronic comm unication sectors , makes s ense.
Madam President, this is an important piece
of legislation , and as mentioned a minute ago, other
jurisdictions have had similar regulatory oversight and monitoring in place for quite some time. So, it is prudent that we would do our utmost to get s ignificant
stakeholder feedback to ensure that the R egulatory
Authority is positioned with the adequate resources
and capacity to carry out all requirements as set out in the Bill.
Madam President, I would ask if the Junior
Minister can help the Senate to understand specifically why it is important to move forward with this Bill at
this time in this legislative session , especially since
the Regulatory Authority is in leadership transition an d
has significant regulatory responsibility . And given the
feedbac k from industry stakeholders , as we have


Bermuda Senate heard in another place, they wanted to have more
time to consider this Bill and provide additional r esponse. The next legislative session starts in a couple
of weeks, so having had the extra time would have
allowed the stakeholders who wish ed to contribute
additional time to do so. It would seem that addres sing these two points would have gone a long way for
helping this Bill to gain unfettered support and brought
comfort for both sides.
So overall, Madam President, as I stated, I
think this is a good Bill, but there are just these bur ning questions that I do have.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
I did have a series of questions. There are
four questions, and I believe that the Junior Minster
will be in a position to answer them. But I think it is
important for the record to ident ify the questions.
So, when I first reviewed the Act, I was focusing on the definitions to make sure that I understood
what was caught within the scope of the legislation.
Some of these questions concern [clause] 2 of the
Act. So, the first question is: C an we expand the def inition of “fuel” to define it by its essential characteristic
as something that is combustible to create energy r ather than simply listing all of the things that currently
fall within the definition of a fuel, as opposed to defi ning fuel? So that is question one.
Question two that I had concerned my understanding of the scope of this Act and its applicability to which industries. And I think everybody is in agreement that it is intended to apply only to the large- scale
importers and s ellers of fuel as we understand that to
be. As it is currently drafted, the definition of “fuel sector” I believe covers more than that. It covers any r etail operation who is selling anything to any person
which would fall within the definition of fuel. I do not
think that was intended. The types of things that would
capture, for example, would be barbecue coals or wood for a fireplace. So, I do not think mom -and-pops
and grocery stores are intended to be caught by this.
Finally, there was a sort of a very . . . not finally, the third question concerns the question, again under [clause] 2 in the definition of “wholesaler’ which
was limited by reference to the sale of only one speci fic type of fuel, that is a petroleum product. And my
question concerns whether it should cover all of the
fuels or “fuel” as more broadly defined.
And finally, the fourth question— and this r elates to clause 12 of the legislation—there is a phrase there which I think sets out the intended scope of the
legislation, that it is suppo sed to apply to commercial fuels operators. What I would ask is, if that is the i ntension, that this is in essence the businesses that are intended to be regulated by this Act . . . could we define or consider [inserting] a definition of ‘commercial fuels operator’ in [clause] 2?
And Madam President, those are my questions for the Junior Minister. Many thanks.

The President: Thank you, Senator Kiernan Bell,
Vice President.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Hearing none, then I will al so put to you, Senator Simmons —

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
To answer Senator Tucker’s question, Why
move forward now? This is the time in which the RA is
creating its budget for the next year. They will not plan
for something not in place. Furthermore, lots of consultation already took place. February 2017, one- onone consultations; [the] 2017 workshop [which] i ncluded all those mentioned in my brief; on September
2, a consultation meeting was held with all industries,
and they wer e invited; and September 8, notes and
responses to all concerns raised were sent.
So, we are moving forward [because] we have
a lot more work to do and we need this in place in order for the RA to continue their work.
And in response to the questions ask ed by
Senator Bell, in considering this Bill it is important to
note that once passed this law will not be enacted until the main regulations [are] completed which will
necessarily require extensive consultation with the
industries and businesses affected. The RA also has
built capacity to take on this sector which will take some time.
[Regarding] your first question on the interpr etation of “fuel,” in respect to the interpretation of fuel,
the Ministry will take under advisement to add to the
definition to make it clearer that renewable energy
cannot be construed as being fuel. Under Part 1,
[clause](2)(1) in the “fuel” definition (m), a fuel is
something that can be combusted or expand to make energy so as to cover anything questioned on “fuel
sector.”
In respect to the interpretation of “fuel sector,”
the Ministry will take under advisement to add the word “ primary ” after “persons” and before “engaged”
to make it crystal clear that we intend on regulating
the industry of fuels rather than the retailers selling
other small quantity fuels like charcoal, firewood, and
packaged petroleum products, for example.
[In regard to] the question on the interpret ation of “wholesaler,” in respect to the interpretation of
wholesaler, the Ministry will take it under advisement to add the word of clarification there between “who”
and “sale” to make it abundantly clear that the law
692 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate applies to those whose primary business is the importation and resale of fuels.
[And with regard to] the question on the defin ition of ‘comm ercial fuels operator,’ clause 12, in r espect to the definition of commercial fuels operator, the definition will be included in the regulation—
specifically clause 42(2)(a) —to further provide the
applications for fuel licences and the types or classes
of these licences. And just to make everybody aware,
the Ministry will in November . . . if we have changes,
we will make these changes to the amendments in November when we sit again.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Thank you, Madam
President.
Along with my colleague, the direction of this
Bill and the sentiment, I am certainly in agreement
with. I must admit that I am puzzled procedurally. I
feel like we have seen some questions . . . I do not
know what it means for the Ministry to take something
“under advisement” and possibly change the Bill. If
those seem legitimate things, let’s just wait and come
back in three weeks. I just do not understand that.
And I share my colleague, Senator Tucker’s,
concerns about the timing. There are some things that need to get tidied up. It seems to me that would be a
more efficient use of everybody’s time. I guess that is
not a question, but it is a comment and a conc ern,
frankly.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.

[Pause]
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Because I did not see a
question there, I guess we could move on.
The President: Senator Ben Smith.
Sen. Ben Smith: Yes. Thank you, Madam President.
I guess to put it as a question, normally the
way this process would work is, we would put the questions that Senator Bell put forward as amendments today for . . . and then if those amendments
were passed, it would have to go back to the House.
The Junior Minister has made a statement just
now that it would be taken under advisement and potentially amendments would come back. I am at a loss
of what we do in this situation because it sounds like
there is agreement with what has been put forward by
Senator Bell, which would lead to an amendment, but we do not have any way of confirming that those
amendments are going to happen. So, my question is: What are we supposed to
do with the statement that just came from the Junior
Minister, because the process that we should be following now is that we would be putting the amendments forward so that this could happen?

The President: Senator Smith, what we now understand . . . the Permanent Secretary is here with the
technical officers (and I have named them). They
have given an indication that these questions and
concerns will be taken back to the House and that is where the amendments will take place. So, we are
passing the Bill now, but with the understanding that
these amendments will take plac e in the other place.
And that is as much as I can say at this moment. And
we have the Permanent Secretary and the technical
officers here to confirm that. So, with respect to the Junior Minister, I think she has conferred with them,
and they have given an undertaking. And I think from
this point that is where it is.
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
Your response was definitive. You said , will
bring the amendments back. I just was asking if the
Junior Minister could be as definitive as Madam Pr esident just was.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. Madam President, as I read . . . the Ministry of
Home Affairs will take under advisement what Senator
Bell said with the draft, and we would bring the
amendments to the House in the November session, as I stated a few minutes ago.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons. You
can now continue with the movement of your Bill.

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, I move
that the Bill entitled the Fuels Act 2022 be now read a
second tim e.

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

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, I move
that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in respect this
Bill.

The President: is there any objection to t hat motion?
No objection.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING



Bermuda Senate FUELS ACT 2022

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, I move
that the Bill entitled Fuels Act 2022 be now read a
third time.

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

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, I move
that the Bill do now pass.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill do
now pass. Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed. Thank you, Senator Si mmons —

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

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.

The President: —and Senators. And thank you to the
Permanent Secretary and staff for coming.
We will now move on with our agenda. The
fifth item on our orders of the day is the second rea ding of the Garages Licensing Act 2022. And that is in
the name of Senator Reverend Doctor E. G. A. Dill,
the Junior Minister for Transport.
Senator Dill, you have the floor.

STANDING ORDER 25

Thank you, Madam
President. Madam President, I move that the prov isions of Standing Order 25 be granted so that the
Senate may now proceed with the second reading of
the Bill entitled Garages Licensin g Act 2022.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Garages Licensing Act 2022 to be read a second time on the
same day as its first reading.]

Madam President,
section 98 of the Motor Car Act 1951 (The Act) grants the Minister general supervision of public garages in
respect of their efficiency of operation. This includes
the repairing and servicing of motor cars and the keeping or storage of motor cars. Additionally, section 99 of the Act addresses the control of the use of public garages and prescribes that no person shall use, or
cause, or allow to be used as a public garage any
premises except under the authority of and in accor dance with the terms of a licence granted by the Mini ster.
Section 99 further states that the Minister may
refuse to grant a licence for two reasons: firstly, on the grounds that the pr emises themselves or by reason of
their situation or use would be likely to entail risk or
serious inconvenience to vehicular traffic on adjacent
or nearby highways or state roads. Secondly, a l icence may be refused if it would be likely to prejudice the s afety or health of persons using the premises or
working thereon or using the approaches thereto.
Madam President, the Minister of Transport
has expressed his concern about the number of gar-ages and unauthorised premises repairing motor v ehicles without a valid licence as per the Public Garage
and Filling station Regulations 1952 (The Regul ations). There is a method by which operating an unl icenced garage can be addressed by section 120 of
the Act which is a general provision regarding contr aventions. How ever, no specific offence or penalty in
the Motor Car Act 1951 handles infractions. Ther efore, most transgressions go unpunished.
Madam President, failure to meet specific
safety requirements contravenes the regulations, for
example, operating a facility without the required saf ety equipment such as fire extinguishers. It is also an offence to present oneself as a registered auto m echanic if you are not registered or your registration has been suspended. However, although offences are
mentioned in the Act and Regulations, neither piece of
legislation assigns penalties for any offences.
Madam President, a more pressing issue is
the current legislation only allows the Minister to r evoke a garage licence where it appears that the premises in respect of which the licence was granted are
no longer being used as a public garage. The Minister believes that creating specific offences and penalties to deal with those that operate garages outside the
confines of the law will contribute to enhancing vehicle
safety an d protect consumers and the environment.
Madam President, in recent years, the
Transport Control Department [TCD] and the Office of Consumer Affairs have received numerous complaints from members of the public. For example, the TCD
has received complaints regarding increased levels of
694 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate noise and air pollution, the servicing and repairs of
vehicles at private residences, substandard work pr oduced by unqualified individuals, vehicles parked and
abandoned on public roads and in public parks, conducting busines s at inconvenient times like early in the
morning and late at night, and restricted road access
when vehicles in for repair are parked on public roads
preventing the passage of public emergency or garbage collection vehicles.
Madam President, these compl aints cannot
be adequately addressed by the Act, the Regulations, or the Clean Air Act 1991. Primarily, it is for this reason that the Ministry of Transport recommends the
revocation of the Public Garage and Filling Station
Regulations 1952 and the creation of the Garages Licensing Act 2022. This new act will provide the r equired tools to take action against offenders. Madam President, the Bill establishes eight
different licences and the process by which the r espective licences can be acquired. Also incl uded is
the process for renewing licences, the duration, and the reasons why a licence may be revoked. Further, it
specifies the right to enter and inspect garages, and
how and why the Director of the TCD may issue a
stop order (who will now assume the adm inistrative
role previously held by the Minister), and what can
happen if a stop order is contravened, and how to launch an appeal.
Madam President, the Bill also sets out the
safety requirements, offences, and ticketing requir ements for automotive and cy cle service technicians.
Madam President, in short, the Garages Licensing Act 2022 is a total regulatory overhaul for public garages by introducing new garages classes, licence and r enewal fees, and creating offences for noncompliance.
An additional benefi t of this change will be the ability
to curtail the operation of unlicenced facility and m echanics to protect the consumer.
Madam President, other licence industries pay
a fee to operate. Since 1952, the public garages have
not paid a licence fee. This section of the Bill is part of
the modernisation of this area included with the new
types of licences.
Madam President, the most crucial aspect of
this new legislation is that regulators finally have the legal authority to address noncompliance.
Thank you, Madam President.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITOR

