May 11, 2022

Good morning Ma dam President, and good morning to my fellow Sen ators.
Madam President , as we look forward to enjoying a time of togetherness during Heritage Month in
May, I invite our community to remember that June
also provides opportunities to celebrate what it means
to be Bermudian as we honour the contributions of our
National Heroes . In addition to an annual educational
campaign, each year the Department of Culture organises a tribute event celebrating the contributions of
our heroes as a way of [ engendering] national pride.
In previous years, this has taken the form of reflections from the heroes’ families , praise from members
of the community inspired by [the heroes’] legacy and
most recently a musical concert.
This year the d epartment will celebrate our
heroes by shifting the annual Premier’s Concert to
June. The Premier’s Concert, which highlights departmental grant recipients in the arts as well as the
talents of young creatives, offers a brilliant platform to
celebrate Bermudian excellence as exemplified by our
heroes.
Madam President , becoming a National Hero
is the highest honour that can be bestowed upon a
Bermudian by our Government. A National Hero possesses outstanding character and has made a signif icant and lasting contribution to Bermuda. A Bermuda
National Hero will be remembered for enriching the
lives of others, and the legacy of a National Hero is
one that will stand the test of time. The very nature of
this award is such that it is an exceedingly rare honour.
Dame Lois Browne- Evans was inducted as
Bermuda’s first National Hero in 2009. A n additional
seven heroes have been inducted in the 13 years
since then. To retain the distinct and extraordinary
character of this award, the nomination process for a
new National Hero will now open to the publi c once
every 10 years, with the next cycle beginning in 2025.
Although we will receive nominations once every 10
years, this does not mean that a new National Hero
must necessarily be named. It is fully anticipated that
the number of National Heroes will a lways remain li mited, underscoring how high the bar is set for this particular designation.
Madam President , as a part of th e revamped
process, the criteria for selection of National Heroes
will be re -examined and codified into law. Further announcements regarding this process will be made in due course. In the meantime, I know we all have
much to celebrate during Heritage Month.
As I have previously said, it has been incredibly difficult these last few years for all of us, and this
month I hope that we can let our togetherness be our
personal mantra in addition to our national theme.
Now is the time to look after each other, remember
what binds us over what divides us, and be our children’s heroes by creating a better world for them together .
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Minister Peets.
The second Statement is in the name of Senator Arianna Hodgson, the Junior Minister for Finance.
Senator Hodgson, you have the floor.

STANDARD & POOR’S (S&P) 2022
RATINGS REPORT

Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, I rise to inform Members of
the Senate that Standard & Poor’s (S&P) have recently released a report which has reaffirmed Bermuda's
A+ Sovereign Credit Rating as well as Bermuda's A -1
short -term rating and its AA + transfer and convertibi lity assessment. S&P also maintained the “stable ” outlook for Bermuda's credit rating. The report was pu blished on the 10th of May after their review, which was
conducted in April of this year. Credit highlights of the
report state that the institutional stability and a wealthy
economy support the rating and that Bermuda has a
track record of creating policies that support sustainable public finances and economic growth led by the
international business sector. This section of the r eport also mentions that low fiscal deficits and sizable
government assets underpin low net debt to GDP.
Madam President , the report in general is a
positive one and highlights that there are several pol icies that the Government has implemented that are
viewed favo urably by the rating agency. To this end
the report states, “We view Bermuda’s policymaking as largely effective, predictable, and proactive; and its
political institutions as stable.” Not only does S&P
view the policies that we have implemented as positive, [but] they also believe that the Government’s v ision for the future is sound and will ultimately lead to
prosperity. The report continues, “We believe the terr itory is willing to implement reforms to ensure the longterm sustainability of public finances.”
Madam President , in their report S&P also
stated that they expect the next several years to c ontinue to benefit from the growth in the international
financial sector and a pick -up in tourism , and that this
growth will lead to reduced deficits and less borro wing. The rating agency clearly believes in this country’s ability to maintain the positive economic infl uences provided by the IB [international business] secBermuda Senate tor and in the Government’s ability to grow the tourism
sector after tough decisions were made at the begi nning of the pandemic which severely curtailed this vital
industry. It was also stated that Bermuda maintained
its stable outlook due to the fact that S&P anticipate
that the economic recovery that Bermuda is currently
experiencing will continue during the foreseeable f uture.
Madam President , other highlights from the
report focused on the country’s fiscal balances and
debt levels , stating, “Economic activity should support
low fiscal deficits with limited need for new borrowing.
The government’s borrowing needs will largely be f ocused on refinancing upcoming maturities due in 2022
and 2023. We expect Bermuda’s net debt burden will
remain low.” This quote is an endorsement of this
Government’s policy of borrowing and spending only
when necessary, most recently for Carolina Bay and
providing support for vulnerable businesses and people during the pandemic.
Madam President , at this time I would like to
remind [Senators] that S&P is not the only rating
agency that reports on Bermuda. Moody’s Investor
Services [Moody’s ] released their latest report on
Bermuda on the 2nd of July 2021, while Kroll Bond
Rating Agency [KBRA ] released their most recent r eport on the 7th of October 2021. The government currently holds long- term foreign currency credit ratings
of “A2” [stable outlook ] from Moody’s and “A+” [stable
outlook ] from KBRA.
Madam President , after the challenges faced
during the pandemic, this Government reali sed that
we had to put a plan in place to get this country back
on the positive trajectory that it was heading toward
prior to 2020. To that end, we implemented the Ec onomic R ecovery Plan, which has aggressive debt targets which I am pleased to say that we have met. The
Government will continue to advance policy initiatives
necessary for long- term economic growth while
providing unprecedented relief to individuals and
businesses as outlined in the Budget Statement.
Madam President , I would like to emphasi se
that Bermuda's credit rating is important to ensure our
continued economic stability and growth of our economy and public finances. This Government is commi tted to the continued execution of our prudent and considered fiscal program me, which is a key component of our strategy to maintain and enhance our ratings. As part of that strategy, Madam President , our
commitment remains unwavering to providing appr opriate support to our businesses, families and indivi duals. We have fulfilled our promises in the past in this
regard and will continue this important work as we
move forward to a better, stronger Bermuda.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator A rianna Hodgson, Junior Minister for Finance. We have a third Statement, and that is in the
name of the Junior Minister of Tourism, Senator Owen
K. Darrell.
Senator Darrell, you have the floor.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.

