June 4, 2021

Okay. Thank you.
Minister.

Hon. Curtis L. Di ckinson: Mr. Speaker, I just provi ded the sums of the parts of that [which] answer those numbers in my answers previously. I mentioned the
amounts that have been committed to and spent on
Rugged Rentals, Horizon Communications and the Bermuda Airport Solar Project.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay. So that must be
$866,000 for the Rugged [Rentals], the $1.6 [million]
for Horizon.
And can you repeat the one for the Airport S olar Pr oject, the commitment?

Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: It is $9.1 million.
The Speake r: Okay. Thank you.
Do you have a further supplementary?
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Supplementary.



Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Second supplementary. Go ahead.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Can the Minister provide
details on any pending applications that are up for
review and approval?

Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Inasmuch as there are
opportunities that are being considered by the fund, I
think it would be inappropriate at this point to provide
any names and any data on those opportunities because they have not yet reached conc lusion.
It is appropriate at some point in time, once
those deals are consummated (if they are) that I a dvise the Honourable Member should he put a question to me.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay. So let me just ask a
supplementary.

Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: In the private equity
space, typically —and I would put the word “typically”
in quotation marks —deals are entered into. And once
they have been fully funded or are being executed on
by their respective management teams, the underlying
investors take a very opportunistic view towards har-vesting those investments. Inasmuch as there may be
a potential prospective buyer or an exit opportunity
that ma y manifest itself in six months, in eighteen
months, in twelve months, ten years, they will —

[Inaudible interjections/Feedback ]

MP Dunkley, just finish your question.

[Crosstalk /Feedback ]
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: —the Opposition Leader’s
background conversation. Let me finish the answer.
The underlying managers will decide for
themsel ves whenever it is optimal for them to liquidate
an investment. Typically, the funds have an advertised
life of around 10 years. But the general partner [GP]
also built into the partnership agreement the ability to extend the life of the fund for one or tw o additional
periods. The length of those periods depends on the
underlying agreement struck between the GP and the
LPs [limited partners].

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, that is it on
this question.

Minister.

Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I believe the
question that I answered was, Can I advise the Honourable House of those transactions that are pending
or under consideration? I cannot. Similarly, I cannot
talk to what is being considered by the managers. The Government of Bermuda is a limited partner. It is not
the general partner and therefore is not responsible
for the valuation and the selection of investment of opportunities that the GP decides to invest in, much
1488 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly like any other limited partner. That is a matter purely
within the remit of the general partner.

Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I mentioned that there
were . . . so the way these funds work is they go
around in their fundraising activities and solicit interest from prospective investors to provide a commitment to
invest in the fund. The fund then goes out and ident ifies investment opportuniti es. Inasmuch as an opportunity is identified, processed and agreed by the gen-eral partner to be an investment to move forward with,
it then goes back to the limited partners and says, Your pro rata share of the capital required for this
transaction is “X.” And so commitments get drawn
down over the course of time as investment opportun ities are identified and put up for funding.

Sorry. Honourable Minister, I do
not think you actually answered the question I posed.
The question is whether the $26 million figure was the
“X” you just described— i.e., the government’s respo nsibility —or whether it was the total amount in the fund.
Thank you.

Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: What I mentioned is that
there were $88 million of commitments and that $21. 6
million have been targeted to invest in three separate
opportunities.

Thank you.
That is the close of the written questions from
the Opposition Leader to the Minister of Finance.
The next written question this morning is from
the Opposition Leader to the Premier.
Opposition Leader.

QUESTION 1: BERMUDA ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION /BUSINESSES
RECEIVING GRANTS OR LOANS

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Will the Honourable Mini ster please inform and update this Honourable House
on the number of businesses which have taken part in


Bermuda House of Assembly receiving a loan/grant under the Bermuda Economic
Development Corporation [BEDC] under the Business
Continuity & Sustainability Funding P rogram me, and
what is the breakdown for the total value of the loans
and the total value of the grants provided under this
program me from inception?

Good morning.

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speak er, in response to the
Opposition Leader’s question, total funding deployed
through all various COVID -19 funding support projects
thus far is $3,789,497.75, with 225 business applic ations being approved. As of May the 31st, 2021, the
BEDC has approved 160 business applications under
the COVID -19 Business Continuity & Sustainability
Funding Programme combined of loans, grants, and loan and overdraft guarantees. A breakdown of these
figures is as follows:
• $3,431,149.10 in total funding has been
deployed;
$2,157,917.30 in loan fund ing;
• $1,086,231.80 in grant funding; and
• $197,000 in loans and overdraft guarantees.
As of May the 31
st, 2021, the BEDC has also
approved 65 business applications under the COVID -
19 Emergency Grant Funding Programme, and
$358,348.65 has been deployed in grant funding.

Put your supplementary.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Can the Premi er provide
details on the number of pending applications and the
number of outstanding applications that have yet to be
addressed?

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, as per Standing
Orders, that information is not with me. So I am personally happy to provide it later. It was not a part of
the question, so I do not have the information.

Would you like to do your second question now?

QUESTION 2: BERMUDA ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION/REQUIREMENTS
FOR LOANS OR GRANTS

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Will the Honourable Minister please inform this Honourable House what is r equired to apply for the grants or loans from BEDC,
and if this process has had an impact on the actual
sustainability of the small and medium size busines ses applying for funding?

Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
In regard to the first part of the question, the
information is in the public domain. It is there where
anyone can see what is required by going to BEDC’s website. The impact of this programme on busi nesses
cannot be understated, which is funding provided through the BEDC Business Continuity & Sustainabi lity Funding Programme and the Emergency Grant
Funding Programme. Certainly without this support,
many of the small and medium -sized businesses that
the BEDC has supported have expressed their thanks
for the financing and that they would not know if they would be able to sustain and continue if that funding
was not available.
The BEDC was fully aware that the initial f inancing in fiscal year 2020/21 was triage financing to
help businesses tread water through the length of the impact of COVID -19 on the Island and that many
businesses would need to reapply for additional fun ding support in fiscal year 2021/22 to continue to [I NAUDIBLE]. The BEDC is beginni ng to see those rea pplications start to come through now.
It is important to note that, as best as is possible, the BEDC does process an application and also
while conducting that processing conducts an analysis
of the viability of the business to continue and advises
that the business can pivot or provide strategies where it can. And so it is important to note that all of
the requirements that are part of the application pr ocess are to help to make sure that the loans and grants that are given ensure the business to be sustainable.
It is important to note that since this pr ogramme be gan, the funding support as of April 2020,
out of the 225 approvals to date, only one business
thus far has indicated that they have closed down.
1490 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly And they repaid their loan bac k to the BEDC prior to
closing.

Yes.

QUESTION 3: BERMUDA ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION/ TOTAL AMOUNT
BUDGETED

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Will the Ho nourable Mini ster please inform this Honourable House the total amount budgeted for the economic support from i nception of the program me; and is there any intention
to increase the budgeted amount ; and if so, by how
much?

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, a $12 million grant
was provided by the Ministry of Finance in the COVID -
19 funding support across all funding projects from April 2020. There is no intent at this point to increase
the budget amount. And then funding is still available
within the grant for the 2021/22 fiscal year.

Put your supplementary.

SUPPLEMENTARY
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: So the $12 million was
granted. Is that the budgeted amount and granted
amount, or is i t just the budgeted amount?

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I have indicated in
my statement, and of course as also, I think, done in
previous matters before this House, that is the grant
amount. And that money has been granted from the Ministry of Finan ce to the Bermuda Economic Deve lopment Corporation.

Thank you.
Members, that brings us to a close of that
second written series of questions.
The third written question is from MP Jackson
to Minister Burch. However, the response was not for
an oral respo nse, but for a written response. And I
believe that the Minister has supplied that
written r esponse already to MP Jackson.
Am I correct, MP Jackson?

QUE STION: BERMUDIANA BEACH RESORT
CONTRACTORS/SUPPLIERS

Okay. We will now move on to the
questions from the Statements given this morning.
And each of the Ministers has a question that has
been i ndicated by Members. And we are going to start
with the Minister of Education.
And Minister of Education, you have a question from MP Jackson.
But I also want to make note that at just about
eleven o’clock MP Swan will sit in from the Panel of
Chairs to chair the session, as I have to step out from
the Chair momentarily. So he will step in when I do
step out. And, Members, just note that the Question Period will end at 11:32.
But, MP Jackson, you can put your question
to the Minister of Education now.

QUESTION 1: TEACHER CERTIFICATION BONDED
LOAN

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Good morning. And thank you, Minister of Education
for this most generous opportunity for those who are studying to become certified in teaching. And I believe
that it will be a wonderful way to help to evolve the
profession in Bermuda.


Bermuda House of Assembly My question is a very simple one. But is there
a cap on the number of the bonded loans that will be
provided? So are we only providing it to those teac hers who are in the system now, who are studying? Or
are we offering it to anybody in the system who would like to? Do we have a cap on the number of loans that
we are looking to provide?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you for that, MP
Jackson. It is actually a very interesting questi on.
This is a scheme being offered. As I said in
the Statement, initially it was thought of just exempted
teachers we were looking at because they were the
ones who were required to have a scheme in place
that would lead to their being certified in order to keep their exemption. However, this will be extended to anyone who is working within the system. And so, how
this does works is, because they are doing their 12week practicum and we cannot pay them for that 12week practicum, those are funds that we wo uld have
already had. So as long as . . . if it is someone who is
employed in the system, the funding is there for us to
give this loan.
And so at this point there is not anything that
has been budgeted this year for this particular scheme for anyone who may not be working within the system.
But we anticipate that it is something that we will be funding moving forward in case persons who want to
come into the system start doing that who are not already employed by the system.
But at this particular junctu re, it is open to a nyone who is employed by the BPSS [Bermuda Public School System] at the moment who is seeking to get their 12- week practicum done, as I said, under the
constraints of not being able to draw a salary during
that time.

Minister, do you have a percentage or a number of teachers who f all under the
exemption right now?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Currently I believe we have
around 12. I have asked the Exemption Committee to
forward me the complete list of who has been exempted over the last five years so we can reach out to them. But I b elieve at the moment it is about 12 exempted teachers in the system currently.

The next question this morning is from
MP Dunkley for the Minister of Transport.
MP Dunkley, would you like to put your question?
And I am going to be departing from here
probably during this series of questions.

QUESTION 1: SATA AZORES AIRLINES
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
And I thank the Honourable Minister of Transport for
his Statement on SATA Azores Airlines and their flights to Bermuda. I am pleased to see this come to
reality. It was part of the visit I had in May, I believe it
was 2016, when we first talked about direct air links.
So question to the Honourable Minister: The
Minister says in the first paragraph of his Statement,
“This flig ht will be the first in a series of SATA charter
flights until September 2021.” Can the Minister please
inform this Honourable House how many flights will
we see in that period between June 13 and September 2021?

Minister.

Hon. W. Lawrence Scott: At risk of being pedantic, it
will be “nonstop,” not direct. So it is a nonstop flight
between Bermuda and the Azores.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: So for those who are not
that familiar with the airline industry, can the Minister
1492 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly give some explanation? “Nonstop” means that it stops
here in Bermuda and then continues somewhere else,
and continues on its way?

Hon. W. Lawrence Scott: No. So “direct” means that
the same aircraft goes on to another destination. So
you can have a direct flight from Bermuda to the Azores with a stop in Boston. So that same flight, that
same aircraft goes from Bermuda to Boston, Boston
to the Azores. That is considered a “direct flight.”
A “nonstop flight” means that there are no
stops for that aircraft between the two destinations. So it is a nonstop flight from Bermuda to the Azores. So
when you take off from Bermuda, the next time you
touch down will be in the Azores.

Hold on. Let me just try and get a little
clarification here. The microphone, somebody’s m icrophone was breaking up. I am not sure if that m icrophone was the microphone that was MP Swan’s
microphone or someone else’s microphone.

Some H on. Members: I believe it was MP Swan’s
microphone. Yes, I think it was MP Swan’s micr ophone.

[Pause]

Thank you. Thank you, Madam.
Honourable Minister, you were asked by MP
Dunkley about the num ber of planes between June


Bermuda House of Assembly and September, and then that devolved into a discussion about nonstop and direct flights. So just for the
benefit of the listening public, who may not understand and appreciate the nuances of aircraft as you
do, this plane will go between Bermuda and the Azores, and it will stop in Boston. Is that correct?

Hon. W. Lawrence Scott: No, that is incorrect. The
aircraft will take off from Ponta Delgada and arrive
here in Bermuda, nonstop. Passengers will disembark. New passengers will get on. They will take off
out of Bermuda, and their next stop is the Azores,
Ponta Delgada.

I am grateful. I am grateful for
the answer.
Madam Acting Speaker, I have a second supplementary. Thank you.
MP Dunkley had asked you about the number
of flights between now and September 2021. And I am
not sure we actually got the answer to that question.
But how many flights does the Honourable Minister anticipate? How many planes between now and September 2021?

Hon. W. Lawrence Scott: One every week, which my
quick math would say 16 flights.

MP Dunkley, your question.

QUESTION 2: SATA AZORES AIRLINES
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Madam Acting Speaker,
yes. My question to the Honourable Minister: What
type of plane will be used on this weekly Sunday service?

Hon. W. Lawrence Scott: It will be an Airbus 321 100
or an Airbus 321 200.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Madam Acting
Speaker. I am finished on this set.

Okay. I am just checking first if
there are any other persons who put forth questions
for the Minister of Transport.
There being none, we shall move to the Mini ster of Works.
Opposition Leader, please put your question
forward.

QUESTION 1: RESCINDING OF THE APPROVAL
FOR THE PURCHASE OF SANDYS 360

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you, Madam Acting
Speaker.
I, like the Minister, would like to declare my
interest as a former student of Sandys Secondary
School as well.
My question to the Minister is, How much
have the successive Governments invested in Sandys
360 from the beginning of the project?

Thank you. Go ahead.

QUESTION 2: RESCINDING OF THE APPROVAL
FOR THE PURCHASE OF SANDYS 360

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Should you find that a pproximately $5 million has been committed and i nvested in Sandys 360, will you plan to recover some
of these funds, given that the contract was rescinded?
Or are we going to write off the investments made to date?

I think that decision
has already been made. The state of the building is in
full disrepair and will require si gnificant amounts of
additional funding to bring it back into service or to
demolish it. That is a matter for the trustees. And we
will stand ready to have any discussions that may
come forward, but we are not going to continue to
have a million dollars hanging out there that nobody
seems willing to accept.
Three years ago, we were at the stage where
we had actually written a cheque to the law firm and
were told to stop. [ INAUDIBLE] this for three years.
And we have come to this conclusion based on the
economic circumstances that prevail today.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: I accept that, Mr. Minister.
And so all I can say is at this point —

Yes. Are there any other Me mbers who put questions forward to the Minister of Public Works?
There being no other Members, are there any
Members who put forward questions for other Mini sters? I still do not have the list of names.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: I would like to put que stions to the Minister of National Security in regard to
the TOOB Report Ministerial Statement.

Okay. Mem ber Dunkley, you
may put your question forward to the Minister of N ational Security.

QUESTION 1: TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS
BOARD (TOOB) REPORT 2020

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you.
Minister of National Security, thank you for the
two Statements today.
In regard to the Treatment of Offenders Board
Annual Report, you state in the Statement, I believe it
is on page 2 where you state that you “turn to the
board’s observations of the infrastructure of the facil ities. The board notes that all of the facilities require
maintenance primarily due to the age of the buildings.”
So in regard to the fact that $400,000 was
budgeted in the last financial year for prison works and $400,000 was spent, none has been budgeted
this year. Can you tell us how the $400,000 was spent
for minor prison works last year?

Hon. Renee Ming: Member Dunkley, with reference
to the budget item, I would have to revert to you with
that answer. But if you are speaking just on the whole
in regard to infrastructure, this has been a concern. I think you raised it even during the budget period. But
for me to provide you with the details of that, I would
have to revert and come back to you.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: And certainly also the
second supplementary —

Okay.



Bermuda House of Assembly SUPPLEMEN TARY

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: I would appreciate your
getting back to me because you would not have the information. But a supplementary, or the second sup-plementary was that there is $800,000 put towards the
budget for prison refurbishment. There was $800,000
put last year and was not spent. Could the Honour able Minister answer or revert on how the $800,000 will
be spent this year? Obviously, between those two
sums that adds up to $1.2 million. That is a relatively small amount when you look at the size and the scope
of the prison facilities. So I would like some feedback
on what the intention is and how it would be spent.
Hon. Renee Ming: Surely. I can give you an update
that we recognise that the prisons have challenges
when it comes to infrastructure. And I think I have
[previously] provided that in 2014 the prison would
have been 20 years old, and it should have actually
had an assessment on infrastructure. And that did not happen at the time. And so what we are doing now is
we are working closely with the Ministry of Works, and
we have a punch list of items that we know that we
are trying to work through.
One of the things I think was mentioned in the
Statement is the fact that we have commenced r eplacing all of the doors at the facility. And so the doors
have been . . . I believe they have been purchased,
but they have not arrived on Island yet. So that will be one area of infrastructure improvement that you will
see at the facility for this year. And we hope to be able
to provide more detail on that when the doors arrive
because I believe there are 40 doors. And it will be a
major infrastructure improvement for the facility.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Madam Acting Speaker?

Third question. Give your third
question.

QUESTION 3: TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS
BOARD (TOOB) REPORT 2020
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: On page 2 again, the Mi nister refers to the adjudications. And the Minister r efers to a 5 per cent increase in mobile phone related
adjudications from 2019 and also, alar mingly, a 13 per
cent increase of adjudications involving assaults on
inmates or corrections officers. Can the Honourable Minister please give us a summary of what is being
done in these two areas to stop the alarming increase
in the use of mobile phones and also in inmates’ assaults on officers?

Minister.

Hon. Renee Ming: Madam Acting Speaker, what we
have seen, Member, is that COVID -19 has presented
challenges not just for us who are even not incarcerated at this time, but even for t he inmates. And there
has been a lot of tension during this period. So the
Treatment of Offenders Board, what they have been
trying to do is to get in and to mitigate that tension and
to provide, or where they can, provide solutions. And
in addition to that, the Acting Commissioner has r ecently formulated a committee of inmates to be able to
address the inmates’ concerns more directly and
hopefully more efficiently.

SUPPLEMENTARIES
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Madam Acting
Speaker. I do take the Mi nister’s explanation.
The last sentence of the paragraph in the
middle of page 2 gives a clear understanding, and I
quote: “The board attributes much of these offences to
increased tensions, coupled with the added r estrictions of COVID -19.” So can the Honourable Mini ster please provide a summary of what she believes
1496 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly has increased tensions in the prisons, outside of
COVID -19?

Minister.
Hon. Renee Ming: You currently have a population
that is very young and have in some cases life sen-tences. And so there is some tension there. It could
be also gang- related, Member. COVID -19 did not help
us in terms of ––there were some restrictions put in
place in terms of family visits. And just being able to
be—the visits became what they called “VV,” w hich
was virtual visits. And so you were not actually phys ically—the family members and friends and support
were not actually able to come into the prison for many months. And part of that is because (I am sure
you can understand) the correctional faciliti es are very
vulnerable. And so there are lots of precautions taken
to ensure that inmates and officers are safe during the
pandemic.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you.

That was your first suppl emental? I thought that was your second.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: That was my third question. Yes. Sup plementary to the Minister, final su pplementary.
Minister, do you believe that the long- term
position of an acting commissioner, where there is no
set leadership in place, has contributed to any of the
challenges that we face in Corrections at the present
time?
Hon. Renee Ming: You asked me do I believe the
challenges facing Corrections . . . So I am asking, do
you have any more detail on what you believe these [challenges] to be?

Honourable Member, can you
make your question more specific so the Minister can
answer you? I think that is what her concern is.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Okay. Let me rephrase it
this way: Does the Honourable Minister believe that
an acting commissioner is having an impact on some
of the challenges within Co rrections? We have had an
acting commissioner for a number of years.

My first question is this: In this
next par agraph below, you mentioned that the purpose of parole, and you say, “Parole provides inmates with an opportunity for a supported re- entry into soci ety. With tools to assist in transition back into the community, former inmates are less likely to reoffend. ” We
are seeking as a Government and an Island to e ncourage parole. Is that right?
Hon. Renee Ming: I am sorry. Which page did you
refer to, Member?

And you say former inmates are
less likely to reoffend if they are on parole. And I am
just wondering. It is the Government’s and the soci ety’s intention here to encourage parole; is that right? Parole is a positive mechanism to allow re- entry with
support?

Hon. Renee Ming: Parole is a positive mechanism;
you are correct. But it is not on us to encourage and
inmates can make a decision that they would like to
do their en tire time as prescribed. So is it something
that we encourage? I can say that it would be the fact
that it comes with some level of support. There are some inmates who feel that that is something that
they need. So it would still be their position to choos e
that.

So where, Honourable Minister,
you say above in that Statement that 43 inmates have
chosen to decline parole, to stay incarcerated b ecause they would prefer an early release date. Should
that be a matter of concern that they would rather wait
and come out without the parole mechanism? Or i s
that not a matter of concern; it is merely a matter of
their personal choice?

Hon. Renee Ming: Well, first of all, in that instance
right there, there are some inmates who would prefer not to have to conform to the reporting and the r eviews that would h appen after parole. And [in] some
cases, they are up for parole which could be very
close to their release date. So that again would be
their decision to decline parole.

Thank you.
Honourable Minister, to the answer you just
gave, I mean, is that a concern that someone is effectively choosing to get outside of the parole mechanism
when they have an early release date? Is that an issue of concern?

Hon. Renee Ming: I do not know that I would say that
it is an issue of concern, MP [Pearman] , because that
would also allow us to have to either profile or decide
that a person who may not want to have any rules or assessments around them is likely to reoffend. And
that I would not have enough information on to give
that answer to you today.

Thank you.
Honourable Minister, my second question is
still on the same Statement, on the Parole Board R eport, but it is on the next page on the top. And you are
talking about parole again here, and you are talking
about the two elementary requirements for parole be-ing appropriate employment and educational pursuits.
Can you just tell the Honourable House, even
in a very short way, how that works? Is it a necessity?
Do they have to identify these for parole to be given?
Or can parole be given in the hope that those will be achieved?

Hon. Renee Ming: It is a necessity for parole to be
granted.

Thank you. Supplementary.
Honourable Minister, you identify then that
there are seven foreign nationals who are incarcer1498 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ated. And I am wondering what happens to them on
their release back into society? If they are foreign nationals, would they then be deported from Bermuda or
would they remain in Bermuda? How does that work?
Hon. Renee Ming: I think that at the time, depending
on what the situation is around their rel ease, they may
well be deported. But that again, MP Pearman, would
be on a case- by-case basis.

On my chat I saw no other
questions being advanc ed. I will go double- check to
make certain that that is still the case. And I believe it
is the case. And if there is no one with a supplemental
and no further questions, that ends the Question Per iod. It is now 11:25.
That moves us on.

CONGRATULATORY AN D/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES

Thank you, Madam Acting
Speaker.
Madam Acting Speaker, I would just like to
start off first by sending condolences to the family of
Mr. Gregory Young of Warwickshire Drive, a constit uent of mine.
Also I would like to send condolences to the
family of the young Ms. Amber Bridges, who passed
on [NO AUDI O].
Also, Madam Acting Speaker, I would like to
send condolences to the family of a former teacher of
mine who passed recently, Ms. Lois Lightbourne. She was my first -grade teacher in primary school at Bermuda Institute [NO AUDIO ].

Also, Madam Acting Speaker,
also very sadly was recently I have had two young
people my age who passed whom I felt very dearly
[about], Mr. Judah Quallo from Somerset, a friend of mine who passed recently; and also Ms. Renee Bean,
also a friend of mine who passed. So I would like to
send condolences to the families of those persons.
And on a much lighter note, Madam Acting
Speaker, he has left the building, but I would like to
send early birthday congratulations to Mr. Speaker. His birthday is on Sunday. So I hope he is listening.
But if not, when he comes back we will definitely have
those [NO AUDIO ]. Those are my [comments] this
morning.

Good morning, all.
Madam Acting Speaker, since the last time we
met, two members of my constituency celebrated
birthdays. And because I think it is better to give roses
while people are still alive, I would ask that the House
send congratulations to, in the first instance, Dorothy
Lattimore of Whale View Lane, who turned 92 and is
still in good stead. And the second one is Ms. Venetta
Simmons, who turned 91, who lives on Oli ve Bank
Drive. And I wish them both all the best.
Thank you.

Opposition Leader, you have
the floor.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you.
I would like to associate myself with the comments made in regard to Amber Bridges. You all know
that she was a fellow equestrian, a young one at that.
The young person had a passion for equestrian
sports. And she was about to make her career in that
field. She was a lovely, charming person, kind heart.


Bermuda House of Assembly And my condolences go out to her mother Heidi, and
her father, Mr. Bridges and the rest of her family. It is
a sad loss to the community.
I would lik e to associate myself with the comments made in regard to the Speaker on his upcoming birthday.
And I would like to send condolences out to
the family of Ms. Iris Talbot, who was the Education Minister’s grandmother. She was a Devil’s Hole person. As you all know, my family is from Devil’s Hole as
well. And so I would like to convey my thoughts and prayers to the family of the Minister of Education and
his mother, Marva, whom I have known for many,
many years.

Good morning. Good
morning to colleagues, and good morning to the people of Bermuda.
I firstly want to give condolences to my mother
and her family on the loss of her brother, Moleto
Turnbull of the Virgin Islands who passed away yesterday morning. He was a master mason. He built houses all across the Virgin Islands, father of five,
grandfather of many. And he will be a loss to our fam ily.
I also want to give congrats to the Nurse of
the Year. I was specifically told to make sure to give
congrats to the Nurse of the Year, Ms. Simmons (let
me pronounce her name properly), a lady. She works
at MAWI [Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute], so technica lly she works —she is a representative of my constit uency. B ut her name is Karen Grant -Simmons. She is
the wife of Mr. Pop Simmons of White Hall and Somerset. So congratulations to her and all of her colleagues for all of the work that they do keeping us
both of sound mind and sound body.
Thank you, Madam Acting Speaker.

Member Dunkley. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you.
Colleagues, I would also like to be associated
with the congrat ulations to Nurse of the Year, Nurse
Simmons. Obviously, it is fantastic to recognise people in our health care industry. And I think over the past year, through COVID -19, many Bermudians and
residents have come to appreciate just how much
work everyone does in this industry. So congratul ations to Nurse Simmons, Nurse of the Year. And thank
you to all of those in nursing who do such a laudable
job for us.
On a sadder note, I would like to be associa ted with the condolences to the Bridges family on the
pass ing of their young daughter just recently. Any
road accident that incurs a fatality is certainly a life -
altering moment in time for people. That never changes as they go through. And for somebody so young to be lost with so much hope and opportunity in the future, it certainly sends a gut -wrenching probe all
through your body. And I think it is wonderful to see
our community help rally with the Bridges to bring
them some comfort during this very, very difficult per iod of grieving.
I would like to be associ ated—I cannot recall if
the Member who spoke before me from constituen-cy 11 did recognise it, but I would like to give cond olences to the family of K. C. Daniels on the passing of his wife, Louise Daniels, who died just recently. If the Honourable Member did not bring it up, I would like
him to be associated with it. She lived in his constit uency, and I have known the family for a long period of
time. So my thoughts and prayers of comfort go out to the Daniels family with the passing of a wonderful l ady.
Thank you, Madam Acting Speaker.

Yes, I do. Thank you very
much, Madam Acting Speaker.
I would like to associate myself with the co ndolences issued by MP Famous and also the condolences issued by MP Dunkley to the family of the late
Louise Virginia Daniels. She actually lived in my constituency. But she was a great lady of Devonshire.
And again, I would like condolences to go out to her
husband, Mr. Kenneth C. “Sundown” Daniels; her children, Kyle, Rhonda, Roxann. As I said, she was in
her 93
rd year. And it is always sad when we lose
someone. But in this inst ance, we can be satisfied that
she lived a great life and had a great influence on many, many in the Devonshire and Smith’s area.
Thank you.

Can I just pause you for one
second?
Somebody has a radio or a TV on in the
background. Please mute the microphone. Thank you.
Sorry, Minister. You may continue.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you.
Ms. Louise Daniels and my grandmother were
very good friends. And I know Ms. Daniels through my
affiliation with St. Philip AME Church, that little church
on the sound down there in Devil’s Hole. It is a very
close -knit community. And so the community is feeling
both the loss of my grandmother in her 93
rd year, as
well as Ms. Daniels in her 93rd year. So I would like to
associate myself with MP Campbell’s condolences.

Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Madam Acting Speaker.

Yes, yes, Mr. Dep uty Speaker.
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Yes, Madam Acting
Speaker.
I would like to associate myself with the r emarks for Ms. Louise Smith- Daniels. Ms. SmithDaniels is from Frog Alley, Somersall Road, a sister of
Carlton Smith, a former candidate for the Progressive
Labour Party. She was a wonderful, very, very kind lady. And she will certainly be sorely missed by her
family.
Also, I would like to be associated with the
remarks concerning the loss of “Pat” Iris Talbot. Ms. Talbot, a stalwart of Harris Bay, a stalwart of Clev eland County Cricket Club (formerly Tucker’s Town
County Cricket Club) and the County Cup champions,
the most exciting County Cup champions, I should
say, at Harris Bay. Her son, Avon Talbot [deceased]
was at one time a captain of t he Cleveland County
Cricket Club.
You know, Madam Acting Speaker, as a child
I can remember all of the people who treated me kind. Ms. Talbot was one of them. She was always kind and
loving to everybody. I have never seen her be any
other way. Ms. Talbot was certainly a favourite of
mine. I loved her. And I know her children, Marva,
Debra, Tyler [son- in-law, husband of Uyone], Kathie-Ann will certainly miss her, and the entire family. She
was certainly a loving, loving and kind person.
Thank you, Madam Ac ting Speaker.

I can see me on the screen;
hopefully you can see me, Madam Acting Speaker.
I would just like to take this opportunity to o bserve the passing as was report ed in the paper this
week of the Supreme Court Manager of many, many
years, Joann Lynch, who has sadly left us. Ms. Acting
Speaker, tributes have been paid already to Ms.
Lynch by the judiciary. I would like to draw the
House’s attention to comments made b y Judge
Charles Etta- Simmons. She observed that Ms. Lynch
had worked for the court for more than 40 years,
which was the vast majority of her lifetime. And to
quote, that she “had offered an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on and was a source of valuable advice.” I
would echo that sentiment by the Learned Judge.
The Learned Judge went on to say, “ I can tell
you that she suffered fools gladly —and those were
just the lawyers. ” How right she was! The way in
which our court system works is often difficult to
members of the public, and it can even be difficult for
the lawyers. And when you have someone such as Ms. Lynch who has so much knowledge of the system
and is so helpful to those using it, it really is a great
benefit to society and to the community.
The Learned Judge, Ms. Etta- Simmons, said
about Ms. Lynch that, “ Her door was always open and
she had a chair in her office that everyone from the then Chief Justice to the cleaner made use of. ” And
that is true. She treated one as well and as helpfully as sh e could for many echelons of society, whether it
was a judge or a cleaner. The Judge observed that


Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. Lynch was an invaluable asset to the Supreme
Court Registry for decades. Again, how true.
Ms. Acting Speaker, our Director of Public
Prosecutions, Cindy Clarke, recognised that Ms.
Lynch was like a mother to many young lawyers. And
I can agree with that. I know a young associate who
would not have survived her time at our law firm had it
not been for the helpful wisdom and guidance of Ms.
Lynch. Ms. Clark e referred to Ms. Lynch as “a fairy
godmother” for the lawyers. And again, how true. She said this: “ Whether it was for a copy of an obscure
ruling in a trial or whether it was to meet us at the
back door so that we could file a document after the
registry had closed, you knew you could count on Ms
Lynch to help.” And that is true. She helped out -ofhours anytime she could. Whoever needed help, she
was there.
The President of the Bermuda Bar Counsel,
Ms. Liz [Elizabeth] Christopher, acknowledged that
she w as among the many who benefited from Ms.
Lynch’s kindness. And she said this: Ms. Lynch was
the person who “carried me throughout my career.”
And that was how Ms. Lynch was. She was someone
who would help to carry others.
Judge Carlisle Greaves described Ms. Lynch
as a treasured resource and said of her, “She had the best memory of anyone I had ever known.” And our former Chief Justice, Ian Kawaley, remarked of Ms.
Lynch that she was a role model for her staff and the
person everyone went to for help and a dvice.

Yes.
Ms. Acting Speaker, to those judicial tributes
let me add my own very brief remarks. She had an
encyclopaedic knowledge of the court and court pr ocedure. She walk ed an extra mile to help court users,
lawyers and members of the public. Sixty -eight years
old seems so very young today. And she was an unsung hero, to whom we all owe a great debt of thanks.
Thank you, Madam Acting Speaker.

Very fine. Good morning.

Hon. Tinee Furbert: Good morning, and good mor ning, colleagues. Madam Acting Speaker, I would like to also be
associated with the condolences for Ms. Talbot of
Harris Bay , sending condolences to the family and our
very own Minister, Diallo Rabain, as well as condolences to the family of young Amber Bridges those to
young Amber Bridges . I just have to mention it because any parent of a 16- year-old or any parent of a
child would feel heartfelt condolences to that family. So I just wanted to associate m yself with those condolences. I am sure the whole House would feel the same way.
And I would also like to give congratulatory
remarks to a constituent of mine, McKenzie- Kohl
Tuckett, who has graduated from Warwick Academy. And I have to mention McKenzie. Many may have
heard of McKenzie through the media. She is just a
very active young lady in our community. And she was the Head Girl of Warwick Academy, the youth assi stant director of Future Leaders Bermuda. She was the
Youth Premier under our very own Youth Parliament.
And I could list a number of achievements and awards
that McKenzie has earned throughout her school c areer. She has much more to go, as she will be attending (I believe it is) Bristol in the UK, studying law.
And I know that there are many great young
people who have graduated and have done many
great things. But I did want to give congratulations to
McKenzie and her family for her most recent gradua-tion.
Thank you, Madam Acting Speaker.