The President: Thank you Senator Emily Dill, the
Junior Minister for Transport.
And before I open the floor, I would just like to
acknowledge and greet the Permanent Secretary for
Transport Jasmine Smith. Welcome to you, Madam.
The floor is now open for any Senator who
would want to speak on this Bill. Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

[Garages Licensing Act 2022, Second reading debate
continuing]

Thank y ou, Madam
President. And thank you for the presentation of this Bill.
So, in my canvasing, I have met people who
have complained about people painting vehicles and
working late at night, and we all know someone who
has had a tough run- in with a mechanic. So in that
sense this clearly is a Bill that is going in the right direction and I applaud the spirit and intent behind it. If I
think in a certain context, I think about the big shops,
the people with buildings, the larger businesses, it
makes a lot of s ense, and putting it in with TCD
makes a lot of sense.
But then I read the Bill in more detail. Right? I
have some questions and concerns. I think this Bill
may have some consequences that we have not really
thought about that could impact people. I will g ive
some examples.
There are eight licence types. I think if you
have a garage, if I looked correctly at the schedule of fees, and you paint cars as well, that is $8,000 for
your annual fee. That is a pretty hefty chunk of change in my view. And I can see why many people
may struggle with the administration of these various
licence types.
We certainly heard from one of our senatorial
colleagues about the old- school trades versus the
new-school trades and that it brings a certain type of
bureaucracy to adm inistration into a world where not
all the businesses are set up for that. I am thinking what if I have a friend who helps people with their
bikes on the weekend. He may have a lot of exper ience, and he does a little hustle on the side. Does this
impact hi m? I am not saying there will be any; I will
stipulate that. Are they now liable for fines and fees ? It
is unsure. I do not think the intent of this would be to
prevent that kind of non- formal economy that exists I
think widely in Bermuda.
I see that bit about the bike rental shops. I can
sort of see that, yes, we want a bike shop that has a
garage and technicians working in the garage to be
subject to right health and safety. But it is not clear to
me that they are the same type of operation as a garage that faces the public. So, I am not sure if this Bill
enables us to differentiate between that. I do not un-derstand the purpose of the technician register. I was
trying to understand if this Bill requires someone who
works in a garage to be a registered technician, or
only that one must not make oneself out to be a cert ified technician when they are not on the register. I am
not sure the Bill connected those two or if they really
need to be connected.
If we think about the word used by the Mini ster from t he other place (what was that word?), the


Bermuda Senate bush mechanics, I am not sure if people who are going to those mechanics are asking if they are certified
or not before they get into hot water with them. So, if I
am correct, as long as no one purports to be a reg istered technician, this Bill does not impact what they do
or not do. So it seems like it is just sort of making a
list.
There is a lot of latitude by the director of TCD
to request information and typically I would have thought that we might have narrowe d that a little bit to
be more fit for purpose. And there was a bit in there
about seizing and disposing of equipment. I understand that we need to give enforcement tools because
we have all seen the bikes on the side of the road that
have been referred to. We also hear about some j urisdictions where we have those type of seizure- type
rules that become abused. And once the assets are seized and disposed of, even if an administrative mi stake was made, or ill -intent was made, it can be i mpossible for people t o get their assets back. And it
was not clear to me how that can be controlled. For example, there could have been a timeline on it to
enable enough time given to people who are subject
to that to get the appropriate review.
My last one is a little bit sm all, but we talk
about efficiency and cost and I talked about the l icence register, why not require it to be made electro nically? That seems very sensible to me. In fact, most
people I feel deal with TCD electronically today to
great advantage to everybody . So, that is the sort of
thing that would be great to see in Bills in general, this
Bill specifically, to allow the public to get the information they want more specifically.
So, to sum up, I see where we are going with
this. I concur with the spirit and intent, I have concerns
about what it means for the broader world of people in
Bermuda who are doing this kind of work.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.
Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I have spoken with a couple of garage owners
who are in support of this Bill on the premise that they felt as though they were at a competitive disadvantage at the moment because some of their competitors are unlicensed and doing things that they,
perhaps, should not be doing and these other people
who I spoke to were playing by the rules and felt that it was unfair. So I agree with the intent of the Bill to pr ovide a level pla ying field so from that perspective, and
am very much in favour of it. I just find the wording a bit too punitive and too directive. There is certainly a lot of power provided to the director, but I think overall
I am in favour, and I support the Bill.
Thank you, Madam President. The President: Thank you, Senator John Wight.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
Perhaps this echoes one of Senator De Couto’s questions, but I wanted to understand, and I hope the Junior Minister can amplify the process for som ebody who is applying to be registered or receive a certificate and, therefore, enter the register as an aut omotive service technician. The follow -on question from
that is: Is there going to be some sort of publication or other means for potential applicants understanding
the criteria that they need to meet in order to succes sfully become a certified automotive service techn ician? And the same question applies, of course, for
cycles as well.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Kiernan Bell,
Vice President.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Hearing none, then we will wait to receive a
response from Senator Dill.

Thank you, Madam
President and colleagues.
In response to Senator De Couto’s question,
the fees are aligned with other similar operations. The
fees that have been established are aligned with other
similar operations. I want to say that certainly a lot of
consultation and a lot of consideration has gone into
basically the provisions that are outlined in this Bill
with a history. There were some garage facilities that
just simply refuse to comply with requests to conduct
business with best practices in mind because they
knew that there were no real consequences. So, that
is exactly what had landed us here.
The other question that he asked was in r egard to individuals. Basically, any person who charges
for service should be licensed. Also, with regard to the
register, the mechanics register has been around
since 19 52. Persons are required to be registered to
work in a licensed garage.
With regard to the questions regarding doc umentation, I would certainly agree, and am happy to
share with you that the Trans port Control Department
is in the process of making all documents available
online and the application process is clearly outlined
for individuals. And the persons who are registered would need to put in a copy of their qualifications, certificates, et cet era, and that will all be outlined.
Thank you. I believe I captured it all. Thank
you, Senator Wight.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill. You can carry on and pass the Bill. (Do you have the wording b efore you?)
696 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Madam President, I
move that the Bill now be passed.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Garages Licensing Act 2022 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that?
No objection. The Bill is passed.
[Motion carried: The Garages Licensing Act 2022 was
read a third time and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Dill. And thank
you all Senators who have spoken.
Thank you, Permanent Secretary , for your
presence here today.
We now move on to the next item on our
agenda, and that is the second reading of the Parish
Councils Amendment Act 2022. That is in the name of
Senator the Honourable Dr. E. G. V. Peets, Minister
for Youth, Culture and Sport.
Minister, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President.
The purpose of the [ Parish Councils Amendment Act 2022 ,] is to correct some deficiencies that
have been identified with the Parish Councils Act
1971 and which w ill present a legal [or] financial risk
for the Government. This Act has remained largely
unamended in the last 50 years of its existence and is
well overdue for updates to support the meaningful
work done by the Parish Councils for their local communities .
Madam President, Members of this Honour able Chamber will be aware that the Parish Councils were created in 1971 to replace the Parish Vestries at
the time of significant government reform. In the early
1900s Parish Vestries were a form of local gover nment established by the Parish Vestries Act of 1929,
which was needed at the time when central gover nment did not provide many of the essential public services and parishes were relatively isolated due to the
realities of transport and infrastructure of the time.
As times had evolved, by the late 1960s the
role of the vestries had been outlived. Services such
as road lighting, garbage collection, district nursing and the like had been centralised, improving equitable
provisions across the country and the need for dupl ication by the Parish Vestry was not needed. Thus, in
1971 they were replaced by advisory to Parish Cou ncils. Fifty years on, the role of Parish Councils must be
considered once again to ensure optimal governance
for it to be fit for purpose and benefitting 21
st century
Bermuda.
Madam President, Parish Councils are beloved by the persons who serve on them and strive to
play an important role for their parishioners and their
communities. Whether they are awarding scholarships for young people to adv ance their education, or
whether they be providing financial vouchers during COVID -19 lockdowns, or even just sending birthday
cards to local residents, Parish Councils are served by
a very dedicated and committed group who love their
communities and who w ork diligently to serve our
people.
Parish Councils have played a significant role
in Bermuda over the last 50 years. And we want to ensure that they continue to be properly constituted
with modern governance and strong accountability.
The amendments brought by this Bill help support this
while we continue to work with the Parish Councils to
determine the optimal course for their future.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, I will now review each of
the amendments. Firstly, the Government Authorities
Act of 2019 provided for certain government author ities to transfer appointment functions from the Gover-nor to the relevant Minister. However, the Act did not amend the Parish Councils Act of 1971, which still has
the Governor appointing members. The Bill seeks to
provide for the Minister to make appointments to Parish Councils. This will introduce efficiency in appoin tments and regularise the original intention of the Government Authorities Act 2019 with respect to Parish Councils.
Madam President, 12 members are currently
requir ed for the composition of Parish Councils. This
number is not strictly necessary at all times, or in all cases. This Bill seeks to provide from 3 to 12 me mbers which will provide flexibility in the appointment process and allow at the very least a chair, a treasurer
and a secretary. This will give flexibility so that councils can continue to operate fully constituted with the
number of members necessary for their individual op-erations. All councils are not the same, and their abi lity to operate with different numbers of members var-ies accordingly. And this amendment facilitates this.
Madam President, the Act currently requires
that there shall be a Parish Council for each parish. This Bill provides for the Minister to undertake a r eview of a Parish Council w hich can either be initiated
upon a council’s request or by the Minister following consideration of an individual council’s circumstance.
Madam President, this will provide councils who have
expressed interest in independence with a path to
proceed. To be clear, no individual council is sign -
posted for review in the immediate future. Parish
Councils will continue to be appointed as normal.
Madam President, Government is currently l iable for Parish Council expenses undertaken with the
approval of the Minist er when such expenses cannot
be paid out of council funds. This provision has not been used in recent history but it is a financial risk to
the Government. Accordingly, the Bill seeks to remove
this provision. To be clear, council members will continue to receive funds for meeting attendance, per cur-rent practice. So this amendment does not change
their funding position. However, the Government will
not be liable for funding beyond what is appropriated for Parish Councils through the budget process.
Madam President, one of the existing functions of Parish Councils is the administration of parish rest homes. This function has been in place for over
50 years and was included at a time when the care of
our seniors was still very much a parochial undertak-ing. Madam President, rest homes are now high- risk
clinical settings with vulnerable seniors and ought to
be managed by an agency which has expertise in
such matters. The Bill seeks to remove the respons ibility for rest homes from Parish Councils.
There is only one council operating a rest
home. And that is Warwick, which administers the Lor-raine [Nursing] Home. Discussions are ongoing between the Warwick Parish Council and Government with regard to the best oversight options for Lorraine
[Nursing] Home.
Madam President, I want to briefly point this
out to highlight the good work that has been done by the staff and management of Lorraine [Nursing]
Home. They provide a vital service to Bermuda and
we intend to do everything needed to protect the
home and its resi dents. We intend to do everything
needed to protect the home and its residents. Madam
President, the amendment regarding rest homes will
not come into operation until such time as a suitable
solution has been identified. Until then, the Warwick
Parish Council will continue to operate the facility.
To close, Madam President, I reiterate that
the purpose of this Bill is to correct a small number of problems in the Parish Councils Act 1971, which pr esent a legal or financial risk. However, it does not affect a council’s ability to operate or alter their course
or their mandate. Parish Councils perform valuable
activities for their communities, and we are committed to ensuring that they continue to do so with improved
modernised governance. The reality that the Act has
not been amended in 50 years highlights the need to
consider what is the best and most appropriate role of
the councils in the global powerhouse that Bermuda has become today.
The benefits brought to the local communities
by Parish Councils must be supported. And the Government will continue to work with the councils to ascertain how this is best achieved in the 21
st century.
Thank you very much, Madam President.

