This was primarily a day of ministerial statements rather than debate on legislation. Finance Minister Dickinson reported that government's 2018/19 accounts received a clean audit opinion and the deficit was reduced by $11.9 million compared to budget estimates. He also announced that Bermuda achieved important new "Reciprocal Jurisdiction" status with US insurance regulators, which will help local insurers operate more efficiently in American markets. National Security Minister Caines provided encouraging crime statistics, noting overall crime is down and there were zero firearm fatalities in 2019 compared to 5 in 2016.
Government financial statements for 2018/19 showing an unqualified audit opinion and reduced deficitBermuda gained elevated "Reciprocal Jurisdiction" status from US insurance regulators, benefiting the insurance sectorCrime statistics showing overall decreases, including zero firearm fatalities in 2019Community clean-up initiatives following hurricane damage from earlier in the yearDetailed accounting of expenses for preparing Port Royal Golf Course for the PGA Championship
Bills & Motions
No bills or motions were presented, debated, or voted on during this sitting. The session focused entirely on ministerial statements and written questions.
Notable Moments
The Finance Minister had to restart one of his statements after initially reading from the wrong document
Opposition Member Cannonier complained that his written questions have been deferred since July and Premier's Questions haven't been held recently
Public Works Minister Burch provided an extremely detailed 84-line item breakdown of Port Royal Golf Course expenses, reading every expense down to $1.00 charges, which prompted some light-hearted reactions from other members
Debate Transcript
806 speeches from 29 speakers
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGood morning, Members. [Gavel] CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES [Minutes of 29 November 2019]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers, the Minutes of November 29 th have been circulated. Are there any amendments or corrections? There are none. The Minutes are confirmed as printed. [Minut es of 29 November 2019 confirmed] MESSAGES FROM THE GOVERNOR
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThere are none. ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE SPEAKER OR MEMBER PRESIDING APOLOGIES
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes, there are announcements this morning. I would just like to acknowledge that we have been given notice that the following Members are absent today: MP Weeks; the Government Whip, Mr. [W. Lawrence] Scott; MP Tinee Furbert; MP Ben Smith; and MP Chris Famous, as well. PARLIAMENTARY STRENGTHENING SEMINAR
The SpeakerThe SpeakerI would also like to rem ind Members that the Parliamentary Strengthening Seminar that took place earlier this year , which was in conjunction with the CPA, would like for us to complete the pa-perwork that they were seeking from us, of the evaluation of the event. If Members who …
I would also like to rem ind Members that the Parliamentary Strengthening Seminar that took place earlier this year , which was in conjunction with the CPA, would like for us to complete the pa-perwork that they were seeking from us, of the evaluation of the event. If Members who have not submitted theirs would , they would be most appreciative. HOUSE VISITOR S
The SpeakerThe SpeakerI would also like to just acknowledge that we have the President of the Senate with us this morning. Welcome. And I believe that former Member of Parli ament, Mr. Butler , is in the Gallery . [Desk thumping]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGood morning. Welcome. MESSAGES FROM THE SENATE
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThere are none. PAPERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS TO THE HOUSE
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes, this morning there five papers to be communicated. The f irst is in the name of the Mi nister of Finance. Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Good morning, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGood morning. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to advi se the Honourable Members of the completion of the audit of the Consolidated Fund Financial Statements for the year ended March 31, 2019, which were tabled . . . (Sorry. I was reading the wrong statement there.) …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Would you like to s tart over? CONSOLIDATED FUND FINANCIAL STA TEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2019 Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Yes, thank you. I have the honour to attach and submit for the information of the Honourable House of Assembly the Consolidated Fund Financial Statements for …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. 2760 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly The next this morning is in the name of the Minister of Tourism. I think you have the following four in your name, do you not? So you can proceed. BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE 2018/19 ANNUAL REPORT …
Thank you. 2760 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly The next this morning is in the name of the Minister of Tourism. I think you have the following four in your name, do you not? So you can proceed.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE 2018/19 ANNUAL REPORT —BERMUDA AIRPORT AUTHORITY
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to attach and submit for the information of the Honourable House of Assembly the Building for the Future 2018/19 Annual Report of the Bermuda Airport Authority .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Your next one. BERMUDA CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY 2016/17 ANNUAL REPORT Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have the honour to attach and submit for the information of the Honourable House of Assembly the 2016/17 Annual Repor t of the Bermuda Civil Aviation …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. BERMUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2018 Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have the honour to attach and submit for the information of the Honourable House of Assembly the Bermuda Tourism Authority Consolidated Financial Statements 2018.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. BERMUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY YEAR IN REVIEW 2018 Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to attach and submit for the information of the Honourable House of Assembly the Bermuda Tourism Authority Year in Review 2018.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThere are none. STATEMENTS BY MINISTERS AND JUNIOR MINISTERS
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes, we do have Statem ents this mor ning. There are seven Statements on the Order Paper. And the first is in the name of the Minister of Finance. Minister, I think the document you had earlier is the document you are looking for now. CONSOLIDATED FUND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2019 …
Yes, we do have Statem ents this mor ning. There are seven Statements on the Order Paper. And the first is in the name of the Minister of Finance. Minister, I think the document you had earlier is the document you are looking for now.
CONSOLIDATED FUND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2019
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to advise Honourable Members of the completion of the audit of the Consolidated Fund Financial Stat ements for the year ended March 31, 2019, which were tabled in this Honourable House a few minutes ago. As Honourable Members are aware, the Consolidated Fund [CF] is the general operating fund of the Berm uda Government and is the f und through which government conducts the majority of its transactions. The Consolidated Fund financial statements report the financial position, operations, change in net debt and cash flows resulting from the activities of the government. This includes the accounts of the Senate, the House of Assembly, all government departments and offices , and all courts. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that the 2019 annual accounts of the Consolidated Fund of the Government of Bermuda were given an unqualified audit opinion , and can repor t that the items that pr ecipitated the 2018 qualified opinion have been rect ified.
[Desk thumping]
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, despite the clean audit opinion, under the Audit Act 1990, section 6(1)(b), the Auditor General is able to include in her report any other comments she considers appropriate. Accordingly, the Auditor General has, for the ninth consecutive year, included explanatory paragraphs as “other matters ” which she deems appropriate. These other matters relate to the following: • Public Debt and Guarantees . The Auditor General has highlighted that , while the Go vernment is within the legislated debt limit of $2.5 billion, there is a further $1.2 billion in guarantees to various lenders by the C onsol idated Fund. • Increasing Net Debt . The Auditor General has noted that the net debt, as calculated on the Statement of Changes in Net Debt , increased by $102 million and continues to grow . And I refer you to page 7 of the financial stat ements . • Usefulness of the Financial Statements . The Auditor General explains that the usefulness of the financial statements is limited because they are not Summary Financial Statements — that is, they do not represent the combined f iBermuda House of Assembly nancial position and activities of all Gover nment entities, only the Consolidated Fund. It is important to note that these explanatory paragraphs do not alter the Auditor General’s unqual ified opinion, but are highlighted matters. However, the Government notes the Auditor’s concerns in these areas and has already started to tackle these matters. For instance, Mr. Speaker, the Ministry of Finance has already put in place a plan to eliminate the deficit and, ultimately , reduce the debt. Mr. Speaker, liabilities related to pension and other employee future benefits are also included in the net debt amount s disclosed in the Financial Stat ements , and the Government has already started the review of these benefits to ensure their sustainability. Mr. Speaker, in relation to guarantees of the Consolidated Fund to various lenders, the Minis try notes that the majority of these guarantees are related to debt taken out by public authorities , and the number of $1.2 billion in guarantees mentioned by the A uditor General could be misleading if not clarified. Mr. Speaker, guarantees are contingent liabil ities to the government and are not included on the government’s balance sheet, or counted against the debt ceiling, unless the guarantee becomes due and payable by the g overnment. All guarantees are di sclosed in notes to the financial statements of the Co nsolidated Fund and the annual budget. These guaran-tees are as follows: • a guarantee by the g overnment , of the Bermuda Hospital s Board’s [BHB] annual service payment obligations related to the financing of the new acute care wing at the King Edward Memorial Hospital, over a term of 30 years , consisting of principal, interest, construction, lifecycle and hard facilities maintenance. The total present value of the future payments due from the BHB to the private sector partner s was $279.3 million as at March 31, 2019; • a guarantee by the Government of the West End Development Corporation payment obl igations related to: (i) the repayment of con-struction financing for the construction of affordable housing; (ii) the repayment of financing to facilitate the completion of the Land Reclamation Project in Dockyard for the America’s Cup ; and (iii) the repayment of f inancing to facilitate the completion of the King’s Wharf project —in total , estimated at $71.85 million; • a guarantee by the g overnment , of the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) payment obligations related to the repayment of construction financing for the construction of affordable housing, estimated at $29.3 million; • a guarantee on behalf of the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission, supporting an overdraft facility with a local financial institution of $1.2 million . (The sum of $1.021 million had been drawn on the facility as of March 31 , 2019. ) • a guarantee on behalf of the Bermuda Tourism Authority , supporting a loan with a local financial institution of $10 million to repay a loan from Royal Caribbean; • various other small business loan guarantees with the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation , totalling approximately $1.4 mi llion as of March 31, 2019; and • a $165 million guarantee by the g overnment , of various loans to Morgan’s Point Limited, the Caroline Bay Hotel developer , for the construction of a Ritz Carlton hotel and residence. It is generally not the policy of the Ministry of Finance to issue guarantees to the private sector un-less the matter is of national importance. It is also i mportant to note that any private sector guarantee agreement includes conditions typically included in non-affiliated financial guarantees , and the Gover nment is compensated for providing these guarantees. Mr. Speaker, with regard to the [ preparation] of Summary Financial Statements for the Bermuda Government, the Ministry agrees there are benefits to issuing consolidated financial statements . However , Honourable Members are advised that there are other associated issues that need to first be addressed before proper consolidation can take place. A nd the Mi nistry notes that it would be prudent to have all of the audits of public authorities current to ensure the Summary Financial Statements are not misrepresented to users. The audit report date is November 19, 2019 . (In 2018, that date was also the same.) Certain private debt placements made by the Government contain a reporting covenant requiring delivery of the audited financial statements within 240 days of the fiscal ye ar end. Honourable Members are advised that this reporting covenant was met. Mr. Speaker, a few of the financial highlights of the 2019 Consolidated Fund Financial Statements are as follows: Cash balances as at March 31, 2019 totalled $26.7 million, which was $6.5 million higher than the balance as at March 31, 2018. Mr. Speaker, Net Public Debt, which excludes guarantees and is net of the Government Borrowing Sinking Fund, i ncreased by $42.3 million during the 2018/19 period, [standing] at $2.461 billion at the end of the year , compared to $2.419 billion in 2018. This represents a 1.8 per cent increase from 2018. Items of note are as follows: • There was a successful public debt issuance of $620 million in November 2018. The major ity of the proceeds were ut ilised to retire higher interest -bearing debt , saving the g overnment just over $1.0 million in annual interest expense. • The 2019 Sinking Fund balance was $218.9 million , compared to $150.2 million in 2018. 2762 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, the total revenue raised by the Consolidated Fund for fiscal 2018/19, excluding the extraordinary revenue of $10.2 million from paying off the North Channel Shipping loan, was approximately $1.09 billion, representing an increase of $27.5 million (or 2.6 per cent ) from fiscal 2017/18’s tot al revenue of $1.063 billion. This exceeded the original budget estimates by approximately $416,000. The most signif icant generators of revenues for fiscal 2018/19 were payroll taxes, accounting for $467.5 million ( or 42.9 per cent of total revenue) versus $456.7 million (or 42.7 per cent ) in the prior year; and customs duties, accounting for $226.1 million (or 20.7 per cent of total revenue) versus 2017/18 numbers of $223 mi llion (or 20.9 per cent ). Current expenses for fiscal 2018/19 were $1.187 billion, as compared to $1.130 billion in the prior period. The three largest components of current expenses were employee costs, grants and contributions , and interest on debt. Total employee costs were $550.1 million ( or 46.3 per cent of total expenses ) versus $518.5 million ( or 45.9 per cent ) for the prior period. Included in th ese amount s is $78.5 million of non-cash retirement benefit expense. Grants and contributions were $319.2 million ( or 26.9 per cent ) versus 2017/18 numbers of $285.3 million ( or 25.2 per cent). And interest on debt was $124.0 million ( or 10.4 per cent of total expenses) versus the prior period of $117.9 million (or 10.4 per cent ). Total current expenditure on a modified cash basis was $1.1 billion versus the prior period of $1.073 billion, which was $7.9 million less than adjusted budget estimates ; in the prior period it was $20.7 million less. Mr. Speaker, total capital account cash expenditure was $58.6 million, which was $3.6 million lower than the original budget estimates. Total capi tal and current account cash expenditure for 2018/19 was $1.168 billion, which was $11.5 million ( or 1.0 per cent) lower than the original budget estimate of $1.18 billion. Mr. Speaker, the all -inclusive results from government operations (both current and capital) for the year ending March 31, 2019, were a deficit of $123.3 million. There are many non- cash expenses included in this figure. If we strip those away, the mod-ified cash al l-inclusive results from government oper ations (on the same basis that i s shown in the Budget Book) was a deficit of $77.7 million. This compares to a deficit of $89.7 million that was originally budgeted. Therefore, the actual overall deficit was down by $11.9 million, or 13.3 per cent , when compared to the original estimate. The decreased deficit is a result of prudent management of discretionary current and capital expenditures. Mr. Speaker, the 2018/19 fiscal results are concrete facts which indicate that this government is committed to and capable of maintaining control of the public finances while at the same time working for the people of Bermuda and delivering the level of services that they deserve. Mr. Speaker, the Ministry will be providing full commentary on the actual fiscal performance for 2018/19 in the Pre- Budget Report in advance of the fiscal 2020/21 Budget. Therefore, I do not propose to go into further detailed highlights at this time. Meanwhile , Mr. Speaker, the statements of the Consolidated Fund provide valuable information on the financial position of the Government , and I would encourage the public to examine these statements. Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. The next Statement is also in your name. Would you like to present that one, as well? Standard and Poor’s Rating. STANDARD AND POOR'S RATING REPORT Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to advise Honourable Members of the recent rating report by Standard and …
Thank you, Minister. The next Statement is also in your name. Would you like to present that one, as well? Standard and Poor’s Rating.
STANDARD AND POOR'S RATING REPORT
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to advise Honourable Members of the recent rating report by Standard and Poor’s on Bermuda. Mr. Speaker, Standard and Poor’s, most commonly referred to as S&P, is a US company that provides credit reviews, issues reports and issues credit ratings on public and private company debt, as well as government debts. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to advise Honourable Members that, on November the 4 th, 2019, S&P affirmed Bermuda's A+ long- term sovereign credit and senior unsecured debt ratings, as well as its A -1 short - term rating and AA+ transfer and convertibility as-sessment. What prompted S&P to perform this anal ysis on Bermuda at this particular point in time is due to the fact that the Government borrowed $170 million to honour its guarantee to the lenders of the Caroline Bay project. The headline of the report read as follows: “ Bermuda Ratings Affirmed a t 'A+' o n Continuing Sustained Economic Growth, Near -Balanced Fis cal Results; Outlook Positive.” Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that S&P has viewed Bermuda in a positive light and has affirmed Bermuda’s A+ long- term sovereign credit and senior unsecured debt ratings , given the action taken by this Government to purchase the Caroline Bay loans. In the S&P report there was also recognition that the Government is on track to produce a balanced budget in the current fiscal year, and if sus tained, should lo wer our government debt burden. There was also men-tion of the Government’s policymaking being effective and predictable. These comments highlight the fact that the PLP Government remains committed to the Island and its economy , and demonst rates this through transparent and prudent governance. Mr. Speaker, the general public should accept the outcome of this report as an independent, objective endorsement of our fiscal and economic policies , and it is gratifying to note that S&P have notic ed the
Bermuda House of Assembly progress this G overnment has made since we have been in office. In closing , I would like to advise Honourable Members that the Government will continue to colla boratively press ahead with our economic and fiscal policies in order to establish a bet ter and fairer Bermuda that was promised in our election platform. As the Minister of Finance, I remain committed to exerci sing fiscal discipline, balancing the budget and reducing debt levels in the medium and long term. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. The next Statement this morning is also in your name, Minister. So would you like to do your Statement on the National Association? NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS RECIPROCAL JURISDICTION STATUS Hon. Curtis L. D ickinson: Yes, Mr. Speaker. It is going to be a long day …
Thank you, Minister. The next Statement this morning is also in your name, Minister. So would you like to do your Statement on the National Association?
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS RECIPROCAL JURISDICTION STATUS
Hon. Curtis L. D ickinson: Yes, Mr. Speaker. It is going to be a long day for me. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be able to pr ovide the House of Assembly with an update on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners [NAIC] qualified and reciprocal jurisdiction status for the Bermuda insurance market. Mr. Speaker, I am extremely pleased to report to this Honourable House that, on December the 10th, 2019, the National Association of Insurance Commi ssioners (NAIC) announced that Bermuda had been granted Reciprocal Jurisdiction status effective January 1st, 2020. Additionally, the NAIC has completed its five-year re -evaluation of Bermuda, and it has a pproved Bermuda as a qualified jurisdiction. Mr. Speaker, the NAIC is the US standardsetting and regulatory support organisation created and governed by the country’s chief insurance regul ators from the 50 US s tates, the District of Columbia and the five US Territories. Ef fective January 1, 2015, Bermuda was placed on the NAIC’s first List of Qual ified Jurisdictions, alongside France, Germany, Ir eland, Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Since 2015, Bermuda has maintained its status on the list. The renewed qualified jurisdiction status mai ntains Bermuda- domiciled insurer and reinsurer eligibi lity for reduced insurance and reinsurance collateral requirements under the NAIC’s Credit for Reinsurance Model Law and Regulations. Bermuda’s q ualified jurisdiction status is a pplicable to insurers and reinsurers licenced as Class 3A, Class 3B and Class 4; and long-term insurers of Class C, Class D and Class E. [For Bermuda] to be re- approved as a qualified juri sdiction, the BMA [Bermuda Monetary Authority] was required to maint ain a regime that meets the stan dards of, and achieves similar supervisory outcomes of, the US regulatory system for insurers and reinsurers. Mr. Speaker, the qualified jurisdiction status has solidified Bermuda’s well -established relevance to the United States as a major insurance and reinsurance trading partner. Over the last two decades, Bermuda insurers and reinsurers have paid in excess of $200 billion to settle US losses, consistently offering valuable capacity provisioning for catastrophic events. As one of only seven jurisdictions with the qualified jurisdiction status, 23 of the 32 certified insurers and reinsurers are Bermudian. These insurers’ and rei nsurers’ ability to passport into 39 states further underscores the Bermuda market’s relevance t o the United States. Renewal of Bermuda’s status as a qualified jurisdiction will allow continued efficiencies in the cross- border operations of Bermuda insurers and r einsurers in the US insurance market. Mr. Speaker, this year the NAIC, in their rev isions to the Credit for Reinsurance Model Law and Regulations, created a new status to expand these benefits —Reciprocal Jurisdiction. This is an elevated status, which in the case of non- European Union j urisdictions can only be achieved by first gaining the prerequisite Qualified Jurisdiction status and recogni sing the US state regulatory system for group superv ision and group capital. The goal of these revisions was to create consistency between the Model Law and Regulations, and the provisions contained in t he Covered Agreements that the United States have with the European Union and the United Kingdom. In be-coming a Reciprocal Jurisdiction, Bermuda’s insurers and reinsurers will be eligible for zero- collateral relief, thereby operating under equal conditions as its cou nterparts from the EU and the UK. Mr. Speaker, Bermuda’s approval as a Reciprocal Jurisdiction further cements the close economic relationship between the US and Bermuda, and our insurers and reinsurers continue to play a vital role in support ing the US economy by providing the financial protection and support needed when there is a loss. Mr. Speaker, Bermuda is in the financial services business , and thousands of jobs, both Bermudian and guest workers alike, depend on the success of this sec tor. The Government therefore is committed to helping Bermuda’s financial institutions succeed in global markets. This decision directly supports our commitment to the financial services sector and the livelihoods of those employed in it. Mr. Speaker, I wish to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Jeremy Cox and the Bermuda Monetary Authority team for doing such an excellent job, with tireless effort, in orchestrating the regulatory requir ements that have led to the NAIC granting Bermuda Reciprocal Jurisdicti on status. This result is indeed a feat of determination, endurance and extraordinary discipline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. 2764 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly The next Statement this morning is in the name of Minister Foggo. Minister. PAWPAW BERMUDA Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Good morning, Mr. Speaker. Good morning to the House and to the people of Bermuda. I wish …
Thank you, Minister. 2764 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly The next Statement this morning is in the name of Minister Foggo. Minister.
PAWPAW BERMUDA
Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Good morning, Mr. Speaker. Good morning to the House and to the people of Bermuda. I wish to highlight this morning some of the good work that the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs is doing to promote and support our artists , culture and heritage. Mr. Speaker, the nature of public service is such that the officers at the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs are regularly called upon to find new and innovative ways of helping to build and support Bermuda’s artistic community. In addition to the many fine programmes that the department is directly responsible for, members of the creatives community, as well as organisations and cultural groups, frequently reach out to the department for help in developing their artisti c projects or organising their cultural events. Mr. Speaker, not everyone is familiar with the term “creatives .” However, the world would be a rather dull place without them. A creative is a person who looks at the world from an original perspective and utilises this perspective to develop new ideas, new products and new artistic outputs. Creatives are not solely painters or those we traditionally think of as ar tists. A creative is anyone who approaches what they do as a form of art, including areas that include the cultural industries. Mr. Speaker, the assistance that is sought by creatives is sometimes financial, sometimes prom otional, sometimes along the lines of advice or stew-ardship, and oftentimes a combination of these threads of support. Whichever is the case, the d epartment’s involvement often means the difference between a fully realised creative project coming to fruition and positively impacting our society, rather than fizzling as a dream deferred. Mr. Speaker, a recent example of this kind of impactful support provided by the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs takes the form of a grant that was given to a family of artists: husbandand-wife team Dr. Edwin and Shirley Ann Smith; along with their adult sons, Micrae and Stefan Smith, who together form the family business “artsmithsbda.” This talented family, comprised of a visual artist, a photo grapher, a graphic designer and a culinary artist, ut ilised a grant from the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs to create the gorgeous book that you and my parliamentary colleagues should have in front of you, entitled Pawpaw Bermuda . As the title suggests, the book is a collection that focuses on the artistic and culinary history of the pawpaw in our Island. The pawpaw, known by non -Bermudians as papaya , has (as Dr. Smith rightly points out in his introduction to the book) a history in Bermuda that dates back to the year 1616 as part of an agricultural plan to ensure available sustenance for the early settlers. Since that time, Mr. Speaker, in addition to fulfilling its original role and intention of being a part of the local food supply, the pawpaw has captured the imagination of Bermudian and visiting artists alike. This book is both a collection of visually stunning rec ipes, as well as a graphic timeline of the pawpaw’s consistent appearance in the work of artists from the late 19 th century up to present -day contemporary references. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the Smith family on this elegant publication, of which the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs is proud to be a major sponsor. The fact that it is also a project which showcases the talents of four Bermudian artists who, as relatives, have chosen to pool their talents together serves as a model for what can be accomplished, using the family bond as a source of inspiration. On that note, Mr. Speaker, I take my seat. Thank you.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Mi nister. [We] appreciate that. The next Statement this morning is in the name of Minister Burch. Minister.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGood morning. COMMUNITY CLEAN- UP DAY
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchYou will remember this past September, Bermuda endured nature’s wrath in the form of Hurricane Humberto and Tropical Storm Jerry. To this day, remnants of that encounter in the form of tree limbs, stumps, leaves and other horticu ltural waste remain a blight on the Bermuda lan dscape. We are …
You will remember this past September, Bermuda endured nature’s wrath in the form of Hurricane Humberto and Tropical Storm Jerry. To this day, remnants of that encounter in the form of tree limbs, stumps, leaves and other horticu ltural waste remain a blight on the Bermuda lan dscape. We are now in the final month of the year and will soon see the start of 2020. I do not know about you and other Members, but I would rather enter the New Year with Bermuda looking its best. With that goal in mind, Mr. Speaker, the Min istry of Public Works, in partnership with Keep Bermuda Beautiful, have planned a series of initiatives to ince ntivise members of the public to safely dispose of their waste. Starting last weekend (the 6 th and 7th of December), we held an electronic waste (or e -waste) recycling drive to encourage the safe and responsible disposal of old laptops, computers, cable boxes, cell phones and other electronic devices, by delivering them to the Tynes Bay Waste to Energy Facility for recycling.
Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, you wil l know that e- waste ad ded to landfills or otherwise incorrectly disposed of causes all sorts of problems —leaches toxic substances including lead, mercury, cadmium, polyvinyl chl oride and chromium into the earth; and polluting the soil, groundwater and the air. The responsible disposal of e- waste helps protect our environment and keeps Bermuda safe and beautiful for all. Mr. Speaker, following that drive, the Ministry of Public Works and Keep Bermuda Beautiful partner-ship is holding a two -day weekend horti cultural community clean- up to remove the final remnants of hort icultural waste scattered around the Island. The event is to be held this weekend, on the 14th and 15th of December, from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm each day. We are inviting members of the public to dispose of all hort icultural waste by delivering it to the Marsh Folly Composting Facility for processing. Following these two initiatives, and as we enter the New Year, we will hold a bulky -waste collection day and, of course, the customary Christmas tree collection. For all of these initi atives, the Ministry will waive the associated tipping fees. Mr. Speaker, I ask that everyone encourage their family, friends and neighbours, and let us do something good in our own neighbourhoods. We can all work together to get and keep Bermuda clean! Mr. Speaker, as I conclude, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my colleague, the Honourable Zane DeSi lva, the Minister of Tourism and Transport, for supporting these initiatives by wai ving trucking permit fees for the Sundays of December 8 and 15, and January 12, as well as [the Saturday of] January 25. Mr. Speaker, I am certain that we can, collectively, make our country the clean and pristine place we are used to if each of us donates a few hours to help in our own neighbourhoods. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Members, the next Statement on the Order Paper this morning is in the name of the Minister of Tourism. However, there is a technical matter that needs to be resolved on that. And I am going to ask for indulgence that the Minister hold off doing that …
Thank you, Minister. Members, the next Statement on the Order Paper this morning is in the name of the Minister of Tourism. However, there is a technical matter that needs to be resolved on that. And I am going to ask for indulgence that the Minister hold off doing that Statement until it is resolved. And we will move on to the next Stat ement. And if it gets resolved while we are still here today, I will ask the indulgence for the Minister to be allowed to give his Statement at that point. I think it is better to have the accuracy correct than the Minister to deliver his Statement.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Minister. I appreciate it.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Minister Caines, would you like to give your Statement? Hon. Wayne Caines: If it pleases you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSo it does. Continue. CRIME AND VIOLE NCE REDUCTION STRATEGY UPDATE Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker , I rise this morning to highligh t some statistics in relation to crimes in Bermuda , in addition to acknowledging and thanking those agencies which have played a significant role in what we …
So it does. Continue.
CRIME AND VIOLE NCE REDUCTION STRATEGY UPDATE Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker , I rise this morning to highligh t some statistics in relation to crimes in Bermuda , in addition to acknowledging and thanking those agencies which have played a significant role in what we now see as a reduction in crime overall. However , before I do that, I would first like to remind this Honou rable House of a Statement that I made on November 17th, 2017, in which I stated that this Government promised the people of Bermuda that we would “give reducing gang violence the priority it d eserves.” I believe we have and we are continuing to do just that as we work to reduce crime. Mr. Speaker , I am ha ppy to report the follo wing: In 2016, there were 3,576 offences recorded for all crime. For this year, up to and including December 7th, 2019, there were 2,977 offences recorded for all crime. That is a difference of 599 offences. Overall , Mr. Speaker, crime is down. In 2016, there were 740 offences recorded for crimes against persons, which include murder, manslaughter, serious assaults, other assaults, sexual assaults, robbery, offences against children, and indecency. For this year , up to and i ncluding D ecember 7th, 2019, there were 635 offences recorded [for crimes ] against persons. That is a difference of 105 offences. It should be noted that one of the main contributors to this decrease was the crime category of robbery which, according to the Bermuda Police Service, was 81 offences for 2016, and presently there are 37 offences, a difference of 44 offences. Mr. Speaker , in relation to crimes against the community , which include firearm offences, other weapon offences, disorder offences, antisocial beha viour and animal offences , I note that in 2016 there were 408 offences in relation to crimes against the community. For this year , up to and including December 7th, there are 462 offences, an increase of 54 offences. The main contributing factor for the i ncrease was antisocial behaviour, which was at 286 offences in 2016 and which is presently at 325 for 2019. However , Mr. Speaker , it is important to note that last year , in 2018, antisocial behaviour had risen by 398 offences. The Commissioner [ of Police] and his senior team, based on that statistic and other factors, decided to create a Tactical Operations Division which was led by a superintendent to address antis ocial behaviour and gang violence. With the support of other agencies such as the Inter -Agen cy Gang Enforcement Team [IGET ], the Inter -Agency Community 2766 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Response Team [ ICR] and other agencies working together, I can report , for 2019 , the figure for antis ocial behaviour has decreased and now stands at 325 offences as of December 7th, 2019. Mr. Sp eaker , in relation to crimes against property, there has been a significant decrease, which include : residential burglary, non- residential burglary, criminal damage, motor vehicle theft, theft of property , and fraud and deception. In 2016 there were 2,428 crimes against property. For this year, up to and i ncluding December 7th, there have been 1,880 crimes against property. A contributing factor to th e decrease is that residential burglaries dropped significantly. In 2016 there were 551 residential burglari es. Thus far this year , up until December 7th, there were 245 residential burglaries , a difference of 306 offences. Mr. Speaker , as it relates to firearm incidents, it has been reported by the Bermuda Police Service that, comparing 2016 to 2019, thus far we have seen a 57 per cent decrease in firearms incidents. A firearm incident is classified in three categories: confirmed, unconfirmed, and recovery of a firearm and/or amm unition. The last confirmed discharge of a firearm as of December 7th occurred on the 3rd of October 2019. Mr. Speaker , as of December 10th, 2019, there has been a considerable increase in arrests compared to previous years. The Bermuda Police Service has recorded 3,362 arrest s this year , compared to last year when the number recorded was 2,728. This is largely due to the use of the iLEN (an electronic tablet used by frontline police officers), which facilitate s a considerable increase in warrant arrest s. The implementation of this device was in February of this year. Mr. Speaker , I do recogni se that there are still just under three weeks left in this year . However , I feel it necessary not only to inform this Honou rable House of the fact that crime overall continues to decrease, but more importantly , to thank those responsible for helping make Bermuda safer. To the men and women of the Bermuda Police Service, the reserve police force and police staff , we say thank you. I recogni se that the job you have is not an easy one. We want to say thank you! We can see the first fruits of your labour, especially when you put victims of crimes first . To the Inter -Agency Gang Taskforce, we [say] thank you! This group continues to provide the overall coordination and execution of the strategy to reduce gang violence. To the Inter -Agency Gang Enforc ement Team [IGET], thank you! This group includes the Bermuda Police Service, the Bermuda Department of Corrections, the Department of Immigration, the Be rmuda Education Department, Bermuda Customs, Mi rrors, Department of Court Services and the Office of the Director of P ublic Prosecutions. They continue to meet regularly and share intelligence that is focused on suppressing gang violence. Mr. Speaker , additionally , the Gang Violence Reduction Team is heavily embedded into the IGET. The work this team does in relation to violence and antisocial behaviour by our at -risk youth, in addition to adults, serves to compl ement the insight from the IGET in the suppression of gang violence, and antis ocial and gang- related behaviour . And finally , Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the community stakeholders, too numerous to name. I recogni se the key role played by each one of these organi sations. Mr. Speaker , I am reminded by the phrase, Violence begets violence. And this phrase has been used since the 1830s. Mr. Speaker, I return to my roots . It is also a concept described in the Gospel of Matthew, [chapter] 26, verse 52. The passage depicts a disciple drawing a sword to defend against the arrest of Jesus , but he was told to sheath his weapon. Jesus said, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. ” Mr. Speaker and Members of this Honou rable House, overall crime is down. Firearm incidents are down . Robberies are down. Antisocial behaviour is down . And I stand here to thank all of the agencies and persons who continue to work to make Bermuda safe. And I want everyone to know that this Gover nment, and more importantly, the Ministry of National Security, will not rest on its laurels. We will continue to seek the support of all of our community stakeholders . And finally, Mr. Speaker , as we enter into this festive Christmas season, and recogni sing this time of year is one of sociali sing with family and friends, I encourage everyone to enjoy themselves in a safe and responsible manner. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to take time to just read another line item here. In 2016, there were five firearm fatalities. In 2017, there were three firearm fatalities. In 2018, there were three fir earm fatalities. In 2019, there have been zero firearm fatalit ies. And, Mr. Speaker, we are crossing our fi ngers and prayerful that it stays that way for the indef inite future.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Hon. Wayne Caines: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [Desk thumping]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. That brings us to a conc lusion of the Stat ements for this morning. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThere are none. PREMIER’S QUESTIONS
The SpeakerThe SpeakerNot on for today. Bermuda House of Assembly QUESTION PERIOD
The SpeakerThe Speaker[We have] question period now, and we will begin with written questions. A nd the first written question . . . that is, again, carried over. QUESTIONS: LIST OF MPs PAID FOR ANY SERVICES OTHER THAN ON A GOVERNMENT CO MMITTEE, BOARD OR QUANGO Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Notwithstanding, the …
[We have] question period now, and we will begin with written questions. A nd the first written question . . . that is, again, carried over.
QUESTIONS: LIST OF MPs PAID FOR ANY SERVICES OTHER THAN ON A GOVERNMENT CO MMITTEE, BOARD OR QUANGO
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Notwithstanding, the responses provided to questions by the Honourable Premier on July 12, 2019; will the Honourable Premier please advise this Honourable House if any Members of Parliament have been paid from the public purse for any services, other than Government Committees, Government Boards or Quangos?
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Will the Honour able Premier please identify for this Honourable House the Members of Parliament and the amounts paid or the outstanding amounts due to them?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThe second written question is from the Honourable Member Dunkley to Minister — Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Speaker. Excuse me.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: If you would advise me . . . just a point of note for the House of Assembly. We have not had Premier’s Questions for quite some time now. I do not know why it has been left off of the Order Paper and not …
Yes.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: If you would advise me . . . just a point of note for the House of Assembly. We have not had Premier’s Questions for quite some time now. I do not know why it has been left off of the Order Paper and not enforced. But certainly, [as I have] also brought up before, [my] ques-tions have been deferred since July 26 th. It would nice to get some resolution, as opposed to getting very upset in the House here. Could [we have a commi tment] to get some resolution to both of these matters?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Member. And it has been noted. Thank you. The question for Minister Burch from Minister Dunkley. Member Dunkley, would you like to put your question? There are two written questions that r equired oral response, right? Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Right.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSo you can put your question. QUESTION 1: PORT ROYAL GOLF COURSE Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning to colleagues. To the Honourable Minister: Would the Honourable Minister please provide to this Honourable House the details of the amount spent in preparing the Port Royal …
So you can put your question.
QUESTION 1: PORT ROYAL GOLF COURSE
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning to colleagues. To the Honourable Minister: Would the Honourable Minister please provide to this Honourable House the details of the amount spent in preparing the Port Royal Golf Course [PRGC ] for the Bermuda Championship this year, detailing and itemi sing the expenses , including labour and what functions they pertain to?
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchThank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to answer the questions, but I would like to ask the Honourable Member if I could answer both of them together? Because when you look at them, the documents that I have, I am only going to end up reading it twice. Because …
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to answer the questions, but I would like to ask the Honourable Member if I could answer both of them together? Because when you look at them, the documents that I have, I am only going to end up reading it twice. Because he is asking for expenses including labour. But then in the next question, he wants to know the amounts spent and what services they provide. I can, for the efficiency and time . . .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerLet me try and assist. Member, would you want him to respond individually or collectively? If you want him to do it collectively, I will suggest you read both questions then. Hon. Mic hael H. Dunkley: I am happy to do that, because if the Honourable Minister has prepared an-swers …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. Well, read your second question, and then he can answer both. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: The second question to the Honourable Minister: Would the Honourable Mini ster please provide to this Honourable House the companies that were contracted to help with preparing the Port Royal Golf Course for the …
Okay. Well, read your second question, and then he can answer both. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: The second question to the Honourable Minister: Would the Honourable Mini ster please provide to this Honourable House the companies that were contracted to help with preparing the Port Royal Golf Course for the Bermuda Championship this year, including the amount spent with each and what services they provided? Thank you.
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMr. Speaker, yes, then I am happy to answer both questions, with some c aveats, Mr. Speaker. And as former Ministers on that side, I am sure they will appreciate and understand what those caveats are. Mr. Speaker, I have a spreadsheet that has 84 line items on it. And …
Mr. Speaker, yes, then I am happy to answer both questions, with some c aveats, Mr. Speaker. And as former Ministers on that side, I am sure they will appreciate and understand what those caveats are. Mr. Speaker, I have a spreadsheet that has 84 line items on it. And I will read them all. I have had various versions of this account, as it really is a moving target. So, the answers I provide today are as of the 12 th of December 2019 and will likely change as other invoices are presented. I do not anticipate a m aterial change; that change may go up or down, as has happened with previous reports that I have had on this 2768 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly exercise. But I am quite prepared to provide those when the final account is presented. In an effort to avoid any audit issues later on in conjunction with the Board of Trustees, I have d irected the Permanent Secretary that, once the books are closed on the PGA Bermuda Championshi p, to seek outside assistance to review the accounts, as we have done for the King’s Wharf project. This is the normal process, going forward, for major capital works in the Ministry of Public Works. Now, to answer the question. So, as I have said, I have a document which has 84 line items on it. I propose to give answers to both questions at the same time, detailing all of the items that the Honour able Member wishes to have answered. And they are in various categories. And I am quite happy to . . . I thin k I might be able to answer any questions that he may have when I get to the end of this exercise if you allow some [questions]. And if not, then I will give an undertaking at this stage to come back with those, to pr ovide those answers over the Christmas break. But, as an aside, Mr. Speaker, this has been a painful process —not for me, but for those people who count. And I am not a counter. So I have had thou-sands of persons to actually provide these means of support that explain just the figures. So we are going to start with wages and overtime, Mr. Speaker. So, wages for various full and part - time staff from the Pro Shop, $10,213.05. Wages for the PGA overtime court staff —that is the outside staff—$215,036.84. And wages for PGA part -time outside court st aff, $128,569.04. And overtime hours worked the week of the PGA, $4,690.59.
[Inaudible interjections]
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchNo. Sorry, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are two lots of overtime in those figures. During the week it was time and a half. And weekends it was double time. The period for those amounts is from May 26, 2019, to November 10, 2019. For Port Royal staff, there were …
No. Sorry, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are two lots of overtime in those figures. During the week it was time and a half. And weekends it was double time. The period for those amounts is from May 26, 2019, to November 10, 2019. For Port Royal staff, there were 13 full -time staff; 1 Ocean View staff who assisted in this process during that period; 16 extra staff or part -time staff. And the part -time staff started in July until the end of the tournament. For shipping costs, BEST Shipping for Sandys equipment and parts, $147,302.61; Fast Forward Freight, for shipping course items, $69,179.36; FedEx for shipping duty and fr eight on various items, $4,664.65; Island Construction Services Ltd., for shi pping container haulers and trucking, $23,332.12; Somers Isles Shipping, Limited, freight [for] landscaping machinery and fertilisers, $14,886.50; Trigon Turf Sciences, shipping, freight costs, $2,703.87. For training and travel costs, and taxi and transport, $433.00. This was for the technical PGA staff related to bunker liners to and from Port Royal and the hotel, as well as the RO [reverse osmosis] plant technicians. These woul d all be overseas experts brought in for that purpose. Bermuda Press Limited . . . Storage and Signs —this would be the title for this category. Bermuda Press Limited, entrance sign for the PGA Bermuda Championship, $1,145.50; Island Construction Services Ltd. for the storage and signs —this is for transporting signs and machinery —$155.25. For sand, Horizon and Kilpatrick’s Turf, equipment for bulk-top dressing sand, $16,255. Island Construction Services Ltd., this is an inventory item for stone only, $2,530.80. For miscellaneous expenses, a petty cash amount for dust masks of $27.50; Tops Ltd. for office supplies, $29.14; AGT Taxi Service for airport transfer, $240.00—this is for collecting the bunker liner persons from the airport. The airline was six hour s late, so that taxi claim [was] for time lost while waiting. Let me see. This is for small parts, machinery parts. Finch Turf, LLC, parts for groomer and mower brushers for walk mowers, $26,574.34; Bermuda S ecurity Services Limited to supply and install 68 locker locks, plus two spares, for both men’s and ladies’ locker rooms, $2,242. Finance charges —this is, obviously, for late payment of bills, I am guessing. Acushnet Company, late fees of $216.35; Finch Turf, LLC, late fees of $123.19; Fisher & Son, l ate fees of $668.43; K & N Supplies, $8.48; One Logic Communications, cablev ision, $120.49; Popcart Inc.,$208.06; Smith Turf & Irr igation company, $48.77; Sousa’s Landscape, $0.64; Warwick Gas Station, $1.00; HSBC Bank Bermuda, foreign exchange, $8,126.43—
[Inaudible interjection]
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchHe wanted everything! What’s you want? —For total landscape maintenance. [Inaudible interjection]
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchI did not write this. Petty cash. Current landscape maintenance, cement for steps, number 16, is $8,000.00. High Point, number four, tree pruning, $1,200.00; Keen Ltd. Bermuda, high- lift rental, $15,000.00— this was rent for a high- lift for trimming palm trees after hurricane, and regular tree clearing; S.A.L. Trading …
I did not write this. Petty cash. Current landscape maintenance, cement for steps, number 16, is $8,000.00. High Point, number four, tree pruning, $1,200.00; Keen Ltd. Bermuda, high- lift rental, $15,000.00— this was rent for a high- lift for trimming palm trees after hurricane, and regular tree clearing; S.A.L. Trading Limited for landscape for stone to repair the bunkers, $2,557.92; Island Construction Services, Ltd., for labour and equipment rentals, $33,587.50. This is for bunker clearing prior to laying of the liners. Bright Brigade janitorial services, cleaning prior and during the PGA,
Bermuda House of Assembly $9,965.00; Patricia and Steve Wade for the waxing of the Pro Shop floor, $70.00. Total irrigation and water parts . . .