FAIRMONT SOU THAMPTON HOTEL ACT 2022

Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, as we go
about our every day lives, we cannot help but notice
that cruise ships have returned to Dockyard, flights
are fuller and hotel occupancy is increasing. There is
a growing number of visitors to Bermuda, and this
highlights that the foundation for the recovery of tourism is being laid.
Madam President, in another place the Mini ster of Tourism referred to the Bill tabled in the Senate
today as one of “national importance.” Madam Pres ident, t he Fairmont Southampton Hotel Act 2022 re presents the continued delivery on a promise that was
made to the people of Bermuda. In this Government’s
2020 election platform we specifically outlined that the
Government would: “support . . . major public and private sector building projects . . . to provide emplo yment in construction over the next five years.” Among
those projects is the redevelopment of the Fairmont
Southampton Hotel.
Madam President, the Bill tabled today also
delivers on a key undertaking made by the Gover nment as a part of negotiating the full extent of support
required to make this redevelopment a reality. D iscussions are ongoing and continue to be very technical,
involving counsel for both sides working through the
various practical asp ects of the agreed heads of
terms . The Ministry of Finance is fully engaged in
these matters as we work to achieve the best possible
outcome for the people of Bermuda.
Madam President, the Government of Berm uda has moved quickly to fulfil its commitments by advancing this Bill. Investors’ confidence in the Island
and its future must be met with nimble and flexible
approaches to ensure we achieve the economic
growth necessary for economic recovery. The Bill’s proposed grant of concessions for 15 years repr esents that flexible approach, and the Senate will note
that the extension of concessions for that period r etains the same protections contained in the Tourism
Investment Act 2017.
Madam President, I also wish for the public to
know that this Bill deliberately contains the necessary
protections for Bermudian employment and Bermudian upward mobility in the industry. The Government is
determined that those Bermudians who choose c areers in hospitality will be treated fairly and have every opportunity to grow in the industry according to their
work ethic, their interest and their commitment. It must
be recalled, Madam President, that this redevelo pment represents a potential for over 700 jobs at the
444 11 May 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate varying stages of redevelopment through to the hotel’s
re-opening.
Madam President, the Bill represents another
critical milestone in the advancement of our economic
recovery and tourism renewal for Bermuda. There is a
considerable amount of work that remains to be done ,
and the work is continuing daily to ensure t hat there is
a clear path to the return of positive economic impact from this hotel on Bermuda.
Madam President, global demand for travel
has returned. Bermuda’s hotel bookings for the coming months are said to be strong, and this is encouraging for all e lements of the tourism economy. The
Government is committed to advancing this redeve lopment, signal ling that tourism can renew its claim as
a twin pillar of this economy, providing economic activity, economic growth and career opportunities for
the people of Bermuda. Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell, Junior
Minister for Tourism.