The President: And thank you, Minister Peets.
Would any Senator care to speak on t his Bill?
Senator Ben Smith, you have the floor.

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
First, I would like to thank the Minister for
bringing this Bill to us today. I believe all of us would agree that the Parish Councils have had an important
role in our country over the last 50 years. Some of the
councils will be a lot more active than others. And
some had responsibilities that are significantly higher
than others, as was mentioned by the Minister.
The Opposition is in agreement with these
changes. I guess the points that I took from what the Minister said, and from the changes that we see are coming as modernisation of this process, are the need
for accountability, the increased flexibility that is cr eated by the amendments, and, finally, the Go vernment
liability piece which is important.
So, the only question that I ask just from a c uriosity standpoint is that . . . there is a certain amount
of money that would be provided by the Government presently for each Parish Council. Has there been
over the last several years, as we got to the point that
we were looking to modernise, a need for more funds
698 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate than what was provided [to them]? Just as an idea for
us to know. Making these adjustments, will this further
[restrict them financially] considering t hat we are in an
economic situation in Bermuda where if they need to look somewhere for that funding to continue to do the work that they are doing . . . everybody is looking for
that funding. So, I just wanted to know if there was
any indication that this need was there up until this
point, just so we do not leave them in a situation
where they are having to seek funding at the same
time that so many others are seeking funding.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I will be very brief. I concur with Senate [O pposition] Leader Smith, with his comments.
I really just had a question that I jus t wanted a
bit of clarity around because the Bill does speak to an
opportunity for the Minister to really dismantle a Parish Council if it was warranted. And I was just curious
as to whether the Minister could provide maybe an
example, just so we can put i t in context, of an i nstance that might warrant shutting down a Parish
Council.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President.
I think I am in the minority on this Bill. I actually do not understand what the problem is that we are
trying to fix.
I view this as being . . . the Parish Council has
been around since 1971. So, over a period of 52
years. The individuals w ho have committed and lent
their time for the betterment of each parish are now
faced with a situation where they may be removed from the council for whatever reason that the Ministry
chooses.
I understand the situation with the Gover nment’s liability. It has not happened once in 52 years.
Yet all of a sudden now we are concerned about it. That issue certainly could have been addressed wit hout the extent of drafting the amendment Act. And I just hope that the great work that has been done by
the Parish Councils over many years, and the indivi duals who have committed themselves to the betterment of Bermuda, is not removed for unnecessary
reasons, which I think would be a slap in the face to
those individuals who have done such great work for the Island.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator John Wight.
Are there any other questions from Senators
before I pass back to the Minister?
There appears to be none.
Minister, it is over to you. Minister Peets.

Sure. Thank you,
Madam President.
I certainly appreciate some of the feedback
that we have received from our Senate colleagues,
and I will see if I can take them in the order in which they were received.
The first was from colleague, Senator Ben
Smith. It was a financial question. The short answer is
that Government has not provided any additional f inancial support in recent history. The budget which we set forth in previous years has been for the stipend for each of the Parish Councils and their board. That
budget will continue going forward. Only where [the]
Parish Council receives additional funding for the Lorraine Rest Home . . . and that will not be affected, but
that funding does not come through Youth, Culture
and Sport. That will come through one of our other
sister ministries.
In respect to clause 2, which I believe was
raised by Senator Tucker, clause 2 inserts a section
into the Act that provides for a ministerial review of a
Parish Council. The clause also sets forth criteria for the Minist er to consider when determining matters
relating to a review of a Parish Council. An example of
that would be if a Parish Council put in a request to
the Minister to review any of the functions of a Parish Council. The Act now provides an opportunity for t hat
review to occur. It also opens up an opportunity for Parish Councils, if they wish, to ask a Minister through
this particular amendment as it relates to their interest
in potentially going independent. Independent does not mean that the Parish Council does no longer exist.
It will continue to exist; but it will exist as an ind ependent autonomous body outside of the ministerial
remit. So, that is a brief example for clause 2.
In relation to Senator Wight’s question, this
particular Bill does not remove Parish Councils. What
it does is amend some of the legislation based on the
review that we have been able to conduct to moder nise the Bill so that it serves to function the Parish
Councils in a better light. In relation to the . . . I am not
sure if his question was in relation to up to 3 to 12
[members], but in some cases, based on attrition and
the time of year that Parish Councils are gazetted,
some Parish Councils may or may not have 12 me mbers at the time.
We certainly want the Parish Councils to be
able to be gazetted and to be able to continue doing
the great work that they are doing in event that in the moment that they are being gazetted, they do not
have 12 members. This Bill will allow for the Parish Council to continue even with three members while
they are working on constituting the rest of their


Bermuda Senate board. Otherwise, these amendments that we are
making today are what we would consider to be good
housekeeping.
I think those are the questions I have r eceived, Madam President. If any other clarity i s required, I can certainly take some supplementar ies.

The President: Senator Tucker, do you have a supplementary question . . . or, sorry, another question to
put to the Minister?

Sen. Robin Tucker: No, not another question. It is
actually a supplementary just based on the Minister’s
response as to the potential for a review to take place.
I am just wondering who . . . well, I am wondering if
the Minister can initiate that review , and under what
circumstances might they consider doing away with the Paris h Council. And the reason that I am kind of
stuck on this is because I am a little bit concerned is
that just reading through the Act it appears as if the
Minister decides that he or she wants , for whatever
reason, to shut down a Parish Council, then they have
the flexibility to do that.
So, I am just trying to get some clarity around
where the parameters are. Is it just that broad? Or are
there some guardrails in place to protect the Parish
Councils? And again, partially for the reasons that Senator Wight had also spoken about.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Any other supplementary?
It appears not . . . Senator Ben Smith has another question or comment.

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
I guess I was just thinking on the response
that the Minister gave where now we are moving t owards flexibility in the numbers that are on the Parish
Council.
So, there would be a budget based off of the
number 12 presently according to the way the Minister answered the question, I gather, because it is based off the meetings that they have and, I guess, a st ipend. Does that change when the number of people on the Parish Council changes? So, if now that num-ber is not going to be 12 —it is potentially 3 —is that
going to have an impact on the budget?
And the second supplementary of that is:
Does this set us up to a situation where, potentially ,
there are now restrictions that keep that number lo wer? Just as we are moving in this direction, we just
want to see what the consequences are of the kind of
decision we are making today.
Thank you.
The President: Thank you, Senator Smith.

Yes. Sure. Thank
you, Madam President. Thank you, Senators, for your
supplementaries.
It is not the policy intent , nor is it the opinion,
nor our understanding of how this Bill is read or un-derstood that the Minister will be able to initiate the
devolution of a Parish Council as this Bill has been
considered. What this Bill does allow for is the Mini ster to consider the circumstances of a council on a
case -by-case basis. Such consideration must include
a review of the Parish Council and requires consult ation with a Parish Council. So, there is no unilateral ability for the Minister.
The Bill does provide for councils to seek to
become independent of government should they r equest that in writing. For example, when a review
could occur, for example . . . I did mention one, but
another one would be . . . well, what happens when
audited financials are two, three, four or five years
late. The Minister could then, you know, sort of conduct a review to get an answer on what is going on
with the Parish Council as it relates to, you know, why their audited financials are late. So, that is another
example that could be consider ed as a legitimate sort
of example of what could occur.
Regarding the budget for Parish Councils,
every year when we are budgeting for Parish Cou ncils, we will budget for all 12 members for all of the
Parish Councils. But it is true from time to time Pari sh
Councils may be constituted with less than 12. Typically not for the entire fiscal year, but this amendment,
what it does allow for is . . . we do not want a Parish
Council that has three members who are actively engaging in community service be unable to officially be
a Parish Council because they have lost six members over the last year. So, having this amendment allows
for the Parish Council to be fully gazetted and oper ational while they are working on constituting the rest of
the board.
And as it re lates to the other things that have
been mentioned, you know, the pragmatic piece about
updating the Act so that the Minister could make the appointments rather than Government House certainly
makes the appointment process far more efficient and
faster.
So, those are my submissions, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Thank you, Minister Peets.
Hearing no other concerns or questions, then,
it is over to you now to pass the Bill.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Madam President, I
move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended in r espect to this Bill.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
700 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate No objection.

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING

PARISH COUNCILS AMENDMENT ACT 2022

Sen. th e Hon. Dr. Ernest Peets: Madam President, I
move that the Bill entitled the Parish Councils
Amendment Act 2022 now be read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

Madam President, I
move that the Bill do now pass.

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

[Motion carried: Parish Councils Am endment Act 2022
was read a third time and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Minister Peets. And thank
you all Senators who participated.
We will now move on to the next item on our
agenda, and this is the West End Development Corporation Amendment Act 2022. And this is in the
name of Senator Owen Darrell, Junior Minister for
Public Works.
Senator Darrell, you have the floor.
Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the West End Development Corporat ion Amendment
Act 2022 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection . . . sorry, you have got to move
[Standing Order] 25, the provisions of Standing Order 25. Do you have the . . .

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. Owen Darrell: One second, Madam President.
Madam President, I now move that Standing
Order 25 . . . I move that the provisions of Standing
Order 25 be granted so that Senate may now proceed
with the second reading of the Bill entitled the West End Deve lopment Corporation Amendment Act 2022.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. [Motion carried: Leave granted for the West End D evelopment Corporation Amendment Act 2022 to be
read a seco nd time on the same day as its first r eading.]

BILL

SECOND READING

WEST END DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
AMENDMENT ACT 2022
Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President and Honourable Members
of the Senate, I introduce the Bill today entitled the
West End Development Corporation Amendment Act
2022 .
This Bill seeks to amend the West End Development Corporation Act 1982, known as “the Act,” for
the purpose of increasing the time within w hich the
West End Development Corporation [WEDCO] is r equired to send its annual statement of accounts to the
Minister with responsibility to the Auditor General and
to make its annual comprehensive operational report
to the Minister.
Madam President, as previously stated in the
House of Assembly on October 7, 2022, over the past
decade WEDCO has encountered challenges with
adhering to the financial audits and annual report time
frames as set out in sections 22(2) and 24 of the pri ncipal Act which requires the annual submission of the
copy of the statement of its accounts to the Minister
and to the Auditor General within three months after
the end of each financial year, in addition, to an annual comprehensive report being submitted on the operations of the corporation within six months after the
end of each financial year , respectively.
On occasion, WEDCO has been unable to
produce reliable financial accounts within three months of the year end. And that can be attributed to
the increased complexity and compliance requir ements in compiling financial accounts together with
staffing challenges resulting from the worldwide shor tage of auditors. Madam President, this delay in the financial reporting causes the timelines of the corpor ation’s annual comprehensive r eport that includes an
audited financial statement to be slowed. As the dea dlines for both submissions are legislated, the Auditor General rightfully indicates that this is a cause of concern.
To that end, Madam President, rather than
spending additional f unds to hire external auditing
firms that could cost tens of thousands annually, the Government supports a more financially practical option by simply extending the required submission
deadlines.
Madam President, the Bill will amend section
22(2) by increasing the deadline to submit a copy of the statement of accounts from three months to six


Bermuda Senate [months]. Further, the Bill amends section 24 by r emoving the six -month deadline to submit an annual
comprehensive report and clarifies that the report
must be submitt ed as soon as may be after the corporation has received the auditor’s report, thus providing
a more streamlined approach to ensure compliance to the Act. Madam President, the amendments detailed
in this Bill have precedent as the verbiage before the
Senate today is very similar to the current sections 18
and 19 of the Bermuda Economic Development Cor-poration Act 1980.
Madam President, I now invite my Senate colleagues to participate in this debate.