[Inaudible interjection]
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchBermuda Water Works Limited, irrigation and water parts. This is monthly usage for the period that the RO plant was out of service, $52,387.59. Island Construction Services Ltd., for hid- hose adaptor, male Parker hose.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberWhat?
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchNone of this means anything to me. Mr. Speaker, $164.00. I am guessing that would be . . .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYou are on the last page now?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerNo? [Inaudible interjections ]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWould you like to share that copy with him?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWould you like to share that copy with him, so you do not have to read it all?
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchI do not know if he could read the wr iting. We scribbled it on these side pages. [Laughter] Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, the rules of the House do request that a copy be shared.
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchI do not know where I am now. Oh, irrigation and water parts. [Inaudible interjections and laughter ]
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchI think I did that. Okay. Well, I did . . . did I? No. Okay. I got halfway through this, I think. Irrigation and water parts. So, Troy Brown, technician fee for the assessment of the irrigation sy stem, $1,500.00. Horizon/Kilpatrick Turf Equipment for pumps and upgrade, $89,767.50. Okay. …
I think I did that. Okay. Well, I did . . . did I? No. Okay. I got halfway through this, I think. Irrigation and water parts. So, Troy Brown, technician fee for the assessment of the irrigation sy stem, $1,500.00. Horizon/Kilpatrick Turf Equipment for pumps and upgrade, $89,767.50. Okay. Golf cart parts. Tropicars, it is air filters and batteries, $34,843. 68; A rmken International for batteries, $9,405.23. Total equipment and maintenance. Par Aide Products, companies for flags , poles, cups and ball washers, $1,453.23; Prestige Flag for stakes, cups, rakes, paint and paint applicator and paint gun, $14,617.47; Finch Turf, LLC, for various parts, filter, O-ring, hinge, bulb, et cetera, $8,212.83; Hor izon/Kilpatrick Turf Equipment , various 10- inch parts, $12,232.10. This is for PGA machine repair extra parts on hand in case of equipment breakdowns. Trigon Turf Sciences, compressor switch and other parts, $2,049.20; Masters Limited for a three-foot folding table, $213.98; Smith Tur f & Irrigation company for a sensor bypass valve, beacon kit, et cetera, $1,217.07; Horizon/Kilpatrick Turf Equipment for driving range mats and balls, $4,576.70; Island Construction Services Ltd., for 113- gallon fuel barrels, $877.63; petty cash for PVC p iping for pin cups, $110.00. (It does not say who that is to.) Greg Maybury credit card reimbursement for a stimpmeter, $352.78; Horizon/Kilpatrick Turf Equi pment for a mow -and-go trailer per, and other parts, $22,600.37; A ntigua [Golf Apparel] (I do not think that is the country), staff uniforms, $16,400.05; Ardeen Smith for weed trimmers, $2,200.00; Tropicars for . . . I have no clue what this is. When you see this, you 2770 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly might know what it means. It has got a whole lot of initials for something for a golf cart, I guess. I do not know. $3,319; Smith Turf & Irrigation, one 5510 reel, green and tee set of reels, $162,968.71; Turf Science Inc., green brush attachment for John Deere 220- c grass mowers, $7,251.57. Bermuda Security Services, cut 12 keys for the boardroom, $213.90; Total Computer Support, oxygen, $1,415.00. Okay, this is clubhouse maintenance, I think this is. James Water Services, loads of water, $1,000.00; ESC Limited, light and pole, $2,500.00; Pembroke Paint Company Ltd., paint for the clubhouse, $131.82; Tate Maintenance, power -wash roof, remove debris (six areas), and paint roof, clubhouse roof after hurricane, $32,540.40.
[Inaudible interjection]
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchThirty -two five -fourzero-point -four. Malcom Santucci, stabil ising the pergola, va lue price, $750; Arthur Wolffe, pergola repairs, $13,061.02. And it is for, really, repairs following the hurricane, which should be reimbursed from insurance. [Coughing] Excuse me, Mr. Speaker.
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchNo. I am good. Shannon Forth, three- in-one sanitation and general maintenance, $5,878.39; Global Sales, patio doors and windows, $22,836.00; Heart & Soul Co nstruction, door installation, $19,500.00; Batson Swan Plumbing, f urnished filtration system $5,865.00. And that was the total club maintenance. Total chemicals and pesticides and fertiliser. Trigon …
No. I am good. Shannon Forth, three- in-one sanitation and general maintenance, $5,878.39; Global Sales, patio doors and windows, $22,836.00; Heart & Soul Co nstruction, door installation, $19,500.00; Batson Swan Plumbing, f urnished filtration system $5,865.00. And that was the total club maintenance. Total chemicals and pesticides and fertiliser. Trigon Turf [Sciences], chemicals, $97,795.00; Fisher & Son, fertiliser chemicals, $99,051.35; petty cash for catering water, soda and drinks for the workers, $215.70; Adrian Smith, catering for the maintenance department, October 30 th to November 3rd, $15,100.00; Bella Vista Bar and Grill, lunches, $1,076.90. Bunker maintenance. Petty cash for gloves, $209.27. Accounting and adver tising expertise, i ncrease in accounting services, $19,314.75; off -edge Bermuda championship Snapchat geofilter, $280.00. Ministry of Public Works in- kind support and various costs, $103,519.22. And this is would cover road pav-ing and marking, dock repairs to Rockaway, lighting and bathroom improvements. And finally, yes. Ministry of Tourism and Transport support, for buses, $20,543.69; for mini-buses, $56,600.00; and for ferries, $198,085.00. For a total of $1,916,315.01. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Supplementary? SUPPLEMENTARIES Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, Mr. Speaker. To the Honourable Minister, I thank you for the presentation. I look forward to getting a copy of it. What budget line item has the money come from?
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMr. Speaker, it is co ming from various budget line items. Some of these are capital works, and some of these are operational. Clearly, we did not budget for this; this item came up post budget. And so, between the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Tourism and …
Mr. Speaker, it is co ming from various budget line items. Some of these are capital works, and some of these are operational. Clearly, we did not budget for this; this item came up post budget. And so, between the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Tourism and Transport, we have found money within our current budget.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A further supplementary: What projects, which were funded under the original budget, are not being able to be done this year because of the money spent for the Bermuda Championship?
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMr. Speaker, I cannot really answer that question. But I think that it is fair to say what we have done from a capital budgeting point of view vi rtually every year, I think, in Government. We budget money for capital works. And that money is not spent. And so, …
Mr. Speaker, I cannot really answer that question. But I think that it is fair to say what we have done from a capital budgeting point of view vi rtually every year, I think, in Government. We budget money for capital works. And that money is not spent. And so, I can identify which of those projects have not been done. But it would be . . . I can get that information, Mr. Speaker, is the short answer.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Yes, the Honourable Member. SUPPLEMENTARIES Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Sorry, Mr. Speaker. From me to you to the Minister: I was quickly, obviously, trying to write down everything that he said. And I did see something for ICS for bunker clearing before the laying of the bunkers. But …
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchYou are correct. That would have been, I believe, $600,000. I made a Statement in this House about the cost of sand, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure why it is not included in the figures.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. Bermuda House of Assembly Lt. Col. Hon. David A. Burch: But as I said, this has been a moving target in trying to get the numbers out of those who count, who do accounting.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Second supplementary? Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Yes, second supplementary.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: And I understand that the Minister has gotten these numbers and, obviously, maybe there is some other information that could come afterwards. But the other thing relating to the sand, I do not remember seeing the trucking of the sand. So perhaps that —
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberIt was in there. Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: No. This just said bunker clearing before laying the bunkers.
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchBecause I thought it was in here with . . actually, no, Mr. Speaker. I believe the contract for the sand in the $600,000 for Island Construction would have been included in that figure. So Island would have contracted those truckers to transport the sand from the dock to Port …
Because I thought it was in here with . . actually, no, Mr. Speaker. I believe the contract for the sand in the $600,000 for Island Construction would have been included in that figure. So Island would have contracted those truckers to transport the sand from the dock to Port Royal. But I can confirm that, Mr. Speaker. But I believe that is my recollection.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. You have used your two supplementaries. Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Mr. Speaker, on the basis that there were two questions?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAh. Go ahead. Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you. And I apprec iate the Minister’s indication that he could check it. So I am appreciative of that. My second supplementary —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThis would be directed to the second question. Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Yes.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGo ahea d. Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Okay. Let me make sure that I have gotten it. Could the Minister indicate whether there is any sand that is left over for use in the future for the storage? [Inaudible interjection] Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Sand that we store, which will …
Go ahea d. Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Okay. Let me make sure that I have gotten it. Could the Minister indicate whether there is any sand that is left over for use in the future for the storage?
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Sand that we store, which will obviously benefit the course. And we do see expenditure, future expenditure. Thank you.
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMr. Speaker, I am advised that there is sand left over. It was part of the consideration when it w as purchased. I do not know the amount of that sand that is left over, but I can get that answer to you if it is desirable.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Supplementary?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSupplementary. SUPPLEMENTARIES Hon. Michael H. Dun kley: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to the Honourable Minister: What outstanding payments still have to be made? And I notice in the answers the Honourable Minister said there were late charges. Will there be further late charges owed by the G …
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMr. Speaker, I do not have an idea, and I did not get an indication from the accounting officers that there were any significant items outstanding. And that is why in my statement I said that there might be some change, but we do not expect for them to be …
Mr. Speaker, I do not have an idea, and I did not get an indication from the accounting officers that there were any significant items outstanding. And that is why in my statement I said that there might be some change, but we do not expect for them to be material. What was the second part of your question in regard to late payments? Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Any final late payments?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Your second supplementary on this? 2772 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, sir. I thank the Honourable Minister for agreeing to follow up, if he can do that. Second supplementary, Mr. Speaker, to the Hono urable Minister: What is …
Thank you. Your second supplementary on this?
2772 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, sir. I thank the Honourable Minister for agreeing to follow up, if he can do that. Second supplementary, Mr. Speaker, to the Hono urable Minister: What is the level of expected preparation expenses required for the next year of the Grand Slam? Will it match this level, or are there eff iciencies we can use after learning from this year?
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMr. Speaker, two things. First, the professionals have indicated that we would not have to spend the amount of money that we have had to spend this year in getting the course ready. You will know, Mr. Speaker, that it is fair to say that, for the past decade, Port …
Mr. Speaker, two things. First, the professionals have indicated that we would not have to spend the amount of money that we have had to spend this year in getting the course ready. You will know, Mr. Speaker, that it is fair to say that, for the past decade, Port Royal and Ocean View have not received the financial support that they have requested of both Governments. And so, there was a significant amount of investment made in equipment that would not have to be made next year. Separate and apart from that, Mr. Speaker, I received this morning, and I have not had a chance to read it . . . (Well, let me get the right title of it.) I brought it over here in the hopes that I might get an opportunity to, before we got to questions, but I did not. A report from the agronomist in terms of the state of Port Royal and what the recommendations are that are being made next year. And so there are some recommendations. And I suspect they are going to recommend some improvements to the course. But I do not antic ipate that they will be to the extent of what we had to do this year. Certainly, the initial indication at the end of the tournament from the agronomist who was present and resident for leading up to the tournament, he was quite pleased with the progress that the staff at Port Royal had made in bringing the course up to speed. I think the critical piece in this, Mr. Speaker, is this is a five-year commitment that the Government has undertaken. And so, in our considerations in the budget for next year, and going forward, we are taking that into consideration. And [concerning] the recommendations that are being forwarded in terms of funding for Port Royal, I shall push very hard to see that they are f avourably considered by the Minister of Finance.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSupplementary on this one? Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, I have a supplementary question, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSupplementary. Yes. SUPPLEMENTARIES Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. In respect of the overall listing that the Minister has given, could the Minister advise whether the importation of any of the electronics in relation to hosting and conducting of the tournament, whether those were duty -free imports? Are those duty …
Supplementary. Yes.
SUPPLEMENTARIES
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. In respect of the overall listing that the Minister has given, could the Minister advise whether the importation of any of the electronics in relation to hosting and conducting of the tournament, whether those were duty -free imports? Are those duty -free items still on Island? Have they been sent off? Or c an the Minister give us any indic ation?
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMr. Speaker, the items that were landed duty free have all been returned to from whence they came. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Second suppl ementary. The S peaker: Continue. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Is the Minister aware that there have been some on- Island sales of some of …
Mr. Speaker, the items that were landed duty free have all been returned to from whence they came.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Second suppl ementary. The S peaker: Continue.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Is the Minister aware that there have been some on- Island sales of some of that equipment to certain members of the public, who have been able to purchase some of the inventory that was imported duty -free?
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMr. Speaker, I am not aware of that. But I shall certainly ask the question now that it has been asked here.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAny further supplementaries? No further. The next written question is in t he name of the Honourable Member Gordon- Pamplin to Minister Wi lson. And this does not require oral response, but a written response.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberGood. [Laughter]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYou provided the written response? Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAnd I think the Member has her written response? Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. That was provided. Thank you. QUESTION: BERMUDA HEALTH PLAN 2020 Hon. Patricia J. Gordon –Pamplin: Would the Honourable Minister please provide for this Honourable House the actuarial study which gave rise to the determination of …
And I think the Member has her written response?
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. That was provided. Thank you.
QUESTION: BERMUDA HEALTH PLAN 2020
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon –Pamplin: Would the Honourable Minister please provide for this Honourable House the actuarial study
which gave rise to the determination of $514 for the premium supporting the core benefits for the Bermuda Health Plan 2020?
Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Thank you. We now move on in the time that is left to the questions regarding Statements given this morning. And the Member from constituency 10 has indicated he has a question for the Minister of Finance in reference to your first Statement, Minister, on Consolidation. Member, would you like to put your question?
QUESTION 1: CONSOLIDATED FUND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2019
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley : Yes, thank you to the Mi nister of Finance. Yes, this is on the first Statement the Honourable Minister gave, in regard to the Consol idated Fund Financial Statements 2019. And on page 3 of his Statement, the Minister says —top paragraph on page 3, the last sentence says, “For instance, Mr. Speaker, the Ministry of Finance has already put in place a plan to eliminate the deficit and, ultimately, reduce the debt.” The Government has shown by their budget that the deficit will be reduced, or there should be a surplus, for this year. But my question relates to the plan to ultimately reduce the debt. Can the Honour able Minister of Finance please provide this Honour able House with a glidepath on the intended plan to reduce the debt? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The S peaker: Thank you. Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The broad brushstrokes of the plan are to start to operate in a surplus to reduce the deficit. The surplus generates funds that can then be deployed to repurchase or pay down debt. Those are the broad brushstrokes of the plan. The other elements of the plan include ref inancing and extending the maturities of existing i ndebtedness to lower the effective cost of that debt. We did a refinancing last November, which resulted in extending maturities and lowering the cost of debt to the tune of a couple of million dollars. We have also been repaying higher coupon debt back. We did a tranche, I think, in June, and another further $100 mi llion of private placement debt in November. We did a bridge financing when we borrowed funds to purchase the tranche B and tranche C debt for the Morgan’s Point development. That was a short - term financing. The strategy there is that we will term that out for a longer period of time. There is another tranche of private placement debt that matures in 2023, has a coupon at about 7 per cent. The thinking there is that we would couple that with the Morgan’s Point debt and refinance it to a maturity that is more in the 2030 –2031 time frame. In light of where rates are currently, we are fairly reasonably confident that we can achieve a f i-nancing in the high 3’s, low 4 per cent range, saving considerably over existing costs. And those savings can then be deployed to repurchase debt. The unfortunate reality is that it took us 16plus years to accumulate up to $2.6- ish billion of debt. And it is going to take us some time to pay it down. But through prudent management, discipline and f ocus on generating surpluses and not spending borrowed funds for operating expenses, I think that we have a strategy to achieve a reduction, a meaningful reduction in the debt over time.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Supplementary? SUPPLEMENTARY Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes. I appreciate the reply from the Honourable Minister. But in regard to the deficit reduction plan for the debt that we have, is it $1 million a year, $10 mi llion a year? Obviously, you can only reduce debt through a …
Thank you. Supplementary?
SUPPLEMENTARY
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes. I appreciate the reply from the Honourable Minister. But in regard to the deficit reduction plan for the debt that we have, is it $1 million a year, $10 mi llion a year? Obviously, you can only reduce debt through a surplus. So, is it going to be one, ten, fifty or a hundred? Cayman just announced $180 million surplus for one quarter. Are we going to have a real plan, or are we just going to talk about surpluses that might never happen?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: We think —and the Honourable Member will appreciate, since he has been in this Chamber for a whole lot more time that I have been ––and so, he has seen the budgeting process work, and he actually led a government through budget processes. The budget …
Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: We think —and the Honourable Member will appreciate, since he has been in this Chamber for a whole lot more time that I have been ––and so, he has seen the budgeting process work, and he actually led a government through budget processes. The budget processes lead to government’s presenting their best guesses of what they expect the financial performance of the Government to be. We have projected for this year a surplus of $7.4 million, a result of some modest tax increases and holding the line on expenditures. Over the course of any fiscal year, things happen. Some of those things t hat happen accrue to the benefit of the government, and other things do not. In the case of this year for us, we have had the Morgan’s Point situation, which will result in incremental, unanticipated interest expense. Notwithstanding the unanticipated addi tional interest expense, we still are reasonably confident that we may be able to eke out a modest surplus. It took 16 years of spending more than we took in to get into the mess that we are in now. And it is going to take some more time to get out. I appreciate the comparison to Cayman. But I would also make the following statement: Cayman does not have the same infrastructure that we have. They do not provide the same level of services that we do. Some of their taxes are higher than ours; some 2774 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly of them ar e lower. And so, the comparison needs to be one that is actually balanced, as opposed to making broad statements about what Cayman does and what Cayman does not do.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAll right. Supplementary? I will take your supplementary. SUPPLEMENTARY Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister in his response indicated on the short term, interim arrangements that he had made with respect to borrowing money for the Morgan’s Point tranche A [sic] and B, …
All right. Supplementary? I will take your supplementary.
SUPPLEMENTARY
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister in his response indicated on the short term, interim arrangements that he had made with respect to borrowing money for the Morgan’s Point tranche A [sic] and B, I believe he called it, that there is a 7 per cent coupon rate. Would he just confirm that that was the number that he said? You said a 7 per cent rate?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: No. I referred to some pr ivate placement debt that has been on the books for quite a period of time that I would seek to . . . I think it matures in either 2022 or 2023. That debt does not have a prepayment …
Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: No. I referred to some pr ivate placement debt that has been on the books for quite a period of time that I would seek to . . . I think it matures in either 2022 or 2023. That debt does not have a prepayment provision in it, but there is an op-portunity where we could make those bondholders whole. And I would propose to redeem those bonds through a liability management exercise and extend the maturity, refinancing them at a lower rate. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerNo further? We now move on to the next Statement this morning that Members have indicated they have a question. And that would be the Statement given by Minister Burch in reference to the clean- up. And Honourable Member Gordon- Pamplin, would you like to put your question? QUESTION 1: …
No further? We now move on to the next Statement this morning that Members have indicated they have a question. And that would be the Statement given by Minister Burch in reference to the clean- up. And Honourable Member Gordon- Pamplin, would you like to put your question?
QUESTION 1: COMMUNITY CLEAN- UP DAY
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister in his Statement indicated that there would be a bulk waste clean- up in January. Could the Minister advise whether the H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck bulk waste programme is currently in place for bulk c lean- up as we speak? Or will people have to wait until January before there is any possibi lity for bulk waste clean- up?
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMr. Speaker, the short answer is yes, and yes in the sense that the bulk waste cl ean-up by the H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck is currently in place. But they are also engaged in other activities and are likely to stand down for Christmas, as they traditionally do. And so, they are …
Mr. Speaker, the short answer is yes, and yes in the sense that the bulk waste cl ean-up by the H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck is currently in place. But they are also engaged in other activities and are likely to stand down for Christmas, as they traditionally do. And so, they are trying to accomm odate those requests along with a number of other r equests that they are engaged in. For instance, they would have participated most . . . I mean, they bas ically are the go- to guys when there is a challenge within housing. I think all Honourable Members will be aware of the tragic fire last weekend that l eft a family of seven homeless. And so, they have spent a fair portion of this week assisting in that regard. And so, they will respond. So both of them are in play, but will there be challenges getting support before Christmas?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Supplementary? SUPPLEMENTARY Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that response. The Minister also indicated in his Statement that there would be a waiver of the dumping fees. And I am just wondering, in the absence of the availability for bulk …
Thank you. Supplementary?
SUPPLEMENTARY
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that response. The Minister also indicated in his Statement that there would be a waiver of the dumping fees. And I am just wondering, in the absence of the availability for bulk clean- up, pre- holiday, whether there could be consideration for the waiving of dumping fees if one could hire private trucks to do that which the H.U.S.T.L.E. Truck will not be able to get to? We just have a three- month outstanding issue. And I realise that priorities have to prevail. But I would be just cur ious whether the residents could be able to have that similar kind of consideration on this particular issue.
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMr. Speaker, I would say yes. I will have a word with the chief engineer to make allowances for any private trucker between now and the end of the year, to assist in that regard.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. No further question? We now move on to the next Statement for which Members have indicated they have a question. And that is the last Statement. Minister Caines, your Statement. There is a question from you from the Opposition Whip. Honourable Member, would you like to put your …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGood morning. QUESTION 1: CRIME AND VIOLENCE REDUCTION STRATEGY UPDATE Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. Susan E. Jackson: Yes. My question to the Honourable Minister is whether he might be able to provide any insights to an update on P astor [Leroy] Bean, and whether there have been any additional …
Good morning.
QUESTION 1: CRIME AND VIOLENCE REDUCTION STRATEGY UPDATE
Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. Susan E. Jackson: Yes. My question to the Honourable Minister is whether he might be able to provide any insights to an update on P astor [Leroy] Bean, and whether there have been any additional resources and support provided to him over this year, or whether he has been working with minimal r esources.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister. Hon. Wayne Caines: There have been no additional resources. But I would like to thank the Member for congratulating the Ministry for a 59 per cent decrease in crime. Her acknowledgement of the hard work for the Ministry in her question is really appreciated, acknowledging that ther e has …
Minister.
Hon. Wayne Caines: There have been no additional resources. But I would like to thank the Member for congratulating the Ministry for a 59 per cent decrease in crime. Her acknowledgement of the hard work for the Ministry in her question is really appreciated, acknowledging that ther e has been a significant stepchange in our country with reference to crime reduction in our country. Thank you to the Member.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Supplementary? No supplementary. That brings us to an end. But I wanted to note that on the clock there are 15 minutes and 40 seconds left, so if the Minister of Tourism [is able to have] that matter technically resolved, we will allow time for him to present his …
Yes. Supplementary? No supplementary. That brings us to an end. But I wanted to note that on the clock there are 15 minutes and 40 seconds left, so if the Minister of Tourism [is able to have] that matter technically resolved, we will allow time for him to present his Statement later on, [since] there are 15 minutes left on the question- and-answer period. Noted? Thank you.
CONGRATULATORY AND/OR OBITUARY SPEECHES
The SpeakerThe SpeakerDoes any Member wish to speak? I recognise the Honourable Premier. Honourable Premier, you have the floor. Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and good morning to you. The S peaker: Good morning. Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to extend and …
Does any Member wish to speak? I recognise the Honourable Premier. Honourable Premier, you have the floor.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and good morning to you.
The S peaker: Good morning. Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to extend and ask the House to extend condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Ruby Irene Simmons, who will be laid to rest today. Ms. Simmons is survived by [her children] Osdel, Dennis, Dollene and Jennifer, along with her grandchildren, including her grandson who serves as my diplomatic driver, Sergeant Calvin Simmons. And I pray that he and his whole family find comfort as they mourn her passing. I would like to associate the House with those remarks. Mr. Speaker, on a brighter note, I would like to send congratulations to all of the organisers of the first IFBB Pro League Caribbean Grand Prix in Bermuda, which was held at the CedarBridge Academy. Certai nly a special congrat ulations to the two Bermudians who earned their pro cards, Sueallen Lottimore and Lauren D’Amico, in addition to the countless other Bermudians who competed in this first -ever international event on Bermuda’s shores. It is the first time that professionals in the fitness and bodybuilding ar ena have been able to earn pro cards in Bermuda, and I want to send a special note of thanks to the organi sers, and certainly will associate the Minister respons ible for Health, and the Minister responsible for Imm igratio n, and the Minister responsible for Labour, Community Affairs and Sports, who all participated and supported the event. (Well, not participated; they were not onstage, but you know.)
[Laughter]
Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, earlier we heard the Minis ter of National Security speak about the deliberate work of which has been done by this Gover nment in the area of targeting the root causes of gang violence. One of those particular initiatives was certainly Redemption Farms, something that we prom-ised in our platform to jump- start social enterprises, and we are delivering. Last week Minister Caines did bring by the first vegetable harvest from the young men of Redemption Farms, and I do want to at least ask that this Honourable House recognise the work and the achievements of these young men as they are working hard to put themselves on the right path, and they are certainly delivering and having the, I would say, fruits of their labour; however, they were veget ables of their labour. Finally, Mr. Speaker, it is not often my practice to give congratulations for birthdays. But I do believe that, as the Government recognises those persons who turn 100, I certainly think that it is important to recognise that in this Honourable Chamber. And I would like to ask the House of Assembly to send a very special happy birthday greeting to Mrs. Grace Woodley, who turned 100 years old last week. MP Weeks and I spent some time with her and her incre dibly large and extended family in Pembroke. And I just could not believe t he fact, Mr. Speaker, that she was 100 years old. What I told her is that, Certainly , you are telling me a lie today. But I wish her and her entire family a happy celebration. They are going to be cel ebrating again later this month. And I wish that the House would send them congratulations. Thank you.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Does any other Member wish to speak? We recognise the Honourable Member Gordon-Pamplin. Honourable Member, you have the floor. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speak er. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask that this Honourable House send a letter of condolences to the family …
Thank you. Does any other Member wish to speak? We recognise the Honourable Member Gordon-Pamplin. Honourable Member, you have the floor. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speak er. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask that this Honourable House send a letter of condolences to the family of the late Ms. Brenda Rowse. She was the 2776 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly wife of John Rowse, and she is the mum of William, Nick and Susan, of Bostock. They are actually my consti tuents. But let me just say that Mr. Rowse, and, well, the two of them, Mr. and Mrs. Rowse, have been very active in looking out for how seniors fare in the environment in which we find ourselves, certainly in the financial environment. And if they have reco mmendations that they can make in terms of trying to make people’s lives easier, they are quite happy to put forward those recommendations. And it is on that basis that many of my contributions have been made to this Honourable House. So I would like to extend condolences to that family, as they funeralised their wife and mother this past Tuesday. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Does any other Member wish to speak? We recognise the Honourable Member from St. George’s. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Mrs. Renee MingGood morning, Mr. Speaker and listening audience.
Mrs. Renee MingI would like to take my time today to actually congratulate three young women who are doing some things in our communities. And the first one is McKenzie- Kohl Tuckett. She plays third place in a dramatic interpretation in the International Ind ependent Schools Public Speaking ceremony in the United …
I would like to take my time today to actually congratulate three young women who are doing some things in our communities. And the first one is McKenzie- Kohl Tuckett. She plays third place in a dramatic interpretation in the International Ind ependent Schools Public Speaking ceremony in the United States. And Tammy Richardson- Augustus, her name was added to the latest Legal 500 Caribbean ranking selected by over 250,000 in- house peers, clients, friends and feedback on independent assessment of law firms, fields and confidential matters. And also, I would like to extend congratul ations to Rosanne Meinzer, better known as Buffy, aka PC Meinzer. She was awarded the Scorekeeper of the Year Award by the Bermuda Cricket Board. She is actually the scorekeeper for the St. George’s Cricket Club. And I believe this is the first time that a woman has actually received that award. So w e applaud her for opening doors and showing women that, even if we are not playing cricket, Mr. Speaker, we can def initely be involved in the game. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Honourable Member Commi ssiong. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Mr. Rolfe CommissiongThank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not know if anybody conveyed condolences to the family of Ms. Marcelle Clamens. The Speaker : Yes. It was done . . .
Mr. Rolfe CommissiongWell, I would just like to associate with those condolences. She was som ewhat of an icon in the regard of ––with respect to exponent of classical music as a s oprano, of course, taken in the footsteps of —walking in the footsteps of her mother, Ms. Powell of legendary …
Well, I would just like to associate with those condolences. She was som ewhat of an icon in the regard of ––with respect to exponent of classical music as a s oprano, of course, taken in the footsteps of —walking in the footsteps of her mother, Ms. Powell of legendary Powell’s Nursery. She taught also many of Bermuda’s greatest talents and brightest stars. So I would associate with that, coming from a family that also was part of that Bermuda musical fraternity. Just switching very quickly, as a commendation, congratulations to Ms. Shiona Turini. Many of us who, you know, follow the cultural scene, both Bermuda and globally, know that she has made some significan t inroads and achievements in that sort of celebrity and artistic culture around New York and California. She actually had a signal achievement by being (how can I put it?) involved in costume design—
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberA stylist.
Mr. Rolfe CommissiongA stylist, that is right (thank you, Minister ), around a film that has been highly, highly acclaimed, critically acclaimed, which is out in the theatres now, called Queen and Slim. So, certai nly, her name now is really getting around in those ci rcles. And she is avidly sought …
A stylist, that is right (thank you, Minister ), around a film that has been highly, highly acclaimed, critically acclaimed, which is out in the theatres now, called Queen and Slim. So, certai nly, her name now is really getting around in those ci rcles. And she is avidly sought after. And we all can be proud of the achievements of Shiona Turini in that regard. So again I ask the House to send congratul ations to her for her seminal work in that industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourabl e Member. Does any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Deputy Speaker. Honourable Member, you have the floor. Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like for this House to send condolences out to the family of the late …
Thank you, Honourabl e Member. Does any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Deputy Speaker. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like for this House to send condolences out to the family of the late Rupert “Nick” Hollis, who died this week, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to associate the entire House. He certainly was one of the best cricketers that I have seen on the field, all -rounder, bat, bowl and field. U nfortunately, he played a little bit for Somerset. But he—
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThat was one of the better parts of his career. Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Well, I will not make any comment on that. Bermuda House of Assembly [Laughter] Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: But his best performances were with the Bailey’s Bay Cricket Club. And certainly, those in my …
That was one of the better parts of his career. Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Well, I will not make any comment on that.
Bermuda House of Assembly [Laughter]
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: But his best performances were with the Bailey’s Bay Cricket Club. And certainly, those in my era and your era, and those even younger than me certainly would have seen him in action, in particular in County Cup. He was a thorn to my team, the Heritage Bay Boys. But we were able to dismiss him w hen it was necessary. But I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Nick Hollis will be sorely missed by his family, friends and all those in Bailey’s Bay. Thank you.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Deputy. Does any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Minister of Education. Minister, you have the floor. Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like for the House to send congratulations to Sandra Dill, who organised yet another fantastic college …
Thank you, Deputy. Does any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Minister of Education. Minister, you have the floor.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like for the House to send congratulations to Sandra Dill, who organised yet another fantastic college fair, an event that gave many of our high school students an opportunity to talk directly with overseas universities and colleges, versus having to find out all of the information on the Internet or go overseas. I would also, Mr. Speaker, join with the Premier and send condolences to the family of Ruby Irene Simmons. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to send congratulations to Ms . Jada Thomas, who is an S4 st udent at CedarBridge. Mr. Speaker, recently they had a career fair at CedarBridge. And I met Ms. Thomas. And Ms. Thomas, as an S4 student, actually runs her own cosmetology business. And I asked her, who are her patrons? And she said, Look around. I have st udents. And, Mr. Speaker, one thing that warms my heart is that she said what gave her the idea of this were the things that she is doing at CedarBridge and the wonderful work they are doing at the cosmetology lab at CedarBridge. And so, for those who say that we do not have vocational topics or subjects within our school, this is yet another thing that shows what can happen when you e xpose our children to these things at a young age. And so, while she does want to be a dental h ygienist, I think it is worth showcasing and letting the public know that this young lady has started her own business doing cosmetology, hair and nails and stuf f, based on what she has learned in high school. And with that, Mr. Speaker, I would also like to congratulate Partner Re and their Dollars For Hours programme that has continued on. It is in its 14 th year. This initiative has given over $3 million to our schools, both public and private, over the years. And once again, Mr. Speaker, I would just like to highlight one of the exhibits that was done by the Berkeley Institute. And this was a bench that they built for the Reading Centre, once again showcasing some of the vocational skills that our students are learning within our high schools, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Does any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Honourable Member from constituency 28. Honourable Member, you ha ve the floor.
Mr. Dennis Lister IIIGood morning, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. I would just like to send congratulations. First of all, recently the 2019 Caribbean Equestrian Assoc iation Regional Jumping Challenge, where Bermuda participated. And we won the Overall Team Division, and also we had three individual winners who each won in their individual class. …
Good morning, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. I would just like to send congratulations. First of all, recently the 2019 Caribbean Equestrian Assoc iation Regional Jumping Challenge, where Bermuda participated. And we won the Overall Team Division, and also we had three individual winners who each won in their individual class. We had young Tyler A dams, young Jaeda Smith and young Kayla Bardgett. And I would like to associate the Minister of Sports with that, also. Also, I wou ld like to send congratulations as Bermudians get recognised on the international stage for all different —whether it is music, entertainment, different categories. So, recently, Collie Buddz, his latest album called Hybrid went number one on the Reggae Bil lboards. I would like to congratulate him for that. And also, I would like to just clean up a little what [the] previous speaker, [Honourable Member] Commissiong said, with Ms. Shiona Turini . . . she was nominated for her Excellence in Contemporary Film in the Costume Designers Guild Awards for her styling in the movie Queen and Slim. So, again I would like to send congratulations to those named. And I would like to associate the House also.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. I recognise the Honourable Member Tyrr ell. Honourable Member Tyrrell, you have the floor.
Mr. Neville S. TyrrellGood morning and thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on a sad note, I would ask that this House send condolences to the family of the late Wendell Eve, of Lusher Hill East, a very untimely passing for a very industrious person in this communi-ty. I am sure he will …
Good morning and thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on a sad note, I would ask that this House send condolences to the family of the late Wendell Eve, of Lusher Hill East, a very untimely passing for a very industrious person in this communi-ty. I am sure he will be sadly missed by his wife, Mar ilyn, and the children, as well, and I am sure his entire family. I would also ask that condolences be sent to the family of the late Ro bert Eugene Hewey, commonly known as “Bushes.” Many of us would have prob ably seen Robert on a daily basis walking throughout town, and probably suspected that he was homeless. But I can certainly assure you, Mr. Speaker, that Ro bert had a very, very lovin g family. He just fell on hard times, and that was, you know, basically his lifestyle. But he will be missed by, certainly, his mother Olive and father Freeman and the rest of the Hewey family. 2778 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. I now recognise the Honourable Minister for Works. Honourable Minister, you have the floor.
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchThank you, Mr. Speaker. I would ask that a letter of condolences be sent to the family of Mr. Winslow Ernest Greene, who, amazingly . . . the MP for his district, MP Dennis Li ster, has asked to be associated with it. Mr. Speaker, he is survived by his …
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would ask that a letter of condolences be sent to the family of Mr. Winslow Ernest Greene, who, amazingly . . . the MP for his district, MP Dennis Li ster, has asked to be associated with it. Mr. Speaker, he is survived by his sister, Patricia Joe, and numerous other relatives. But amazingly, Mr. Speaker, he worked for the Department of Parks for an astounding 40 years and seven months! I mean, it just is amazing. He was a skilled gardener at level 2, and it is be-lieved . . . we kind of figured out and established that we believe [that] it is the only job he ever had. And so, he succumbed to an illness earlier this week after a lengthy period of illness where he had been hospita lised overseas and then returned to us, and was on light duties. And certainly, the department . . . is clea rly struck with grief at his passing, and as is their custom, are in the process of doing some type of appr opriate tribute in his honour. So I would ask that condolences be sent to his family. Thank you.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. I now recognise the Honourable Member S imons. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsThank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to [ask the House to] send condolences to the family of Ms. Darce- Ann Tucker. Darce- Ann Tucker is the sister of former Member Darius Tucker and also sister to Ranelle. She recently passed. We went to school together all …
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to [ask the House to] send condolences to the family of Ms. Darce- Ann Tucker. Darce- Ann Tucker is the sister of former Member Darius Tucker and also sister to Ranelle. She recently passed. We went to school together all through it, and then on to Sandys. She was a keen athlete, a loving person, a teacher. And she was a lways willing to go the extra mile to help someone. So I would like to send condolences to the Tucker family. The Minister of Sports and Social Affairs has asked to be included on these condolences. I would like to also associate myself with the comments made in regard to Tammy Richardson-Augustus, a fine lady, as she continues to strive and make successes in her business, and particularly in the shipping industry business. Sueallen Lottimore, I would like to associate myself with those comments. She is a friend of mine. In fact, she tried to coach me. But she was not that successful.
[Laughter]
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberI can see that.
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsYes. Absolutely, you can see that. But yet, she has been working hard at it for years and years. She has coached a lot of people. And I think it is a great reward. I think she has the di stinction of having achieved two licences in the same evening …
Yes. Absolutely, you can see that. But yet, she has been working hard at it for years and years. She has coached a lot of people. And I think it is a great reward. I think she has the di stinction of having achieved two licences in the same evening here in Bermuda. So, I wish her continued success. As for the Bermuda Equestrian Federation and the CEA competition, I would like to associate myself with that. But I would like to also make the point that in most of the international competi tions that the Bermuda Equestrians participate in in the region, we come out in the top three almost in all disciplines, that being show -jumping, dressage and even the dri ving. So, I would suggest that we continue to support the Bermuda Equestrian Federati on and its athletes, both horses and individuals. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerDoes any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Honourable Member Swan. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. SwanGood morning, Mr. Speak er. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognise a co uple of very important folks in our community for an initiative that they worked on very quietly. And one person is sitting right behind me, the Honourable Member, MP Renee Ming; Assistant Commissioner Na’ima h Astwood; …
Good morning, Mr. Speak er. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognise a co uple of very important folks in our community for an initiative that they worked on very quietly. And one person is sitting right behind me, the Honourable Member, MP Renee Ming; Assistant Commissioner Na’ima h Astwood; and many others who worked very quietly behind the scenes to realise a policing community centre right on the water’s edge down there in St. George’s. And at the reception this week, it was moving to see Mr. David Somers, who made available one of the buildings of which he has responsibility in that area. I believe he negotiated a very favourable rent, little less than a peppercorn, to be able to allow community policing and marine policing to function. It is an important part of what the communi ty wants. And I want to thank the Honourable Member Ming and my colleagues for their work behind the scenes on this important initiative, community initiative, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Does any other Member? We recognise Honourabl e Member Pearman. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Mr. Scott PearmanGood morning, Mr. Speaker. I would like to congratulate the people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the free and democratic elections that we saw l ast night and early this morning. It is not every jurisdiction in this world that has free and democratic …
Good morning, Mr. Speaker. I would like to congratulate the people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the free and democratic elections that we saw l ast night and early this morning. It is not every jurisdiction in this world that has free and democratic elections. And there are other countries who would wish to have that opportunity.
Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, as you know, it was a landslide win for the UK Governm ent. But it was also a staggering collapse for the Labour Party. If you were watching the TV last night, the commentators offered two re asons for the Labour Party collapse. The first was the ever-present (someone said behind me) Brexit, the ever-present Br exit. This concept of independence that has been dividing the people of that island. But the second reason attributed for the collapse of Labour was the quality of the leadership of the Labour Party.
[Inaudible interjections]
Mr. Scott PearmanAnd, you know, two years ago, Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Labour Party in the UK was the darling of the electorate, in 2017, and he did very, very well. Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker, this is supposed to be —this is . . . there will be a …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes, yes. I was trying to follow — Hon. Wayne Caines: You will get the inference.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerDo not worry. Do not worry. Do not worry. Have a seat.
Mr. Scott PearmanMr. Speaker, I am congratulating the people of the United Kingdom on the election.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. You got up and congratulated them.
Mr. Scott PearmanAnd I believe I have three minutes to do so. [Laughter]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYou did get up and congratulate them. And then you started to go on a little fur ther. I am tr ying to figure where you are going on that one now. [Crosstalk]
Mr. Scott PearmanThank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will continue. I will continue.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. [Inaudible interjections]
Mr. Scott PearmanBut the second reason given, Mr. Speaker, for the Labour Party collapse was the leadership. Because they saw a leader who pursued an agenda of radical reform, who had a —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSome of that can be reserved for — [Crosstalk] Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker, you see how he expands? [Crosstalk]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers, Members, Members! Hon. Wayne Caines: You see how he —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSome of that . . . Members! Take your seat a minute. Take your seat a minute.
Mr. Scott PearmanYes. Hon. Wayne Caines: You see how he can—you see how he —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers, Members, Members. The Speaker is in his Chair. Hon. Wayne Caines: Do we have to be—
The SpeakerThe SpeakerJust respect that. Member, Member, if you would like to conti nue.—
Mr. Scott PearmanThank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. I will continue.
The SpeakerThe Speaker—Just keep it on a line of giving congratulatory remarks —
The SpeakerThe Speaker—and not a motion- to-adjourn speech. You have free time this evening on motion to adjourn to speak to your v iew on why they did or did not. [Inaudible interjection]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerBut just keep it on a congratulatory right now.
Mr. Scott PearmanI am congratulating the people of the UK. I am giving my condolences to the Labour Party voters.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAnd they accepted that. That is fine. That is fine.