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS
The President: There are none.

Excuse me, Madam
President. I do have a question on the Stat ement.

The President: No. Not at this point.

FIRST READING OF PUBLIC BILLS

FAIRMONT SOUTHAMPTON HOTEL ACT 2022
The President: The following Public Bill has been
received from the Honourable House of Assembly and
is now read for the first time: Its tit le is, respectively,
the Fairmont Southampton Hotel Act 2022.

FIRST READING OF PRIVATE BILLS

The President: There are none.

QUESTION PERIOD
The President: The first question will relate to the
Statement that was delivered by the Minister of Youth,
Culture and Sport, Dr. the Hon. Ernest G. Peets.
Would any Senator care to ask a question on
the Statement on the National Heroes Day?
Senator Ben Smith, you have t he floor.

QUESTION 1: NATIONAL HEROES DAY
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you. Good morning, Madam
President. Good morning to the Senate. On the Statement from the Minister this mor ning on page 3, just a quick question on the revamped process. Were there any spec ific issues with the s election process up till now that prompted a revamping of the selection criteria? Just so that we have an understanding of why this [revamped] process has happened.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you.
Senator Michelle Simmons, you have a question?

Sen Michelle Simmons: Yes. Thank you, Madam
President.

The President: You have the floor.

QUESTION 1: NATIONAL HEROES DAY

Sen Michelle Simmons: My question is also related
to the revamped process. And I will state that I know
that there are nominations that were sent in previously under the old process to the Ministry. Some of those
nominations have never been acknowledged or r esponded to. So I am wondering if in the revamped
process, there will be a commitment to respond to
every nomi nation that comes in. Because it is a little
bit disturbing that there were no responses, or there was no response, to some of the nominations of which
I am aware.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?
Hearing none, then, Minister Peets, it is over
to you to respond. Thank you.

Yes. Thank you,
Madam President, and thank you to my Senate co lleagues for your questions on the Statement.
Regarding the question as relates to why a
revamp, many people may not be aware that the crit eria for nomination left a lot of discretion to the Minister
of the day and of course to the committee that was
responsible for vetting the app lications. As such, of
course from year to year there could be a lot of different variants as it relates to who is the sitting Minister
at the time or perhaps who is sitting on the National
Heroes Council.
So it is in the best interest for the country , at
least in my opinion, that the criteria for our National Hero not [be based on or] reside necessarily [with]
who is potentially sitting on the committee or perhaps
who the sitting Minister is or who the Government of
the day is.


Bermuda Senate As such, you know, the Nat ional Hero is the
highest honour that can be bestowed upon an indivi dual Bermudian by the Government. As such, it is the
will of this Government and the understanding of this
Government to preserve that uniqueness and to do something that keeps that partic ular designation [d eserving] of its high and rare honour. It is to, one, of
course, enshrine that criteria for National Heroes into law; and of course then, consequently, to spread the
nomination process out to every 10 years.
We certainly recognise that the community
has a lot of individuals out there who are doing a lot of great work, and our community has benefited from it.
This particular process does not prevent or impede or
stop the Government or the private sector from recog-nising the amazing and positive contributions that
people are making to our community and to our country. But having said that, a National Hero needs to be
an individual who is really setting that bar at a really,
really high level.
Regarding the previous nominations, I can
confi rm that the department and the Ministry are in
receipt of a number of nominations over the years. We
have all of those documents, and we have all of that
information. So as the process is being revamped,
persons can either resubmit —and/or, of course, Senator, we will go ahead and pull those files out and vet
those files against the process, going forward. So hopefully, that submission is satisfactory to the Senators.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Minister Peets.
Senator Smith.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President. Just
a follow -up question to what Minister Peets just said
and kind of dovetailing with what Senator Simmons
said.
If there were several people who were put
forward who maybe did not reach the full criteria for a
National Hero, but had shown, as the Minister put,
really good work within the community and people are backing that person, has there been any thought of a secondary way of celebrating those people and their
achievements so that people do not think they hav e
put an application in [and] nothing has happened with
it because they do not know that they have not
reached the full level of National Hero? It just would
be good for us to still find a way to celebrate what
these people have done for our country.
Thank you.