The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Would any Senator care to speak on this
West End Development Corporation Amendment Act? Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President.
You know, I work in an organisation where we
have deadlines and audits, and I am highl y symp athetic to organisations that have complex tasks to
achieve within a certain timeline that is handed down
to them from above. But typically, my experience (and
I am perhaps not as experienced in life as some peo-ple in this room) is when you have a pr oblem with
people showing up late and you tell them it is okay for them to come later, they will keep showing up late
because what you have indicated to them is it is not
important that it gets done on time.
And, Madam President, you missed our di scussion last week, unfortunately, where we saw another piece of the legislation that was about things
being late, being audited. And this legislation is related in spirit to that which, instead of trying to fix the
problem, it is trying to pretend the problem does not
exist. The problem is that the skills or resources r equired by WEDCO to achieve the goal set for them have not been made available. And that is on the
Government to make them available.
We know that these audited accounts and so
forth are important to ensure that everything is running
smoothly with accountability. So, I just do not understand this, frankly. I definitely support the bit about sending the report to the Minister. That is clearly us eful. But we cannot pretend there is not a fundamental
underlying problem here around the capabilities and
the resources given to various parts of Government and their organisations to deliver its accounts and be
accountable to the people of Bermuda. And just mov-ing around the deadlines is never going to change that
problem.
So, those are my comments. Thank you,

Thank you, Senator De Couto. Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
I see Senator John Wight first of all. Senator
Wight, you have the floor.

Sen. John W ight: Thank you, Madam President.
I think at a time when most of the world is
generally raising the performance bar in expectations,
this Bill serves to lower Bermuda’s performance bar. I
think the three- month period had been sufficient for
years and year s and years.
I listened to the Minister in the House last Fr iday, and he referenced compliance and [the] global, I
think, shortage of auditors. And my two initial views
were, well, compliance and financial reporting are two
separate jobs. So, I could not understand that point
being one.
The other one is that the auditors are not the
ones producing the accounts. These accounts are
being produced so that the auditors can review them
after three months. So, I could not understand that
reason either.
I do not agree that we extend it. I understand
that it has been put forward, but I think we should be
increasing the performance bar and not reducing it.
And years ago, you may recall, Madam President,
when I was the Financial Controller of the Bermuda Hospitals Board . . . this goes back many, many years
ago. But we used to produce the accounts for the auditors within three months. And the Bermuda Hospitals Board was certainly a much larger and more
complicated operation than this one. So, I hear the reasons; I j ust simply do not understand or support
them.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
Senator Wight t ouched on where I was going
to go with this. There seems to be a discussion point
around a lack of auditors worldwide, which is what is
causing the issue. But this is about the financial statements being late for the Auditor General to act ually do the task at hand.
I guess the issue is this: If it is three months
today and we are having a hard time getting it, are we
moving to six months and then we are going to have
an issue with getting our finances in on time for six months? At some point, we have to ho ld people accountable for deadlines. In the private sector, if you do
not get this information in on time, there are going to
be some significant results to that lack of reaching the
target that you are supposed to reach. At some point,
we have to draw a l ine and say in a country like Bermuda, when you are spending the money that is coming from the taxes of the people, we need to make
702 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate sure that the financial statements are actually arriving
at the time that is necessary in order for the audit to
happen.
It seems strange that we are moving the bar
in the wrong direction. So, if the Junior Minister could give us some clarity on why, instead of doing ever ything that we can to focus on the problem —which is
there seems to be maybe a lack of staffing that [is not ]
allowing them to get the financial statements in on
time—we are moving the bar. It should be that ever ything that we are doing is to try to make it more eff icient. And if it is based on lack of staffing—not from the audit’s side but from getting the financial stat ements in on time—then that should be the focus point.
So, I tend to agree with my other colleagues. I
cannot agree with moving the bar in order to cover up the fact that we have a problem that is not being
solved with this amendment.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Ben Smith.
Senator Bell, you have the floor.

Sen. Kiernan Bell: Thank you, Madam President.
I had, Madam President, one question for the
Junior Minister which is: If it is going to take six
months to deliver management financials, how long
will it then take to get an audited report on those f inancials? What would be the expectation in terms of actually being able to provide suitable governance
and oversight to the operations of WEDCO if this
amendment was to go through?
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Bell, Vice Pres ident.
[Pause]

The President: Those are the questions directed to
you.
Senator Darrell.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
As I try to get some of the answer s to these
questions, I would like to start here. The first question
that . . . I must say this, Madam President, it was kind
of spoken to in my brief where I actually gave the r ationale for why we wish to make this amendment. And I know that a certain Mem ber of the Senate did take it
out in left field where he tried to connect this to a de-bate that we did last week which is two different things. He also basically has taken a shot at hardworking individuals who may not have enough colleagues to assist them —

He is imputing improper
motives, Madam President.
Thank you.

The President: Senator Darrell, carry on.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
So, in tod ay’s environment, when it comes to
auditing and dealing with financials, it is a lot more
complex.
And to be blunt, Madam President, if we do
not move with the times . . . some Members of the
Senate would have us believe that we are still in 1982.
And we are a long way away from 1982, Madam President. And as such, I think it is prudent of this Government that we have brought this amendment forward to try to make the operations of WEDCO more
efficient without getting in to accusing individuals of not raisin g their standards of work. I find that a little
harsh to take, especially in these times.
[To answer] the question that Senator Bell
asked about how long it would take for the audit, it
would take three months for that. So that come January of every year the audit will be complete. So, I hope
that answers that question.
And, Madam President, I do applaud the
technical officers and this Government for bringing
forth these amendments. Because to be quite frank, in
the last 10 years, 30 per cent of the time W EDCO
failed, to be honest, to adhere to the timeframes that the Audit or General has pointed out. And as I stated in
my brief, a lot of those timelines are not realistic right
now based on the working conditions that they are
working under. So, that is why I think it is prudent that
this Senate takes these amendments under consideration and passes them today.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Hearing no other questions, I would ask you
to move your Bill.
Sen. Owen Dar rell: Thank you, Madam President.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the West End Development Corporation Amendment
Act be now read a second time.

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

SUSPENSION OF STANDING OR DER 26
Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I now move
that Standing Order 26 be suspended in respect to
this Bill.

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

[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING

WEST END DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION AMENDMENT ACT 2022
Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I now move
that the Bill entitled the West End Development Corporation Amendment Act 2022 be now read a third
time.

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

Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill do now pass.

The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the West End Development Corporation Amendment Act 2022 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The West End Development Corpor ation Amendment Act 2022 was read a third time and
passed.]

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

SENATE VISITORS
The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell and Senators w ho have spoken.
Before I move on to the final item on our O rders of the Day, I would just like to acknowledge in the
gallery the presence of the Minister of Public Works,
Lieutenant Colonel the Honourable David Burch, along with his Permanent Secretary, Mr. Randy
Rochester. Good afternoon to you both and welcome.
We will now deal with the final item on our
Orders of the Day, and that is the consideration of the
Draft Order entitled the Public Health (COVID -19)
Emergency Extension (No. 1) Order 2022. And t hat is
in the name of Senator Arianna Hodgson, the Junior
Minister for Health.
Senator Hodgson, you have the floor.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 71(2)

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I move that standing order
71(2) be suspended so that Senate may now proceed
with consideration of the Public Health (COVID -19)
Emergency Extension (No. 1) Order 2022.

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

[Motion carried: Standing Order 71(2) suspended.]

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the Senate do now take under
consideration the Draft Order entitled the Public
Health (COVID -19) Emergency Extension (No. 1) O rder 2022.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Hodgson.

DRAFT ORDER

PUBLIC HEALTH (COVID- 19) EMERGENCY
EXTENSION (NO. 1) ORDER 2022
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I am pleased to invite the Senate to consider
the order entitled
Public Health (COVID -19) Emergency Extension (No. 1) Order 2022 .
Madam President, Senators will be aware that
the current Public Health Emergency Order is sched-uled to lapse on 25 October 2022. The Emergency
Orders, which have been in place since 30 June 202 0,
following the state of emergency put in place on the
1
st of April 2020, are made pursuant to section 107A
of the Public Health Act 1949, and declare that a public health emergency exists in Bermuda due to a
communicable disease that poses a threat to the I sland.
Madam President , over the past two years,
health systems around the world have grappled with millions of severely ill patients and extraordinarily sad
deaths. These health systems experienced enormous
704 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate pressure brought on not only by the original wild- type
virus, but also by successive waves of coronavirus
variants such as Alpha, Beta, Delta and Omicron.
In Bermuda, the Government took immediate
steps to ensure that our health system, including the
Island’s only acute care hospital, would be capable of
coping with the anticipated high levels of sick indivi duals and hospital admissions. Our safety measures
included stay at home orders, remote learning and remote working, curfews, restrictions on group activ ities and border controls. Notwithstanding this, Madam
President , since March 2020, our small Island has
recorded 18,220 coronavirus cases and, sadly, there
have been 148 coronavirus -related deaths .
Madam President , the most recent extension
of the P ublic Health Emergency Order approved by
Parliament was in July for expiration on 26 September
2022. Subsequent to that and with the approval of
Cabinet, the Minister of Health exercised the power
available to her under the Ac t to make an Order to
declare a public health emergency for 30 days expi ring on 25 October .
Madam President , Honourable Senators will
be aware that the first emergency extension Order of
this year was made on 17 January 2022. It extended
the Public Health Emergency Order 2021 made on 22
January 2021. All of the extensions subsequently approved by Parliament up to and including the July extension, served to extend the emergency Order made
in January of last year. The emergency extension O rder before this House now seeks to extend the 30- day
emergency Order made in September, which is due to expire on 25 October 2022. It is the first extension of
that September emergency Order . It is not an additional extension of the January 2021 emergency O rder.
Madam President , the Attorney General’s
Chambers determined the need to distinguish this extension Order from the extension orders made earlier
in the year. As such, the new Order is being disti nguished from other Orders by inserting “(No.1)” in the
title. Together wi th the BR number and the date of the
Order the “(No.1) ” will indicate where this new Order
fits in the sequence of the Orders made this year.
Madam President , as reported previously , it is
this Government’s intention to bring an end to the public health em ergency in Bermuda. The Public
Health (COVID -19) Emergency Extension (No. 1) O rder 2022 before the Senate today will extend the current Order for 37 days from 25 October, which would
take us to 30 November 2022.
Madam President , it has been two and a half
years since that day in March 2020, when the Go vernment decided it was necessary to stop commercial flights to the Island. A few days earlier, the United
States’ CDC had issued a No Sail Order which put an end to cruise sailings . By April the Island was in lockdown. The public health and safety measures made
possible by successive Emergency Orders, following the initial state of emergency, were necessary to r educe pressure on our health system and to save lives .
Madam President, Senators and the public may not
remember those first few months of the pandemic
when the Government shifted into high gear immediately. For the Ministry of Health team , it was a time of
many unknowns. But some things they did know. We
needed personal protective equipment , and w e needed reliable and swift testing. It was clear early on the
entire country did not have sufficient PPE for the lo ngevity and magnitude of the oncoming pandemic.
Supplies were purchased on the basis of ensuring
Bermuda was cared for as a whole, and procurement
proceeded in that principle. Small to large orders were made locally and overseas to prevent Bermuda from having a PPE shortage.
With respect to testing, the Caribbean Public
Health Agency located in Trinidad was engaged for
this important task but was li mited to 20 tests per
week, and the results were received in approximately five working days. So, the Ministry engaged Helix G enetic and Scientific Solutions under the directorship of
Dr. Desiree Spriggs, which produced results within 24
to 48 hours, a gre at feat at th at time.
The Cabinet O ffice set up the Molecular Diagnostics Lab led by Dr. Carika Weldon, and Bermuda established comprehensive community, traveller and
student testing, supported by a massive contact tracing and case management programme. These proved
to be the tools that we needed to counteract the novel
coronavirus until and while our mass vaccination
campaign got underway .
Madam President, the Island’s vaccine ca mpaign was a resounding success. When the Ministry
shut the last community cli nic in June of this year, 75
per cent of our population was vaccinated. T his number rises to 84 per cent when you consider just those
who are eligible for vaccination. It took the collective efforts of the Ministry of Health staff, as well as nur ses, doctors, EMTs, pharmacists and volunteers in the
community to make Bermuda among the top countries in the world for vaccinations administered per capita ,
a great achievement indeed
Technology played a significant part as well .
ResQwest is the main application used to assist in
pandemic management. The functionality of the sy stem includes booking, recording and providing COVID -19 test results for residents, travellers and
students, managing registration appointments and
certificates for vaccinations, and managing the appl ication and vetting process for travellers to Bermuda.
Go.Data has proven to be another important
software solution. It is an outbreak investigation tool
for field data collection during public health emergencies developed by the World Health Or ganization. The
Ministry launched it in May 2021 for the Case Management team. Go.Data includes functionality for case