Mr. Scott PearmanAnd my congratulations to the Prime Minister. And I am just observing, Mr. Speaker, that the reason that there was a collapse of the Labour Party was owing to the leadership. 2780 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Fine. You are—
Mr. Scott PearmanIt was a man who pursued a radical agenda. [Crosstalk]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYou are right. You are fine. And you do not need to take it any further.
Mr. Scott PearmanDividing and conquering — Hon. Wayne Caines: He speaks —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYou do not need to go any further on that one.
Mr. Scott Pearman—us against them. And anyway, it will be interesting to see, Mr. Speaker, whether we on this Island take any lessons from what we saw last night. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. Good. Does any other Member wish to speak? No further Members? [Inaudible interjections]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWe recognise the Minister of Sport. Minister, you have the floor. Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to lend my voice to the congratulatory remarks for Sueallen Lottimore. She, at the end of the contest, decided she . . . I am …
We recognise the Minister of Sport. Minister, you have the floor.
Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to lend my voice to the congratulatory remarks for Sueallen Lottimore. She, at the end of the contest, decided she . . . I am sorry. She was awarded pro status. My colleagues are laughing at me, Mr. Speaker.
[Inaudible interjections and laughter ] Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Also, Mr. Speaker, there are winners in the equestrian event. And I do have to also highlight Ms. Turini because of all of her great artistic work. I think we will not be surprised if, at the end of it all, she ends up being nominated for an Oscar because of her high- calibre work in her field. And I also would like to express condolences for the loss of former Member Darius Tucker’s s ister, whose daughter I did teach. And so, to her family, I just want [them] to know that [they] have our heartfelt condolences. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Any other Member? The Opposition Leader, you have the floor. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had the opportunity to give congrats to Pe ople’s Pharmacy on their anniversary. But what I was not aware of was the retirement of Aleathea Rabain. She …
Thank you, Minister. Any other Member? The Opposition Leader, you have the floor.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had the opportunity to give congrats to Pe ople’s Pharmacy on their anniversary. But what I was not aware of was the retirement of Aleathea Rabain. She had been there for 35 years. [She] is an East Ender from St. George’s, [and] I had the privilege of being the general manager there for 11 years. And what a fine woman, that she dedicated her time prior to going to People’s Pharmacy, she was up at Hami lton Pharmacy. She had been in the industry for many, many, many moons. And associate, yes, yes, [Honourable Members] Rabain, Caines. But what a stellar example of a woman. You know, I recall many, many a time whereby I do not know how she made it to work. There were some complications with hurricanes and thin gs like that. And she was always there 20 minutes ahead of time, always, and one of the last to leave, in fact. So, we had the opportunity at People’s Pharmacy to allow many young people to go through the establishment there to learn the trade of sales and hospitality. And she is a stellar, stellar example of what it means to dedicate yourself to an industry and to good service. On a funnier note, she is also one of those who could—I do not know how she did it. She could come in and tell off kids if they were acting up in the store right in front of their parents. She just had this way about her, but not being offensive, of course. And I would like to congratulate, once again, People’s Pharmacy for its 35 years in existence, and for Aleathea, who was there from day one to help stamp People’s Pharmacy as the premier pharmacy in the Island. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? No other Member. We can move on. MATTERS OF PRIVILE GE
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThere are none. PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThere are none. NOTICE OF MOTIONS FOR THE ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE ON MATTERS OF URGENT PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThere are none. Bermuda House of Assembly INTRODUCTION OF BILLS GOVERNMENT BILLS The S peaker: There are three Bills to be introduced this morning. And the first is in the name of the Deputy Premier. Minister. Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning to everyone.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGood morning. FIRST READING MORTGAGE RE GISTRATION AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Walter H. Roban: 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: Mortgage Registration Amendment Act 2019.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. The next is in the name of Minister Furbert. Minister. FIRST READING STATISTICS AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am introducing the following Bill for its first reading so that it may be placed on the Order Paper for the next day …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. And the third is in the name of the Minister of Transport. And I believe the Minister of Works is going to introduce it for him? FIRST READING MOTOR CAR AND ROAD T RAFFIC (MISCELLANEOUS) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchYes, Mr. Speaker. On behalf of that Minister, 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: Motor Car and Road Traffic (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThere are none. PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BILLS
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThere are none. NOTICE OF MOTIONS
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThere are none. ORDERS OF THE DAY
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThis brings us to the Orders of the Day. And the first item this morning is the wit hdrawal, I believe, Minister, of the item which has been sitting for some time? [Inaudible interjection] BILL WITHDRAWN CHILDREN AMENDMENT ACT 2018 Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, I move that my …
This brings us to the Orders of the Day. And the first item this morning is the wit hdrawal, I believe, Minister, of the item which has been sitting for some time?
[Inaudible interjection]
BILL WITHDRAWN
CHILDREN AMENDMENT ACT 2018 Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, I move that my order be discharged and that the Children Amendment Bill 2018 be withdrawn.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. [Motion passed: The Children Amendment Act 2018 was withdrawn.]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThe second item is the National Pension Scheme. Minister, are you going to move with that? Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Yes, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAnd that would have to be resumed in Committee because it was in the Committee when it was here before us. Hon. Curtis L. Dick inson: Yes, sir.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSo, Deputy. House in Committee at 12:01 pm. [Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chairman] COMMITTEE ON BILL NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME (OCCUPATIONAL PENSIONS) TEMPORARY AMENDMENT ACT 2019 [Resumption thereof] 2782 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Honourable Members, we are now in Committee of the …
So, Deputy.
House in Committee at 12:01 pm.
[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chairman]
COMMITTEE ON BILL
NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME (OCCUPATIONAL PENSIONS) TEMPORARY AMENDMENT ACT 2019
[Resumption thereof] 2782 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Honourable Members, we are now in Committee of the whole [House] for further consider ation of the Bill entitled the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Temporary Amendment Act 2019 . Minister Dickinson, you have the floor.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this Bill seeks to make temporary amendments to the requirements of the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Ac t 1998 (the principal Act) to allow for the suspension of 2 per cent of employee and employer contributions in r espect of the suspension period. Mr. Chairman, I would like to move clauses 1 through 3.
The ChairmanChairmanContinue. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 1 is self - explanatory. Clause 2(1) provides that this Bill will be construed as one with the principal Act. Accordingly, def initions used in the principal Act apply (such as employer including a self -employed person, and the meaning of defined benefit and …
Continue.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 1 is self - explanatory. Clause 2(1) provides that this Bill will be construed as one with the principal Act. Accordingly, def initions used in the principal Act apply (such as employer including a self -employed person, and the meaning of defined benefit and defined contribution benefit). Clause 2(2) provides that this Bill trumps an ything to the contrary in the principal Act or any other Act, and any pension plan or contract of employment. Clause 3 provides definitions for certain expressions used i n the Bill.
The ChairmanChairmanAre there any further speakers to clauses 1 through 3? There appear to be none. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that clauses 1 through 3 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 1 through 3 be approved. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. Approved. [Motion carried: Clauses 1 through 3 passed]
The ChairmanChairmanMinister, continue. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I propose to make an amendment to clause 4. Clause 4 applies to defined contribution plans and provides for the suspension of 2 per cent of con-tributions by members and employers in respect of the suspension period. An employer may suspend contr …
Minister, continue.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I propose to make an amendment to clause 4. Clause 4 applies to defined contribution plans and provides for the suspension of 2 per cent of con-tributions by members and employers in respect of the suspension period. An employer may suspend contr ibutions only with the agreement of the member (if the employer pays all or part of the member’s contrib ution), and only with the agreement of the collective bargaining agent (if the member is represented by a bargaining agent and the bargaining agreement addresses the pension plan). Clause 4(6) provides that a member ’s membership in the plan continues in r espect of calculation of the member’s benefit and for all other purposes, notwithstanding any suspension of contributions in respect of the suspension period.
The ChairmanChairmanMinister, one second. Do you have any copies of that, of the amendment? [Pause]
The ChairmanChairmanOkay. Thank you. Continue, Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I apologise, Mr. Chairman. I would say that while the copies are being made, the proposed new words to be added are fairly . . . there are five or six words. So, with the Members’ indu lgence. AMENDMENT TO CLAUSE …
Okay. Thank you. Continue, Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I apologise, Mr. Chairman. I would say that while the copies are being made, the proposed new words to be added are fairly . . . there are five or six words. So, with the Members’ indu lgence.
AMENDMENT TO CLAUSE 4
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I propose that the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Temporary Amendment Act 2019 be amended as follows: For clause 4(2), insert after “suspension period” a comma [followed by the] words “, with the agreement of his employer.” In clause 4(3), insert after “suspension period” the words . . . I am sorry. Insert punctuation mark comma, [followed by the] words “, with the agreement of the m ember.” This is done to mirror the 2012 provisions, which provided that before the employer can suspend the members’ or employees’ contribution, the agre ement of the member or employee is required; vice versa, before the member or employer can suspend a contribution, the agreement of the employer is r equired. I might pause until we get the copies so you can see.
[Pause]
The ChairmanChairmanYour tablet. And I understand people have got to get familiar with it. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Yes. All of the peopl e. [Crosstalk ]
The ChairmanChairmanAny further speakers to the amendment? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member, Mr. Pearman.
Mr. Scott PearmanThank you, Mr. Chairman. Bermuda House of Assembly When this Bill was last before the House before the previous Minister who present ed the Bill rose and reported, there were two issues with the Bill. The Minister has just identified and corrected the first of those two issues, which is …
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Bermuda House of Assembly When this Bill was last before the House before the previous Minister who present ed the Bill rose and reported, there were two issues with the Bill. The Minister has just identified and corrected the first of those two issues, which is the need for employee consent. It was discussed during the previous debate. The second of the two is sues was the fact that 2 per cent of contributions is not the same as twofifths of contributions. And I had understood from the previous person who presented this Bill to the House on the last occasion that what was meant by 2 per cent of contributions is , in fact, two -fifths of contributions, which is 40 per cent. The Opposition is happy for that amendment, as well, if that amendment is be-ing made. But it would clarify the Bill and I think achieve the purpose that is intended by the Gover nment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The ChairmanChairmanAnd the Chair recognises the Honourable Member Trevor Moniz. Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. From my point of view, I just rise to thank the Honourable Minister for taking into account the concern that I raised when we were last here two weeks ago about …
And the Chair recognises the Honourable Member Trevor Moniz.
Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. From my point of view, I just rise to thank the Honourable Minister for taking into account the concern that I raised when we were last here two weeks ago about having the consent of the member. The Acting Minister at that time, or the Minister who took the Bill at that time rose and reported progress on the basis of my concerns, and those have been taken in to account, and I would like to thank the Minister for that.
The ChairmanChairmanAny further speakers? Minister, you have the floor. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In responding to MP Pearman’s comments, I think I understand the point. And I have reviewed the drafting, and it can be easily misinterpreted. So let me . . . with your indulgence, I …
Any further speakers? Minister, you have the floor.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In responding to MP Pearman’s comments, I think I understand the point. And I have reviewed the drafting, and it can be easily misinterpreted. So let me . . . with your indulgence, I would like to kind of give Members some broader description of what is intended here. In order to understand the phrase “ contributions that are required to be made, ” that phrase must be read in connection with section 19(1) of the princ ipal Act, and the First Schedule of the principal Act and the definition of “ pensionable earnings ” under section 2(1) of the principal Act. Under section 19(1) of th e principal Act, a member and his employer are required to contribute equally to the pension fund at the rate and date spec ified in the First Schedule on behalf of the employee. So referring to the First Schedule from 1 January 2004, the contribution rate is specified as 5 per cent of pensionable earnings. In section 2(1) of the principal Act, “‘ pensionable earnings ’ means (a) in the case of an employee, any of the following payments expressed in monetary terms and paid (directly or indirectly) to the empl oyee by the employer up to a maximum of $200,000 per year . . . [ that would include ] i. any wages, salaries or leave pay; ii. any fee or commissions; iii. any bonus, including payments from a profit - sharing scheme, which exceeds ten per cent of the employee’s basic sa lary or wage for the period in question; but does not include overtime payments in respect of hours w orked in excess of 35 hours in any week, severance payments, retirement or long- service recogn ition payments or health insurance premiums . . .” And, “(b) in the case of a self -employed person, his earnings as prescribed and calculated in accordance with the regulations . . .” So, by way of example, consider an employee whose pensionable earnings is $100,000 per year. That employee is required to contribute 5 per cent of $100,000 per year to the Pension Fund. The amount of contribution he is required to make would be $5,000. If the employee elects to suspend his contr ibution, then he would suspend 2 per cent of the 5 per cent of the contribution he is required to make. Ther efore, the amount that he would not be contributing would be $2,000, or the 2 per cent. This same calculation would apply to the employer if the employer elects to suspend the contribu-tion, with the permission of the employee, that he is required to make.
The ChairmanChairmanAny further speakers? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member, Mr. Pearman. You have the floor.
Mr. Scott PearmanThank you, Mr. Chairman. I am grateful for the clarification by the Minister. It now seems that we ar e all at least on the same page as to what is meant by this Bill. But, respectfully, 2 per cent of the contribution is different than 2 per cent of …
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am grateful for the clarification by the Minister. It now seems that we ar e all at least on the same page as to what is meant by this Bill. But, respectfully, 2 per cent of the contribution is different than 2 per cent of the 5 per cent contribution. Two per cent of the 5 per cent contribution is, in fact, 40 per cent. And rath er than making Bermudians go to Hansard to understand what they are entitled or not entitled to do, could we not simply put “two- fifths” in the Bill? That suggestion was offered in good faith two weeks ago. And I would hope the Government would be prepared to take it up.
The ChairmanChairmanAny further speakers? Minister, you have the floor. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I am going to try to say this one more time. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: It is 2 per cent of the 5 per cent. And I kno w that those of us who have done …
Any further speakers? Minister, you have the floor. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I am going to try to say this one more time. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: It is 2 per cent of the 5 per cent. And I kno w that those of us who have done ad2784 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly vanced math instinctively take 2 per cent times 5 per cent. What I am saying is, if you have five fingers, two fingers of the five.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberIt is 40 per cent. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I agree with that. I wholl y accept that. One thing that I am not is a parliamentary draftsperson. [Laughter and inaudible interjection] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: And I would rather not be one of those, because it means being a …
It is 40 per cent. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I agree with that. I wholl y accept that. One thing that I am not is a parliamentary draftsperson. [Laughter and inaudible interjection]
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: And I would rather not be one of those, because it means being a lawyer.
[Laughter] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I like doing what I do. But we will . . . If there are regulations or not ifications that we can provide to folks to help them understand how this will be implemented, we will certai nly do that. But we talked to the drafters about this. And their preference was that we leave the wording as it has been included in the document. I move to approve clause 4, Mr. Chairman.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clause 4 be approved as amended. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. Approved. [Motion carried: Clause 4 passed as amended.] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move clauses 5 through 10.
The ChairmanChairmanContinue. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 5 applies to defined benefit plans and provides that the employer may suspend up to 2 per cent of all [employer] normal costs and 2 per cent of employee contributions in r espect of the suspension period, with the agreement of the collective bargaining …
Continue.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 5 applies to defined benefit plans and provides that the employer may suspend up to 2 per cent of all [employer] normal costs and 2 per cent of employee contributions in r espect of the suspension period, with the agreement of the collective bargaining agent if the member is repr esented by a bargaining agent and the bargaining agreement addresses the pension plan. Clause 5(6) provides that a member’s accrual of service and membership in the plan continues in respect of calc ulation of the member’s benefit and for all other pur-poses, notwithstanding any suspension of contrib utions in res pect of the suspension period. Clause 6 requires a member to give notice of his decision to suspend contributions. Clause 6(2) requires the employer to notify the administrator of any proposed suspension of contributions. Clause 6(3) provides that section 19(6) of the principal Act (administrator to give notice to employer and Com-mission regarding unpaid contributions) and section 19(6A) of the principal Act (employer to pay interest on unpaid contributions) do not apply when a notice has been given under Clause 6(2). Clause 7 prohibits suspension of contributions by an employer if the employer is in arrears. Clause 8 clarifies that if a member continues to make contributions in respect of the suspension period, these are not to be treated as voluntary contr ibutions. Clause 9 creates an offence if an employer continues to deduct contributions from a member’s salary or wages when the member has given a notice of suspension of contributions under clause 6(1). Clause 10 provides for commencement.
The ChairmanChairmanAre there any further speakers? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Pat Gordon- Pamplin. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my observation is in respect of clause 4, being the suspension of the contri butions, and clause 5. Clause 4 is defined contribution benefits, and …
Are there any further speakers? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Pat Gordon- Pamplin. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my observation is in respect of clause 4, being the suspension of the contri butions, and clause 5. Clause 4 is defined contribution benefits, and clause 5 is defined benefits. And as I mentioned when we did the debate of the whole, that the idea of suspensions, I just think it is important to u nderstand for the public that this is not just the 2 per cent that they are able to hold onto now, but it has exponential ramifications as time goes on when you do not contribute. So it is important to understand that not only are we relinquishing the taking of the 2 per cent or the saving of the 2 per cent at the moment —
The ChairmanChairmanWhat clause are you talking about? Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Clause 4 and clause 5.
The ChairmanChairmanWe just finished clause 4. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Clause 4, which says—
The ChairmanChairmanWe ar e doing clauses 5 thorough 10 right now. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Oh, I am sorry. Then I apologise if we have already accepted clause 4. Thank you.
The ChairmanChairmanAny further speakers to clauses 5 through 10? Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. Sorry. Then my comment is in relation to clause 5. And so, if I missed the opportunity to speak to clause 4 . . . Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Okay. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon …
Any further speakers to clauses 5 through 10? Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. Sorry. Then my comment is in relation to clause 5. And so, if I missed the opportunity to speak to clause 4 . . .
Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Okay.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: The argument remains exactly the same, that if we are talking about not making a contr ibution, that it is fine to say, You’ve got the money now. But that contribution that you do not make compounds exponentially between the time that you are not making the contribution and the time that you are eligible to take out the benefits of your pens ions. And I say all of that just to underscore that, to the extent that anyone is able to not implement this clause, this allowance, that I would certainly encourage them to do so. Because this 2 per cent is going to cause challenges further down the road.
The ChairmanChairmanAny further speakers? Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that clauses 5 through 10 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 5 through 10 be approved. Are there any objections to that? There appe ar to be none. Approved. [Motion carried: Clauses 5 through 10 passed] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that the Bill be reported to the House as . . …
The ChairmanChairmanWell, let us do the preamble first, Mi nister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Sorry. I move that the pr eamble be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the preamble be approved. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. Approved. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I move that the Bill be r eported to the House as amended.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as amended. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. Approved. [Motion carried: The National Pension Scheme (O ccupational Pensions) Temporary Amendment Act 2019 was considered by a Committee of the whole House and passed …
It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as amended. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. Approved. [Motion carried: The National Pension Scheme (O ccupational Pensions) Temporary Amendment Act 2019 was considered by a Committee of the whole House and passed as amended.] House resumed at 12:1 8 pm
[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE
NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME (OCCUPATIONAL PENSIONS) TEMPORARY AMENDMENT AC T 2019
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers, are there any objections to the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pe nsions) Temporary Amendment Act 2019 being repor ted to the House as amended? There are none. It has been reported as amended. That now moves us on to t he next item on the Order Paper this morning, …
Members, are there any objections to the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pe nsions) Temporary Amendment Act 2019 being repor ted to the House as amended? There are none. It has been reported as amended. That now moves us on to t he next item on the Order Paper this morning, and that is [Order] No. 3, the second reading of the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. And I believe that Minister Wilson will be leading. Minister.
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker , I move that the Bill entitled the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 be now read a second time.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAny objections? No objections. Continue. BILL SECOND READING CHILDREN (NO. 2) AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, allow me to pr esent to this Honourable House the Bill entitled Chi ldren (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. For the last two years, the Director of Child and Family …
Any objections? No objections. Continue.
BILL
SECOND READING
CHILDREN (NO. 2) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, allow me to pr esent to this Honourable House the Bill entitled Chi ldren (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. For the last two years, the Director of Child and Family Services and designated children’s officers have been challenged by both public and private schools on whet her they have the authority to come into school premises to conduct an investigation of a child without a member of staff present. These are in situations where allegations of abuse, neglect or any other incident have been reported to the director. This has occurred despite the director or children’s officer providing school officials with the legislative authority pursuant to section 42 of the Children Act 1998. Such actions hinder the department’s investigations, causing delays in the protection of our children, putting them at risk of harm. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Child and Family Services [DCFS] Intake Section is tasked with the responsibility of conducting such enquiries under section 42. The purpose of the Intake Section is to assess all report ed referrals which may require enquiries to be conducted by the department. Intake is a 2786 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly critical component of DCFS that provides child protective services, while ensuring the following, Mr. Speaker: (a) DCFS’s main point of contact for reporting concerns r egarding children, which are received and assessed; (b) to provide information to mandated r eporters and the general public regarding the services available by DCFS; (c) initiate help for identified fam ilies; and (d) providing timely and appropriate measur es directed towards ensuring the child’s safety and maintaining the family. Mr. Speaker, by way of advising on the i mportance of these amendments, in 2017 alone 1,222 new incidents of child abuse or neglect were reported to the Intake Section of the Depar tment of Child and Family Services. In 2018, there were 1,142 new inc idents. These are incidents where a child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm at the hands of an abuser and can include physical and/or sexual abuse, verbal abuse and/or neglect. Already between January and September of this year, the department has received 785 new reports of allegations of abuse against a child. Mr. Speaker, as a result of these challenges, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General’s Chambers were consulted for advice on the direction the Department of Child and Family Services should take in order for section 42 to be effectively utilised when conducting such investigation. Mr. Speaker, it was recommended that further information should be included in the Children Act 1998 to provide clarity that section 42 applies to both public and private schools, and to impose a duty on persons to comply with the legislation. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Education was also consulted, and they are in agreement to the legislative amendments recommended by the Department of Child and Family Services. The Minister of Education supported DCFS revising their policies and procedures to ensure that more than one social worker is present during the enquiry. Also, to ensure that the amendments reflect the collective responsibility required under section 42 of the Children Act 1998 to do the following: (1) ensure school officials at public and private schools and tut orial sites are informed of the process that DCFS will use when conducting enquiries under section 42 of the Children Act 1998; and [2] ensure cooperation and collaboration exist between public and private schools and tutorial sites with the department when investigating suspected abuse or neglect of a child in order to act in the best interest of the child by protecting them from harm. Mr. Speaker, for this reason, the Bill is intended to enhance the existing legislation by providing clarity in three ways under section 42 of the Children Act 1998: first, that the Director of the Department of Child and Family Services may require persons to give him access to a child in order to conduct an e nquiry where there has been reported incidents against the child, including abuse or neglect; secondly, to i m-pose a duty on persons to comply with the requir ement given by the director; and finally, a penalty for failing to comply with the requirement. Also, consequential amendments have been made to the Education Act 1996 and the Education Rules 2006. These amendments will be elaborated on during this presentation, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, clause 2 of the Bill inserts a new subsection (3A) [of section 42], clarifying that the d irector may conduct an enquiry at any public or private school, tutorial site or other educational facility r eferred to in the Education Act 1996, or at any place providing extracurricular, social or community activity. Mr. Speaker, the amendment that authorises the director to conduct enquiries under section 42 of the Children Act 1998 a t any place providing extracurricular, social or community activities is to ensure that the department is able to facilitate enquiries beyond the school day —for example, during the weekends and holidays. This amendment will further ensure that enquiries ar e conducted in a timely manner to reduce the potential risk of harm to a child. Mr. Speaker, currently, when the director is conducting enquiries under section 42, he may, under section 42[(8)], require a person to assist him with such enquiries. Clause 2 of the Bill enhances section 42(8) by providing for the director to require any per-son to grant access to the child, to require any person to assist him with the enquiries, and in particular by providing relevant information and advice, to require any per son to provide facilities to conduct the enquiry, to require persons not be present during the enquiry and to assist him by refraining in any way from obstructing the enquiry, including refraining from infor ming any person that an enquiry will be, is being or has been conducted. Mr. Speaker, this amendment sets out what is expected of persons if the director is con-ducting enquiries under section 42 of the Children Act. Mr. Speaker, as stated previously, the DCFS has revised their policy and procedures for conducting enquiries of a child under section 42 of the Children Act 1998, which will be available for mandated repor ters and the general public. This document sets out the process that includes the interviewing procedure and the director or his designate to follow. Mr. Speaker, if it is deemed necessary for the director or his designate to conduct an enquiry of a child at school, tutorial sites, and social and community organisations, it must be done in the presence of at least two representatives of the Department of Child and Family Services —for example, Mr. Speaker, the director and a children’s officer or two children’s offi cers. The following interviewing procedures will also be followed, Mr. Speaker: The director or children’s officer will contact the officials of the school or tutorial site, supervisor or owner responsible for the extracurricular, social or community activities, via email or phone prior to their
Bermuda House of Assembly arrival to inform them that they will be conducting an enquiry under section 42 of the Children Act. The officials of school or tutorial site superv isor or owner responsible for the extracurricular, social or community activities will (a) provide contact infor-mation and the address for the parent or guardian of the child; (b) provide the c ontact information and address of the child if different to the address of the parent or guardian of the child; (c) assist the director or children’s officer by (i) providing a private, suitable space to conduct an enquiry of the child that is free from di stractions; (ii) bring in the child to the identified space where the enquiry will be conducted; (iii) provi ding additional support for the child as required, such as a translator or assisted technology; and (iv) offer support to the child during the inter view process if r equested by the director or children’s officer. Mr. Speaker, in addition, they will be required to inform the parent or guardian of the child in question to contact the director or children’s officer if enquiries have been made directly t o the school concerning the matter, as well as to keep all information obtained about the case confidential. Mr. Speaker, due to the obstructions the department has faced when conducting such investiga-tions, and the harm a child could experience as a r esult of such delay, the Bill also introduces an offence and penalty under clause 3, which amends the Chi ldren Act 1998 by inserting the new section 42A. Intr oducing this offence, a person is aware from the outset that if they fail without reasonable excuse t o comply with the requirements imposed by the director under [new] section 42[(8)](b), they may be guilty of an of-fence under clause 3. The penalty provision under clause 3 is a maximum fine of $3,000. The fine not exceeding $3,000 was introduced to deter any person from failing to comply with the director’s requirements in order to avoid delay in conducting enquiries of a child under section 42. This penalty was derived to align sanctions under the Children Act 1998 to provide consistency throughout. Mr. Speaker, clause 4 of the Bill allows for consequential amendments to the Education Act 1996 by introducing section 68A. Section 68A provides for the director or his designate to conduct an enquiry under section 42 of the Children Act 1998 at a school, tutorial site or other educational facility without a person being present. The intent is to allow enquiries to be conducted by the director or children’s officer in private. This will prevent persons interfering with the investigation process by intimidating a child who is being interviewed by the director, as this has had a negative impact on the enquiry process. Also, a consequential amendment has been made to the Education Rules 2006 under clause 5 of the Bill. This amendment provides clarification that an investigation under rule 25 does not include an e nquiry conducted by the director under section 42 of the Children Act. Mr. Speaker, the legislative amendments i ntroduced by this Bill enhance the process by which the director or his designate conduct in vestigations under section 42 of the Children Act 1998 of allegations of abuse of children. This Government is confident that this legislation provides the clarity and authority r equired by the department to facilitate enquiries at schools, tutorial sites, other educational facilities and any place providing extracurricular, social or comm unity activities in order to protect and safeguard our children. Mr. Speaker, in conjunction with the legisl ative amendments, the Department of Child and Family Services w ill provide all schools and tutorial sites with their policy and procedures, and any material highlighting these amendments. This information will also be available to persons providing extracurricular, s ocial or community activities, as well as the general public. Mr. Speaker, DCFS wants to ensure that school officials and operators of tutorial sites, extr acurricular, social or community activities adhere to the process and procedures that the department must follow to ensure that the welfare of the child is par amount when an allegation of abuse or neglect of a child has been reported. In light of this, DCFS is committed to educating mandated reporters and the general public of these amendments. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister, ar e you at the end of your presentation, or . . . Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes, I am, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. Before we acknowledge the next speaker, I would suggest we take our lunch now. Are there any objections to that? No objections. The House wi ll stand a djourned until 2:00 pm. [Gavel] Proceedings suspended at 12:32 pm Proceedings resumed at 2:02 pm [Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGood afternoon, Members. [Gavel]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWe are resuming the debate o n the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 and the Mini ster had just completed her presentation. Mr. Pearman, are you going to lead off? 2788 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly BILL SECOND READING CHILDREN (NO. 2) AMENDMENT ACT …
Mr. Scott PearmanAs you said, we are discussing the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 which is a Bill intended to give more powers to the director of the Department of Child and Family Services [DCFS] in relation to investigations into issues with children. Mr. Speaker, as you know , I am …
As you said, we are discussing the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 which is a Bill intended to give more powers to the director of the Department of Child and Family Services [DCFS] in relation to investigations into issues with children. Mr. Speaker, as you know , I am still new here, so some things do take me by surprise and I am still not really adjusting to all this sort of “Opposition” m alarkey. It does seem a bit odd. We got a piece of legi slation that is proposed by the Government, sometimes it is tabled two weeks before we debate it, sometimes it is not. Sometimes we have read it diligently, som etimes some of us have not. But we, the Opposition, are here to try to consider the legislation and to try to offer our comments, criticisms, or commendations about t he Bill, hopefully, with the collaborated effort of making the legislation better. And it is right, isn’t it, that when you try to pr epare a policy or a new piece of legislation, you come at the policy or that piece of legislation with a partic ular viewpo int in mind. You have a goal you are trying to achieve, so you draft the legislation with that goal in mind. And sometimes because you have that targeted viewpoint, you are a little bit blinkered. You do not necessarily see things out in the periphery. And that is why it is useful . . . and you remember, Mr. Speaker, the expression “a fresh pair of eyes.” It is useful som etimes to have a fresh pair of eyes look at something because sometimes that fresh pair of eyes approac hes the proposed legislation or pol icy with a totally different viewpoint and sometimes they find things or make observations that are not only useful to the Government but are beneficial to the Island in that they enhance and improve the legislation. Mr. Speaker, as I said, I am new here, or newish, and it is a shame that we do not see more collaboration on the legislation that we are churning out here because sometimes that collaboration would as-sist. Rather than me or one of my colleagues in the Opposition standing up and seeking to embar rass the Government about what is wrong about a particular Bill, we might actually be collaborative and be able to share ideas and enhance the Bill and improve the Bill beforehand. But it just does not work that way. We do not have committees where we disc uss a Bill before it comes to a vote; the committee is afterwards, which is a bit bizarre. And the only way we can try and improve these Bills is through consultation. And that, Mr. Speaker, has been a topic that I have often revisited on legislation in t he past. Because when we have consultation, people view these proposals with a fresh pair of eyes and they come up with ideas or suggestions or comments or criticisms with that fresh perspective, which is often helpful. And often makes for better legislati on. Now, the Bill we are about to discuss today, unfortunately, has not had consultation other than a consultation with the Ministry of Education. And it was necessary to consult the Ministry of Education b ecause this Bill seeks not only to amend the Children Act 1998, but it also seeks to amend the Education Act 1996, and the Education Rules 2006, and so it was not only necessary but probably obligatory to di scuss with the Ministry of Education the changes in this Bill. But it is unfortunate that we have n ot had consultation with the third- party sectors, with charities in the family sector, with child advocate’s litigation guard ians, lawyers who represent children, [and] people who are involved in the family court because they may bring that fresh perspecti ve. They may point out some errors. And, Mr. Speaker, lest it be thought that I am opposing for the sake of opposition, let me offer some commendation and say where I think things have been done well. Today the Honourable Minister wit hdrew the Children Amendment Act 2018. That was a Bill that was sitting on the Order Paper since last N ovember. Today it has been withdrawn. It was a Bill that was heavily criticised. It was going to dilute the rights of Bermudian children. It has been withdrawn, and I commend the Minister and I commend the Government for withdrawing that Bill. They have done the right thing in taking it off the table because it would have been a very bad Bill. And I think Bermudian chi ldren got lucky that this bad idea was abandoned and withdra wn today. The Bill that we are looking at now, Mr. Speaker, the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019, is in many respects a good Bill. It is a well -intended Bill. It is seeking to try to do better in the field of the Department of Child and Family Services which is an area of our Government which has been exposed to much criticism and, I would say, deservedly so in r ecent months, and perhaps years. There are, however, some significant problems with this Bill. There are, in fact, two significant
Bermuda House of Assembly problems wi th this Bill. And again, I raise these points not to be difficult, not to be the Opposition, not to play Gotcha with the Minister, but I raise them because they are pretty fundamental issues. And as we saw two weeks ago, when a Minister was presenting the Pension Bill, and a fundamental constitutional issue was raised by my honourable friend, Mr. Trevor Moniz, there was a rise and report. The issue was correc ted, and rightly so. And we got a better piece of legisl ation because of that. And so, Mr. Speaker, let me point out what I say are the two fundamental issues that are wrong with this Bill in the hope that as I am offering them in good faith, someone might listen, but also I have been here a little bit longer than I had a few months’ back and I am starti ng to learn that just because I point out something that is blindingly obvious to everyone, does not mean that anyone will do anything about it. Mr. Speaker, the two points in the Bill are these: As I said, the purpose of this Bill is to grant more powers to the director to investigate issues. And that is in one of two contexts, because it is amending section 42 of the original 1998 Children Act, and section 42 is all about the duty of the director of DCFS, the Department of Child and Family Services, to i nvestigate. And there are two circumstances where this investigation is happening under section 42 of the [principal] Act. It is either where the director (a) has obtained—and I am reading from section 42[(1)(a)] of the [principal] Act. Either “ Where the D irector —(a) has obtained an emergency protection order in respect of a child; or (b) ” (This again is the director.) “ has reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm [.]” So the context of the conversation we are having, the discussion we are having is about Berm udian children who are either already subject to an emergency protection order, or are children about whom there is reasonable cause to suspect the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. So, this is a very serious conversation. This is a very serious situation. These are children who are the most vulnerable and the most exposed. And, therefore, I apprec iate the context in which this legislation is trying to make these things better, but notwithstanding that context, there are, I suggest, two issues that really are not doing what they should. The first of these two issues is in relation to the director’s duties and obligations. The [principal] Act provides, in respect of section 42(5), and I will read that section. It says this: “ Where, in the course of enquiries made under this section any person authorized by the Director to act on his behalf in connection with those enquiries —(a) is refused access to the child concerned; or (b) is denied information as to his whereabouts, the Director shall apply for an emergency protection order [.]” And this amending Act seeks to amend that section. It seeks to take the word “shall,” which is o b-ligatory, and places a duty upon the director, and substitute [that] with the word “may,” which is not obligat ory. It is discretionary. So, respectfully, that change is diluting the obligations of the director in circumstances where we already have an EPO (an emergency pr otection order), or where there is reasonable cause to suspect the child is suffering or is likely to suffer harm. It is our respectful submission, Mr. Speaker, that in those circumstances, to change a statutory o bligation on the director of the department to intervene to a permissive “may” rather than a mandatory “shall,” is diluting the duty of the director. And that is a big issue. It is saying, You don’t have to; you can, but you don’t have to. And is that really the kind of change that we want to be making in respect of the duties that are placed upon the director of the department in these circumstances? And, respectfully, Mr. Speaker, I sug-gest the answer is no. We do not want to water down his duties. We want to keep them right where they are, particularly with this department in the c urrent climate it faces. So “shall” should not become “may.” The second concern of two that we have with this amending Bill is a little bit further down. And for those who do have the Bill in front of them, I am at clause 2 of the Bill, down at [paragraph] (c), and what clause 2(c) does . . . it does one very positive thing. And I accept that. It takes the obligation off of the di-rector personally, and it allows a person authorised by him to act on his behalf. So it provides a delegatory function to the di rector. It allows the director to call in another investigator and not have to take these things personally himself, or herself. And that is a positive. That is a positive. But then it looks about the powers that the director or the investigator can wield. Now, again, let’s look at the context. These are meetings with young children, minors, potentially very young children, in the context of reasonable cause to suspect that the child is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm. So this is a meeting between a young child and the director, or between the young child and an investigator. This is pretty heady, serious stuff. And yet, what this Bill proposes to do is to provide the director to impose a requirement on any person—any person —not to be present during the inquiry. So the director or the i nvestigator can say to the person in that room, You are out. You are not allowed to be here. Out! I have a l egal power to remove you. Not only does this Bill give that legal power of removal, this Bill imposes a sanction against the person if they seek to not be removed. Now, Mr. Speaker, I see the practical effect. It is an investigation. The director or the investigator wants to be able to speak to that child to find out what has happened. This could be a sexual assault or of-fence. But, any person? If the sexual offence is not against a parent, [should] the director be entitled to remove that parent from the room, and stay alone in that room with a four -year-old or five- year-old child and exclude the parent? Or let’s say this is one of the 2790 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly children we have been discussing quite frequently lately in relation to the Department of Child and Family Services, those who do not have the benefit of pare ntal supervision, those who have to fall back on the reliance of l itigation guardians . . . and that is a hot topic. So, here too, the director or the investigator can say, Litigation guardian, you are not entitled to be here. Please leave. Or . . . and this happened, this actually happened. There was an incident with som eone in the Department of Child and Family Services and they wanted their lawyer present. That’s right. They wanted their lawyer present. A constitutional right, some might say. And someone said, No, no, no. You can’t be present. [And they said,] Yes, I can. I am their lawyer. So this Bill, as it is currently drafted, would entitle the director or the investigator in a room with a small child to say to the ligation guardian and the la wyer, Out you go. You are not entitled to be here. I have a statutory right to remove you from the room. And I have a sanction against you for removal if you don’t leave. Mr. Speaker, respectfully, that cannot be right. That cannot make sense. And we need a carveout here to protect the constitutional right of any person to have legal representation. We need a carveout here for litigation guardians. And, respectfully, unless the parent is accused of a sexual offence, or other offence, we need a carveout for parents. Because you can just see the situation, can’t you? And this is all envisaged taking place at a school. That is what this Act is looking at, and other places. So, in comes the investigator to the school. I would like to see Johnny, please. Off the investigator and Johnny go to another room. The teacher is concerned. The teacher calls the parent. The parent comes down, What in the world is going on? I want to be with my child. [The investigator says,] No, you can’t. The law says you can’t. Mr. Speaker, that cannot be right. And cannot be within the contemplation of the legitimate and beneficial goal that this legislation was intended to reach. And so, Mr. Speaker, those are the issues that we have with this Bill. Those are our fresh pair of eyes coming to it. It is regrettable that there was no consultation as thi s would have been pointed out, one hopes, by those who are in the field of protecting chi ldren’s rights, either as lawyers or in the third charit able sector, or together with the family courts. So it is regrettable that there was no consultation. This is a clear constitutional right that needs to be protected and inserted into the Bill. I know that this Minister is genuinely concerned about this area and comes to these issues in proper way and, hopefully, will hear what I have said and will take that on board. Mr. Speaker, I think that is all that we have to say in the debate. I do not know, we might have some points in Committee. But, generally, other than the two criticisms that we have raised which are intended as constructive criticisms in the spirit o f collaboration, we would support the Bill other than those two issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? We recognise the Deputy Opposition Leader. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Ms. Leah K. ScottThank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague. In general, we support this legislation. However, I too have concerns in terms of granting even further power to the director. As you are aware, the DCF S has been in disarray for quite some time. The Royal Gazette …
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague. In general, we support this legislation. However, I too have concerns in terms of granting even further power to the director. As you are aware, the DCF S has been in disarray for quite some time. The Royal Gazette has done a three- day—
POINT OF ORDER
Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker, point of order. That is improper and on so many different levels. The Royal Gazette is not an organisation that should be q uoted in this room as a legitimate or credible source.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerJust be mindful of how we refer to the department. How is that?
Ms. Leah K. ScottOkay. My apologies. What I was going to say was that there has been a series of articles that have been published. And that was not the basis for my comment. The legislation imposes a duty to comply with directions that have been made by the director. I guess my …
Okay. My apologies. What I was going to say was that there has been a series of articles that have been published. And that was not the basis for my comment. The legislation imposes a duty to comply with directions that have been made by the director. I guess my concern is why are we drafting legislation at this time that gives the director even more powers when from the things —
Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker, again . . .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Hon. Wayne Caines: Again, Mr. Speaker, this Member––there have been no substantive . . . there have been no legitimate sources to substantiate anything [which shows] that the director has acted below the reasonable standard of what the department requires. So any reference to any litigation or anything in …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWell, I did not think she had quite gone that way. She was just questioning why give directors any additional powers. And that did not make refer-ence to . . . to nay or yay, in a sense. So, I ask you to be guided. Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. …
Well, I did not think she had quite gone that way. She was just questioning why give directors any additional powers. And that did not make refer-ence to . . . to nay or yay, in a sense. So, I ask you to be guided.
Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. Leah K. Scott: Thank you. We are . . . I just do not think that we can a llow our children to be interviewed without someone being present. I think that is very . . . as a mother, I know that if I had a child that was in care, or the possibility of being interviewed by someone, I would not want them to be interviewed alone. And as my learned friend has said, you know, it is a step in the right direction. And I would like to see the points that he has raised to also be addressed so that we have a piece of legislation that is holistic and that it actually se ts out what it is intended to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER HOUSE VISITOR
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister, before I acknowledge you, I thought I saw the Attorney General behind me. I just want to acknowledge that the Attorney General is in our Chambers today. Madam Attorney General, good to see you. [Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019, second rea ding debate, continuing]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMiniste r of Education, you have the floor. Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, for one, want to thank the A ttorney General for bringing this legislation forward. I know her to be personally . . . to have a personal i nterest in …
Ministe r of Education, you have the floor. Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, for one, want to thank the A ttorney General for bringing this legislation forward. I know her to be personally . . . to have a personal i nterest in the protection of our children. And I disagree with the speaker who said before me about us giving additional power and why should we do that. Mr. Speaker, there have been incidences where serious allegations against children have happened. And following the right to complain, the right to file a complaint, which is the law, if you know that something is happening, you are required to report. Subsequent investigations have been thwarted by members of the particular institutions that this child may have been attending at the time, where they were not allowed to come on to the property to interview the child. And Mr. Speaker, when we are speaking of inc idences that in some cases may involve the parents, it is paramount that DCFS is allowed to interview the children as they see fit, without the parent who may have been alleged to have done the crime, being in the room. So, I understand what the Member prior to the Member who just sat down spoke to about us going down this road. But, Mr. Speaker, we have to strike a fine balance between protecting our children and al-lowing adults to influence the types of information that they are giving when they are speaking to DCFS. Mr. Speaker, one thing I also want to highlight, is if we were really listening to the brief, we would have n oticed something. The brief spoke to 1,222 incidences in 2017. It spoke to 1,142 incidences in 2018. And it spoke to 785 incidences for the first nine months of this year. Mr. Speaker, there has been a year over year drop per month of incidences reported. This has to speak to how much is being done to protect our children and what DCFS has been do-ing in helping that process along, Mr. Speaker. To go from 102 incidences per month to 86 incidences per month, is a huge decrease and something that should be applauded. It should not be something that we get up here and play politics with. And so, Mr. Speaker, I do support this legisl ation. And as the Member who spoke earlier said, it was something that was consulted with the Depar tment of Education and we went back and forth with the Attorney General’s Chambers on these amend-ments and we got to the point where we now support and we fully endorse what we are trying to do. B ecause at the end of the day, Mr. Speaker, it is not about what the adults are here talking about, it is about protecting our children and doing what is best in their interests to ensure that if something is being done to them, they have an avenue to express what is happening and they know that there is a department, such as DCFS, that is looking out for their best interest and will help, not only alleviate the trauma they feel from those incidences that has happened to them, but will help bring the perpetrators to justice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Does any other Member . . . I recognise Honourable Member Hayward. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Mr. Jason HaywardMr. Speaker, I am a father. And the protection of m y children is paramount to me, as a father. But as an MP, the protection of the children in our society is equally paramount. Mr. Speaker, this Bill seeks to further protect our children. And that is the bottom …
Mr. Speaker, I am a father. And the protection of m y children is paramount to me, as a father. But as an MP, the protection of the children in our society is equally paramount. Mr. Speaker, this Bill seeks to further protect our children. And that is the bottom line. When we look at the Department of Chil d and Family Services, they conduct inquiries based on two principles. Num-ber one, all children have a right to live free from abuse and neglect. And number two, that the em otional and physical well -being of children is par amount. That is the basis why w e are here. That is why this amendment is needed. Because when the D epartment of Child and Family Services tries to conduct 2792 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly its business, they face roadblocks. Roadblocks that place our children at risk. Roadblocks that protect perpetrators. As it relates to this Bill, Mr. Speaker, a “child” is defined as someone under the age of 18. It is easy to float around an example of a four -year-old being in a room with an adult and being interrogated and painting this harsh picture. But that is not the rea lity.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOne second. As a new Member, you have to sit when anot her Member rises. Continue.
Mr. Scott PearmanMr. Speaker, I am afraid the example that I gave is the reality. It is not a picture I am painting to try to give a doomsday scenario. We are dealing with sexual offences against children of mult iple ages, i ncluding people as young as the age that I …
Mr. Jason HaywardI accept that. But what I am sa ying is, out of the thousands of cases that the Minister of Education and the Minister standing to her feet, put in front of us . . . the ages of those individuals vary, so we are not just talking about four …
I accept that. But what I am sa ying is, out of the thousands of cases that the Minister of Education and the Minister standing to her feet, put in front of us . . . the ages of those individuals vary, so we are not just talking about four -year-olds. So when we paint a picture of four -year-olds, just to we can get emotional over the four -year-old age, you are missing the point. The point actua lly is that we are dealing with children under the age of 18 for various different i nfractions. I did not interpret the removal of “shall” the same way the Honourable Member on the opposite side of the House interpreted the removal of “shall.” I looked at “may” as being more flexible than “shall” because you have the right to have an emergency protection . . . the option of an emergency protection order. Or, you can have the reasonable cause to sus-pect. So I saw the “may” as extending the flexibility of the director rather than hindering the responsibilities of the director. It is also important to note that you would not have members of the Department of Child and Family Services just rolling up on the school. It is a relatio nship that is established with t he school so that the i nterview can take place. It is in partnership with the school. And so there will be a policy and procedures in place as to how these interviews are conducted and how the relationship is governed between the school, the Department of Child and Family Services, and the young person being interviewed. Also, the school has the right to offer support to the child during the inter-view process, if requested by the director of Depar tment of Child and Family Services, and also to inform parent s. Mr. Speaker, we must be clear that the reason why we have to introduce penalties is because there were persons who deliberately tried to obstruct the process of an officer of the Department of Child and Family Services conducting interviews in our school systems. Not just our school systems, but other facil ities which could include community tutorial sites, and things of that nature. And I support the penalties b ecause what we do when we hinder that process is, we not only jeopardise the child who is at risk, but based on the cycle we have observed, we may be putting future generations of children at risk by not intervening at the appropriate time. Mr. Speaker, this Bill makes sense. It is aimed to protect our children. This amendment will provide incre ased protection to our children and I support it.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Any other Member? I recognise the Minister of Sport. Minister, you have the floor. Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It would be remiss of me not to stand here and speak to this amendment that we seek to put in place today for the protection …
Thank you. Any other Member? I recognise the Minister of Sport. Minister, you have the floor. Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It would be remiss of me not to stand here and speak to this amendment that we seek to put in place today for the protection of our young people. Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that I was an educator. Some may not know that I once sat on the Child Placement Board. Having sat in both of those places, I have seen some of the atrocities that take place within families with our young people, whether they be as young as one, two, three, four or whether they be 16, 17. In fact, I think that a colleague of mine who sits here today and is leading the Bill in thi s House, who sat as a counsellor at one time, can attest to [what] as a counsellor she would have been privy to, first- hand. But I can also say that as a teacher having the confidence of some of the young people who I taught, and having to keep at times s ome of the confidence . . . but the law, I will say, has changed where when you see atrocities that take place with our young pe ople you have to report it. In my early years as a teac her, there was nothing in place for those of us who were just teachers. I t would have fallen [to] the hands of guidance counsellors, where when you hear . . . and I wish to speak to some of those atrocities. When you are in a situation where a young person, for instance, having parents who let’s say are drug addicts, and pimp out their own children. When you sit in a place where you hear stories where young ones may have lost their mother, and are in a family
Bermuda House of Assembly where after [her death] they suffer sexual abuse at the hands of their father, and sometimes at the hands of some of thei r siblings. And sometimes some of those siblings are being coerced by the other parent to do just that. When you sit in a place where you have young teenagers who live in a household where every time the significant other of their parent is there, whether that significant other changes or not, they fall prey to sexual abuse at the hands of that person. You recognise the importance of wanting to ensure that there is a procedure in place which will provide every opportunity to a young person to be able to sp eak without fear of some of the things that they suffer. And so, Mr. Speaker, this Bill really seeks to do just that —provide an increased opportunity, pr ovide increases in avenues for them to be able to speak without any fear of reprisals because, again, sitting as a teacher I also witnessed where some of our young people become the prey of some of the teachers. And they find themselves in a situation where, as long as you are in a position where you have people in authority like that, they are taken advantage of. And so, I welcome this amendment because the intention of this amendment is to operate in sup-port and in favour of the young persons who find themselves sometimes in situations where they feel they have no recourse, sometimes where they feel they have no one who understands, and I think this is just . . . not a small step, but definitely a step in the right direction in setting the entire parameter and at-mosphere to ensure that our young people are pr otected at every step of the road. And I do not think that I have to say much more than that, Mr. Speaker —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMm-hmm. Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: —but at least to make people aware of the society within which we live and when we send our children to school to get educated, som etimes while in school, being there, that is the perfect arena for even persons from the Department of Child …
Mm-hmm.
Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: —but at least to make people aware of the society within which we live and when we send our children to school to get educated, som etimes while in school, being there, that is the perfect arena for even persons from the Department of Child and Family Services to do the work that they need to do, to do the assessments that they need to do, so that they can assure that they put the appropriate measures in place for the protection of our beloved young ones. So, Mr. Speaker, on that note, I will take my seat.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Does any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Opposition Whip. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Ms. Susan E. JacksonGood afternoon, Mr. Speaker. I would just feel remiss if I was not able to get up and acknowledge the fact that we are talking about the most vulnerable population in Bermuda. And as the responsibility of a Government, we absolutely have to make sure that we are there to …
Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. I would just feel remiss if I was not able to get up and acknowledge the fact that we are talking about the most vulnerable population in Bermuda. And as the responsibility of a Government, we absolutely have to make sure that we are there to oversee, guide, and support and provide whatever framework is necessary to make sure that our young people are able to live their best lives. I support the legislation. I just have some reservations around the ability of a director or designate to ultimately clear the room and be in private with a young person. Looking at it from the eyes of the child, which I think is very important for us to do ––and certainly I am going to [do that] based on personal experience in situ ations like this where the child can be 17and-three- quarters years old and be just as baffled and just as traumatised by what is going on in their personal lives ––that to create an environment [in which] the child has difficulty understanding and to creat e an environment that could potentially be vol atile is unfair for that child. And so given the circumstances of the tra umas that the previous Minister mentioned and gave examples to, to think that a child may be experiencing these difficulties and traumas in life, and then is subjected to a number of activities, actions, [and] meetings that all of a sudden are sort of descending upon them without any clear understanding, and the poten-tial that there will not be anyone available to that young child in the privacy of an inquiry that would be a trusted or an appropriate adult, is worrying. I completely understand that there are ci rcumstances where a director or a designate may be in a situation where the parent wants to be involved and yet the parent is maybe the subject of suspicious behaviour or actions. But at the same time, as the prev ious Minister said, children will go to the counsellor or may confide in the teacher. And although the Bill, the legislation, certainly says that the teacher or the social worker or the counsellor can be in the room, but if there is a circumstance where the director chooses not to have that trusted adult, or that appropriate adult for the child in the room, just how traumatising that would be for the child. And so, I guess, as we are proceeding through this legislation, I just want to sort of represent and bring and keep in the minds of the adults in this room that through the eyes of a child, especially . . . and up to the age of 18, there is so much trauma. There are often de velopmental delays. There are often just difficulties expressing themselves because of their own emotional trauma that to have a child, potentially in a sterile environment, under an inquiry, just sounds like we are adding fuel to the fire. And I just hope that whatever legislation is put in place, as the Minister who delivered the brief said, that there is, you know, the possibility of changing and making sure that the policies are up to date, so that the child is always in a state where they are comfortable and a state 2794 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly where they are calm. Because otherwise, I believe that we could further traumatise that child. And with that, Mr. Speaker, I believe that I have covered my —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerNo problem at a ll. Does any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Honourable Member MP Gordon-Pamplin. You have the floor. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, obviously you have heard that we support in principle this Bill, b ut have some concerns …
No problem at a ll. Does any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Honourable Member MP Gordon-Pamplin. You have the floor.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, obviously you have heard that we support in principle this Bill, b ut have some concerns on specific areas of it. Mr. Speaker, the Honourable Member, the new Member from [constituency] 17, indicated that first of all, I am a parent. And I had wished he would have stopped at that. To couple that with, But I am also an MP, kind of gave an impression that as an MP we have a broader responsibility to acquiesce to what this legislation is trying to achieve than one would accept as being appropriate in your own family circum-stances as a parent.
[Inaudible interjection] Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: That is the way it came over to me.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerPoint of order. I will take your point of order. POINT OF ORDER
Mr. Jason HaywardI was trying to say that the two responsibil ities are equal to each other.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Continue on. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just said that this was the way it came over to me. But let me say that I, too, am a parent, Mr. Speaker, and I can say that there are two things in life in …
Thank you. Continue on.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just said that this was the way it came over to me. But let me say that I, too, am a parent, Mr. Speaker, and I can say that there are two things in life in which I would very happily be deemed to be certif iable. And that is, number one, if you gave harm to my parent and secondly, and more importantly, if you gave harm to my children. But the presumption of our argument is that we are assuming a certain degree of a wholesome and healthy environment in which we would have that need to protect our children. So, in my instance, or in the instance of someone of a child who comes from a wholesome and healthy environment, to think that there may be cause for an interr ogation to be made as a result of something outside of that home environment that may have to be had, we would have to rely on, I would assume, if not a parent, then certainly the idea of the litigation guardians. We have been able to see thus far that the li tigation guardian concept has not gone particularly well. So, obviously, as we want to ensure that our children are safe and protected, we have to give rise to our concern that they may be vulnerable in certain circumst ances. With that vulnerability comes a certain trepidation and fear on behalf of that child. So if a child finds himself alone in an environment in which he is being interrogated by . . . or being interviewed by only one person, in the person of the direct or of Fam ily Services, there could also conceivably be a ques-tion of interpretation. The child may say something that he feels this is the way it went in my mind . But it may be interpreted differently. So, it is not healthy, I do not believe, to have a sole individual in an interview environment with a child. If a parent is the subject of any suspicion of wrongdoing, or any suspicion of something happening as far as this child is concerned, then very clearly you would not want your parent and child to be th ere t ogether. But as I said in my opening remark, there are certain environments in which the family unit is whol esome, but the offense against a child may have been perpetrated from outside of that family structure and as a parent whose . . . you know, yo u know your chi ldren. You know your children, and you are not there, I do not believe, to coerce them into saying what you think they should be saying. You want them to be able to tell their truth. And in telling their truth, you want to ensure that they do not feel intimidated in the process. So at all times there should not . . . or, at no time, in my opinion, should there be the ability to have the room in such a way that there is only a director and the child— under any circumstances. I do not believe t hat this is wholesome or healthy. One of the things that we learned in our SCARS training, Mr. Speaker, is the importance of having a second person around so that you do not have a one- on-one situation. And I do not want to cast aspersions on anybody but t here could —
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerI will take your point of order. POINT OF ORDER [Misleading] Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of order, I think the Member is unintentionally misleading. If she will recall Bermuda House of Assembly with the brief that was read on this particular amendment, it stated that the policy is …
I will take your point of order.
POINT OF ORDER [Misleading]
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of order, I think the Member is unintentionally misleading. If she will recall
Bermuda House of Assembly with the brief that was read on this particular amendment, it stated that the policy is that two persons have to be in the room. And those two persons would be from DCFS.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: I take the point, and that was actually how I led into what I intended to say because I did not see it memorialised in the Bill itself with a minimum number of people who must be present. If it is there, and …
Thank you.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: I take the point, and that was actually how I led into what I intended to say because I did not see it memorialised in the Bill itself with a minimum number of people who must be present. If it is there, and if I have overlooked it, then I definitely will accept that we could . . . I will accept if I am wrong. But that was my concern. The other thing is that if we . . . when we came to consultation —
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of clarification. If you would— Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Sure.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister. POINT OF CLARIFICATION Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: —I will . . . I could give it directly from the . . . I’m sorry, Mr. Speaker. I understand that she wants it in the Bill, but it is located within the brief as it will be a— [Inaudible …
Minister.
POINT OF CLARIFICATION
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: —I will . . . I could give it directly from the . . . I’m sorry, Mr. Speaker. I understand that she wants it in the Bill, but it is located within the brief as it will be a—
[Inaudible interjections] Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: It is not in the Bill
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: It will be designated that it has to be there. But I am —
[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, You know, the brief . . . our purpose here is to pass good legisl ation. And if something is intended and it is not specific to the Bill itself, then we can only speculate as to what the intent is. If it is in black and white, there is no question; there is no doubt as to what is required. So while I appreciat e that what might be in the brief, if it does not translate to the legislation, I think that there is . . . there could be a slip between the cup and the lip. And I just believe we need to nail things down properly, completely, and appropriately so that we do not have these questions that arise subsequently. The other thing is with respect to the consult ation. The Department of Education was consulted, and that was the right thing to have happened. But we have helping agencies who deal with children all th e time. And the one concern that they have expressed is the lack of consultation with them. And while in a school and an educational environment there may be issues that are identified, there could be other issues that are identified with which a helping agency could have been able to have a little bit better input. And I think that we could perhaps embrace and broaden the scope of our consultation to include people who always have that contact with our young people. Now, it is always also known that gover nment agencies do the very best they can with what they have. But the question also begs, Is the DCFS the best possible method by which the intent of this legi slation is delivered? Are we excluding any other poss ibilities? Is there a better combination? I do not partic ularly wish at this point to give my recommendation for that better combination, but I just want to make sure that we have considered whether what we have and the structure that we have is the best method by which we can deliver this particular service to our young people. We want to make sure that we can trust the source to enact this legislation and to monitor this legislation and to ensure that ultimately our chi ldren will be the beneficiaries of wholesome and healthy environments. Far be it, Mr. Speaker, for any child to be traumatised. But I can tell you that the comfort of a child who comes from a wholesome family enviro nment is far more paramount to a parent, in my estim ation, than would be the ability of an independent per-son in the form of the director or any one other . . . or his designate, to be able to interview that child in the absence of a calming and comforting, embracing kind of environment. So those are my comments, Mr. Speaker. I just want us to ensure that we recognise that we su pport the protection of our children. We also want to know that we are treading very lightly on this because it is such a heavy and serious situation. So we want to make sure that we dot the i’s and cross the t’s. And as the Minister of Education in dicated, we do not want for the intent to be the cause of concern and wonder if we do not have it written in black and white in the legisl ation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? Hon. Michael J. Scott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerHonourable Member Scott. I recognise the Honourable Member Scott. You have the floor. Hon. Michael J. Scott: I thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, child protection remains at the core of any democracy and good society, and I know that the Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General has …
Honourable Member Scott. I recognise the Honourable Member Scott. You have the floor. Hon. Michael J. Scott: I thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, child protection remains at the core of any democracy and good society, and I know that the Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General has a studied and keen focus on the protec-tion of our children. The director of Child and Family Services under our legislation, the parent legisla tion, 2796 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly has a clear mandate. And it is indeed this mandate which is being sought to be given belt and braces so that it functions well. Another important feature or factor that has to inform the discussion of section 42, must be data — data now and data going forward in the future. But with your permission, looking at the responsibilities of the director, Mr. Speaker, it is as follows. With your permission, “1The Director of Child and Family Services sha ll” (shall, not may) “ —(a) arrange for the i nvestigation of any allegation or report that a child may be in need of protection, care or supervision and, where necessary, arrange for the delivery of child care services for the benefit of the child[.]” Arrange for the delivery of physical and ps ychosocial assistan ce to a child that may be a victim of sexual offence, as defined under the Criminal Code whose conduct is shown failure to control that child’s sexual impulses. Subsection (3), who has committed serious personal injury offence. It is extensive, Mr. Speaker . It goes on. But in the context of our discussion today, drawing in to the discussion of section 42, the need to have, as the last speaker has just indicated (there is a trilogy of suggestions coming from the Opposition), a parent from a wholesome family in the country or the litigation guardian or an attorney. First of all, I read section 9 for a reason. The context is investigation. And so it is a fact gathering situation. The other context, Mr. Speaker, is that it is a school environment. Now, the Hono urable Member Pat Gordon- Pamplin and I attended the Berkeley. There were issues and instances of child breakdown of behaviour that obviously took place. I venture to say we, in our generation, they may differ today. However, the context is the school envir onment. And to introduce, as the Honourable and Learned Member Mr. Pearman, has suggested, attorneys and litigation guardians at the investigation stage seems to me a bit foolhardy. And it is not practical. Legislation in this country under the Children Ac t has afforded a mandate to the director of Child and Family Services to investigate. And by the way, I am a little concerned that we continue to focus on the worst situations that we have in this country in relation to our children, which are these discus sions about sexual abuse and . . . Sexual abuse is raging and it is real and I am not di scounting it in any sense. But as the Honourable Mini ster for Sports and Cultural Affairs indicated, from her experience as a teacher, there are many other sources or c haracterisations of abuse that go on: child poverty, in the school setting coming from a home where there is low income; child hunger, turning up to school not properly fed for breakfast; coming to school dishevelled because they have not been prepared by an attentive parent and dressed properly. I know
1 Children Act 1998, section 9(1) these things hurt the heart of the Attorney General. I know that it hurts the hearts of all of us. And these are the complement of concerns and abuses, emotional, physical, [and] sexual is the worst that we face. And it is right that we not get caught up this afternoon introducing attorneys and litigation guardians or stranger parents into this investigative setting. It is entirely right and proper as the Minister of Health, piloting the Bill, has said in her brief, that the response is a response in relation to a discussion by the Attorney General, the DPP [Department of Public Prosec utions,] and Chil d and Family Services to the statistics. Now, I have read, Mr. Speaker, that the best sources of data in connection with child abuse, child homelessness, child poverty has to be the school setting. And so we should pay great heed and respect to the opportunity that is afforded at the front -line school level of teachers who are watching students from class 1 to cl ass 5, across all of our schools, going up to the secondary school, et cetera, watching, obser ving and determining what are the issues, and then reporting them. I know that we are not doing enough. I know that the Attorney General knows that we are not doi ng enough. We are, through these tools that we are us-ing, by these amendments here today, and by the Children Act, gathering data. But our response has to be more dynamic and pronounced, and using the sledgehammer of lawyers and litigation guardians at the investigation stage does not seem to serve our purposes. And are we really seeking to solve the problem? It must be gentle. It must be sensitive. It must be discreet. And nothing I have heard from the suggestions, surprisingly, from my colleague and lear ned Member of the House, suggest that either of those concepts are achieved by the suggestions that he is calling that we actually amend the . . . it needs no amendment. It is responsive; it may even be reactive. For example, as I say, we see the amendment s are in reference to the sexual abuse issues. And, clearly, that excites activity on the part of government age ncies. But the other items I listed, the other issues I listed are no less important to improving the outcome of a performing student in the classroom from 8:30 until 3:30. And unless we get a handle on that . . . and the other source of data beyond the school setting and teachers in the school setting, and the principal leading that school setting has to be the census, ac-cording to best practice observations. I am concerned about children being shouted at, abused physically, in poverty. We need through the other activity and actions of Ministers in this House, the Honourable Member Mr. Commissiong’s efforts in getting the living wage, the Honourable freshman Member, Mr. Hayward, dealing with the workforce initiatives in this country and having good workforce policy in place are important. And they should be accelBermuda House of Assembly erated, and they should be coordinated with all that we are discussing here this after noon in this matter. And so there is, I repeat, nothing flawed about the amendments proposed by the Minister of Health. In section 42, it is responsive, it is responsible, and it is supportable. I am happy to hear that Members support it. I simply take iss ue with the alleged challenges that they purport to say this Bill is troubled by. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Member wish to speak? Mr. Moniz, are you on your feet? I recognise
Mr. Moniz.
Hon. Trev or G. MonizThank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, I was just making a few notes. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity to put this in a broader context. I know that to some extent I will be repeating what some other speakers have said on both sides of …
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, I was just making a few notes. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity to put this in a broader context. I know that to some extent I will be repeating what some other speakers have said on both sides of the House. This is clearly a very difficult area, a very sensitive area where we are dealing with setting in place rules and laws for the society’s most vulnerable. The difficulty we have at this time is that this is a very sensitive area. In my view, the confidence of the public has already been eroded in this area, so we are not in a position where we have to maintain the confidence of the public in this area of government, but we have to r ebuild the confidence of the public in this area of government. With respect to the details of the legislation, I did not hear what template was used, what best practice was used, where this comes from. I am not taking issue with it, but I am just saying for me as a lawyer it would be helpful to know wher e this model was taken, from the UK or from the US or from Canada, et cetera, and that this represents best practice in the field. [This], I presume, is what is being put forward in b ehalf of Government. There has been some concern that it has been rushe d through and there was not sufficient co nsultation with the professionals who deal with it in this area and with the helping agencies who deal in this area. And always, when you are dealing in very sens itive areas, it would seem to be sensible if you want to maintain or build confidence that you are going to have appropriate consultation and give people enough time to make contribution or to ask questions before the legislation comes to this House. And unfortunately that does not seem to have happened in t his case and questions have arisen both from professionals i nvolved and from helping agencies about not being consulted and why this is being rushed through wit hout an appropriate round of consultation. And that only serves, of course, to raise the suspici on of those who already have eroded confidence. So you are making what is a bad situation worse, unfortunately. As we all know, the situation with litigation guardians has been around and around the maypole. The public does not seem to think that the Minister responsible, who is the Attorney General, has given clear and transparent answers or has responded a ppropriately to public concerns. At a time when it was felt that there needed to be an independent investig ation into events that happened at the Department of Child and Family Services, it was put off with an internal accounting report rather than more of a forensic investigation of what happened and how practices could be improved and whether anything went wrong in those cases that should be recognise d. And it is only by recognising mistakes that you are going to correct them. Right now it seems that the Government in this particular area are only papering over the cracks. They are not dealing with the issues. They are trying to deal with it as a publ ic relations e xercise rather than recognising that there are deep i ssues there. And I am not suggesting that the problems were caused by this Government, but the problems have come up under this Government. And it is their responsibility to deal with them, and to deal with them substantively and to deal with them in a transparent fashion, not to run and hide from difficult issues, not to have spokesmen giving bland public relations stat ements, but to get to the nitty -gritty, to face the public, to answer questions. And it is a thankless task. It is a difficult job, but it needs to be done; at the moment it is not being done. These are very vulnerable people and we all feel protective toward them whether we are parents or not, whether we have worked in the field or not. All of us should appreciate how sensitive it is, how vulner able these people are. We know the daily paper started its own campaign of “Who Cares?” And they have sort of highlighted some very difficult areas of where chi ldren with challenges are sent overseas. And the ques tions have arisen whether we are keeping close enough tabs on what is happening at the variety of institutions overseas. That is one of the difficult things when people are sent to a lot of different areas. I recognise that i t is difficult for us in Bermuda to provide the best possible therapeutic treatment for some of the various condi-tions that can arise. I know at one point in time, I think it was under the Honourable Nelson Bascome, the then PLP Government were talking about building a facility in Bermuda that would offer the therapeutic treatment that was necessary for these at -risk chi ldren. And obviously that was decided not to be the best way to go about it. But now it seems to be the case that the children are being sent in a variety of different directions. And is it possible for us to keep proper tabs on them? Does the public have conf idence in the Government and the civil servants whose responsibility it is? So what I am saying to the Government t oday, as much as i t is the Government’s responsibility 2798 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly to put litigation in place, it is the Government’s r esponsibility to rebuild the confidence that has been substantially eroded in this whole support system for children at risk. And I think it would be best that the Minister and the Cabinet take the advice that there needs to be more transparency, there needs to be some independent investigation, there needs to be more consultation instead of this hiding from scrutiny, this lack of consultation. It is just not being responsive and it is going to go nowhere good, Mr. Speaker. And I am sure you know as well as I do, that when you start on a downward spiral, it can get very bad very quickly and all of a sudden you will say, Well, how did we get here? So the warnings are there for the Government to heed. They only have to open their eyes and to recognise they need to deal with these things on an urgent basis, and to stop trying to paper over the cracks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member . . . I recognise the Honourable Member Commissiong.
Mr. Rolfe CommissiongThank you. Mr. Speaker, I am not going as far as saying that th ere is much to be commended in the comments by the last speaker, but this has to be a bipartisan effort. We know that. We have to, I think, achieve a consensus here by putting the …
Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I am not going as far as saying that th ere is much to be commended in the comments by the last speaker, but this has to be a bipartisan effort. We know that. We have to, I think, achieve a consensus here by putting the interests of the children first. And there are things that have been said t oday by Members on the other side that I cannot dis agree with. I will, however, take issue with the fact as-serted by the former speaker, that this is simply a public relations exercise. I think that is the term he used. That is the way he characterised it. I think that is a little unfair. I agree with him that confidence on the part of the public has been an issue. It has been d eclining, and rightly so. In terms of the political side of the equation, we know that both Governments over the last 15, 20, 25 years have seriously dropped the ball here, to our lasting shame. Frankly, I talked to . . . which some will find uncomfortable for me to say, but this is Rolfe Commissiong and I am going to say it, Mr. Speaker. I talked to a former Minister. I am not going to say if it was a male or female of the Department of Child and Family Services and they indicated to me that the racial demographic of the client base over the last few decades has been around 90 per cent to 95 per cent black Bermudians. Talking about t he comments by my colleague, Mr. Michael Scott, of [constituency] 36, I thought he was very astute in pointing out that so much of this trauma (as we call it now, which is the buzz phrase) has come out of households that are low income, for example, in som e cases, poverty stricken. But it is not exclusively the case. We know there has been an ongoing of sex ual predation that has been going on in Bermuda. It is another part of one of the suites of dirty little secrets in Bermuda. And we know that. The impact of the Internet itself has been problematic, to give liberal access to young minds and developing persons over the years. So, this legislation is designed to address a lacuna in the legislation, that being a gap. And I think it is good first step. The former Member, the Honourable Member Mr. Moniz, basically says that this is only a measure that will not address more fully the challenges around this issue. And I agree. But I take issue, again, with his indication or implication that somehow this is it f or us. I think the Government, of course, will view this as a necessary first step and there will be more refining of legislation and processes in order to protect those who are most vulnerable in our society. I did note, as the Member pointed out, the s eries that took place on the part of the Royal Gazette. I notice that they did not address the issue of the racial demographic. You know, living in a country which is a multiracial society comprised of both black and white, whites can probably represent about 40 per cent of the population in terms of the resident population, and perhaps higher, I think it is important that we understand, both from . . . not only in terms of income, but in terms of the racial makeup of the client base, so that we can more specifically target those remedies for the most beleaguered part of the whole dem ographic. Lastly, Mr. Speaker, because I do not think it needs me to belabour the point, the . . . lastly, I will concede, there will be externalit ies here. So no legi slation is perfect, and those unintended consequences will have to be dealt with as we move forward here, not only over the more immediate period, over the next 6 to 12 months, but over the next 5 to 10 years, and continue to refine the legislative suite that we have before us, to ensure that those protections are broadened. But I think we need to at least be cau-tiously optimistic that the Government and, indeed, the Opposition, and the country at hand, more broadly, is more fully aware of this cancer in our society and are determined to address it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Mr. Swan, are you rising to speak as well?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWe recognise the Honourable Member Swan. Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan: Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak to this amendment before us today. I remember when the Children Act was brought to Parliament. A Member, a friend of mine who has now [passed …
We recognise the Honourable Member Swan.
Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan: Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak to this amendment before us today. I remember when the Children Act was brought to Parliament. A Member, a friend of mine who has now [passed away], a friend to many in th is room . . . we shared the first same name, who was a very caring person, a nurse by trade, Kim Young, p iloted that Bill. During the time when the Children Act came to Parliament, we did not have the social cond itions in Bermuda in 1998, 1999, 2000 that w e have had in Bermuda in 2007 and 2005. Put simply, Mr. Speaker, we did not have the [number] of murders that have taken place that have impacted children yet unborn at that particular time that we are talking about today. And I think politics is interesti ng, Mr. Speaker. I have lived long enough to get quite a grasp on how interesting politics can be. I think the chosen caption about an ongoing feature that appears in the daily, “Who Cares?” (with a question mark) . . .I can say, Mr. Speaker, that we all c are here. And if you care enough to be responsible enough, you would reco gnise that when you utilise the bully pulpit of the pen to be able to make a position a feature in newspapers (and I say that respectfully) . . . because when it comes to looking at how we legislate, the circumstances that we are confronted with as legislators and as parents and grandparents (many) in this House and this Legislature, let us not forget that [when] this principal Act of 199[8] [was enacted, there] was a di fferent set of social dynamics in this country. The Happy Valley Day Care Centre that I spoke about in 1999, 2001, 2000, when we were saying that we needed far more of those facilities, there are far more needed today than [were needed] in those pioneer years then. And s o as we grapple with this particular amendment that seems to have captured the imagina-tion of some, as to a “shall” and a “may” and all of that type of stuff, let us not say that you do not get to section 42, which is Part V of the protection which comes under the “Protection of Children” section without looking at the whole spirit of the legislation and its entirety. You have got to travel down a number of roads to get to that particular portion. And just because a department might be experiencing some di fficulties, they are not too dissimilar with any department in any government. But to sug-gest that just because there might have been a problem that was causing a national concern to be able to make headlines and cause headlines to be created, we cannot go and impugn the integrity of those civil servants of which I was once one some 25 . . . no, no, 35 years ago, Mr. Speaker. No! They, like us, have an obligation to carry out their duties with integrity. So we must afford them that opportunity to get on wit h their job. And sometimes, you know, while we say we are not going to be partisan, we need to act that way. And that is why, you know, when I look at . . . I always look at the spirit of legislation. I look at the workability of the legislation. I look at how disproportionately . . . we are only talking about, you know, certain groups in a society that is impacting upon these types of things. So I get concerned when, you know, we do have these types of headlines about, you know, “Who Cares?” because the caring is not just starting yesterday. You know? The caring should occur when programmes such as Happy Valley Day Care Centre, you know, doing such good work . . . when you really want to talk about caring, you should be talking about, How can we find more money to make sure that those types of institutions exist in the east and the west and the ce ntral and maybe somewhere in between? Because if you have a country that has in its midst only 65,000 people and you have the amount of murders that the Minister of National Security and the Minister respo nsible for Child and Family Services have had to deal with in this short . . . in that decade—period —and you really want to grapple with social issues and the knock -on effect of how many people are impacted by that, and how the mind- set is, this legislation also touches on education and the impact of what it is like in a classroom when a teacher whose discipline once had total jurisdiction socially over people, stretching back to their grandparents, now, you know, [these teachers are] concerned about their own safety. Who cares? We care, Mr. Speaker. We care. And we care enough to know when politics is at play. And so let us not confuse, or be confused, about the “shall” and the “may” when to get to the point when the director . . . you know, when they say “the director,” . . . the director is not a person who you may want to refer to, although persons who want to portray a Government in its worst light, would try to frame that in that way. And so you have to respec t the integrity of a post. And that is important. That is vitally important, if we are going to give people in posts the opportunity to carry out their duties without looking over their shoulder in that regard. There are rules in play to deal with a person who does not exercise their duties in a responsible fashion. And you compartmentalise that and put that over there, but at the same time you have to rub your belly (it is easy for me to do mine, unfort unately) and pat your head at the same time, Mr. Speak er. So, in the spirt of this legislation, I would urge responsible institutions in our country to take on board the fact that we all care in this Legislature, and that people carrying out their responsibilities within the civil service, care. And when err ors occur, there are rules in place to address that. But let us not come here and look at [section] 42, or any other consequential amendment that has to tie in to that, in isolation of the total spirit of the Children Act, and not recognise that since 1998 this country has a different set of social 2800 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly circumstances that has confronted the people exerci sing their responsibilities in this country. So, I close like I started, Mr. Speaker. I believe we all care. I have no doubt that persons in this room, in our v arying capacities, sitting in the Gallery, sitting there providing technical advice, sitting here as legislators today in this Chamber, care—especially when you consider where we have come from. And it is particularly encouraging if you reflect . . . I am not reflecting on another debate, only on a Ministerial Statement just this morning. And I pray that the spirit of that Ministerial Statement would carry itself over not just to Christmas, but to many Christmases to follow, because the spirit of this legis lation is to provide a calmer society, a more respectful society, and a s ocially healthy society. As one who has spoken on social issues since . . . long before I came to this Honourable Place, Mr. Speaker, it was my major in university in the 1970s. It h as been my life traveling around the world. Social issues only get the attention of persons with money and financial distribution when crises appear. And it need not be that way! It should not be that way. And when it comes to social issues, we need to loo k at them on the front end rather than dealing with things on the back end. And that is the spirit of the Children Act so that it would be less necessary, but it is necessary because of the circumstances that I spoke about which have occurred since mid, early 2005 and 2007, since the proliferation of murders. If you look at the average age of those persons who were murdered, and take into consideration that each and every one of them had at least one or more child, and look at what age those children were at that particular time and add on the age that they are today, and take into consideration that there were s ocial dynamics occurring as it was happening, and s ocial conditions happening as it was evolving, we can-not split hairs on the “mays” and the “shal ls” as it r elates to this. We have got to show that we care by ac ting more responsibly and embracing what is necessary in our social dynamic and putting our arms collectively around this issue in a more holistic way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Member. We now recognise the Leader of the Oppos ition. Honourable Member, you have the floor. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Honourable Member who just sat down, from constituency 2, Kim Swan, the H onourable Member, for bringing out …
Thank you, Member. We now recognise the Leader of the Oppos ition. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Honourable Member who just sat down, from constituency 2, Kim Swan, the H onourable Member, for bringing out the fact that the spirit of this Bill certainly is to safeguard our young ones. I would also like to commend the Honourable Member just prior to him, the Honourable Member Rolfe Commissiong, also for the comments that he made. And then I would like to thank, more important-ly, the Attorney General’s Chambers for bringing this Bill to the House. I recognise that this is another opportunity that we have and that they have taken to strengthen legi slation to protect our young and vulnerable, whether they be male or female, young adults. And I do not want this debate to take the track that for some reason, as we debate this or discuss it . . . if we have the opportunity to strengthen legislation then it is our r esponsibility to at least example that. And I believe that is what we are attempting here. And I also recognise that there are some Members who have maybe potentially more information than some of us about partic ular situations which can sometimes . . . the subject that we are dealing with, make it a bit more emotive than usual. And so I take the comments that have been made, whether we have agreed or not, whether we have felt that it has been a bit more emotive than not, really simply to mean that we are attempting to do the best that we can for the vulnerable and our young people who we are seeking through this legislation to protect. I can recall, Mr. Speaker, when I was on the Sexual Offenders Committee, and the Honourable Member Zane being on that committee, was quite emphatic about the fact that we must castrate those who offend sexually our young people (talking about males). And he was very emotive about it and exercised his right to say that [because this] is how he felt about the situation because he knew of personal sit uations that were going on. This is just another example within this particular House where many times we can get up as legislators and we will feel very emphatic about something, but it does not always make sense in legislation. Be that as it may, we have heard concerns from both sides of this House. And I would prefer to say from the House, period, we have heard these concerns. I will say to this, Mr. Speaker, that . . . and I have mentioned this before in speeches concerning some matters like this here when I was on the O ffenders Committee. We have monsters living amongst us, and whether it be verbal, physical, or sexual, we in Bermuda, just like every other jurisdiction, have mon-sters living amongst us. And as legislators we must do as much as w e can to protect [our young ones] against these monsters. And quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, whether they come from low income, whether they come from high income does not matter to me. They know they are doing wrong. And so we recognise that we have social issues here. And we can debate how we have gotten to this point as far as some of the social issues are concerned, but wrong is wrong when you abuse, in either of those categories. It does not matter what s ocial background you come from or what income bracket you come from. It is happening to Bermuda! Period!
Bermuda House of Assembly And so one young person offended verbally is too many, and it needs to be snuffed out. One young person physically abused, is one too many. And God forbid, you know the third. So I do not want to sens ationalise this here. We have made some suggestions that we feel will tighten up legislation. If it is not seen fit by the Government, okay. Well, you know, we have placed it on the table. The fact is, it is our job, if we can, to examine every possibility to strengthen legisl ation. And I am going to say too, to the Attorney General (I know the Attorney General, maybe not as well as others), I know that she is attempting, and she has got a tough job on her hands here. We recognise that. But at the same ti me, there does need to be some urgency about what it is that we do. So we are pressing the challenge that you have to move as swif tly as you can because I know you know the stories more than I do. You know more stories than I do, so I know that this team here . . . and I commend you, I know it has probably been tough sitting here with what has been going on in periodicals. I know it is tough to sit here. But I will commend you for making this effort here. So besides all of the flower and pomp, and whatever you want to call it, that has gone on in this room, at the end of it, we want to see this legislation as strong as possible. We have placed on the table what we believe will do that, and we are asking you to at least entertain that. That’s it! [We’re] not getting personal here. You job is tough! Tough! Some of us know what it is like to be in the paper day after day after day. And it does not look pretty. So I commend you for this effort. I want you to hold your head up high. You need to hold your head up h igh. You are making a stab here that needs to happen. And I am telling you, I know it is tough. So, let us go on and let us give the best that we can to our young people because, quite frankly, whether they come from St. David’s, North Shore, South Shore, West End, Tucker’s Town, Back o’ Town (whatever you want to call it) any one of our young people who are abused by these monsters, must be protected. And on the other end, we need to snuff out these monsters because they are sitting next to us on a daily basis sometimes. Snuff them out! Because we are the ones, at the end of the day, that must protect our future—our future Premiers, our future Ministers of Health and Education and the likes. And so I thank you. Let’s get this done and let’s get more legis lation to the table that is going to safeguard these kids when we come back into this House of Assembly. Move with some swiftness, the urgency is there and it is not going to back off the urgency to move. But I recognise that you want to make sure that you dot your i’s and you cross your t’s, but we are with you on this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Minister of . . . Minister Caines, you have the floor. Hon. Wayne Caines: If it pleases you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Hon. Wayne Caines: I have had the opportunity to look at the legislation and there are some lacunas, some gaps, in the 1998 legislation. And these are clear attempts to make it easier to make it more transparent. It is consistent with where the world is going. I listened …
Yes.
Hon. Wayne Caines: I have had the opportunity to look at the legislation and there are some lacunas, some gaps, in the 1998 legislation. And these are clear attempts to make it easier to make it more transparent. It is consistent with where the world is going. I listened to our last speaker and oftentimes we speak of the context of we are the world and we support the department and we support the Attorney General and we support the work of the Government, and som etimes it just does not feel like that. It just does not feel like that! If you were in DCFS putting everything on the line every day, 20 years, 30 years, working for what you know, going out at night, doing the checks, talking with the families, seeing the dispossessed, seeing the people wh o are hurt, and you read the newspaper for the last two weeks, does it feel like you have been supported? It is easy to come and say these words and these trite expressions, We support the Government. We support the DCFS. But what is the real truth? It is that they are being left and hung [out] to dry as is typical in our country. It is okay to say you support our Attorney General with words, but that is not enough. That department, the people in that department, Mr. Maybury, and his team, and everyone els e, work tirelessly on behalf of this Government. And we have to show that we support them. Anyone can go out and be very strange in their ways with reporting.