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

Yes, thank you.
Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Senator . If I
understand the question correctly, at present there is
not any discussion in creating a secondary award that
perhaps may sort of fall a little under National Hero
[award] . But having said that of course, it is important,
particularly for Senate Michelle Simmons’s question,
that if information is being sent in regarding applic ations for National Heroes, it is the responsibility of the
committee, and by extension the Ministry and the Mi nister, to make sure that we are communicating and
responding.
We certainly recognise that there are lots of
people who are perhaps deserving of awards even if it may not meet the criteria for that particular year or in
that particular nomination cycle for a National Hero.
So I am certainly in support of working with the private
sector and community in ensuring that all of the individuals out there who are doing amazing work, and
sometimes without payment and without public or pr ivate recognition —that when those individuals are
identified that we find a way as a Government and we
find a way as a community to celebrate them. And
hopefully we did that of course, for example on Mot her’s Day. So a belated Happy Mother’s Day to all the
mothers who are here and who are listening. Those
heroes, such as our mothers, are heroes every single day.
But I do understand that it is important, parti cularly for our country and such a small community,
that if we really want to encourage more good work,
[the way to do so] is to recognise the good work that
people are doing. So I will pledge today to work on
these issues and to find a way to work wi th all of the
stakeholders to ensure that in between our nomina-tions for National Heroes, and for even those who
perhaps do not make the final cut, we find a way to
celebrate these individuals.

The President: Thank you, Minister Peets, Minister of
Youth, Culture and Sport, and the Government Leader
in the Senate.
We will now move on to the second Stat ement, and that was given by Senator Arianna Hodgson. And that is the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 2022 Ratings Report.
Would any Senator care to —
Senator John Wight, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: STANDARD & POOR’S (S&P) 2022
RATINGS REPORT

Sen. John Wight: Thank you, Madam President. B efore I ask my question, I just want to say that it is i ndeed excellent news to hear that S&P have reaffirmed
Bermuda’s sover eign debt rating A+. This is great for
Bermuda’s reputation as a world- class domicile for
international business and to keep interest rates as low as possible.
446 11 May 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate My question comes about from reading the
Junior Minister’s Statement on the ratings where reference is made to the expectation of Bermuda’s net
debt burden remaining low. And my question is that, with $140 million of debt being refinanced this coming
December, and $354 million of debt being refinanced
next March, is there a concern from the Government
that we will be paying substantially higher interest
rates on that refinancing?
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Wight.
Would any Senator care to ask a question on
this Statement?
Hearing none, we will give the Junior Mi nister
an opportunity to frame—if no other Senator has a
question on this Statement, we will give her time to
frame a response.

[Pause]

The President: Senator Hodgson.
Sen. Arianna Hodgson: Madam President, in r esponse to Senator Wight’s question, I did want to confirm that of course there is a concern concerning the
interest rates and the fact that they are likely obviously to increase. What we can confirm is that the Gover nment is looking to pursue all options to obtain the best rates possible.

The President: Thank you, Senator Arianna Hodgson.
Hearing no other questions, then we will move
on to the third Statement. And, Senators, I would just
like to advise you that any question that comes up on this Fairmont Southampton Hotel Act and the Stat ement that was given by Senator Owen Darrell, the
Junior Minister of Tourism —any questions put forward
should relate strictly to the content of the Statement
that was read.
So, would any Senator care to speak?
Senator Michelle Simmons, you have the
floor.

QUESTION 1: FAIRMONT SOUTHAMPTON
HOTEL ACT 2022

Sen Michelle Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
I would like to seek clarification about part of
the Statement which begins at the bottom of page 1
and goes over to page 2. Is it correct [to assume] that
there is not yet a signed agreement with the developers and that a deal is still being negotiated? That is
my question about the Statement, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons. Would any other Senator —Dr. De Couto.

QUESTI ON 2: FAIRMONT SOUTHAMPTON
HOTEL ACT 2022

My second question
refers to the first full paragraph on page 2 that refers,
compares the protections in the Bill to the [protec tions
in the] 2017 Tourism Investment Act. Of course, we are all interested that Bermudian workers and bus inesses are well protected. How would the Junior Mi nister compare the protections to, for example, the St.
George’s Resort Act of 2018, and to really thinking
about condos, which that Act is quite detailed about
how to treat the condos with this Bill. I would like to
hear what he has to say.