Thank you.
I just want to take a moment to congratulate
all of the runners in the recent 24th of May, or Berm uda Day, holiday. It was a wonderful show. It was so
impressive that the organisers of the race were able to
adhere to the strict restrictions that were still in place.
The runners came out, and the feeling and the atmosphere were absolutely amazing. I certainly spent a
good bit of my time on Cedar Avenue. All of the spectators were happy, they were safe, and the runners were in good form. And I just want to just congratu late
everyone, b ecause everyone is a winner for the Bermuda Day race. I am glad it happened. I am looking forward to future events throughout the summer and
that we are able to get back into a routine of feeling
that goodwill and camaraderie amongst our communi-ty.
And so again, congratulations to all of the
runners and the organisers of the Bermuda Day race. Thank you.

Thank you, Member.
Are there any other Members wishing to
speak? Any other Members wishing to speak?
Before I hand t he floor back over to the Dep uty Speaker, I wish to weigh in on the congrats and/or
obituary remarks. I would like to be associated with the condolences for Ms. Talbot, who I can say, r egardless of her age she was an extremely close friend
of mine. Whenever she came down to St. George’s, which was often, we would either have breakfast or
lunch together. And she was just a pleasant lady, full of fun, full of life. And I know her family is going to
miss her dearly. And condolences to the Talbot family
and to Minister Rabain on the loss of his grandmother.
I would also like to send condolences out to
the Astwood/King family on the loss of their mother,
Ms. Nellie Astwood, who is the last living member of
her family from her generation. She leaves behind her children to mourn, Voorhees Astwood, Stacey, Kim —

The Opposition Leader. I would
like to associate the Opposition Leader with those r emarks.
Last but not least, I would like to offer congratulatory remarks for Mr. Calvin Smith, who in 2016
retired from the police service only to be called back in
immediately. He is retiring again. He will be a great
loss. His career as a police officer was nothing short
of stellar. He got numerous commendations while
serving. While serving as a police officer, he reached
the level of Chief Inspec tor. I think he—

MP Tyrrell.
I am going to associate the House because
his career was so outstanding that I think it deserves association from the House itself.
He served in various capacities. He received
15 Commissioner’s commendations, Long Service
Awards, numerous letters of good works, sports cit ations —you name it, he did it. I would also like to mention the fact that while a police officer he also volunteered to serve in the band in the Regiment. And ha ving done so, it has brought his number of years of
service in the public service to 42 years. And that is
nothing to laugh about. He has made himself available as a public servant.
And I have no doubt that as he moves for ward
in his retirement years, because he is one who has given so much, he will not know how to stop giving. And I have no doubt that he will continue to volunteer
his services in some capacity that is going to assist
people and assist our community in some way.
I do want to point out one thing. He was mentioned in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list because
of his service. And so I think because of that com-mendation, it deserves special mention.
On that note, because I have probably
reached my three- minute mark (I can tell), I thank you,
Members. for allowing me to share.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, did you wish to resume
the floor? Mr. Deputy Speaker? No? Okay. I will con-tinue.
This ends obits and congrats. And so we now
move on.


Bermuda House of Assembly MATTERS OF PRIVILEGE

There are three Government
Bills.
Ministers, we are on Introduction of Bills.

FIRST READINGS

NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME (OCCUPATIONAL
PENSIONS) AMENDMENT ACT 2021

ECONOMIC SUBSTANCE AMENDMENT ACT 2021

Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Madam Acting Speaker, I
am introducing the following Bills for their first readings so that they may be placed on the Order Paper
for the next day of meeting. First is the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Amendment
Act 2021; and the Economic S ubstance Amendment
Act of 2021.
Thank you, Madam Acting Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Dickinson.
We should have one more introduction of a
Bill by Minister Wilson.

FIRST READING

PUBLIC HEALTH AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2021

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes, Madam Acting Speaker.
I am introducing the following Bill for its first
reading so that it may be placed on the Order paper
for the next day of meeting: namely, the Public Health Amendment (No. 2) Act 2021.

It is my understanding that the
Motions that we will be hearing today, the order has
been changed. And so I think we will be hearing the
Motion that is going to be led by Minister Roban.
Minister, is that correct?

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes. Thank you, Madam Ac ting Speaker. Yes. We wish [the indulgence of] the
House with the change in the order, that I may do my
Motion first before the Honourable Finance Minister .

No objections? Good.
1504 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Deputy Premier, you can move your motion
as the first Order of Business for today.

MOTION

BERMUDA PLAN 2018

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker. And thank you to the Members of the House
for their indulgence.
I do wish to now move that the House do now
take under consideration the following motion, notice
of which was given on the 21st of May 2021:
1THAT this Honourable House supports the
Bermuda Plan 2018.

Are there any objections?
No objections.
Continue, Deputy Premier.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that in accordance with
sections 10 and 11 of the Development and Planning Act 1974, that this Honourable House consider and
approve the Bermuda Plan 2018.
The Bermuda Plan 2018 (the Plan) is a development plan prepared by the Department of Planning
to guide development for the Island for many years to
come. The Plan, which covers the entire Island with
the exception of the City of Hamilton, comprises a pol-icy document and zoning maps , and the tribunal r eport, and can be accessed online directly from the department’s website, www.planning.gov.bm .
Mr. Speaker, the overarching aim of this Plan
is to effectively manage Bermuda’s natural and built environment, resources and development, a nd to help
build healthy, sustainable communities. In support of
this aim, Mr. Speaker, the Plan is based on three
strategies: a development strategy, a conservation strategy and a community strategy. Mr. Speaker, wit hin the framework of these strategies, the Plan sets out
five key goals:
1. to conserve open space and protect the I sland’s natural and built heritage;
2. to provide sufficient development potential to
meet the community’s needs;
3. to facilitate community improvements in
neighbourhoods to create better , healthier and
safer places to live and visit;
4. to encourage a more efficient and sustainable use and development of land and buildings;
and
5. to ensure a high quality of design and accessibility in all new developments.
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members may recall
that the Bermuda Plan 2018 was first released as a

1 See amendment to M otion at page 1515 draft plan and was subject to a three- and-a-half-month
public consultation, which resulted in a total of 457 objections and counter -objections being received. Mr.
Speaker, following the withdrawal of 50 objections, 232 objections remained, 147 (or 63 per cent) of
which were zone- related. The most common zoning
objection involved landowners wanting to remove agriculture reserve and woodland reserve conservation
areas from their properties. This has been a common
theme with objections to previous draft Bermuda
Plans and reflects landowners wanting greater devel-opment potential for their properties.
Mr. Speaker, in the department’s processing
of the 232 valid objections, I am pleased to note that 52 per cent of them were resolved between the D epartment of Planning, technical officers and the objec-tor. This left a remaining 48 per cent of objections in
an unresolved status to be heard by the tribunal. Mr.
Speaker, following the conclusion of the tribunal i nquiries, in December 2020 recommendations were
made and submitted to myself in the form of the draft
Bermuda Plan 2018 Tribunal Report.
Following the completion of my review, this
report was finalised to reflect the resolutions for each
objection and representation. Mr. Speaker, the Bermuda Plan 2018 planning statement and digital zoning
maps reflect the f inal resolutions for amendments to
the draft Bermuda Plan 2018. As a result of these
amend ments, the final Bermuda Plan 2018 reflects a
rezoning of som e 25 acres of conser vation -zoned land
to development -zoned land from the draft Plan.
Mr. Speaker, the most significant zoning
changes involve such areas as the St. Regis property
in St. George’s where some 20 acres of land were rezoned to tourism to align with the development approvals granted by the St. George’s Resort Act 2018.
This land under the Bermuda draft Plan 2018 was
zoned a combination of both conservation zoning as
well as development zoning.
Other significant zoning amendments included
the Morgan’s Point property, which resulted in an expansion of the special study area zoning to align with
property boundaries, as well as a loss of coastal r eserve conservation zoning, and the BLDC land at
Southside, which included the rezoning of just over 20 acres of industrial -zoned land to mixed- use.

[Inaudible interjections ]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Sorry. Mr. Speaker, hello?

Just continue.

B ermuda House of Assembly Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Speaker, the tribunal pr ovided additional remarks for my consideration. Of particular note, the tribunal recommended that a new coastal study for Bermuda should be undertaken. It
was specifically noted that there is continuing deve lopment pressure upon coastal areas. As such, the
impacts of climate change upon Bermuda’s shores
must be comprehensively assessed to determine the
continued viability to develop along the coastline.
Mr. Speaker, the tribunal recommendation to
conduct a new coastal study for Bermuda is wholly
supported. Such a study would be in alignment with
the Government’s commitment to the Bermuda Ocean
Prosperity Programme (known as BOPP) and preparation for a marine spatial plan, in addition to highlight the risks from climate change in order to assist this Government to determine the solutions to mitigate the risks.
Mr. Speaker, it is appreciated that a balance
must be struck between securing coastline whilst e nabling development to continue in a pragmatic way. Commissioning a coastal study will provide an updat-ed coastal vulnerability assessment for the Island and
a detailed review of the coastal reserve conservation
zone , which would enable the updating of coastal pr otection and development policies.
Mr. Speaker, the importance of the Bermuda
Plan 2018 cannot be understated. There is a reco gnised need to provide flexibility within policy to provide
the necessary mechanisms to support development
and new investment. This, of course, should not be to the detriment of our natural environment. I am going to state that actual sentence again, Mr. Speaker, be-cause I think it is important for people to understand.
We are trying to find a balance here. This, of course,
should not be to the detriment of our natural enviro nment. The work of the department involves assessing
these competing interests. And it is becoming increasingly challenging in today’s rapidly changing environ-ment.
Mr. Speaker, in this vein the department continues its work to streamline the planning process. Following the approval and adoption of the final Ber-muda Plan 2018, plan- making efforts will focus on
preparing local community plans for individual areas of the Island. It is recognised that although the Island
is such a limited land mass, each community has a set of unique circumstances, and thereby requires more tailored policy to better serve the needs of the residents in their respective communities. One s uch
example involves a local plan for North East Hamilton, details of which will be released very soon, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in addition to plan- making, the
department is working diligently on other projects, i ncluding legislative change to ensure services and pr ogrammes are meeting the needs or our dynamic env ironment and society. Mr. Speaker, in efforts to adapt t
o the increasing impact of climate change, the review
of the Bermuda Building Code will incorporate more
sustainable building practices, utilising the latest a dvances in renewable technology. Bermuda’s code r equirements and building methods are widely recog-nised for their resilience. And our aim is to continue and build upon this stellar reputation.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity as I come to the conclusion of my introductory remarks at this time to recognise the efforts of Ms. Victoria Pereira, the Director of the Department of Planning, who is actually with me here today, and her team. And I believe Mr. [Larry] Williams, who is the
Assistant Director of Planning, is also here, who is
another part of the team. And there are others, Mr. Speaker, whom I will not take the time right now to mention, but I do recognise their contribution in their ongoing efforts to transform [the Planning Depar tment’s] service and to provide innovative ways of service seeing to the development needs of our Island.
Additionally, Mr. Speaker, to [add to] my credit
to the team at Planning, I would like to thank the
members of the Land Tribunal, which includes Mr. John Payne, who is the Chair; Ms. Jennifer Haworth;
and Mr. Carlos Amaral; and the alternate members,
Mr. Jonathan Starling, Ms. Vanessa Turner and Ms. Quinell Francis, for their commitment and many hours of effort up to the conclusion of this Plan.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and that ends my
introductory remarks to this debate.

Perfect.
And I would like to begin my remarks by
thanking the Honourable Minister for bringing this before the House, but most especially his offer of having the technical officers and leadership team of the D epartment of Planning brief us on the activities of the Bermuda Plan, the workup in the Bermuda P lan, and
the processes and outcomes. It was an informative briefing, and we appreciate this always. Likewise, we extend our thanks to the leadership team of Victoria Pereira and Larry Williams, and the tribunal members.
1506 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, for the avoidanc e of doubt, I
have . . . the time allocation of 30 minutes? Seeking
your guidance, Mr. Speaker.
[Crosstalk]

I wanted to draw everyone’s
attention, the public’s attention most especially, to the volume of work that has gone into this process, which was striking. As a new politician I am often under-whelmed by the quality of information that gets to the
House of Assembly. And in this case that was abs olutely not the case. The Plan itself [consists of] about some 231 pages and was obviously very well r esearched. There were some 69 pages on the review process itself and a 765- page report on the work of
the tribunal. And that is not including the various r esearch studies that took place as it relates to commercial/residential use and et cetera. So a very fulsome project, and it should be noted as such.
This report is aiming to govern some 13,000plus acres of land stock that we have in Bermuda. And it is a challenge to do so. What we are looking at
in some of these reports is the use of our current land
stock. Something like 47 per cent is currently used for
residential, 33 per cent is used for parks, reserves and
recreation. And surprisingly, Mr. Speaker, and per-haps a little bit despondently, only 2 per cent is zoned
for tourism. Now, we will go through that a little bit in
the report in the details, and I am sure I stand to be
guided by the technical officers. But this is part of my presentation, my contribution to the debate —
alignment of our land use to our political and econom-ic direction.
It is noteworthy that not all land is identical in
Bermuda. Obviously, it is zoned differently. But most especially, a different number of people live ever ywhere on the Island. This came to fruition or is ob-served in the population density of the Island. In other words, more people live in Pembroke than any other parish by some 17 per cent. So obviously, we have to govern our use of land in those places with a kind of
deliberateness and care because what we are actually talking about when we say land use and we talk about
the 13,000 acres of land stock, we are not talking
about a very arbitrary or bureaucratic exercise, but rather the quality of life and impacts for individual people, for individual residents, as well as the success
of our wider economy.
And it has sociological impacts, Mr. Speaker.
Our infrastructure does generate the reality of how
people go about their lives in Bermuda. And it has these impacts such as the extent to which our country is walkable. It impacts how much carbon we introduce
into the environment because of our transportation.
And that says how much oil we have to import or fuel we have to import, which goes towards our economy. So this is a very, very crucial piece of managing the affairs of the country and the society. So I do not want anyone to walk away thinking that this is a bureaucratic exercise.
One of the trends that came to mind in this
discovery was how we are moving towards smaller
households. And so we are going to see an increased need for higher -density residential in and around
commercial centres. This obviously impacts the nature of the City or the Corporation of Hamilton, of St. George’s and those areas, what those look like. I am very mindful, Mr. Speaker, having grown up on White Hill, that development was obviously, to most small boys, the furthest thing from my mind. But I am min dful in the near future that small boys will grow up in a different Bermuda. They will grow up in a place that, if governed, if managed in a way that is not sustainable, they will grow up in a concrete jungle. That is a kind of hard thing to do. So we have these incredible chal-lenges facing us. And the department seems to be
paying a lot of attention to that.
I note that, by the way, this report and this
body of work utilised the 2016 and 2010 census r esults, and there was an extensive survey and feedback portion to this exercise. The project itself tends
to resolve or navigate several substantial challenges.
And these are not easily dealt with. There is compet ition for land use in Bermuda. And not unlike our ci rcumstances with COVID -19, the interests of the individual have to be balanced with the interests of the group and the interests of differing groups, different
opinions. Obviously, developers, although I do not
think any developer is so maniacal as to bring about a concrete jungle in Bermuda. But nonetheless, there is land that people want to be rezoned from conserv ation into other purposes. And equally, we cannot make the whole Island one big nature reserve. So we have
to balance those. And that is part of what this exercise
is. It is trying to do that in the best way possible.
But one of the challenges it also has is it takes
quite a long time for these exercises to take place. The 2018 Plan supersedes the 2008 plan. And it is lost to no one that it is [now] 2021. So these exercises


Bermuda House of Assembly take quite a long time, and they govern a length of
time as well, some 10 to 15 years of development in
Bermuda. This is in and of itself challenging and problematic because Bermuda changes quite quickly. We
are a small country with a relatively small population. So, relatively minor demographic changes have signi ficant impacts. And development is a longer -view pr oject.
So, when we start a project in this space, we
can actually see changes which impact the rationale of actually undertaking that development before it is complete.
So it is one of the challenges that we face in
managing our land resources. And obviously, we can-not satisfy everybody. Not only is the process going to be challenged in and of itself —and, Mr. Speaker, I will
speak to the process a little bit . We do have objections that are raised by the public. They are opined on
by the technical officers and decided by the tribunal,
and then some are further sent to the Minister for consideration. And there are some challenges, there are some complaints from the public in that there is not an
opportunity to rebut the director’s opinion when it goes before the tribunal again. Again, we are mindful of
those challenges. We are mindful of everything they
have to deal with, and the cost and time of this exercise.
Also, there are —you cannot satisfy everyone.
There are obviously people who will not be satisfied with the decisions of the tribunal or the decisions of
the Minister. And so yet again we have a department
which is trying to balance competing interests.
One of our largest challenges that we face
that the Minister touched on, and I am thankful that we are going to attend to it, is climate change especially
as it relates to coastal erosion and development. This
is a big area for us, Mr. Speaker, because we are g oing to be significantly impacted by what is happening
in climate change science. So Bermuda is an Island. It
is extremely sensitive to the impacts [from climate] to
the ocean and to our coast. And for us to proceed as if
we will not see significant changes within our lifetime
to our coasts would not be a mature way to approach this problem. So I am thankful that we are going to
see an expansion from the 2018 Bermuda Plan into
coastal erosion and coastal development.
Some of the great parts in this Ber muda Plan,
Mr. Speaker, are a focus on or rather the introduction
of a segment on Healthy Communities. Again, this
plan is not a bureaucratic exercise. It has significant
impact on the nature of our society, in the way people
go about moving around the Isl and, the lifestyle of
Bermudians. And I think that Healthy Communities is
a key part of making sure that everyone on the Island
is dealt with or rather is being—everyone on the I sland is being treated accordingly in a top- down manner. In other words, that the infrastructure that we decide on, the development that we decide on has a positive impact into our communities and the lifestyles
of the individual.
There is going to be a review on the building
code for sustainable designs, and that includes r enewabl e energies, and we are thankful for that. The
commitment of the Planning Department to increasing
the walkability of Bermuda––and I want to touch on
this, especially as it relates to our disabled community, Mr. Speaker ––because as it stands right now the
City of Hamilton is our most developed area and most
accessible to our disabled community. But as soon as you get out into the parishes, we do face some signif icant challenges in the absence of sidewalks. Even
though we have a lot of verges alongside our hi ghways, those are not usable by the disabled in any kind
of safe manner. So it is something we have to attend
to. And again, as I spoke to earlier, if we increase our walkability of the entire Island, this means that we are
going to see a change in transport.
Most importantly and what I want to speak to
is our traffic situation and our highway situation, Mr.
Speaker. I will touch on that after I just make this one note about the tourism development. We did see a
partial rezoning of Harmony Club and beach i n Tuc ker’s Point and a complete rezoning of properties such
as Sandsong, The Breakers, Sea Cliffs, The Wharf,
Harbour Gardens, Loughlands, White Sands, Salt Ke ttle, Palmetto Gardens, Somerset Bridge guesthouse.
Tourism. I think this speaks to the problem
with our tourism product, to the problem we have with
our tourism industry altogether. We are seeing less
land being used for that purpose. And that cannot bode well. That must be an indicator of some sort.
And although that is not the subject of this debate, Mr.
Speaker, it is noteworthy that there are indications of
our issues even when it comes down to something as
almost not connected as development of Bermuda
and obviously preservation of our space, of our land
mass.
I would like to raise, Mr. Speaker , for the Mi nister’s comments, the question about our traffic situation. Mr. Speaker, we are all well aware that even just
this last week, sadly, our roads have gone from being
relatively benign within living memory to being som ething of . . . it is almost indescribable out there, Mr.
Speaker. When I ride to work on my scooter, it is just shocking what I see. And one of the things I learned
when I was a police officer . . . we attended a conference on problem -oriented policing. And we looked at
the use of i nfrastructure to resolve law enforcement
matters. Although I do not think that traffic in Bermuda
is a strictly law enforcement matter, nonetheless infr astructure can play a very, very key role in changing
behaviours of people.
This Plan as it stands relates to the development on a going- forward basis. And it does not seem
to address —and maybe the Minister can clarify —
retroactivity. So if a person were to start a new development, then it is constrained by the Plan. But if a
1508 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly property were to lay in its current state, then the
guides, the standards, the improved standards, they
simply do not apply. And this has an impact again go-ing towards things like our industrial area. So for ex-ample, unless someone actually goes ahead and builds up or puts some new properties in our industrial areas like Mill Street, then the water runoff problem
simply does not go away. We require people to develop the space, and then we can apply these standards to them. And that improves the quality of life in those areas. I would like the Minister to speak on that and
make sure that this is made clear, and if he could speak to applicability of this Plan in any kind of retr oactive manner.
And, Mr. Speaker, the last point I would like to
make (taking us up to lunch) is the coherence of this
Plan with our political and economic direction of Ber-muda. We have obviously faced significant events within the last 24 months that have reshaped the
landscape of the Island, reshaped the landscape, r eshaped our futures. And as we go into a debate af ter
this one, we are actually going to talk about that quite
substantively. What I am curious about is how the Minister views this development plan or this draft
Bermuda (development) Plan 2018 as coherent or correlating with the political and economic dir ection of
Bermuda, as well as solid development.
So I think the plan itself is quite extensive,
covers a lot of territory, does a lot of good work. It has got some challenges. But what I would want the Mini ster to speak to is how this Plan works on a going-forward basis with our political and economic direc-tions.
With that being said, Mr. Speaker, I thank you
for your time and I conclude my remarks.

Good afternoon, Members. It is
2:00 pm. The House is now in session after our lunch
break.
Members, for the benefit of the listening aud ience, we are on the first Order of business for today, which is the motion by the Minister for Home Affairs, the Deputy Premier. And the motion reads:
“THAT this Honourable House take note of
‘The Bermuda Plan 2018.’”
The Minister opened in his presentation, he
was responded to by the Opposition Whip, and now MP Famous has the floor.
MP Famous, would you like to do your
presentation?

Sorry, technology challenges.
Mr
. Speaker, today is a great day for my fam ily and I will speak about that on the motion to adjourn.
It is also a great day for Bermuda because the Ber-muda Plan 2018 was submitted by the Honourable Deputy Prem ier of Bermuda Walter H. Roban.
I have a lot of concern about his Cup Match
choices. But I have no concerns about the way he is passionate about our environment, whether it is locally or regionally or internationally, the Deputy Premier in his capacity as Home Affairs Minister —or even in
space—the Deputy Premier puts the environment first and foremost in his concerns.
Can you see me, Mr. Speaker?

All right. So, Mr. Speaker,
in this Bermuda Plan 2018, the Deputy Premier and his team (who were mentioned earlier, and I thank
them all for their work) have put a lot of emphasis on the environment. They have put a lot of emphasis on not just a blanket plan for the whole Island, but a plan that addresses each and every parish or community in
its individual way.
As you know, Mr. Speaker, there is a big di fference from how houses are laid out in town and how
they are laid out on the West side or on East Shore Lane. I always admire driving up the country and se eing what big yards you all have up there. Town people
would be like, Wow! That’s a lot of space, it’s enough
to put about three more apartments there. What do
you need all that land for? But, that speaks to how
each parish is zoned out differently.
Mr. Speaker, previously there was a piece of
land in my neighbourhood, the only empty piece of
land in my neighbourhood that a gentleman wanted to build on. But he went through Planning and they told
him, Sorry, but this is zoned as agricultural land, or
arable land. No one has farmed on that land for about
20 years. It has actually become a dumping ground
for old bikes and other stuff that should not be dumped. This gentleman wants to develop this land, but because of the tight zoning, he was not able to do so. What this Plan does is allow for zoning issues
to be resolved in a lot quicker timeframe than every 10 years.
Now, there will be some who are concerned
about using up our arable land for development, and rightly so. We cannot have a concrete jungle, as the Opposition Whip said. We do not want our children
growing up to say, Where’s the green space left?
Mr. Speaker, I listened to the Honourable
Member from constituency 23. He was very passio nate in his speech, very succinct. I applaud him on that.
And he raised a few issues that I would like to ad-dress, if possible, Mr. Speaker.
He brought up an issue about objections. In
totality, there were 282 objections to different parts of this Plan. However, what the Honourable Member omitted, perhaps mistakenly, was that the majority of these objections were resolved. Now, as we know, in any democracy we cannot please everybody. But the
fact that 52- plus per cent of the objections to different
aspects of this Plan were resolved needs to be hig hlighted. It needs to be stated. Because let us not have the narrative that there were almost 300 people o bjecting to this Plan without any resolution being done.
The other day, Mr. Speaker, the Honourable
Member from constituency 23 spoke about this
coastal erosion. And I do not know if you remember, Mr. Speaker, maybe in 2012, or nine years ago, there was a big issue about coastal erosion and that those apartments built across from Swizzle Inn were going
to fall into the sea and blah, blah, blah. No such thing
has happened. If you go along the same south shore coastline you have the Reefs Hotel to the west, farther to the east you have the Azure development, and you have plenty of houses. I even believe the former Dep-uty Premier, the Honourable [Bob] Richards, lives on
the coast on south shore. I have not seen any coastal
erosion.
But, be that as it may, Mr. Speaker, you and I
have both travelled to the Cayman Islands where de-velopers there have been allowed to build massive
hotels literally on the beach —literally. And no, I do not
know who gave them the idea [INAUDIBLE]. But five
years later they now have massive c oastal erosion.
Not only is the sand gone, but now the waves are eating at and undermining the actual coast, the rock and the reinforcement wall.
So, whilst I share the concerns of the Honourable Member from [constituency] 23, I invite him to
rent a boat and sail up and down south shore and he will see that the Planning Department of this country has not allowed development that is going to cause coastal erosion.
Mr. Speaker, the other thing that the Honourable Member brought up was about traffic. I find it kind of ironic, but I will just address it in this way. Yes, it is kind of horrific what we see with some of the drivers in this country, and that is an issue that has to be dealt with by the police. But what I would say is that the
1510 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly OBA is a party that w ould like to see an increase in
population in this country. Now, more [people] than
just the OBA want to see an increase in population.
But with the increase in population there will be an increase in traffic. That is just common sense. You
cannot want one thing and not want the other that r esults from it.
Now, I am not saying that [ INAUDIBLE ], but
what I will say is that with a growth in population we will see a growth in traffic on the roads. Now, the
roads do not necessarily fall under the Ministry of
Planning. They fall under Public Works. So, I just want
that Member, when he raises these concerns, to also
give finite solutions to these concerns and/or point out
that that does not actually fall under this Plan.
So, again, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the
Honourable Minister, I want to thank his entire team, and I want to thank specifically my friend, Mr. Jonathan Starling, who put his heart and soul into this,
along with others, and I look forward to the debate.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

All right. I will see what I can
do here. So, I will just speak up.
Thank you and good afternoon everyone and
the Members of the Parliament as well as the listening
audience.
The Bermuda Plan 2018 is, in my opinion, our
opportunity to really strike a balance. There are so many details involved in making sure that the planning
and the layout of the topography of this Island is such
that it allows for that beautiful balance between what
is not nature and what is produced and built and con-structed. And so, this is for everyone in our community
to sort of hold as a responsibility, in my opinion.
It is very difficult to see the bigger picture
sometimes when we are faced with each individual
person’s details and each individual person’s hous ehold’s requirements for their property and what they
would like to do. And it is a challenge sometimes to
make that distinction about what it is we would like to
do to improve our own quality of life versus what we
can do to be responsible owners of this beautiful I sland.
Before I really get into some of the details of
what I would like to bring out [regarding] this Bermuda
Plan, [recognise] that we are 63- odd thousand people
that have the privi lege of living and owning and caring for this beautiful Island. And as much as we can set
the beauty and the uniqueness of Bermuda aside
sometimes, because we get caught up in our own
personal ambitions to make sure that we have a wonderful lifestyle and a wonderful place to live and play
in Bermuda, at the same time there has got to be—in
all of us —a thread of responsibility and a thread of
consciousness that we, as a population, are respons ible for this valuable, unique, beautiful Island. And we
must find that balance so that it stays a beautiful,
unique Island.
In the Bermuda Plan I did notice three main
areas that struck me. One is the idea of, in essence,
the merging of commercial and residential. And the
other is the health environment, the fact that t he Be rmuda Plan in sharing the vision that says, You know
what? Whatever we’re going to do in Bermuda, let’s
try to be healthy about it. If we’re going to develop,
let’s develop in such a way that we take responsibility
for people to be able to move about freely, that we
would be able to have places for exercise, open spac-es for healthy living. And then the third is the environmental impact and what can we as a country do to just lower our carbon footprint. And there is discussion
about electric cars and there is discussion about wal king trails. And these are all super important from that
overall vision of [what] we would like Bermuda to look like and to be as an experience moving into the future.
But we have our challenges, and some of our
challenges right now that I see, having read through
what I could get through the Bermuda Plan, is that we
have some very densely populated areas in Bermuda
and we need to make sure that in the future we are
able to manage that space well so that our neighbours
are all abl e to live in harmony together, and at the
same time we hold on to that balance between what is
going to be a densely populated area versus what is
going to be open space.
When I think about the increase of population
densities, of course the middle of Berm uda, Pembroke, in particular, being one of those areas, it may
be strong for me to say [it is] “at risk” but [it is] at risk
because we do have a growing number of people that are living there. Now, in transparency I must disclose
that the constituency for which I am responsible is
Pembroke South West, so there is some skin in the
game from that perspective, Mr. Speaker. And then
the other side of it is that I have moved into the co nstituency and I have lived there for about three years
now. And so, I am al so conscious and aware of the
daily differences when we are living in an area that is more densely populated than other areas in Bermuda, and also experiencing what I had mentioned earlier
about the sort of merging of commercial versus res idential.
So, there is the one thought of why c an’t we
create . . . and I am actually going to preface this, Mr.
Speaker, by saying that coming out of COVID -19 I
personally believe that there are going to be changes


Bermuda House of Assembly in the way that many us live our lives and changes in
the way that we work. And of course, the obvious one
is people are working from home. So, will this be a
long-term change of lifestyle where people are wor king from home more often? And if that is the case,
what is that going to look like?
So, I sort of put on my visionary hat and
thought about this concept within the Bermuda Plan. It discusses the merging of commercial versus residential. It also kind of has an impact on the fact that
commercial versus residential is probably going to be in some of our higher densely populated areas, like
Pembroke, and what that might look like. So, there are
a number of bullet points within the Bermuda Plan
which are worth raising under this idea.
One is the redevelopment, which originally
was the sort of North Hamilton rede velopment. And
there may be some economic development zones and
different labels and names that are given to the idea
that we would have an opportunity for commercial i nvestment mixing with residential. So, I am going to
look at it from a residential perspective in the first i nstance.
My understanding of that could be that people
would be able to move into a one- , two -bedroom
apartment (something that is smaller than a condo, smaller than a home) where they would have the op-portunity within that building t o have a personal res idential lifestyle and, at the same time, there would be the commercial aspect. What that looks like, it could
be that there are actually office spaces within the
building where people could still be at home, but have
their work or [be at] a place where they can go to
work. And also, the fact that they are in the centre of
town and so it is easier. They do not need a car; they
can ride a cycle or walk as their main source of transportation.
So, if we are going to have that kind of mix,
which, you know, in theory has definite promise . . . I
certainly can attest to having given up a car. I have an
electric bike. I live in a one- bedroom apartment in
Pembroke. I have my electric bike and I often walk.
And that has been my life and I have been able to successfully manage for the last three years with that
lifestyle. So I know that it is possible and I know that it
is enjoyable and I know that it is super convenient.
But going back to the population density, if we
are creating a commercial [area] mixed with residential, are we going to create a bit of an explosion in
some of our higher density areas? That was one of
the concerns that was sort of raised. And I think it is
something that we certainly need to keep an eye on. Yes, it may save some open space in Paget or De vonshire or Sandys or Dockyard, but what is the impact
of having maybe more people than we might have
thought in one area? Does it have an impact on our safety? Does it have an impact on our health? Does it
have an impact on our s ocial interactions? These are things that, I think, are worth considering as we develop in more densely populated areas.
One of the other observations, maybe even a
slight concern, but definitely, Mr. Speaker, it falls under responsibility, and that is the honest truth. There
are [some] lots of land that are designated with a res idential zoning component that also have some form of
rural or agricultural or conservation of open space
[designation] that is a part of that lot. And yes, there
are people who enj oy living in the central areas. But
however they have obtained the property, there is
open space that now would be attractive as rezoned
for something that would allow for some sort of structure and building on it. And that is a tough one, because then it becomes an individual family’s respons ibility to weigh the odds of where the balance is be-tween being responsible and having that beautiful sort of mix of open space and population density.
And there is the other side of the balance
where, We are in a dev eloping commercial and res idential area, why can’t I build on it? And you know, I
have seen my neighbour who is able to build and maybe build higher with numerous multi floors be-cause the Bermuda Plan has allowed for people to
build and build higher , but w hat about the person who
has a residence which also has acreage of open
space? And the idea that even if it was something that
was traditional, you know, a cottage style or som ething that is not around being a high- rise development
but cannot expand their property because of the co nservation or rural restrictions that were on them. So, it is an emotive environment.
Mr. Speaker, again, we all have to take some
responsibility for maintaining and protecting our open spaces. But I can see where it becomes a real conflict
when we are in densely populated areas, such as
Pembroke, and we are seeing that there is development and population all around us. But the people
who are responsible for the open spaces are unable to touch them or develop them but have to remai n
protectors.
If as we move forward we are able to find any
way around that kind of conflict so that it creates more
balance, I certainly believe that that will go a long way
in helping people who are living in Bermuda to find that balance and continue the enjoyment of life in
Bermuda.
Now, Mr. Speaker, there was a discussion
about the City of Hamilton Plan. And, again, I am wit hin my constituency and there was discussion about providing an opportunity for those who have comme rcial real estate in Hamilton t o be able to invite some
more residents into commercial, or what has traditionally been commercial, buildings, and add a residential
component that. I believe that could be very attractive
to a number of people who are interested in not ha ving a car and wo uld prefer to cycle or walk. They like
the idea of living in Hamilton and having all the ameni-ties that Hamilton has to offer right in the centre of the
1512 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly city and being able to live there and work at the same
time. So, I believe that there is a lot of promi se there.
We have a lot of vacant space. I think the
Bermuda Plan said something like 500,000 square
feet of vacant commercial space is presently avail able. When I say “presently” I am still being relative
within the time frame of the Bermuda Plan. But that is
a lot of vacant space. And it would be in our best i nterests, in my opinion, Mr. Speaker, that we take a
look at what is already existing before we start embarking on lots of new developments.
Now, there was some discussion . . . and I am
moving a li ttle out of my constituency area, but of i nterest to me was the idea of hotel beds and the idea that our tourism product is changing quite a bit. So,
the Bermuda Plan mentions that there are about
1,150 [fewer] hotel beds in Bermuda. And I can r emember the number of beds in Bermuda as being a
critical inventory for Bermuda because without that we
are 1,157 [fewer] people that potentially could stay on
the Island. But the residents of Bermuda have
grasped the innovation of things like vacation rentals and Ai rbnb and the likes, and the Bermuda Plan is
accommodating that.
The Minister has also spoken about having
vacation rental legislation to be able to support vac ation rentals and continue to support Airbnb that a lready has some legislation in place to support it.
But my question is that once . . . and there is
the potential that the Airbnb trend may move on, and if
the Bermuda Plan is making any kind of accommodation within residential areas that allows for vacation
rentals and there is some legislation around that, and
whether there is sort of, I do not know, some mixing between tourism zoning and residential zones, whet her . . . if the Airbnb/vacation rentals trend moves on
and people choose to do other things with the apar tments and the guest houses that are on their property,
if we have this legislation in place . . . and I have no
idea what it is going to say, but basically, would there
be a sunset clause?
The reason I am asking that, Mr. Speaker, is
because if we let’s say allow some sort of zoning in there so it is residential with a bit of a tourism aspect to it, and at some point people stop doing the at -home
vacation rentals, the at -home Airbnb, but their apar tments or their guest houses are zoned for something
else, like as a vacation rental, will that still apply? Or
will there be a sunset clause in any legislation that
says should you no longer have an Airbnb or should
you no longer have a vacation rental, that the zoning
and any of the other requirements around that legisl ation will then revert back to the Residential 1 or the
Residential 2? And that we will not see something
else showing up in the future because it is kind of pi ggy-backed off of a piece of legislation that was meant
for Airbnb but is now being utilised for something else
(of whic h I cannot give you an example right now, Mr. Speaker). But clearly, people come up with new ideas
for doing different things all the time.
So, the idea that we would be just cognisant
of the development of what is a bit of a commercial
mix in a residenti al space around vacation rentals and
such, I think is worthy of keeping an eye on and su pporting it in any way that we can— by every means
support it —but also being able to manage it as things
change.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I want to speak a little bit
about the idea of decentralising commercial zoning. So, as I understood it from the Bermuda Plan, there is
the concept . . . and Mr. Speaker, this is not the first or
the last time you will hear me speaking of this b ecause I am a firm believer in that we have a number of villages within . . . I am across from you, so it could be
anything anywhere from Flatts to larger areas like
Southside and Dockyard that have the opportunity to
create a mix between residential and commercial.
Now, I have some issues with the mix of residential
and commercial, and hopefully I will have a chance to touch on that later. But in this situation it is more
around how we can develop areas around Bermuda
and still be able to have residences with commercial
enterprise that supports the resi dents of that area.
So, when I visualise something like that I think
about places like Somerset Village that has a large
residential area. They are a distance from Hamilton.
What kind of small business development, what kind
of commercial enterprise could we bring to an area
(and I am going to use Somerset Village as an example) to make it like this beautiful place where, for convenience sake, for diversity and variety of shopping, there would be a community of small businesses that
would be able to nestle into a commercial area and be
able to serve the residents of the parish and the i mmediate area?
I firmly believe that (1) this does an awful lot
to promote and increase entrepreneurship in Berm uda, [and (2)] I think it does wonders in developing vi llages w ithin Bermuda where people can travel to and
shop and find unique items and the like. Now, I am not
working on the nuts and bolts of the profitability of that, but certainly by nature of the businesses that
have been able to start up and thrive in our vill ages, it
is possible. It may take a little work, it may take a little
research, it may take some questioning and consul ting of people in the area to find out what their needs really are. It does not make sense to put something in a village and it is not what the community needs.
So, I certainly hope that the Government continues with what I understood as being decentralised commercial [zoning] and that there is enough r esearch done to make sure that it is a quality relation-ship between the residents of an area and the entr epreneurship businesses that are able to support that
area and that it stays beautiful, that it meets the needs of the area, and it is something that we all can be proud of.