[Inaudible interjections] Hon. Wayne Caines: We have an opportunity. An ybody can do a weak exposé on what they feel is showing who cares. Who cares? We care. We live in these communities. We work daily to make this community better. That is who cares! All of us —we. When we write in the newspaper and do what we call these salacious headlines, it weakens the fab-ric of our country. Do not allow yourself to be misconstrued to think that you are doing us a favour. You are not! Because just as you spray Baygon and find people to say salacious things, you can be as equally as diligent finding people whose lives have been changed. We live in this country and we must all not just say that, and try to score political points, and then dodge and put up our shields and screech from over those issues, Oh, we are doing it for the betterment of Bermuda. That is hypocrisy at its best. This legislation is consistent with this Go vernment’s pledge, consistent with the mantra of this 2802 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Government in making sure our most vulnerable people are protected! That is what we do every day, not just with this legislation, [but] w ith everything that we do. And let me say this, I agree with the premise that when there is an opportunity for us to make legislation better, that we should do so. I have heard legitimate and helpful comments from Members of the Oppos ition today, and we ar e appreciative of that. There were in 2017 just over 1,200 new inc idents of child abuse and neglect. In 2018, [there was] 1,142 incidents. And we have a work to do. We have an opportunity to make our country safer. We have an opportunity to look at the is sues within our community, and we should do so. Anyone, any entity, anyone gi ving safe harbinger to any entity making money, making sport of dividing this community . . . that is the wrong way to go. So just because it is in a daily, in a chronicle, that does mean that it is right. A weak exposé, that is not how you build, that is not how you strengthen a community. Anybody who believes what is happening is strengthening our community is on a fool’s errand, and we will not abide that. And this is how we ch ange a community, one brick at a time —legislation, meeting with our key stakeholders, Department of Education, Attorney General’s chambers, the DPP’s chambers, DCFS — together looking at the issues, putting together a plan, and rebuilding this country. That, Mr. Speaker, is how you would build a country, not by salacious headlines. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Does anyone else wish to speak? No. Minister, would you like to wrap this up? Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes, thank you, Mr . Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, I think that the submissions of my learned and honourable colleague who sits to my immediate right, in addition to the other robust discussion that we have had this afternoon, further solidifies and supports this bipartisan support with respect to this very …
Thank you. Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, I think that the submissions of my learned and honourable colleague who sits to my immediate right, in addition to the other robust discussion that we have had this afternoon, further solidifies and supports this bipartisan support with respect to this very important piece of legislation. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Child and Family Services has as its legislative remit responsibi lity for responding to reports of child abuse and neglect on the Island; and the department also responds by investigating and providing intervention services. Now, Mr. Speaker, with that as their mandate, the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 provides further assi stance to the department in reaching that particular mandate. And when you look at the Children Act 1998, Mr. Speaker, the provisions of the Act and the amendment to which we are debating this afternoon are related specifically to that principal Act. Section 6 is what I would like for honourable colleagues to be mindful of. And section 6, and I am just paraphrasing, provides for what is referred to as the “welfare principle.” And it says, i n the administr ation of this legislation all matters must be done under the welfare principle. And the welfare principle, Mr. Speaker, says that the child’s welfare is paramount. And this particular amendment that we seek to pass this afternoon that has been debated on, will provide the Department of Child and Family Services with more strength for them to meet their legislative ma ndate which is tied directly to section 6 of the Act as it relates to the paramount consideration of the welfare principle. Mr. Speaker, I am referring to the actual 1998 substantive Act, the principal Act, which, you know, is some 21 year s old. And, in fact, it was one of the first pieces of legislation this PLP Government passed up-on being elected as the Government in 1998. This piece of legislation, Mr. Speaker, speaks volumes to the important role that we find [ourselves in] as it r elates to ensuring the safety of our children. And, Mr. Speaker, the Attorney General, I can say, is totally committed to ensuring that we pass le gislation that will address the welfare principle as well as give the sufficient powers needed to the Depar tment of Child and Family Services for them to meet their legislative mandate. And, in fact, the Attorney General is actually reviewing the 1998 Act as we speak because she recognises that the challenges [met by] the Department of Child and Family Services now a re far more severe than they were some 21 years ago when the 1998 principal Act was first passed. And with that, Mr. Speaker, I thank colleagues for their participation in this debate. And I would like to move that the Bill, the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019, be committed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Deputy. ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER HOUSE VISITOR
The SpeakerThe SpeakerBefore we move to Committee, as the Deputy is coming up, I would just like to acknowledge in the Gallery the newly appointed Senator, Senator [Simmons -]Wade. Welcome. [Desk thumping] House in Committee at 3:42 pm [Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chair man] COMMITTEE ON BILL CHILDREN (NO. 2) AMENDMENT …
Before we move to Committee, as the Deputy is coming up, I would just like to acknowledge in the Gallery the newly appointed Senator, Senator [Simmons -]Wade. Welcome. [Desk thumping]
House in Committee at 3:42 pm
[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chair man]
COMMITTEE ON BILL
CHILDREN (NO. 2) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Honourable Members, we are now in Committee of whole [ House] for further consideration of the Bill entitled Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 . Minister, you have the floor.
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Chai rman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to move all clauses together, clauses 1 through 5.
The ChairmanChairmanContinue. Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, c lause 1 is the standard cit ation and confers title on this Bill as the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. Clause 2 amends section 42 of the Children Act 1998 which, again, is the principal Act, to …
Continue.
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, c lause 1 is the standard cit ation and confers title on this Bill as the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. Clause 2 amends section 42 of the Children Act 1998 which, again, is the principal Act, to clarify that the D irector of the Department of Child and Fam ily Services or a person authorised by him may co nduct an e nquiry under that section at any school, tut orial site, or other educational facility or at a place providing extracurricular, social or community activ ities. Minor amendments have been made to subsection (5) to clarify that the D irector may act under that subsection if a dut y imposed by him under subsection (8) of the principal Act is not complied with. Also, clause 2 repeals and replaces subsection (8) of the principal Act which the Director or person authorised by him to make any enquiry under section 42 and i mposes the fol lowing duty on any persons to (a) grant access to the child; (b) assist him with the enquiries; (c) provide facilities to conduct the enquiry; (d) not to be present during the enquiry; and (e) refrain the duty imposed on any person to comply with the requi rement imposed on them by the Director or a person authorised by him in the course of an enquiry. Clause 3 inserts a new section 42A under the Children Act 1998 which makes it an offence for a person who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a requirement imposed on him by the D irector of Child and Family Services under section 42(8) of the Children Act 1998. Clause 3 also introduces a sanction of a summary conviction of a fine not exceed ing the sum of $3,000 if a person is guilty of not complyi ng with the requirements imposed under section 42(8). Clause 4 allows for the consequential amendment of the Education Act 1996 by inserting a new section 68A. This section authorises the Director to conduct enquiries under section 42 of the Children Act 1 998 in private at the following locations: a school (public or private school); tutorial site ; or other educ ational facility . And finally, Mr. Chairman, c lause 5 is a co nsequential amendment that amends rule 25 of the E ducation Rules 2006 to clarify that a n investigation u nder rule 25 does not include an enquiry conducted by the Director under section 42 of the Children Act 1998.
The ChairmanChairmanAny further speakers? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Scott Pearman.
Mr. Scott PearmanThank you, Mr . Chairman. I just have two points, and both relate to clause 2. Obviously, they have been covered in the debate, so I will take them lightly and quickly. The first one is in relation to clause 2(b)(ii) and it is the distinction between “shall” and “may …
Thank you, Mr . Chairman. I just have two points, and both relate to clause 2. Obviously, they have been covered in the debate, so I will take them lightly and quickly. The first one is in relation to clause 2(b)(ii) and it is the distinction between “shall” and “may .” It was said during the debate that perhaps I had been splitting hairs, but I just point out the obvious point that it is the Government that is changing the language between “may” and “shall,” not me. I just asked why. We do suggest this is diluting the duty of the Director. We have invited the Government to consider whether or not to abandon that aspect of the Bill. There it is. The second and final point, Mr. Chairman, and I think this is a more important point, if I may. That is this idea that there is a power to be vested in the Director or investigator to exclude any person, and at [clause 2] subsection (c) [replacing subsection (8), (d), not to be present during an enquiry. I would invite this Government to think very carefully as this Bill pr ogresses to the Senate whether there should be a carveout so that parents and litigation guardians and lawyers are not excluded. And just to be clear, because my learned friend and the Honourable Member Michael Scott seemed to suggest that I was advocating that they should all be there.
Mr. Scott PearmanI am not saying that. I am just saying you should not have a right to exclude them. I think that is a constitutional violation and I invite the Government to consider that on the way to the Se nate. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The ChairmanChairmanAny further speakers? Minister. Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Honourable and Learned Member who just took his seat spoke with respect to clause 2, section 42 and the “may” and the “shall” we have di scussed that in detail and I would invite him …
Any further speakers? Minister. Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Honourable and Learned Member who just took his seat spoke with respect to clause 2, section 42 and the “may” and the “shall” we have di scussed that in detail and I would invite him to at least look at the Explanatory Memorandum which obviously also provides further assistance as it relates to when the fact that the Director may, under [section] 42(5) continue to impose his duty under section 42(8) if . . . sorry, Mr. Chairman, circumstances that are outlined in [section] 42(8) have not been complied with. And the other issue that was raised by my honourable and learned colleague concerning the 2804 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly provision with respect to the exclusion, I can assure you that the Honourable and Learned Attorney General, as well as her team, have taken advice with r espect to this matter. This matter . . . actually, I should say, Mr. Chairman, this legislation does come from . . . there are similar provisions in Canada and the UK. So it does represent international and best practice, and that those were factors that they did consider prior to the presentation of this Bill. And on that, Mr. Chairman, I would ask the Bill entitled Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019—
[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: I move that the preamble be approved, Mr. Chairman.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the preamble be approved. Are there any objections to that? [Inaudible interjections] Hon. Kim N. Wilson: I moved the clauses at the first.
The ChairmanChairmanOkay. Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you. I move those first. I move that the Bill be reported to the House as printed.
The ChairmanChairmanMove the clauses. Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Oh. Mr. Chairman, I move that clauses 1 to 5, inclusive, be approved and stand and form as part of the Bill.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 1 through 5 be approved. Are there any objections? There appear to be none. Approved. [Moti on carried: Clauses 1 through 5 passed.] Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that the Bill be reported to the House as printed.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. Are there any objections ? There appear to be none. Approved. Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The ChairmanChairmanYou move that the Bill be . . . yes, got it. The Bill will be reported to the House. [Motion carried: The Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 was consider ed by a Committee of the whole House and passed without amendment.] House resumed at 3:49 pm [Hon. Dennis …
You move that the Bill be . . . yes, got it. The Bill will be reported to the House. [Motion carried: The Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 was consider ed by a Committee of the whole House and passed without amendment.]
House resumed at 3:49 pm
[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE
CHILDREN (NO. 2) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers, are there any objections to the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 being r eported to the House as printed? There are none; it has. That brings that matter to a close. We will now move on to the next item on the Order Paper which is [Order] No. …
Members, are there any objections to the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 being r eported to the House as printed? There are none; it has. That brings that matter to a close. We will now move on to the next item on the Order Paper which is [Order] No. 4, the Bermuda Monetary Authority Am endment Act 2019 in the name of the Minister of Finance. Minister.
BILL
SECOND READING
BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY AMENDMENT ACT 2019
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present to the House the Bermuda Monetary A uthority Amendment A ct 2019. This Bill amends the Bermuda Monetary Act 1969 by providing for the establishment of and the regulatory framework for an innovation hub to enable the development of innovative business that supports the operation of financial institutions or any entity that intends to become a financial institution. The Bill also amends the Fourth Schedule of the Act to revise certain fees payable to the BMA [Bermuda Monetary Authority]. Mr. Speaker, the intr oduction of the new innovation hub is predicated upon advancing to the Authority of a new principal object being to establish and administer an innovation hub to facilitate the development of innovative business in Bermuda. This is a significant step because it demonstrates the evolution of the Authority and appropriately positioned it to engage with relevant entities proposing to carry on business in Bermuda in an innovative manner for the betterment of the regulated financial services sector and Bermuda at large. Mr. Speaker, the Authority is committed to playing an appropriate role in the development and introduction of innovative solutions in the financial services sector. Whilst the initial focus in this regard has been on activities within the insurance and digital asset business sectors, a non- sector sp ecific a pBermuda House of Assembly proach is required to properly position the Authority to provide regulatory guidance and support to entities pursuing innovative developments relevant to the entire financial services sector. The key element of the Authority’s activities on this f ront will be delivered via an innovation hub structure. Within the hub, the A uthority will engage in constructive, sometimes intensive, dialogue with the range of different entity types. Mr. Speaker, the entities with whom such engagement may occur are expected to range from those intending to be licensed as insurers or digital asset businesses to those whose products are not yet sufficiently developed to facilitate live testing. This includes entities conducting activities which are not subject to regulations themselves, but which are di-rectly relevant to potential innovations within the f inancial services sector. On this basis this Bill propos-es the introduction of a general provision within the Bermuda Monetary Authority Act 1969, enabling the Authority to establish and administer an innovation hub. To support this important step, the Bill makes provision for a fee to be charged for admission into this hub, facilitating use of the information and r esources provided therein, and upon application r enewal of same. Mr. Speaker, this Bill also makes provision for other fee related changes as proposed by the Author ity. The other fee changes being proposed fall into one of the following three categories: 1. The introduction of a new fee structure for the corporate services provider (CSP), business sector for which fees were not revised in 2019. 2. The introduction of new or revised fees within certain regulated sectors that are required as a result of recent legislative changes. 3. Necessary corrections in respect of fees currently misstated in or omitted from the Fourth Schedule of the Act. The proposed fee revisions will impact the following Acts: The Bermuda Monetary Authority Act 1969; Investment Funds Act 2006; Insurance Act 1978 ; and the Corporate Service Provi der Business Act 2012. Mr. Speaker, by way of background, in 2018 the Authority undertook a comprehensive fee revision process which involved significant consultation with industry sectors. In the consultation paper published on the 22 nd of August 2018, t he Authority explained the rationale behind the wide- ranging changes pr oposed to both the fee payments in a number of sectors and the basis for calculating such fees. Mr. Speaker, the Authority revised a number of its initial proposals based on further e ngagement with affected parties, including stakeholder feedback provided in response to the 2018 consultation paper. As a result of that process, it was agreed that no changes would be made in 2019 to the fees payable by licensed CSPs, thereby permitting a revised fee structure to be introduced in 2020 following addition of stakeholder engagement. I am now pleased to bring forward such a r evised fee schedule. Mr. Speaker, it should be noted that the fees now being proposed by the Authority for the CSP sec tor, along with all of the fees proposed by way of this Bill, other than those required to correct existing fee- related statements or omissions in the Act, will cover the years 2020 and 2021 to assure alignment with the fees payable to the Authority that were approved by the legislature last year which co vered the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. Mr. Speaker, the proposed fee structure for CSPs was developed in response to the resources and costs associated with the Authority’s ongoing s upervisory activities r elated to that sector. The need for a simple, measurable basis of determining what fees entities within the CSP sector would pay, and the need for the proposed fees to encourage sustainability and continued credibility of this sector. Mr. Speaker, at present, all licensed CSPs pay an annual fee of $21 per entity served. This amount has not changed since the introduction of the CSP regime. Under the new fee structure now pr oposed, annual fees payable by both limited and unli mited licensees will be determined by a fee band structure with the respective band correlated to the number of companies served by each CSP. The key aspect underpinning this proposal is its adherence to the principle of proportionality. Mr. Speaker, the current application fee pay able by entities seeking to be licensed as either limited or unlimited CSPs is undifferentiated with the fee of $206 payable by all applicants. Under the new approach proposed by the Authority, the application fee would be determined by the type of licence being sought with a fee of $2,540 proposed for a limited l icence application, and a fee of $5,000 for an unlimited licence application. Given the critical gatekeeper role performed by the CSPs, the newly proposed fee r eflects the considerable time and effort w hich must be committed to reviewing licensing applications by not only the Authority’s CSPs supervisory team, but also by its anti -money laundering antiterrorism financing team. Mr. Speaker, this Bill also incorporates amendments to the Act which are req uired as a consequence of recent modifications in certain regulatory frameworks. Specifically, a number of fee implications have arisen from new or revised legislative provisions introduced during the last year which must now be addressed in the Fourth Schedule of the Act. One such amendment relates to the Inves tment Funds Act (IFA) and the fees associated with the newly created class of private funds. Private funds were previously categorised as excluded funds within the IFA and were not subject to initia l filing fees or 2806 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly annual fees. Under this Bill, private funds will be assessed an initial filing fee and an annual fee. Under the IFA, at present, an application must be submitted to the Authority in respect of the proposed appointment of directors or servi ce providers for the fund. The IFA does not, however, provide for the payment of a prescribed fee. The Bill presented today addresses that gap and proposes that the prescribed fee be $290, and addresses a similar gap by proposing that the late filing fee of $50 per month be introduced for all registered funds. In a similar vein, to the aforementioned amendments related to the IFA, amendments are r equired in respect of fee- related provisions which form part of the Insurance Amendment Act of 2019. Speci fically, registration and annual fees for insurance marketplace providers for 2020 and 2021 are to be r evised. Mr. Speaker, the fee revision process undertaken in 2018 was extremely comprehensive, a ddressing virtually all fees in all regulated sectors in covering a three- year period. A regrettable cons equence of the extensive nature of the changes pr oposed and consulted upon was that as a result of administrative errors, a small number of fees were mi sstated in or omitted from the Fourth Schedule of the Bermu da Monetary Authority Act 1969. These errors and omissions are addressed in this Bill. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to thank all of those persons within the Bermuda Monetary A uthority, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Ministry of Finance, an d the private sector who have assisted in the development of this Bill. Mr. Speaker, with those introductory remarks, I now read for the second time the Bill entitled the Bermuda Monetary Authority Act 2019, and welcome other Members’ comments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Does any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Honourable Member Ms. Gordon-Pamplin. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as difficult as it was for me to be able to even hear the Minister, he just has such a qui-et, calm, …
Thank you, Minister. Does any other Member wish to speak? I recognise the Honourable Member Ms. Gordon-Pamplin.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as difficult as it was for me to be able to even hear the Minister, he just has such a qui-et, calm, soft voice, I did strain so I could continue to be engaged the entire time of his presentation, because as you know, we do not get the luxury of having to share the brief, for the most part. However, with this particular Bill, being the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act, Mr. Speaker, let me say that we have no objection on this side of the House. And there is a reason for that. By and large, the Monetary Authority when they identify an issue, whether it is something new as in the innovation hub, as would have been presented to them by the Government on their wish list, they take the time to formulate their plan, they go out to industry and they consult, they listen, they draft legi slation, they invite responses on consultation papers, they gain consensus, and then proceed with the legi slation. And at that point in time that legislation goes to the drafters and the Attorney General’s Chambers and it goes through the various iterations that help to bring it from concept to the legal and legislative reality. So, when we are faced with having to look at something that comes to us through that medium, Mr. Speaker, it is very easy for us to support that which the Monetary Authority intends to do and intends to achieve through this legislation. I would only say, Mr. Speaker, oh, but would the rest of our processes go in this manner. However, that is not to be. But with that said, I have no further comments other than to say that we do approve a nd support this legislation and we will make any other comments that we have during Committee, if it is necessary when it arises. Thank you, sir.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerNo further speakers? Minister? Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill be committed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerCommitted? Okay. House in Committee at 3:03 pm [Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan, Chair man] COMMITTEE ON BILL BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY AMENDMENT ACT 2019
The ChairmanChairmanWe are in the Committee of the whole [House] to consider the Bil l before us. Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Better modulation, Madam? [Inaudible interjection] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Sure. Okay.
The ChairmanChairmanWould you like to move the clauses? Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Yes. Mr. Chairman, this Bill [ Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2019 ] seeks to amend the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 1969 to provide for the establis hment and the regulatory framework for an innovation hub to enable …
Would you like to move the clauses? Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Yes. Mr. Chairman, this Bill [ Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2019 ] seeks to amend the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 1969 to provide for the establis hment and the regulatory framework for an innovation hub to enable the devel-opment of innovative businesses that are in support of the operations of financial institutions or of any entity
Bermuda House of Assembly that intends to become a financial institution; to amend the Fourth Schedule to introduce or enhance the obligation of existing fees payable by persons l icensed or proposed to be licensed under the Corporate Service Provider Business Act 2012, Digital Bus iness Asset Act 2018, Investment Funds Act 2006 and Insurance Act 1978; and in furtherance of other matters in connection therewith. Mr. Chairman, I would like to move clauses 1 through 3.
The ChairmanChairmanContinue. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 1 provides the cit ation for the Bill. The Chair man: Excuse me, Honourable Member. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: While my modulation may not be very good, hers certainly is. [Laughter]
The ChairmanChairmanThe Honourable Member has moved clauses 1 through 3. Are there any objections to those clauses b eing mov ed? Honourable Member? Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: There are no o bjections, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
The ChairmanChairmanThank you. Finance Minister, you may proceed. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: This is going to be a long day! [Laughter] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 1 provides the cit ation for the Bill. Clause 2 amends the Act in section 3 to insert a new principal object to allow for …
Thank you. Finance Minister, you may proceed. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: This is going to be a long day! [Laughter] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 1 provides the cit ation for the Bill. Clause 2 amends the Act in section 3 to insert a new principal object to allow for the Authority to establish and administer an innovation hub to facilitate the development of innovative business es in Berm uda. Clause 3 amends the Act by inserting a new Part entitled “Part IVB —Establishment of Innovation Hub,” under which sections 20F to 20I are inserted into the Act. The new Part makes provision for the Authority to establish an innovation hub to enable ent ities meeting requisite criteria, as the Authority shall determine, to enter into and utilise the innovation hub by taking advantage of advice and assistance for the development of an innovative business in Bermuda that is in support of the operations of financial instit u-tions or of any entity that intends to become a financial institution. Under this Part the Authority is empowered to prescribe the application process for entrance into the innovation hub for one year and to extend entrance approv al for additional periods of three months. For the purpose of preserving the confident iality of innovations developed in the hub, provision is made that imposes an obligation on all current and former employees, officers, contractors, servants and agents , et cetera, of the Authority to keep confidential any information submitted to the Authority from the innovation hub and to allow disclosure of the confidential information only where there is a valid request for assistance made to the Authority by certain authorities for the purposes of the discharge of their statutory duties and functions. Such authorities include: a “S upervisor” for the purposes of Proceeds of Crime laws; the Ministry of Finance; the Registrar of Companies [ROC]; and the Bermuda Police Service.
The ChairmanChairmanOkay. Thank you, Minister. Does any other Minister care to speak to clauses 1 through 3? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member [Mrs.] Gordon- Pamplin. You have the floor. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just wondered whether the Minister had any indication, or …
Okay. Thank you, Minister. Does any other Minister care to speak to clauses 1 through 3? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member [Mrs.] Gordon- Pamplin. You have the floor.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just wondered whether the Minister had any indication, or if he could advise us, whether there were any types of applications that are in the pipeline so we might be able have some indic ation as to where we stand in terms of what is goi ng to be the utilisation factor that he anticipates? Is there somebody waiting in the pipeline for the legislation, or do we have . . . this is in respect of clause 3.
[Inaudible interjection] Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, in respect of clause 3 .
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberThat is for the general debate. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: No, no. I am as king the question. In respect of clause 3, when it talks about the— [Inaudible interjection] Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: No, it says the “Establishm ent of the innovation hub.” This is the establishment …
That is for the general debate. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: No, no. I am as king the question. In respect of clause 3, when it talks about the—
[Inaudible interjection] Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: No, it says the “Establishm ent of the innovation hub.” This is the establishment of the structure that supports this new intent. And my question is,. . . I know he could say, the Minister (or the Member) could be asking, How long is a piece of string? That is not the intent. What I am trying to determine is, Do we have compa-nies/corporations innovative businesses that are wai ting in the queue for the legislation or are we enabling 2808 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly the legislation so that we anticipate that businesses will be coming along?
The ChairmanChairmanDoes any other Member care to speak to clauses 1 through 3? Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: In response to the Member’s question, the answer is yes. There are a handful since last year.
The ChairmanChairmanHonourable Member. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I take the point, a handful since last year. And I think we will probably just have to wait and see when the actual companies come on board or when these structures come on board so that we …
Honourable Member.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I take the point, a handful since last year. And I think we will probably just have to wait and see when the actual companies come on board or when these structures come on board so that we can get the . . . Clearly, the Minister is n ot prepared to share any further detail at this point, but I am satisfied that there are some. With that I have no further questions on clauses 1 through 3.
The ChairmanChairmanMinister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that clauses 1 through 3 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 1 through 3 be approved. Any objections? No objections. Continue on, Minister. [Motion carried: Clauses 1 through 3 passed.] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move clauses 4 through 6.
The ChairmanChairmanClauses 4 through 6 have been moved. Any objections? No objections. Continue, Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 4 amends the Fourth Schedule to the Act to make provision for new or enhanced fees payable under the Insurance Act 1978. All annual and renewal fees for insurance marketplaces were reduced …
Clauses 4 through 6 have been moved. Any objections? No objections. Continue, Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 4 amends the Fourth Schedule to the Act to make provision for new or enhanced fees payable under the Insurance Act 1978. All annual and renewal fees for insurance marketplaces were reduced for the years 2020 and 2021 by the Authority after review and discussion with the market; and housekeeping matters such as typograph ical errors and technical oversights relating to fees established in 2019 (for example, regarding Class IIGB registration fees and applications to modify a loss reserve specialist opinion under paragraph (2)(a)), are clarified and corrected under this Bill. Clause 5 amends the Fourth Schedule of the Act to make provision for new or enhanced fees pa yable by the following regulated entities from 2020: (1) Corporate Service Providers . This section of the financial services market licensed by the A uthority was not subject to a fee review in 2018. Ther efore, the Authority has undertaken such review and proposes for fee increases to be staggered over the years 2020 and 2021. (2) Digital Asset Businesses . The Bill refines the manner in which fees for this sector are calculat-ed. Such refinements were proposed after review u ndertaken by the Authority over the preceding year of this evolving sector. (3) Investment Funds . The Bill introduces l icensing and annual renewal fees for two new classes of professional funds recently introduced, that is the “Overseas Fund” and t he “Professional Closed Fund”; and in relation to technical housekeeping matters to ensure fees to be imposed are aligned with the stat utory framework. (4) Innovation Hub. P rovision is made for the introduction of an application fee for entrance into the Innovation Hub for one year and a further application [may] be made by entities who have already been approved to remain in the hub for additional three- month periods at a time. Clause 6 provides for the Act to come into operation on 31 December 2019.
The ChairmanChairmanThank you, Minister. We are debating clauses 4 through 6. Any other Member care to address? The Chair recognises the Shadow Minister [Mrs.] Gordon- Pamplin. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in respect of all of the clauses to which the Minister has just referred, …
Thank you, Minister. We are debating clauses 4 through 6. Any other Member care to address? The Chair recognises the Shadow Minister [Mrs.] Gordon- Pamplin.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in respect of all of the clauses to which the Minister has just referred, with respect to the actual fees themselves, clearly, as I mentioned in the debate of the whole [House], these have been consulted with the industry, resolved and agreed to, so we have no objecti on.
The ChairmanChairmanDoes any other Member care to speak? Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that clauses 4 through 6 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 4 through 6 be approved. All in favour? No objections. Clauses 4 through 6 have been approved. [Motion carried: Clauses 4 through 6 passed.] Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Okay. Mr. Chairman, I move that the preamble be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the preamble be approved. No objections. Continue, Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, before I move for the Bill to be reported to the House, I just want to give one additional answer with respect to the numbers of companies in the hub. I …
It has been moved that the preamble be approved. No objections. Continue, Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, before I move for the Bill to be reported to the House, I just want to give one additional answer with respect to the numbers of companies in the hub. I have been ad-vised that there was one company formerly under the innovation hub last year, and four additional ones for 2019. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Bill be reported to the House as printed.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. No objections. [Motion carried: The Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2019 was considered by a Commi ttee of the whole House and passed without amend-ment.] House resumed at 4:15 pm [Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Deputy …
It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. No objections. [Motion carried: The Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2019 was considered by a Commi ttee of the whole House and passed without amend-ment.]
House resumed at 4:15 pm [Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Deputy Speaker, in the Chair]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE
BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY AMENDMENT ACT 2019
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerIs there any objection to a pproving the second reading of the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2019? (Have I got the right one?) No objections? Approved. Minister, you again. Mi nister of Finance, Second reading of the Economic Substance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019. BILL SECOND READING ECONOMIC SUBSTANCE …
Is there any objection to a pproving the second reading of the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2019? (Have I got the right one?) No objections? Approved. Minister, you again. Mi nister of Finance, Second reading of the Economic Substance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019.
BILL
SECOND READING
ECONOMIC SUBSTANCE AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2019
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Bill now before the House is the Economic Substance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019. This Bill amends the Economic Su b-stance Act 2018 and other related legislation in order that Bermuda’s economic substance legislative framework be more closely aligned with that of co mparable jurisdictions such as the Crown dependencies and other British Overseas Territories, commonly r eferred to as the “2.2 Jurisdictions.” Mr. Deputy Speaker, Honourable Members will recall that following the removal of Bermuda from the European Union’s [EU] list of non- cooperative j urisdictions for tax purposes on the 17 th of May 2019, the Registrar of Companies’ team commenced work to consider amendments to Bermuda’s Economic Substance legislation that would create parity and less opportunity for jurisdicti onal arbitrage between Bermuda and other 2.2 Jurisdictions. Mr. Deputy Speaker, following the Organis ation for Economic Co- operation and Development (the OECD) and their forum on Harmful Tax Practices (FHTP), following their assessment [of] the economic substance framework of all jurisdictions, a full jurisdi ctional comparative analysis was completed by the Registrar of Companies’ team, comparing Bermuda’s legislation with that of other comparable jurisdictions, specially, the Cayman Islands, British Virg in Islands, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. The purpose of the comparative analysis was to identify the key areas in which Bermuda’s legislation differed in a material way in order to ensure that there was no economic disadvantage to Bermuda as a res ult of jurisdictional arbitrage, and any amendments needed to meet EU and OECD standards. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Honourable Members will recall that the first phase of those level setting amendments were made on the 28 th of June of 2019 with the introduction of an exemption from economic substance requirements for entities that are engaged in a relevant activity but resident for tax purposes in another jurisdiction. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am pleased to advise the House that those amendments, including the Guidance Notes applicable to them, have been approved by the EU and the OECD. Mr. Deputy Speaker, following the enactment of those amendments, the Registrar of Companies’ team commenced a second phase of level setting analysis. The most significant additional area ident ified as requiring amendment, related to the relevant activities of holding companies, shipping, financing and leasing and insurance, as well as the requirement applicable to local companies. The specifics of these amendments are as follows: • The relevant activity of holding entity should apply only to those entities that hold a contro lling ownership stake in another entity, and which carry on no other commercial activity. Such entities are referred to as “pure equity holding entities.” • The rel evant activity of shipping should apply to those entities that operate or manage ships 2810 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly and not to those entities that carry on no acti vity other than the ownership of a ship. • The relevant activities of financing and leasing should be combined into a single relevant activity of financing and leasing. • The relevant activity of insurance should be limited to insurers and reinsurers only and should not include insurance brokers or managers or agents. • The economic substance requirements should be further reduced for local entities other than banks or insurers that carry on business only in Bermuda. As part of the ROC's monitoring and enforc ement process, all entities should be required to declare annually if they are carrying on a relevant activ ity. Mr. Deput y Speaker, the specific legislative amendments to address this second phase of level setting have been developed by the ROC team and the Attorney General’s Chambers in close consult ation with both the EU and the OECD. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the passage of t his Act will address these key differences and will lay the necessary foundation for further amendments to the Economic Substance Regulations 2018 which will complete the level setting process. Mr. Deputy Speaker, both the EU and the OECD have completed their preliminary assessment of the amendments and related Guidance Notes and have indicated that they have no concerns. Mr. Deputy Speaker [and] Honourable Members, the amendments proposed by this Bill are in line with the EU and OECD’s stated principles. And with those brief comments, I invite other Honourable Members to participate. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerThank you, Minister. Any further speakers? The Chair recognises the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Ms. Leah Scott. You have the floor,
Ms. Scott.
Ms. Leah K. ScottThank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Mr. Deputy Speaker, have you ever played that game Whac -A-Mole? [Laughter and inaudible interjections ]
Ms. Leah K. ScottWhere you bang it and it pops up somewhere els e? And no matter how many times you bang the mole, it keeps popping up. It is futile and r epetitive. The EU is the gift that continues to keep on giving to Bermuda. While we have taken the steps …
Where you bang it and it pops up somewhere els e? And no matter how many times you bang the mole, it keeps popping up. It is futile and r epetitive. The EU is the gift that continues to keep on giving to Bermuda. While we have taken the steps to level the playing field, we are still behind the eight ba ll.
Ms. Leah K. ScottWe should have never been on the blacklist, a feat that we accomplished despite over two years of meetings and correspondence and we still ended up there, and we are still recovering from it. So while other jurisdictions have had their legislation in place, have managed to allow their companies …
We should have never been on the blacklist, a feat that we accomplished despite over two years of meetings and correspondence and we still ended up there, and we are still recovering from it. So while other jurisdictions have had their legislation in place, have managed to allow their companies to be accessed and analysed to determine whether or not they meet the economic substance requirements, we are now on the back foot trying to get this done before the 31 st of December. I appreciate the amendments that have been made. They have put us in a better position of certai nty, so I am glad that they made them. Now, I have a couple of questions and I am going to . . . I know we are going to be in Committee. But I would like to ask them now so that members of the technical committee can have an answer for me when we get into Commi ttee. One of the amendments that we have made was combining the definition of financing and leasing, which is fine. That was to eliminate double reporting. So, my question is . . . we have a lot of trusts that lease to beneficiaries and they pay a rent. Is that considered . . . and I understand that there has to be an analysis to determine whether or not that falls under substance. But that was one of the questions because it is not clear that although they have changed the definition, they have not changed whether or not that is something will fall economic substance. We now have shipping that has been defined to cover passengers and goods, which is good. So not just owning a ship does not come under substance. But suppose I have a company that owns a boat and once a year I want to charter that boat. Does that mean that it falls under economic substance? Is that economic activity? D o I have to report? You know, do I have to have . . . or would I be required to have light touch substance? I understand that local companies still have to complete the form and will come under reduced substance, so we need to make sure that Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones who might have a small company understand what this is and what they are required to do because they will have to complete a form. So the Devil is in the details. I look forward to seeing the regulations and I also look forward to see-ing the Guidance Notes. I understand that the OECD is willing to work with us; the EU is less so. My understanding is that we cannot even change the name of a piece of legi slation without having to go to the EU. And the truth is that the ultimate goal of the EU i s to shut Bermuda and all the other jurisdictions down. Everything that we are putting in place is for the EU, and as far as I am concerned, we should be invoicing the EU for hav-ing to revamp our own infrastructure.
[Laughter]
Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. Leah K. Scott: We should be charging them for staffing, for computer systems, for business travel, for hotels, for per diem expenses, and for transportation for every single member from Bermuda that has gone to attend any meetings.
Ms. Leah K. ScottThat’s right. So, it is my opinion that since the EU wants to put us out of business, we should just roll back ever ything. We are not reporting CRS [ Common Reporting Standards] . We are not reporting FATCA [ Foreign A ccount Tax C ompliance Act] . We …
That’s right. So, it is my opinion that since the EU wants to put us out of business, we should just roll back ever ything. We are not reporting CRS [ Common Reporting Standards] . We are not reporting FATCA [ Foreign A ccount Tax C ompliance Act] . We are not reporting Country -by-Country Reporting [ CbCR]. We are not doing any economic substance. You do not want us to be in business, so why should we comply? But I know that we are too polite to do that. The EU is engaging in unfair c ompetition and they are accusing little Bermuda with 60,000 people of engaging of unfair competition. So if they want to cr eate a level playing field, allow us to enter into double tax treaties. Why can’t we enter into a double tax tre aty with China? Mauri tius does. Barbados does. Why can’t Bermuda? Because they will not allow us to. So, Mr. Deputy Speaker, if you would let me I do have some figures that I would like to demonstrate that although the EU and the OECD believe that we are taking all the beans out of their pot of rice, I would like to demonstrate that actually it is quite the opposite. So I am going to be reading from the “ Bermuda in the World Economy: Econom ic Relations with Asia, Canada, Europe and the United States[ –2014] .” Now, this was published in 2014, but it is an excellent read. So—
Ms. Leah K. ScottSo, the first thing in the . . . I ask your indulgence. There is quite a bit of information here. Thank you. “Bermuda has: • a significant economic profile in the world economy supporting 500,000 jobs worldwide even after the effects of the global financial crisis and recession.” • …
So, the first thing in the . . . I ask your indulgence. There is quite a bit of information here. Thank you. “Bermuda has: • a significant economic profile in the world economy supporting 500,000 jobs worldwide even after the effects of the global financial crisis and recession.” • “retained its economic competitiveness based on a financial regulatory environment that is supportive of investors and responsive to partner governments, such that new financial flows grew by $15- $25 billion in the last two years .” “Bermuda experienced almost $50 billion in two-way trade with these eight countries in 2013. ” (Those countries being France, UK, Germany, Hong Kong [and] Singapore.) “Bermuda has an outsized economic presence in these economies —it supports close to 500,000 jobs in the world —70,000 in the UK and a lmost 330,000 in North America including 300,000 in the United States, 80,000 in the rest of Europe, and about 10,000 in three Asian economies. ” So what they are trying to say is that we are not contributing, that we are taking, taking, taking. But our presence is supporting their economies. “Bermuda is a leader in marine transportation trade accounting for close to $10 billion in ship purchases, shipping management and shipping multin ationals, supported by a global reach that transports energy to U.S. and UK ports. ” “[T]his study makes the point that investments in exports can support jobs in host countries. The idea that jobs in the United States or the United Kingdom are ‘supported ’ by economic activity with Bermuda is well documented by the U.S. Department of Co mmerce. ” And I just want to give you just a couple of figures if you do not mind.
Ms. Leah K. Scott“Bermuda’s Economic Contrib ution to the U.S. Economy: 2008- 2014. Produces more than U.S. 304,000 jobs through U.S. exports to Bermuda and Bermuda multinational investment in USA. 17,000 of these jobs originate from Bermuda reinsurers with subsidiaries in USA. ” In the UK: “Bermuda’s companies sustain more than 69,000 UK …
“Bermuda’s Economic Contrib ution to the U.S. Economy: 2008- 2014. Produces more than U.S. 304,000 jobs through U.S. exports to Bermuda and Bermuda multinational investment in USA. 17,000 of these jobs originate from Bermuda reinsurers with subsidiaries in USA. ” In the UK: “Bermuda’s companies sustain more than 69,000 UK jobs through its investments into UK. Bermuda’s reinsurance companies alone contri bute 5,500 direct UK employees.” “[B]etween 2004 and 2014, on average the United Kingdom exported about $50 million annually in manufactured goods to Bermuda.” They made $50 million sending stuff here! “This average smooths an export history that can range between $190 million to as little as $20 mi llion annually. ” Germany: “In 2013/2014, Germany’s Hannover Re raised $1 billion through its Bermuda SPI” (Special Purpose Instrument) “and ILS” (Insurance Linked Securities) “and catastrophe bonds. . . .” “Bermuda reinsurance companies employ 600 in Germany and 8800 in all EU and Switzerland. Overall, German exports to Bermuda support 18,000 jobs in Germany.” France: “Bermuda’s aircraft securitization SPIs and its BSX capital market provided $5 billion in financing for sale and lease of Airbus wide body ai rcraft to several Asian airlines. . . . As a result these securitizations produced capital financing 50,000 jobs in the French aerospace industry in 2013/2014.” (I am almost finished.) 2812 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly “Bermuda’s growth in financial services in the world economy is noteworthy for developed economy regulators and politicians because Bermuda delivers a socially valuable set of services to the citizens of developed economies. But in addition, it has been argued that Bermuda is part of larger structural trend in the global financial system that allows offshores to exist at all. ” So my point, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is that, you know, the EU and OECD say that they are doing all these things so that we can behave ourselves and people can pay their taxes, well, the truth of the matter is that I would like to know, and I have said this before, how much terrorist financing and money laundering has been prevented by producing a passport and my utility bill? How much? I would like to see the correlation, because that is what they are trying to say that this is going to achieve. And the only thing they are doing is creating criminals, because you can bet your boots people are doing whatever the y can to avoid reporting and doing all of the things that they are requiring. But the bottom line is that the EU thinks that they can write our own laws. And we are letting them! First it is EU, substance. Next they are going to be writing tax laws for us and telling us we have to pay income taxes. We have got substance. We have got [the] beneficial ownership register that is going to be coming up. The next stop I am sure will be tax legisl ation drafted by the EU and saying that we have to abide by it. And all of this is based on their effort to stop offshore jurisdictions. So, I just have one final thing that I would like to read and this is from the “ Discussion Paper No. 62 Offshore Bet[:] The benefits of capital mobility. ” And this is dated June 2018.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerMember, can you make copies of the pages that you are reading, both documents, and table them? It seems like some information we should have.
Ms. Leah K. ScottOkay. So, in the [Executive] summary. “There is no evidence that the rise of OFCs has adversely affected the revenue- raising ability of other countries. ” I am going to say that again. “There is no ev idence that the rise of OFCs has adversely affected the revenue- raising ability …
Okay. So, in the [Executive] summary. “There is no evidence that the rise of OFCs has adversely affected the revenue- raising ability of other countries. ” I am going to say that again. “There is no ev idence that the rise of OFCs has adversely affected the revenue- raising ability of other countries. ” “For example, corporate tax revenue as a share of all taxes collected has grown slightly in the average OECD country since 1980. “Nor is it true that OFCs levy no taxes: their average tax revenue as a share of national income is only six percentage points lower than across the OECD. . . .” And I might add that anybody who is a me mber of the OECD and working for the OEC D gets an exemption from paying taxes. Anybody from the US, UK, or a tax -paying jurisdiction who is a member of the OECD gets an exemption from paying taxes. “The popular account of offshore centres is an outdated caricature that bears little resemblance to how OFCs in fact operate. Undermining their exis tence would harm investment, economic growth and international capital flows, while the promised benefits from intervention are unlikely to materialise. ” So all the things that they say that they are doing, it is kind of like when you punish your child and say, I’m doing this for your benefit; you are going to be better after this. Watch.