Bermuda Senate investigations, contact follow -up and visuali sations of
chains of transmissions.
Madam President , these are only some of the
steps the Go vernment took to protect our Island
community. Even these plans would not have come to
fruition without the Ministry of Health team. I would
like to join Minister Wilson in thank ing them for their
incredible, hard work in keeping Bermuda safe.
Madam President, throughout the pandemic,
the Ministry’s Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit has
monitored the Island’s COVID -19 indicators, and we
know the Island is in a much better place now than it was two years ago, or even six months ago. The
Bermuda community has been incredibly resilient
throughout this global pandemic, which is not over yet. Even with this resilience, bolstered by that impressive
vaccin ation rate, in early summer the Island exper ienced a spike in infections, increased hospitalisations and, unfortunately, additional deaths. This reminds us
that the coronavirus continues to be a threat to our
health and well -being, though not as it was this time
last year.
On balance, however, and taking all these
factors into account, the decision was made to bri ng
an end to the public health emergency. Madam Pres ident, some may ask , Why not end the public health
emergency right now ? But as was reported previously ,
the consensus among most public health experts is
that this upcoming autumn and winter season is vit ally
important. Around the world there is a relaxation of
public health measures to control this coronavirus,
including the Omicron variant s BA.4 and BA.5, which
are driving infections at the moment. This is coupled
with the waning protection from vaccines across the
world. With the colder months approaching, a new,
more infectious or deadlier variant can cause havoc.
Madam President , for this reason, the Government has decided upon a phased roadmap out of
the public health emergency in the coming weeks,
rather than ending all remaining public health and
safety measures at once. This phased approach will
allow for continued assessment of the prevalence of
infection in the community and, most importantly, its impact on our health system, while the legislative
weight of the public health emergency remains in
place.
Madam President , while there will be questions regarding the future of the Travel Authorisation,
it is important to recognise that health travel doc uments are not new to international travel. Certain
countries have had entry requirements such as proof
of yellow fever vaccination for a very long time now.
The difference is that those types of entry requir ements were limited to specific countries. However, the
global pandemic caused the majority of countries
around the world to implement and enforce COVID -19
travel entry requirements. In our case, the Travel A uthorisation, which was put in place as an effective part of our COVID -19 border controls, has served to pr o-vide key information to the Bermuda Tourism Author ity and has even assisted the Department of Immigr ation and HM Customs as well.
The Government is having further discussions
regarding Bermuda’s travel entry requirements, taking into consideration what is appropriate and necessary
in light of t he ongoing pandemic. This will include what
information needs to be collected and whether any fee
needs to appl y.
Many people will be pleased that the regul ations are being removed, but this does not mean we
can stop being responsible for our health and th e
health of others. We continue to urge the whole community to carry on with sensible public health and safety measures; that is, use per sonal protective
equipment such as facemasks, prac tice physical di stancing, good hand hygiene, and most importantly,
stay at home when you are sick , avoid close spaces,
crowded places and close contact settings, and take a
risk-based approach to mass gatherings.
A number of businesses do and may continue
to require masks to be worn to enter their premises. This is a decisi on made by the business operator and
legally must be honoured by all staff and customers.
We must be careful, and we must be safe for both
ourselves and our community.
Madam President, the Minister of Health consulted with the Chief Medical Officer and det ermined
that a communicable disease of the first category,
namely COVID -19 and its variants of concern, does
persist and continues to pose a severe threat to public
health in Bermuda. To control and contain the spread of infection, public health measures, such as those
provided for in regulations made under section 107B
of the Public Health Act 1949 will continue to be rel evant and necessary beyond 25 October 2022.
Madam President , this Order before us now
will extend the Public Health (COVID -19) Emergency
Order 2022, made under section 107A of the Public
Health Act 1949, and empower the Governor to make
public health emergency regulations under section
107B of that Act which impose extraordinary
measures necessary in the interest of public health to
prevent , control and suppress COVID -19.
Madam President , Honourable Senators will
be aware that the Public Health (COVID -19) Emergency Order 2022 was made under the negative res olution procedure for 30 days expiring on 25 October
2022, at a time when the House would not be in session. However, we know the COVID -19 pandemic
continues globally and is pervasive in Bermuda. We also know that a public health emergency will continue
to exist on our Island beyond 25 October 2022.
Therefore, in accordance with sections 10 7A
(3) and (4) of the Public Health Act 1949, I bring the
Public Health (COVID -19) Emergency Extension (No.
1) Order 2022 to this Honourable Senate to seek approval for the extension of the public health emergen706 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate cy for a further 37 days, ending on 30 November
2022.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Madam President.
I will start by saying certainly w e agree with
this [Order], and we certainly support it. I do have just
some basic comments that I would like to make,
though. But before I do that, I want to start by thanking
all of the healthcare workers who have been involved in tirelessly helping to manage COVID -19, and any
other entity that has been involved with helping the community to navigate through such a very, very diff icult time. I also want to just mention and remember
people and families who have lost loved ones during
this period. If anyone has been affected is listening, I
just want to let them know that they have not been
forgotten, and their loss has not been forgotten.
Needless to say, Madam President, we are
very happy to know that the public health Order is coming to an end. I would li ke to get a little bit of clar ity around the reason that it is ending at this point. I
certainly am not complaining; I am happy that it is going to be ending next month. But I was just a little bit
confused by part of the statement. And if I may, I
would j ust like to reiterate a little part that the Junior
Minister mentioned just as it relates to Minister Wilson
cautioning us that “the consensus among most public health experts is that the upcoming . . . season is i mportant. Around the world, there is a rel axation of public health measures . . . . With the colder months approaching, a new, more infectious or deadlier variant can cause havoc.”
Okay. So, while I understand that, my point is
. . . I am just curious as to why just before the peak of
the winter season it would be decided to do it now.
Not that I am complaining, but I am just curious as to why that is.
So, again, while we are very glad to see the
end of the Order, we look forward with great anticip ation to also seeing the end of the Travel Authori sation,
which the Junior Minister made mention of in her brief,
particularly because of the countless complaints and
changes to people’s plans and all of that and often the
negative publicity that has come as a result. So, it
seems like we are heading in t he right direction—
public health emergency first. And hopefully we will
see the end of the Travel Authorisation sometime
very, very soon.
If I may ask one other question as it relates to
the Travel Authorisation, I would like to know . . . the
Junior Mini ster mentioned that there are various ent ities that are collecting data from the Travel Authoris ation forms. So, I would like to know if the Junior Mini s-ter can tell us how long any of that data that has been extracted . . . how long will it be retained by whichever
entities have it? I mean, it is people’s personal health
information, so there are obviously data protection
policies and things. But I would just like to know sort of what the thinking is around that and if there is any
plan for it.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Tucker.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Yes, Senator Ben Smith, you have the floor.

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
So, as my colleague said, we are happy that
the emergency Order will be coming to an end. We
have been asking for it for quite some time. But more
importantly, because the questions that we have been
asking in the past were not answered, it makes you
question how the decision is going to be made and
why.
If we had an idea and the population had an
idea of what it is that we would be looking for within
the population to decide why we should have an
emergency Order at this point and why it would move
away . . . because if we are going into these winter
months and we are going to see the potential of a
spike, the potential of things changing, it does seem
odd that now would be the time to do that. And it is
really just based off of the information that we have
been provided today. On one hand, you are talking about phasing it out at the same time that you are gi ving a warning light that the potential of things going kind of in a negative direction could be happening at
the exact time that we are removing it. That has been
our question for a long time now. If we had some indication of what the indicators are that we would be
looking for [in order] for us to move away from the emergency powers.
In the past we have brought up that a lot of
other countries seem to have moved in this direction a long time ago. So, c an the Junior Minister give us i nformation on what has changed from the Bermuda perspective today that has made us decide that now is the time to do it considering that, you know, we had
some cases happen recently? There are more people
seeming to get it. Yes, it seems to be milder. But the
potential of it not being mild in the wintertime has
been brought up today. So, if we could just get some
further information on that, I think it would be helpful for the population to understand kind of how this dec ision is being made now.
Even though we, once again, are happy that it
is being made, just so we do not end up in the situ ation where, because we did not know what we were looking for (that is the Opposition and the public), all of a sudden we end up with all of those exact things
happening at the end of November, and now we are


Bermuda Senate moving in the wrong direction all over again which is
not what anybody in the country will be looking for.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you Senator Ben Smith.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
No.
Then, Senator Hodgson, [there were] a couple
of concerns mentioned for you to respond to.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Yes. Thank you, Madam
President and I thank Senator Smith and Tucker for their questions, which I was expecting.
To answer their question, we can generally
say that as we all know, the community is in a good
place right now. And thanks to the vaccination rates,
we are a lot safer than we were some months ago and
definitely a year ago. What we have noticed is that
even when we do have spikes our system is coping
well. That does not mean that we should not be co ncerned, and it does not mean that this is the time to let
our guard down.
Again, it is important that we each recognise
our personal responsibilities to protect not only ourselves and our homes but our community at large. As
we have seen, a lot of events are now moving i ndoors. And as we move through the winter, we will
definitely be able to see how this change impacts our
health system. And, ultimately, we have to continue to
make decisions that work in the best interests of Bermudians and the health system essentially.
Of course, we do not know what variants will
arise. But we do feel that our health system has an ability to cope.
I think it is also worth noting that there are a lways going to be mixed reactions. There were mixed
reactions when we instituted these rules and there are
mixed reactions now that we are relaxing them. The
greatest factor here is that we are going to do what
needs to be done to protect our community and our
health systems.
I hope that satisfies the questions posed by
the other Senators.
The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I move that the sai d Draft Order be approved
and that the following message be sent to Her Exce llency the Governor.
May it please Your Excellency. The Senate,
having had under consideration the Draft Order ent itled the Public Health (COVID -19) Emergency Extension (No. 1) Order 2022 proposed to be made by the
Minister responsible for Health under the provisions of
section 107A of the Public Health Act 1949, has the honour to inform Your Excellency that the Senate has
approved the said Draft Order.

The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson.
A suitable message will be sent to the Governor.
Thank you, Senators, for your input.

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you.

The President: Item number 14 on our agenda today
is the Motions.

MOTIONS
The President: There are none.

CONGRATULATORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES

The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this?
Senator Ben Smith, you have the floor.

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
I am hoping that the whole Senate Chamber
will join me in wishing a happy birthday to Senator
Robin Tucker today.

The President: Oh! Yes, indeed!