Bermuda House of Assembly Now, on the other side of that I know that we
have some existing m ixed residential/commercial ar eas in Bermuda, and some of them have been a real
bone of contention, Mr. Speaker. And I do not want to
call out names, but there are areas in Southampton, there are areas in Paget, there are areas in Sandys,
where buildings a nd businesses have evolved in res idential areas and, from a visual perspective, it is causing an impact on the residents of the area. And I am
not sure what the answer is, and I certainly give full
credit to the Minister and the team at Planning on how to find solutions or workable relationships within some
of these areas. But what I am most concerned about
is that it will get out of hand, that as these in comme rcial/industrial areas in predominantly residential parishes or zones, things we traditionally know as res idential areas, that as these industrial or commercial areas age, as they continue to grow and more industry and more commercial space is filled, that it does
not create an eyesore, Mr. Speaker. That is the bottom line.
What can we do to be responsible? What can
we do that is green and is healthy, that will create maybe some sort of border or something to make a
distinction between these industrial areas and the residents that are living close by? So, I certainly put that
out as a suggestion as we continue to review the
Bermuda Plan.
Now, there was a mention, Mr. Speaker, that
we would try really hard to review this Plan every five
years. It has been a long time coming. I believe that
there have been a number of reasons, and valid reasons, why ther e have been delays with the Bermuda
Plan 2018 coming out in its final phase. But we have a
responsibility to try to stay on this so that every five
years we can review, see what is under threat, see
what is working, and make sure that we address the
changes and maintain that balance and be respons ible, Mr. Speaker, in the protection of our Island.
And Mr. Speaker, I am going to end with a li ttle story. I think that probably one of the more touc hing messages that my father ( the late Albert Jackson) . . . we used to drive home together out of Hamilton at
the end of every day. And my father used to say to me
that when he would fly into Bermuda—and he loved to
fly into Bermuda because he just loved looking at the overall picture, he could see the entire Island. But one
of his big concerns each time he would come back
from abroad was, you know, Oh Bermuda, we have
got so many white roofs . And certainly, he was born
and raised at a time when Bermuda was predominant-ly green. And so, he could see the addition and th e
increase of the white roofs over Bermuda over his lif etime.
And we have limited space, Mr. Speaker.
There are not many more places for us to go. We do not really create any man- made land here, which I am
glad for. We do not reclaim acres and acres of lan d.
And so, I guess I just really want Bermuda to have a full appreciation of just how valuable this Island is.
And for each one of us who has our two feet touching
this Island [to appreciate] the responsibility, the priv ilege, and for me the honour of being Bermudian and taking responsibility for the Island is huge. And I am hoping that we can all have that sense of pride and
ownership. And even when our small personal desires
to improve our lives and our land, what we choose to
do with our land, yes, those things are going to come
into the forefront. But if we can just, in our hearts also, consider the fact that as much of the open beauty and the uniqueness of Bermuda that we can keep, so that
we do have a balance for open space, is in our hearts,
then I be lieve that we will, as a country, make the right
decisions to maintain a balance and be responsible
citizens.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: In fact, just last w eekend I
went over to the Bermudiana Beach Club and just
took a walk along the beach. I had my grandson, my
daughter and her husband. And, again, I was amazed
with the coastal erosion that has transpired over the years and the devastation that it is causing. We talk
about going to Alaska to see the calving of the ic ebergs. Well, we do not have to go too far to see the
calving of our cliff faces here in Bermuda.
It was astounding. I took some pictures. It is a
shame that I cannot put them on our website so we can see them. It is not something that you can ignore.
And my concern is that we are having more and more
buildings built on our coast. And I am very, very concerned about the impact that this may have on the
safety of the properties being built and the impact on
our coast.
As you know, coastal erosion results primarily
from global warming and the increased frequency and
intensity of our hurricanes. And until we address cl imate change and global warming this will continue.
And so I would encourage the G overnment and the
Minister to do more to have a larger setback against
these coastlines because it will become very, very
1514 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly dangerous to people using our beaches as well as the
residents who live on our coast.
I know that as a young boy I would go over
that beach and actually walk down the hill to a path
from Southshore to the beach. Now I cannot even
walk down that path. They had to build a staircase
about 30 to 40 feet high to get on the beach. When I
was a youngster that was unheard of. Unheard of!
And i t also inhibits the use of the beach by our seniors
who basically spent their lifetime on that beach, b ecause of the coastal erosion.
So again, my recommendation would be for
the Government to consider a larger setback in regard to any planning applicatio ns that are presented that
impact our coastline.
The other issue, while talking on hurricanes, is
our flooding issues. And what comes to mind is the
old airport. When we had a hurricane from the south,
they had the flooding. Then we have the Causeway
issue and remember the hurricane, again [in] 1986 (I
think) when the Causeway was destroyed and St.
George’s was cut off for a couple of weeks. Again, we have to address our low -lying areas and provide mit igation strategies for climate change/global warming
because these issues, these risks, are here to stay.
Unfortunately, [those issues are] not much of
our do ing because we are a small nation. We know
that the industrialised nations —China, the US, and
other larger nations —are responsible for global war ming and we are just impacted by it like many other small nations.
The other interesting flooding area is Mills
Creek. Mills Creek is a low -level area. With the rise in
our water levels we are finding that this area is flooded more and more. And again, what miti gation tools
can we put in place to address those challenges in
regard to our low -lying areas?
The other issue, Mr. Speaker, that is dear to
my heart is agricultural land. If I remember correctly,
most of the complaints that we have received have to do wi th converting agricultural land back to residential
or commercial. For the life of me—and this is a personal point of view —I am a proponent of maintaining,
and in fact increasing, our agricultural land. This will
help us to become more economically self -sufficient
and it will help [to maintain] food security in this coun-try. I would invite the Minister to do all that he can to
ensure that our agricultural land is not encroached
upon and that we can build up an inventory of agricultural land and do less to i n fact compromise the acr eage that we have for our agricultural land.
To me most Bermudians like to put their fi ngers in the soil. Most Bermudians would like to have a
little garden in the backyard. As you know, we have
these community gardens and they hav e been around
and almost all of them get taken up as soon as they become available. To me that is an indication that a griculture is important to Bermudians and important to
the preservation of our agricultural industry. So again, this is a primary resource for our
agricultural industry. It has been reduced by at least a
thousand acres from years in the past. And as cust odians of this land, we must do our bit to preserve our agricultural land in this country.
You know, again, how does global warming
impact agriculture? As you know, Mr. Speaker, we
have many hurricanes, high winds, and the farmers
lose a lot of produce, be it vegetables, citrus fruits,
flowers and the likes and decorative trees, because of
hurricanes.
Mr. Speaker, global warming also impacts t hat
industry in a colossal way. As you know, the farmers
find it very difficult to insure their crops, so they lose
thousands and thousands of dollars per year because
of high winds and hurricanes, which are a result of
climate change and global warming.
The other issue that I am sensitive to, Mr.
Speaker, is the issue of vulnerable ecosystems. And
here I am talking about coral reefs, the mangroves
(which have been compromised over the years), our marine nurseries, and caves.
Mr. Speaker, as you know, our c oral reefs and
mangroves act as an ecosystem. They are a breeding
ground for flora and fauna and juvenile fish species.
And they also are reducing. I take the view, Mr.
Speaker, that somehow, we need to provide r esources that will allow this country to redevelop a
number of mangroves. Somehow, we can provide the
plants to replant and regenerate some of the mangroves lost because of our hurricanes and because of
development and the run- off of development and ot her dangerous chemicals which have [penetrated] and
infiltrated our groundwater.
Mr. Speaker, while on global warming and the
carbon footprint, I think the Government should also —
and I will support them 100 per cent —have a campaign to plant trees in this country. Trees mitigate the
reduction of CO
2. And these trees can be decorative
trees; they can be fruit trees, trees that can form an ecosystem amongst themselves like mini -forests. Our
fruit trees, I mean, last year we had issues with the banana trees. When was the last time one had seen citrus trees? And again, in the past the citrus trees
were used to provide healthy fruit for our community.
We need to have a national plan that will address our fruit trees and make the production of local fruit an
everyday event for our young people and those committe d to addressing reducing our carbon footprint and
providing food security and healthy produce in this country.
So, I would invite the Minister to also have a
look to see what type of incentives we can have so
that we, as a country, can have more fruit trees, o rchards in this country so that we become more self -
sufficient when it comes to the production of fruit in
this country. We can do it if we set our mind to it.
I know that we have done a lot of work in the
Planning Department and I applaud them for the work


Bermuda House of Assembly that is being done. And I just would like to continue to
encourage them to ensure that green energy standards are embedded and, in fact, insisted upon in our
planning and development regulations when it comes
to [the] development of residential and commercial
properties.
Mr. Speaker, the other issue that I would like
to address is the issue of invasive species, be they plants or animals. Again, they compromise the
productivity of our fruit, flowers, vegetables and even
some of our plants. And I am thinking of like Kudzu,
the Mexican peppers , the casuarina trees. Again, we
need to address those invasive species so that we
can have more endemic plants thrive and survive in
this country and add to the beautiful garden paradise that we have.
The other iss ue that I did not see much about
(and I may have missed it) is in regard to the management of Bermuda’s waste. I know we have the
incinerator plant and I know that we have the dump in
North Hamilton. Time and time again there was talk about having a national park in that area. Now, I understand the issues in regard to the thermal heat that
exists in that area, but I am certain that certain parts
of that site could be made available for a national
park. Again, it would have to form part of the Park sy stem and has to be integrated with a waste management plan for this country. And again, I know when the
Minister asked [if] the vent was there, he was quoting
the amount of trash that this country produces. And
somehow it has to be managed so that we can have a
healthier country and healthier water lands and
healt hier soil so that we can have more productive
and healthier produce and environment.
We have said a lot about the coastal reserves,
the conservation areas, the national parks, the nature
reserves and open space reserves. I know that most
of these reserves have a management plan. I know
that. But I think the Government could do more to
share the details of those management plans with the
people of this country so that they, too, can be i nvolved in the management of our parks and nature
areas and open space reserves. I mean, if you go out to Spittle Pond it is still pristine and you will see a
number of birds —migratory birds, and native birds
there. And I think the conservation plan should be
conducive to all owing those types of environment to
be attractive to some of these migratory birds and
other animals that will enhance the beauty of our r eserves.
The final point that I would like to speak to,
Mr. Speaker, is that I would like for the Minister to
provide more details on landfills. Where are we on
that? Are we at the end of the landfills for Bermuda? I
know currently when we get rid of our cars and when
we get rid of our washers in our houses, get rid of our stoves, they go down to the airport and the landf ill.
How long are we going to allow this to happen? How will this be addressed from a planning point of view, from a developmental point of view? The impact on
the surrounding area is questionable and it needs to
be addressed at some point or the other.
Mr. Speaker, generally, I welcome the 2018
Plan. I have some concerns and reservations which I just spoke to and I hope that they will be addressed
and that the Minister will share my concerns and empathy for the direction that we are going in regard to
the impact of climate change and the impact of overdevelopment of this country.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Opposition Leader.
Before I call on any other Members to make a
contribution, I just want to call on the Minister just to
clarify. As you know, I was in between the Chair coming back when he started this morning, and the wor ding of the motion that is on the Order Paper needed to have an amendment made to it. I know the Minister
spoke to it, but I do not know if the actual wording
needed was asked for [as an] amendment.
We asked for the indulgence to have this matter dealt with before the other matter that was ahead of this. That was done. But I am not clear on whether
the wording was adjusted in the actual motion.
So I am going t o call on the Minister just to
clarify that, so the House is clear on it. I would not
want to do it at the end when we are finished; I want
us to do it now while we are still in the debate.
Minister, if you do not mind?

AMENDMENT TO MOTION

Hon. Walter H . Roban: Yes, of course, Mr. Speaker, I
am happy to oblige. I will just repeat to you the motion
that I read so that, perhaps, if it needs clarification, we
can do it.
I said: I move that the House do now take u nder consideration the following motion, noti ce of which
was given on the 21
st of May 2021 : THAT this Ho nourable House supports the Bermuda Plan 2018.
That is the full motion that I read, Mr. Speaker.

Okay. Because on the Order Paper it
just says that we “take note,” it does not say “support.”
So, the amendment is asking for the support of the
House rather than just taking note.
So, Members, the indulgence now is that you
accept the motion as it is stated now, versus what was
written on paper on the Order Paper today.
Any objections to that?
There are none.

[Motion carried: Motion amended from a “take note
motion” to a “motion of support.”]

Mm-hmm.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: I think it has been made cry stal clear by, certainly, my submissions earlier today and by what has been articulated by a number of Members, that this is a very important Plan. It has a certain historical significance in that it is going to be taking the direction of development in a different way,
not in the way that, perhaps, has been familiar to
many, but the changes being made are going to make development and the process of going towards devel-opment very different. It is not going to be necessarily more cumbersome, but it is going to have added pr otection for the environment, added attention to the
specific issues of community, but also, added attention to what development needs to look like over the next 10, even 20 years, or longer.
So, it has been designed in a way to bring
balance, balance to all those three key priorities and,
specifically, balance between the community interests,
balance between development interests, but balanced with the environmental interests, which we can no longer ignore, Mr. Speaker. The issue of our natural environment and its protection and its preservation and sustainability is as important as everything else
we are dealing with. And I think that has to be appr eciated now.
There are some people who have, I would argue, done very well in the process of development
over recent decades. And we credit their efforts be-cause they have contributed to a country that, irr espective of the increased development, still looks still as picturesque, still is enjoyed and still admired for our unique architecture, our unique way of approaching development and our unique lifestyle and how we look in the face of the global community. We are admired. But it does not mean that we do not give attention g o-ing forward to how we are going to protect our natural
environment in the future, how we are going to man-age development in the future as we will have more development needs, as we seek to, as we are focus-ing on now, on rebuilding our economy, on ensuring that jobs in the area of all the areas of deve lopment
are maintained or are sustainable, but also, how we
will develop our communities going forward.
And there has been a different history over
decades on how communities in different parts of the
Island have been treated around development. Well, some of that has been good, some of that has not
been good, but we are looking for balance going forward in the future. So, that is why the Plan —the Bermuda Development Plan 2018— is the start of a new
process where communities will have priority and the
commun ity’s interests will have a priority.
So, and I have said . . . and I have used this
example before, Mr. Speaker, what will be the interest
for Sandys and the development needs of Sandys
going forward? What will we look at differently in Pembroke? Rather than the current process which almost has a cookie- cutter approach, which every 10
years they look at zoning for everybody and there is a
kind of a blanket —there has been in the past —a bla nket sort of review. No. That is not how we are going to
do it. It is quite likely, going forward, with the appropr iate changes to the Development and Planning Act [1974] and some other things that we will bring for-ward to this House, that there will be more intermittent
looks at zoning in different parts of the Island. So that
issues that arise from parish to parish, from community to community, will be addressed in a much more precise way to address the needs of those communi-ties and how they would like to see issues of deve lopment handled within those spaces. Which I thin k
will make many, many people happier in many ways because, as you have seen from the presentation of what we are doing, is that many people are still look-ing for zoning changes that will potentially look at r emoving certain conservation and agricultural prov isions. And I think we know now that that is not always a good thing and, in some cases, it may merit some consideration.
But that is the balance that we have to actually approach, Mr. Speaker, in looking at these issues community by community because it might be that as
we . . . as I found with my exhaustive requirement to
review something like 600- odd pages of a zoning tr ibunal’s work, in that there are some areas that have
been zoned for generations, for instance agriculture, where there is no agriculture that has been going on in recent memory. And when you look at the land itself
it is not necessarily appropriate for modern agricu lture. But at the same time, there are areas where pr otections need to even be raised because, perhaps,
those areas are ha ving pressure on them from deve lopment and they border an area that needs greater protection.


Bermuda House of Assembly So, there has got to be a balance, Mr. Speaker, with all these issues. As we have progressed over
recent decades and as you . . . if anyone goes
through the process that I went through with this, I had to—and I took the time—to look at visual maps going
back to the 1940’s in some areas of Bermuda to see
the evolution of development so that I could actually
make sound, well -informed decisions, about some of
the issues that were raised by the tribunal. And you
can see the path of development in some areas and
how some paths of development have been sensible and maybe some, there needs to be some issues
raised, or we now have an opportunity to provide
greater protectio n in areas where there were not the
appropriate protections.
So, balance is actually, I believe, the vision of
the Plan going forward, this Bermuda Plan 2018. And
we, along with the team in Planning, look forward to
engaging with the community going forwar d on how
we continue work with them. Because this is not just
about the Government imposing certain rules and regulations on the community, it is us working with the
community to shape development going forward.
So, I just wanted to do those somewhat intr oductory remarks and I am going to address some of the questions that have been raised, Mr. Speaker.
And I will go through them and I am certain, if any questions do arise that I do not hit, that I welcome any
after-debate feedback from Members who may . . .
questions will arise even from this debate that their
constituents may ask and they might want an answer
and I welcome the opportunity to answer those questions.
One of the questions was, how does the Plan
support economic growth moving forward? Well, that,
I think my previous comments speak to that. It is all
about balance. Certainly, this Government is working
on plans to re- engineer Bermuda’s economy [to] r eshape it and planning and development has a very big role in that. And just through my own exper ience
through the pandemic period, Mr. Speaker, much to
the credit of the Planning team led by Ms. Victoria P ereira, we kept the process of the consideration of development applications going through much of the
pandemic period. That allowed, coming out, f or people
to immediately start working once we came out of the
shelter -in-place order last year. And that certainly
helped keep food on the table and kept some level of
economic activity going for the country. That is the
crucial role that this Plan and ho w it is shaped and
managed will play in that, even in the most crucial, hard, delicate times, if we can keep certain sectors of the economy going because of efficient process of
consideration of planning applications and, you know,
working with developers, we can keep sections of our
economy moving and keeping people employed and
keeping some level of quality of life maintained.
But the policies that we will shape going forward, because with the approval of this Plan certain new policies might be adjusted and shaped, even as
we do some things that we might be discussing later
about creating a lot more stringent rules around buil ding and raising efficiency and conservation measures in building, that will create new opportunities in devel-opment that can, potentially, help the economy as
well. So, that is why we need to ensure we achieve
balance, Mr. Speaker, going forward and I hope that
answers that question.
There was another question from the Honourable Member Mr. Richardson regarding flooding in industrial areas. The answer to that I would like to give
is that the department is certainly aware of the i mportance of industrial areas, especially areas like Mills Creek, —and that whole area, not just Mills Creek, but
that whole area of Pembroke certainly has a hi story of
industrialisation —when it comes to flooding, and there
have been, as we all know, instances of flooding and
challenges around flooding in that area. The draft
Bermuda Plan has within its policies [to] address
these particular areas when it comes t o the erection of
new developments and their potential to impact the
area of flooding. And their policies are designed to
reduce or eliminate future flooding impacts. And this is
where the balance comes in because raising, partic ularly, not only the development priority which is there
but the environment priority, so we will give greater
attention in certain areas and this is the specificity of dealing with development in particular areas.
As new development arises in those industrial
areas, the environmental factors and considerations will be raised as a higher priority, Mr. Speaker, be-cause that now is equal to our development priorities.
And there will be mitigation strategies, Mr. Speaker,
that will have to be employed to directly address the
issue of f looding. And we will also, I think, have to
work with the owners of the properties there. If they wish for mitigation strategies to be deployed they will
have to work with the department, they will have to work with other agencies of government to ensure
they are in place, because this cannot be just —and I
am going to be very straightforward here, Mr. Speaker—the Government fixing the problems where private
development has created the challenge. We cannot have that anymore. We cannot have where private developers have done what they wanted to do in an
area and then, when problems arise, they come to the
Government to fix [it]. That is not how it is going to
happen going forward, Mr. Speaker. It is going to be
working together with private development to miti gate
problems that arise as a result of development.
So, I hope that that is something that is taken
on and it is understood and that is how we are going
to shape things forward.
Going forth with some other questions, Mr.
Speaker, the Honourable Member Ms. Susan Jac kson, I believe, had a question about development and
zoning, is this for a reason? I think. Is that the question?
1518 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly [Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I am sorry, Mr. Speaker. This
practice . . . an answer that my team has advised m e
on that was . . . because with the theme of MP Jac kson’s statement. So, the answer is this in that around
development and zoning exists . . . development and
zoning around development exists for a reason, as do
conservation zones. And there has to be a balance,
as I think is the theme of this Plan, balance, finding
balance. That the Plan cannot allow what I will freely
use language frankly to say, Mr. Speaker, we cannot
allow a “free- for-all” with development. We understand
that people may have opportunit ies they would like to
pursue, but we cannot have a free- for-all. We cannot
allow development for development’s sake.
So, whilst we support development and we
will continue to support development —and that is the
role that the Planning Department does, it helps to
support and shape development —an element of control has to be in place, Mr. Speaker, and greater de nsity is permitted where it will make sense. We are not
going to allow creation of mass density in areas that
clearly do not complement the wider ar ea around it,
which is, perhaps, in the preservation of green space.
And I can assure you that a number of these situ ations I did have to address in my consideration of the Plan.
And we sympathise with the desires of certain
persons who own land who may wa nt an opportunity,
but what they are seeking will actually destroy a cer-tain consistency in the area based on their develo pment wishes. So, we have to balance that. I have spoken to Planning about this and we have been di scussing these issues over recent y ears, that we encourage developers to come and talk to them, share
their plans and future aspirations around development
so that the Planning Department and its team, who
are the most experienced team on the Island in this
area, without a doubt, can help t hem shape their plans
and let them know what can happen, what can be
done, and how, perhaps, their vision can be achieved
within means of the Planning Regulations. But it has
to make sense. Mr. Speaker, it must make sense.
Another comment here about conser vation
reserves zones . . . oh, yes, an issue came up. It
might have been the Honourable Opposition Leader
about or, perhaps [it was], Ms. Jackson, about conservation management plans for different areas that
are under conservation zoning. At the moment conservation management plans are only required, Mr.
Speaker, for areas where development is being co ntemplated or is proposed. And it is typical for where a
significant development is being done or a significant
change to an area of land is being done that a co nservation management plan is required.
I think that is going to become the norm as
conservation is important. So, even as people seek
development, we look to preserve the green that may be around the development and that it is keeping with
the theme and with the interests of the land around it.
So conservation management plans, certainly, for m ajor developments are becoming pretty much standard, but at the same time, we do ensure that they are in place where any development is contemplated.
A question was raised, Mr. Speaker, about
landfills. Land fill- ins are the responsibility of the Mi nistry of Works, so I would ask the Honourable Members, if they have a question, to put it to the Minister of Public Works, that is not really the jurisdiction of Pla nning.
There was a question or comment made
about agricultural land and how much of that land is zoned across the Island. And just as information,
there is just over 700 acres, around 737 acres, of agricultural land that is properly zoned as agricultural land. And to my remembrance, about half of that is
actually actively being used as agriculture.
So, it says a couple of things, Mr. Speaker.
There certainly is no desire in any of our policies and any intention, Mr. Speaker, for us to reduce that number I can assure you. And I, as the Minister respons ible for Planning and the Environment and Agriculture
and all things to do with that will certainly continue to
look for ways to increase that number, if I can. And I
certainly welcome the support of the community as
well as Members of this House to do that, where we
can find more land to put within agricultural zoning, if
that is feasible, or we will take the opportunity to do
that because agriculture is important and having and
preserving our agriculturally zoned land is important.
Now about half of that is actually being actively used
at the moment and, certainly, we look forward to wor king with private and public sector partners with i ncreasing the activity of agriculture in a reasonable way
throughout the Island in some way.
Mr. Speaker, just as a last comment, not only
the traditional forms of agriculture, but also the alternative and newer developed forms of agriculture are
also welcome as well. So, if persons want to introduce
certain newer forms of agriculture, whether it be vert ical farming, whether it be aquafarming, whether it be
hydroponics or any of the other —which actually are
based on using much land conservatively to maximise yield and development . . . yield of agricultural products in a certainly safe, healthy and sound way, we
welcome those proposals to come to us if people want
to begin to talk about how they can do some of these more innovative forms of farming and agriculture in
Bermuda. We welcome the opportunity to work with
them in this Minist ry.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I do believe I have a nswered all of the questions in this debate. And those are my final comments at this time.

Thank you, Minister.


Bermuda House of Assembly Minister, the question has to be put now as to
. . . because the Motion was changed asking that the
House approve the Plan.
So, the question is now put, Does the House
approve the Bermuda Plan 2018?

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes, Mr. Speaker.
So, I would like to move the Motion, if I need
to restate it again, that this House approves t he Bermuda Plan 2018.

Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Ho nourable Members for your contributions.
We will now move on to the second Order on
the Order Paper for today, which is a motion by the
Minister of Finance. A nd similar to the motion that was
done earlier, the Minister has an amendment to his motion.
So, Minister, as I call on you I would ask you
to put the amendment so that we can have the amendment agreed on before we proceed. And I am calling on the indulge nce of the House to allow us to
put the amendment.
Minister.

MOTION

BERMUDA’S ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN,
SUMMARY REPORT

Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

AMENDMENT TO MOTION
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, the amended
motion shoul d read as follows:
“THAT this Honourable House supports Bermuda’s Economic Recovery Plan, Summary Report .”

Are there any objections to that?
There are none.
Continue, Minister.

Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased
to provide opening remarks on the discussion in this Honourable House of the Government’s Economic
Recovery Plan to take Bermuda beyond the pandemic.
Much has been said and we have all had our
own first -hand experiences of the significant impact of
the COVID -19 pandemic. It has hurt people and
economies globally and Bermuda has not been ex-empted. However, when we look at what has happened in other parts of the world, Bermuda has much
to be thankful for. Government has had to make many
challenging decisions, but the tremendous support
and dedicated commitment from the people of Bermuda have helped to limit the health impact of the
pandemic on our shores.
It is an unfortunate reality that taking proactive
steps to arrest the spread of the pandemic in terms of case numbers and deaths has an economic cost and
impacts economic growth. However, this Government
recognises that we could not compromise on our
commitment to the health and well -being of our pe ople. We also committed to and took strong and dec isive action to provide financ ial support to persons and
entities negatively impacted by this crisis. For the
most part, those industries that rely heavily on face- toface interactions, such as hospitality, transport and
entertainment have been most challenged and there
has been less i mpact on sectors such as financial
services, that were able to continue to operate while
maintaining social distancing or working remotely.
Therefore, providing targeted financial support was an
important aspect of actions taken since the onset of
the pand emic.
Mr. Speaker, the development of the Economic Recovery Plan was another critical step in helping
Bermuda deal with the challenges of the pandemic.
Government recognised at an early stage that it was
important to proactively consider what would be
needed to take Bermuda beyond the pandemic. Thus,
considerable time, effort, and resources were also
invested in formulating an appropriate plan for Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker, by way of historical context, I
would note that Bermuda’s economy has never been
able to fully recover from the economic downturn in
2009. While many countries, such as the US, were
able to use monetary policy by increasing money sup1520 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ply and keeping interest rates low in order to reenergise their economies, Bermuda with no central
bank, was not able to do the same. What this meant is
that while the US economy consistently grew by on
average 2.3 per cent per year from 2009 onwards,
Bermuda has experienced an average growth rate of
(negative) -1 per cent from 2011 to 2018. Combined
with now ou tstanding Government debt of $3 billion
and a debt ceiling of $3.5 billion, it is clear to see that
Bermuda is facing a fiscal cliff edge. This, coupled
with the results of the unprecedented economic i mpact of the pandemic and the various external threats the country is facing, means that we cannot afford to
be complacent and timely and prudent action to address these issues is required.
Implementing the Economic Recovery Plan
will be key to addressing the systemic and economic challenges that are current ly in front of us. While the
Government cannot control the global economic fall -
out that is the result of the pandemic, the Government
can and has developed a plan to stimulate job growth,
tackle inequality, and help shape the future of Berm uda.
Mr. Speak er, the Economic Recovery Plan
[ERP] is a forward- looking plan that aims to deliver a
better, more inclusive future for everyone in Bermuda.
With this in mind, the ERP has been established
through research and interviews with key stakeholders and there has been extensive input from around the
Cabinet table. The Economic Advisory Committee
established in May of 2020 has also provided valuable
advice throughout the process. And input from the
Financial Policy Council, the Fiscal Responsibility
Panel and other key stakeholders has also been
sought. We are grateful for all the input and feedback
that has been provided by so many committed people.
To ensure that the ERP is practical and credible, a prudent fiscal strategy for Government’s finances involving key guardrails was instituted in order to
keep Bermuda on the right fiscal track. Fiscal guidelines were drawn from comparisons with jurisdictions
with similar credit ratings. Projected fiscal outcomes
for the various initiatives in the ERP respect these
guardrails which address Bermuda’s capacity to pay
back debt and to minimise the risk of a credit dow ngrade. As such, it is the Government’s intention that Bermuda targets a return to a balanced budget in
three fiscal years by fiscal 2023/24 and respects the
$3.5 billion ceiling on total debt outstanding. And in
line with similarly single A -rated countries, ratios of
gross debt to GDP and net debt to GDP do not exceed 55 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively.
Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that the
pand emic has also laid bare the stark realities of
some of the structural issues and inequities in our
economy, many of which have been decades in the
making. The ERP recognises and takes steps to ad-dress these issues. Therefore, in developing the ERP, the Gov ernment has been guided by six key princ iples:
1. combatting the health and economic impacts
of COVID -19 as a priority;
2. reducing the cost of living;
3. achieving fairness and equity;
4. financial viability;
5. fiscal prudence; and
6. timely, decisive action.
Mr. Speaker, the ERP contains a total of 31
priority initiatives which were drawn from the Gover nment’s 2020 platform and Throne Speech vision and shaped by the input received. They can be broadly
categorised into seven key themes:
1. Diversifying Bermuda’s economy through
growth of new industries with co- investment
from the private sector, including allowing
Bermudians themselves to invest. For exam-ple, whether it be tourism, whether it be far ming, small and medium -sized enterprise marketplaces, residential schemes, the casino i ndustry, subsea communications and the
space strategy.
2. Making financial markets work better for bus inesses and consumers. Examples would i nclude lowering interest rates, COVID -19 SME
support, and the national digital bank initiative.
3. Building critical new infrastructure or enhancing existing infrastructure. Examples: shor eside facility for fishing, water and waste management facility, and electric vehicle rechar ging stations.
4. Expanding the resident population, for example, through short -term measures, such as the
introduction of the Economic Investment Cer-tificate as well as medium -term initiatives,
such as regularising the position of long- term
residents and making it easier for Bermudians born overseas to return home.
5. Introducing labour market reforms and social
development measures to deliver skills, employment, and economic security in the future
economy. By way of example, the execution of a job strategy and youth employment strategy, establishing national unemployment i nsurance, and implementati on of minimum and
living wage legislation.
6. Reforming the delivery of health care. For example, through the introduction of an afforda-ble universal health care system and by r educing the costs of medicines.
7. Developing supported legal and regulatory framewor ks. For example, the Energy Regul atory Sandbox, digital FinTech, green deve lopment zone, et cetera.
Referencing the key initiatives against international benchmarks research shows that if we are suc-cessful in the implementation of the policy initiatives, Bermuda should experience 1.3 to 1.5 per annum


Bermuda House of Assembly above base economic growth in 2023 leading to an
improvement in Bermuda’s fiscal position assuming a
reasonable growth trajectory for the world economy as
currently predicted by the IMF.
Mr. Speaker, the priori ty initiatives outlined in
the ERP have been developed alongside several par-allel and substantive initiatives that are underway and
will have a positive impact on the Bermudian economy. These include: education reform, tax reform, pension reform, as well as additional policies to support
Bermuda’s international business sector, including in the highly competitive search for climate- related f inancial opportunities.
Mr. Speaker, as I bring these opening r emarks to a close I would note that, similar to other countries around the world, Bermuda’s road to reco very will have its challenges as persons and busines ses adapt to post -pandemic new norms. There will be
opportunities which can be developed and some sectors will recover quickly. However, for others the tr ansition will be more difficult. Government has stepped
up to the challenge during the pandemic to help people and businesses in their time of need. As emergency support starts to wind down, actions in relation to
the ERP will be at the forefront of shaping the reco very. Continued Government leadership and resilience
are now needed to further develop and successfully execute these plans for future health and growth.
Before handing it over to my ministerial colleagues so that they can elaborate on their own initiatives, let me just discuss one that relates to the Mini stry of Finance, which is to reduce the cost of mortgag-es by lowering interest rates through measures to i ncrease competition in the banking sector and by wor king with local banks to provide security for mortgage
loans. Bermudians throughout the generations have
seen owning a piece of the rock as a goal to be pursued. With the considerable growth in the economy
that has taken place, particularly within the last 50
years, available land has become more scarce and
with increased demand the cost of real estate has i ncreased considerably. Although there has been some moderation in prices in the last 10 years, it is recog-nised that purchasing land or a home is a major i nvestment that remains a challenge for many.
Government is sensitive to the desires and
dreams of its residents and, therefore, is committed to
taking active steps to help our people in that regard.
Therefore, creating affordable housing is a priority
initiative that has been and continues to be actively
pursued. In addition, Government sees it as important to consider ways to address the cost associated with purchasing this important investment and, in partic ular, those related to mortgages. We do not anticipate
taking steps that would res ult in Bermuda becoming a
large banking centre as this would create consider able change in Bermuda’s risk profile in a way that is not seen as prudent for our economy. However, some
expansion of the banking sector is seen as positive and there continues to be ongoing dialogue on development in that regard. We anticipate that the i ncreased competition and access to services that will
result from that will be positive for consumers.
In relation to the cost of financing, I would
note that given the makeup of B ermuda’s economy,
we are heavily impacted by developments in other
countries, particularly the United States. For Bermuda,
with our dollar pegged to the US dollar and the US
being a significant trading partner, interest rate
movements and other related fac tors can therefore be
significantly impacted by the US economy. This cr eates complications for effectively addressing financial
matters such as this. However, we remain committed
to having the necessary dialogues with the banks and
soliciting input from our expert economic advisors to
come up with appropriate solutions to assist our fellow Bermudians achieve the goal of affordable and accessible mortgage financing.
Mr. Speaker, I will now hand over the discussion to my ministerial colleagues who can elaborate
on the initiatives for which they will provide leadership.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, the Opposition Leader has yiel ded.
What will happen is that th e Opposition Leader, as the first speaker for the Opposition, will still have a lengthier time than the Minister who is speaking now. But he has yielded and the Minister has the
floor.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: But it seems quite unusual
and that is why I rai sed the point. Normally on a debate of significance we would have the Opposition
following.