[Inaudible interjections and laughter ]
Ms. Leah K. ScottYes, right. So . . . “Clamping down on offshore centres w ill not raise tax revenue and preserve existing levels of i nvestment. Rather, it will change the pattern of inves tment flows in a different direction, shaped less by i nvestment opportunities and more by political factors. ” …
Yes, right. So . . . “Clamping down on offshore centres w ill not raise tax revenue and preserve existing levels of i nvestment. Rather, it will change the pattern of inves tment flows in a different direction, shaped less by i nvestment opportunities and more by political factors. ” (Which is what we are seeing happening.) “ In the longer run we would expect less investment than ot herwise would have occurred. The net effect on tax revenue is uncertain. But reduced investment would make societies less productive and prosperous, and this effect would compound over time. ” So it would be a cumulative effect. And all they are doing is trying to destroy us and put us out of business. “Conclusion: throwing out the baby and keeping the bathwater.” “It is also worth asking whether curtailing of fshore finance would” (and this is my point) “ in any meaningful way reduce illegal conduct. ” You cannot legislate behaviour! If people are going to misbehave, it does not matter how many laws you put in place. Right? “OFCs are neither the original source nor the ultimate destination of illegal financial flows. So long as there remain corrupt politicians, drug users and people willing to engage in terrorist acts, history su ggests that some illegal financial activity will take place to make it possible. ” (Remember what I said about creating criminals?) “ Furthermore, as we saw above, OFCs are as a rule far more compliant and transparent in their prevention of unlawful activities than onshore jurisdictions, including” . . . I’ll give you two guesses the two places that they are going to say. Where are the two places?
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerContinue. [Inaudible interjections and laughter ] Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. Leah K. Scott: “the United States and the United Kingdom. ”
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberThat’s right.
Ms. Leah K. ScottOkay? You just look at what is going on. The biggest money laundering cases are going on in the United . . . do you know the United States will not even sign up for FATCA or CRS? Did you know that? They will not. So, my point is this. …
Okay? You just look at what is going on. The biggest money laundering cases are going on in the United . . . do you know the United States will not even sign up for FATCA or CRS? Did you know that? They will not. So, my point is this. I understand what these guys have to do and I appreciate what t hey have to do. We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. But at some point . . . my mother had a saying. You kick a dog too many times and it is not going to come home. We have to make some decisions about what we want to do as a jurisdiction because as the M ichael Jackson song says, All I want to say is that They don’t really care about us. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerAny further speakers? The Chair recognises the Honourabl e Hadley Cole Simons. Hadley, you got the floor.
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsThank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Mr. Deputy Speaker, my colleague is right. At the end of the day, the offshore territories have been targeted by the EU because of their inefficiencies as far as tax management administration. There has been a leakage of tax revenue from each of those countries …
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Mr. Deputy Speaker, my colleague is right. At the end of the day, the offshore territories have been targeted by the EU because of their inefficiencies as far as tax management administration. There has been a leakage of tax revenue from each of those countries in the EU to some of the offshore centres, and now they are trying their best to put us out of business. I accept everything that our colleague has said. And I also just say one of the strategies that I am seeing that is being employed by the EU with this new legislation is increasing the cost of doing business in Bermuda. Just think about it, Mr. Deputy Speaker. For managing economic substance, we had annual filings. These filings are in addition to annual financial reports that have to be submitted, so companies will pay more annually in regard to making sure they meet their statutory requirements. In addition, Mr. Deputy Speaker, you have the monitoring. So the Registrar of Companies in effect will become another regulatory body, Mr. Deputy Speaker. And so if they are going to monitor, they are going to audit, they are going to do a side business, they will need more employees, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to be effective in what they do. In addition, with the legislation, the audit companies will get more business because they have to audit the statutory filings in r e-gard to economic substance. So they have to audit their financial results as well as the economic substance findings to make sure that the legislation and their practices are aligned, Mr. Deputy Speaker. So, again, Mr. Deputy Speaker, this adds to the cost of doing business. And when people with capital are coming here, they are looking f or more returns on their money. And if the cost of a jurisdiction continues to esc alate, then their capital returns are diminished, Mr. Deputy Speaker. As a consequence, they are also going at us from a stealth point of view in regard to cost. You know, we are having issues now. I mean, we have the legislation in regard to the BMA, just passed. We increased fees in the BMA Act. And, again, they are doing it because it is more expensive than ever to run the financial service industries to meet international standard. How much more can these companies afford to absorb, Mr. Deputy Speaker, before they try to find another place to do their business? Mr. Deputy Speaker, I know it is not going to be that easy for them to move elsewhere because, quite frankly, most of the offshore countries have the same challenge. So, Mr. Deputy Speaker, somehow as a collective the jurisdictions need to work in unison to see how they can best address this issue. And, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I was listening to the comments by the Minist er of Finance, and I was wondering what consultation has he done with other jurisdictions?
[Inaudible interjections]
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsI said the Minister of Finance. So just listen. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am saying that as we are working in unison as a jurisdiction, and we have companies that have interest in other jurisdictions, i.e., Guernsey and Jersey, the Cayman [Islands], the B ahamas, maybe we could pool our …
I said the Minister of Finance. So just listen. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am saying that as we are working in unison as a jurisdiction, and we have companies that have interest in other jurisdictions, i.e., Guernsey and Jersey, the Cayman [Islands], the B ahamas, maybe we could pool our resources so we can all have a better outcome in addressing the EU —
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsYou know, I know that we have been working on the regulations and the Gui dance Notes. And, quite frankly, I am led to believe that we are 99 per cent there and once this legislation is through we can possibly put it forward. I have not seen those regulations …
You know, I know that we have been working on the regulations and the Gui dance Notes. And, quite frankly, I am led to believe that we are 99 per cent there and once this legislation is through we can possibly put it forward. I have not seen those regulations or the Guidance Notes, but I am hoping that they are on the same plane as the Crown dependencies, Mr. Deputy Speaker, on the same plane as the Cayman [Islands], Mr. Deputy Speaker, so that we are competitive in what we do in 2814 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly regard to economic substance and our requirements here in Bermuda. We do not want to be in a disadvantaged position whereby other jurisdic tions are providing more relaxed standards than we are. I know we position ourselves to be world class in financial services and as a world- class jurisdiction. And that means, you know, that we are a bit tough on regulations and standards. But we have to be balanced [so] that the standards that we prescribe for ourselves and for our clients basically do not make us [less] competitive in regard to other jurisdictions. So I am hoping that the Minister and his team have looked at the Crown d ependencies, have l ooked the Cayman [Islands], have looked at the Bahamas, have looked at the BVI, to ensure that our Guidance Notes and our regulations are competitive and yet we can make it work for us economically and also ensure that we do not price ourselves from a cost perspective out of the market because of the requirements that have been b estowed upon us by the EU, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Mr. Deputy Speaker, you know, I am very concerned about the growing number of regulatory bodies that we are having in this country because of financial bodies, because of the OECD and because of the EU. Because right now these regulatory bodies are growing in momentum: capital, resources, training. If I use the Registrar of Companies as an example, we know that up until now they used to gather information. People used to go in and get information on companies, get guidance information in regard to i ncorporation, in regard to having your company regi stered, the names registered and so forth. But now they have to shift. The employees will have to shift from that information gathering and information sharing a role to a regulatory role. That is a paradigm shift. That is a cultural shift for the organisation and its employees. And, obviously, there was quite a bit of training in that transit ion. That costs money. You have to have a new infrastructure. Mr. Deputy Speaker, you have to have new rules and regulations. You have to have new procedures. All of that costs money. And so this is why I am concerned that the more and more regulatory agencies we have . . . we know that the Pension Commission is thinking of having a regulatory authority. We have the IT Commission. We have the Energy Commission. We have the Gaming Commi ssion. We have the BMA. All of these regulatory bodies add cost to doing business in Bermuda because they all require due diligence, auditing, on- site visits, cap ital, examination, and as a consequence the cost of [doing] business continues to escalate in Bermuda. So, Mr. Deputy Speaker, my message is, let’s be careful in regar d to how we respond to this. We do not want to cost ourselves out of the market for i mplementing all of these EU issues. And we have to be competitive. We have to work with our sister and brother jurisdictions to make sure that we are basically on the same playing field so that we are not disadva n-taged by our higher standards of doing business. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerThank you. Any further speakers? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Rolfe Commissiong.
Mr. Rolfe Co mmissiongOh, Mr. Deputy Speaker, the myth was that we continue to box above our weight. But that was only in the context of a geopolit ical environment where the heavyweights were allo wing us to appear to be boxing above our weight because, basically, the heavyweights were benefiting (at that …
Oh, Mr. Deputy Speaker, the myth was that we continue to box above our weight. But that was only in the context of a geopolit ical environment where the heavyweights were allo wing us to appear to be boxing above our weight because, basically, the heavyweights were benefiting (at that time the perception was) by having Bermuda and other offshore territories as these zero tax jurisdi ctions. I contend, and I have said it on this floor a number of times, that that era, if not over, certainly we can s ay that the writing is on the wall. That is why it has been so critical for this Government to reengineer our economy precisely because nothing lasts forever and that golden period between the mid1980s to (I would say) around 2008, was very good for Berm uda. But I believe that the geopolitical and other circumstances have changed where no longer will they be turning a blind eye to what is going on here and in other offshore territories. That is why we think it is important for us, at the same time we att empt to re- engineer our economy as this Government is trying to do, to comply with these types of initiatives coming from these global powers because, frankly, we do not have the power to resist it. Let’s be honest about it. That is the reality of what we are confronting right now. And issues around tax harmonisation, which the French have always been behind, to have a global tax being established that can be enforceable, they have not given up on that. Now you have the OECD also aligning itself with these types of ambitions that go back decades. We know, for example, what has been happening with the beneficial ownership issue. That is no longer a purely European issue now. The OECD has taken it up. So this is how the stars are now aligning themselves. We can moan and we can talk about the extra costs that are being imposed upon us, but I think we would be better off acknowledging that there has been a significant geopolitical shift and we now must adjust the way we do business in the world to accommodate that shift. So, I do not think it is going to end. And I think the Government is doing the right thing in moving toward compliance with what the European Union is requiring of us. I would say, lastly, in terms of Brexit, it is also going to be fascinating, because the UK, which is one of the entities which sort of under the Reagan/Thatcher sort of US/UK alliance that took place in the 1980s, which ushered in the proliferation
Bermuda House of Assembly of these offshore centres on steroids, like Bermuda, the UK always was a brake on the ambitions of what I would call the federalists in the European Union and stymied their ambition to move towards some of the things we are seeing now. This did not just come out of the blue. These are ambitions that go back with the European Union over two decades. The UK and then laterally with the expansion of the EU, to Central Europe, Poland and some of the other countries have provided a bulwark against moving in some of the directions they are moving now. So I think we have to be extra careful about some of the consequences of the UK moving out of the European Union. I heard one of the Members praise the vote that took place in the UK general election this mor ning. But that election result will only make it more certain, and more likely, that the E U and the UK will split sooner rather than later. And that will have cons equences for Bermuda’s geopolitical position as well. So I commend what the Finance Minister is doing. I think he understands there has been a signif icant shift in the geophysical l andscape. And I think Bermuda is going to be well served by his management of that shift. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerThank you. Any further speakers? Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. That was a lot! [Laughter] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I think the metaphor that the Honourable Deputy Opposition Leader started with a Whac -A-Mole could have been better replaced with, S he’s fired up and …
Thank you. Any further speakers? Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. That was a lot! [Laughter] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I think the metaphor that the Honourable Deputy Opposition Leader started with a Whac -A-Mole could have been better replaced with, S he’s fired up and ready to go.
[Laughter]
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: The reality is that we are a participant in the global economy and inasmuch as we have an insurance industry that is reliant upon Solvency II equivalence, we have to, to some degree, march to the beat that the EU is drumming.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerMm-hmm. Hon. Cu rtis L. Dickinson: So, I understand the frustration. I would say this, that we have over the course of time demonstrated a great degree of resilience as a country. And they punch us and we get up, and then they hit us again and we get up, …
Mm-hmm.
Hon. Cu rtis L. Dickinson: So, I understand the frustration. I would say this, that we have over the course of time demonstrated a great degree of resilience as a country. And they punch us and we get up, and then they hit us again and we get up, and we just keep getting up . . . So I think —
[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: That’s right. And so I accept the frustration. I am not going to pour any gas on the flames, because I am the one responsible for maintaining active engagement with Europ e and the UK and the US. And so I would rather not have my Hansard comments played back to me when I am trying to get something from them.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerYes. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: So I will defer to comments of my colleagues and accept that the y repr esent a view of many people who sit in the Chamber and who live in this country. With that, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I move that the Bill be committed.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerMr. Swan. House in Committee at 4:50 pm [Mr. Hubert (Kim) E Swan, Chair man] COMMITTEE ON BILL ECONOMIC SUBSTANCE AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2019
The ChairmanChairmanWe are in the Committee of the whole [House] to consider the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2019 [sic] . Minister of Finance, you have the floor. Hon. Curtis L. Dicki nson: Mr. Chairman, the Economics Substance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019 amends the Economic Substance Act 2018 by reduc-ing …
We are in the Committee of the whole [House] to consider the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2019 [sic] . Minister of Finance, you have the floor.
Hon. Curtis L. Dicki nson: Mr. Chairman, the Economics Substance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019 amends the Economic Substance Act 2018 by reduc-ing the economic substance requirements for l ocal entities other than banks and insurers, who carry on business only in Bermuda. It also amends the Companies Act 1981, Limited Liability Company Act 2016, the Exempted Partnerships Act 1992 and the Overseas Partnerships Act 1995 requiring all entities to declare annually if they are carrying on a relevant activity. Mr. Chairman, I move clauses 1 through 6.
The ChairmanChairmanWith one correction, Minister, from my part, we are considering the Economics Substance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019, as you stated. You may move those clauses. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Okay.
The ChairmanChairmanAre there any objections? [Inaudible interjections] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clauses 1 through 6.
The ChairmanChairman[Clauses] 1 through 6. 2816 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 1 is the standard citation. Clause 2 amends section 2 by inserting a new definition of “Group” (as defined in the International Cooperation (Tax Information Exchange Agreements) Country -by-Country Reporting …
[Clauses] 1 through 6. 2816 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 1 is the standard citation. Clause 2 amends section 2 by inserting a new definition of “Group” (as defined in the International Cooperation (Tax Information Exchange Agreements) Country -by-Country Reporting Regulations 2017) and of “MNE Group” (which differs from the definition in those 2017 Regulations in that it does not exclude “Excluded MNE Groups”) and to amend specified definitions, notably by amending the definition of “local company” to provide that it only applies to certain companies carrying on business in Bermuda, and si milarly with local limited liability companies. Clause 3 amends section 5(1) to provide that annual filings shall be in such form as the Registrar may determine, rather than being prescribed by regulations. Clause 4 amends section 12(2) to require the Registrar, not the Minister, to consider any relevant guidance issued by the Minister in determining whet her an entity has complied with sections 3 or 5. Note that references to “relevant activity” in the explanation for clauses 5 through 10 below mean relevant activity as the term is defined in the Economic Substance Act 2018, as amended by clause 2. Clause 5 amends sections 2, 117 . . . and 135 of the Companies Act 1981, and inserts new section 5A, to require a company on its application for inco rporation or registration and annual return to provide information as to whether or not it proposes to carry on a relevant activity and the type of relevant activity. Clause 6 amends Forms No. 1, 14 and 15 in the Schedule to the Companies (Forms) Rul es 1982 in consequence of the requirement for a company to declare whether it proposes to carry on a relevant activity.
The ChairmanChairmanThank you, Minister. Shadow Minister, the Deputy Opposition Leader. You have the floor.
Ms. Leah K. ScottThank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have two questions. I am on page 2, [paragraph] (e), and the definition of “relevant activity,” [subparagraph] (i).
Ms. Leah K. ScottWill the relevant activity of financing and leasing exclude leasing of real es tate? Which I do not think should be called as a relevant activity.
The ChairmanChairmanAny other Member care to speak to clauses 1 through 6? Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: The short answer to that question is, yes, it will exclude the leasing of real estate. Mr. Chairman, with your indulgence, the Ho nourable Member asked in the general debate, she teed up some …
Any other Member care to speak to clauses 1 through 6? Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: The short answer to that question is, yes, it will exclude the leasing of real estate. Mr. Chairman, with your indulgence, the Ho nourable Member asked in the general debate, she teed up some questions that she wanted to be addressed during the course the Committee. I think the first question is if trusts that lease property, do the y follow the scope of financing and leasing? I am advised that, no, trusts are not regi stered entities and that leasing of assets is not connected to the provision of credit facilities, it is not wit hin the definition. So, if you are leasing in the ordinar y course of a home, that is fine. If you are leasing as part of a financing activity, like getting a really fancy, like, 540i BMW (like I used to drive), that kind of leasing is a financing activity.
Ms. Leah K. ScottSo, just to clarify. I understand that a trust is a relationship and not an entity. In the instance where the trust has an underlying company which performs real estate and property management services for it and that entity is engaging in establis hing the lease and doing the leasing, …
The ChairmanChairmanAny other Member care to speak? Honourable Member Simons, you have the floor.
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsYes, I would like to direct the Minister to [clause] 2, MNE Group. Can the Minister speak to us in regard to how he intends to address branches of companies that operated and are taxed in other jurisdictions? So they straddle Bermuda [and] the Cayman [Islands] or Bermuda [and] Jersey. …
Yes, I would like to direct the Minister to [clause] 2, MNE Group. Can the Minister speak to us in regard to how he intends to address branches of companies that operated and are taxed in other jurisdictions? So they straddle Bermuda [and] the Cayman [Islands] or Bermuda [and] Jersey. We have a number of companies here that have branches and subsidiaries in other juris dictions. So, can he speak to how he would manage local companies that have branches in other jurisdictions and local companies that have subsidiaries in other jurisdictions because there is a difference?
The ChairmanChairmanAny other Member care to speak to clauses 1 through 6?
The ChairmanChairmanDeputy Opposition Leader, you have the floor.
Ms. Leah K. ScottThank you. And I am not sure if the y have already a nswered it, but it is regarding a boat and whether if a boat is held by a company and that boat does a char-ter once a year and does a charter on a fee basis, is Bermuda …
Thank you. And I am not sure if the y have already a nswered it, but it is regarding a boat and whether if a boat is held by a company and that boat does a char-ter once a year and does a charter on a fee basis, is
Bermuda House of Assembly that considered a relevant activity and does it come under scope of substance?
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsSorry, Mr. Chairman. The definition of “holding company.” And I underst and that basically the holding company may hold underlying shares of another company or subsi diary.
The ChairmanChairmanThat is [paragraph] (b) on [page] 2?
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsSo my question is, How does the Minister address the appreciation of value of the underlying companies held in an investment holding company? And how are they going to define contro lling interest of the underlying companies that may fall under an investment holding company, or investment holding entity? Because …
So my question is, How does the Minister address the appreciation of value of the underlying companies held in an investment holding company? And how are they going to define contro lling interest of the underlying companies that may fall under an investment holding company, or investment holding entity? Because a holding entity may not r eceive dividend income, but their underlying inves tments may appreciate in value over time. How is he going to address the capital appreciation of those u nderlying companies? Will they be caught under the economic substance and relevant activity?
The ChairmanChairmanThank you. We are dealing with clauses 1 through 6. Any other Member care to speak? No other Member? Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Okay. With respect to MNEs, and I think the first question was about subsi diaries. So subsidiaries are out of scope. There was a question about …
Thank you. We are dealing with clauses 1 through 6. Any other Member care to speak? No other Member? Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Okay. With respect to MNEs, and I think the first question was about subsi diaries. So subsidiaries are out of scope. There was a question about branches. The branches taxed resident somewhere else. It is also out of scope. There were a plethora of questions about capital gains, capital loses. Those are best addressed I think in the Regulations and the Guidance Notes.
The ChairmanChairmanThank you. We are considering the economic substance, [clauses] 1 through 6. Shadow Minister for . . . Opposition, Shadow Opposition Leader, you have the floor.
Ms. Leah K. Scot tThank you. Just the question about a boat and— Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Boat? Yes. With respect to the Honourable Member’s question about boats. I think the question was if you own a boat, and you charter the boat, does it fall into the scope of shi pping? If it …
Thank you. Just the question about a boat and—
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Boat? Yes. With respect to the Honourable Member’s question about boats. I think the question was if you own a boat, and you charter the boat, does it fall into the scope of shi pping? If it is a pleasure vehicle, no. Pleasure vessels are out of scope. And if you are earning income from a transport of goods or passengers, then yes, it is in scope. My suspicion is (and I am going a little bit off the reservation here) that if the primary source of operating the boat is as a pleasure vehicle for your own use, I would be kind of hard pressed to kind of understand why chartering it out for an instance would bring it into scope.
The ChairmanChairmanAny other Member care to speak to clauses 1 through 6? Minister? Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that clauses 1 through 6 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 1 through 6 be approved. No objections? [Inaudible interjection] [Motion carried: Clauses 1 through 6 passed.] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move clauses 7 through 11.
The ChairmanChairmanSo approved. We are going to now move clauses 7 through 11? Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Yes.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been proposed that clauses 7 through 11 be considered. No objections? 2818 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. Leah K. Scott: No objections. I just want to say that unless any of my colleagues have anything else to say regarding the legislation, we …
It has been proposed that clauses 7 through 11 be considered. No objections?
2818 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. Leah K. Scott: No objections. I just want to say that unless any of my colleagues have anything else to say regarding the legislation, we do not have any further comments on the balance of the Bill.
The ChairmanChairmanAll right. You still have to . . . clauses 7— Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you. Clause 7 amends sections 2, 17, 30 and 254 of the Limited Liability Company Act 2016 t o require a limited liability company to declare whether it proposes to carry on a relevant …
All right. You still have to . . . clauses 7— Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you. Clause 7 amends sections 2, 17, 30 and 254 of the Limited Liability Company Act 2016 t o require a limited liability company to declare whether it proposes to carry on a relevant activity and the type of rel evant activity. Clause 8 amends Form 6 in the Schedule to the Limited Liability Company (Forms) Regulations 2016 (annual return) in cons equence of the requir ement for a limited liability company to declare whether it proposes to carry on a relevant activity. Clause 9 amends section 12(1) of the E xempted Partnerships Act 1992 to require an exempted partnership to send to the Registrar a statement of whether or not it is carrying on a relevant activity and the type of relevant activity. Clause 10 amends section 23 of the Overseas Partnerships Act 1995 to require an overseas partner-ship to file with the Registrar a statement of whether or not it is carrying on a relevant activity and the type of such relevant activity. Clause 11 provides for commencement.
The ChairmanChairmanDoes any Member care to speak to clauses 7 through 11? Minister, would you like to move these? Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that clauses 7 through 11 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 7 through 11 be approved. No objections . Minister? [Motion carried: Clauses 7 through 11 passed.] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that the preamble be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the preamble be approved. No objections . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that the Bill be reported to the House as printed.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. No objections . [Motion carried: The Economic Substance Amen dment (No. 2) Act 2019 was considered by a Commi ttee of the whole House and passed without amendment.] House resumed at 5:02 pm [Hon. Derrick V. …
It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. No objections . [Motion carried: The Economic Substance Amen dment (No. 2) Act 2019 was considered by a Commi ttee of the whole House and passed without amendment.]
House resumed at 5:02 pm
[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Deputy Speaker, in the Chair]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE
ECONOMIC SUBSTANCE AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2019
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerAny objections to the approval of the Economic Substance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019? No objections. Approved. The next order of business, [Order] No. 6 , the reading of the Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. Minister of Finance, you have the floor again. BILL SECOND READING INSURANCE (NO. 2) …
Any objections to the approval of the Economic Substance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019? No objections. Approved. The next order of business, [Order] No. 6 , the reading of the Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. Minister of Finance, you have the floor again.
BILL
SECOND READING
INSURANCE (NO. 2) AM ENDMENT ACT 2019
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am pleased to present the I nvestment Funds Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019 [sic] for the consideration — [Crosstalk]
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerInsurance— Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Insurance funds?
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerYes, insurance . . . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Apologies. Mr. Deputy S peaker, it gives me pleasure to present to the House today the Bill entitled the Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. This Bill seeks to amend the Insurance Act 1978 , the Insurance Accounts Regulations 1980, and …
Yes, insurance . . . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Apologies. Mr. Deputy S peaker, it gives me pleasure to present to the House today the Bill entitled the Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. This Bill seeks to amend the Insurance Act 1978 , the Insurance Accounts Regulations 1980, and the Insurance Returns and Solvency Regulations 1980 by making a number of changes to the Act and said regulations and to facilitate effective supervision of insurers conducting alternative capital business within Bermuda’s limited purpose regime. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Honourable Members would be aware that Bermuda is regarded as a leading jurisdiction in the world insurance market. Members would also be aware that the independent sole financial services regulator, the Bermuda Monetary Authority, is and has always been committed to
Bermuda House of Assembly the enhancement of the viability of the Bermuda i nsurance market. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Authority recognises the need to continue to provide a regulatory environ-ment that appropriately regulates and supervises the insurance industry while also demonstrating the wil lingness to adapt the regulatory regimes to stay in alignment with international developments and regul atory best practises. It is for these reasons the Author ity is proposing to update its supervisory regime for limited purpose insurers to ensure that Ber muda continues to be viewed as a leading jurisdiction with an appropriate regulatory environment for the alternative risk transfer market. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Authority is proposing to amend section 6D of the Act by inserting speci fic wording that wi ll allow the Authority to make adjustments to a collateralised insurer’s total statutory capital and surplus. As a consequence, the Authority is also proposing to amend section 44A of the Act which will afford a collateralised insurer the right to appeal i f the insurer is aggrieved by a decision by the Authority to make an adjustment to its capital. Mr. Deputy Speaker, in addition to the amendments of the Act, the Authority is proposing to amend the Insurance Accounts Regulations [Act] 1980 and the Insurance Returns and Solvency Regulations 1980 by revoking provisions relating to special purpose insurers (SPIs). The removal of these prov isions excludes SPIs from the annual statutory filing requirement prescribed within them. Mr. Deputy Speaker, in lieu of these prov isions, the Authority has developed a Special Purpose Insurer Accounts, Return and Solvency Rules 2019, [currently under development]. These rules have been developed pursuant to sections 6A(1)(f) of the Insurance Act 1978 which gives the Authority the power to prescribe rules in relation to statutory financial returns. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Honourable Members are advised that the Authority has consulted with i ndustry stakeholders to ensure the regulatory regime for SPIs remains prudent and pragmatic and the rules developed by the Authority will be laid for approval by this Honourable House in due course. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Honourable Members should also be aware that the Authority is also propos-ing an enhancement to the existing Insurance Ret urns and Solvency Regulations 1980 by inserting regul ation 14N, the schedule of alternative capital arrange-ments. This provision will require the relevant insurers to submit essential data of any alternative risk transfer business that they conduct. The inclusion of this pr ovision will improve the Authority’s supervisory oversight of Bermuda’s alternative risk transfer business. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Authority has noted a growing interest in the alternative risk transfer market, an interest in Bermuda as a jurisdiction of choice, to set up this business. The Authority is of the view that the enhancements proposed today are necessary to ensure Bermuda remains a credible and viable o ption for alternative risk transfer business. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the am endments repr esent a collaborative effort between the Authority and various industry stakeholders. I would like to thank all of those persons within the BMA, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Ministry of Finance and the pr ivate sector, who have assisted with the development of this Bill. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I now read for the second time the Bill entitled Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 and welcome comments from Me mbers. Thank you.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerAny further speakers? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Pat Gordon-Pamplin. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. We support this Bill, the Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. I think that it is important to just highlight again that this has been well consulted and it …
Any further speakers? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Pat Gordon-Pamplin.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. We support this Bill, the Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. I think that it is important to just highlight again that this has been well consulted and it is a pragmatic and collaborative piece of legislation that has found its way for approval in this Honourable House, and to that we have no objection. Thank you, sir.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerThe Chair recognises the Ho nourable Member Cole Hadley Simons. Cole Simons . . . you have the floor.
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsThank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Mr. Deputy Speaker, as my colleagues have indicated that we have no objections. But I would like to ask the Minister, these specialised collateral vehicles—we know that they are rather unique, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and their business that they underwrite is rather unique. So, my …
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Mr. Deputy Speaker, as my colleagues have indicated that we have no objections. But I would like to ask the Minister, these specialised collateral vehicles—we know that they are rather unique, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and their business that they underwrite is rather unique. So, my question is, can the Minister share with the House the process that the BMA used to arrive at these statutory capital solvency requir ement levels. How did they arrive at those numbers? What instruments did they use to get the numbers so that they could be satisfied that they are the best for the business that is being transacted in Bermuda? So, if the Minister can just elucidate on the pr ocess that the BMA used to arrive at the capital adequacy and solvency standards and the economic capital r equirements standards —how did they arrive at that and who did they speak to and how were they sure that they were at the right level to meet internat ional standards and ensure that our institutions of this nature are well -funded and well -capitalised? Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerAny further speakers? Minister . 2820 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I am advised that the BMA used a combination of methods to determine the appropriateness of the capital and reserves for insurance companies — participants …
Any further speakers? Minister .
2820 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I am advised that the BMA used a combination of methods to determine the appropriateness of the capital and reserves for insurance companies — participants especially in the collateralised space. They rely on industry participants who they consult with. The BMA als o has a team of actuaries who do considerable work on more conventional insurance business and probably extend those efforts to the work that is being done by folks who are in the collat-eralised space. At the end of the day, the collatera lised space is mor e about the capital structure and how you finance the business as opposed to the un-derlying premise of operating the business. There is close coordination and review of the business models , and there was a benchmark against the more conve ntional models that are financed traditionally. The BMA has also applied some of the princ iples from the commercial regime that they deem ap-propriate for the new risk -based capital approach and so they are using the benefit of their prior experience and applying it to the new models. I would say that we are very fortunate here that we have not had a situ ation where an insurer has, on the BMA’s watch, fallen short of where it needs to be. I think that speaks, you know . . . I do not want to get too far ahead of my skis here. I think that speaks to the quality of the team and the work that they are doing with respect to insuring that the companies that operate here are doing so in a prudent way and are protecting the interests of the policyholders but also as importantly as a jurisdiction.
[Crosstalk]
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Deputy Speaker, I move that the Bill be committed.
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerThe Bill —Mr. Swa n? House in Committee at 5:1 3 pm [Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan, Chairman] COMMITTEE ON BILL INSURANCE (NO. 2) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
The ChairmanChairmanWe are in Committee of Supply —no we are in Committee of the whole [House] to consider the Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act [2019] . Minister of Finance, you have the floor. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, the Bill seeks to amend the Insurance Act 1978, the Insurance Accounts …
We are in Committee of Supply —no we are in Committee of the whole [House] to consider the Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act [2019] . Minister of Finance, you have the floor.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, the Bill seeks to amend the Insurance Act 1978, the Insurance Accounts Regulations 1980, and the Insurance Returns and Solvency Regulations 1980. Mr. Chairman, I would li ke to move clauses 1 through 5. The Chairman: Thank you. It has been proposed that we move clauses 1 through 5. Are there a ny objections? No objections. Continue, Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 1 provides the cit ation for the Bill. Clause 2 amends section 6D (Authority must make adjustments to enhanced capital requirement, available statutory capital and surplus, and available statutory economic capital and surplus). The amendment provides for the Authority to adjust an insurer's total statu tory capital, and for an insurer or designated insurer to apply to adjust its available statutory ec onomic capital and surplus. Clause 3 amends section 44A (Rights of appeal) to provide for an insurer or designated insurer to have a right of appeal to a tr ibunal if it is aggrieved by a decision of the Authority to make an adjustment to its total statutory capital and surplus and available statutory economic capital and surplus. Clause 4 gives effect to Schedule 1 which makes amendments to the Insurance Accounts Regulations 1980. The amendments revoke provisions r elating to Special Purpose Insurers. Clause 4 also gives effect to Schedule 2 which makes amendments to the Insurance Returns and Solvency Regulations 1980. The amendments revoke provisions relating to Special Purpose Insurers, and requires information to be filed with the A uthority by insurers who are funded by alternative cap ital arrangements. Clause 5 provides for commencement of this Act and the Schedules.
The ChairmanChairmanThank you, Minister. We are consi dering clauses 1 through 5. The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Gordon- Pamplin. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just have a question for clarity on clause 3 where it speaks to deleting “and avail able statutory capital …
Thank you, Minister. We are consi dering clauses 1 through 5. The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Gordon- Pamplin. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just have a question for clarity on clause 3 where it speaks to deleting “and avail able statutory capital and surplus” and substituting “, avai lable statutory capital and surplus, total statutory capital and surplus, and available statutory economic capital and surplus.” The question that I have is within what time frame is compliance be ing set as having been required? So, in other words, you have to comply with these revisions and will have whatever the amount is going to be by virtue of the class of the i nsurer and the special purpose for which it relates, and I am just wondering in ter ms of compliance with the statutory capital and surplus, what is the time frame within which a company must comply if they find themselves close to the margins. Is there something
Bermuda House of Assembly like—or is it just being guided by the compliance of the principal Act?
The ChairmanChairmanAny other Minister care to speak to clauses 1 through 5? Honourable Member Simons, you have the floor.
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsThank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am speaking to item 2 as well. My question . . . my question is, yes, the BMA has the ability to —
The ChairmanChairmanTurn your microphone on, Honour able Member.
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsThe BMA has the ability to review an issuer’s capital requirements and capital adequacies , and they have done a lot of work to arrive at the capital requirements based on the client’s entity and the nature of their business. So, when an issuer is aggrieved by the new capital …
The BMA has the ability to review an issuer’s capital requirements and capital adequacies , and they have done a lot of work to arrive at the capital requirements based on the client’s entity and the nature of their business. So, when an issuer is aggrieved by the new capital adequacy requirement, they may apply to hav e it adjusted. How rigid is the BMA in regards to adjusting the revised capital r equirement given that they have done so much work and they have worked assiduously to come up with the best position based on the nature of the business and based on the struc ture of the company? And, as I said, how often do they review the adequacies? Is it done annually when their filings are done or is it done every four or five years? Like I said, if they have done so much to arrive at this adequacy and we are giving the company the ability to appeal the decision, will the BMA be bound by the appeals decision, will they have to r ework the capital requirement or do they have to just agree on some agreed capital that both the BMA and the company can agree to?
The ChairmanChairmanThank you, Honourable Member. We are considering clauses 1 through 5, Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. Any other Member care to speak to clauses 1 through 5? Minister . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In response to the first ques tion around when does someone need …
Thank you, Honourable Member. We are considering clauses 1 through 5, Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019. Any other Member care to speak to clauses 1 through 5? Minister . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In response to the first ques tion around when does someone need to be in compliance, it is all the time. It is a continual assessment and I think compa-nies—those who practise best practise —are continually assessing the capital at every relevant accounting measurement period just to ensure that they are in compliance. With respect to the questions around the tribunal process and how that works, the company has the right to make a representation 28 days after a de-cision by the BMA has been made with respect to their capital adequacy. It is the same process for all classes of insurers, not just for those that have a co llateralised capital structure. This amendment by and large is largely a housekeeping [matter] to include the collateralised insurers into the regime as other insurers are.
The ChairmanChairmanThank you. Honourable Member Gordon- Pamplin, the Chair recognises you. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just, for clarity, I think the Minister answered a general kind of . . . well, answered generally to my question which I believe was a little bit …
Thank you. Honourable Member Gordon- Pamplin, the Chair recognises you.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just, for clarity, I think the Minister answered a general kind of . . . well, answered generally to my question which I believe was a little bit more specific. And the reason I asked the question was because you actually have the —when the Authority imposes speci fic scenario stress -testing, it could conceivably be that the existing structure of the business may possibly be out of compliance with the statutory requirements for adequacy on capital and surplus. So that was the rea-son I asked the question was if someone, as a result of the stresses that are employed, find that they may be outside, is there a period of time within which they have to be brought back into compliance? I take that best practises dictates that as you are operating that you will have a necessary, I guess, range of excess of your statutory ratios. But I am just wondering if becaus e of a requirement from a specific stress that you find that in employing that you might find yourself outside of that, is there a compliance time frame within which one must come back into balance?
The ChairmanChairmanThank you, Honourable Member. Any other Member care to speak to clauses 1 through 5? Minister, you have the floor. ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN HOUSE VISITOR
The ChairmanChairmanWhile we are waiting, I just want to recognise former Senator, Ms. LaVerne Furbert in the Gallery. [Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019, Committee thereon, continuing]
The ChairmanChairmanMinister, you have the floor. 2822 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I am advised that this stress test result is only indicative . . . the Authority will already have engaged the company before they have fallen below the …
Minister, you have the floor.
2822 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I am advised that this stress test result is only indicative . . . the Authority will already have engaged the company before they have fallen below the requirements. So, it is an ongoing process of regular ongoing dialogue between the Authority and those companies under its remit.
The ChairmanChairmanThank you. Any other Member care to speak to clauses 1 through 5? Honourable Member Simons, you have the floor.
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsI would just like to have my question addressed in regard to when there is an appeal and the appeals decision requires the company and the BMA to go back to the drawing board in r egards to the capital requirements [to] build some consensus, does the BMA do it …
I would just like to have my question addressed in regard to when there is an appeal and the appeals decision requires the company and the BMA to go back to the drawing board in r egards to the capital requirements [to] build some consensus, does the BMA do it in isolation or does the BMA work directly with the issuer to come up with a capital adequacy from a capital surplus requirement?
The ChairmanChairmanDoes any other Member care to speak to claus es 1 through 5? No other Member? Minister . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I am advised that inasmuch as that the company does not like the decision that the BMA has issued, they are allowed to appeal it and they can …
Does any other Member care to speak to claus es 1 through 5? No other Member? Minister . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I am advised that inasmuch as that the company does not like the decision that the BMA has issued, they are allowed to appeal it and they can take it to the courts. Mr. Chairman, I move that clauses 1 through 5 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 1 through 5 be approved. No objections. Minister . [Motion carried: Clauses 1 through 5 passed.] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that the preamble be ap proved. The Clerk: There is a Schedule—two Schedules. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I am sorry. …
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that S chedule 1 and Schedule 2 be approved. No objection. Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dick inson: I move that the Bill be r eported to the House as printed.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. No objections? [Motion carried: The Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 was considered by a Committee of the whole House and passed without amendment.] House resumed at 5:25 pm [Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Deputy Speaker, …
It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. No objections?
[Motion carried: The Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 was considered by a Committee of the whole House and passed without amendment.]
House resumed at 5:25 pm
[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Deputy Speaker, in the Chair]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE
INSURANCE (NO. 2) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerAre there any objections to approving the Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019? There are no objections. Approved. The next order of business, [Order] No. 7 , the Investment Funds Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019 in the name of the busy Minister of Finance. [Laughter] BILL SECOND READING INVESTMEN T …
Are there any objections to approving the Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019? There are no objections. Approved. The next order of business, [Order] No. 7 , the Investment Funds Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019 in the name of the busy Minister of Finance.
[Laughter]
BILL
SECOND READING
INVESTMEN T FUNDS AMENDMENT ACT 2019
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am pleased to present the Investment Funds Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019 for the consideration of Honourable Members. The Bill seeks to enhance Bermuda’s superv isory and regulatory r egime for investment funds, an important segment of Bermuda’s financial services sector. Mr. Deputy Speaker, by way of background, in March 2018, the Bermuda Monetary Authority pub-lished a decision paper which highlighted changes that the Authority proposed to make within the fund administration, investment funds and investment bus iness regimes. Within the decision paper, the Authority proposed that the Investment Funds Act 2006 (the IFA) be amended in several respects to maintain con-formance with international standards and ensure that Bermuda’s regime remains fit for purpose. Mr. Deputy Speaker, one of the commitments of the Authority included within its 2019 business plan was to achieve appropriate enhancements to the IFA. Accordingly, the Authority supports the introduction of these legislative proposals relating to the supervision and regulation of investment funds to this Honourable House.
Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Deputy Speaker, provisions within this Bill are not only designed to address previously proposed enhancements to the investment funds regime, but also to ensure that Bermuda complies with collective investment vehicle related requirements emanating from the European Union’s Code of Conduct Group (the “Code Group”) and its economic substance initi ative. Honourable Members are advised that the Code Group in scrutinising Bermuda’s collective investment vehicles or investment funds regime by employing a four-pillar assessment methodology. These pillars are: 1. Legislative and administrative framework for CIVs , authori sations and/or registr ation; 2. Legislative and administrative frameworks for CIVs supervision and rules enforc ement ; 3. Legislative and administrative framework regarding evaluation, accounting and auditing of CIVs ; and 4. Depository rules. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Code Group’s assessment of Bermuda’s funds regime lent an add itional sense of urgency to the completion of a legisl ative amendments exercise. Fortunately, the Authority proactively addressed the need to enhance the IFA prior to the commencement of the Code Group’s as-sessment exercise. The Authority has engaged in an extensive and ongoing dialogue with EU represent atives regarding the current funds regime and any amendments that may be required to satisfy the EU’s expectations in this area. Accordingly, s ome of the proposed amendments are specifically designed to address the ques-tions raised by the Code Group regarding Bermuda’s supervisory framework for investment funds. It is essential that any such issues be resolved prior to the end of 2019 in order for Bermuda to be removed from the Code Group’s grey list of jurisdictions, an outcome which the Authority and this Government are commi tted to achieving. Mr. Deputy Speaker, some of the important enhancements to the regime for investment funds which will b e accomplished by this Bill include: 1. The creation on an overarching definition of investment funds that captures both open- ended and closed- ended vehicles to ensure that all relevant collective inves tment vehicles fall within the scope of Bermuda’s regime and are subject to appropriate levels of supervision and enforcement actions. 2. The creation of a new class of registered fund to be known as “professional closed funds.” 3. The creation of a new separate class of funds to be known as overseas funds which is d esignated to ensure that any fund that is incorporated or established in a jurisdiction outside of Bermuda is de signated by the Authority before being managed or promoted in or from within Bermuda. 4. Amending the definition of qualified parti cipant via a modification of the requir ements to be met by high net worth private investors. 5. Requiring the operator of an open- ended private fund to appoint a fund administr ator. 6. Imposing an express obligation that all persons who perform the functions of an operator or office r of or a service provider to a fund be fit and proper persons to act in such capacities. 7. Requiring that a list of investment funds authorized, registered or designated by the Authority be maintained by the BMA on its website. 8. Expanding the scope of the obligations that relate to the operation of segregated accounts to apply to all registered and authorised funds. 9. Providing for notification of the winding up of an overseas fund. 10. Making provision for additional rights of appeal to the tribunal. 11. Requir ing that a fund be operated in a prudent manner according to minimum criteria for licensing. 12. Codifying the current industry practise by requiring audited financial statements for the new professional closed funds. 13. Providing [an] appropriate balance and flexibility in the collective investment veh icle regime. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will elaborate on each of these points.