QUESTION 3: FAIRMONT SOUTHAMPTON
HOTEL ACT 2022

Then at the end of the
Statement, “global demand for travel has returned . . .
hotel bookings . . . are . . . strong.” Perhaps the Junior
Minister could comment on how the TAF, or the travel
authorisation form, affects demand for travel to Bermuda.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Douglas De Couto, or Dr. De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions?
Senator Ben Smith, Opposition Leader in the
Senate, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: FAIRMONT SOUTHAMPTON
HOTEL ACT 2022

Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, my questions are from
page 2 of the Statement. The first one is, there is a


Bermuda Senate line in the second main paragraph, “The Government
is determined that those Bermudians who choose c areers in hospitality will be treated fairly and have every
opportunity to grow in the industry according to their
work ethic, interest and commitment.” Can the Junior Minister give us an indication of what training is in
place now to prepare Bermudians to take on these
jobs that will be available when this hotel reop ens?
And if there is that training, how many people are participating in that training so that we make sure that
they are prepared when the hotel is reopened?

QUESTION 2: FAIRMONT SOUTHAMPTON
HOTEL ACT 2022

Sen. Ben Smith: Still on page 2 in that same par agraph, there is a specific point over the potential of
700 jobs at varying stages of redevelopment through
to the hotel’s reopening. Could the Junior Minister
give us an estimate of how many of these jobs are
going to be in the construction phase and what will be the estimated number of actual full -time workers once
the development is reopened? Because that is the long-term employment that we would want for our
Bermudians to have. So that is the important number.
Obviously the construction build is the in itial part, but
we need to know —how many of those are in the initial
stage and how many are going to be once the hotel has reopened?
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Ben Smith.
Would any Senator care to ask questions on
this Statement?
Hearing none, then it is over to you, Senator
Darrell, to respond when you are ready.
Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
(Just one second.)
[Pause]
Sen. Owen Darrell: I like to work my way from bac kwards. I had the answer. Okay.
I will start with Senator Smith’s question first,
and the estimate is that once this deal is locked and
loaded and ready to go, 650 jobs will be created in
construction and 800 jobs will be created once the
hotel actually opens. So I think those numbers sound
really good to individuals who currently are unem-ployed or underemployed, and another rationale and
reason why we, as the PLP Government, think that it is important to get this hotel open and working as
soon as possible.
Now I will go back to the or iginal question,
which was asked by Senator Simmons. The question
was, Is there an agreed, signed deal? In another
place the Premier did indicate that there are agreed
heads of terms. What this means is that it actually sets the stage for a final agreement which is currently
being worked on. The hope is that this work is ongo-ing, and the hope is that the deal will close very soon.
I think I have answered Senator De Couto’s
question in my first one.
Third question. The Bill speaks to the fact
that plannin g permission is not granted by the Bill and
that any development will be then subject to the ord inary planning process. We talked about demand. It is
very clear to everyone involved that the month of May
is virtually sold out. And we actually have a record in
hotel occupancy. Cruises are oversubscribed with
passengers. And guess what? Each and every one of
those visitors have filled out and completed a TA form
without issue.
Regarding training, the training process is
being provided through a multitude of ways. One, if
the Senator had been recently listening to some of my
other Statements, [it] comes with the signature
schools for young people. And the second one is
through Workforce Development and hotel training
programmes. So I think we are well on our w ay to
providing suitable training for Bermudians who would
like jobs in this industry.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Senator De Couto, I think you had your three
questions. You can have a supplementary..

SUPPLEM ENTARY

Thank you.
Supplementary on the protections question. I
was not thinking about the planning per se. But in the
2018 Act it sets up conditions by which the resort residences qualify for the various concessions. And I
wond er how you would characterise this proposed
Act’s treatment of how things like condos and resort
residences might be ensured to be used for tourism
purposes to get the concessions. Thank you.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Madam President, I must be
honest. I am not sure I quite understand the question.
But I will answer it like this: These concessions that
the Government has put in place in this deal are necessary. And they are necessary to give the investors
confidence in investing in Bermuda and redeveloping
this h otel. With that confidence will come renewed
faith and hope in Bermudians who are looking for jobs, who need jobs, who need jobs now.
So, Madam President, while it is great that the
Senator is comparing and asking to other Acts about
condos and the like, I can speak to these concessions
and the reason why they are necessary and what they
will do for the Bermudian people, whom my party represents.
Thank you, Madam President.

448 11 May 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: Thank you, Senator Darrell.
Senator Ben Smith. You have a second question?