Thank you.
Minister Furbert.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I
have no problem speaking before the Opposition because it is clear that we have to lay out our plan and
our vision.
Mr. Speaker, we speak to an economic plan, it
means that the Progressive Labour Party has a vision in regard to economic recovery. And you just heard
the Minister lay out some points in specific and what
we will try to do is get a little more in detail. Mr. Speaker, I recognise, and we recognise, that the last
15 months has been a tough period. Many of us,
many our people, have been frustrated and s ome
have, to a certain degree, become discouraged. And
Mr. Speaker, we recognise that these last 15 months
have left people wondering about their own future.
And let me just say, Mr. Speaker, that the Gover nment recognises the pain that some people have gone through or have been going through for that period.
The Progressive Labour Party laid out its v ision, Mr. Speaker, in 2017 and in 2019. And yes, Mr.
Speaker, some people have forgotten it because the
COVID -19 pandemic has got in the way of clearly
think ing about where we are. Our Premier, the Honourable David Burt, the Honourable Minister [of
Health], Kim Wilson, have worked tirelessly, Mr. Speaker, and have done a great job in keeping us safe. However, Mr. Speaker, as they work many of
our Ministers and caucus members have been di s-cussing about the future, how do we deal with some
issues?
Mr. Speaker, so let me get back to that vision.
Too many people . . . many people, as you must
know, Mr. Speaker, have died with a vision, have died
with their . . . died with what they really wanted to accomplish in life. Myles Munroe said the graveyard is
the richest place on earth, because it is here that you
will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs
that were never song, the inventions that were never
shared, the cures that were never discovered, all be-cause someone was too afraid to take the first step,
take up the problem or determined to carry out their
dreams.
Mr. Speaker, the Progressive Labour Par ty
will carry out its vision.
Mr. Speaker, we in the Ministry of the Cabinet
Office dream every day of how we can make Bermuda
a better place and enrich our people and hope and
make sure they fulfil what they want to do. Mr. Speak-er, we speak about economi c recovery, we speak
about something that will take place, we speak about vision and we speak about the initiatives.
Mr. Speaker, we have been working on several initiatives. Hopefully in the 30 minutes that I have, Mr. Speaker, which have been allotted t o me, will give
me sufficient time to lay out the vision of the Progressive Labour Party and where we hope to go on these
issues.
Mr. Speaker, so that the public is aware,
these initiatives will create jobs, jobs, jobs and more jobs. They will allow entrep reneurs to surface. Clearly,
Mr. Speaker, it will help us grow our GDP, will enhance our balance of payment, will reduce the cost of
certain food products. And thank God it will help to
grow Government’s revenue.
So Mr. Speaker, the recovery plan speaks to
seven main themes. I will speak to one of them, and
that is diversifying Bermuda’s economy through the
growth of new industries. By bringing in private sector
investment along with Government’s own financial
commitment Bermuda will launch new industries i n
fields such as medical tourism, vertical farming, cas inos, and subsea communications. The Government will also stimulate existing economic activity in key sectors, for example, by creating an online marketplace for small businesses and making it easier t o
invest in the residential property on the Island. Many
of these indicators will be constructed in such a way
as to allow part ownership by Bermudians themselves, enabling a new generation of investors to cr eate lasting wealth for themselves and their fam ilies.
Mr. Speaker, I personally will speak to the following: the Shoreside facility to process fish, medical tourism, vertical farming and working with start -ups to
lower food costs.
Mr. Speaker, let me deal first with the Shor eside fishing industry. Mr. Speaker, the Government


Bermuda House of Assembly will complete the Shoreside [Fishing] Facility. I know
the Opposition Leader asked some questions last
week, so we will complete the Shoreside Facility to
process fish caught in Bermuda while supporting a
cooperative approach, or c ooperative purchase, I
should say, of larger shipping vessels, increase the
domestic capture of fish, reducing imports and provi ding the option for exporting fish.
The BEDC has formed a steering committee,
Mr. Speaker, made up of representatives from the
Department of the Environment and Natural R esources and the Fishermen’s Association of Bermuda.
The steering committee is updating the previous bus iness plan and the design plans for the project based
on current economic conditions as well as taking into account short - to long- term fisheries development factors. But the business plan is taking into consideration the current and potential future revenue streams r equired to make the facility sustainable while also factoring in later phase initiatives aimed at growing the
local fishery industry and making it more profitable.
The steering committee, Mr. Speaker, has
been meeting as a collaborative group since March 2021. It is anticipated that this planning phase of the
work will be completed by July 2021. Consul tation
meetings with the broader fishing community will take
place in late June 2021 through July 2021. The steer-ing committee will subsequently progress to the construction phase of the plans in conjunction with i mplementing a phased approach to the cooperative
business model, inclusive of all aspects of facility and
membership governance.
Mr. Speaker, as I said last time, no construction companies have been contracted as of yet as the steering committee has not yet completed the bus iness and design phase of this project. When that is
completed and upon the receipt of planning and buil ding permits, the steering committee will follow a pr ocess for tendering quotes for bids for construction and
construction is not anticipated to be completed until
October or November 2021.
So Mr. Speaker, you will not be surprised, I
have got some information, some data here so people
can be aware. Locally, as far as fishing is concerned,
in 2019 there were 376 metric tons of fish caught by
our local fishermen—376,000 metric t ons were caught
by our local fishermen in 2019. It has come down
since 2015, which at that time was 402,000. But Mr.
Speaker, are you aware as far as the number of [tons
of] fish that are actually imported? People would be
surprised at the amount of fish t hat has been imported
and I am going to give you the number, Mr. Speaker.
The number of metric tons that was imported in 2018
was 2,000 metric tons compared to 300- some thousand in our local fish, 1,300 in 2019 and in 2020 about
1,000 metric tons of foreign fish.
Mr. Speaker, $14.6 million was spent on i mporting fish in 2018, $13.9 million was spent in 2019, and in 2020 there was $10.6 million spent in importing fish. You can see, Mr. Speaker, there is probably
three times as much imported fish than we are catching locally. So, there is a great opportunity, Mr.
Speaker, we believe, by creating and developing this
shoreside Facility where our fishermen who want to come there, just drop off their products, and go back
out to sea and fish, where it can be sold from the
shoreside Facility.
But also, Mr. Speaker, as we spoke about
was the longline. There is a significant opportunity for
our fishermen to get involved in that. When we talk about $14.6 million spent from overseas, you see, Mr.
Speaker, there is a great opportunity.
So, Mr. Speaker, from that issue—just Shor eside Facility —to create a significant amount of ec onomic activity where more individuals can be, I guess
you can say trained in learning how to fish properly and then dropping off their products there at the
Shoreside Facility, there is opportunity, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, let me just touch next on medical tourism. Mr. Speaker, the medical tourism piece that is in the economy recovery states “Work with the private sector” (and I emphasise) “work with the pr ivate sector to construct a medical tourism facility to
create jobs and year -round visitors to Bermuda.”
Mr. Speaker, after many years of discussing
the opportunity of medical tourism in Bermuda, we
believe that we have a pathway to get there. The Honourable Zane DeSilva, who was the Minister of
Health, I believe, in 2011, and who is also a great
supporter of medical tourism, when speaking at the
KPMG Infrastructure Summit in 2010 said that medi-cal tourism could become a major part of Bermuda’s
revenue.
You will recall, Mr. Speaker, that KEMH for a
short while had introduced medical tourism, particularly to do with prostate treatment. At that time, Mr.
Speaker, actual treatment, people were flying in at
KEMH and getting treatment done. And if yo u will r ecall, at the time, many of our citizens were complai ning of the beds that were being taken up.
Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that when I was
the Minister of Tourism and Economic Development in
2011, we started to look at the opportunity. Unfort unatel y, Mr. Speaker, we were not able to continue to
do that due to the election which was called in 2012.
Mr. Speaker, looking at this opportunity was
picked up again in 2013 by the late Shawn Crockwell.
And I quote what he said, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Crockwell
reported to this Honourable House after he and the
Minister of Health visited the Royal Medical Tourism
and Global Congress. He said,
2“[M]edical tourism
worldwide generated approximately $50 billion in re venue.” He then went on to say that “[Medical tourism ]
is clearly an industry that Bermuda should explore.”

2 Official Hansard Report, 11 November 2013, page
168
1524 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, this Government agrees with
what the Honourable Zane DeSilva said at the time
and we also agree with what the former Minister, the
late Shawn Crockwell, said.
Mr. Speaker, since 2019 we have been wor king quietly with a team doing our due diligence and
getting the work done in regard to looking at medical
tourism. Mr. Speaker, that team consists of [the] Bermuda Tourism Authority; BDA (Bermuda Development
Agency); BEDC (Bermuda Economic Dev elopment
Corporation); KEMH; Department Secretary to the Cabinet Office, the Honourable Crystal Caesar; the
Honourable Zane DeSilva; the Honourable Ianthia
Wade; and the Honourable Minister Tinee Furbert.
Mr. Speaker, why do I believe that medical
tourism will work and will benefit Bermuda? I do not
know about many of my colleagues, but I just do not
go to Florida to go to Florida. I go to Florida because
at the end of the day there is something there that
attracts me to bring my children and also my grandchildren. And that is called Disney World. I do not go
to Arizona. I happen to go over there to Las Vegas.
What I am saying, Mr. Speaker, is that there are
sometimes people go to countries not because of the
country but because of what they can find in the cou ntry—Disney World, casinos, Broadway in New York —
and the list can go on and on.
Mr. Speaker, it is our view that by putting an
attraction —I use the word “attraction” —people will
come to Bermuda. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the average tourism numbers in our hotels is roughly
about 65 per cent and it has been like that for years.
Mr. Speaker, we need something that is going to do
more than what —as far as marketing is concerned —
but it is going to cause them to go to Bermuda for one
reason or the other.
Mr. Speaker, we have been looking at the
medical tourism, as I said, from 2019 and the three things that I think that we believe that will attract people in regard to medical tourism, the largest revenue operation has to do with cosmetic surgery, that is a
$22.4 billion industry; dental surgery is a $14.6 billion
industry; orthopaedic surgery is a $2.4 billion revenue
within the world. Cosmetic surgery, as a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, attracts 6.4 million people, approximat ely, who go out for medical treatment, dentistry about 4.9 [million], and orthopaedics about 1 million. So,
these are the three major driving operations that
cause people to take a look at.
And so, we have been looking at this and having discussions on these procedures taking place in
Bermu da, not for Bermudians, Mr. Speaker, I emphasise that. We do not want people to say, I’m going to
get some orthopaedic surgery done, because they
want to leave KEMH and come up to a medical treatment. No. The facility is for driving tourists from our
key a reas, such as Canada, United States and the
UK. Mr. Speaker, we understand that there are 1.4
million people just on the Eastern Seaboard that travel for medical tourism; approximately 217,000 people
from Canada; 144,000 people from the United Kin gdom are gateways that you just jump on the plane
from Atlanta or from New York, or from I guess it is
North Carolina now or Boston, and be in Bermuda in
two hours and having your procedure and they will be
able to enjoy the weather that we have. One of the
things they tell me is what is because Bermuda’s humidity is not as high as other jurisdictions as far as
operations over 12 months is exceeding.
We have been told by key experts, Mr.
Speaker, that all we need to do is attract 2 per cent —
2 per cent —of the targete d market that would drive
our medical tourism. Mr. Speaker, that is phenomenal. So, we will continue to work with stakeholders. We as a team will continue having discussions to move this
forward and then, eventually, Cabinet will make a d ecision. But we be lieve that medical tourism, Mr.
Speaker, and I will give you some data on that, from
what we have been primarily looking at. It could create
approximately 300 jobs in the industry.
Approximately 300 jobs are in the industry because there will be a medical centre, and an addition
as far as a hotel. Now, the hotel is not going to be a
St. Regis, it will not be a Ritz -Carlton. It will be a facil ity. But it will not be a Motel 6 either, Mr . Speaker. But
it will be a nice hotel where people go to [convalesce] themselves. Then, eventually, as you know, these
people traveling for medical tourism, can stay for a
period of time and then move also to other areas, ot her hotels throughout Bermuda for a longer stay. So we
see that the opportunities in that regard are si gnificant. Mr. Speaker, we understand that the contribution to GDP would be, as I said, significant.
Mr. Speaker, I know my time is running out.
Let me speak to vertical farming and food cooper atives. We state in the plan, Mr. Speaker, that econom-ic reco very speaks to creating a food cooperative,
such as vertical farming and aquaponics to boost domestic food production. One of the first projects will be
a large- scale vertical farming facility, partially powered
by renewable energy that will produce annual leafy
vegetables.
Mr. Speaker, let me first speak about the c ooperative and where we are in regard to cooperative
farmers. The farming industry, Mr. Speaker, falls under the Deputy. But what we are looking at is from a business perspective, hence why BE DC and myself
are looking at that role. So BEDC is focused within this multi- faceted project to leverage the potential for
forming a cooperative, or multiple cooperatives, as a
way to assist current and new farmers in the agriculture industry, which will r educe their overhead and
operating costs, share infrastructure and services so
that they become more profitable, and ultimately boost local food production through better and more innov ative business practices.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, the potential cooperatives for
Bermuda’s agricultural industry can be formed beyond
just food. Consumer cooperatives can range from
marketing cooperatives and supply/purchase cooper atives, service cooperatives and bargaining cooper atives which in form can all produce a reduced operat-ing cost for farmers. Marketing cooperatives assemble
parts, process and sell members’ products in both
domestic and foreign markets. The level of service
provider depends on members’ needs and the pro duct. Supply cooperatives purchase products and services fo r the members, make large- scale purchases of
fuel, seed, fertilizer and crop protectants and pass
their cost -savings on to their members. A service c ooperative provides members with specialised services
such as grinding, hauling and agriculture advice whic h
usually are not economical for an individual farmer to operate by themselves or to obtain.
And bargaining cooperatives bargain or negotiate with processors and other first handlers for better prices in terms of trade for their produce . . . as you
know, Mr. Speaker, the more [members] you have
then you can bargain and get better prices.
So the BEDC is currently in the early stages
of researching the strengths, weaknesses, opportun ities and threats within Bermuda’s current farmer community. [They are] part nering with the Department
of [Environment] and Natural Resources to hear first -
hand from large and small farmers. Working this pr oject will access farmers’ interest [in] cooperatives
while developing policies, financial products, agricu ltural incentives, and concessions for the industry
which will ultimately assist with reducing operating costs and increasing food production and supply to
local consumers with more local -grown food or more
affordable prices.
Our meetings with the Bermuda Farmers A ssociation and then the Board of Agriculture will commence next week on June 10
th. It is anticipated that a
policy of agricultural cooperatives can be established
by the end of July. As you know, Mr. Speaker, the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
has been very helpful in providing an overview of this
industry, of the current agriculture strategy, insight
and support they currently provide the opportunities
based on their first -hand oversight of the industry.
So this is working well and we believe that if
we can get these working with the farmers, we can
create a valid business plan so they can grow their
crops which will also allow them to be more profitable. So this is also part of the Economic Plan going forward.
Mr. Speaker, we mentioned earlier about ve rtical farming. All Members are aware ––I think it was
last October or November that I made a statement
about vertical farming when —

Yes.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Wow!
So vertical farming right now, local farmers
produce only 20 [per cent] to 25 per cent of leafy
greens. The ver tical farming hopes to pick up the balance of that. Which would lower food costs, self -
efficiency, due diligence, blah, blah, blah. The list
goes on, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we also are looking to reduce
food costs. [Currently] Financial Assistance sends [approximately] $6 million a year to some of the gr ocery stores that we have. And so we will be working with the BEDC to form a co- op business for small
businesses to see how we can make this work better.
So, Mr. Speaker, I wish I had more time to
explai n [this because] there is a lot more detail. I believe that the plan that we have laid out for medical tourism, vertical farming to lower the cost for food, and
also for the Shoreside Facility will boost significantly,
Mr. Speaker, economic recovery for th is country.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Opposition Leader, you have your 60
minutes, if you wish. You have your time now.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As was said by the Minister of Finance, Bermuda, like many other countries around the world,
was struck by the catastrophic impact of COVID -19
back in March of 2020. We recognise that this is an
unusual event and pandemics normally come once every 100 years. It is like a black swan event. Not
many countries around the world were prepared for it.
Lives were lost. Communities were shattered. Our
health care systems were stretched to their limits.
Bermuda did well last year in containing the virus. But
at the end of last year we were challenged and we
had a spike.
As was also said, on the economic side there
were many society disruptions and they were grave. We saw many family members lose their jobs, work
part time at reduced salaries and reduced hours and,
as a consequence, their families were stretched ec onomically. We saw businesses that had been around
for hundreds of years go under because the retail
1526 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly business shrank as a result of the virus and unemployment.
We know, Mr. Speaker, that for any economy
to take off it requires a healthy population. Currently,
Mr. Speaker, this country, again, has done a fairly r espectful job in addressing our COVID -19 situation.
And our numbers at this point in time look very, very
positive which positions us to begin our economic r ebirth, our economic recovery.
Mr. Speaker, let’s be clear: This economic r ecovery, the recovery listed in the plan provided by the
Government, is noble. But somewhere in that plan,
Mr. Speaker, there should be an accommodation for a
potential spike, because if we have another spike, Mr.
Speaker, maybe six months from now, we will find
ourselves with economic challenges and a possible
shutdown again of our economy. I respect that the Government is, in essence, looking at new initiatives:
the FinTech industry, the medical tourism industry, the
banking industry, the green energy industry, and I
cannot fault them in looking for new opportunities.
But in their marketing, Mr. Speaker, I would
encourage them to do some stress testing so that we can have a model or a plan going forward that addresses another potential spike in the COVID -19.
I am saying that because we have to be rea listic. This pandemic is cyclical. There are variants t hat
come about which evolve and have an impact on most
economies globally. We have seen it. We have followed the history. If you follow what has happened
overseas in India, in the US, in the UK, when the
numbers go bad the economy goes bad. So, I think
the cornerstone to the success of our economic r ebirth has to be the mitigation and handling of any outbreak of a COVID -19-type virus. To me, that should
be the top priority when it comes to our economic r ebirth and our economic priority, because without a sound management programme for COVID -19, we will
be dramatically compromised when it comes to our business initiatives.
As I said, I was surprised to see that there
was no possible stress testing or possible consider ation for a fourth spike in the plan, and how that would
impact the presentation and the Government’s ec onomic recovery initiatives. I believe that we need to
diversify our economy, Mr. Speaker, and that we need
an economy where we must . . . where one can support economic growth where jobs are cr eated with the
focus on equity, diversity, fair trade, and real opport unities for Bermudians. We must also find investors to
support small businesses and our local economy. And
we also must come to grips with the fact that all Bermudians must begin to do m ore to buy locally. Mr.
Speaker, buying locally helps our economy. It ensures that there is more circulation of funds in our economy
which will be the engine to drive our economic suc-cess.
Mr. Speaker, our resilience is based on that.
Our resilience is based on keeping money in this country. And so it is important that we provide proper
fiscal management even at the Government level, and
we must do more to ensure that funds are kept in this
country.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister touched on the debt
of possibly $3.3 billion. Again, annually we pay approximately $127 million a year on interest payments.
And I would venture to say, Mr. Speaker, that of that
$127 million paid annually in interest payments, which
is bigger and larger than most ministries within go vernment, 95 per cent of that money leaves this cou ntry. If we are able to manage our debts —and the Mi nister said he was trying to balance the budget by
2023 —then surely we should be able to begin to gnaw
away at the debt levels that we have and thereby r educe our interest payment commitments overseas.
If we reduce our interest payment commi tments overseas by even $50 million, or $25 million
annually, that will go a long way in helping our retail
sector, our grocery store sector, our restaurant sector
[and] our service industry, because that money will
remain in Bermuda and circulate so that we can have
a more robust economy and also have an economy
that supports entrepreneurship and provides capital
for small businesses, and more small businesses can
thrive.
Mr. Speaker, generally, I would have liked to
have seen more details in this plan. The Minister touched on a number of issues from a macro point of
view; industries that he intended to explore and develop. And I understand issues from a macro point of
view. But I was thinking that maybe we should be
more granular and tell how the people of Bermuda will
benefit from these new industries. What types of jobs
will be created with each of the new industries pr esented? How many Bermudians will be available to
enjoy positions in these new industries?
What will the growth pattern look like in these
industries? Where is the data that will support the
success of these industries, Mr. Speaker? Where is
the data that will give the average man on the street —
not the fi nancial people, not the Minister, but the average man on the street —to give them information that
will make them feel encouraged and feel that they have a positive future going forward?
I would invite the Minister to provide the average man with a vision, a vision that will show that they
have a crucial role to play in the economic growth and
that they will benefit by taking and filling various pos itions in the new economy going forward.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, going forward, at the
end of the day, we cannot continue to borrow our way out of crisis. We must do more to ensure that this j urisdiction is a jurisdiction which invites capital, which invites people to invest in Bermuda, to bring their businesses to Bermuda because they know that we
are an efficient operation, that we will roll out the red carpet for them, that we will help them provide a r eBermuda House of Assembly turn on their capital in exchange for employing Bermudians.
I take the view that nationally we should have
a prospectus on Bermuda, a glossy prospectus on
Berm uda, [which] we can present to international i nvestors, global investors who are always looking for
opportunities to park their money, especially during
this global low interest rate environment. So if we are
able to produce a professional prospectus, a deck
sheet that will show global investors that Bermuda is
the place, then I think that we will be one step forward in the right direction. I know that we have the Tourism
Authority out there selling our country from the tourism
point of view, and the BDA pr oviding their services in
how to do business in Bermuda, and other services
that they provide for business people who come here.
Mr. Speaker, we also spoke about immigr ation. Again, immigration is the key because if we follow economics globally, we will k now that a successful
country is only successful because of the human capital and the human resources that they have available in those countries. Most large economies are successful because they have a great reserve of human
capital. Bermuda does not have that luxury. And as a
consequence, we have to invite guest workers to our shores to fill the void.
Going forward I would seek more in this plan
in regard to analytics on what is supporting the imm igration policies when it comes to the relaxation of
some of our immigration protocols that will enable us
to share with the people of Bermuda, Listen , these are
the jobs . If we want our economy to grow, we need
more people. We do not have enough people here and this is the information and this is how we think it
will benefit you and the economy . Just more transparency, show the picture, show the gaps. What gaps in
human capital do we have in this economic recovery?
If we do not have enough human capital, then the
economic recovery will not take place.
So, Mr. Speaker, those types of blueprints I
think should be made public to the people of Bermuda
so that we are all in this together and that we can
support our immigration initiatives and expand our economy.
Mr. Speaker, if you look at the global econ omy, the IMF [International Monetary Fund] indicated that in 2021 the projected global growth (and this is
from after the pandemic) is about 5.2 per cent, that is
the global GDP growth. If I remember correctly, Bermuda’s projected GDP growth is 2.5 per cent. So we
have a ways to go to be on the same plane as the
average global growth rate. And I take the view that the Government’s recovery plan is the first step, but
there is more work to be done.
Mr. Speaker, we also need to recognise that
we as a country need to do more with the US when it
comes to tourism and capital. Because at the end of
the day, what the COVID -19 pandemic has done in
the US is basically encourage people to spend less, increase their savings by trillions of dollars and there
is money ready to be inv ested. There is pent -up d emand for investment opportunities.
There is pent -up demand for tourism. And if
we are a safe environment for tourism and we are a
safe environment for investments, and if we make i nvestors feel welcome, if we are here to support their
businesses, and encourage them to hire more Ber-mudians and use more local services, and not work
remotely from the US or from England— and this is
where I commend the Government on their inves tment certificate, that is a step in the right direction. B ut
we need more of those individuals in this country and
we have to do more to get our story out.
To me, once we have those items of industry
here, all the others will follow. And so, Mr. Speaker,
we as a country must show that we are really open for business and not continue with the historic protective
measures that we have. We can ill afford it at this
point in time.
Mr. Speaker, as you will note, I mentioned in
my Budget Debate there was the issue of the EU and
tax harmonisation, and labelling us as a tax haven.
More recently, we had the President of the United
States in his address to the joint session of Congress,
labelling Bermuda as a tax haven. And we were in his
cross hairs. That does not help us. That does not en-courage those titans of industry to come and invest in
Bermuda. And so we need to do more to educate our
friends to the west of us, Mr. Speaker. In fact, when
I—
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Then you might want to
educate Vic Ball, too.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Speaker, as I said,
when I read and heard the article, I took information
that I had on Bermuda’s contribution to the US economy. I took information that the Minister of Finance had in regard to tax transparency treaties and sent it
to one or two Congress people (Democratic Congress
people) in Washington [D.C], and told them to make
sure that your leader gets this information so that he is
better informed. Because obviously in my mind, Mr.
Speaker, he was not informed in regard to the role that Bermuda plays in the financial servic e industry
and the impact that it has on the US Government from
an insurance point of view [and] from a financial service point of view.
In addition, he did not understand what tra nspired in this country in regard to tax transparency, FATF treaties, the I GA treaties, the TIEAs. These are
all transparency tax treaties. There is nothing to hide
there. As a banker, we tell clients it is transparency,
tax transparency. We are unjustly targeted as a tax
haven and we have to do more to address this. If not,
you will see that our international business will be
comprised to a degree. And I am doing my best to
work with the BDA and other international local age n1528 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly cies and associations to help where I can to support
the Minister and Government in getting out the message to counter the allegations that Bermuda is a tax
haven.
Mr. Speaker, as you may recall, back in July I
did a story myself on the steps that could be taken to
address an economic recovery in Bermuda. We have
started on this journey. Some of my recommendations, I will admit, have begun to [bear] fruit in regard
to this Government. We had to look at the fiscal framework and balance the budget. And while balancing the budget, the issue that we need to address (and the Minister has not mentioned in his report ) is
the tax reform commission. The recommendations and actions and suggested actions could play an int egral role in determining Bermuda’s fiscal framework going forward. The Minister has indicated that he wishes to balance the budget by 2023. Again, what
roadmap do we have to get there? Because if we balance the budget we can come to grips with the i ncreasing debt that we have.
Another suggestion that we need to wrap our
minds around is the issue of the infrastructure inves tment. I know that Minister Bur ch has outlined some of
the infrastructure investments that he has made in this
country and I support that initiative because no reco very will begin without the investment and improvement in our infrastructure. It will be one of the keys to our economic recovery.
As I said earlier, we need to address and foster trust and a real bond with our business community. We must continue to have an environment whereby
the Government and the business community have
respect for each other, not just “them” respecting “ us”
and “us” respecting “them,” because in some cases ––
[and] I have learned this from my history in international business ––the mutual respect is not always
there. So I take the view that we have to do more to
cultivate the mutual respect between the international
business, local business, and Government. It is a partnership that will form the cornerstone of Berm uda’s economic recovery.
A lot has been said about our planning and
regulations. And regulations [INAUDIBLE ]. We also
provide economic support, i. e., the deployment of taxes and business support. You will note that I had a parliamentary question on that this morning and it was
answered by the Minister. And based on what I am
hearing, that support is still needed and I think the
Minister responsible for economic development and
support has to continue with that until these busines ses get on their feet and are able to sustain themselves for a while , because we not out of the woods yet and
this plan will take some time to come to fruition. And until the n, they will need all the support that they can
get.
Talking about support, just today at lunch
time, I went to a function and a gentleman said to me,
I have been out of work and I just went back to work and I have only been paid and I have applied for su pport (this was for unemployment support) and I have
only had two pay cheques. How am I supposed to live
on that?
I said, Sir, did you fill out all your forms to
make sure that everything was right and that your
bank accounts were all straight?
He said, Yes. And I go into post office and the
banks every week to see that my money is in.
And it is becoming increasingly more difficult
because of the time it takes to process all these support mechanisms.
A lot has been said about the digital infr astructure. I think the digital infrastructure is going to be
the way forward. And for it to succeed and for it to
provide jobs to Bermudians there has to be an advanced training programme for most Bermudians , because right now most of the digital infrastructur e, most
of the digital business is occupied by expatriates. I am
not saying all of them; I am saying most of them.
We have talked about digital gaming. Again,
what does that mean? What does that look like? I
spoke to one of the hotel developers and I sai d, So,
you are getting your licence, or you have applied for
the licence, and you will have digital gaming. So I
said, What does that mean? What does that look like?
If I came into your casino and asked you, ‘ What does
this digital gaming look like? ’ . . . they could not give
me an answer.
They said, I don’t know. I’m waiting for the answer. I am waiting for the answer!
And the same thing applies to these digital
banks. I understand that we have a number of digital
banks knocking at our doors. How will they operate?
Will they be regulated like any other bank? How are
we going to address solvency issues? How are we
going to address KYC issues? And let me declare my
interest, Mr. Speaker. I am a banker. I will say this: I
am not against competition in the banking industry. But what I am against is an industry that will cause
reputational risk to Bermuda. I am sure the Minister of
Finance is also in that category.
And so when we look at these applications for
digital banks, again, what will they look like? I know
some of the international banks in New York and London are beginning to tread down this road. And those larger markets are beginning, in essence, to provide
an infrastructure that can regulate those types of
banks. Are we there yet? I think, yes, the industry
needs to be regulated. And is the industry working
closely with the BMA to ensure that the regulations for
the digital banks are world class and [will] protect con-sumers and [will] protect our reputation as a jurisdi ction and [will] protect the i nvestors?
The other opportunity that I see that this Go vernment can entertain is promoting Bermuda’s naturebased investments and preserving our natural capital. We can provide financial solutions and resources to support our marine economy, our blue economy and