Definition of Investment Fund
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: The primary challenge that Bermuda has faced as part of the Code Group’s as-sessment relates to the scope of our regime. This is primarily attributable to the fact that the closed- ended collective investment vehicles fall outside of the scope of the existing regime. For a vehicle to be an inves tment fund, participants must be entitled to have their units redeemed on a periodic basis —a feature not associated with closed- ended funds. Accordingly, closed- ended funds are not currently required to be authorised or registered. Compa-rable jurisdictions that are not on the Code Group’s grey l ist utilise a definition of investment fund which is not limited to vehicles in which interest or units are redeemable at the option of the participant of the i nvestment fund.
2824 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Professional Closed Funds
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: The regulatory requir ement s on this proposed new class of funds are similar to those that apply to professional class A and B funds. Professional closed funds will fall within a cat egory of registered funds and it is anticipated that it will be the class under which the majority of the closedended vehicles that are typically established in Bermuda will register.
Overseas Funds
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Investment funds that are incorporated or established in a jurisdiction outside of Bermuda must be designated by the Authority as an overseas fund before being managed or promoted in or from within Bermuda. The operator of a fund will be required to certify to the BMA annually that it conti nues to satisfy the requirements to qualify for this designation.
Qualified Participants
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Deputy Speaker, in relation to point 4, qualified participants, the definition of a high net worth private investor will be amended to encompass individuals whose net worth or joint net worth with their spouse in the year in whi ch they purchase an investment exceeds $1 million excluding the value of that person’s residence and any benefits or rights under a contract of insurance. Net worth will be defined to mean the excess of the total assets at fair market value over total liabilities.
Appointment of Fund Administrator
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: The operator of an openended private fund will be required to appoint a fund administrator. This requirement will ensure that a sp ecific individual is assigned to calculate the net as set value of the fund and that independent assessments of the funds now used are carried out. Mr. Deputy Speaker, given the obligation with the IFA, which the IFA imposes on various funds to appoint a fund a dministrator, it is important that the term fund admini strator be defined. A definition of this term does currently exist in the IFA but it will be deleted via a consequential amendment when the Fund Administratio n Provider Business Act 2019 [FAPB] becomes oper ative. The FAPB Act which will provide the foundation for a new regulatory supervisory regime for persons engaged in Fund Administration Provider Business was enacted by the Legislature in July 2019 and it i s to be brought into force on the 31st of December. The new definition of “fund administrator ” will form part of the Act once the Bill is enacted by the Legislature and it comes into operation on the 1st of January 2020. Accordingly, it is necessary to mak e a floor amend-ment to the Bill in order to insert within the interpret ation section a definition for fund administrator.
Fit and Proper Person
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Deputy Speaker, with respect to point 6, fit and proper person, operators and of ficers of and service providers to a fund will be required to be fit and proper persons for the purpose of performing their respective functions. Such a r equirement has always been achieved in practise via the Authority’s existing authorisation, registrati on and ongoing oversight activities but it will now be expres sly stated in the IFA.
List of Investment Funds
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: The BMA must establish and maintain on its website a list of all investment funds that are authorised, registered or designated to operate in or from within Bermuda.
Segregated Accounts
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Deputy Speaker, in relation to point 8, segregated accounts, the scope of the provisions of the Act that provide for unit trusts to operate segregated accou nts will be broadened to encompass all registered and authorised funds.
Winding Up
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: The BMA must be notified within 14 days of the winding up of an overseas fund. The BMA must remove the fund from the list of i nvestment funds it maintains within 30 days of being notified.
Rights of Appeal
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: The operator of a regi stered fund may appeal against a decision by the A uthority to revoke the registration of a registered fund. Similarly, the operator of an overseas fund may appeal against a decision by the Authority to cancel the designation of an overseas fund.
Prudent Operation of a Fund
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Every fund must be operated in a prudent manner according to minimum crit eria for licensing.
Codi fication of Industry Practise
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: In order to appropriately address the pillar of the Code Group’s assessment methodology which pertains to accounting, auditing and valuation, the proposed new class of professional
Bermuda House of Assembly closed funds will be required to produce at least annually audited financial statements that meet international generally accepted accounting standards and international financial reporting standards.
Balance in the Funds Regime
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: With a view to pr oviding appropriate balance and regulatory flexibility for Ber-muda’s collective investment vehicles regime, the Bill incorporates requirements relative to the revocation and cancellation of the registration of a registered fund and makes provision for the Authority to grant any class of fund an exemption from certain legislative requirements where: 1. Appropriate arrangements are in place to safeguard the interest of participants in the fund. 2. Compliance with the requirement would be unduly burdensome or would not achieve the purpose for which the r equirement was made. 3. The exemption would not result in undue risk to persons whose interest the r equirement is intended to protect. Mr. Deputy Speaker, following the enactment of this new legislation and subject to fi nal review by the EU’s Code of Conduct Group, I expect to issue an order , as the Minister of Finance already has the power to do pursuant to section 3(4) of the IFA , setting out arrangements which do not amount to inves tment funds. The effect of the order will be to avoid a situation where vehicles that would not reasonably be considered to be investment funds are inadvertently brought into scope via an expansion of the definition of investment fund. Mr. Deputy Speaker, some of the Code Group’s assessment criteria under pillar 3 and pillar 4 are very technical in nature. Consequently, the fund rules and the fund prospectus rules will be amended to ensure that the criteria are met. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I wish to emphasise the Authority sought input from a w orking group of industry stakeholders on all of these provisions. The A uthority has prudently examined the investment funds framework of jurisdictions which have not been listed by the Code Group in order to ensure that Bermuda is not part of a competitive disadvantage because of regulatory arbitrage. It should be noted that the IFA may be subject to further enhancements when the Authority receives definitive feedback from the Code Group regarding the legislative enhancements to be achieved via this Bill. S uch feedback is expected to be received in mid- January of 2020. With those comments, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I invite other Honourable Member s to participate in this debate. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerThank you, Minister . Any further speakers? The Chair recognises the Deputy [Leader] of the Opposition, Leah Scott.
Ms. Leah K. ScottThank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker . Again . . . well, this is just an extension of the other legislation and lining up with the EU substance Act —so, I actu ally do not really have a lot to say about it other than that we support the legislation and …
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker . Again . . . well, this is just an extension of the other legislation and lining up with the EU substance Act —so, I actu ally do not really have a lot to say about it other than that we support the legislation and one of the things that I raised when the Minister was kind enough to offer to meet with us to explain the amendments and what was going on was that the Cayman Islands Government has recently published a bill—they now have to supplement their economic substance bill, so remember my reference to Whac -AMole? So, they thought that they were sorted out, now there is something else. So, in Cayman they have now these ne w provisions which is a general anti -avoidance rule, the ability for their Authority to impose a fine where a rel evant entity that is required to satisfy economic sub-stance fails to satisfy, the penalty is CI$5,000 (Ca ymanian dollars) and then there is an additional penalty of CI$1,500 for every day that the breach continues. The TIA is going to have the appropriate functions and powers to monitor and verify the outsourcing of the core income. They have a requirement that ev ery single entity has to file a notification even if it is not a relevant entity. Now, right now in Bermuda for co mpanies that have to file for CRS, the Common Repor ting Standard, even if you do not have a reportable account, you also just have to file to say that there is a nil reporti ng. So, that is what they have to do in Ca yman. And then . . . details of the information that must be provided to the TIA where an entity claims tax residence. So, if you have a BVI company that is i ncorporated in BVI, but they are actually doing bus iness out of Bermuda, they have to demonstrate where they have their tax residence. So, I am just saying all this to say that right now the Cayman Islands thought that they were in position, I guess, with their substance legislation and here comes the EU with more and more and more . . . and so, my comment is —and I know that the Minister does not have a crystal ball . . . [a crystal ball] usually comes with that Ministry though, I don’t know if Bob passed his on to you.
[Laughter and crosstalk ]
Ms. Leah K. S cottI do not blame you! Well, anyway, I am just saying that, you know, while we support this, it is just going to be a never -ending, you know, ongoing thing. We support the legislation. We recognise that it is what is needed, and we need to do whatever we …
I do not blame you! Well, anyway, I am just saying that, you know, while we support this, it is just going to be a never -ending, you know, ongoing thing. We support the legislation. We recognise that it is what is needed, and we need to do whatever we have to do to get it across the line. So, thank you, Minister , for bringing it.
2826 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly The Deputy Speaker: Any further speakers? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Pat Gordon- Pamplin.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker . As my colleague —both the Minister and my colleague have indicated, this is another EU requirement. The Code of Conduct team that looks at whatever they need to look at, the four pillar inves tments. They say jump, we say How high? But we have to ask how high while we are on the way up be-cause we always have to be in compliance by the time we get to the point of answering their question. The Minister has indicated that the requir ement for this legislation to be in place is 12/31 so we are really up against a nother very stringent deadline. And I have to refer back to the experience that we have seen before when things are done very —I would not say necessarily rushed because there had to be a lot of thought going into this particular Bill, but also just to make sure that while we are ensuring that we comply with the necessary deadline that we dot the i’s and cross the t’s. We had the experience last year where we ended up on a list that we ought never to have been on because somebody missed a clause. We are on a list that we are trying to get off —the grey list—so we want to ensure that whatever we do, we do well and that we do it in proper compliance and complete compliance with what is expected of us. It is another situation, though, where we are having additional stresses placed on us to be in com-pliance with what the EU want, notwithstanding our best efforts to be ahead of the game at all times. However, as a jurisdiction, in order for us to retain not just our competitiveness but also to be able to show our economic stability that we have to comply with these things whether we want to or not. We might see a different way of doing things, but when we are being scrutinised by an international body under whose auspices we are required to operate then, you know, the Minister had mentioned earlier that we have to . . . we went to great pains to ensure that Solvency II was applied to us, that we were able to meet the terms, conditions and standards that were required of us as a jurisdiction. So, we do not want anyth ing to happen that is going to cause that pristine label to slip. So, while it is difficult, it is onerous and it is time- consuming and it is taxing, we have to do it, and I am just admonishing one more time that we ensure that all the i’s are dotted, all the t’s are crossed when it comes time to . . . because this Bill will have to leave us and it has to go to the other place before it is approved and then it gets the assent, however the process works, which then puts us very close to the timing within whi ch we have to be in compliance, by 12/31. So, I just want to say that we support the Government —and the other thing that I wanted to say to thank the Minister because as my honourable co l-league indicated as she stood, that the Minister invited a team from our party to come and have a discussion in terms of explaining and understanding the sub-stance of this legislation and the implications of the legislation. While, unfortunately, I was away doing the people’s business —I was actually at the UKOTP [UK Overs eas Territories Project] in London, so I was u nable to actually attend that meeting . . . I want to say as spokesperson for Finance in this Honourable House that this was very important because when we have prior knowledge and we are able to hold hands on legislation that is critical to the reputation that Bermuda shares and enjoys, it is so much better if we have that opportunity to work together. I believe this is another example that says that we do not oppose for the sake of Opposition, we are not here to say that whatever the Government does we are going to throw a spanner in the works. But rather we are here to ensure that whate ver legislation we pass is done for the better good of Bermuda and it is so much better when it is done in conjunction with and holding hands with Members of Government and Members of Opposition so that we can get together, support legislation, make reco mmendations if we deem it to be necessary and to come up with a final product that will inure to the better good of the country . Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerAny further speakers? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Rolfe Commissiong.
Mr. Rolfe CommissiongThank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker . This is an opportunity to highlight something. So, this is s ort of a companion piece to the Economic Substance Bill that we discussed earlier. I think the Member from [constituency] 23 is correct in her assessment here that, in other words, in my …
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker . This is an opportunity to highlight something. So, this is s ort of a companion piece to the Economic Substance Bill that we discussed earlier. I think the Member from [constituency] 23 is correct in her assessment here that, in other words, in my words, you know, they will say jump and we will just say How high? We should not ignore the fact also that the equivalency regime allows Bermuda’s reinsurance companies and insurance companies to do business in the EU as if they were registered in the EU. So, they have us . . . I am not going to use that term, but I am temp ted. I will say this, though, that the Fiscal Respo nsibility Panel did say that this is a major shift that is taking place in what I would describe as a geopolitical shift. It has already happened and they themselves are telling us that there is no way we are going to escape this. I will also say that they, tied to that, believe that we must deal with our own internal system of taxation to ameliorate what is happening. That may mean that we will have to examine more thoroughly with our international partners how we can refashion our tax
Bermuda House of Assembly system in a way that will help us to respond to what is happening, particularly with respect to the EU. I do not want to put too much on top of that, but I think people will understand where I am coming from on that. I do not think we can continue to place our heads in the sand on that regard. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .
The Deputy SpeakerDeputy SpeakerAny further speakers? The Chair recognises the Honourable Cole Simons.
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsThank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker , I will be brief. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I support the legislation and I would like to thank the Minister and his technical team for meeting with our team earlier in the week. The meeting was informative and enlightening, and so I really appreciate and …
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker , I will be brief. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I support the legislation and I would like to thank the Minister and his technical team for meeting with our team earlier in the week. The meeting was informative and enlightening, and so I really appreciate and thank them for their efforts. Having said that, I just have two brief co mments to make and one is of a technical nature, Mr. Deputy Speaker . Mr. Deputy Speaker, as you will know, this Investment Funds Amendment Act was tabled previously, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and t he legi slation was tabled previously and withdrawn. Now, we have Investment Funds Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019.
[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsMr. Speaker, I take the view that maybe this legislation that we are debating today should in fact be Investment Funds Amendment Act No. 1 as there is no No. 1 under the current structure because the original Act was withdrawn. So, I would like for the Minister to address …
Mr. Speaker, I take the view that maybe this legislation that we are debating today should in fact be Investment Funds Amendment Act No. 1 as there is no No. 1 under the current structure because the original Act was withdrawn. So, I would like for the Minister to address that issue and consider making the legislation being debated today the I nvestment Funds Amendment (No. 1) Act instead of No. 2 as there is no No. 1 Act at this point in time. Mr. Speaker, the only question that I have pertains to the issue of the overseas professional funds —closed- end funds which are inc orporated in overseas jurisdictions and managed from Bermuda. Managed from Bermuda meaning the share registr ation services, the registrar of services can be managed from Bermuda, the accounting valuation can be done from Bermuda and the custodial services can be done from Bermuda. So, [this is] my question, Mr. Speaker, Are these funds that are closed- end funds which are incorporated in another jurisdiction, they may not have as robust a regime as we do and my question is, will the service providers be managing under the legislation of the country in which the fund was incorporated? Because the fund has to comply with their home jurisdiction’s legislation. Now, if there is a divergence between the home country’s legisl ation and our legislation, how will that be managed? My second question is, How much due dil igence is done in regard to the prospectus and the offering documents? Do we actually really examine it to see what underlying investments the funds are going to invest in? Will we place any restrictions on the u nderlying investments in regard to those funds operating in Bermuda? I am raising it because, Mr. Speaker, we have the digital asset business and the new ad hoc issue . . . and one lawyer said to me that, you know, if we address this issue then we will get more fund bus iness. Now, I know a number of funds in Cayman are investing in legal marijuana companies, companies that are approved by federal governments. Are we prepared to allow those funds that invest in those companies to be managed from B ermuda? So, can the Minister speak to that issue because that is a real possibility and if it can be man-aged from Bermuda then maybe it is time for the Bermuda companies to be able to get involved in that type of business in regards to investment options, because at the end of the day it is providing shareholder value to the investors of these closed- end funds, in some cases open- end funds. The other issue that I have, I remember reading somewhere within the last month or so that there is no requirement f or closed- end funds to have a custody agreement or custodian in Bermuda. And yet, it is a requirement for the open -end funds. Now, with this legislation coming through, will that change? Will the closed- end funds be on the same plane as the openended funds and will the closed- end funds be now required to have a custodian? Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? None? Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you. Thank you, Mr . Speaker . I would like to address the questions in the order in which they were raised. I want to assure colleagues that over the course …
Thank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? None? Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you. Thank you, Mr . Speaker . I would like to address the questions in the order in which they were raised. I want to assure colleagues that over the course of the last nine, ten months technical officers in the Minist ry of Finance and the Registrar of Companies and the team at the BMA have been fully e ngaged with the folks at the Code Group at the EU as well as the team at the OECD. It has not been through lack of effort, lack of trying, lack of outreach, lack of willingness to get on the plane to travel to Europe to engage folks face to face as our team has been wor king on this, on getting this work done, and I can tell you it is personally disappointing that the last piece of legislation that we are going to be doing for the Ministry of Finance for this year revolves aroun d economic substance. But I think that speaks to the process that we have had to go through over the course of the last 24 months. I met with the Code Group personally on April 1 st of 2019 and we set out for them our concerns around getting delisted. We also explained to them 2828 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly our real concerns about our legislation being som ewhat more restrictive than other jurisdictions and raised the issue of surely that had not been the intent of the EU to have opportunities that were regulatory arbitrage. We were as sured that this was not the intention and that we were given the go- ahead to go ahead and start to make necessary changes to our own r egime. However, in doing a comparison themselves, the EU did see things that we did that they thought others should emulat e. So, what you see in the example of Cayman is that the standard was actually raised, notwithstanding having gotten through on the initial assessment. But the team have worked really hard, I think, to Member Simons’ point about the nam-ing of this Bill . . . and I need to check with the House team to figure out how we fix this because my under-standing is that Amendment (No. 1) was withdrawn the last sitting, on the 29 th of November, and if there is a naming convention issue that we need to address, I am sur e that we can do that with haste. There was a question raised about overseas funds and I am being advised that in overseas i nvestment funds the service providers who are here are subject to regulation here regardless of the dom icile where the funds are being serviced. So hopefully that addresses your question on that point. And a custodian is not required . . .
[Crosstalk]
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Yes, so a closed- end fund is not required to have a custodian but might appoint a specific person responsi ble for segregation and saf ekeeping of assets. With that, Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill be committed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMr. Swan, would you like to take us to Committee? House in Committee at 5:57 pm [Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan , Chairman] COMMITTEE ON BILL INVESTMENT FUNDS AMENDMENT ACT 2019
The ChairmanChairmanWe are here to consider the Inves tment Funds Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019 . If any a djustment to the numbers are necessary on the advice of counsel, it can be adjusted going forward. Minister, you can proceed. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This Bill seeks …
We are here to consider the Inves tment Funds Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019 . If any a djustment to the numbers are necessary on the advice of counsel, it can be adjusted going forward. Minister, you can proceed.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This Bill seeks to amend the Investment Funds Act 2006 to provide enhanced supervisory and regulatory requirements to apply to registered or a u-thorised investment funds that operate segregated accounts; provide for designation requirements for overseas investment funds that are managed or carry on promotion in or from within Bermuda; provide for the classification requirements for Professional Closed Funds; provide for enhanced supervisory and regul atory requirements to apply to a “closed- ended fund”; provide for the enhancement of fit and proper r equirements; and provide for other consequential and related matters.
AMENDMENT TO CLAUSE 1 (Citation)
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I would move that the title of the Bill be amended to read the Investment Funds Amendment (No. 1) Bill [sic] of 2019.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has — [Inaudible interjection] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: No number.
The ChairmanChairmanInvestment Funds — Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Amendment.
The ChairmanChairman—Amendment Act 2019. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Yes.
The ChairmanChairmanCan you repeat . . . can you restate that, Minister ? Hon. Cur tis L. Dickinson: I would move that the title of the Bill be renamed the Investment Funds Amendment (No. 1) —
The ChairmanChairmanInvestment Funds Amendment Act 2019. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Investment Funds Amendment Act 2019. The Chair man: It has been moved that the title be amended to read Investment Funds Amendment Act 2019. No objections?
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberNo objections.
The ChairmanChairmanYou are clear to proceed, Minister . No objections. [Motion carried: Amendment to clause 1 passed. ] Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I would move clause 1.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been proposed to move clause 1. [Inaudible interjection]
The ChairmanChairmanHonourable Member Simons has the floor.
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsIt is the citation and that should also be amended to read the Investment Funds Amendment Act 2019.
The ChairmanChairmanYes, and be it so moved that where ver it appears in the Bill it will read Investm ent Funds Amendment Act 2019. Continue, Minister . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson : Mr. Chairman, I move that clause 1 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanWith that, clause 1 has been moved to be approved. No objections. [Motion carried: Clause 1 passed as amended.] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I need to amend clause 2 to add one additional defined term into section 2, the interpretation section of the Bill. Specifically, the definition of …
With that, clause 1 has been moved to be approved. No objections. [Motion carried: Clause 1 passed as amended.] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I need to amend clause 2 to add one additional defined term into section 2, the interpretation section of the Bill. Specifically, the definition of a fund administrator. Mr. Chairman, clause 2 amends section 2 of the Act to insert definitions of “open- ended investment fund” and “closed- ended investment fund” for purposes of the newly inserted section 3(3A). The Act inserts the term “company fund” in substitution of the term “mutual fund company” throughout the Act. T he Act inserts the term “offering document” in place of the term “prospectus” throughout the Act. The term “fund offering document rules” replaces the term “fund pr ospectus rules” in section 38. The regulatory scope of the Act is extended to capture overseas investment funds under a new separate class of funds named “Overseas Fund” under the newly inserted sections 5A to 5E and introduces provisions to define the term “promotion” of overseas investment funds in Bermuda. The Act brings into scope the previously unregulated closed- ended funds now knows as “Professional Closed Funds” for purposes of the newly inserted section 8B and 8C for the purposes of the newly inserted provisions regarding overseas investment funds.
AMENDMENT TO CLAUSE 2
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I propose to amend clause 2(1) by inserting in alphabetical order the following definition: “Fund Administrator.” “Fund Administrator means a person carrying on one or more of the fund administration provider business services sp ecified in section 2(2) of the Fund Administration Provider Business Act 2019 in compl iance with that Act and other applicable laws in Bermuda or in compliance with the applicable rules and requirements of the relevant overseas regulatory authority.” And for those Member s who do not have a copy on their tablets —
The ChairmanChairmanIt is coming up on the tablet. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Yes, okay.
The ChairmanChairmanYes, thank you. Thank you for that, Minister , we appreciate that you do have copies. But as we are making every attempt to go paperless, it is great to see that Member s are sharing their tablets where required. Does any other Member care to speak to clause 2 …
Yes, thank you. Thank you for that, Minister , we appreciate that you do have copies. But as we are making every attempt to go paperless, it is great to see that Member s are sharing their tablets where required. Does any other Member care to speak to clause 2 and the amendments put forward for clause 2? Minister , no other Member cares to speak. Can y ou move—
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that clause 2 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanAnd the amendment . . . with amendment, as amended? Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: As amended, please.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clause 2 be approved as amended. No objection, Ministe r. [Motion carried: Clause 2 passed as amended.]
The ChairmanChairmanProceed. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that clauses 3 through 12 be —I move clauses 3 through 12.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been proposed clauses 3 to 12. No objection. Proceed, Minister . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 3 amends section 3 of the Act and make s provision for the repeal of subsection (2)(b), and for a new subsection (3A) to be inserted to provide for arrangements that clarify …
It has been proposed clauses 3 to 12. No objection. Proceed, Minister . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 3 amends section 3 of the Act and make s provision for the repeal of subsection (2)(b), and for a new subsection (3A) to be inserted to provide for arrangements that clarify that “open” and “closed” ended funds are characteristics of 2830 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly an investment fund. A new subsection (5) inserts the definition of “open ended” and “closed ended” funds. Clause 4 amends the Act by repealing and replacing section 4, to require that the obligations r elating to the operation of segregated accounts (which previously applied solely to unit trusts), shall now apply to all registered or authorised funds . Clause 5 amends the Act to insert two new provisions under sections 4A and 4B to provide for revise d “fit and proper” requirements that are to apply to operators of funds and to empower the Authority to issue Codes of Conduct that operators will be required to comply with. Clause 6 amends the Act by deleting the title appearing before section 5 and subs tituting the words “Prohibition of Unauthorised, Unregistered and U ndesignated Funds” and by amending section 5 to clarify that no investment fund may operate in or from Bermuda without being authorised, registered or designated by the Authority, and to require that every o perator of a fund operates the fund in a prudent manner according to minimum criteria for licensing; Clause 7 amends the Act to insert five new provisions under sections 5A to 5E to provide the regulatory framework for the designation by the Authority of a new class of Overseas Funds and to require that such funds submit an annual certificate of declaration of continued compliance with designation requir ements. Clause 8 amends the Act by inserting before section 6 the title “Registration” and in section 6, by inserting a new subsection (2AA) which provides for operators to be fit and proper , and appointed officers of and service providers to the fund to also be fit and proper. Subsection (2B) is amended to provide that an operator of a “ope n-ended” fund shall appoint a custodian to safe keep fund assets and subsection (2C) will now require an operator of a “open- ended” fund to appoint a fund administrator. Clause 9 amends the Act by deleting the title appearing before section 6A and amends s ection 6A by repealing subsection (2A) which previously addressed requirements to appoint a local service pr ovider authorised and regulated by the Authority. The appropriate provisions for the waiver of requirements with respect to the appointment of a cus todian or prime broker are under review by the Authority. Clause 10 amends section 6B of the Act, by inserting a new subsection (3A) which provides for operators to be fit and proper; and officers and service providers appointed by them to the fund to als o be fit and proper. Clause 11 amends section 7 of the Act by repealing subsection (2A). Appropriate provisions for the waiver of requirements with respect to the appointment of a custodian are under review by the Authority. Clause 12 amends section 8A of the Act by repealing subsection (5) to clarify that the Authority will always provide notification of registration. Such proposal would ensure that Bermuda meets international standards and best practices in this area. In ad-dition, this clause provides for operators to be fit and proper, and officers and service providers appointed by them to the fund to be fit and proper. This clause also inserts new subsections (11) and (12) which make provisions for an application to be made to the Authority for a chang e of classification of a Profe ssional Class B fund. This proposal is a housekeeping measure.
The ChairmanChairmanThank you, Minister . Does any other Member care to speak to clauses 3 through 12? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member N. H. Simons. You have the floor.
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsThank you, Mr. Chairman. May I direct the Minister of Finance to [clause] 8?
The ChairmanChairmanCan you speak into the microphone? Number 8?
Mr. N. H. Cole SimonsCan I direct the Minister of Finance to [clause] 8, secti on 6, (2B)? It indicates that the open -ended fund shall appoint a custodian with regard to ensuring the saf ekeeping of the fund’s assets. And later on in the legi slation it indicates that you may waive that …
Can I direct the Minister of Finance to [clause] 8, secti on 6, (2B)? It indicates that the open -ended fund shall appoint a custodian with regard to ensuring the saf ekeeping of the fund’s assets. And later on in the legi slation it indicates that you may waive that option to have a custodian appointed to ensure t he safekeeping of the fund’s assets. So, if they are putting it in here and giving an option to not to have it later in legisl ation, is it essential that we actually have it in the legi slation at all? We have heard that the closed- end funds do not require the appointment of a custodian. So, why can we not —or have we considered doing the same for the open- ended funds —given we say that you must have it in one, in this section, and then later on in the legislation it says you have the ability to waive that requirement. Going back to [clause] 5. We see a lot about “fit and proper.” Can the Minister provide us with a template that is used by the Minist ry to ensure— the Registrar of Companies —to ensure that we have a robust regime in place to ensure that we have people working in this business that are fit and proper? As we know from the funds management industry, there has been a lot of Ponzi schemes and people have lost a lot of money because of Ponzi schemes. You think of Madoff —I mean, that is a well -known one, and there are other rogue players. It is my understanding that the EU is looking at this from their fund perspective because they are after these promoters and service providers who have been involved in nefarious activ ities and who have basically defrauded many investors of millions and millions of dollars. So, my question is, given the potential for high risk for the shareholders of these funds, can the Minister or the technical officers provide the Minister with details on the template on “fit
Bermuda House of Assembly and proper” when it comes to assessing the sponsors and the fund managers here in Bermuda?
The ChairmanChairmanThank you, Honourable Member . Does any other Member care to speak to clauses 3 through 12? Continue, Minister . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, in response to the first question with respect to the inclusion of a provision that allows for it to be subsequently waived, this provides …
Thank you, Honourable Member . Does any other Member care to speak to clauses 3 through 12? Continue, Minister . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, in response to the first question with respect to the inclusion of a provision that allows for it to be subsequently waived, this provides the Authority with the flexibility depending on the mandate of the fund to determine whether or not having something in c ustody is appropriate. So, in most cases the requirement will have to be met, but in specific cases depending on the asset class that is being managed, the Authority has the flexibility to pr ovide some relief from [having] the custodian. With respect to “ fit and proper” the Authority has fairly robust guidelines in place today for a range of industries and would apply similar thinking to direc-tors and custodians and others in the investment funds area.
[Pause]
The ChairmanChairmanContinue on, Ministe r. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Additionally, the Schedule to the Act clarifies what is expected in relation to fit and proper obligations.
The ChairmanChairmanDoes any other Member care to speak to clauses 3 through 12? Continue on, Minister . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson : I move that clauses 3 through 12 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 3 through 12 be approved. No objection, Ministe r. Continue on. [Motion carried: Clauses 3 through 12 passed.] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move clauses 13 through 19.
The ChairmanChairman[Clauses] 13 through 19 has been proposed. No objections. Continue, Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 13 amends the Act to insert two new provisions under sections 8B and 8C to provide the regulatory framewor k for the classific ation by the Authority of a new class of Professional Closed …
[Clauses] 13 through 19 has been proposed. No objections. Continue, Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 13 amends the Act to insert two new provisions under sections 8B and 8C to provide the regulatory framewor k for the classific ation by the Authority of a new class of Professional Closed Funds and to provide for the requirements and procedure for registration of such funds. Clause 14 amends 9 of the Act to revise the definition of “high net worth private invest or” under subsection (3) in relation to those investors having a net worth of at least $1 million, to clarify that such threshold amount does not include the principal place of residence of the investor or any rights afforded to him under a contract of ins urance. Clause 15 amends section 10 of the Act by repealing subsection (1) and inserting a new provision which allows for an application for authorisation to be made by a registered fund under section 12. Clause 16 amends the Act to insert new pr ovisions u nder sections 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D to empower the Authority to revoke the registration of a reg-istered fund and to allow for a fund to seek cancell ation of registration. The new section 10D establishes a new set of criteria to be used by the Authority to determin e whether to grant a registered fund an exem ption from certain requirements. Clause 17 amends section 11 of the Act by deleting references to “prospectus” and substituting the new term “offering document .” Clause 18 amends section 14 of the Act by deleting reference to “prospectus” and substituting the term “offering document” and by deleting reference in the section to “mutual fund company” and substituting “company fund. ” Clause 19 repeals and replaces section 16 of the Act to require the Authori ty to now establish and maintain a list on its website at www.bma.bm of all investment funds authorised, registered or designated by it to operate in or from within Bermuda.
The ChairmanChairmanThank you, Minister . Any other Member care to speak to clauses 13 through 19? Minister, proceed. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that clauses 13 through 19 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 13 through 19 be approved. No objections. Continue on, Minister . [Motion carried: Clauses 13 through 19 passed.] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move clauses 20 through 30.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 20 through 30—continue, Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 20 amends section 17 of the Act to make pr ovision for an initial filing fee for Overseas Funds and to provide for the payment of fees by the new classes of funds to be …
It has been moved that clauses 20 through 30—continue, Minister.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 20 amends section 17 of the Act to make pr ovision for an initial filing fee for Overseas Funds and to provide for the payment of fees by the new classes of funds to be regulated u nder the Act. 2832 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Clause 21 amends section 21 of the Act, by deleting reference where it occurs to “mutual fund company” and substituting “company fund. ” Clause 22 amends section 24 of the Act by deleting reference to “prospectus” and substituting the term “offering document .” Clause 23 amends section 25 of the Act by deleting reference to “prospectus” and substituting the term “offering document ;” and by deleting reference where it occurs to “mutual fund company” and subst ituting “company fund.” Clause 24 amends section 30 by changing the section heading to “Direction to an Authorised, Regi stered or Designated Fund” and provid ing under that section for the Authority to also issue directions to a new Overseas Fund, similarly to the manner currently provided for in relation to authorised or registered funds. Clause 25 amends section 31A by changing the section heading to “Directi ons in case of urge ncy—authorised, registered or designated funds ” to cause the provisions of the section to also apply to designated funds . Clause 26 amends section 33(1) to amend the provisions of that section requiring the Authority to follow a notifica tion procedure when revoking a direction to Overseas Funds. Clause 27 amends section 36(3) by deleting reference to “mutual fund company” and substituting “company fund. ” Clause 28 amends section 36A to require Overseas Funds, within 14 days of a wind ing up of the funds , to notify the Authority. Clause 29 amends section 37 of the Act, by deleting reference to “mutual fund company” and su bstituting “company fund. ” Clause 30 amends section 38 by changing the section heading to “Fund offering document rules ,” by deleting reference throughout the Act to “fund pr ospectus” and substituting “offering document” and in subsections (3) and (4) by deleting the words “Professional Class A and Professional Class B fund” and substituting “or registered fund. ” The Chairm an: Thank you, Minister . Does any other Member care to speak to clauses 20 through 30? Minister. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that clauses 20 through clause 30 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 20 through 30 be approved. Any objection? No objection. Continue. [Motion carried: Clauses 20 through 30 passed.] Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move clauses 31 through 35.
The ChairmanChairmanClauses 31 through 35 have been moved. Continue on, Minister . Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 31 amends section 40 by deleting reference to “prospectus” and substituting the new term “offering document .” Clause 32 amends section 55 of the Act to clarify that an appeal may be made against …
Clauses 31 through 35 have been moved. Continue on, Minister .
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Clause 31 amends section 40 by deleting reference to “prospectus” and substituting the new term “offering document .” Clause 32 amends section 55 of the Act to clarify that an appeal may be made against revocation of registration under section 10A or cancellation of a designation of an Overseas Fund under section 5C. Clause 33 and Schedules 1 to 3 make cons equential amendments to the Act by inserting a Schedule to provide for enhanced fit and proper requir ements for an operator, officer of, or service provider to, an investment fund; and to the Companies Act 1981 and the Limited Liability Company Act 2016, to repeal the definition of “closed- ended vehicle. ” Clause 34 provides for transitional matters. Clause 35 provides for the Act to com e into operation on 1 January 2020. [Crosstalk]
[Gavel]
The ChairmanChairmanOkay, thank you. Member s. Does any Member s care to speak to clauses 31 through 35? Minister? Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move clauses 31 through 35 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanAnd the Schedules? The Clerk: You do that after.
The ChairmanChairmanMove that clauses 31 through 35 be approved. No objection. Continue. [Motion carried: Clauses 31 through 35 passed.] The Clerk: Schedules.
The ChairmanChairmanYes, Schedules. Three Schedules. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that Schedules 1 through 3 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanSchedules 1 through 3 have been proposed. No objections. [Motion carried: Schedules 1 through 3 passed.] Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chai rman, I move that the preamble be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the preamble be approved. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Chairman, I move that the Bill be reported to the House as amended.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been proposed that the Bil l be reported to the House as amended. No objection. [Motion carried: The Investment Funds Amendment Act 201 9 was considered by a Committee of the whole House and passed as amended.] House resumed at 6:21 pm [Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, …
It has been proposed that the Bil l be reported to the House as amended. No objection.
[Motion carried: The Investment Funds Amendment Act 201 9 was considered by a Committee of the whole House and passed as amended.]
House resumed at 6:21 pm
[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE
INVESTMENT FUNDS AMENDMENT ACT 2019
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers, are there any objections to the Investment Fund Amendment Act . . . (No. 2) ori ginally, it is now — The Clerk: It has been amended.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThat is what I was about to say —being reported to the House with all the necessary amendments that were made which would in fact change the title from being No. 2 to Investment Funds Amendment Act 2019? Are there any objections? No objections. It is so moved. It has …
That is what I was about to say —being reported to the House with all the necessary amendments that were made which would in fact change the title from being No. 2 to Investment Funds Amendment Act 2019? Are there any objections? No objections. It is so moved. It has been approved with the required amendments. That now brings us to the next order on the Order Paper today which is [Order] No. 8, which is the Government Authorities Act 2019 in the name of the Minister for the Cabinet Office. Honourable Minister Furbert, you ha ve the floor.
BILL
SECOND READING
GOVERNMENT AUTHORITI ES ACT 2019
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker . Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill entitled the Government Authorities Act 2019 be now read for the second time.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAny objecti ons? Continue, Minister . Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker . Mr. Speaker, this Bill seeks to amend a number of enactments relating to certain government authorities to transfer appointment functions from the Governor to the relevant Minister s to provide for appeals to the Supreme …
Any objecti ons? Continue, Minister .
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker . Mr. Speaker, this Bill seeks to amend a number of enactments relating to certain government authorities to transfer appointment functions from the Governor to the relevant Minister s to provide for appeals to the Supreme Court and for connected matters. Mr. Speaker, the Government Authorities Act was initially drafted in 2016 under the former admi nistration and held pending further review of Gover nment boards and committees. The Government management and consulting section undertook a review in accordance with terms of reference concerning the functions and the purpose and the need to abolish, streamline and/or merge the various entities. Mr. Speaker, at the time of the review, ther e were 188 Government boards and committees. The recommendations urged the Government , amongst other things, to abolish, discontinue or remove from the list 17 boards and committees —notably four of the 17 were defunct —to merge 24 boards and commi ttees, to facilitate cross -Ministry alignment, reduce the duplication and achieve greater synergies, and to make board related operational and process changes in some departments and/or establish clear terms of reference, procedures for 59 boards and committees. Mr. Speaker, due to the complexity of some of the recommendations, the efficacy with which the boards and committees can be legislatively streamlined emerged and the need for ongoing comprehen-sive transitional arrangements that straddle commencement, further policy work is required at the individual board level before some of the proposals can be advanced—and we will be moving on this in the near future. In these circumstances, Mr. Speaker, steps have been taken to phase implementation of the recommendations commencing with achieving appointment efficiencies. Mr. Speaker, as part of the phase one, internal administrative processing of board appointments have been digitalised and the transfer of the authority for appointments of members to certain boards and committees is before the House today. Mr. Speaker, the transfer of authority of appointment at this stage affects a relatively small number of boards and committees and would have no meaningful impact on the board’s function and/or operations. Mr. Speak er, as opposed to having authority of appointment reside with the Governor, authority of appointment will transfer to the relevant Minister s thereby streamlining the appointment process. The boards affected are as follows: • Architects Registration Council from the Governor to the Minister of Finance (or such other Ministers that may be appointed to administer the Act); 2834 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly • Bermuda Arts Council from the Governor to the Minister responsible for Culture; • Bermuda Housing Trust from the Governor to the Minister respo nsible for Housing; • Board of Immigration from the Governor to the Minister responsible for Immigration; • Land Valuation Appeal Tribunal and its clerks from the Governor to the Minister responsible for Land Valuation ; and • Professional Engineer's Registration Council from the Governor to the Minister responsible for Works and Engineering. Mr. Speaker, the Governor is aware of this pending change as a result of the transfer of the ap-pointment of authority from the Governor to respons ible Minister s. Appeals on decisions by the Architects Registration Council and Professional Engineer’s Registration Council will no longer be heard by the Governor but by the Supreme Court. Mr. Speaker, this is relatively an inconseque ntial amendment and is the first step towards increasing the efficiency of Government boards and commi ttees. While the legislative amendment does not cover the transfer of authority of appointment for all boards and committees, it is expected that the few that r emain under the Governor’s appointment authority will be addressed as part of the more complex policy work peculiar to each board. So, Mr. Speaker, with those few remarks I [will] listen to the other Member s to respond.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister . Are there any other Member s that wis h to speak? I recognise the Honourable Member Pearman. Honourable Member , you have the floor.
Mr. Scott PearmanOr afternoon, if it still is —getting towards the evening. This is actually a subject near and dear to my own heart. There are far too many boards in Bermuda and, you know, this is not just a criticism of the sy stem, but it is everyday citizens and people …
Or afternoon, if it still is —getting towards the evening. This is actually a subject near and dear to my own heart. There are far too many boards in Bermuda and, you know, this is not just a criticism of the sy stem, but it is everyday citizens and people who have to deal with these boards and they have to look at various different places to find the legislation. And the legislation is often different, and we often do not know how to find the boards at all. I know there was some talk by the Government of having a centralised di spute resolution centre and we were very supportive of that when we heard about it in the —
POINT OF ORDER [Misleading]
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of order.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerPoint of order? Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: I think the Member . . . Mr. Speaker, I think the Member might be inuntentiona lly [sic] misleading the House. On the . . . unintentio nally misleading the House. On the Government website the new Government website, it has a …
Point of order?
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: I think the Member . . . Mr. Speaker, I think the Member might be inuntentiona lly [sic] misleading the House. On the . . . unintentio nally misleading the House. On the Government website the new Government website, it has a list of all of the boards, all of the members, all of the chairpersons and contact information.