Sen. Ben Smith: She has spent her entire day with
us. So, I am hoping that we all are going to wish her a
happy birthday.
The President: Oh, we certainly do.

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Ben Smith.
We all certainly agree. And thank you for being with us today.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Lindsay Simmons . . . No. Who is it?
Sorry. I could not hear.
Emily Dill, you have the floor.

Madam President, I
want to take this opportunity to thank the very hardworking Chairwoman of the Progressive Labour Party,
Ms. Dawn Simmons and wish her a very, very happy
60th birthday today.

The Pr esident: All right.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator De Couto, you have the floor.

708 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Dr. Douglas De Couto: Thank you, Madam
President.
I will start on a sadder note. I would like to
extend my condolences to the family of Connie Cabral
of Fairway Drive, Warwick , to her husband, her chi ldren and her family and friends.
I would like to congratulate the Department of
Culture on the Gombey Festival which several of my colleagues and I enjoyed, although my son spent the
whole time in line for the cotton candy.

[Laugher]

That is a different di scussion. But we enjoyed the Gombeys.
I would like to congratulate the Bermudian
team at the [Global] Robotics Olympics in Geneva.
That is right up my alley. I will leave it at that. I wish
them success and a fabulous learning experience.
I would like to encourage you all to visit Masterworks and see Jahbarri Wilson’s first solo show, which is on there until the end of the month. It looks
very, very interesting.
And I would like to also congratulate ahead of
time the Youth Climate Summit, November 21- 26,
which I briefly participated in last year as a sort of corporate show and tell. And you can visit ycsbda.com. But it is a very cool way when you see the youth come
out and en gage in trying to understand about our cl imate, climate change and its impacts, what they can
learn and what they can do. So, for everybody who
will be involved in organising that and participating, I
would like to send my congratulations.
Sorry . . . you know, I did not really mention
about the Gombey Festival. It was really something. I
should have just expanded on that. So, a huge shout
out to the team who put that on.
So, thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
Congratulatory and/or Obituary Speeches.
No.
Then, I would just like to offer condolences to
the family of Dereck Dillas . Dereck Dillas worked at
the BPSU for many years. And he died this week. And
I would ask that we s end condolences to his family —
to his wife, Gloria and his children and the extended
Dillas family, including myself. He was a first cousin to
me. His father and my father were brothers.
Would any other Senator care to speak at this
time?
Hearing none.
I hand over to you, Senator, the Honourable
Dr. Peets, Minister of Youth, Culture and Sport and the Government Leader in the Senate for the ad-journment.
ADJOURNMENT

I motion that Senate
adjourn until November 23
rd.

The President: November 23rd. I will make a note of
that.
Would any Senator care to speak on the m otion to adjourn?
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

HUMAN RIGHTS ANNUAL REPORT —FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS NOT INCLUDED
Sen. John Wight: I will be very brief, Madam Pres ident. It is 4:15. But earlier we had three annual r eports presented to us which I read and enjoyed. One question I had when reading through the Human
Rights Annual Report was that no audited financial
statements were included in the annual report.
So, I was just curious as to whether there is
any statutory requirement to provide the audited f inancial statements of the Human Rights Commission
as they w ere provided with a budget allocation under
the Consolidated Fund? So it was more of a question
than anything else.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: And who would address that question?
[Crosstalk]

The President: It is the motion to adjourn, and he
was asking a question.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Hearing none . . . and you have heard . . . oh,
Senator Lindsay Simmons. You caught my eye just in
time. You have the floor.

SENATOR LIN DSAY SIMMONS’
POLITI CAL JOURNEY

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, thank
you for allowing me to speak.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, the past years have been a
rollercoaster for me as a Senator, to say the least. I
remember about five years ago I had this big dream
that one day I wa nted to be the Premier of Bermuda.
But I will get into that a little later in my speech.

[Laughter]
Sen. Lindsay Simmons: Madam President, little did I
know that two conversations I had years ago would
lead me into this seat. My first conversation was wi th
MP Famous. I was in my restaurant and I saw him
and said, MP Famous, can you come over here? I
need to speak to you. And I told him as well, I said,
Listen, one day I want to be the Premier. He said,
Yeah, you do? So we talked about it and he encouraged me to join the PLP.
And I would say about a year later I was ha ving a conversation with Minister Burch and I was tel ling him how I wanted to be the Premier. And he said,
What? Well, you have to do the first step in order to
be the Premier, Lindsay. When y ou can figure out
what the first step is, then I can talk to you about b eing the Premier.
So I went along and I was thinking, Well, I just
want to be the Premier. So a couple of weeks later he
talked to me and said, Have you figured out what you
need to do to be the Premier?
So I said, Yes, I have this ambition that I want
to be the Premier one day.
So he said, Lindsay, you have to become a
member of the PLP if you want to be the Premier of
the Progressive Labour Party.
So I said, Well, how do I go about that? So he
got me involved in filling out the paperwork to be b ecome a lifetime member of the PLP. And when he
brought me that shiny gold card, I was excited. But
still I sat on it. And then I heard about the election and
I remember looking at my daughter a nd saying, I talk
a lot of . . . how I want to help to improve what goes
on in foster care, how to improve the life of my daughter, and if I am serious that I want to be the Premier I
need to throw my name in the hat.
So I filled out the application with the PLP and
I remember getting a call. I did not know if they were
going to call me back or email me back, but I got a
call. And I remember them saying, Well, what consti tuency do you want to run in
I said, 12!
He said, 12?
I said, Yes, 12! So [constituenc y] 12, as we all
know, is the OBA’s strongest hold. But I had this ambition that, you know what, I live in constituency 12.
And another person I know does not live in 12 [and]
does not canvass. And I said, you know, I should be in
[constituency] 12 because this is my people. This is
my home. So, like I said, I had this ambition to be
Premier, so I said, Well, the first thing I need to do is
win [constituency] 12. So Madam President, I got on the ground
once I became a candidate, and I pounded the
streets. A nd I remember going to some houses. Now,
we all could look at me and even though my dad is Black and Bermudian, people look at me and think I am White. So I was knocking on doors. And I reme mber knocking on doors and people just being rude because I was wearing the colour green. I had my
daughter with me on one occasion and I remember a
lady coming out and using some not -so-nice words.
And I had to get in the car and I explained to my
daughter that, They don’t know your mother. They just
see what party I represent and did not give me the
opportunity to say who I am.
So, it hurt my feelings. I spoke to my daughter
and I pushed on. Of course, we all know I did not win
the election. I am sitting here in the Senate. But hon-estly, it was probably the best thing that ever ha ppened to me because, like I said, I had this vision that
one day I am going to be the Premier.
Premier? You can have that job!
[Laughter]

Sen. Lindsay Simmons: I honestly love working for
the people. I love being a part of the PLP. The PL P,
no matter what anybody says, we are a family.
You know, Madam President, I look at what
some of my colleagues do on a daily basis, and m yself. They go out to the people. They reach the pe ople. I see MP Chris Famous always pounding the
streets. In my o pinion, he is the people’s MP. He
knows everybody’s name. He gives everybody’s
house . . . I have been out with him. I have been out
with Minister Rabain to his constituency. And I just had the honour to actually canvass with MP Tyrrell the
other day. And he knew everybody’s name, what
house we were going to, and when I looked on his list,
he is in tune with his people. And that is something that I admire and as I hopefully continue to grow my
political career, I hope that I could be like these ge ntlemen who have taken me under their wings and
showed me how a great politician would be.
But Madam President, it is not always glory.
There was an article in the paper about me the other day. It had nothing to do with my political achiev ements or my political downfalls. It was about som ething that I did on a whim. And I remember reading a comment that was negative about my daughter and I
remember the first time an op- ed was put up [about]
me. I was mortified that people were personally attacking me. Not attacking w hat the article said, but
attacking me as a person. I think that we all need to
remember that we are somebody’s mother, som ebody’s father, somebody’s daughter, somebody’s si ster, somebody’s friend. And sometimes we need to
take into consideration that when you attack Lindsay
as a Senator, that is one thing. But when you attack
710 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate me as a person, as a mother, especially, it is personal.
And honestly, I see some of the comments
that are on the Internet and I remember one of the
Minister s who came to me and said, Don’t read that.
But how can I not read that? I see what people say
about the Premier, about his wife, about his daughter.
I just think it is ridiculous, and I think that we all need
to understand that we are the fabric of our community,
all of us. And the way that we talk about people personally, is terrible, because if tomorrow is my last day as a politician, I still have to live in this community. I
still have to be a part of this fabric. And I still want to
do good for my community.
So I ask that we al l put down the bad words.
And, you know, it is even worse when people are ta lking about each other and it is a fake profile. People
are just saying things behind your back and it really
hurts. So I would beg that people especially stop tal king about our sp ouses [and] our children. Because my
daughter goes to school and one day she came home
and said, Mommy, the PLP sucks. And I said, Excuse
me?
[And she said], Well, the children at my school
told me that you suck because you are a part of the
PLP.
And I sa id, London, don’t listen to what people
say. And you know, that is hard. She is eight. And you
know, it hurts my feelings that an adult would have this conversation with their child, who then has a conversation with my child to come back home and tell
me. So I think we need to be careful what we say to
our children.
So like I said, Madam President, my desire is
no longer to be the Premier. I see the Premier works
hard and faces daily, daily struggles. And I see how
he balances things. And it is not easy. T his Premier,
our Premier, my Premier, has the most difficult task of
getting us through. He had the most difficult task of
getting us through the pandemic. We may never see
another Premier who has had to face such challenges
in our lifetime. I remember when it was reported that
we would lose over 1,000 people through the pan-demic. I believe the reason why we have seen [fewer]
deaths than originally predicted was because of the fast actions of the Premier and the Cabinet. So I want to thank them.
The Cabinet has put Bermuda first in my opi nion, so I want to thank the Premier, David Burt; Dep uty Premier, Walter Roban; Minister Kim Wilson; Mini ster Jason Hayward; the Attorney General, Kathy Lynn Simmons; Minister Tinee Furbert; Minister David Burch; Minister W ayne Furbert; Minister Lawrence
Scott; Minister Ernest Peets; Minister Michael Weeks;
Minister Vance Campbell; MP Curtis Dickinson; MP
Renee Ming; MP Zane De Silva; MP Wayne Caines; and MP Lovitta Foggo. These individuals sat in Cab inet at Bermuda’s most difficult time in our lifetime, so thank you. My colleagues have made decisions that may
not have always been popular, but [were] necessary to get the job done and to keep us safe. Madam President, I want to applaud some people who have
helped me personall y in my political journey. So thank
you Minister Hayward; MP Tyrrell; MP Wade; Minister
Rabain; Minister Weeks; Minister Campbell; Minister
T. Furbert; Minister Wilson; the Attorney General,
Kathy Simmons; and to my Senate colleagues Mini ster Peets; Senator Darrell and Senator Dill. I know you
are all saying, Wait, she didn’t say anything about
Senator Hodgson. But that is because I want to give a
special shout -out to Senator Hodgson and MP F amous because I lean on them a lot and they are al-ways there to he lp me. So thank you to both of them.
I want to give a special shoutout to the Deputy
Premier, Walter Roban, who I have had the pleasure to work with. I remember sitting in his office the first
day and I was worried. I was like, Why did the Premier
put me on Home Affairs? But honestly, it was the best
thing that ever happened to me. The Deputy [Premier]
has been there from day one. And I remember him
telling me, Lindsay, it is my job to teach you what I
know because not only do you go out there and re present Home Affairs, you represent me, and if you look bad I look bad. So he is always there ready to
assist.
And Madam President, honestly, I want to say
a huge, huge thank you to the Premier, David Burt.
From the moment he found out that I was throwing my
name in the election, he came to me, and I remember
he said, Lindsay! Hands out and he gave me a hug,
and he said, You are going to run? And I said, Of
course. And at that time I thought I had at least one
vote because we thought he was in [constituency] 12, but no, he was in [constituency] 14. But the Premier
has led this country with steady hands, as promised, and I am grateful for the opportunity to help make
Bermuda the safe and wonderful place that we live in.
I want to thank all Members of caucus and my
PLP members and family. Thank you, thank you,
thank you. This has not always been easy but it has
been worth it because I have been able to be a voice
for some people who are voiceless. I have been able
to speak on issues that I feel are important to Berm uda. So thank you, Premier, and the rest of the PLP
team. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Lindsay Si mmons.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Senator Dill, yes, Senator Emily Dill, Doctor
Dill, you have the floor .