Bermuda House of Assembly other nature- based solutions. Again, this is part of the
green initiative. But again, we can protect and find
opportunities for the natural resources that we have in
this country. We have spoken quite a bit, Mr. Speaker,
about tourism and hospital ity. The BDA is on its way.
We met with them in the PAC [Public Accounts Committee] and we have an outline of some of their plans.
Obviously they were restricted by the capital they lost because of COVID -19, but they have a plan they are
working on and I am confident that they will be on track to bear results similar to those they have provi ded in the past.
Mr. Speaker, another opportunity that we in
the Opposition think could be considered for this coun try is the arts and the creative sector. We have
many Bermudians overseas in theatre, many Berm udians overseas in singing and entertainment, many Bermudians overseas in the jewellery business and
design business. Many Bermudians overseas are in
the art history, Sotheby's , the auction business, the
galleries in London, the galleries in New York. If we
make that industry more attractive for Bermudians,
some of our young folks overseas will come back
home because there will be a market for them and an
industry for them to thrive and live on.
I think other opp ortunities [include] enhancing
the senior care programmes that we have in this
coun try. We, as you know, have an ageing population.
And with this ageing population support is required. I know that I have an 89- year-old father and I have
people who come to help him because he is by hi mself, he and my brother. But, Mr. Speaker, other pe ople need similar support. I am finding many people my age or maybe five years younger are in the same si tuation. So what we need to do is provide support to
caregivers so that families can take care of their loved
ones at home instead of putting them in institutions.
I actually went to a doctor with a friend of
mine who has a senior parent. The doctor said to my
friend, It’s good that you can keep your parent at
home because t hey fare much better at home around
the family and it is healthier for them. And so there is
another opportunity that the Government can examine
going forward to ensure that the unpaid caregivers are
supported and recognised and somehow can be co vered from a remuneration point of view.
The other issue that I think we need to address is the philanthropic areas. There are a lot of charities in this country. A lot of charities that have
good causes: helping our young people, helping br oken families, helping the environment, helping in the education, helping in career development, helping in family crisis centres. They play a vital role in sustai ning a positive environment, a positive economic env ironment. And as a consequence, we need to do more as a Government to support the philanthropic sector within our community so that our economy operates
with no one falling between the cracks because the philanthropic sector can help provide the support that
they may not be able to get or may not afford to get.
Another issue that I think we need to address
is the unemployment of young people and providing
them with support programmes that guarantee jobs. And I know that we do that in Workforce Development
to a degree, but we need to have more mentorship
programmes [and] work placement programmes. We
need to help them in regard to the economy. A lot of
young people are hustling. They may take two or
three jobs to make it work, and sometimes that is by
choice. And so we need to help them out. And I think
a lot of them ar e not employed. They are contract
workers. They are like the gig economy. And so we
need to make sure that they are protected and that
the gig economy for these young people moves forward. Because a number of our young people are more entrepreneurial than we ever were. They are
risk-takers. So we have to provide them with the support like we would provide any other entrepreneurial industry that we have in this country.
The other issue is work -place changes and
patterns . I think the Government and businesses
should get together to look at the format of the wor kplace going forward. I think that the old work enviro nment that we have had in the past has changed and
will never be what it was before—working from home,
flexitime, and good working security, support from a
remote access. I know people who were sent home in
March. They had a desktop at their work and at home
and they were equipped to work from their office and
at home, 24/7. And so then you have the issue of work -life balance. So, again, we need to look at legi slation that will address employment and workplace changes that have resulted because of the change in
work patterns that we find in this new COVID -19 env ironment.
Mr. Speaker, as for the report, generally, I
have just a few final comments. A l ot of people as a
result of COVID -19, and to a lesser degree before
COVID -19, have complained continuously about the
cost of doing business and the cost of living in Bermuda. Mr. Speaker, you know that there was recent
discussion in the media about the minimum wage and
the cost -of-living wage. I think that is a very interesting
discussion and a very interesting debate. But the i ssue needs to be addressed. I have a number of young
people who are moving to England because they ca nnot afford to live in Bermuda. We have seniors who are saying, Thank you. I have had a very good career
in Bermuda. I am moving to the US . . . I am moving to
Canada . . . I am moving to South America . . . I am
moving to England because my money goes [further],
and financially I can have a better quality of life. And
there goes the capital, [leaving Bermuda].
So, Mr. Speaker, we need to address the cost
of living in this country —the cost of groceries , the cost
of clothing, we need to address the cost of living. B ecause, again, without addressing the issue we will see
1530 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly the flight of some of our Bermudians and some of our
expatriate workers who are here.
The other issue I think we need to address,
Mr. Speaker, is the entrepreneurship and the young
businesspeople. You see a number of new industries
popping up because of young entrepreneurs. I support
them 100 per cent. I support their creativity. But most
of them have indicated that they require so much capi-tal to get into the business and once they are in the
business, the costs are exorbitant. They struggle with
the payroll taxes. They struggle with their health i nsurance. They struggle with the social insurance, and they struggle with access to capital.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is time that Bermuda
again makes itself more attractive to v enture capitalists, or venture capital funds or private capital funds ,
because these are the investors who are looking for
private investments to help businesses. I mean, I am
looking at [the] Bank of Butterfield, when they had
their challenges. They had a private equity firm come
in, invest in it, turn around and out they went. Why
can’t we have something similar for our small bus inesses, for our young entrepreneurs, who need access to capital? That same structure could somehow
be available to our young entrepreneurs so that they
can help drive this engine for our recovery and also
benefit economically.
So, Mr. Speaker, those are my main comments. As I said, I read the report. I looked at the so -
called “guardrails.” I have looked at the modelling that
was presented in the report. I have looked at the pr ojections that I understand, but I would encourage the
Minister to repackage some of that information so that
the man on the street can see himself participating in this economic rebirth, in this economic renaissance.
Because if you gave that report to the average man
on the street, I would go out on a limb and say that
they will not understand it to the degree that we would
like. And they will probably say, Where do I fit in this
rebirth? Because I cannot see myself fitting in.
That is the challenge that we have. We are
speaking at macro level, and if we want our economy
and our people to come on board with us, we must
speak their language. They must see a place for themselves in this economic renaissance. And if they
see a place, they will work together and support our initiatives.
So, Mr. Speaker . . . oh, one more thing. I
would just like to address a couple of comments made
by the Minister of the Cabinet Office on medical tourism. This is an interesting phenomenon. I know this
topic has been off and on the agenda for the past 20
years that I have been in the House of Assembly. We
have one hospital. I know that the Cayman [Islands]
has the hospital called Health City. It is a private hospital. And it is owne d by Mr. Shetty. I think he owns
that hospital. And so the model that the Government is using for medical tourism, and I am asking as a
question, Will they just use our hospital where we have capacity issues now? Or would it make sense to
find an investor to look at the hospital and possibly
have one . . . and if I remember correctly, there was a
gentleman who was possibly interested in having a medical tourism place down at Southside for a hosp ital. Obviously it did not pan out. I think what we need
to do if we are serious about having medical tourism,
is partner with investors in that industry.
Go to where they are, go to the conferences,
go to the symposiums where the investors are looking for the opportunities in medical tourism. I am not con-vinced (is the best word I can say) that medical tourism will work with our existing hospital because of the
way it is structured and because of the capacity cha llenges that it currently faces. I have been to the hosp ital down in Cayman. And I will give you a taste as to
what it looks like.
It is very institutionalised. They specialise in
orthopaedics, cardiology, endocrinology, neurosurgery
and a few others. All the doctors and surgeons that I
met when I was there were from Southeast Asia—
Indian, S ri Lankan— well-qualified individuals. They
knew their stuff. They knew their business. Undeni ably. Unquestionably. But there were not many locals
working in that hospital.
I have been advised, and I was advised during the tour that procedures are much cheaper in their
hospital than in most hospitals in Cayman or the US.
And that is why they were attractive to a number of insurance companies and a number of individuals who
can afford it. But having said that, Mr. Speaker, only
40 per cent of their patients are from overseas. Sixty
per cent of their patients are from the Cayman I slands, and primarily are individuals of high net worth
who live in the Cayman Islands. Because Cayman has that private hospital which is Health City and I
think one or two other public hospitals.
So, again, if we are going to go down this
route I would encourage the Government to look at possibly using a footprint that we already have and
have the investor invest in a new infrastructure and
leave our hospital as is because we currently have
capacity pr oblems sometimes at the hospital at the
best of times.
And so, Mr. Speaker, on that note I would like
to thank the Minister for his presentation and for allo wing me the opportunity to make a contribution to this
Motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Speaker, we are here to
discuss an important topic and that is Bermuda’s Ec onomic Recovery Plan. I am thankful for you allowing me the time to have intervention in this debate today.
You would note that the plan has two distinct
features. One is a fiscal plan. The second is initiatives
that we need to implement as a Government to sup-port our economic recovery initiatives and strategy.
Mr. Speaker, what we are looking at here is ha ving
initiatives that support economic development that
lead to economic growth, and initiatives that support economic growth that lead to economic development.
Now, economic growth and economic deve lopment are two distinct items. But one is looking at it
from a very high level and seeing how there are i nduced and direct impacts on the economy and one is driving more from the development of the bottom up, which would also lead to expansion of our economy.
And I think that is what this plan seeks to achieve. It
seeks to look at this from both angles —the economic
growth angle and economic development angle.
My role in this debate is to outline some of the
initiatives that the Ministry of Labour is associated with
as it pertains to the Economic Recovery Plan. The aim
of the Ministry of Labour is to support economic growth and ultimately this will lead to the expansion of
jobs.
We want to see an expansion of jobs. We
want to see an expansion of opportunities. We want to
see expansion of entrepreneurship. We want to see
increased revenues to the Government. And all of this
to support our local community. At the end of this plan
what we should see is a better quality of life for the
people who live, work and reside in Bermuda.
One major initiative that we have we begun to
implement is the Economic Investment Certificate. Mr. Speaker, this certificate requests a minimum inves tment of $2.5 million into our economy. And this affords individuals the permission to reside in Bermuda indefinitely. It is good for Bermuda because it is d esigned to stimulate economic activity. If one invests $2.5 million in Bermuda, it will have a direct benefit and then it would have indirect and induced benefits.
It also will create an environment, depending on
where the investment was m ade, for job creation. But
it markets Bermuda as a place for individuals to reside and do business as well. It is one of those policies that
allows immigration to harness its toolkit to directly support economic growth and directly support ec onomic development.
Mr. Speaker, there are number of ways in
which one can obtain a Residential Certificate. The most popular way at this time is through the acquis ition of land. We also encourage investments directly into government facilities. We want to see investm ents into our third sector and our charities. And then we
would want to see persons who want to invest in bus iness opportunities in Bermuda, and not just invest but
expand business opportunities in Bermuda and the
type of businesses that will open our econ omy. I
would say that this programme is going extremely
well.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that this
week I was able to sign the first two Economic I nvestment Certificates. We saw over $14 million i nvested in our economy. What was more encouraging
about those investments was that when the dialogue happens between the Bermuda Development Agency
and the prospective applicant, there were further
commitments for further investments and there were
conversations as to how these persons can further
invest in Bermuda. And so the investments just do not
dry up with the initial investment. These individuals
will continue to contribute to our society, contribute to
our economy and this is the desired outcome of the
policy.
This is all around the framework of us having
an understanding of how we support expansion of our residential population to drive more economic activity
within our society. And another measure that we put in
place is how we use flexible, temporary residency to
inject a greater level of acti vity within our economy.
And so another example, Mr. Speaker, is the one- year
“Work from Bermuda Residential Certificate.” Thus far
we have had over 900 applications with well over 700
of those individuals being approved to live, work from
and reside in Bermuda. These individuals contribute to daily life in Bermuda. They purchase from our
stores. They purchase services that are provided in
our economy. There are some individuals who have
embarked on philanthropy within our economy. There
are some individual s who have decided that they want
Bermuda to be a more permanent location for themselves or their business and they are looking to start up businesses in Bermuda. They are looking to purchase property in Bermuda. But, more importantly,
this particular poli cy was utilised to offset our declining
population, number one. Number two, [to offset] the
reduction in our tourism [numbers] over the last 18
months. This is what happens when we can positively use immigration policy to better serve the wider Bermuda.
We have also seen where persons have initially come and then they look to relocate their families here, and have their children participate in our
schools, both public and private. And so what we see is a new injection of energy into our economy by harness ing our immigration policy. And it does provide
economic return—the economic return we need to
support our economic recovery. The economic return
that we need to support the retention of jobs within our
economy. And so it is clear this is an effective poli cy
that is working and is a policy that we will continue
with.
1532 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, we also made the decision to
expand the amount of time our tourists can stay from
90 days to 180 days. We now see tourists requesting
to stay in Bermuda on an annual basis. These persons are not afforded the opportunity to work in Bermuda, but certainly are afforded the opportunity to
reside in Bermuda. And like the one- year “ Work from
Bermuda Residential Certificate” holders, these individuals also contribute to daily life in Ber muda. [They]
also contribute to our economy. And this is what ha ppens when we use immigration as a tool to better support economic growth and the expansion of jobs.
We want to see expansion of our residential
population from other lands. But we also have to talk
about retention of our current residential population. In
the Speech from the Throne the Government commi tted to providing a framework for our long- term res idents to secure some sort of residential permanency in Bermuda. And we are working towards trying to find
an avenue where long- term residents can continue to
live [and] contribute to our economy, but also find
some level of security so that they can also invest fur-ther within our economy.
I have spoken with a number of persons who
are holding off either on business start -ups or property
or investment in our economy in other ways because they have not secured a level of permanency. And so
if persons have demonstrated that they have contri buted to Bermuda for a number of years we will be looking at measures as to how we can provide a
framework for them to secure residential permanency. And it is not just focusing on that individual, but it is
more or less how those persons can better support
our economy which better supports our aim to have
Bermudians enjoying a better quality of life, to have Bermudians having more opportunities as it pertains
to jobs and things of that nature.
Mr. Speaker, when we look at labour market
developments, we know that we have somewhat of an
uphill battle. Since the h ealth care crisis has transla ted into somewhat of an economic crisis, we have
seen a contraction of jobs in the majority of our industrial sectors within our economy.
So Government embarked on a journey to put
in place a reemployment and reintegration strategy. We have a strategic plan that talks about how we f acilitate ease of providing education training and employment opportunities for unemployed Bermudians. It is our aim to have Bermudians equipped to transfer back into the workplace with some level of ease. But
we know that we cannot do it alone. And so the prev ious people talk about how we need to harness the relationship between our business community and
that is what we are doing.
From the standpoint of the Ministry of Labour,
we are working directl y with industry to support greater opportunities for Bermudians to return to the wor kplace. We already had a pool of persons on financial
assistance. We see expansion of those persons who actually are requiring that social protection. But it is
not good enough to provide those persons with social
protection. So what we have done is embark on a journey where every able- bodied person on financial
assistance will have personal employment plans. We will work with those individuals to provide a suite of
services that will get that person positioned to take
advantage of job opportunities.
Mr. Speaker, we have worked with emplo yment agencies. We have worked with large emplo yers. We have partnered intra- ministry. We have par tnered with other ministries to see how w e can facil itate their level of on- the-job training, and also how we
can provide services to persons who need a level of employment services to get back into the job market.
We have also provided various specified training [in] hospitality management, busi ness management, trai ning in Allied Health professions, information technol ogy, vocational training, and trades training. We recognise that this is required to get our people in a position
to take advantage of opportunities that exist.
We have ongoing ser vices provided to individuals because that is what is required to support economic recovery, human development, development of our human resources so that they can take
advantage of the opportunities that exist within our
economy.
You will note that the Ministry made the dec ision to close 41 additional job categories. That was
directly designed to create opportunity for Bermudians
to become gainfully employed in those occupational
categories without the competition of foreign labour.
And so it is important when we look at our initiatives
that we do have that we do not look at these initiatives
in isolation, but that we look at these initiatives under
the framework of a business scheme and that is supporting our local population to take advantage of opportun ities which support economic recovery so that
the majority of the persons who are in Bermuda, at the end of the day, can enjoy a better quality of life. And
so I encourage anybody who is unemployed to co ntact the Department of Workforce Development, submit your résumé, and take advantage of the training
that is being provided.
Specifically, within that framework of the national employment strategy is a youth employment
strategy. We had our first cohort of graduate training
which provided skill set developm ent centred around
individuals developing their own personal and indivi dual brand, training centred around emotional intell igence and the way in which those individuals communicate within the workplace, cultural awareness
centred around diversity and inclusion, and office et iquette, the soft skills that are required to continue to
remain on a job after you get into that workplace. But
this is what is required. We need more on- the-job
training opportunities and we have done a lot of sponsorship and we will c ontinue to work with employers to
have more on- the-job training opportunities available.


Bermuda House of Assembly We are looking to the National Training Board
to expand our apprenticeship programmes. Apprenticeship programmes allow persons to work in a desired occupation of choi ce and receive on- the-job
training and also a higher level of education as it pertains to that occupational category. That is what we
need. We need to ensure that we are investing in our
young people so that our young people can take advantage of opportuni ties.
But then there are also some young persons
who have already demonstrated they have a compe-tency by obtaining some level of education but lack
the experience. And that is partially why we are pus hing more and more on the on- the-job training, to get
these individuals exposed in their desired occupational groups so that employers can see the value that they can offer. And I am pleased to report that a number of graduates in our first cohort have been retained
by employers after they were able to show the employers the value that they are able to contribute.
And so part of this plan is not just high level,
macro level initiatives. These initiatives are directly designed to support persons on financial assistance,
directly designed to support unemployed in dividuals,
directly deigned to support our young persons. And
we have continued with scholarships, we have conti nued with our summer employment programmes and
we will continue to work toward expanding our pr ogramme offerings in the second phase of our reem ployment and reintegration strategy.
But while we are all working on people to get
back into the job market, there is still a need to sup-port persons who are locked out of the job market f inancially. And thus far this Government has spent
over $65 million in providing unemployment benefits
and supplemental unemployment benefits directly to
help those persons who have been displaced from the
workforce. We have also increased the grant funding
for financial assistance to support the additional fam ilies who are now on financial assistance.
We need a better short -term mechanism than
the one we have, and the solution is a national unemployment insurance programme. We are doing work on ensuring that we have a fully funded and properly
administered programme. We have reached out to the
ILO [International Labour Organization] and the Car-ibbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre to see if
they can provide technical support to the Government
of Bermuda. It is our aim to ensure that we have an
unemployment insurance programme in place so that
there is an automatic social protection in place for persons when they become displaced from the wor kforce. In the meantime, we will continue to support
persons through financial assistance, through the
supplemental unemployment benefit and through the
employment benefits that we offer.
We recognise the importance of these social
protections because social protections ensure that
persons do not slip further into poverty or too far into a position that they cannot recover from. A nd so it is
about us playing our part as a Government and as a society to support those who need that particular assistance. Many Bermudians, and also our guest wor kers, have benefitted from the social protections we
have put in place. When we hear people saying that
we are not doing anything for Bermudians on the
ground, that is one programme that we can stand boldly behind and say, We have provided the necessary social protections. And, yes, there are stories
where people can highlight where payments have
been late; there are $65 million [worth] of other stories that can be told where these interventions were pr ovided at a critical time to support our population when
they were in need. And that is part of our recovery
plan, ensuring that we continue to support social pr otections moving forward.
Another critical part is that when they get into
the workplace we remove the ability for employers to
pay poverty wages to these individuals. And so, yes,
we are working on a minimum living wage regime. I
am pleased that the Wage Commission was able to
provide the first report on the minimum age as pr escribed by the Wage Commission Act. They are to
provide a second report. I know that the Wage Commission did say it may be a year [in coming]. I am going to ask that th is report be submitted within the next
six months because we want to ensure that persons are making dignified wages and persons can sustain a
decent quality of life through employment in Bermuda.
This is not political posturing. This is not po ntification. We want to promote fair compensation for
employees; that is our desire. We want to improve people’s quality of life; that is our desire. We want to
prevent further exploitation of workers; that is our desire. We want to prevent working families from being
below the poverty line. This is us providing a safety
net through employment for persons so that when we
do get to a place of economic prosperity, they can enjoy a quality of life similar to other citizens within
this country.
Mr. Speaker, when we look at it through the
lens of what the Ministry of Labour is actually doing, we want to reform our financial assistance system as
well and we are doing specific work toward that par-ticular [goal]. This is directly to help the people of
Bermuda who need the most assistance during this
time. While we talk about the things we do, we have a
three- pillar reform of immigration strategy: 1) ensure
that we provide protections to Bermudians; 2) ensure that we have retention of our current residential popu-lation; and 3) s eek ways to see how we can expand
our residential population.
And moving forward we will see a number of
policy measures that are in alignment with those three
pillars.
When we talk about one pillar in isolation,
persons say, Well, what are you doing to s upport
Bermudians? So it should be noted that the first pillar
1534 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly is to ensure that there is a protection of opportunities
for Bermudians underneath our strategy. But in future
statements I will elaborate further in terms of the items
that fall under the umbr ella of immigration reform. So
perhaps persons can be more confident in supporting
these initiatives that we need to implement to boost
our economy, to support economic recovery, to support economic growth that supports economic development, and economic d evelopment that supports
economic growth, to support the expansion of jobs, to support the expansion of opportunities, to support the
expansion of entrepreneurship to increase gover nment revenue so that Bermudians can enjoy a better
quality of life.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for allowing me to
present this brief intervention into today’s debate.

Okay.
Hon. W. Lawrence Scott: But, Mr. Speaker, for those
who may not be as familiar with the Good Book as us,
Genesis chapter 1 speaks to the seven days in which
everything was created amongst the heavens and
earth. Well, Mr. Speaker, I do not actually want to speak about all seven days, because I only have 30
minutes, I just want to focus on the first three days.
You see, the first day light was created. The
second day the sky was created. And on the third day
dry land, seas, plants and trees were created. And so,
Mr. Speaker, the Oxford Dictionary defines the word
“environment” as the surroundings or conditions in
which a person, animal or plant lives or operates. So
one could say that God created the environment we live in in the first three days.
Mr. Speaker, my reason for drilling down on
the creation story is because governments are r esponsible for creating environments as well. Now, Mr.
Speaker, let me be clear. I am not in any way comparing or contrasting government to God. But what I am
doing is illustrating how Herculean of a task the crea-tion of an environment, the surroundings, the conditions of which one lives and operates in is. So, Mr.
Speaker, actually, anyone can create an environment
but to create an environment in which residents can
thrive, where one can be successful or, at the very
least, provide the majority with equal opportunity in which to be successful, that is difficult. That takes skill.
That takes integrity and that takes time.
And it is the intricacies needed that will ensure
that the goal is achieved. That is the true test of a government. Mr. Speaker, unlike the creation story,
there is no one person, no one entity that is respons ible for the creation of such an environment. It takes a
team of individuals, all focused on the same goal, and
leveraging, wielding their individual God- given talents.
So, Mr. Speaker, on this road to economic
recovery, the Ministry of Transport is focused on wor king toward the creation of an environment that pr omotes and assists the country’s economic recovery
via land, sea and air.
So, Mr. Speaker, being that the sky was
formed on the first day, and on day two of the creation
story, let’s stop there, Mr. Speaker. When we talk
about air and transport, I cannot help but talk about
our air service development strategy, our new routes. As I said earlier today, the first new flight from the
Azores begins next week. We continue to explore opportunities in the Caribbean and the Far East. B ecause remember, the Ministry has a mantra, has a
focus, has a goal of serving the underserved in our
community. And while speaking about our community, we are using the various nationalities that reside on
Island to determine which new non- stop routes, which
new non- stop destinations to explore.
We have already created the Azores Airlines
non-stop flight to Azores which helps keep our Port uguese nationals i n contact with friends [and] family
from their country. We are currently working on the


Bermuda House of Assembly Caribbean as we have a very large Caribbean- based
population. And next on our list, [also] very advant ageous, will be to help facilitate non- stop service or
routes that will help make traveling for our Indian and
Filipino nationals a lot easier.
And now, Mr. Speaker, air routes are not just
an opportunity for tourism, but also for entrepreneurs
and small business owners, because it opens them up
not just to new destinat ions, but to new markets. It
allows for our entrepreneurs to go and scout ahead. This is why the Ministry is letting you know where we are going and why we are going there because it a llows you go and scout ahead so that you can look,
because every country that we are servicing, that we
will have new routes to, is a manufacturing country.
They manufacture products there so therefore our
small businesses and entrepreneurs can go and look
to see if they can become representatives of those
manufacturers of those products, goods and services
here on Island.
So, Mr. Speaker, entrepreneurs and owners
will be able to create supply chains. Because do not
think we are going to stop at the air routes. We are
going to then, after the air routes get established, we
will be establishing shipping routes. That is the way
the supply chain gets created. That is where they are
able to find new customers in a larger and more di-verse marketplace for goods and services.
And, Mr. Speaker, let’s not forget that air vis itors spend more than cruise visitors. And for some
time our cruise visitors have outpaced that of air vis itors and we have created an environment —and I am
saying “we” meaning this administration, this current
Ministry of Transport team has created an environment in w hich we can restore more of a balance, and
that is done through homeporting. And now that we
are on to homeporting, that brings us to day three of
the creation story, Mr. Speaker.
And for those who do not follow the Good
Book, on day three the ocean and dry land were cr eated. And so, Mr. Speaker, with homeporting, when it
was first announced, I read the comments. Normally I do not, but I read the comments in the Royal Gazette.
I read the comments in Bernews. And there were persons in the community who left comments under the
article and some of them said things like, Pie in the sky. Never going to happen. I will believe it when I see
it. And for those persons who left those comments,
those who will believe it when they see it, I encourage
you to take a driv e down Harbour Road. I encourage
you to take a drive along Front Street. I encourage you to take a drive along Burnaby Hill, and take a look to your left when you are on Front Street. Take a look
to your right when you are on Harbour Road, and you
will see a homeporting cruise ship sitting in Hamilton
Harbour —a ship that has already gone to Dockyard
and put on four tons of fuel, put on food and prov isions, already spending money, already providing economic impact and infusing money into our economy.
Mr. Sp eaker, the homeporting initiative is pr ojected to generate $20 million in economic impact. It
will create and has created approximately 60 new part-time jobs. And on June 15
th when it does its first
revenue booking, or revenue cruise, it will have
touched directly and indirectly every sector of our
hospitality and transportation industry and provided
benefits for hotels, from guests who are doing preand post -stays, to the entrepreneurs and the small
business owners who are going to be impacted and see benefits through the short excursions and services that are provided and subscribed to. And let us
not forget our public service vehicles, Mr. Speaker:
our taxis, minibuses and limos.
Speaking of public service vehicles, and in r elation to the creation story, that brings us to the land
aspect, Mr. Speaker. The Ministry will soon embark on
the creation of a public service vehicle environment
which encourages and supports owners and operators
to be financially successful while simultaneously
providing a better quality of service for customers.
And this will be done by removing certain restrictions,
removing certain obstacles and barriers to entry into
this industry, which is one that is most lucrative and is
unofficially valued at $60 million.
This environment s hould lend itself to promoting persons whom we consider entrepreneurs and
having them promoted to small [sized] business ow ners. Those who are currently small [sized] business owners, through the success of this new environment
that they will be operating in, should be able to trans ition to become medium [sized] business owners. And
Mr. Speaker, that should help create a nation of ow ners. For far too long we have relied on outside entities.
We have relied on outside forces to allow us to be
successful, to give us a chance. No, that stops now!
That stops here!
This Economic Recovery Plan is allowing
Bermudians, small [sized] business owners, [and] entrepreneurs to be a nation of owners, to create and
forge their own destiny, to be their own boss, and to
enjoy their own successes.
Mr. Speaker, another thing that has been
holding us back has been the framework of our trans-portation system. Mr. Speaker, the framework of our
transportation system was founded back in 1951. In
1951, Mr. Speaker, my father was 11 y ears old. And a
new car cost $1,500. We are relying on the foundation
or the framework that was put in back then to operate
a modern transportation system now, and that is not
sufficient. And that is why part of the Economic R ecovery Plan has a modernisati on [plan] when it comes
to the Ministry of Transport. It has us modernising
transportation through digital fare media which will
allow for real -time ridership data. That real -time ridership data will allow us to have a more effective,
more efficient, more consistent bus service.
1536 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly And while we are talking about bus service,
we will now be transitioning from the old diesel buses
to new electric buses. And at no time will any of the
current DPT [Department of Transportation] workers be made redundant, and at no time have we reduced
our training budget. We are going to train and skill our
people to be able to operate in a modern transport ation society, in this modern environment that we are going to be creating. And the customer will be able to
enjoy Wi -Fi on the buses and on the ferries.
And so, Mr. Speaker, what about those persons who are differently abled and cannot go down or
up a hill, do not have the ability to wait at a bus stop?
We have not forgotten about them either. This env ironment is inclusive of the m as well. We will be creating a paratransit system, which means we will be cr eating a template, an environment in where those who
are differently abled will still be able to have access to
public service, which will be more of an on- demand
service than an ything. And so, therefore, this is going
to once again create more jobs, increase the quality of
life for persons within this community, persons who reside within these shores.
But, Mr. Speaker, although I am the one that
might be the face, I might be the one that you hear most of all when we talk about transportation and the
Ministry of Transport, it is not just me, the Minister,
responsible for the creation of this environment. I am supported by multiple teams and hundreds of indivi duals. But I would be r emiss if I did not mention those
whom I work closest with who have been most i nstrumental in bringing these initiatives to fruition. Mr.
Speaker, I am speaking of none other than Jasmin
Smith, Th eresa Ince, Terry Spencer, Roger Todd,
Stacey Evans, Rudy Can n, Neville Tyrrell, Michael
Weeks, Lovitta Foggo, Dennis Lister III, and Curtis
Richardson.
Mr. Speaker, these are the individuals who
share the same passion for transportation and moving
our country forward as I do. And Mr. Speaker, they do a very good j ob (so that I don’t get caught in using
unparliamentary language). They do a phenomenal
job of keeping me, I would say, on the rails, because I
can get a little excitable from time to time. And so, Mr. Speaker, it would be remiss if I did not share their
names to make sure that when you see this new env ironment in transportation coming to fruition . . . and
Mr. Speaker, this plan, this Economic Recovery Plan
was debuted in March. We are 90 days in and we are
already showing signs. We already have a cruise s hip
in our harbour. We already have new flights landing on our runways. So imagine what we can do over the
next four to five years! Imagine where we will be, Mr.
Speaker.
So in closing, what I will tell the public and
those who are listening in, especiall y my entrepr eneurs and small [sized] business owners: Get ready!
Make sure you have everything in place to take part in
Bermuda’s business economic recovery over these next five years. We do not want you to get left behind.
This is a renaissance, of sorts. This is a time when the
“haves” can continue to have, but the “have- nots”
need to have more. And we are creating an environment so that everyone can have more, so that ever ybody has the same access and opportunity to be successful as anybody else. And you do not have to rely
on anybody else in order to be successful.
A lot of the restrictions that we have seen over
the last decade we are looking to responsibly remove. And as I said before, as you can see, this is not just talk. As the Member who took the f loor before me,
Minister Jason Hayward says, We are not just talking.
We have already put action behind it. And Mr. Speaker, we just need everybody —small businesses, medium businesses, entrepreneurs and the like—to take destiny into their own hands, partic ipate in our economy, be a mover and a shaker in our economy. Look
within to see what makes you tick. What are you passionate about? Figure out a way in which to make a
living from it so that you will not have to work a day in your life.
This is where we are. And in five years we will
have a balanced budget, we will have a nation of
owners, and we will have a majority of this country
enjoying the quality of life that they do not just wish,
they do not just deserve, but the quality of life that they have al ways wanted and dreamed of.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Go right ahead.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker. I am happy to have given space so a Member of the Opposition could contribute to this very i mportant debate, but as that is not the case I will myself
give my submission.


Bermuda House of Assembly Thank you for the opportunity, Mr. Speaker , to
speak on this very important debate around the Government’s Economic Recovery Plan. I am very
pleased that the Finance Minister tabled the Motion so
that we can talk to the people, talk to the House, talk to the community about what plans we have goin g
forward, Mr. Speaker.
This debate was preceded by submissions
from two very Honourable Ministers, the Minister for
the Cabinet Office who has outlined a number of very
interesting initiatives, which I am sure he will talk more about in the coming weeks and months as they evolve
and formulate. And also Minister Hayward who has
himself, while he has been Minister of Labour, piloted
a number of initiatives that have contributed to wort hwhile opportunities for people to come to Bermuda
and work from Bermuda, but also he has drilled down
on how we are going to shape the job recovery of our own people here in Bermuda, which is a crucially i mportant component of the recovery.
There is no doubt that the recovery of the job
sector in every key sector of this country, tourism and other related service sectors, [in which] Bermudians
have been predominantly involved in have been, unfortunately, ravaged to some degree by the COVID -19
experience. And certainly when it comes to our wor king population, the Minister of Labour has given that
his ultimate focus and he gave a very clear submi ssion around his initiative and what he is doing and his firm commitment to that.
Mr. Speaker, my area of Home Affairs is multi -
faceted and has a number of areas. I am very proud to have responsibility for a number of initiatives, at
least five or so initiatives within the Economic Recovery Plan that will be the focus of my Ministry going
forward. We are focused on a number of things
around the [Bermuda] National Space Strategy,
around the telecommunications sector, the energy
sector and also the marine sector and channelling the
effort and also the opportunities that we need to
shape to take advantage of economic recovery initi atives in these key sectors.
I will start first by listing s ome of the key areas
that we are focusing on, Mr. Speaker. The [Bermuda]
National Space Strategy. There are opportunities in
the growing international global space economy that Bermuda can take advantage of. And if you can allow
me, Mr. Speaker, [I would l ike] to read a particular
point that I have gleaned from my own continuous
research and information that is out there from the
likes of Harvard University, Morgan Stanley and other
major players in the global and academic community.