QUESTION 2: FAIRMONT SOUTHAMPTON
HOTEL ACT 2022

Sen. Ben Smith: Yes. Thank you, Madam President.
So, Madam President, I want to start off by
saying that we are trying to do everything, I believe, in
this Chamber to make sure we are working together to get Bermudians back to work. So the questions that
we are asking are to make sure that everything is b eing done.
Some of the Statements that have been made
in the past about the training, specifically in hospitality and tourism, have either been —not enough people
have signed up for them or many people have not fi nished the training. So what I am saying is I want to
make sure that when we have this hotel opportunity
for the 800 jobs that we have Bermudians who are, one, interested in this indust ry and, [two,] trained for
the industry. I agree 100 per cent with the Junior Mi nister on the education proposal for the signature
schools to try to encourage our young people. But
right now we have people who are out of work. We
need to make sure that . . . we cannot wait for the hotel to train them. We need to be doing it now and en-couraging them, if they potentially have not been i nteres ted in hospitality, that this is an opportunity that is
going to lead to their having work once this is completed.
So that is why, if we could get some clarity on
what training is happening presently, how many peo-ple are involved in that training so that these 800 jobs,
when they are available, we will have Bermudians to
fill them.
My second supplementary will be based off of the response when it comes to the hotels being at capacity
presently in Bermuda, or bookings for the summer.
Can the Junior Minister let us know what impact that
is telling the community on airlift? Because there has
been some connection with this project and airlift. If the hotels are full, does that mean that the airlift number has changed significantly for the upcoming se ason?
Thank you, Madam President.

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

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
There is a lot to unpack there.
First of all, I would like to start on a personal
note regarding the training. I do note that training is a
key component of Workforce Development. I know in recent months Workforce Development has had a
new leadership, who actually has experience in hospitality training. I know the Director at Workforce Devel-opment, I believe, was also at one point the Director
of the Bermuda Hospitality Institute, which actually
went into schools and did a lot of training. So I know
she is well versed on what it takes and what is needed to get Bermudians trained in these industries.
Speaking of that, the Ministry that comes under, the Ministry of Economy and Labour, have r ecently launched the Restaurant Training Programme. I
know we can talk about what has or has not happened in the past. But I think we, especially looking at
the potential that this hotel brings, can now look for-ward as to what is happening. And I would say that
this Restaurant Training Programme is a start to getting Bermudians trained. And I can confidently say to
my Senate colleagues that there will be more to come,
more training programmes of this nature.
So I have a lot of confidence and faith in the
Ministry of Economy and Labour, as well as Workforce Development, in training young people or other
adults who wish to change careers and move into the
hospitality industry. And I am sure that the Opposition
wants nothing more than for our Bermudians to be successful in these tourism endeavours.
The point about airlift —airlift, as much as I
may have my opinions and how it may be connected, I am not going to step on the toes of another Ministry. I
think airlift is for Transport to comment on. But the
numbers that I think the Senate Leader for the O pposition is asking about can be actually obtained through
Skyport, [which], as he will clearly know, the Gover nment has no jurisdiction over.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Owen Darrell.
Hearing no other questions, then w e will thank
all Senators for their comments and questions on the
Statements that have been delivered this morning.
That moves us on.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

The President: Senators, we have no Orders of the
Day.

MOTIONS
The President: There are none.

CONG RATULATORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES
The President: The floor is open. Would any Senator
care to speak?
Senator Dr. De Couto, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam
President.


Bermuda Senate I first would like to give my condolences to the
Jennings family for the death of their son, Che. And I
would also like to submit my condolences to the family
of Dolores Franks.
In terms of congratulations, I would like to
congratulate the Inspire Racing programme, part of the SailGP event, which has been a great way to i nvolve children in this sport, which is a natural fit for
Bermuda. I would also like to send wishes for great
success for the Bermudian sailors in the Star Sailors
League who will be competing in Switzerland to re present the country, whi ch includes such notable well -
known Bermudian sailors as Dale Brangman, Rockal
Evans of summer’s camp , and Emily Nagel. I hope
that they have a good outcome and a good result.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Dr. Douglas
De Couto.
Would any S enator care to speak on Congratulatory and/or Obituary speeches?
Minister Peets . . . Dr. Peets.

Thank you, Madam
President.
I am really glad this morning to have an o pportunity to say congratulations and thank you to all of
our Carifta athletes. Also, congratulations to all of the
coaches, trainers and support persons for our at hletes. And a special thank -you, of course, to our dear
Senator.
Ben, thank you so much. Your athletes in the
pool did an amazing job, and I k now that they are also
grateful for the hours and hours and countless hours of input that you have put into their lives. So to all of
our athletes out there, you know, we certainly have a
lot of talented ones. And we just want to let them
know today that w e are very proud of them and that
we support them.
Also, lastly, Madam President, there is a
birthday today for a dear person in my constituency on
Store Hill. I certainly want to wish Miss Anna a very,
very happy birthday. And earlier this week, of cours e,
Zelda Wales from Studio Lane celebrated her birthday
as well. So congratulations to all those who are cel ebrating.
So this concludes, Madam President, some of
the things that I wanted to share this morning during
this part of our Senate session. Thank you very much.