SENATORS NEED TO WORK TOGETHER TO
MEET GREAT CHALLENGES GOING FORWARD



Bermuda Senate Sen. Rev. Dr. Emilygail A. Dill: Good afternoon and
thank you, Madam President.
I would like to share this afternoon as we look
at our work as Senators and a part of this legislati ve
team. The legislative structure in Bermuda was bas ically centred around the development of the Bermuda
Company , and we then inherited centuries of the
propagation of a system that encouraged inequality
and disproportionately favoured the business and
property owners and in many instances one race in
particular. There are many antiquated laws that must
be changed in order for our country to move forward
and to remove the economic and racial divide.
The Ministers who have been assigned, they
and their te ams work assiduously. It has been a very
interesting process for me. Senator Lindsay [Si mmons] talked a little bit about her journey, but it has
been a very interesting process for me to just observe
the amount of hard work that goes into ensuring that
we are able to move forward as a country. The fact
that our teams, when you go from Ministry to Ministry
you see how hard our civil servants work, and in particular our permanent secretaries and directors how
they work very, very hard to highlight the challenges
that are there. Our candidates and elected officials go
from . . . constituency to constituency to hear the concerns of our people and then basically come back and
try to draft legislation that would help to erase the i nequities. We are charged with ha ving to present that
legislation and move it forward in order to ensure that
our country can move forward.
I am pleased that in this recent sitting of the
Senate I observed maybe a slight shift in the tone.
Because certainly as we went out to recess earli er this
year it was very troubling because it felt sometimes
like there were those who sit on the other side who
just relished trying to . . . trying to tear apart the work
that had been done by this Government, and as we
are trying to move legislation for ward just trying to
hold up the process, knowing that we have got so much that we need to accomplish as legislators.
So I am just trusting and praying that as we
go forward, as we look at all of the hard work that has
been done, as we look at how hard . . . sometimes I
look at our Premier and just all of the different en-gagements and meetings and just all of the things that he and his Cabinet Members have to go through in
order to ensure that this country moves forward that
we would, as Members of the Sen ate as we go forward, be mindful of the great task that is ahead of us.
Be mindful of the importance of us being able to move
this legislation forward so that we can do what is right
for our people.
As we look around us, Bermuda . . . as we
come out of thi s pandemic, we find that people are
more stressed than ever. Some have experienced fright, using words like fright when they talk about their
situation. So it is important for us to come together. When we come, let us be as positive as possible. Let
us cel ebrate the achievements that have been done.
And I must say this, last week it completely
disturbed me that when we were talking about the fire
fighters and we talked about what the Government has to pay for their housing, that as we were ending
that discussion that my Senate colleague said,
Wouldn’t every Bermudian love to get $4,500 extra in
their pay cheque. When these individuals are not getting an extra penny! But yet we would put something like that in the atmosphere that causes our community to go in a state of disbelief when it feels like our people are being treated somehow different than others
as opposed to celebrating the fact that we have found
a solution, albeit it is short term, we have found a s olution that we can work with in the interim and that we
are working to ensure that we have a fully staffed Bermuda fire fighters service and that Bermudians are
equipped to be able to take those jobs and be able to
do what is necessary for us.
So I am encouraging us that as we go forward
that we will c elebrate what has been done. Let us not
be maniacal and do things that cause more disruption
in our community, and let us move forward with conf idence and belief that we as a country can be better,
do better and enjoy life together.
Thank you, Madam Presi dent.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dr. Emily Dill.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Senator Arianna Hodgson, you have the floor.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
In fact, I do not plan to be long this afternoon.
But I did want to speak briefly on this idea of account-ability. I was actually having dinner last night and was
told that the PLP Government is not accountable. That
we do not acknowledge our mistakes and that we are
quick to sing our own praises. My first response, of
course, was Have you seen the ‘Royal Gazette’? If we don’t who will?
I strongly believe that each of us should share
our successes and that as a party it should be no di fferent. Madam President, when the PLP Government
ran in the 2020 election, we made a commitment to
create economic growth and recovery, to develop an
equitable education for all Bermudian children, to i mprove the quality of life for all Bermudians and to e nhance healthcare in Bermuda. We made a commi tment to meeting the needs of our seniors and differ-ently abled, to investing in our workforce, and partic ularly when it comes to our youth. We made a commi tment to bring to bring Bermudians together through celebrations of culture and through sport . And we
even made a commitment to becoming a leader in
712 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate sustainability and renewable energy. We made a
commitment to improve transportation and road safety
on our Island. And we made a commitment to building a safer community and reforming our criminal jus tice
system.
Madam President, this was our mandate, and
while there are those who disagree with our methods,
I have not met even one person who could deny that
this is what we have been working toward. That this is what we are doing as a PLP Government. Whenever I canvass or get the opportunity to catch up with friends, or even when meeting total strangers, I am always happy to initiative conversations about the
works that this Government is doing and that our PLP
party is doing to support our communities . I also talk
about the direct work of our MPs and about our branches and all of those who make all of this work possible.
The interesting thing is that by the end of
these conversations I am typically asked why the pub-lic does not know about all of the g ood things that we
are doing. I could totally accept that we can do a bet-ter job at communicating with the public and that there are a number of great ideas out there that could make
our work that much better. But what I cannot accept is
that we are not doing enough. You see, for us, it is not about singing our own praises. It is actually about the satisfaction that comes from knowing that we did our part to make life better for Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
While I can admit that there are many of us
who are struggling, that there are businesses who need more support and that our communities need healing, I can also say that this PLP Government is your best bet in bringing the change that you wish to see. We will not all agree on government priorities or what they should be, but we should all be able to
acknowledge our why. And very simply, this PLP
Government works for the people. We exist to give ordinary people a voice and to ultimately improve their lives. And so today, Madam President, I want to en-courage anybody who is upset, anybody who is di sgruntled, I want to encourage them to reach out to any of us —to the Senators, to their MPs, to the Members
on the other side who sit in the Senate—to discuss their concerns, to share their ideas, and to ultimately recognise that they are also accountable for playing
their role. That they are a part of this bigger picture.
Accountability means saying what you will do
and doing what you say. And it also says that why we will not always agree, we can stay and do our part. Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Senator Darrell. “SUCCESS DON’T COME OVERNIGHT ”
Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I will speak.
Madam Presi dent, I want to take this opportunity to change the direction of which my motions to adjourn usually go. Usually after the Senate finishes, Madam President, my cell phone is inundated with messages, with feedback as to how the Progressive
Labour Party Senate team attempted to beat back
some of the outlandish claims that individuals who sit in this place, who represent a different party, usually with red pom -poms, like to say about the Progressive
Labour Party.
However, today, Madam President, you will
not hear me giving the time of day to the newest OBA
Senator. I will focus on a different topic. A topic that has a title, “Success Don’t Come Overnight.” I would like to start by going back to a cultural event of huge significance that happened on Saturday e vening. And
the Senator who sits across the aisle did make mention of this festival in his congrats and obits. But I will
tell you, Madam President, that there was no way that the Bermuda Gombey and the team who put together this festival can be highlighted in the three minutes that is given to congrats and obits.
So, first, Madam President, I would like to
congratulate the Minister of Youth, Culture and Sport who sits in front of me, the Honourable E. G. Peets. I would like to congratulate his team, Madam President, led by the Director of Culture. Also the chief organiser, I will call her, of the Gombey Festival, Ms. Carlita
Lodge. I would like to congratulate all the groups who
participated in the Gombey Festival. I would like to congratulate the Gombey groups themselves —
Warwick Gombey Troupe; Gombey Evolution Troupe; Gombey Warriors; Place’s [New Generation] Gom-beys; and the H&H Gombey. And as the Senator from
the other side did mention earlier, Madam President, it
was an unbelievable outpouring of support from the
community.
From where I sat, Madam President, the bank
was full! There were individuals who were inside the
ring with their chairs. The bleachers were full. There
were even people outside the gate trying to glance a look at this amazing festival which we had not had in a
few years.
Let me tell you a story that shows you how the
Progressive Labour Party is actually connected to the
community. That cotton candy line which Senator De
Couto spoke about, he might have been upset by the line, and, yes , his son might have been really, really
eager to get some cotton candy, but let me tell you why that line is so long. Because the proprietor of Bermuda Cupcake Factory, Ms. Malisa Swan, one of
my first students at the CedarBridge Academy, has
worked long and hard in her entrepreneurial journey to get her business to where the lines are almost un-bearable. But people will stand in it because they b elieve in her products.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, let me go back to the topic
of this motion to adjourn, Success Don’t C ome Overnight. Because Malisa Swan was my student in 2003.
That is a long time to be working to get her business,
Bermuda Cupcake Factory, where it is today. And on that day, I might add, she was at the Warwick Academy Fair, she had a stall on Parsons Road, and then
she finished her day by serving Senator De Couto’s
son, and many others, at the Bermuda Gombey Fest ival. Success Don’t Come Over Night, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, let me go back to the
Gombeys. I have long been a fan of the Gombeys
from the days that my family used to attend the
May 24 parade. We would watch the runners, which
my dad used to participate in. We would go down to
Albuoy’s Point and have a picnic and then at some
point in the afternoon, like many other Bermudian
families, we would pack up, take all of our stuff, put it
in a bundle and go over to Queen Street (I think we
used to go to) and watch the parade come down the hill.
I could not wait until the end of the parade
when the Gombeys would come by. I liked the drums.
That w as my thing as a little boy. Also, I am going to
put this in here. She will kill me later. But my first
cousin, Tinia, was terrified of the Gombeys. She was
scared; she would run off. I would actually love them.
I must take this time right now, Madam Pres ident, to admit that my family did not have any direct
connections with a Gombey group. Directly or indirec tly, we were not associated. However, Madam Pres ident, since the time that I returned from university
[where] I took up Social Science as a major, I taught
in the Bermuda public school system for 15 years topics such as Bermuda Social Studies, Preserving our
Heritage. I can tell you that I have spent the last 22
years being enamoured with the history, culture and
performance—all aspects —of the Bermuda Gombey.
They say that you do not fully learn something until you actually have the opportunity to teach it to som eone else. I will talk more about that later.
While teaching the Bermuda Social [Studies]
and Preserving our Heritage at CedarBridge and
Berkeley, I began to love the intricate details of the
Bermuda Gombey. I started taking on things in my
vocabulary like “fringe,” “mask,” understanding and
noticing the difference in headdresses, the length of
capes, messages on the cape, the colours, the diff erent roles: trap work, chief, chopper, go man, captain ;
different instruments in the Gombey performance: the
base drum, the snare drum.
I even went so far, with the help of individuals
who were in Gombeys, as learning about the different skits that they are performing: Daniel in the lion’s den,
David and Goliath. The traditional beats versus the non-traditional beats. Traditional Gombey troupes
versus non- traditional Gombey troupes. I also came to
learn that many of my closest friends, political col-leagues, political support staff have deep, rooted connections with Gombey troupes. I talk about Branch
Chair of constituency 8, Mr. Andr é Place, who cel ebrated his 65
th birthday this year, Madam President.
Ironically, his last name is “Place” and the Place’s Gombey Troupe are celebrating 65 years of being a
Gombey in Bermuda. Once again, Madam President,
success don’t come over night.
I must also give credit at this time to a doc umentary that was produced many years ago. Forgive
me, I don’t know exactly who pr oduced it but I think it
was through the Department of Culture at the time. It
was called “Behind the Mask [: Bermuda Gombeys
Past, Present and Future].” If anyone has seen it, you
know what I am talking about. If anyone has not, I i mplore you to look at it . Recently, due to that video and
teaching Gombeys, I wanted to learn more about them. I found myself chasing drummer, Mr. Billie
Glassford, from H&H [Gombey] all over Bermuda as
he beats to the rhythm of the Gombey, chasing a for-mer student of mine who no w is the captain of Gombey Warriors, Mr. Kemo Gardner, as he leads Gombey Warriors all over this Island.
And I have come to make sure that any visitor
who comes to my house from overseas not only likes
Gombeys and wants to take a picture, but they understand the history and culture behind the Bermuda
Gombey.
And Madam President, this brings me to hig hlight a new video that was produced by Mr. Qian Dic kinson. It was rolled out last week ironically the day
before the Gombey Festival. The film was short; it was
about seven minutes. If anyone has seen it, it was
called “ Not a Generic Gombey [: Art, Consumption,
and Intellectual Property. ]” That was the title of this
short film. And this film included Gombey captains
from all Gombey groups, including Mr. Robert Wilson;
Mr. Dennis Parsons (from Place’s New Generation
Gombeys); Shawn Hershey DeShields (from Gombey
Warriors). And it was also put together with the help of
Ms. Carlita Lodge. And this short film touched on a
topic that has frustrated Gombey leaders for a very,
very long time. It is about their intellectual property. Simply put, people stealing their images for commercial or personal gain.
There are far too many stories, Madam Pres ident, of entrepreneur s who do not understand their
hard work, the hours of time, dedication and practice
that so many people come together and put in place to make the performance of the Gombey group sparkle. Again, Madam President, success don’t come
overnight. We have seen e ntrepreneurs come in, take
a picture, put that image on a shirt, a hat and sell it for
massive profits on Front Street without even having
the decency of contacting the Gombey group, , com-pensating them for their image or even letting them
know that, Hey, I am going to use this picture which I
took from your Gombey performance at the Gombey
Festival. How many times have we seen the word
714 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate “Gombey” placed in front of a product to try to bring
attention to it? Gombey this or Gombey that. Some
people even have establishments with the name
Gombey in it.
Madam President, as success don’t come
overnight, this brings me to a song that many people
may know. It was produced many years ago by Mr.
Anthony B, a Reggae artist. And in that song there
was a line talking ab out nobody wants to plant the
corn, Madam President, however, everybody wants to
raid the barn.
Madam President, as I attended the Gombey
Festival and I started thinking about the career that I
am in right now, which is politics, and a Government
which i s led by the Progressive Labour Party, I started
to think, Well, how do Gombey troupes have any parallels to government or political parties? Let’s talk
about the identity. The identity of a Gombey and pol itics in Bermuda is a unique representation of the I sland’s heritage, a living symbol of struggle that conti nues to this day, rituals, handled down from generation to generation. It does not mean that it cannot be an ything new, Madam President. But before you move into a position of leadership one must be respectful of
the past.
Let’s talk about teamwork, Madam President.
A Gombey troupe, a government, a political party must all move as one. Not just those in the troupe, but
also those who follow. Madam President, you will
know, as a lady of leadership, tha t this creates harmony.
A Gombey troupe uses whistles for the captain to rally his troupes. And in doing this, he clearly directs the troupes to follow. With all of this, Madam
President, success don’t come overnight. Because
after all of the hard work and all of the struggle we can
see the sparkle and flow on full display for all to see.
And we like this because as Bermudians we will follow
the Gombeys for miles. And dare I say, Madam Pres ident, that the Progressive Labour Party Government is also full of sparkle. It is also full of success.
Madam President, I am here today to let you
and everyone else know that this sparkle did not come
by chance, and success don’t come overnight. It takes
strong leadership to accomplish many of the accomplishments that t he PLP Government has seen just
recently. We can talk about matters such as economic
performance [that] is increasing in this country. We
can talk about economic growth, reduction of taxes.
We talked about freezing fuel prices, Madam Pres ident. We talked about a PLP -led government that a nnounced in July a package for working- class families,
including but not limited to a payroll tax rebate — $150
per student for parents of public school [students]; a
15 per cent increase in the food allowance budget for
the Department of Financial Assistance to provide
more support to families in need of food assistance. Today in this Senate Chamber you would have heard,
Madam President, that duty was eliminated on 21 more essential items to assist working- class families.
This is in addition to what we would have heard in the
last week, and more examples of a PLP -led Gover nment growing the economy with the successful exec ution of Bermuda’s Economic Recovery Plan.
We have seen the strongest growth in intern ational business since 2007, creating more jobs and
opportunities, such as the record number of inter nships awarded by international business to so many
young talented Bermudians. [There were] 16 regi stered and licensed FinTech companies where jobs are
being created for Bermudians and companies tracking
down international conferences.
And today we also heard, Madam President,
how the Progressive Labour Party Government i ntends to fix the growing crisis of housing that we have
in Bermuda. You see, Madam President, going back to Saturday night —