Go right ahead, Minister. You can read
it.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Right now, in 2019, the est imated value of the global space industry was $300 -
plus million [sic]. And that is still the case now in that the estimated revenue generation in the global space industry . . . I’m sorry. [It is] $366 billion! Sorry! I mi squoted; I downed the number. Billion dollars, Mr.
Speaker! Nearly $400 billion of revenue generation
associated with the space industry. That is predicted
to get to . . . by 2040 to be in the trillions .
There are some key areas of focus in the
space industry which are growing and developing, key areas such as telecommunications, such as Internet
infrastructure. And these are areas that are of partic ular importance to Bermuda because we play a very
important role (and I will speak more about that later)
in the area of global telecommunications. We have at
least three or four —three major subsea cables that
transit through Bermuda that go from different parts of
the world: South America, Europe, and North Amer ica. So Bermuda already plays a crucial role in that.
What is happening in the satellite industry and
the global space industry is going to augment that because there is a demand for the expansion of broadband. There is an expanding need for telecommunic ations services. There is expanding need, Mr. Speaker,
for what is referred to as space- to-us services, se rvices where the monitoring of the planet is becoming
crucial for the generation of data that is helping to
manage different aspects of the global com munity.
Our National Space Strategy is built around taking advantage of those opportunities, Mr. Speaker.
But I will just move on from that because we
have the subsea cable opportunities [and] the National Space Strategy. We also are working on the crucial
area of energy and developing opportunities that are
in play that can aid in our efforts to diversify our energy sector which actually will contribute to inward i nvestment and growth in that sector.
One thing that needs to be understood about
the energy sector, Mr. Speaker, is that renewable energy is where the growth is. That is where it is gro wing. Right now, Mr. Speaker, the reality is this: Pr oducing energy and generation through fossil fuel generation, is the most expensive way to create power
right now. And that is a global fact. Right now rene wable energy per kilowatt hour is either on par [or] in
some cases cheaper to produce than [fossil fuel] energy. It is cheaper and a more worthwhile investment to invest in clean generation than it is to invest in fossil
fuel generation.
All investment is highly capitalised, but the r eality is that when the data is looked at, it is cheaper
now to be investing in green energy. That is the direction Bermuda is going. It is also going to be much more worthwhile and sustainable for Bermuda to i nvest in green energy, to move away from fossil fuel
generation. That is how we are going to bring down
the cost of energy and ultimately impact the cost of
living. So we are focusing on the energy sector as an
area of growth and opportunity for highly capitalised investment, job growth, and also high- skilled job
growth and economic opportunity for Bermuda.
1538 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly We are also looking at the ocean around us,
Mr. Speaker, as a place where there is opportunity for
growth and there is op portunity for investment. Right
now, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to our space strat egy we are working with the Bermuda Business Devel-opment Agency and the Regulatory Authority and we
are focusing on a number of strategies that would i nclude the selling of S pectrum for low -level satellite
operations, and we are also working on developing a satellite registry service, as well as attracting companies here in the areas of risk and also other activities
that will attract high -value jobs in Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the area of
space, Bermuda has a long history, with NASA, in
particular. And NASA is a very positive partner with
Bermuda, not only with the fact that they are here
monitoring space activity to the moon, around the earth, to Mars and beyon d, but that relationship has
also sprung opportunities that we have with developing relationships with the likes of SpaceX, with Blue
Origin, and even Virgin Galactic who are all new pla yers in the space industry, and others who are launc hing satellites. T he issue of earth monitoring and earth
observation is one of the growing sectors of space.
And we have opportunities there because of Berm uda’s long legacy in space, our global proximity, and
also [because] the commercial side of space is gro wing. Like I s aid before, [it is] $400 billion now, a trillion
dollars in the not -too-distant future. So Bermuda has
opportunities there that we can take advantage of.
Linking that to subsea cables, Mr. Speaker,
we have developed a framework through passing le gislation last year around subsea cables, we are now
creating an opportunity for Bermuda to not only (as I
have already spoken about) expand our space- related
commercial opportunities but that is intricately linked
to what is happening on the ocean floor with the expansion of transatlantic cables.
There are definitely already major possibilities
being observed there. We actually have a number of companies that have already been approaching the
Government about landing cables in Bermuda. In particular, Mr. Speaker, w e have one operator who I believe will look to run a cable from Europe through
Bermuda . . . just a minor correction—Europe, Bermuda, US. So there is already an operator.
And let us just be very clear here, Mr. Speaker, the level of capital that it requir es to even be in this
space is in the hundreds of millions of billions of do llars. There is no company that is going to be laying a cable anywhere on the globe in the subsea area that
does not have billions of dollars potentially available to
invest. Now, I am not saying that those billions of dollars are going to come here. What I am saying is that those are the types of companies that will look to
Bermuda to invest in the opportunities that our subsea cable framework provides. And they are already par king up. They are already investigating and they are already looking at how they are going to file an appl ication to Bermuda.
We are working with the Regulatory Authority.
We have developed a one- stop shop approach to this,
which is very attractive to that in dustry which does not
like to deal with too much red tape and looks for juri sdictions where they can land cables on land without
dealing with some of the heavy regulatory bureaucr acy that they have to put up with when they are landing
or dealing with Europe or certainly North America.
Mr. Speaker, moving on, one of the other ar eas that is exciting, and which I spoke about before, is
energy. There are real opportunities, Mr. Speaker, in
energy for Bermuda. The future is in diversification.
We have been well served over the past 100 years by
the utility know as Bermuda Electric Light Company, Ascendant, and now I believe it is changing its name to Liberty. But the future now is with the diversification
of the energy sector. And I am certain that the existing
bulk generation utility, Liberty, will play a major role in
that future. But the future is in diversification. And di-versification means taking on different types of generation which will be renewables.
We have an integrated resource plan, Mr.
Speaker, wh ich contemplates shaping our energy f uture going forward because this is an effort that we
can ill afford. If Ber muda is to be an affordable place
to live for all of her residents, if it is to remain affordable for investment in business, to develop touris m and
other very wonderful opportunities we have, we must
have an affordable structure for operation and that will
include energy.
It is expensive now to operate and live in
Bermuda. The cost of energy in Bermuda is one of the highest in the world, much l ess the region, and this is
something that all islands actually are plagued with.
We are not the only one. Energy costs are high here,
and they are high as an Island jurisdiction because we
cannot link up to other energy networks and diversify and have cheaper sources. Our sources are self -
contained, they are here and it is expensive to bring
oil to this Island with the fluctuations in market prices
to power our energy sector. So, we must diversify. We must become greener, cleaner, and cheaper. And the
only way to do that is by investing in renewable energy.
But we have a plan. We have a plan that is
going to not only help with the huge capital inves tment, and the IRP [Integrated Resource Plan] is what
has been placed to do that, and the IRP contemplates, Mr . Speaker, at a minimum, at a minimum level
of investment nearly $300 million worth of economic
opportunity of investment in energy. But we want to
also focus on something a little bit smaller, which is on
the average person who may not be able to afford t he
green energy panels or some other energy efficiency
measures, Mr. Speaker.
So, we are creating a green energy fund and
we are titling that fund the Economic and EnvironmenBermuda House of Assembly tal Justice Fund, because we want this fund to bring
about equity and affordabili ty and opportunity in energy. That means that we are creating and developing a
fund structure that will bring in investment from the
private sector, that will allow those investments to help support the average household with being able to d eploy green energy, as well as conservation and eff iciency measures. Not only with that Mr. Speaker, will be the jobs created as a result of that diversification.
The diversification of energy sector means the
diversification of jobs —jobs [for] people who will install
the panels on the homes, people who will do the e nergy assessments, people who will do other things to
bring about conservation and efficiency measures to
our residences, to small businesses, to large bus inesses. Because this is where the growth and energy
right now is [found], for bringing in and aggressively
as a country pursuing renewable energy.
We have seen an exciting project at the Pompano Beach Resort. They have invested heavily in renewable energy, and we are looking for other major commercial operators and properties in the tourism
sector to do the same. And also, we want our res idents, our average everyday residents to benefit from
the Green Revolution in energy. So, that is why this
green energy Economic and Environmental Justice
Fund is being created, to help bring that opportunity to the average house in Bermuda. And we are excited
about this and we expect to be able to roll this fund
out and at least a presentation around it before the
end of the year, because we know that this is an area
where many would like to invest. There are many
people already in Bermuda committed to green energy, and we want to create a facility to bring that i nvestment on Island.
Another area that is important, Mr. Speaker, is
the Blue Economy. The oceans around us are pr ecious and important and have supported Bermuda’s
development and her economic viability for centuries.
It is only within perhaps the recent hundred years that
we have actually focused solely on the land of Bermuda to generate our economic viability and our ec onomic opportunity. For most of the 400 or so years of
our history, it was connected with the ocean, with
shipping, with building shipping, with privateering, with
involvement with a number of wars where Bermuda ship captains and Bermuda shipping moved cargo in
and out of waters that were blockaded, so blockade
running. Those are some of the things, as well as
bringing foodstuffs to Bermuda from other parts of the
world.
Well, we have got to get back to ensuring that
we can maximise the opportunity of the oceans
around us. That is why we are working with the Ber-muda Ocean Prosperity Programme, with the Waitt
Foundation and even other foundations such as the Rocky Mountain Institute to actually work on opport unities that we have in the Blue Economy. There are three areas that are key and crucial
to this, Mr. Speaker. One has to do with fisheries, one has to do with blue tourism and one has to do with
energy. Those are the three areas of focus that the
Blue Economy is going to have and that we have o pportunities within a marine environment to move forward. That will bring about a growth in our economy, if
we can use the ocean as a springboard for growing
aspects of our economy. There are great tourism opportunities with the beautiful oceans around us.
There are opportunities in the energy sector. I
can tell you now, Mr. Speaker, and tell this House and the country that we already have potential possibilities
with using our oceans to generate clean, affordable
energy. There is actually a Bermudian partner ri ght
now who is a partner with a major international firm that is looking to bring a major ocean- based technol ogy here to Bermuda. That is going to be a part of it.
We also are looking at possibilities around floating
solar and floating wind— all energy opportunities that
can actually help and we have our oceans to provide
those opportunities.
We also are looking at in the energy sector,
as I will just jump back to that, Mr. Speaker, from Blue
Economy, on projects that we can generate on Island,
of a utility scale in energy that will allow local investors
to participate as the lead investors and not bring peo-ple from outside, but giving our local entrepreneurs in the energy sector and other sectors an opportunity to
invest in the diversification of energy, clean energy for
Bermuda.
But going back to the Blue Economy, our fis heries (and I know that the Honourable Member Mr.
Furbert touched on this earlier) are an area of opportunity. Within our 200 square mile zone, there are fis hing fishery opportunities. There are people who have
already in Bermuda sought to invest in larger vessels
that they can go out and fish and take advantage of
the opportunities we have that could not only develop much more affordable access to fish on Island that is
cheaper, but also pot entially develop an export market
with our fisheries in a responsible way consistent with
international best practice.
Now, there is the other area. As I said, there
are three areas: tourism, energy and fisheries. So, within the Blue Economy those are the areas. There is
one last area that I would like to touch on, Mr. Speaker, which is related to our economic development plan
around the initiatives that my actual Ministry is r esponsible for, that is creating a regulatory sandbox. Bermuda must become to dev elop further a place of
not only innovation as we have done in insurance, as
we have done in tourism in the past, but we must become an innovation place for technology.
We know that FinTech is an area that we
have been exploring, but there is also innovat ion in
the energy sector that is available to Bermuda. We
have the possibility of being somewhere that may be
able to look at our ocean as a key generator of ener1540 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly gy. Not only is that exciting, Mr. Speaker, but if we can
bring some of these innovative energ y projects to
Bermuda and too, Mr. Speaker, to be operable in
Bermuda, we could potentially be 100 per cent po wered by renewable energy by, potentially, 2040. Our
goal is to be renewable primarily in the area of 80 [per
cent] to 90 per cent by 2035, but we are pushing the
envelope a little bit harder, because we believe that
this is what is in the best interest of Bermuda.
We could potentially have 100 per cent r enewable energy generation in this country by 2040.
Those are the sort of projects that is going to bring
enormous investment because the Bermudians who
are involved with the energy sector and particularly
ones who at some point in the future we will know
more about is bringing a major player to Bermuda who
is going to deliver on a project that coul d potentially
help us get to that 100 per cent. That is going to bring
hundreds of millions of dollars of investment. As this
project is piloted in Bermuda, it will bring an opportunity to create jobs around that project. It will bring excitement and attention to Bermuda as an innovator internationally in the energy sector.
Mr. Speaker, how much more time do I have
left?

It is now 6:09 and you finish at 6:15.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Okay, I have a little more time
to talk. Well, that’s good. I am not going to say I am
going to use it all. But Mr. Speaker, I am excited about
the opportunities that within my Ministry and the Mini stry team who have been working in this area have to contribute to Bermuda’s economic recovery. Like I said when I start ed, Mr. Speaker, there are five key
areas that we are focusing on: Our national space
strategy which itself is linked with technology and education and high value jobs and positioning Bermuda
in line with our history, Mr. Speaker, with being ass ociated wit h the growing commercial space industry.
Companies like SpaceX are already working with
Bermuda, NASA and the European Space Agency.
We want to expand our opportunities there to be an
innovator in the area of space with space risk, with space sustainabilit y and providing services to the
growing space economy.
Telecommunications: Continue to play a m ajor role in telecommunications through the use of the
UV light work and the growth and development in the
transatlantic cable sector to expand broadband and data movement throughout the world. So, Bermuda
has an opportunity now to be a part of that, and I can
tell you, Mr. Speaker, our subsea cable framework is
setting a buzz out in the global community of tel ecommunications, and we are attracting the attention
we need to make things happen.
Our green energy fund, you know, our green
energy [Economic and] Environmental Justice Fund
we believe will contribute to the goal of this gover n-ment bringing down the cost of living in Bermuda.
Clean, affordable energy will help bring down the cost
of living and the cost of investment by those who seek
to invest in Bermuda. Producing energy through fossil
fuel is the most expensive way to do this and as ev erybody complains about energy costs, the one major
thing, Mr. Speaker , that will contribute to bringing
down those costs is moving away from fossil fuels and embracing the green revolution.
Mr. Speaker, our oceans are our future, which
is why through the development of the Marine Spatial Plan with our work with the Waitt F oundation and developing the Blue Economy focusing on blue tourism,
energy around our oceans and expanding our fisheries in a sustainable way are areas right now that as
we go forward with the Government’s commitment to
this development plan will help to e nsure that Berm uda not only has a prosperous economic future but a
clean, sustainable energy future and affordable future
as well.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity for allowing me to do my presentation on this
very exciting Economic Recovery Plan. I thank the
Minister of Finance for bringing this Motion so that we
can tell the country what we have planned. But it will
not stop here. I am certain that we will take it on the
road, Mr. Speaker, and talk more to our public about what our plans are for the future. Thank you very
much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much.
Before I start my few words, I do want to send
out my appreciation and thanks once again to all of
the essential workers who worked selflessly to keep our country safe and to keep us healthy during this
critical time and I always want them to know just how much we appreciate their service. And to give credit to the Premier and the Minister of Health and the Mini ster of National Security for their hard wor k and the
heads of department at the Bermuda Hospital and to Carika Weldon for what she has done in the lab. They
have certainly given an awful lot to it.
It begs to show the amount of effort it takes to
launch something that we have never launched before. We see how there are so many new skills and so
many new procedures and activities that we have to
put into place when something absolutely brand new
comes our way. And this Bermuda Economic Recov-ery Plan certainly does have a selection of new indusBermuda House of Assembly tries, new opportunities that have some complexities
to them and so we are going to have to work that out.
Now the Minister of Finance in his economic
plan did mention and disclose the fact that we had a
decade of low growth and significant structural ec onomic c hallenges for Bermuda. And he was referencing, I believe, 2008, 2009. And I want to say that when
the OBA did come into power in 2012 we were able to
plant the seeds of economic stimulus that had been
bearing fruit from our time in office through the current
Government’s time in office, and because of activities like the building of the St. Regis Hotel and America’s
Cup and the renovation and revitalisation of the Hamilton Princess.
All of these things have provided job opport unities, have created an increased economic activity
within the country and it is those seeds that have
helped to get us through this critical period that we
have been through in the past 16 months or so.
The Minister also mentioned when he was i ntroducing the plan, and it is within the plan sort of what
our current state of affairs is as far as our financial
position is concerned, and I do ask that . . . it does not
have to necessarily be today, but it would be interes ting to find out in the near future what our economic situation is n ow. The Minister of Finance had estimated about $15 million had been set aside for COVID -
19-related expenses in 2021, and it will be interesting
to find out just what the actual expenses have been to
date for some of the large expenditure that we have
had to put out due to the pandemic.
So, we are looking at (according to this ec onomic plan) medium -term economic growth. And the
plan states that there are 81 proposed initiatives and
that there are 31 that have been prioritised. My question really is that when I look at all of the different init iatives that are being put on the table today, to me,
there seems to be a lack of detail. And I have been
listening to the Ministers because I have been interested in finding out just how some of these initiatives
are actually going to be implemented, even if it is sort
of a higher view of what some of the steps will be. But
I believe that everyone in Bermuda would like to have a bit more of a road map as to what steps and what
time frames would be involved in order to i nitiate
some of these new industry and economic streams.
I noticed too that although this is more of an
expense for Government, but there is very little in the economic plan about education. But yes, we are going
to move forward but there was not that muc h attention
that was given to education and I just feel as though that could be a missed opportunity. The Minister earl ier today had a Ministerial Statement to encourage
more to become certified in teaching and because for
Government education is such a hu ge responsibility
that I would have liked to have heard a little bit more
about how we would be able to balance some of the
revenue we are generating with the expenditure that
would be allocated to educating our young people. So, Mr. Speaker, I picked out just a couple of
these initiatives that I would like to focus on. The first one is medical tourism. Again, the time frame that we
are in right now in the midst of COVID -19 which has
been a health and a medical crisis, it is just when is
the good time to introduce something like medical tourism when people may be feeling a little skittish
about things to do with getting medical procedures,
especially if they are elective, the fact that our hosp itals have had a higher volume of traffic because of the COVID -19 cases that have had to be managed in the
hospitals. And so, you know, I am just trying to set an
environment Mr. Speaker, to say when is the right
time for some of these initiatives? And even if we had
had a bit of a time frame, I think that that would ha ve
been one detail that may have helped us.
Now yes, the OBA, certainly Shawn Croc kwell, Pat Gordon- Pamplin have all supported the co ncept of medical tourism. I do want to caveat that by
saying that that was a decade ago. And here we are a
decade on and w e in Bermuda have the privilege of
watching the Cayman Islands and their success or
otherwise in medical tourism. It has been seen that
the actual volumes have not been as great as they
may have wanted. So it would be really good for
something like medical tourism to have a bit of an actuarial study and analysis to just see whether there is even a market for it, whether we in Bermuda, because we are so expensive and the price of medical services
is so high that . . . one of the pieces that I understand
abou t medical tourism is that people go to other countries where medical procedures are much cheaper.
And so, I am not quite sure how the Government
hopes to frame this medical tourism that won’t fall off
by the wayside because we have got competitors in
other jurisdictions that are able to provide medical
tourism at a much less cost than it might be here in
Bermuda.
The other is that I did a little research, and I
found that there are studies that have been done, es-pecially in the United States and American markets
where there are quite a few people, a majority that do
not necessarily feel that having medical procedures
overseas is something that they would choose, that
they have a perception that having medical proc edures overseas is negative and that offshore care
might not be as good as the care that they could have
on their mainland, whether that is in North America or
Europe. So, I am just curious again how much and
how deep the Government has really done to analyse
some of these initiatives to see whether they are ac-tually things that would be practical and productive
here in Bermuda.
And the other piece about something like
medical tourism and not to be critical but just things that need to be considered, things that the general
public in Bermuda are going to be asking is, where
are we going to find the people to work in a facility if
we did have the private sector (as I believe one Mem1542 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ber had mentioned earlier) support something like a
medical tourism facility or smaller hospital, or whate ver it might end up being, since we have a shortage of
medical staff here in Bermuda anyway as it is. So, I
am just curious where we would find those that would
be skilled and want to work there and if it were as attractive as it seems on paper, would we then have this
exodus of health care workers from the Bermuda
Hospital moving into some private hospital? And then
we are left stranded looking for hard- to-find medical
staff, in particular nurses for the Bermuda King E dward VII Memorial Hospital. So, it is just looking at
what those impacts are going to be and whether they
are going to be feasible for us in the medium term.
Vertical farming, Mr. Speaker. I have kept my
eye on this one for a little bit, and again, as a medium -
term industry that could be introduced here in Berm uda, okay, that is fine. But the details; we don’t know
anything. We don’t know where this vertical farm loc ation would be. We don’t have any clue of the level of technology that would be required to furnish one of
these vertical farms. We have just by t he sound of it
gotten into conversations with local farmers to find out
how this might work for them. I am aware that there
are already successful hydroponics here on the Island
anyway. So, are we competing with ourselves? How
would something like vertical farming . . . what are the
details as far as the logistics and the technology and
the buildings and the location?
I would also suspect that places like the D epartment of Parks would then have to come up with all kinds of policies or do some research to f ind out about
the importation of seeds, having to work out what kind of import procedures would be concerned, various, I would imagine there are going to be a number of li quids and other kinds of substances that would be
needed in order to promote the grow th of plants in the
vertical farms and how are we going to police that? Is
there going to be a special team set up just for, dedicated to vertical farming and the importation of all the supplies that would be needed?
I would suspect some of those supplies are
things that have not been brought into Bermuda be-fore. I do not know, but how would we be able to han-dle the inspection of and the management of those
kinds of products coming into the Island?
And then the expertise. I mean, from the reading that I have done it is this delicate balance of lighting and water and timing. And although those may
sound like simple ingredients getting it right from the
farmers and the enthusiasts, the sort of hydroponic
enthusiasts on the Island, it is not easy. It does take
quite a bit of time to understand and skill to get it right.
And who those experts are going to be that will come
in? I would imagine for vertical farming you are going
to need different kinds of engineers, you are going to need horticulturalists and whet her the Government
has considered the capacity to take on those kinds of
professionals. And we have and it has been mentioned earlier today in a previous debate, been mentioned in this
debate, but we have an excess of farmland, and I thank the Minister that these Government farmlands
will be protected and they will not be given away for development. But at the same time, what can we do
now, and I would imagine in the very short term, to
create jobs and maybe create additional produce now using that space th at is available, empty and waiting
to be used.
Mr. Speaker, there was mention in the Bermuda Economic Recovery Plan some conversation
about pensions. And I am reaching the age, so now I
am sort of personally vested in this and I am learning
more about our pensions and not only as an individual
but as a country. I clearly understand the importance
of being able to have a fund, a saving, a protected savings for our country so that when we all retire, we
know that we can withdraw from that savings and be
able to have some money to help sustain us in our
retirement. But our funds, our pension funds in particular, are getting lower, right? Every day they are
getting lower, and I certainly, I cannot fault the Mini ster of Finance in his initiatives to allow for wit hdrawals
from private pensions.
I cannot fault the Minister for giving contribution holi days for some of the other pensions that the
government manages. But with all of that, we are d epleting our savings. And I am just curious what is go-ing to be done to help to revitalise and replenish our
pensions so that we can continue to save and provide
some form of prosperity or standard of living for those
who are working really hard now, but in 20 years, 15 years when it is time for them to make their withdra wal, that there will be ample funds there to support
them in their retirement.
And so I call on the Minister of Finance to
please keep the protection of our pensions in the for efront of his mind. I know that that is not generating jobs. I know that that is not boosting our economy. But
it is absolutely fundamental that we are able to have
something put aside for that rainy day, for that retir ement. And we must find a way to encourage and sti mulate our pension funds, for the future.
Mr. Speaker, another point t hat I wanted to
speak to today about the economic recovery, and that
is the changing dynamic within the working world. So
for those who work in an office environment, as has
been mentioned earlier today, we have all become familiar with working from home. Going into the office
is now becoming almost —and I would not be too surprised if it shortly becomes almost taboo, that going into the office is not going to necessarily be a part of
the new era moving forward. Mr. Speaker, we have to
face the fact that com ing out of this COVID -19 pa ndemic is going to be— in my personal opinion, it is going to be transformational for us.
And we are living in a new turn of an era. So,
you know, we have had the Industrial Revolution. And


Bermuda House of Assembly I can see that we are definitely going to be moving
into something new in the coming years. And with
that, the changing dynamic of those who are working,
what they are doing, their behaviour, their routines are
all going to be very different.
And many of the companies are finding that,
with te chnology and a digital world, their model of doing business is changing as well. One, you do not even necessarily have to be in the jurisdiction where
your company is to work every day. People are wor king from everywhere, and we have seen that through
our successful residency certificate. And we are finding that there are a number of jobs that used to be
done by humans that are now being done by computers, and so there fewer requirements for humans to be in the office environment.
And whether the Government is considering
that—because as much as we may feel like, Okay,
well, we have to get the wheels turning again and we
have to get the economy going again, but it is not
necessarily that we are going to be starting the car
and going down the same roads that we did before.
Because we are going to find that the path is chang-ing, and whether we are considering those changes
and incorporating them into our future plans. Because
otherwise, we may not be considering people who
may find themselves changing their pr ofessions or reskilling, retooling themselves. And if we are thinking,
They are all working from home, everything is fine, but
in actual fact technology and the digital world have shown up and that there are more people who are
quietly losing their jobs a nd that there will be more
demand for more employment, whether that is being
factored into the consideration.
So earlier, Mr. Speaker, I had spoken a little
bit about the expertise that is going to be needed for,
you know —and I just chose vertical farming and medical tourism as two that I picked out. But I would ve nture to say that many of the 31 priorities that the Mi nister of Finance had listed in the Economic Recovery
Plan are going to need expertise. And here enters the elephant in the room. We are goi ng to probably have
to have a national conversation about the fact that if
we are going to introduce a number of these initi atives, we are going to have to welcome experts and their families to come to Bermuda for a period of time in order to teach us how to use this new technology.
And with that, we may by default raise our population
through immigration.
And I guess, Mr. Speaker, for me when I r eflect on some of the pet peeves and some of the feelings of discontent around some of our historical rea-sons f or immigration having sort of gone off the rail,
this is different. And I believe that this is different, and
it is worthy of contemplation and national convers ation. And that is that this time we would be inviting
people to the Island to teach us something, to provide
a service, to take that one expert and create hopefully,
you know, dozens of Bermudians who then will be able to learn a new skill, become a part of a new i ndustry. And so it becomes a grateful relationship that hopefully will provide some mutual satisfaction.
But it does not in any way negate the fact, Mr.
Speaker, that with these initiatives this may be our ticket. Because if there are experts who are well -
educated, successful in their fields of expertise, they
come to Bermuda for two or three years to set up
some of these initiatives like vertical farms or to help
set up medical tourism. They come here, they provide
us with their skills, we learn from their skills and then maybe they go on to their next adventure or their next
lot in life.
But we will at some point probably have to
consider this. And I certainly would not want the pop ulation to view any future immigration of experts, to
confuse that with the historical missteps of the past, and that we are understanding and we have clarity
around the next generation of folks who may come to
the Island to live for a period of time and significantly
boost our economy.
The other elephant in the room, Mr. Speaker,
is efficiencies. And Government is —you know, I do
not know. We have gone through the SAGE Report.
We have dealt with some very fragile and delicate to pics over the years around efficiencies in government.
And one of the thoughts and ideas that I have been
pondering is whether it would not be worthwhile for Government to consider having priority ministries,
ministries that governments absolutely have to have in
order to function. And those would be things like Ed ucation, Immigration, Health, Transport.
But there are other areas/departments that we
might be able to give just a little mor e autonomy to the
people who are presently working in those areas, gi ving them an opportunity to work slightly apart from
government. Government would be their main client,
and they would receive much of their instruction
through government and support thr ough government,
but giving an entrepreneurship- feel for that. Now, I
know that there is this horrible word called privatis ation. And I do not want to go there, but I do want to
see or at least have the Government explore the idea
of allowing some form of autonomy where people who
are experts in their field are given an opportunity to inject some entrepreneurship into their work as civil
servants.
And again it is the kind of thing that needs a
lot of focus on detail. But I believe that it is a worthy thought as far as looking for some efficiencies and
allowing the entrepreneurial spirit of the civil servants who would be working with a little more autonomy an
opportunity to maybe reach out and negotiate with
Government to allow for other, private customers so
that there is an opportunity for some profit generation.
And, Mr. Speaker, this is the time for us to
brainstorm. This is the time for us to shoot for the stars. This is the time when governments have an opportunity to throw it all out there and say, W hat else
1544 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly can we think of? What is out there that could be possible for long- term economic stimulus for the Island?
And so, you know, I just believe that there are eff iciencies that we can find; it is just a matter of maybe
moving off of the traditional pat hs that we have co nsidered and brainstorming in a new space to make
something that works right for Bermuda.
So, Mr. Speaker, I am going to close out now.
And I feel a little worried about the Economic Plan
because I just do not know that we have enough lo whanging fruit, things that we can work on right now that do not need an expert and do not need a whole
bunch of contracts and do not need a lot of time to put
in place —the things that we can do here locally. And
earlier one of the Members spoke to the caregiving
environment. I see that there is great potential there. I
believe that there is potential to develop more assis ted or community senior housing much in the way that
the housing trust have pulled together lovely comm unities such as Heydon Trust, et cetera, that Gover nment could create more environments for things like
assisted living, that we could encourage more—

Okay. Just a reminder to turn your
camera on.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: My camera is coming on
now. The signal should be coming through to you any
time soon, Mr. Speaker.
So if I am speaking on Bermuda’s scores ,
please excuse my cheer, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, getting back to the serious bus iness at hand, I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight on the Economic Plan that the Government has tabled for debate. And let me start out by saying,
Mr. Speaker, th at I generally do not support the current Economic Recovery Pla n. And here is why, Mr.
Speaker, because at the beginning of the debate t onight, the Government changed it from a take note motion to a supportive motion. And just like the debate
before on the Planning Act, I certainly want to see
Bermuda succeed like everyone in the House of A ssembly wants to see Bermuda succeed. I want to see us recover. I want to see us get into a much better position because we are in a very weak position right
now with man y Bermudians struggling.
However, there is a great deal about the plan
that I believe is full of hope and full of dreams, but lacks opportunity. And so I say that to start out [stating] my concerns.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance in his
overview ea rlier, as this debate started after lunch,
talked about the economy and the challenges we
have had over the past couple of years. And certainly
as a Member of Parliament and as the Premier for a
number of years, I am aware that our economy has struggled. C ertainly, we were set back in 2010,
2009/10 with some of the challenges that we had here
and some of the challenges that reverberated
throughout the world. However, Mr. Speaker, I think that it is certainly good news that during the tenure of
the OBA we sa w a great deal of recovery.
But the economy has weakened since the
PLP first became Government in 2017. And clearly
the economy was in a weak state before we were
lambasted by COVID -19 at the start of last year. I find
it interesting and it brings a smile to my face, Mr.
Speaker, when I see the current Government involved in such events as SailGP [Sail Grand Prix] when clearly they love to chastise the America’s Cup when
they have an opportunity. It brings a smile to my face to see the current Government —

Mr. Speaker, the Government did
not oppose the America’s Cup. The Government opposed the spending and the way that the OBA went
about the process. So we were not against the Amer ica’s Cup. T here were some financial things that were
taking place, the expenses. And the teachers and
other people, the civil service, were not given a raise.
And there was a moratorium on raises in the civil service. We were not against the America’s Cup. We
were against how it was financed. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.

Thank you.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, I am happy
to take a valid point of order, but those types of com-ments can come up when those Members who have
not spoken interject. I think it is just wasting my time,
Mr. Speaker. But the America’s Cup was a success. And everyone had an opportunity to be involved, and
most people certainly supported it, Mr. Speaker. I will continue on, Mr. Speaker. I will not be
side-tracked by Honourable Members who want to
interject, when they have an opportunity to speak and they sat [INAUDI BLE] and they have not pushed the
microphone to speak.
Mr. Speaker, I find it interesting that the Go vernment lauds the opening of St. Regis when that was
an OBA project which they had some concerns
around from the beginning. And now those concerns
seem to have disappeared. I lay that case, Mr.
Speaker, because just about the only thing that is go-ing at this time are opportunities that the OBA created.
So yes. We need an Economic Recovery Plan because we are in a very precarious position, Mr.
Speaker. We are in a very precarious position at the
present time because COVID -19 has wreaked havoc
in our community and around the world, Mr. Speaker .
And as I get into the balance of my comments
on this debate, I think it is important, while my co lleague Susan Jackson did a commendable job in an overview of her thoughts on the plan and the Oppos ition Leader I thought set the stage very well for the
Opposition’s side of this debate. Susan Jackson,
Honourable Member, commended all of those i nvolved in helping us work through COVID -19. I want to
piggyback on that because I think it is important that
we remember the tireless work that all of those indi-viduals did for many, many, many months. And the
work must continue on.
But, Mr. Speaker, we also must reflect on the
vibe that is in the community at the present time. Many Bermudians are tired. Many Bermudians are worn out. Many Bermudians are worn down. A nd they
are lacking patience, Mr. Speaker. I mean, COVID -19,
through the restrictions, through the curfew, through
the changes of regulations has certainly worn many
Bermudians down. And so we need recovery. We
need to rebuild. We need to revitalise. And i t is important that we get on with it, Mr. Speaker.
But having said that, Mr. Speaker, we must
never forget that COVID -19 is still with us. We cannot
forget about the threat of COVID -19 because it is still
here. And we could have another fight. We still have curfews, Mr. Speaker. We still have a curfew, we still
have restrictions. And we cannot forget that COVID -
19 is still very much on our doorsteps. Especially, Mr.
Speaker, when you take a look at the fact that our
vaccine rate of one dose is only 58 per cent, and our
two-dose is 52 per cent. This is a concern, Mr.
Speaker, as the opportunity for spread at this level of
vaccination—

Hon. E. David Burt: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
[Pause]
Hon. E. David Burt: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: I accept the point of order.
1546 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Point of order. We will take your point
of order.