The President: Thank you, Minister Peets, Gover nment Leader in the Senate.
Senator Owen Darrell, you have the floor.

Sen. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam President.
You know, Madam President, as spring is
here and spring is in the air, the weather is getting a
lot nicer day by day. I mean, today you would not think
so. But I just want to take this opportunity to congrat u-late all individuals in the community who are doing or
are taking matters and planning to bring the community back to the vibrancy that we had before 2020. Particularly I want to congratulate the organisers of all of the Community Days that happened on Good Friday. It has been about a month now, but I did have the o pportunity to go into my community down into Harris
Bay.
The Harris Bay community, put on by the De vil’s Hole family and the Harrington Workman’s Club
often and for years have had a Community Fun Day, which involves a cricket match between South Shore
and the Alley. They have a football match. They have
a bunch of other activities. I was able to stop by. And I
will associate Senator Robin Tucker because she was
also there. It was a joy and a delight to be back into a
community atmosphere. I want to congratulate the organisers of that, the Executive of Harrington Wo rkman’s Club; also the organisers like Mr. Barry Gi bbons, Mr. Steven Douglas, Jr., and others. Also I
know there were others around the community, so I
want to congratulate them.
Lastly, I want to congratulate schools. We
would have noticed that the Depar tment of Education
did give the okay for public schools, if they wished, to return to having school sports as long as they put
some sort of plan in place. I want to congratulate, whether it be the PTAs or the school leadership, and
the department, for gett ing together and seeing, How
could we get this to work? And I want to congratulate
the Minister while he is here, because I know that his
Ministry also had something to do with that. Because if you have noticed, primary schools have also been
having their sports days at the National Sports Centre.
And that has been a collaboration between the Bermuda School Sports Federation; the Department of
Education; the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport;
as well as the schools themselves.
And I want to just congrat ulate them for getting together and saying, you know, How can we
make this work? and kind of getting Bermuda and our
country and our Island back to normalcy. So I just
want to congratulate everyone who is doing things
that may be a little different and the y have not done in
a few years, as we now say, to move beyond the pa ndemic and bring that community spirit back. So con-gratulations to all involved.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Owen Darrell.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Ben Smith, Opposition Leader in the
Senate, you have the floor.
Sen. Ben Smith: Thank you, Madam President.
I would like to give condolences to the family
of Wayne Augustus who tragically died in a bike acc ident just before we broke for the last session. He is a
neighbour of mine and his wife is my cousin, so I
450 11 May 2022 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate would like to give condolences to them. I know that it
is a tough time when you lose somebody suddenly
that way, and I think it is a perfect time to say that we
need to make sure that we don’t lose any more lives
on our roads because it is a senseless time that the family has to deal with.
I would also like to echo the sentiments of the
Minister of Sport. The Carifta Track & Field, and Swimming really did an amazing job representing our
country in Jamaica and in Barbados. And coming out
of this pandemic it is great to see that the hard work that [was] continued during that period is starting to
bear fruit. We are looking forward to even bigger opportunities in the upcoming summer months for co mpetitions.
So congratulations to our athletes and to ev erybody who works with our athletes and supports
them.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Ben Smith.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Hearing none, then it is over t o you, Minister
Ernest Peets, Government Leader in the Senate, for the adjournment.

ADJOURNMENT

Yes, thank you,
Madam President, and thank you to all Senators today
for all your diligence and your work.
I move that Senat e adjourn until next week,
Wednesday, May 18.

The President: Thank you, Minister.
Would any Senator care to speak on the m otion to adjourn?
Senator Dr. De Couto, you have the floor.