The President: Senator Darrell, you have two
minutes.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
Going back to Saturday night we all saw, and
literally, the fireworks and the polished performance of
our cherished Gombey troupes. We all saw the su ccess and we were all excited to watch and cheer them on. I heard a young man close to me, Madam Pres ident, say, I want to be a Gombey. You know why,
Madam President? Because that young man saw the
glitz. He saw the success. He saw the spark le. And he
thought it was easy to be a Gombey.
Madam President, in the words of another
Reggae singer who goes by the name of Cronixx, he
said, Success don’t come overnight. A complete performance, I dare say, takes years of connecting our
past, our pres ent, and our future.
Thank you, Madam President.

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

LEAVE OUR FAMILIES OUT OF POLITICS

Thank you, Madam
President.
I want to start on one topic and then I am going to change topics. I listened carefully to Senator
Lindsay Simmons, and I was dismayed and upset to hear about her personal experiences that she related.
I mean, we know these things happen to people in the
public sphere, and I just want to extend to her my
message that I am sorry that those things happened
to you. And I know that if I was to see somebody b ehaving in that [way] I would certainly tell them about it.
And I will not get into details but I know that at some
point in history my family had a situation of children


Bermuda Senate being brought into things. And we know that is not
right.
So while we all sit here and we trade our poli tical spears and arrows we know that that is us, we
have elected to be in this game. But we know that we need to leave our families out of it and we also need
to be respectful of people’s personal views. So I just
. . . you know, I can’t personally apologise to you
Senator Simmons, but I certainly do apologise and
know that I believe most people in Bermuda would be
in agreement with me. So thank you for being open and honest and sharing that with us. And I am sorry
that you had that experience, Senator Simmons.

WE ARE ALL BERMUDIAN

I want to go on a different tack now. There are people in Bermuda who want
to draw lines. They want to say who is on each side of
the line. You have to be with us; you have to be
against us. They want to be gatekeepers as to who is allowed to tal k about certain things or be concerned
about certain things. Now, I have two colleagues here and those of us who are in the room can take a look
and see that we look different. We are of slightly di fferent ages and backgrounds and professions. That is
a strength for us. And we get together and we share
our personal experiences. We share our professional
experiences. And we do not shut each other out because we are not technical or financial or, I’m not experienced in human resources, or whatever. And if I
go . . . I won’t get too political, but if I go into the room
with the OBA, and I look around the room, one thing I
can tell you is that there will be disagreements. And
that is a strength. That is a power. And we are real
representatives of Bermuda.
Now, as a White gentleman—I am going to go
there— as a White gentleman who was raised a certain way, it was a while before I understood some
things. I am in my 40s now, so I have begun to understand them. And I make an effort, like many of friends
and people I know who have come to this realisation
to understand history and what we need to know
about our fellow Bermudians. So for me it is a priv ilege to be out there and say, Let’s go to the Gombey
Festival. My son wants to go. He is excited. Let’s go.
Let’s lear n. I think that is great! And I think that is the
purpose of a thing like that. I would like to congrat ulate . . . and I am sorry that I cannot remember the
name. The industrious young lady with the popcorn
stands. Well, it was popcorn. It was a lot of thi ngs. We
actually enjoyed being in line. Getting the vibe, if you
know what I mean.

[Laughter]

But let me go back to
the gatekeeping thing. When I was in the Regiment
during recruit camp, I did recruit camp at . . . I started it at age 29. So you might imagine that it was a slightly
different experience. And it can get a little tense. And
[I] had a “friendly discussion” with a gentleman who
was, well, let’s call it a darker green. I mean, it took
me a week to figure out dark gr een and light green.
But that is another story. And this gentleman wanted
to talk about who was more Bermudian.
Let’s think about that. Who was more Berm udian? We are both up there, we are tired, we are ex-hausted, we are wearing our green uniforms, we are
probably both ready for a fight. It was one of those weeks. Who is more Bermudian? Let’s think about
that. And he wanted to start talking about whose parents came from where, how long they had been here.
Now, I am not going to get into the details of
that but I think some people would be surprised. Ma ybe not. But the point is, it is the wrong question. It is
the wrong question!
Look around, we are all Bermudian. I know
you aren’t all up here . . . Madam President, I know
you are not up here for your healt h. I am not up here
for my health. Right? And that is why we are in this. And when I think about Bermuda I am not about trying
to draw lines about who is allowed to comment on or
enjoy or have a certain experience. We might say, Hey, you over there in that group. You might want to
understand this other group’s experience. That is i mportant. But I think we need to recognise that there
are a lot of stories in Bermuda. A lot of stories of how
people came here, how long they have been here.
Some stories about f amilies have come and gone,
come and gone, come and gone three times in 50, 60
years and have history all up and down the [US] east
coast and other islands and Europe. And we need to
be mindful of that, because while there are people
who will use the vision as a political tool, it is not the
way forward.
Yes, understanding. Yes, appreciation. Yes,
grip history and know what it means for people and
the implications it has for where people are today, and
what we need to do better at. But not division, not exclusion, not gatekeeping.
With that, I would like to say thank you to all of
you in the Senate for putting up with me since the
springtime. And I look forward to seeing you all in N ovember. And Madam President, I look forward to seeing you there as well. T hank you, very much.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Ben Smith, you raised your hand.
You have the floor.

BERMUDA FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
I had not intended to speak this evening. I
think it is almost evening, we have been here a long
time.
716 12 October 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: I was just going to say. I was just going to remind you.

[Laughter]
Sen. Ben Smith: But there was a comment that was
made earlier in the motion to adjourn that made me have to at least speak to an issue that was raised last
week. But before I get to that, I think it is important
that we understand and that the listening audience
understands that a lot of times when the microphone is off we are s pending time talking to each other like
people, like Bermudians who are all in this room trying
to do the best we can to help this country to move
forward.
But in debate there is always one side and
then the other side. You will have found today that there were times that we were on the same side.
There were questions that were asked. We took out
the time to see if we could get clarification, to ask
questions so that not only we had a better under-stand ing but that the listening audience had a better
under standing and, potentially, something that was
supposed to be done for the betterment of the country
could be done a little bit better. And that is the conversation that a lot of us have when we turn the micr ophone off.
But Madam President, last week when I was
having a discussion point based off of the questions that I asked on the Fire Service, I was speaking on
behalf of Bermudians who happen to be in the Fire
Service. So we cannot discredit how they feel because it is their feeling. We all have to understand, and I believe that we have heard it tonight from different Members of the Senate, that it is the life you live
and the prism that you look through that determines
how you feel about what is happening in the country.
And what that view is depends on what seat you are
sitting in.
So, Madam President, when it is brought up
that there was a housing allowance for the overseas
firefighters, of $4,500—