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. E. David Burt: The Honourable Member is mi sleading the House with his vaccination statistics,
speaking about 15 per cent on two doses. That cannot
be correct. Unless I misheard, that is not correct.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Honourable Premier, I said
58 per cent on one dose and 52 per cent on two doses. That is correct.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes. Thank you. Thank
you for allowing me for that clarification if you did not hear it.
And so with those levels of vaccinations,
Honourable Speaker, we still need to pay attention to
COVID -19. And this is a real concern because we do
not want any opportunities for spread in our community. And I support the Government in every effort they
make, as I said in my last speech in the House of A ssembly on the motion to adjourn, I believe two weeks ago. I support all of the efforts on vaccination. And i t is
a real concern that even at this point, with all of the
science which has been elucidated to the people of
Bermuda, with all of the conversations we have had
about it, there still is a hesitancy to get the vaccine.
And it is a concern, and it is a real disappointment, Mr.
Speaker, that we see that a significant number of doses might have to be disposed of in the coming
weeks because their shelf life has expired.
So I would hope, Mr. Speaker, that we conti nue to soldier forward and do the right thing t o deal with
COVID -19 because we do have a couple more stairs
to climb before we get to the top and we can see all of
the light at the end of the tunnel.
So, Mr. Speaker, this plan in my view is pred icated that COVID -19 is behind us. Because if COVID -
19 comes back in any way, Mr. Speaker, then ever ything we talk about in this plan will be pushed back —
or speaking in a different language, could be put on the shelf for a period of time while we fight. Because
Lord knows, Mr. Speaker, that everyone involved in
the battle against COVID -19 gets consumed by it, especially when we have a fight. And it is very real, it is very time -consuming; that is all that you can put your
attention to. So if we have any upsurge again in COVID -19, then this plan will clearly be im peded
gravely.
So, Mr. Speaker, I have read the Economic
Recovery Plan. I have listened very closely to the de-bate. And a couple of things have struck me, Mr. Speaker. One of the things is that more Government
Members have not jumped up and wanted to speak. And certainly when the Finance Minister spoke earlier,
he alluded to the fact that Members of the Cabinet
would talk about areas under their responsibility. And
we have only heard from a few of them at the present
time.
Another thing that struck me, Mr . Speaker, is
that as we go now into probably the fourth hour of this
debate, I have heard very little conversation from
Government Members about hospitality and international business. And so while we look at the seven
main principles of this Economic Rec overy Plan that
the Minister of Finance talked about earlier in the d ebate today, one of the overriding principles in my view,
Mr. Speaker, must be that we need to bolster, boost and grow international business and hospitality.
And why do I say that, Mr. Speaker? I say that
clearly because international business and hospitality are the number -one and two drivers of our economy.
They play an important part of our economy. And we
need to do everything we can to take hold of those
opportunities in both of those industries because it could be very beneficial for Bermuda. And I thought
that there would be more of a focus in the plan on
those two pillars of our economy and more of a conversation today in this debate about it.
And, Mr. Speaker, allow me just to r eflect for a
moment on why it is important that we deal with international business and hospitality. If you look at the job
numbers for 2020 that were published in the economic
report of the budget earlier this year that we debated
in March, you will see t hat the largest employer of the
Island is public administration. In 2020 public admi nistration grew from the fourth- largest employer to the
first employer, the largest employer. Now, that is a
concern in itself because that puts more of a burden
on the tax payer, but I am not going to address that
today. What I will address is the fact that international
business is the second- largest employer on the I sland, growing from the third to the second with a loss
of four jobs in 2020. That is an interesting fact, Mr.
Speaker. International business by this report lost four
jobs in 2020, but still grew to the second- largest employer.
The third largest employer, Mr. Speaker, is
wholesale and retail trade, which fell from the second
to the third with a loss of 264 jobs. The fourth- largest
employer is hospitality. Or in this report it is called accommodations and food service. It fell from the largest
employer to the fourth- largest employer with a loss of
1,784 jobs. Now, I will come back to that in a minute,
Mr. Speaker.
Other notable job losses were 104 in transportation and storage, 82 in construction, 77 in information and communications, and 78 in manufacturing.
So from 2019 to 2020 we had a loss of 2,924 jobs. The Government has explained in that financial report
that 935 of those jobs were actually job losses, and 989 they classify as layoffs. And I mention those numbers, Mr. Speaker, because it is important to clar iBermuda House of Assembly fy and classify what we have lost and the opportunity
for what we have to gain back and what we mus t gain
back.
And why do I say we must gain it back, Mr.
Speaker? Well, the simple reason is that we lost all of
those jobs. And secondly, Bermudians currently are
unemployed. And they have the skill sets to do those
jobs. The numbers clearly show it. Not only the 264
jobs in wholesale and retail, which were lost in my
view because the economy collapsed; the 1,784 jobs
in hospitality we can gain back, and more. If you look at the 104 jobs in transport, that is because of COVID -
19. We can gain those back. Construction is the
same. Information and communication and manufacturing are the same.
So this plan is short in itself because it does
not devote enough attention and detail to rebuilding the critical infrastructure of our supporting industries in
internat ional business and hospitality. And there is
great opportunity there, Mr. Speaker. Why do I say
that? Well, for two main reasons, Mr. Speaker. The first reason would be international business has pro ven definitively through the challenge of COVID -19 that
they can work from Bermuda. They can work from
home. They can do their jobs. And they still can meet
all of the expectations of their clients. What a great
place to be to do business!
And now that COVID -19 is more on the side
of being controlled, why do we not grasp the opportunity to grow international business in Bermuda? B ecause most of the companies that do business here,
they have branches all over the world with thousands
of employees all over the world. And we have just shown that they can just conduct their business from
here, safe and secure, and in a great environment.
Why cannot we lure them to Bermuda to increase the
footprint? This creates jobs in Bermuda and creates
opportunities for Bermudians.
Secondly, hospitality. A minimum of 1,784
jobs have been lost. When you put all of the transportation and construction and all of that in, it is over
2,000 jobs easily have been lost because of the collapse of hospitality. With the new hotel opening up, with the Loren being open for a couple of years, t he
Aurora on the cusp of seeing some exciting things, with the potential for the Fairmont Southampton, we have an opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to get hospitality to
boom again.
If all the talk of new air routes manages to
take flight, Mr. Speaker, we have an opportunity to put
Bermuda back on the map that we were starting to get
on with the advent of tourism in 2016 and 2017 when the numbers were heading upwards under the OBA.
And the America’s Cup put us on the world map by
being broadcast all over the world, Mr. Speaker.
We should be focusing here and now and
every day forward on the opportunity not only in the plan, but also on international business and hospital ity. Because if we do not, we lose significant opportuni-ty and we lose significant opportunity for Bermudians
who are already out of work and know the industry
and want to be part of that industry. So, Mr. Speaker, I
am very disappointed not to see more of a footprint in
this ERP [ on international business and hospitality.
Now, Mr. Speaker, in the time that I have left
allow me to focus a bit on some of the seven pillars on
how the plan was built around. Those seven pillars
are (1) diversify the economy, (2) make financial markets work better, (3) build and enhance our infrastructure, (4) to expand the resident population,
(5) introduce labour market reform, (6) reform the delivery of health care, and (7) develop supporting legal
and regulatory networks.
Now, some of those are great. I agree we
need to make financial markets work better. I am not sure that a digital bank is going to help us greatly in
that regard, but hey, it is an opportunity; go ahead and
try to take hold of it. I support building and enhancing
infrastructure because infrastructure is very important.
And we can see what the United States is trying to do
on their recovery plan. But they are much different
than we are. With their recovery plan it is focused
around a lot of infrastructure. But they have a different
problem, Mr. Speaker. Their economy is rebounding
already as they are coming out of COVID -19. So they
need to improve that infrastructure.
But, Mr. Speaker, where I have some concerns with this point on developing and enhancing
infrastructure is with some of the ideas on a shore–– a
fish processing plant. Because up until st ill right at this
point, at seven o’clock during this debate, I am hearing very few specifics about the fish processing plant,
the Shoreside Facility as Minister Furbert talked
about. Now, Mr. Speaker, I have been in business for
43 years. I have hired thousands of people, grown
businesses, been involved in myriad types of bus inesses. So I think I understand a little bit about what it
takes to launch a business with an opportunity to be successful. Because what everyone looks for is for
opportunities to be successful.
Now, Mr. Speaker, when I hear about this
Shoreside processing facility for fish, the first question that I kept waiting to hear answered by the Honour able Minister Furbert was, What did the cost/benefit
analysis show us on this endeavour? It is one thing to
invest a significant amount of money in something, but
no one—no one— will invest money in any plan until
they realise that there is a real potential for that plan
to bring back the opportunity that they expected. So I
do not see the clear plan. I certainly do not. I under-stand the vision, but there is no detail on the budget,
there is no real detail on the support of the fishermen.
There are no details on what the revenue streams will
be [that are] required to make this effec tive. There are
no details on how many jobs will be created through this fish processing plant. There are no details on where the fish will be sold, local or over seas. And ex1548 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly plain to us how this will lower the cost of food in Bermuda, Mr. Speaker.
Now, I appreciat e the numbers the Honour able Minister gave about what [fish was caught] locally
and what was imported, Mr. Speaker. But we must
also understand, Mr. Speaker, that this industry is a
tough industry. I recall some concerns from members
of the public who reac hed out to me some months
back when there was a long- line fishing boat that was
berthed out of the East End of the Island. And I think
now that that boat does not trade anymore in our w aters because [it] could not make it viable.
And when I look back at s ome of the research
I have done about fishing throughout the world, and you have to understand and accept that some of the
world’s largest fishing fleets like those from China stay
out for months on end, pay their workers just a couple of dollars an hour and they never see shore for four or
five, six, seven months, how do we compete with that
to make our Shoreside Fishing Facility a success?
How do we create viable jobs for Bermudians to make
it a success? And moreover, Mr. Speaker, in talking to local fish ermen whom I have talked to, they do not
support the plan, because they do not see it as needed. I believe there is already a small fishing plant in
Bermuda. And so before I can support this I need to
see a proper cost/benefit analysis.
And when the Minis ter who has tried to answer some questions over Parliamentary Questions over a period of time, when the Minister fails to give
anything concrete, I get nervous! I get nervous that
taxpayers’ dollars will once again be squandered and
there will not be the o pportunity we need, Mr. Speaker. And I might have heard the Honourable Minister
wrong when I heard the Honourable Minister say that
construction will be complete in the later part of 2021.
But here we are. We are already talking about Cup
Match. It is the middle of the year. It is June. I have
not had the questions answered that would satisfy me
in any way that I could support a project like that.
So infrastructure, Mr. Speaker, yes. We need
to improve our infrastructure. But this facility does not
meet the smell test. And it certainly has not passed
what I would consider to be a proper vetting to even get to this stage.
Now, Mr. Speaker, the first item was diversif ying our economy. Yes, I think we need to diversify our
economy. And while I have not suppor ted the Government at all times, Mr. Speaker, I would accept that
we need to try to diversity. And I will go with the flow
on some of these industries, new industries that the
Government wants to talk about, but I will raise my
concerns. So I have no issue if we investigate
FinTech and all of the opportunities that are taken in this part of the creative new environment for business,
Mr. Speaker.
But I would always express caution on not
setting the bar high because this Government has a
propensity to promi se something and not deliver. We were promised that by May 28 we would have community immunity with vaccines. And here it is on
June 4
th, and the deadline has passed and we are not
there yet. So we cannot over promise and under d eliver because people who are frustrated, people who are tired, people who have had enough of these r estrictions are not going to accept it.
But here when we try to diversify our economy, let us get real about some of these, Mr. Speaker.
Vertical farming, as my honourable colleague, Susan Jackson, has talked about earlier, vertical farming. It sounds good. It might look good on paper, Mr. Speaker. But again, I ask the Honourable Minister for the
Cabinet Office, What cost/benefit analysis has been
done? You know, we talked about it i s going to be
used for leafy greens, Mr. Speaker, because a large percentage of those are imported. Yes, I understand that only about 25 per cent is grown in Bermuda. And
there are a number of reasons behind that which the
Honourable Minister did not get i nvolved in, right?
But I would like to know the cost/benefit analysis for this and who is going to work it. My understanding is that the local farmers feel that it is being
forced on them and they would like to be supported in
the usual ways of doing busi ness. And we are talking
about [how] we are going to set up a food cooperative to support the farmers and those in the i ndustry. Well, Mr. Speaker, what are the Departments
of Agriculture and Fisheries supposed to do at the
present time? Are they not supposed to support the
local farmers, work with them on ideas and new initi atives to grow their industry, to make their industry better, Mr. Speaker? I thought that was all about —why
are we creating another body to do some work where
I have not seen a cost/benefit analysis? It has not
been laid out for me on how it is going to work, Mr.
Speaker.
Because if you took a plan like vertical far ming or this fish processing plant into any reputable
boardroom or management meeting room of any
reputable business, they would send you packing
within five minutes and say, It’s a grade school pr oject. We need more meat on the bones for this, Mr.
Speaker. And so I want to see meat on the bones before we promise people too much and cannot deliver,
Mr. Speaker.
Yes, I suppor t the expanding of the resident
population, and I think that the Minister of Labour has communicated quite well with some of the opportuni-ties talked about. I am glad to see an update today on
some of those opportunities that we have. But we still
have a l ong way to go. Because the sad thing is, Mr.
Speaker, that we do not track our immigration numbers closely enough. And this is not a criticism of any
government because it has been like that for some
time. And I guess the reason why it is like that, Mr. Speaker, is the simple fact is up until probably
2009/10, immigration was not an issue. Because peo-ple wanted to immigrate to Bermuda; they did not


Bermuda House of Assembly want to leave Bermuda. But more recently that has
been a big challenge for many reasons, Mr. Speaker,
as my co lleague, the Opposition Leader, was spot -on
with his analysis of it, and I do not need to repeat it in the time that I have left. It is a real concern, and we need to not only monitor those numbers, but we need
to do something about those numbers, Mr. Speaker.
So, Mr. Speaker, the seven principles that
Government is guided by, some of them do ring true to me, and I do have some real support for that. But I
am concerned with some of the areas that are hig hlighted. And another area I will highlight, Mr. Speaker,
is number 6, reform and delivery of health care on the
Island. Well, Mr. Speaker, we have seen lots of talk
through the years. We have seen little consultation through the years, Mr. Speaker. Meanwhile, the cost
of health care continues to rise and th e challenges we
face within the industry continue to rise. And, Mr. Speaker, I do not know what is going to happen with
the cost of health care this year because we have not
seen the legislation come to Parliament yet with the mandated increases that Gover nment has. And with
COVID -19 increasing the cost of health care generally
throughout our community, we will see another drastic
increase in health insurance premiums this year and
probably next year as well.
So yes, we need to reform health care, Mr.
Spea ker. But I do not see the changes that Gover nment has talked about at this point offering us the r eform which provides quality service and reduced pri ces in any way. And so hopefully, now that the depar tment has been so stressed and the Bermuda Health
Council has been so stressed with COVID -19, [it] can
actually devote some more attention to it and be more
open about what their plans are and where we stand.
Mr. Speaker —

MP, you have a minute left. One m inute left.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you. Just checking,
thank you.
So, Mr. Speaker, in the final minute that I
have I will say that people cannot recover on hope.
People certainly cannot recover on dreams. People
require opportunity. And, Mr. Speaker, at this point in time while Governm ent launched their Economic R ecovery Plan I am not sold on the opportunity that this
plan provides. So I ask colleagues to work together to
try to provide the opportunity in some of the main pi llars we have while we continue to try to diversity and build. Because, Mr. Speaker, we can never forget
what we have to build on and the expertise that Bermudians have, and they want to get back to work.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Now we see you, and now you have
your 30 minutes. There you go.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, thank you,
thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to make a c ontribution tonight. And let me say that this Government
along with the people of the country have been through some really rough waters over the last year
and a half. And I remember a few months back, Mr.
Speaker —I am sure you remember —the Opposition,
combined Opposition, because every time we turned
around someone was saying that We had no plan.
Where is our plan? What are we doing? We have no
plan. You kept hearing that more and more, Mr.
Speaker.
So we continue to do our work in the bac kground. And we have our economic plan for recovery
that we released today. And the Honourable Member, Michael Dunkley, who just finished speaking, Mr.
Speaker, finished where he started, saying that he
sees this recovery plan as a plan that is full of hope,
wishful think ing and dreams, and one which we cannot recover from. I mean, one week you are slamming
us because you say we do not have a plan. We give you a plan —

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Just clarify. Just clarifying for him. That
is the main thing. You are fine.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, I thank you.
1550 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Go ahead.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: You will know, Mr. Speaker. I am going to show you my pen. When the Members talk, I write. And the Honourable Member when
he finished his speech he said he cannot see a reco very. So we can agree to disagree on that one. But, Mr.
Speaker, let me tell you, Hansard will tell that story.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker—

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: When he talks —
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley : [INAUDIBLE] again. I
proved him wrong before. And as he points his pen—

Okay. All right. You have made your
point .
Now we will let him continue on, and the Hansard will state the case when it is available.
MP.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I will say this, Mr. Speaker.
It is not too often I am wrong when it comes to me making notes of people’s speech. And if I am, I duly
apologise. But I tell you what. That Honourable Member, we have caught him out almost every week.
Now, Mr. Speaker, let me—

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Point of order, Mr. Speaker. Point of order, Mr. Speaker. That is not true. That
is a big fabrication .

Stay on the line and we will be okay.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley : [INAUDIBLE] speaking for
itself.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Speaker, maybe the
Honourable Member will do a point of order on this and say that he did not say that he saw no hope in this plan. And he thought that it was a lot of dreams in
this plan. You see?
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Point of order.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: And maybe the same
Member, Mr. Speaker, will also—
[Crosstalk]
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: I will say exactly what I
said at the end.
The S peaker: Hold on, Members. Hold on.
Are you trying to make a point of order, MP?
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes. Yes, I am.

Thank you. As I said earlier, the Hansard will clarify everything. Thank you.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I mean, Mr. Speaker, think
about it for a moment what the Honourable Member
just said. Is it not the same thing? You see? But let
me move on because he is trying to take up my time
because he knows that some of the things he said,
Mr. Speaker, are out there and are really uncalled for.
And that Honourable Member in particular,
Mr. Dunkley, the former Premier of this country, is one
in particular that called for plans or the lack of plans
that this Government did not have. Time and time
again, Mr. Speaker. So we give a plan by [who] I would say is one of the best Finance Ministers this
country has ever seen. And then he contradicts hi mself. He says —and you can word it whichever way
you want, Mr. Speaker, so that he feels good, whether
it is, you know, he says he does not see where we
can recover off of dreams, we cannot recover off of hope. [INA UDIBLE] Then he turns around and says,
Well, it’s se ven points. But he agrees with some of
them, but then he says he does not see any hope.
So you see? This is how he talks with a forked
tongue. And if you listen carefully, you will see this throughout, and it happens every time we are in the House, Mr. Speaker. But this is a plan. And you know
what? The Honourable Member went on to sa y, Well,
suppose we have a surge in COVID -19 cases? Well,
you know, this does not make any sense. So we make


Bermuda House of Assembly a plan. And at least we have a plan, Mr. Speaker. We
have hope, and we have dreams. And one thing about
this Government, we are going to continue t o try and
give our people all of the hope and dreams that we can give them, Mr. Speaker, because I was called a dreamer at one stage in my life, too, Mr. Speaker.
But I would like it, whether it is sports and/or
business. But I got past it, Mr. Speaker, because you know why? I believed. And I had dreams, and I had
hope, and that is what this Government is going to try
to give the people of this country. When we have hun-dreds and hundreds of people who are laid off from
work, Mr. Speaker, and we give them t he financial
benefit to give them that lift. And hopefully that gives
them hope, that is what we do as a caring Gover nment. We have done it, and we will continue to do it,
Mr. Speaker.
Now, some of these plans may not work out.
But at least, you know what , Mr. Speaker? If you fail
to plan, you plan to fail. If you fail to plan, you plan to
fail. So we will try it, Mr. Speaker. And guess what?
The old saying is, you know, the man gets knocked down, but I get up again. He gets knocked down, but I
get up agai n. Mr. Speaker, we may do some things
wrong and it may not quite work out. But we are going
to keep trying because this Government was elected
in the majority that we had because people believe in us. And we will continue to try to do the very best for
the people of this country, Mr. Speaker, in spite of the
bogeyman and the dark cloud that was cast today by
several Members on the other side. We will not stand
for it, Mr. Speaker. We are going to keep our shoulder
to the wheel, and we are going to press on.
The Honourable Member Dunkley also talked
about, you know, he does not see much in international business and hospitality. Well, Mr. Speaker, we
had a contingent in Miami just this week trying to push
international business, trying to push our FinTech,
trying to push hospitality. Mr. Speaker, I think the
Honourable Member Lawrence Scott, the Honourable Minister, gave a very articulate speech today about
what he is doing. Honourable Member Wayne Furbert
. . . Honourable Members have talked about what we
are doing, what we have done, what we plan to do.
We have been working hard, Mr. Speaker. It has not only been COVID -19 we have been dealing with, but
in the background we have been looking at all of
these other things that we know that this country is
going to need going forward. And we are going to
need everybody, everybody to assist, Mr. Speaker.
And when I hear the Honourable Member
Cole Simons when he talked about, Oh, we have to
encourage international business and we have to e ncourage investors in thi s country, and then his colleague, Vic Ball, gets in the paper almost weekly now preaching gloom -and-doom to the people of this country in the Royal Gazette, almost weekly. And he is the
last person who should be making—well, he probably just puts his name to it, Mr. Speaker, and it is the OBA consultants who are writing it for him. But we have to
be subject to that kind of press as we are busting our
tails to try to encourage international business and
investment in this country, Mr. Speaker.
And I think we are getting there. We have
Cambridge Beaches just been bought out, Mr. Speak-er. Arial Sands . . . the Honourable Member Dunkley, I
remember him and former Minister [Michael] Fahy on
a backhoe down at Ariel Sands. Let us ask him what
happened there! But we are going to press on and
see what we can do and try to help that project, too.
And, Mr. Speaker, let us not forget, right?
They talk about St. Regis. Yes, we had some challenges with St. Regis in the beginning, as the Oppos ition should do. We should ask questions, and we did.
But, Mr. Speaker, let us remember what really kic kstarted St. Regis is when this Government demolished
that hotel that had stood there for 20- odd years. That
was a big starter, Mr. Speaker. It certainly made life a
lot easier for those who were coming in to look at that
site. And yes, it is open, Mr. Speaker. And the OBA
played their part in facilitating that development, Mr. Speaker, and we finished it off. And the Purroys and
their family, their team, we have supported them
wholeheartedly, Mr. Speaker. And it is open. And we
will support them more in the future.
We have also supported them with the purchase of St. George’s Club. They have a plan to train our Bermudians in the hospitality industry. And we
have supported them wholeheartedly. And that is the
type of thing that we are doing in terms of . . . and you
do not hear about it too much, Mr. Speaker. But there
are things like that that we do in the background that
are going to reap benefits for our people, especially
those in St. George’s and in the hospitality industry,
Mr. Speaker.
So, Mr. Speaker, this plan that we have we
may have to tweak it. We may have some serious challenges with some of it. But at least we have a plan, Mr. Speaker. We have a plan. And I would just
like to say Congratulations! to our Finance Minister,
the Cabinet and the Members of caucus, Mr. Speaker.
We are a team that contribute every week to ever ything that this Government does. So the hope that I would leave and the dreams I would leave for our people as I finish off tonight, Mr. Speaker, is, know
one thing: that this Progressive Labour Party Go vernment have you in mind. We will continue to keep
you in mind, and we will continue to work for you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister Furbert, you have your 30
minutes.
Hon. Tinee Furbert: Good evening, Mr. Speaker.
Good evening, colleagues. I probably will not take all of my 30 minutes, but I did want to have the opportunity to speak to the Economic Recovery Plan that
we do have.
And, yes, I am going to reiterate what MP De
Silva had jus t mentioned in regard to a plan, and that ,
indeed, we have. And there were calls for a plan, Mr.
Speaker. And not every country, not every jurisdiction has a plan, Mr. Speaker. But we, this Government,
has taken the time to get a plan done. And interestingly en ough, we had policies already in place that would
complement this plan.
I just want to speak to this plan as the Ministry
of Social Development and Seniors, because many
persons —the Ministry of Social Development and
Seniors would actually have a lot to do with wrap around services and support services for persons when we are finding ourselves in difficult times such as food
security, poverty, job losses. And so we will find people in difficult times, particularly during this period of
COVID -19, which is wh y we had to come up with the
national Economic Recovery Plan. And I just want to
take this time to thank the third sector; as well as all of
the helping agencies; and even Government, who has
come forward with such programmes as the unemployment benefit, t he supplementary employment
benefit, financial assistance and the great deed that we did to help those persons who worked at the Southampton Princess at the time. These things that
we did as a Government, Mr. Speaker, helped. They
helped our people, and th ey helped us to maintain a
level of recovery.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a
therapist by profession, occupational therapist by pr ofession. And as an occupational therapist, I have had the opportunity to write treatment plans for people.
And a plan would include . . . first, you know, you
would include background information. You would i nclude goals, objectives. But your plan would have a trajectory. It would have a period of time in which we
would like to see something come into fruition. But
what was most important with any treatment plan that
you wrote, Mr. Speaker, was the persons who were
involved in that plan. And they have to have had mot ivation. And they have to have had the desire to work and to work hard to see their plan come into fruition or
to reach their goals and to reach their objectives, Mr.
Speaker.
And I feel and I know the Progressive Labour
Party has hard workers. And we have motivation to
see this plan come into fruition. Now, I am not going to say that what is outlined in this plan is going to happen tomorrow or maybe months from now or maybe a year from now. It actually outlines in the plan, if you
have had the time to read it, that it is a trajectory per iod. You know, we hope to see recovery starting to
come into play in 2023— between 2023 and 2025.
And so with all of the policies or policy initi atives, priority initiatives that we have listed, Bermuda,
you are going to see your defined sorts of plans. You
know, when we talk about launching a casino industry,
we are working on this. And you are going to see
more of this. When we talk about medical tourism, a medical tourism facility, we are working on a hard plan. You know, we have lots of research that is going
into these policies. So you will see more of this. You
are not goin g to see everything in this, all of the stepby-step procedures in this Economic Recovery Plan
that we have in front of us today. But you will get
them. And we will continue as a Government to work hard with great motivation to see these initiatives
come i nto fruition.
I heard one of our colleagues already mention
this evening about, Well, in this Economic Recovery
Plan we don’t see anything as it relates to tourism or
international business. But we have a whole Bermuda
Tourism Authority that was set up. A ctually I just went
online to do a quick search, and the Premier actually did an outlook forum with the Bermuda Tourism A uthority, a recalibrate and recovery session for our tourism industry. So, you know, we are working towards
these things.
The outcome of an Economic Recovery Plan
is going to be contingent on how long we are in this economic downturn. And so as a Government we
have already demonstrated that we are doing all that we can to try to get us out of this COVID -19, to try to
eliminate the corona virus in Bermuda or at least keep
it to very low levels, because that will determine our
economic success. We have made testing accessible.
We have made vaccinations accessible. I mean, I am
just looking at the vaccination centre flyer. You know, it is acc essible. You know, there is availability. We
have made it open. With the Close to Home initiative,
with mobile vaccinations, we have made it accessible
for our people. We want our people to know that we are very serious about getting out of COVID -19, which
is a major contributor to where we are today.
Mr. Speaker, you know, sometimes we see
plans, we write plans, and they are just words and we
read them. And we have to remember that we are
talking about people’s lives, how the economic dow nturn has affected people’s lives. Not having access to
a job or not being able to work, you cannot make
money to bring into the house to pay bills, to pay for food, these are real, real, real issues, and we have to
think about people.
Again, Mr. Speaker, my Ministry does have to
deal with wraparound support services. And so it can
be a very heavy Ministry. And we are talking about
money to be able to assist people. But what I can say is that this Economic Recovery Plan, Mr. Speaker,


Bermuda House of Assembly does address jobs. It addresses the youth emplo yment strategy initiative, as we know one of the lowest
age categories of persons who find themselves unemployed is between the ages of 18 and 26. And so I
am sure that has been compounded with the econom-ic downturn due to COVID -19. But this is an initiative
that we are looking to address.
So this Economic Recovery Plan, Mr. Speaker, addresses . . . you know, we have mentioned the
principles: reducing the cost of living, fairness and equity, providing or assisting more jobs for us in Ber-muda . . . Economic protections are in there, Mr.
Speaker. And so I just encourage everyone to take
the opportunity to read this plan. And I am very proud
of our Government for making sure that we were on the money with making sure that we did have an Ec onomic Recovery Plan.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to bring to the atte ntion of my colleagues an article that I came across,
which was published in November of 2020. It talked
about taking control and how we can unlock the ec onomic recovery. And what it spoke to was a num ber of
recommendations that governments should focus on with an Economic Recovery Plan. And, Mr. Speaker, if
you will allow me to just highlight what some of these
recommendations were . . .

[No audible response]
Hon. Tinee Furbert: Mr. Speaker, the fir st reco mmendation for governments was to make sure that
[they] have proper leadership. We must display dec isive leadership. And I think we have been very dec isive in demonstrating the protection of our people, in demonstrating clear and decisive action.
Our Premier, our Minister of Health have been
in the forefront particularly as we go through COVID -
19. And they have been leading weekly meetings, bi -
weekly meetings, meeting all throughout the days, all
throughout different hours. They have been meeting,
meeting, meeting with contentment, with motivation,
with commitment. And so not just our Premier and our
Minister of Health, even though they are in the for efront, our other Ministers as well have been working
diligently to make sure that we try to fulfil o bjectives
and goals to the best of our ability. So one of those
recommendations was leadership. And, Bermuda, you
have good leadership.
Another objective, Mr. Speaker, was that we
set prioritised agendas and that countries should have
a national Economic Recovery Plan. And so here is
the Economic Recovery Plan, Mr. Speaker.
Another point that they raised in this article
was personnel. And here, you know, others have
mentioned our essential workers and what they have
done for us particularly during this period of COVID -
19. And they have done an extremely, extremely diff icult job. And we have all thanked them along the way.
But, we cannot say thank you enough. This team has led us through this health crisis, and they have commended structures . I remember one time seeing a
chart of structures that the Ministry of Health did, ma king sure that we covered every area within Health
through this COVID -19. And people went out and they
did due diligence for the people of this country, ma king sure that we empower peopl e with the appropriate
skill sets. The call centre, the testing centre, the vac-cination centre, people are being trained for this. They
are being trained. We are not taking this lightly, Just
go up there and do your job; we are training people for
this and making sure people have the appropriate skill
sets.
This paper, Mr. Speaker, also speaks about
structures and making sure that we have structures
and systems in place, that we are being data- driven.
The Economic Recovery Plan gives us data. We have
been sharing data all along. Particularly as it relates to
the COVID -19, we have been sharing data. And this
Economic Recovery Plan, if you read it, Mr. Speaker,
you will see that there are data in there to make sure
that our decisions, our policies, our initiatives that we make are transparent. And it also gives the Bermudian public something to hold us accountable for.
Also, with our systems is proactively communicating Government initiatives and progress. And
that is what we are doing, Mr. Speaker. We are constantly providing opportunities to communicate with Government, and Government is constantly giving out
information on our initiatives and progress. So, Bermuda, you do not have to worry or fret that some of
these policies that we have talked about today that you are not going to get information about them and
they are not going to be further developed, because
they will. And you will know about them, and you will
hear about them. While we may not be able to get
through all of them throughout our total trajectory, it is
a plan, Mr. Speaker. And I look forward to working
alongside my colleagues so that we reach these pol icy initiatives and priority initiatives so that we can see
an economic —not downturn, but an upturn, Mr.
Speaker. That is what we want for o ur people. That is
what we want for our country.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to start
by saying that I am a bit confused and disappointed.
And I will tell you why.
I am first confused. I am confused because
there was an Honourable Member who spoke prev iously and questioned whether or not the Economic
Recovery Plan considered international business. So I
am confused, because in the document, as well as the
Minister spoke about earlier (and I quote), he said, “In
parallel to the ERP, it is important to highlight that Bermuda will also continue to move forward with . . .
additional government initiatives to support the v ibrancy of Bermuda’s international business sector.” I emphasise that because this Government is always,
and has always, recognised the value that international business plays on our economy. And those sorts of initiatives run in parallel to the Economic R ecovery Plan.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed because
I heard previously the Opposition Leader say that his
opinion on this Economic Recovery Plan was that it
was not in a position for the everyday Bermudian to understand. The reason why I am disappoin ted is because it becomes quite obvious to me that he conti nues to underestimate the intelligence of the everyday Bermudian because there is nothing in this Economic Recovery Plan that I believe the average Bermudian
cannot understand.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I am reminded and I
will say that I will always remember the African proverb that says, “ For tomorrow belongs to the people
who prepare for it today .” So with that, I congratulate
the Finance Minister for tabling this timely Economic
Recovery Plan, a plan that says to the country that we
can debate at great length the events which led us to
this point economically. But at the end of the day, we
are who we are, and here is the Government’s plan to
address it head- on.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a par t of a
Government that is not here to make excuses or wallow in the negativity, but instead has kept its head down working for the people of Bermuda, working on
a strategy and a path forward to stabilise our economy, return to a balanced budget, begin repa ying our
national debt, increase jobs and build a nation of owners. Mr. Speaker, this plan is the Government’s way of preparing for tomorrow today.
Mr. Speaker, I will re- emphasise the point that
the Economic Recovery Plan was a collaborative ef-fort. The Cabinet team, government technical officers
and other key external stakeholders contributed with the sole purpose of producing the best recovery plan possible. If there is one thing we all can agree on, it is
that we all want what is best for Bermuda. Mr. Spea ker, working with stakeholders is important because it
allows us to listen to other perspectives, combine our
strength and best prepare for scenarios we may not
have considered. This Government recognises that we will reach our destination faster when we are ro wing together in the same direction.
So, Mr. Speaker, the question then becomes,
Where is our destination? What direction are we
headed in? And when we look at the Economic R ecovery Plan, we see seven key themes, the first being diversifying our economy. Mr. Speaker, any inves tment advisor would tell you the importance of divers ifying your portfolio. The saying, Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket comes to mind, and in Bermuda’s
case we have managed to put many of our eggs in
two baskets, namely, IB and tourism. So it is time to
focus on introducing industries whilst continuing to
foster a healthy environment for the existing ones.
And so, as my colleagues mentioned, the plan is to
establish and develop industries such as FinTech, gaming, ver tical farming, medical tourism and others
and have them contribute to our economy as well.
Number two is making financial markets work
better for Bermudians. Mr. Speaker, if I had my way, I
would have this as number one. There are too many
of these companies profiting off of everyday hard-working Bermudians. And so we are focused on tasks
such as increasing competition in this country, reducing interest rates and establishing a digital bank that
will be owned by Bermudians.
Mr. Speaker, I heard an Honourable Member
previously question whether a digital bank was the answer. However, that Member has no idea about the scope and plan for the Bermuda National Digital Bank.
And so I am baffled as to how anyone could question
something they know nothing about. (B ut I digress.)
Mr. Speaker, for far too long, too many Bermudians in
this particular industry have just been looked at as
employees and customers. Mr. Speaker, Bermudians will have an opportunity to now own their own bank.
Number three is building new, and enhancing
existing, infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, it is critical for the future growth and development of this country that we
continue to invest in infrastructure, continue to invest in opportunities that will increase efficiency, continue to invest in enhancing the lives of Bermudians. A new


Bermuda House of Assembly waste and water management facility is a great example of an opportunity where modern advancement
has made our current facility antiquated. And this
Government will look to make the investment necessary that will pro ve beneficial in both the short, medium and long term.
Number four is expanding Bermuda’s resident
population. Mr. Speaker, imagine a situation where a group of people get together to lift a heavy rock over
their heads, and one by one a person lifting leaves,
thereby making the rock increasingly heavier for those still lifting it. So, when considering our economy and
the country, we are at a point where we need to put
policies in place that will encourage more lifters. Our
aim with initiatives such as the economic investment certificates and others is to increase our population so
that we ease the tax burden on our residents and i ntroduce more contributors. Number five is labour
market reform. Mr. Speaker, we are a Labour Go vernment through and through. And we will continue to
keep the best interests of all of the workers of Berm uda at heart. By establishing a national jobs strategy and youth employment strategy, we look to reduce
and prevent unemployment in Bermuda while increasing training opportunities as well.
Number six is reforming the delivery of health
care. Mr. Speaker, as I canvass and speak to Berm udians regularly, it becomes clear that health care r eform in this country is paramount. And so this Government will continue to look for ways to reduce the
cost of health care in this country and introduce a un iversal health care system which ensures that ever yone in Bermuda can access the basic health care they need.
And finally, Mr. Speaker, number seven is
developing legal and regulatory frameworks t hat foster
innovation. Mr. Speaker, Darwin said that it is not the
strongest or most intelligent that survives , but the one
that is most adaptable to change. So as we lay out a vision for this country in an ever -changing ever -
evolving world, not only is our focus to be adaptable
and innovative ourselves, but also to become the ce ntre of innovation. We have an opportunity to tell the
world’s thought leaders and outside- the-box thinkers
that Bermuda is the best environment to develop and test your ideas. And so we will continue to push for-ward with initiatives such as the energy regulatory
sandbox and encourage FinTech and digital asset
players to innovate on this Island.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I know that you know that
there is more to a plan than a list of initi atives and
themes. And so the Economic Recovery Plan also
includes measurable targets, targets aimed to eval uate the progress and success of those initiatives. So
through this plan we project to return to a balanced
budget by fiscal year 2023/24. The successful imple-mentation of the Economic Recovery Plan should also
see growth by 1.3 [per cent] to 1.5 per cent per annum
above our baseline historical level of 1.0 per cent. We aim to have a gross -debt-to-GDP ratio that does not
exceed 55 per cent and net -debt-to-GDP that does
not exceed 50 per cent. We maintain that we have no
intention of increasing the debt ceiling and will also
focus to ensure debt -service -to-revenue and gross -
debt-to-revenue ratios trend downward as well. Measurable targets, Mr. Speaker —a key component of our
commitment to transparency.
Mr. Speaker, speaking of transparency, this
plan then goes a step further by including a form of accountability by illustrating the governing structure and identifying the Ministry that owns the task. The
Economic Recovery Plan lists those responsible for
seeing the initiative through, and I would like to take
this opportunity to encourage anyone . . . anyone i nterested in getting involved, learning more about a particular task or has suggestions of improve ment
should reach out to those responsible. If you want to
know more about the medical tourism facility, reach
out to the Ministry of the Cabinet Office. If you want to
get involved in the national jobs strategy, reach out to
the Ministry of Labour. If you have suggestions r egarding the cannabis regulatory regime, contact the
Attorney General’s Chambers. This goes back to my
earlier point, Mr. Speaker, of a collaborative effort.
Mr. Speaker, I will end by acknowledging that
a strategic plan means nothing without proper exec ution. While the Economic Recovery Plan is a critical
first step, we understand that the people of Bermuda
elected us on our ability to execute, produce results
and impact the lives for the betterment of our people.
And that is precisely why our goal is to move this
country past the pandemic. We have an Economic
Recovery Plan with specific aims and tasks, with
measurable targets and timelines. But it will all be for
nought if we continue to spend so much of our time,
energy and resources on handling COVID -19. So
again I thank the Minister and his team for putting
forth a blueprint. And I, along with my other co lleagues, now commit to executing effectively. Thank
you.