IMPORTANT ROLE OF THE SENATE

Thank you, Madam
President. Thank you all for your patience. I know we
wanted a quick session today.
I have been thinking a lot about this role, my
new role here, and how we all work together and why we are here. Why do have the Senate?
Recently in the news you would have heard
about what is going on down in the BVI. And for those of you who have not investigated, I would recommend that you read the report of the Commission of Inquiry
that they have had down there with respect to various
issues with the government.
It reminds me that we are here to take part in
a process and [we have] a set of bodies that are d esigned to get the best outcomes for Bermuda, for
Bermudians, and for everyone on this Island.
I work in insurance. And for those of you who
do not know, there are many processes in insurance that are quite tedious. I have to do a lot of reviews and
data for audits and go over things with people I work
with. And it is always important to remember that as
tedious as they are they do exist for specific reasons.
[This] is not a personal reflection on the people i nvolved in those processes. [This] is not anything like that. It is to get a better outcome because mistakes
can be made, things can be overlooked, certain perspectives need to be added.
We have some very spec ific processes and
procedures here. And it is important that we all oper-ate them in good faith. And most of us are here to do
that. After all, there is not much positive upside in it for
us other than knowing that we are joining with many
other of our fell ow Bermudians to make this a better
country.
Part of the process . . . and I do apologise, I
think probably some of you will be thinking, Well, we
already know this. But, you know, I have been listening to certain comments in the news and on the radio and I am not sure that everybody appreciates the role
of challenge and question in this process. In fact, that
is why the Senate is here, to provide a chance to look
over things that come from the House of Parliament
and to ask good questions. And there is a t ension
there; but that tension creates balance. And that is
very important.
When I was listening to the radio on Friday, I
noticed that there was a lot of reference to some Bibl ical verses. Let your yeas be yeas; let your nays be
nays. But this is not a pr ocess of yes or no. This pr ocess that we have here is one of weighing, of assessing, of challenging and of probing. And I know
that if the OBA was the Government, and I can also speak for myself personally, I would welcome those
opportunities of challenge because they give an opportunity to demonstrate the answers, the knowledge,
such as the Junior Minister for Tourism had an oppor-tunity to talk about the positive things in tourism in
response to some prior questions.
There is another Biblical verse. Now, some of
you are far more knowledgeable in this than me. Ign orant zeal is worthless; haste makes waste. For these
important decisions it is important, of course, to take
our time and ensure we get the best outcome we can get.
I just wanted to draw your att ention to a co uple of phrases in this report from the BVI, and I will tell you why, because it caused me to reflect on Bermuda
and our reputation and our governance here, which, I
think, you know, we all will have our differences, our clashes, our challenges. But I do believe we hold ourselves to a very high standard here, and our role in
the Senate is part of that, and indeed, many other
peoples’ roles throughout the government, whether
they be civil servants or they sit on boards or they are
MPs or what have you. But it did cause me to ques-tion, could things like what is happening in the BVI,
happen here?


Bermuda Senate You know, I think we all should ask this and
we should look into details and see, as we carry out
our jobs day to day, are we doing the best job to ensure the right outcome? Because sometimes when
these things happen, it is not just about the rules and
the procedures. It is about how you as individuals carry yourself out in them.
So here is a [phrase], Discretionary decisions
are made on the basis of no criteria, patently inadequate criteria, or criteria which are often ignored. So
that is something to keep in mind. Other constitutional pillars of governance, such as the Register of Interests, have been treated with disdain.
And another one, “
1[Why] has the need to
maintain the autonomy of statutory boards been i gnored?” So it can be easy when people are talking
about these sorts of things to say, Stop being difficult!
Why are you nitpicking? But all of these things have a
role, and that role should be played.
I think I will end on a last note. You know, we
have probably been looking at Russia and what is going on with Russia and the Ukraine. And bear with me
here, I am going to connect it. Why did Putin go to war in the Ukraine and get an outcome that did not seem
to be the one he was expecting? One of the theories
there, which is probably true, is that he has not been
well-served by his advisors. He has surrounded hi mself [with] yes -men in general; yes -people, who rather
than telling him the truth about the state of his armed
forces and their likelihood of success, told him what
he wanted to hear. As a result he has taken his country down a path that is going to produce a very bad
outcome.
I think it is important that leaders surround
themselves with ad visors who will challenge them and
sometimes give them the answers they do not want to
hear, and instead of getting rid of people like that, to
try to take those challenges and questions to heart
and come up with a better solution.
Well, I will leave it a t that. I know we would all
like to get to lunch, or whatever we have planned t oday. And, again, thank you for your patience all.

The President: Thank you, Senator De Couto.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Hearing none, then, Senators, thank you for
your attendance this morning and we will see you next
week, Wednesday, May 18.
The Senate stands adjourned.

[At 11:00 am, the Senate stood adjourned until
10:00 am, Wednesday, May 18, 2022.]



1 British Virgin Islands Commission of Inquiry , page 8
452 11 May 2022 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate [
This page intentionally left blank.]