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

All right. My video may or
may not cut out. But I just want to put some things in
real quick.
I heard the OBA criticising our Economic R ecovery Plan. But let us just go over the OBA’s ec onomic strategy. Give money to Aecon, check. Give
money to Morgan’s Point, check. Give money to
Cross Islan d, check. Cut money from schools, check.
Cut money from the workers, check. Cut money from seniors, check. That was the OBA’s strategy. There is
this narrative, Mr. Speaker, that is, Let’s call a spade
for what a spade is. This is the overwhelming narr ative that Black people cannot manage money, that a
Black government cannot manage money, that unio nised workers should not have a say in the economic
prosperity of this Island. That is the narrative, Mr.
Speaker. Let us call it for what it is.
I listened to the verbiage from the Honourable
Member from constituency 10. It is the continuation of
that narrative. Now, I cannot articulate as well as the Honourable Member who just spoke before me, so I
am going to keep it real short. Prior to COVID -19 we
had closed the gap on the deficit without laying off
workers, without cutting money for seniors, without cutting money from schools. As a matter of fact, we
gave the schools more money. But we were still able
to close down the deficit. And you know what, Mr.
Speaker ? We were about to pay down on the debt.
Then comes along Morgan’s Point. And the
Honourable Finance Minister has to find $200 million
to pay that, increasing our debt from $2.5 billion to
$2.7 billion. Then comes along COVID -19. And we
have got to pay for that. But on top of that, we have
got to pay out $20 million to Aecon. Why? Because of
the OBA’s economic plan. Their plan was to give the
rich more money, and that is exactly what has happened.
So, Mr. Speaker, I am just going to speak
briefly on the Ministry that I am attached to. The Honourable Deputy Premier spoke about some points,
and let me just reiterate. We have a space strategy to
make money —yes, money from off of space, satellites. We have a strategy to make money from subsea cables, underground cables. We have money coming
in for the green fund. That green fund —let me be
clear —that is not a fund for the green party; that is a
fund for green energy that is going to create jobs. We
have to, no, I will not say get away from fossil fuel, but
we ha ve to find backup just in case. But all of that
takes money. And we also have money coming in, or
we have a plan for the blue economy. That might be
the blue- and-blue economy in a couple of weeks, but
for the blue economy. So here is the thing, Mr. Speaker. As I said, I
am not going to elaborate much longer. But let us compare the two strategies. We do not have any
strategy for giving away money to rich people with
hopes that we might get a couple of dollars come back. That was the OBA’s strategy. Our strategy is to
empower our people and, as the Honourable La wrence Scott said, to inspire people to start their own businesses , because the days of our relying on others
to give us a job have come to an end.
So with that, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that is all I
have to say. Thank you for the opportunity.

Okay, Mr. Deputy. I would like
to start off my remarks by saying in the midst of this
global pandemic we have leaders, strong leadership.
Up until 15 months ago, Mr. Deputy Speaker, our
Government was on a good track. They were doing
what was right for our people, trying to get our people
back to work and do legislation to ensure that our country moves forward. Some of us would have you
believe, Mr. Deputy, that the Government started or
that life started 13 or 14 months ago.

But our Government was actually doing some good stuff before then.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, since this pandemic has
gripped us and globally gripped the world, we have
needed strong and courageous leadership. We needed somebody to be innovative and able to think outside the box, actually being able to reset the dial if you
will, Mr. Deputy Speaker. And we must take our hats
off to the Premier and his team. You know, we have
made a few missteps, but that is all being accepted when something is dropped in your lap that you did
not see coming. But they have done a good job, and
we have done a good job in supporting them.


Bermuda House of Assembly My remarks tonight, Mr. Deputy Speaker, are
mainly going to be on the Ministry that I am attached
to, the Ministry of Labour. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I
heard a speaker before me speaking about, We have
not been focused on international business. I could
not believe my ears, Mr. Deputy Speaker. That is all
we seem to focus on, international business. But this
Government now is saying, What about Mr. and Mrs.
Bermuda? And hence, Mr. Deputy Speaker, the initi atives that the Labour Ministry have put in place are
doing just that. They are doing some things that are courageous, in my opinion. Because immigration, Mr.
Deputy Speaker, is always the topic that we have to
look at and tread lightly on because even though we
need bodies in Bermuda, we need revenue, we can-not do any of that if we do not first see how it affects
Mr. and Mrs. Bermuda, in my opinion. And some of
these initiatives by our Labour Government are doing
that.
So, one of the initiatives of Labour is the i nvestment certificate, Mr. Deputy Speaker. And that is
to try to stimulate our economy, to try and have people come here because we need bodies on the
ground. And this time where we are competing internationally because everybody is going through this
global situation and they are trying to stimulate their
economy, we have to sell what we used to sell for the last 50 years, and that is the beauty of the country and
the beauty of our people.

And in order to get people to
come here, to believe in our product, we have to put
the people out there. We have to show our country to
be safe, we have to show our country to be welcoming. And the natural beauty of ours is another good
thing that can help to entice people to come to Bermuda, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
So in saying that, one of the things that I notice, because I am very much involved in charities . . .
one of the things that I take my hat off to the Minister
and Minist ry of Labour, Mr. Deputy, is that one of the
criteria was for them, for whoever bought or received
a certificate would have to invest in a charity. Mr.
Deputy Speaker, since I am in the charity field now over the last 12 months, I know that this pandemic . . .
we do not talk about it much, but this pandemic has
affected the charitable sector on our Island. Most of
the charity goes to the underemployed, unemployed,
the homeless and the like. So I was excited, got to be
excited when I saw that one of the crit eria was an i nvestment in a charity. Because our food banks, Mr.
Deputy Speaker, could definitely use an influx of some
charitable love from whichever sector that it could
come from.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, moving on. The Ministry
of Labour again shows their commitment to trying to balance their portfolio by having the closed- door cat e-gories. And that is to put the Bermudian at a level
playing field, or a better playing field, and the work
permit holders would have to take second place, so to
speak, when it comes to these closed- door categ ories. So again for those naysayers, this Labour Mini stry is doing its part in helping our country get back where it should be.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the youth employment
strategy is also an initiative of the Ministry of Labour .
That is to get our youngsters employed, get them
trained and retrained, and prepared for our economy when it picks up. So that is another initiative of the
Labour Ministry. One other initiative, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, that I am very much in favour of is the minimum and living wage. Mr. Deputy Speaker, this initi ative is long overdue. And I know that we have just
scratched the surface because there is a lot of work to be done to satisfy the needs of our people. But we
have come a long way. We have come a long way in
doing what we can to make sure that whatever hap-pens with moving our country forward or opening our
country up [is] to keep Mr. and Mrs. Smith firmly in mind.
And that, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is a commi tment by this Labour Government to make it known that we are interested in international business, bringing bodies here, helping our revenue to increase, but not at the expense of Mr. and Mrs. Bermuda. And for that I take my hat off to the Labour Minister and his
team.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, if I could move on real
quick to some grants, something that the Premier has
been doing that has not been getting much credit. But
I want to take the time now to acknowledge it. Mr.
Deputy Speaker, last year the Premier has been gi ving grants to our workmen and our sporting clubs. You
may know because the team that wears red and white
got a nice little bit, you know. So they too, along with
several other clubs, have gotten a nice little bit.
And once that is done, Mr. Deputy Speaker, in
my humble opinion being a member of these sporting
and workmen’s environment, that has helped to create jobs in itself. It has helped to do those little small pr ojects that could stimulate our tradesmen, that they could come and they could help to do some small pr ojects that they have been wanting to do. So hats -off to
the Premier for doing that. It is not something that is
always acknowledged, but it goes a long way when
you talk to the man on the street and you talk to those
people in the workmen’s clubs and the sporting clubs.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, another Ministry that I
am attached to is the Transport Ministry. I cannot wax as lyrical as the current Transport Minister, as he
knows how to put things in perspective, but I will try.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I heard him talking earlier about
when you walk down Front Street, look to your right,
depending on which way you are going, or left. Driving
down Harbour Road, look. And you see in the harbour
a home for these boats. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I smiled
1558 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly at that because this morning when I was out o n my
morning walk with my wife, we were on Front Street.
And we saw these Viking’s [cruise ships]. And when I
looked and saw it, the first thing that came to mind
that early in the morning was jobs. Jobs! Jobs for our
people.
It was a welcome sight to see our harbour
hosting the Viking ships. And I am looking forward to
more of that because everything that came to my
mind seeing that ship was, taxes, working, other
modes of transportation, tours, our hotels, because I
believe coming and going the passenger s have to use
our hotels and our restaurants. So that homeporting
initiative has definitely been able to, or is able to,
touch on a lot of sectors of our society. So I look forward to that happening, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Also, the Transport Minister talked about the
new different routes to get or stay connected to var ious people in our country —i.e., the Indians, the Filip inos. We have already started our charter with Port ugal. But I would like to add, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that
we cannot forget the growing segment of our society, and that is the worker from Africa. More and more A fricans are coming to Bermuda. I must say they are
coming in a professional capacity. So while we are
looking at tourism and connecting different routes,
now is the time, while we res et the dial, to look at a
route to Africa, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Culturally, you know, we can definitely connect with them. And I do agree with Portugal and India
and the Philippines, and whatnot. I am not saying that
that is not what we should do; I agree with that. But I
think that we should add Africa to the routes that we are looking to expand our tourism product to, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
As I close —see, I am not going to talk long—I
just wanted to touch on a few points. As I close, I want to take my hat off to what the Government has been
doing, our Labour Minister, in particular, our Transport Minister. The Finance Minister has been doing a r emarkable job. The Premier has been doing a remar kable job leading the charge.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Continue, Mr. Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very m uch, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
I am grateful to join this debate today. And
certainly there have been a number of capable contr ibutions from Members on this side, certainly from not only our capable front bench, but also our capable back bench. And they have spoken about the difference in approaches between our Government and the
former Government. They have spoken about how
they put this plan together, spoke about how multi -
faceted this particular plan is. And I am very grateful
for the work of the Government t eams who played a
part in putting the plan together and certainly thankful to the Minister of Finance and his team in the Ministry
of Finance who coordinated this effort. It was an all -ofgovernment effort, as you would have heard from
what many Ministers who have already spoken have
spoken about the work, the analysis that went into
place.
There certainly was a lot of energy that was
expended to pick out the top 31 items of over 80 items
that were proposed and considered. And it is i mportant to note that these were analysed to see which
would work best. And they were analysed between
what was the most complex thing to implement, what
were the things that would cost the most to impl ement, what would the economic impact be insofar as
jobs and economic improv ements and contribution to
GDP. And that is the reason why we ended up with
the particular items which are outlined inside of the
Economic Recovery Plan, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
I have been able to listen in on a little bit, Mr.
Deputy Speaker. And I certainl y have heard some
comments from some Members of the Opposition.
And some of the things that they were saying were
that, Oh, we don’t see this, or Oh, we don’t see that,
or, What about this? This is not a political document,
Mr. Deputy Speaker, where we are trying to be all
things to all people. That is not what this is about. This
is not about saying, Oh, the Government’s economic
plan has this in it, this in it, so that is good. We are
being realistic as we are constrained by finances. And
I heard Honourab le Members speak earlier about
Morgan’s Point, that it would have been great to have
an extra $200 million to throw behind the Economic
Recovery Plan and some of these initiatives. But the
fact is that we do not have that, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
So, in looki ng at and structuring this plan, we
structured this plan understanding the economic
shock that the coronavirus could bring to our economy, recognising where we stood in regard to the things of which we were forced to pay for, such as
Morgan’s Point, and understanding a trajectory to
make sure that we did not fall into the debt trap and we can sufficiently make sure that we added growth to
our economy so that we can begin or get back to
where we were prior to the pandemic, where we were about to be to a plac e where our debt was going to be
going down instead of going up. And so the truth is, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that we cannot throw it all out there. And we need to be focused on our approach.
But I think there is also something that is very
important for the listening audience and Honourable
Members to take in. And, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will


Bermuda House of Assembly admit that I have not been able to hear all of the debate. I have had to certainly step out for some meetings. But it is important to recognise that it is important
for us to focus not solely on what we do well, but it is
also important to make sure that we look at doing things differently. And diversification of the economy is
key. It is something that we speak about often, but it is
key. And this plan is a good plan and a sound plan.
But what is important, Mr. Deputy Speaker, when we
talk about the economic terms and we speak about an
Economic Recovery Plan, is that this plan is not just focused on items that will benefit business. Because,
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the truth i s if we fix the economy
and we fix and we take care of those who have and
we do not focus on the very important issues such as
affordable housing, such as universal health care and
such as lowering the price of food, then we have a
challenge inside of our economy, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
I want to repeat that again because this Ec onomic Recovery Plan is not just focused on business. This is not the One Bermuda Alliance’s economic r ecovery plan. And we will not recover the country if we
are focused solely on business. This is the Progressive Labour Party Economic Recovery Plan as we
know that there are kitchen- table issues that must be
dealt with and cannot be ignored.
When we talk about . . . and the Minister of
Public Works will speak to the issues of affordable
housing, the additional funds that are going to be put
into affordable housing in the execution of the Ec onomic Recovery Plan so we can provide that relief.
The work of which we are going to be doing with i mproved residential schemes which will tie int o that very
nicely, provide even more affordable housing.
When we talk about what the Minister of
Health is doing on the reform of our health care sy stem, making sure that we make universal health care
available and affordable to persons, those are things
that are important. And certainly the work of which the Minister for the Cabinet Office spoke about when it
comes to the kitchen- table issues about the reducing
of the price of food. We hear a lot of comments about,
Oh, what are we going to do with vertic al farms and
Oh, what about this? and What about that? But, Mr.
Deputy Speaker, if we keep doing what we have been
doing in the past, we will keep getting what we have been getting. And if there is one thing that this Go vernment has been able to demonstrat e is that we will
not be afraid to take risks and be bold, and to move forward with initiatives that may not actually pay off in
one week or two weeks, or one year, but will yield the
long-term end and the long- term economic recovery.
Because that, Mr. Dep uty Speaker, is what is i mportant.
I also heard some comments about the lack of
details. This is a significant document, and this is a summary document behind the larger -scale Economic
Recovery Plan which was produced. But it is i mportant to note that out of the 31 options or primary initiatives that were outlined here, some of them have
already been delivered. So we are not waiting for this
debate or other matters to move forward on these in itiatives, as Ministers and Ministries are continuing to press ahead. But what is also recognised in the sum-mary report, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is that we need to
make sure that we execute and deliver. And it is diff icult when you are dealing with the regular functions of
government and we have to recognise that the public
service is far less staffed than it used to be, which means that there are key matters of service delivery that have to be addressed which makes it difficult to
focus and to put mind and energy to things which are
not necessarily top of mind, but that are outside of the
actual service delivery that needs to take place on a
day-to-day basis in government.
And a plan without a plan for execution will
not be successful. That is the reason why this Ec onomic Recovery Plan has outlined the structure to
make sur e that we can advance and execute these
items. Truth is, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I did give a Mini sterial Statement when we were here in the budget
session speaking about the setting up of the Economic Recovery Plan Project Management Office. And I
will be hon est, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Over the last two
months we have been dealing with a deadly spike in
the coronavirus. And sadly, the timeline for the impl ementation of the Project Management Office has
slipped.
However, that much being said, we have determined an approach that will match the private and public sector tally in the staffing of this office that will certainly further the interests of this country and lead
the implementation of the things which are outlined in
this Economic Recovery Plan. Mr. Deputy Speaker,
private sector partners have engaged, and we will
shortly confirm a senior public service lead in addition
with the private sector partnering. The benefit of seeking private sector assistance is, as I said, in many cases there are existing resourc es that are engaged
in this very economic recovery work. There is work
that is already taking place on behalf of Government
in other jurisdictions. And it is important that we do not
re-invent the wheel, and that we match talents that will
provide the Government with the opportunity not only
to capitalise on expertise, but also to build capacity
within the public service.
So it is important for me to outline, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, that we are not just bringing in people to run in to operate this and the pers ons who are leading.
We are bringing a mix of having public sector persons
having university grant lists who may be new who
could form a part of this team, in addition to skilled
public service officers who know and can understand
and can navigate the publ ic service, to form a core
team to drive these initiatives forward. And it is a view that the Project Management Office will be staffed during this month with a full engagement that will
commence in July.
1560 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Now, Mr. Deputy Speaker, there were some
items as well that we heard (before I get to the speci fic points which I am meant to cover) about low -
hanging fruit. And I think that it is important that we
remember where this Economic Recovery Plan came
from. And I am sure the Minister of Finance prefaced
this e arlier, but last year we did go through an exercise bringing together multiple sectors of the cou ntry—the economy of the country, the social partners of
the country —and dealt with a significant number of
low-hanging- fruit issues. And as I have said, Mr. Deputy Speaker, some of these things that are outlined
here have already been executed.
But what this economy does not need is short -
term fixes. We must make sure that we are taking this
unique opportunity to redesign how our economy
works. And there is no doubt when speaking about issues of affordable housing, speaking about issues of
the Economic Recovery Plan, speaking about issues
of lowering the cost of food, speaking about issues of
which have been highlighted here by the Minister of
Labour on immigrat ion reform on how we change
those things, investing more in our workforce, that
those are long- term investments which are necessary
to have a long- term plan that will yield benefits.
And I want to make sure I am clear, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Because the view is—and I want to put
persons on notice, especially persons in the Oppos ition—when they speak about, Oh! Well, this plan has
no immediate benefits in six months . . . it is not meant
to, Mr. Deputy Speaker. That is not what this is about.
And the challenge of which we have is short -term
thinking. Things like the America’s Cup, a one- time
boost, do not lead to long- term success. And we have
done a lot of short -term items, and we need to make
sure that we are focused on long- term planning,
things that will ac tually make a difference in 5 years,
in 10 years, in 15 years, executing on a long- term
Economic Recovery Plan and executing on a long-term strategy that will grow our GDP over time, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
I say that because I remember the attacks on
the Gov ernment for their pursuit of FinTech. We do
not hear those attacks anymore, Mr. Deputy Speaker, because we laid out a strategy. We are executing a
strategy, and we know that it is bringing jobs and ec onomic opportunity and investment to the country. And
that continues. And the silence which we are hearing,
Mr. Deputy Speaker, is because we know that it is
working and the Opposition knows that it is working.
So I need to caution us all not to be solely focused on
the quick wins. It is to make sure that we ar e doing the
work so these things are sustainable in the long term
so the changes and the impacts that are made are
helpful to our citizens, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Now what I would say is that there are specific
items underneath here which fall underneath my r emit, Mr. Deputy Speaker. There are a number of
things such as the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation speaking about the Uptown Development
Authority, which work is progressing on. And it will be
in place before the summer, seeded with $1 million to
jumpstart the development of an approved residential scheme in North East Hamilton. When it comes to approved residential schemes in North East Hamilton,
Mr. Deputy Speaker, soon the House will consider the
North East Hamilton Plan, which has been done wi th
the consultation between the Bermuda Economic D evelopment Corporation and the Department of Planning. And the things, Mr. Deputy Speaker, which are in there will revolutionise what we are going to do in
North East Hamilton.
There is also the discussion in this plan about
the expansion of the EEZ for South East Hamilton as well. And that is something that will be coming to the
House most likely in the next session because it is important that we handle that as well.
Another thing that was under the Berm uda
Economic Development Corporation, Mr. Deputy Speaker, was the small -to-medium enterprise marketplace. Now, that is something which is particularly i mportant as we talk about, how do we get our small businesses ready for the future? This is something
that is in train, and it is something that will be
launched next month. And we are proud of the work
that has been done. It is being done by a local deve lopment company, Code 441 with Mr. Jahde Eve,
working in conjunction with Bermuda Economic D evelopment Corporation to provide for goods and services to easily sell products online and to sell them not
only for the domestic audience, but also to a global
audience, Mr. Deputy Speaker. And that is the work of which we are engaging.
Another item which is underneath here which
falls underneath my remit, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
speaks to the casino industry. And work continues
certainly to get this ready, and I am confident that we
will have a casino open this year. It is key, and it is critical as we go ahead and move these things forward. But, Mr. Deputy Speaker, it speaks very clearly
to the fact that you have to make sure you have a
long-term plan. There was great fanfare six years ago
when the former Government passed the Casino
Gaming Act. But they were unable to complete the
work which needed to be done. And I think that it is an important example of why we need to have long- term
planning that works, which considers all available options, considers what is necessary to ensure that these things succeed and put them together, because
we can speak to the same thing that happened with FinTech, Mr. Deputy Speaker. However, we have been able to address that by working with other overseas banks and other things, and in other agencies, to
make sure that we are actually dev eloping FinTech in
Bermuda and FinTech jobs. So I am certain that we
will have a casino open this year.
One of the things that also falls underneath
my remit is the support to the small and medium enBermuda House of Assembly terprises. We certainly had an exchange on Parli amentary Questions earlier, so we know where we are
going. We know the support that we have been given,
and we also know the red tape that we are getting rid
of and the work that we will do to further reduce barr iers for products.
There will be changes to the Ber muda Ec onomic Development Act, the changes to the Act that governs the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation. There will be further changes. There will be
further breaks that will be given to start -up businesses
to make it easier. We will be implementing items that
are there regarding the one- stop shopping to make
sure it is easier for entrepreneurs to go ahead and
start, and to make permanent certain tax breaks for start-up companies to make sure that they can get
their businesses off the ground, Mr. De puty Speaker.
The final item which I will speak to is the Bermuda National Digital Bank. Now, Mr. Deputy Speaker, you will be aware that this was the number one
item inside of the Progressive Labour Party’s election manifesto. And it is a key and critical initiative. As has
already been reported, there was a contract that was given to develop the work for the Bermuda National
Digital Bank. Persons were engaged to put together a
business plan. That process continues. We have r eceived two drafts of that busi ness plan. The time of
delivery of that business plan is the end of the month of June. At that point in time, we will go to Cabinet and
outline the next steps. I am grateful that I will be able
to update this Honourable House on the progress of
that initia tive prior to this House rising for the summer,
Mr. Deputy Speaker.
But the work is certainly progressing. And
what is important in this is that we are taking a deli berate approach and we are actually examining all of
the possible options. There have been numerous consultations which have been done with the local industry. We are speaking to the trade unions, we are
speaking to the existing banks, new banks which are
looking to enter the market to understand the problems that exist. And there are significant issues of
which we identify.
But what is important, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is
that this fits in with the other items of which were men-tioned earlier. When we are talking about dealing [with] and tackling the cost of living and the cost of
doing business i n this country, whether it is affordable
housing, whether it is universal health care, whether it
is the cost of food or whether it is the cost of foreign
access to capital, or also the cost of mortgages in this
country which is far and above what we find in other
countries —Canada, the United States, the United
Kingdom or many other places. And it is always back
to development and delivery. If we can reduce mor tgage rates in this country, Mr. Deputy Speaker, think
of what that does for affordability. Think of what that
does to allow more persons to get on the housing lad-der to stimulate investment and improve residential
schemes and others.
But that is the reason why, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, we talk about working and looking at this
plan in its entirety, not just quick wins. And all of these things were studied when we put this together, Mr.
Deputy Speaker.
In closing, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will say that
we are proud of this plan as a Government. It does not only deal with business, but it also deals with the
long-term changes which are necessary for our social
fabric in order to ensure that our economy and our
country can survive, as the world is changing very
quickly. The coronavirus and this pandemic presented
an opportunity, and countries that do not seize t he
opportunity to make sure that they can transform their economy, recognising the challenges which have been exposed and inequalities which have been exposed in this pandemic, will ultimately fail in the long
run. And this Government is committed to not m aking
that mistake.
And if Members read this plan, if the country
reads this plan, they will know that the Government is
focused not only on business, but also on social conditions. And I hope that this Honourable House will
support this plan today and ha ve unanimous support.
And we will work to enhance this issue so that we can bring economic growth and prosperity to our people, but also make sure we tackle those issues of affordable housing, such universal health care and such as
the cost of food in new innovative ways to actually
deliver on those promises.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker.
The Economic Recovery Plan highlights two
areas for the Ministry of Public Works, they being i nfrastructure investment and the upgrade to the water
and wastewater treatment facility. And they continue
to increase the stock of affordable housing for the
country.
So, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will not speak
about the Boaz Island Village infrastructure improv ements that concluded this week, nor will I speak about
the $13 million stimulus programme that is well underway and employing young Bermudians, nor will I
speak about the BELCO trenching project that you
cannot go to a parish in the country where there is not
a trench. I will speak about the two that are listed in
the programme, Mr. Deputy Speaker. But let me also say t hat that is not all we are doing, and those activ ities will come out in due course.
1562 4 June 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly I am going to do housing first, because I
guess if anyone listened to the budget presentation
this year, where there were significant cuts in budget
allocations across the government to reflect the ec onomic climate in which we are in, at that stage I ind icated that there was no funding for affordable housing, but that I would not surrender in terms of trying to
find a way to add to the stimulus programme so that
we could pr ovide some housing for our people.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, it has been at least a
decade since the Government has provided and ad ded to the housing inventory stock. It is almost like déjà vu because about 16 years ago we were in the
same boat when we first ca me to Government. And
there had not been any investment in inventory. And
so it makes it very difficult to tell people who are in
need of housing. We are at the stage where the Mini stry of Finance is considering and has indicated that we
would get something. We do not know what that is at
the moment, but I am hoping it is the significant
amounts of money that I have asked for that will pr ovide us with the ability to renovate 24 units of various
sizes across the country, or some permutation of that,
depending on the money that we get.
I will say though, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that we
did not sit idle. Having not had funding to provide for housing, we have gone on a new campaign at the
Housing Corporation in terms of speaking to contrac-tors and inviting them to renovate properties at their
own expense and be reimbursed over time once the
units have been rented. This project has seen half -adozen houses being done under that basis. There has
been an increased interest in doing that. And so we
will continue in that vein irrespective of the amounts of
money that we will get from the Ministry of Finance.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, you will know that most
of my political involvement has included responsibility for the Bermuda Housing Corporation. It is one of the
most fulfilling and gratifying jobs that I think anyone
can have to provide a family with a new home and a new adequate home. That is the mantra that the
[Bermuda Housing] Corporation [ INAUDIBLE] has had
for the last 12, 13 years now, of providing adequate
housing to Bermudians as opposed to what they can
afford and making it so that they can afford adequate
housing.
We take the view that to do that eliminates a
lot of social problems later on. When you warehouse
people, they act like they have been warehoused.
When you house them properly, they rise to that occasion and become responsible, contributing citizens to the country.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I could go on
ad infinitum about the water and wastewater master
plan, but I am not going to do that. What I am going to
do is talk a little bit about where we have come from
and where we are at the moment and what the out-look is going forward. This is a programme that has been on the agenda of the Government I believe b efore we came to Government.
And so the Water Section in the Ministry is
headed by a principal and water engineer, Tarik Chri stopher. I met him about 16 years ago as a trainee in this Ministry. And when I met him, I said to him after
about 15 minutes that I had never met anybody who
got more excited about wat er and its development and
delivery than he [did]. And he still has that excitement.
Encouraged by his behaviour and conduct makes my
job so much more pleasant, and anybody who sits in this job, to have a young Bermudian who leads a team
of Bermudians who are committed and dedicated and
knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and everything pos itive you can imagine in terms of delivering on their responsibility.
So he and his team have provided a water
and wastewater master plan for the entire Island. O bviously, w e cannot afford that, and obviously you want
to try and take off small bites and have some successes. So we decided that we would focus on St. George’s and Southside, primarily, both for the same
reason. Their infrastructure is collapsing around them,
and they have customers who are not happy when
that happens. And none of us would be happy if we
had no water. And so they have come out with a plan.
We are well underway now. We started about six months ago in baby steps at Southside in terms of
purchasing supplies and materials while we worked
on the full plan for St. George’s that would include
providing services to the new St. Regis Hotel, as well
as to the customers whom we have in St. George’s at
the moment, as well as the St. George’s Hotel.
The biggest and most exciting aspect of this
from my personal point of view (and I think every Bermudian’s point of view, Mr. Deputy Speaker), is
that by the end of this year, all things going according
to plan, we will cease pumping raw sewage off T obacco Bay. That day I will make a red- letter day because it will put us on the path to remove the second and last area where we do that. And that is in the City
of Hamilton off of South Shore. But it is something that
we have worked on. We have issued so far 13 te nders, people who are in the East.
Not many of us would travel on Stokes Point
Road, but it is all dug up and just about ready to come onto the main road to proceed from there to Mullet
Bay. We have tendered this out for the Stokes Point
water cr ossing, which started last week, which is going from the Souths ide end across to Stokes Point to
join what is being done there.
We have a contract out for Fort Victoria to St.
Regis that actually is completed, and the St. Regis is
online on the system on that side. And we have a contract from York Street to Fort Victoria, a contract from
Echo Lane to Mullet Bay Park ; from Mullet Bay Park
to Tiger Bay Lift Station on Wellington Street ; Tiger
Bay Lift Station through St. George’s Club via Rose Hill. A sewer force main for So uthside is out for tenBermuda House of Assembly der. A new sewage plant is on the way for Souths ide
that will be able to accommodate the increase in effl uence.
A potable and reclaimed water transfer network for Souths ide is shortly to go out to tender. The
relocation of the Botani cal Gardens tank to Fort Vict oria, that is in process. It requires an overseas vendor
to come in and dismantle it. They have been paid, and
that is under contract. That should be in place by the
end of the year.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, this is a massive undertaking. It is going to cause inconvenience to the peo-ple of Southside and the people of St. George’s. But I
would invite both groups to look to the future, that a lot
of the challenges that we have had in delivering water consistently to all of them —and we will have the ability
to expand to a wider constituency in St. George’s, [which] is shortly going to be in place. This will involve
the trenching of all of Southside and most of St.
George’s. But we are doing it in phases so that we
can have everything on line in St. George’s by the end
of this year.
This is a $30 million project, Mr. Deputy
Speaker. I am so pleased that even though some of
the well -known contractors have contracts for this, we
deliberately designed it so that we could carry out a lot
of these works concurrently. And so a lot of small contractors have been approved and awarded contracts
to carry out work on this. A number of them have hired
new staff in order to undertake this work. The aim
here is to create jobs, as many as we can as soon as
possible, as well as to improve the infrastructure.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we are excited about this
project. We are committed to bringing it to a concl usion and as efficiently and on budget [and on] time as
we can so that the people of St. George’s and t he
people of Southside can exhale. And we see the rel iable services that they require as well as employing
young Bermudians in this time of economic stress.
With that, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will thank you
for the opportunity to make a contribution.

The D eputy Speaker: Thank you, the Honourable
Colonel Burch.
Are there any further speakers?