Mr. Scott PearmanYes, do not. We have seniors who do not know how to turn a computer on in some cases. And that is not a criticism; it is just the reality of the situation we face. It was not intended as a crit icism. What it was intended as was an …
Yes, do not. We have seniors who do not know how to turn a computer on in some cases. And that is not a criticism; it is just the reality of the situation we face. It was not intended as a crit icism. What it was intended as was an observation of the importance of trying to streamline the system. And we had heard that there was going to be a centralised dispute resolution centre, I believe named after the former [president of the] industrial union, Mr. Si mmons, and hopefully we will see something towards that. But the point I wish to make on this particular legislation arises from that difficulty, because not only is it difficult for citizens to know where to go and who to speak to and what the system requires and which Act is applicable —and I say this as a lawyer , you know. You do not want to have to come and pay a lawyer to tell you all of this if you can find it readily and easily. But another thing that is inconsistent across the board is how much time you have. So, in one case you get a decision and, as this Act says here at clause 2, in relation to section 11 on page 2 of the Bill, you have only got seven days. So here is a judgment. You have seven days to try to perhaps take legal advice, get your case ready, find the right person to submit this appeal to, and then you have an appeal. And, respectfully, seven days is woefully short. Mr. Speaker, I have just done a little bit of homework to look elsewhere under various other bits of legislation that are applicable to Bermuda just to try to get an idea and a sense of what is reasonable. Mr. Speaker, if you were to seek a court’s judicial review of a decision in Bermuda under Order 53 of the Rules of Supreme Court, you would have six months from the date of the decision.
Bermuda House of Assembly If you were to try to appeal an order or jud gment of the Supreme Court to the Court of Appeal, you would have six weeks to do that. And even the tightest time table, which is under the Rules of S upreme Court Order 55, where you appeal a judgment up to the Supreme Court from a various body ident ified, even there you have 28 days. And so I know that the Minister who is pr esenting the Bill is fond of numbers and his grasp of numbers, and I would respectfully suggest that he consider whether the seven days that appears in clause 2 and again in clau se 7(d) might be extended to at least 28 days to give our citizenry time to get their ducks in a row so that if they have a legitimate grievance and a legitimate appeal they can perceive that and not be told, Oh, well you did not get it in in time, and den y justice on that basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Would any other Honour able Member like to speak? None? Minister. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker . I heard the Member and will take that under advisement sometime in the future. Mr. Speaker, I am glad that the Member s agree that those responsibilities should …
Thank you. Would any other Honour able Member like to speak? None? Minister.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker . I heard the Member and will take that under advisement sometime in the future. Mr. Speaker, I am glad that the Member s agree that those responsibilities should be removed from the Governor to the responsible Minister s. So, Mr. Speaker, with those few remarks, as I said, I move the Bill be committed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Deputy? House in Committee at 6:31 pm [Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chairman] COMMITTEE ON BILL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITI ES ACT 2019
The ChairmanChairmanHonourable Members, we are now in Committee of the whole [House] for further consider ation of the Bill entitled Government Authorities Act 2019 . Minister, you have the floor. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With the agreement from the Member who speaks for the Opposition, I am …
The ChairmanChairmanContinue. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: That is, [clauses] 1 through 9.
The ChairmanChairmanMm-hmm. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Clause 1 is self -explanatory. Clause 2 amends section 3 of the Architects Registration Act 1969 to transfer the power of appointment of the members of the Architects Registr ation Council from the Governor to the Minister of F inance (or such other Minister as …
Mm-hmm. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Clause 1 is self -explanatory. Clause 2 amends section 3 of the Architects Registration Act 1969 to transfer the power of appointment of the members of the Architects Registr ation Council from the Governor to the Minister of F inance (or such other Minister as may be appointed to administer the Act); to repeal and replace section 11 of the 1969 Act, and makes consequential amend-ments, to provide that appeals from decisions of the Council will no longer be heard by the Governor but by the Supreme Court. Clause 3 amends provisions of the Bermuda Arts Council Act 1969 to transfer the power of appointment of the members of the Bermuda Arts Council from the Governor to the Minister responsible for culture. I am surprised we have not done this all this time. Geez. Mr. Chairman, clause 4 amends section 2 of the Bermuda Housing Trust Act 1965 to transfer the power of appointment of the members of the Bermuda Housing Trust from the Governor to the Minister r esponsible for housing. Clause 5 amends section 12 of the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956 to transfer the power of appointment of the members of the Board of Immigration from the Governor to the Minister respon-sible for immigration. Clause 6, Mr. Chairman, amends sections 19 and 67 of the Land Valuation and Tax Act 1967 to transfer the power of appointment of the Land V aluation Appeal Tribunal and its clerk from the Governor to the Minister responsible for land valuation. Mr. Chairman, clause 7 amends the provision of the Professional Engineers Registration Act 1972 to transfer the power of appointment of the members of the Professional Engineer's Registration Council from the Governor to the Minister responsible for works and engineering. Also, this provides that appeals from decisions of the Council will no longer be heard by the Governor but by the Supreme Court. Claus e 8 makes transitional provision in r espect of appeals. Clause 9, Mr. Chairman, provides for commencement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The ChairmanChairmanAre there any further speakers to this Bill? The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Scott Pearman.
Mr. Scott PearmanThank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to pick up on the point that was mentioned in the debate, at clause 2(d) is where the Bill envisages repealing section 11 of the 1969 principal Act, and it is there that the period of appeal is a mere seven da ys. And if …
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to pick up on the point that was mentioned in the debate, at clause 2(d) is where the Bill envisages repealing section 11 of the 1969 principal Act, and it is there that the period of appeal is a mere seven da ys. And if it would be taken under advis e2836 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly ment, that would be the place to amend that to 28 days. Also, and second and finally, over at clause 7(d) is an amendment to the 1972 Act referred to therein, and at (d) it is an amendment to section 11. That, too, is a seven- day appeal period and that, too, would benefit greatly from becoming 28 days. And those are the only points we have. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The ChairmanChairmanAny further speakers? Minister? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have heard the Honourable Member and I said we will consider it sometime in the future. Mr. Chairman, with those remarks, I move that the preamble be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the preamble be approved. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. Approved. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I move that the Bill be r eported to the House as printed.
The ChairmanChairmanWe have to approve the clauses. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Oh, sorry. I move all clauses.
The ChairmanChairman[Clauses] 1 thr ough 9? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: [Clauses] 1 through 9.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 1 through 9 be approved. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. Approved. [Motion carried: Clauses 1 through 9 passed.] Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I move that the Bill be r eported to the House as printed.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. Approved. The Bill will be reported to the House. [Motion carried: The Government Authorities Act 201 9 was considered by a Committee of the whole …
It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. Approved. The Bill will be reported to the House.
[Motion carried: The Government Authorities Act 201 9 was considered by a Committee of the whole House and passed without amendment.] [Pause] House resumed at 6:36 pm
[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE
GOVE RNMENT AUTHORITIES ACT 2019
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers, are there any objections to the Government Authorities Act 2019 being reported to the House as printed? There are none. It has been reported and so moved. We are now on to the next item of the evening and that item is No. 9 . . . it is …
Members, are there any objections to the Government Authorities Act 2019 being reported to the House as printed? There are none. It has been reported and so moved. We are now on to the next item of the evening and that item is No. 9 . . . it is actually [Order] No. 10 that we are moving on to which is the Superyachts . [Order] No. 10 is the Superyachts —it is you —yes, yes.
[Pause]
The SpeakerThe Speaker[Order] No. 9, the Criminal Injuries, is being carried forward and we are on [Order] No. 10 the Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019 in the name of the Minister of Tourism and Transport. BILL SECOND READING SUPERYACHTS AND OTHE R VESSELS (MISCELLANEOUS) AMEN DMENT ACT 2019 Hon. …
[Order] No. 9, the Criminal Injuries, is being carried forward and we are on [Order] No. 10 the Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019 in the name of the Minister of Tourism and Transport.
BILL
SECOND READING
SUPERYACHTS AND OTHE R VESSELS (MISCELLANEOUS) AMEN DMENT ACT 2019
Hon. Zane J. S. De Si lva: Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill entitled the Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019 be now read the second time.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAre there any objections? Continue. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this Bill before the House today is to amend the Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Act 2019 (“the principal Act”) to further amend the Passenger Ships Act 1972 regarding transit and cruising permits, and …
Are there any objections? Continue. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this Bill before the House today is to amend the Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Act 2019 (“the principal Act”) to further amend the Passenger Ships Act 1972 regarding transit and cruising permits, and to amend the Bermuda Immigration and Protecti on Act 1956 to classify the crew of superyachts under charter in Bermuda as special category persons. Mr. Speaker, in July this year, the Legislature approved the principal Act, Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Act 2019, which made a number of amendments to a series of Acts to help make Bermuda a more attractive yachting and superyacht destination. The principal Act will benefit Bermuda by creating potential job opportunities
Bermuda House of Assembly through businesses that support the superyacht charter industry and generating fees that will go into the Government ’s Consolidated Fund. Since the passing of the principal Act, the Ministry of Tourism and Transport identified three ar eas that required further clarity in legislation pertaining to the issuing of transit and cruising permits and exemptions. Mr. Speaker, during the drafting of the guid elines for the superyachts and other vessels for impl ementation purposes, my Ministry, along with the D epartment of Marine and Ports, worked closely with the Customs Department , the Bermuda Shipping Maritime Association and local agent stakeholders, [and we] discovered three elements that require correction or further clarity. Mr. Speaker, they are: 1. Under exemptions from permit fees relat-ed to transit and cruising permits, vessels arriving in Bermuda for the purpose of obtaining fuel, water and ships’ stores was included in the exempted list. Mr. Speaker, transit permits will be issued for a p eriod not exceeding five days and are spe-cifically intended for vessels that come to Bermuda to obtain fuel, water and ships’ stores. The amendments address this matter. 2. Mr. Speaker, the principal Act requires transit and cruising permits to be applied for in advance, but some flexibility is needed. The amendment will ensure transit and crui sing permits can be applied for at the time of arrival in Bermuda when the Customs Department boarding officer clears the vessel at the Yacht R eporting Centre. 3. Mr. Speaker, a charter permit allows a superyacht to be used to provide charter services for up to six months in Bermuda. The principal Act was silent on Immigr ation requirements regarding persons who are members of the superyacht crew. Superyacht crew who provide superyacht chartering services are intended to be exempt from having a work permit —sam e as cruise ship crews are exempt today. This amendment today makes this matter clear for superyacht crews. Mr. Speaker, a notice was issued in September to the yachting and superyacht industry that we intend for the Superyacht and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Act 2019 to become law on 1 January 2020. Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Ministe r. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? I recognise the Deputy Opposition Leader. Honourable Member , you have the floor. Ms. Leah K. Scott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker . Mr. Speaker, we support this legislation, and I am glad that the Minister has brought it …
Thank you, Ministe r. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? I recognise the Deputy Opposition Leader. Honourable Member , you have the floor. Ms. Leah K. Scott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker . Mr. Speaker, we support this legislation, and I am glad that the Minister has brought it forward. I accolade sentiments that superyachts are an economic driver, and the fees that can be generated from bert hing, fuel, maintenance, provision of supplies and the overall onshore spending of the crew and other me mbers will be a boon to any economy. If you would allow me, I would like to just read some figures that I got from the Luxury Vessels Special Report to kind of support what the Minister has said. The Superyacht Intelligence Agency, which is an agency that tracks the superyacht market, found that €13.76 billion was generated in the superyacht industry and that €10.24 billion of that was generated indirectly through money that was spent onshore and €1.6 billion was spent on jobs that were created by the industry. So, I think it is vital that we actually get a piece of this pie and I would like to congratulate the Minister for bringing it forward, and we do support it. Thank you.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member . Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? I recognise the Honourable Member Swan from the East End. Honourable Member —
Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. SwanYes, Mr. Speaker, I am duty-bound to speak on some legislation that will have a very positive impact on the East End, St. George’s in particular —a great seaport with historical signif icance which has been hosting superyachts for cent uries. With the modern superyachts, I am reminded of the …
Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am duty-bound to speak on some legislation that will have a very positive impact on the East End, St. George’s in particular —a great seaport with historical signif icance which has been hosting superyachts for cent uries. With the modern superyachts, I am reminded of the [yacht] Fleurtje , which used to grace Bermuda’s shores back in the 1980s, and in that sphere, Mr. Speaker . I know all too well when that yacht was l ocated in the port of St. George’s . Indeed, the crew was very much part of the economic success and the spreading of good dollars in the community. Let us not forget all the other benefits in our community to be better positioned as we are the first port of call that any ship would pass coming into Bermuda—save and except for the ones that might come down the south and go past Whale Bay. Very few, but there are some that can. We are in need of the impetus to ensure that our crews, that our yacht facilities are pushed forward as swiftly as possible. And in many regards, it has been long- suffering. We just simply have to really make it happen. And we must advocate on behalf of the community because it would be a huge benefit for our community. 2838 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly I want to thank persons who have operated in this space— Mr. Mark Soares , in particular, has done great work and great advocacy as well. We look forward to the movement in this direction to have St. George’s better positioned to capitalise on what we are discussing today. And I mention the Fleurtje. And I mention centuries because Bermuda has, and St. George’s in particular has, a maritime history that no other community in the world could boast of as well as we can. And I think that from that point of view, our marketing efforts would enhance Bermuda’s position, and I would encourage any Minister who can make this happen for the community of St. George’s in much the same way that we are celebrating the good work of my colleague with regards to ensuring that we have a marine and a community base for our comm unity beat officers and a marine base there, let us now have the additional facilities to accommodate these superyachts that are out there. But make no mistake. In a more unofficial manner, Bermuda has been host to these superyachts in the past. I have looked down the hill and I have seen them. I look forward to Privacy coming forward, or maybe the n ext version, Privacy II, which is Tiger Woods’ yacht, when he comes to play a little golf in Bermuda. But he tends to go over to the Bahamas. I say that because when those owners of superyachts find favour in a community, a yachting community in this respect, they are not always accompanying the passage of that vessel across the high seas. In some instances, those yachts could be chartered out. In some instances, those yachts could very well be hous ing an important client. In all instances, persons who can make themselves available to utilise these particular facilities have a somewhat different level of disposable income than this little country fellow here from Hog Bay. But all those associated, from the Captain to the First Mate, have expense accounts. And you only need to look at other events connected with tourism, sports tourism. I will give you an example: the billfish tournament that takes place in July. It is not uncommon to look in Hamilton Harbour or St. George’s Harbour and see a superyacht that within the stern of that superyacht there is a facility for a 60’ or 70’ fishing vessel to, [in a] James Bond style, just go right up u nder there. Not uncommon. It is not uncommon to see those yachts in Hamilton Harbour, at Miles , at the Hamilton Princes s, in Dockyard as well as St. George’s , there whilst the owner may take the opportunity to fly in and stay in a house or a property of their choice. So, when you do see superyachts coming, know that there are other things taking place. I r emember when the owner of Chelsea, Abramovich, was just popping through here. I wanted to see him because there were a couple of players I wanted him to encourage to get now that we are out of the woods with regard to getting players. Maybe we might pick up a few players and get on the winning streak. Ma ybe we might, you know? I am tired of seeing that red up on top of the premier league. And I say that b ecause those persons who are in that sphere, they like a lot of the same things we like. They like the same sports we li ke—and they just have a little bit more money to participate in it. We might sit down in the cheap seats and watch their team play and they are sitting up in the sky box, and then they are flying away to see one of their other teams play. So, the opportunity for us, Mr. Speaker, I respectfully submit is huge. And we have heard persons say how important inward capital and investment is, and this is another opportunity, just like the recently held professional golf event that we had for us to fish where the fish are and for us to position ourselves in areas. People who own superyachts, they are likely to be the people building the cruise ships —no, not buil ding them, having them built!
[Audio skip from 04:51:47 through 04:51:57]
Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. SwanYes, and so I just want to reiterate how important —significant —this legislation is for us as we look to cause that inward investment. Listen, Mr. Speaker, just the other day the Government had to go and negotiate some additional for a project up there clos e to where I …
Yes, and so I just want to reiterate how important —significant —this legislation is for us as we look to cause that inward investment. Listen, Mr. Speaker, just the other day the Government had to go and negotiate some additional for a project up there clos e to where I grew up, up there on Morgan’s Point. My grandpa built a lot of those houses that were up on that Morgan’s Point base up there, and now the Government is on the hook for about $160 [million], $170 million or so. As we look to find other opportunities, the type of folks who may fall in love with our country and cause some inward investment to take place that will make it eas ier for the Government to deal with some decisions that were made that caused us to have that $170 mi llion or more plus interest, are associated with this type of Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act [2019]. So, Mr. Speaker, we want to allow persons, when they look at their navigational maps, the dec ision makers for these yachts, the influencers of thos e persons with those high net worth persons . . . they are the ones that is going to say, I think we need to go to the North Atlantic and pay a visit to Bermuda for a few months . It would help us reposition. And there are other types of business opportunit ies that will perc olate and spill off —the knock -on effect. The knock -on effect of having these types of opportunities in Bermuda, I think will be very beneficial for us. You know, anyone that is familiar with Castle Harbour, and cousin Honourable Deputy Speaker would have great knowledge of that because that is where his family originates from. When that transformation came out, that was where superyachts used to put in—right in that harbour on their way down to maybe Cuba or Jamaica. And the stop- off poi nt was right there in Castle Harbour.
Bermuda House of Assembly Bermuda was positioned with small boutique yachts for centuries, as people snickered (when I said that before) it was not. It was so. We have been around this. Charles Roach Ratteray built some of those yachts that I talk about when I go back to 1799 when he was born and 1834 when his son, who is my direct [ancestor], came around this Earth. So, Berm uda’s maritime history can be celebrated, but it also can be a part of our historical learning for our young people. For our young people that need to appreciate that there are opportunities for them in this particular space, because it is not good enough, in my respec tful opinion, Mr. Speaker, for us to offer the legislation without educating our own people on where the opportunities may lie for them to cast their business nets and their entrepreneurial spirits in order to capitalise. I know, through my trade— and, you know, I am in the twilight years of [that], but I do know and remember quite fondly . . . I go back to the Fleurtje when those persons there had their expense accounts. So, with that, Mr. Speaker, I thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to this, and I hope that my cries will be heard and we in St. George’s will see the development of the pier, the yacht pier, as soon as practical. Thank you.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? We recognise the Honourable Member Dunkley. Honourable Member , you have the floor. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank y ou, Mr. Speaker . Mr. Speaker, I just want to show the support for this legislation which has been …
Thank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? We recognise the Honourable Member Dunkley. Honourable Member , you have the floor. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank y ou, Mr. Speaker . Mr. Speaker, I just want to show the support for this legislation which has been progressed over time. Reflecting back in 2016, 2017 when we had the first seeds of it before the America’s Cup and the success of attracting superyachts to t he Island during the America’s Cup, I think at one point there were close to 100 superyachts in our waters just before we got to the final stage of it. So, having proper legislation and governance and services for superyachts, you can see quite clearly that you can attract them to the I sland. So, the Government is doing a good thing here today with making some tweaks to the legislation to make it a more comprehensive framework for it. Mr. Speaker, the one point that I want to make tonight is just to reflec t on the fact that while there is tremendous opportunity with superyachts here in Bermuda, we also have to remember that while the Honourable Member who spoke just before me talked of our long and rich history with mariners on the seas and attracting peopl e to our shores, we are very is olated. And so, when anyone in a smaller yacht or a superyacht ventures out towards us, we are really a one-stop destination on their way to somewhere else. It is not like cruising the Caribbean where you can hop from island to island; or not like cruising the Mediterranean when you can take a cruise overnight and stop at a new destination the next day. So, for people to come to Bermuda, we need to always make sure that we are as attractive as we can possibly be and to make s ure that we have the services here for people because it is a bit out of their way to come to Bermuda just for our one location here. Now, having said that, we have improved our services over the years. The east, the west and the middle of the Island cer tainly can handle superyachts much more than we could a couple of years ago, so the opportunity is there. Now it is important for us to market ourselves as best as we can throughout the world for superyacht owners because they have those boats. They are not afraid to spend money, and they travel. Those yachts will travel all over the world, not always with the owners on them, but they will position themselves for those owners to fly in and take the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their investment when they have that chance. And, Mr. Speaker, putting Bermuda in the eye of people with this type of money to spend and with these yachts is something that we need to continually do. Because as I talked about the challenge of our location, we also have the chall enge of our seasonal ity, where yachts will really not cruise to Bermuda in December, January, February, or March, but they will certainly pick it up again in the shoulder season. Cruising the North Atlantic in those months can be a bit bumpy. Now, while the owner will not be on the boat, the crew will be. And they can handle the seas, no problem. It is not like the owner is going to want to spend time in Bermuda in January unless we really have something special to offer them. And so the important thing no w [that] the Government has continued to tighten up the legisl ation, make it stronger, make it more encompassing, is two things: Always keep ourselves in front of the market which is there because that industry is growing. More people are spending that money because they can truly get away and be private. And secondly is to make sure that we have attractions here for them to come to Bermuda and use their investment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Member. Member Scott, do you want the fl oor? Hon. Michael J. Scott: Yes, sir, if I might just for —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerI recognise the Honourable Member from constituency 36. Honourable Member Scott, you have the floor. Hon. Michael J. Scott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, not only do we hav e something special to offer, we have the ability to finesse this con2840 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda …
I recognise the Honourable Member from constituency 36. Honourable Member Scott, you have the floor. Hon. Michael J. Scott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, not only do we hav e something special to offer, we have the ability to finesse this con2840 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly cession being offered to the superyacht category because of the presence of our very excellent shipping registers and our red ensign flag. And I encourage the Minister to be studious about making sure that we i nclude in our superyacht amendments and the concessions that will attract yachts here. And may I declare an interest. I am Director on the Bermuda Shipping Authority. May I encourage all of us to look for the opportunities for supery achts to be registered here. We have the register. It is an excellent register. And the increase in tonnage through yachts moving from North America down to the Caribbean and registering here under our flag is an important business opportunity. And I only wanted to stand to just indicate that this is an important add- on to this important piece of legislation that Minister De Silva is bringing right now. And the shipping register that we have in Bermuda would benefit greatly by adding, to its array of tankers and cruise lines, superyachts. And with the attractive honey that is part of these concessions, all that people need to do, owners need to do, and lawyers who ser-vice these clients and owners of these superyachts is to recommend to the owners that this register is an attractive one under which the owners can register [their yachts] and thereby add business to the Berm uda economy. So I thank you for the opportunity to add that important something- special to the Bermuda position.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? No other Honourable Member. Minister, would you like to . . . Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes, I would, Mr. Speaker. I would like to move that the Bill be committed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Deputy. House in Committee at 7:04 pm [Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chairman] COMMITTEE ON BILL SUPERYACHTS AND OTHER VESSELS (MISCELLANEOUS) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
The ChairmanChairmanHonourable Members, we are now in Committee of the whole [House] for further consider ation of the Bill entitled Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019 . Minister De Silva, you have the floor. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like …
Honourable Members, we are now in Committee of the whole [House] for further consider ation of the Bill entitled Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019 . Minister De Silva, you have the floor.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to move clauses — all of the clauses, 1 through 4. The Chairman: Continue.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, clause 1 is self-explanatory. Clause 2 amends sections 3A and 3B of the Passenger Ships Act 1972 (inserted by section 3 of the principal Act) to require a transit or cruising permit to be obtained on or before a pleasure craft or superyacht arrives at an anchorage, mooring or port in Bermuda. The permit fee exemption in section 3D(f) of the Act for vessels arriving solely for the purpose of obtaining fuel, water or ships’ stores is repealed. Clause 3 amends the principal Act by inser ting a new section 7A which amends Part II of the First Schedule to the Bermuda Immigration and Protec tion Act 1956. The amendment inserts a new paragraph 1A which adds, to the list of special -category persons, members of the crew of a superyacht which is provi ding charter services in Bermuda in accordance with a charter permit granted under section 3C of the Passenger Ships Act 1972 (inserted by section 3 of the principal Act). This aligns superyacht crews with members of the crew of any ship ordinarily engaged in oceangoing voyages to places outside Bermuda, who fall within paragraph 1 of Part II of the F irst Schedule. Clause 4 provides for commencement on the same day as the principal Act.
The ChairmanChairmanAre there any further speakers to this? There appear to be none. Minister, you can move the preamble— clauses first. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move clauses 1 through 4 be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 1 through 4 be approved. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. [Motion carried: Clauses 1 through 4 passed] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I move that the preamble be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the preamble be approved. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. Approved. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I move that the Bill be r eported to the House as printed.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. Are there any objections to that? Bermuda House of Assembly There appear to be none. The Bill will be reported to the House. [Motion carried: The Superyachts and Other Vessels (Misc ellaneous) Amendment Act 2019 was …
It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. Are there any objections to that?
Bermuda House of Assembly There appear to be none. The Bill will be reported to the House. [Motion carried: The Superyachts and Other Vessels (Misc ellaneous) Amendment Act 2019 was consi dered by a Committee of the whole House and passed without amendment.]
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
House resumed at 7:07 pm [Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]
REPORT OF COM MITTEE
SUPERYACHTS AND OTHER VESSELS (MISCELLANEOUS) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers, are there any objections to the Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019 being reported to the House as printed? There are none. It has been so moved. We move on now to the next item, which is the West End Development Corporation (Traffic Offi cers) Amendment Act …
Members, are there any objections to the Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019 being reported to the House as printed? There are none. It has been so moved. We move on now to the next item, which is the West End Development Corporation (Traffic Offi cers) Amendment Act 2019, and that also is in the name of the Minister of Tourism and Transport. Minister.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill entitled West End Development Corporation (Traffic Officers) Amendment Act 2019 be now read the second time.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAre there any objections? No objections. Continue on, Minister. BILL SECOND READ ING WEST END DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (TRAFFIC OFFICERS) AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this Bill is to amend the West End Development Corporation Act 1982 (the …
Are there any objections? No objections. Continue on, Minister.
BILL
SECOND READ ING
WEST END DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (TRAFFIC OFFICERS) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this Bill is to amend the West End Development Corporation Act 1982 (the Act) to provide for traffi c officers appointed by West End Development Corporation to have traffic enforcement powers and to provide for better regul ation and control of vehicular traffic in the WEDCO ar-ea. Mr. Speaker, the Bill before the House is the West End Development Corporation (Traffic Officers) Amendment Act 2019. The purpose of the Bill is to provide legislative provisions for better regulation and control of vehicular traffic and improve traffic man-agement on WEDCO property and to provide for the corporation’s traffic of ficers to have the ability to enforce moving violations and parking infractions. In recent years our cruise ship partners have reported passenger dissatisfaction with transportation at Bermuda’s cruise ships’ ports, especially at Doc kyard, when two or mor e ships are in port. There could be up to 8,000 passengers plus the ships’ crews in the area looking for public transportation. There is a ground transportation area at the port where taxis, minibuses and limousines ply for business, prear-ranged tours and beach shuttles. Mr. Speaker, WEDCO has only three traffic coordinators, who manage the area and facilitate the safe and efficient movement of passengers. They i nteract with operators of the public service vehicles and passengers, whom they direct to rele vant transport options. They also monitor and manage the flow of traffic through the area and at a nearby staging area for overflow vehicles. Although the ground transport ation area is suitably appointed with proper signage, the area tends to get a bit chaotic when there are thousands of visitors trying to move at the same time, and public service vehicle operators are vying for customers. The traffic coordinators are challenged with managing the behaviour of the public service vehicle operators because they have no legal powers, and as such the operators can ignore their instructions. And that at times this has led to antisocial behaviour. Mr. Speaker, until 2018, up to four of the eight Transport Control Department [TCD] traffic officers attended the Doc kyard daily for general traffic enforcement when cruise ships were in port. In 2018, considering both the cost of providing traffic officers for Dockyard and the need for traffic officers to become more available for statutory responsibilities, TCD redeplo yed traffic enforcement resources. In 2019, TCD traffic officers only assisted WEDCO traffic coordinators on days that five or more ships were in port. Mr. Speaker, in the absence of TCD traffic officers, the need still exists for the regulation and contr ol of traffic and passengers alike. The main objective of this Bill is to appoint traffic officers who have the same powers as TCD traffic officers to control traf-fic and deter illegal parking. This Bill will enable i mproved traffic management on the corporation’s land by amending the West End Development Corporation Act 1982 to extend the staff of WEDCO to include corporation traffic officers as defined in the Third Schedule of the Act and to apply the Road Traffic Act 1947 to roads within the WEDCO area i n the same manner as it applies to the municipality. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Does any other Member wish to speak? 2842 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly I recognise the Deputy Opposition Leader. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Ms. Leah K. ScottThank you, Mr. Speaker. We actually have no objection to this. And I will make this brief because I am hungry. [Laughter]
Ms. Leah K. ScottIn 2018 there was, I think, Doc kyard sent out a circular saying that they were going to pedestrianise Dockyard to make it more attractive. And they stated in that summary that they were act ually going to do a traffic analysis, and this traffic analysis was supposed to be …
In 2018 there was, I think, Doc kyard sent out a circular saying that they were going to pedestrianise Dockyard to make it more attractive. And they stated in that summary that they were act ually going to do a traffic analysis, and this traffic analysis was supposed to be ready in July of 2019. And I did google to see if I could find it, and I had not seen it. So if th e Minister could let me know if that traffic analysis has been done and what the results of that were? My question was, if the analysis has been done, is that what led to this legislation? And if it has not been done, when will it be done? And where are we in the process and the completion dates of that study? Because I would be interested in what it says. In November 2014, there was an environmental impact study done about Dockyard. And one of the things that was stated was that significant impacts were not anticipated due to the day -to-day traffic acti vities in and around the Dockyard. And the way that they have now kind of sectioned off Dockyard, there is not as much traffic as there used to be. So I am just kind of wondering where the traffic wardens w ould be dispatched and how often, and how many and those kinds of things. Other than that, we support it. And if the Mi nister could just clarify just those few points, then I am okay.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Does any other Member wish to speak? Ministe r, would you like to reply? Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you. Yes, yes, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Honourable Member for her contribution. With regard to the traffic analysis being done, I can check and find that …
Thank you. Does any other Member wish to speak? Ministe r, would you like to reply?
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you. Yes, yes, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Honourable Member for her contribution. With regard to the traffic analysis being done, I can check and find that out for you. I can say this, that I thi nk everybody in Bermuda knows that when those two ships are in and we are trying to move 8,000 people, it does get chaotic, as I said in my brief. And this, I think, is going to go a long way to assisting. With regard to who is going to–– it is going to be, as I said in my brief, it will be any of the staff at WEDCO who is appointed by the general manager. And they will have identification, which will . . . I am sure that the locals will soon find out who they are. And, hopefully, we can make things better and move our people a little bit more seamlessly as we can. With that, Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill be committed.
The SpeakerThe Speaker[We will] go to Committee. Deputy. House in Committee at 7:15 pm [Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chairman] COMMITTEE O N BILL WEST END DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (TRAFFIC OFFICERS) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
The ChairmanChairmanHonourable Members, we are now in Committee of the whole [House] for further consider ation of the Bill entitled West End Development Corporation (Traffic Officers) Amendment Act 2019 . Minister De Silva, you have the floor. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I propose …
The ChairmanChairmanContinue. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, Clause 1 is the citation. Clause 2 of the Bill provides for amendments that insert new sections 21A and 21B into the [princ ipal] Act. Section 21A allows for the corporation property to be covered …
Continue.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, Clause 1 is the citation. Clause 2 of the Bill provides for amendments that insert new sections 21A and 21B into the [princ ipal] Act. Section 21A allows for the corporation property to be covered by the Road Traffic Act 1947. Section 21B provides for the appointment of persons to regulate and control traffic and names them corpor ation traffic officers. The corporation traffic officers will have the same powers as traffic officers under the Motor Car Act 1951 and traffic wardens under the Road Traffic Act 1947. Clause 3 amends the First Schedule of the [principal] Act, Powers of the Corporation, inserting after paragraph 7 a new paragraph 8, which reads, “To provide for the regulation and control of traffic in the scheduled area.” Clause 4 deals with consequential amendments to the Motor Car Act 1951 and the Traffic O ffences Procedure Act 1974, by deleting the current definit ion of a traffic officer and substituting the defin ition that includes the WEDCO corporation traffic offi cers.
The ChairmanChairmanHow about [clause] 5? The Deputy Clerk : That is the commencement clause.
The ChairmanChairmanYes, the commencement clause at the end? The day the Bill comes into effect. Bermuda House of Assembly You have got the Bill? [Crosstalk] The Deputy Clerk : It is just the commencement clause.
The ChairmanChairmanYes. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes, Mr. Chairman. Clause 5 provides for the commencement of the Bill. The Chai rman: Are there any further speakers to clauses 1 through 5? There appear to be none. Minister, do you want to move the clauses? Hon. Zane J. S. De …
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that clauses 1 through 5 be approved. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. [Motion carried: Clauses 1 through 5 passed] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I move that the preamble be approved.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the preamble be approved. Are there any objections to that? There appear to be none. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I move that the Bill be r eported to the House as printed.
The ChairmanChairmanIt has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. Are there any objections to that? No. Approved. The Bill will be reported to the House as printed. [Motion carried: The West End Development Corpor ation (Traffic Officers) Amendment Act 2019 was considered by a Committee …
It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed. Are there any objections to that? No. Approved. The Bill will be reported to the House as printed.
[Motion carried: The West End Development Corpor ation (Traffic Officers) Amendment Act 2019 was considered by a Committee of the whole House and passed without amendment.]
House resumed at 7:19 pm
[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE
WEST END DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (TRAFFIC OFFICERS) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers, are there any objections to the West End Development Corporation (Traffic Offi cers) Amendment Act 2019 being reported to the House as printed? There are none. It has been reported. Members, earlier in the day I had asked for your . . . we are at the end of …
Members, are there any objections to the West End Development Corporation (Traffic Offi cers) Amendment Act 2019 being reported to the House as printed? There are none. It has been reported. Members, earlier in the day I had asked for your . . . we are at the end of the Orders before we get to the motion to adjourn. But earlier in the day I had asked that we at some point come back and suspend the rule to allow the Minister to present that Statement that needed to be sorted out. But at the same time I would also, I am going to ask for that indulgence now and allow the Minister to do that. But, Minister, before you do that I am going to ask the House for further indulgence to allow the Deputy Speaker to just read the report for the Private Members’ Bills so they could have its third reading later on tonight, as well. You are on the Private Bills Committee; I am sorry. Deputy, would you like to just read that now?
PARLIAMENTARY JOINT SELECT CO MMITTEE REPORT ON PRIVATE BILLS
B.I.U. MEMBERS CREDIT UNION CO -OP SOCIETY (CHANGE OF NAME) AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Derrick V. Burgess , Sr.: Thank you. Mr. Speaker, to His Honour the Speaker and Members of this Honourable House of Assembly, the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Private Bills has the honour to submit the following report: 1. The committee has carefully considered the petition together with the related Bill for the Act listed hereunder and is satisfied that the Bill is a private Bill and that all the rules of both Houses having to do with Private Bills have been complied with: Subsection (1) the B.I.U. MEMBERS Credit Union Co- Op Society (Change of Name) Amendment Act 2019. 2. The committee recommends the Bill ent itled the B.I.U. MEMBERS Credit Union Co- Op Society (Change of Name) Amendment Act 2019 be accepted subject to agreed amendments. 3. Subject to the recommendati ons contained in paragraph 2 above, the committee recommends that the prayers of the petitioners be granted and that leave be given to bring the proposed Bill to give effect thereto. All of which is respectfully submitted.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. And, Members, I am going to allow the Mini ster to give his Statement. And being it is last -minute, I 2844 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly have a copy here for the Opposition Leader and the spokesman for Tourism, if you do …
Thank you. And, Members, I am going to allow the Mini ster to give his Statement. And being it is last -minute, I 2844 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly have a copy here for the Opposition Leader and the spokesman for Tourism, if you do not mind. Sergeant? Yes. Or, Ms. Wolfe, would you hand those out for me, to the Opposition Leader and the Deputy Leader, yes. She is the spokesman for Tourism, right?
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. Minister. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I thank Members of the—
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOne other matter. The Clerk had that we had 15 minutes and 37 seconds left on [the clock] for the question- and-answer period. If any Members wish to put questions to the Minister after he delivers his Statement, that is the amount of time that is left on the clock. …
One other matter. The Clerk had that we had 15 minutes and 37 seconds left on [the clock] for the question- and-answer period. If any Members wish to put questions to the Minister after he delivers his Statement, that is the amount of time that is left on the clock. And I will not start it until he gives his Statement, until he sits down. Go ahead.
STATEMENTS BY MINISTERS
[Resumption thereof]
UPDATE ON HOTEL INDUSTRY IN BERMUDA Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And again, I thank Members for allow ing that adjus tment to be made. Mr. Speaker, as Members of this House are aware, investment in Bermuda’s hotel product is e ssential to achieving this Government’s ambition to grow our tourism sector and increase the number of jobs in tourism. Today I am pleased to be able to i nform you of important progress that has been made in this regard. Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to confirm that the St. Regis Bermuda in St. George’s has set the opening date for the first phase of their development for the 2 nd of April 2021. This includes both the 122room resort hotel, as well as the re- opening of the affiliated Robert Trent Jones -designed golf course. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity to commend and thank Hotelco, the developers of this $120- million project, and Miguel and Laura Purroy in particular for their commitment to Bermuda.
[Desk thumping] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Speaker, the St. Regis will join other new hotel developments in Bermuda, which include the Azura at the site of the old Surfside, which is opening now, and the Bermudiana Beach Resort, a Hilton Tapestry flagged hotel, the first phase of which will open in spring 2020. Fantastic indeed, Mr. Speaker! However, I am now able to provide this Honourable House and the people of Bermuda with an announcement which pr ovides even more evidence of the success of this Go vernment in attracting even more investment to Ber-muda, and this involves Bermuda’s largest hotel. Mr. Speaker, I think that we can all agree that investment in our existing hotels to upgrade our local hotel product is important. Situated on our stunning south shore, the Fairmont Southampton sits on nearly 100 manicured acres. As the largest hotel in Berm uda, this nearly 600- room resort offers wonderful amen ities. Man y will know that this property has been for sale by a co- invest group since November of 2018. Mr. Speaker, today I am delighted to report that an affiliate of Miami -based Gencom, a leading domestic and international investment and develop-ment firm, has co mpleted the acquisition of the Fai rmont Southampton.
[Desk thumping] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Speaker, this acquis ition marks Gencom’s second investment in Bermuda. In 2017, another Gencom -led affiliate acquired the 200-acre Tucker’s Point developm ent that includes the Rosewood Bermuda. Following the acquisition, the affiliate embarked on a $25- million renovation plan for the property. Mr. Speaker, the new ownership of the Fai rmont Southampton is committed to a significant i nvestment in the long- term success of the resort and has committed returning Bermuda’s largest hotel to its desired status. Gencom has committed to a major and extensive renovation of the hotel and currently have a team of dedicated professionals reviewing all aspects of the prop erty, with the anticipation of revealing their detailed designs for the future of the resort in 2020. Mr. Speaker, the major renovation of this large property will undoubtedly be costly and involve a host of people from a multitude of trades. There is little doubt that this will result in hundreds of jobs —I say hundreds of jobs for Bermudians engaged in the construction and allied sectors. Additionally, it is expected that, following the completion of the renov ations to this iconic property, there will be additional tourism jobs for Bermudians to fill in the upgraded h otel. Mr. Speaker, I cannot overstate the i mportance of a large project like this to the ongoing employment and welfare of Bermudians employed in the construction sector who, without large pr ojects such as this, might otherwise be facing some challenging times. Mr. Speaker, it is incumbent on us as the Government to do everything possible to ensure continuity of work for our people, and as other construction pr ojects near completion the Fairmont Southampton renovation project will provide a seamless transition for many of our skilled and capable workforce.
Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, in reporting this fantastic news, I have glossed over the background to what is actually involved in bringing a complex deal l ike this to fruition. Please be assured, Mr. Speaker, that by any measure this was a very complex and demanding deal which required hundreds of hours of due diligence and many, many hours of burning the midnight oil by m yself, Cabinet colleagues, and publi c officers. Mr. Speaker, in particular I would like to mention the commitment and hard work of the Minister of Finance, the Honourable Curtis Dickinson—
[Desk thumping]
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: —and the Minister of N ational Security, the Honourable Wayne Caines —
[Desk thumping]
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: —who were instrumental in ensuring that this deal happened. I must also recognise the leadership of our Honourable Premier —
[Desk thumping] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: —who ensured that all organs of Government worked with the new purchasers to enable us to make this important announcement today. Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my personal thanks to the public officers who assisted in bringing this deal to fruition.
[Desk thumping]
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Too often, the hard work and achievements of people in government are overlooked or given little credence. On this occasion, Mr. Speaker, this is certainly not the case! Mr. Speaker, the Fairmont Southampton deal provides yet another indication of this Government’s commitment to growing the tourism sector and in a broader sense is yet another indication of the positive impact that this PLP Government is having on the f uture of Bermuda, a fut ure that is both fully inclusive and rewarding for a broader cross section of our community. Mr. Speaker, the Government applauds this deal as a testament to Gencom’s strong commitment to Bermuda and their confidence in our Island and our tourism product. And, Mr. Speaker, I would also rei terate this statement for the investors in the St. Regis Project, who have also demonstrated their commi tment to Bermuda and their confidence in our tourism product. Mr. Speaker, the Government fully supports and fully u nderstands what it means for these major hotel developments and renovation projects to be a d-vanced. We welcome the fact that it not only sends a strong message to the world about Bermuda’s positive tourism investment value, but also is a tangible demonstration of the success of this Government in attracting investment to Bermuda, which will grow our economy and create jobs for our people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[Desk thumping]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Would you like to put questions now? Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. We will run the clock. [Laughter]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThere you go. QUESTION PERIOD [Resumption thereof] QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON HOTEL INDUSTRY IN BERMUDA Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I lost a bit between following the Statement online and what was handed out. But I am not sure if he mentioned it or not, …
There you go.
QUESTION PERIOD
[Resumption thereof]
QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON HOTEL INDUSTRY IN BERMUDA
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I lost a bit between following the Statement online and what was handed out. But I am not sure if he mentioned it or not, but with the sale of Fairmont Southampton, was it mentioned at all or do we have an idea of when the renovations will take place, and the completion of renovation dates? Are there any specs on that with the purchase? So we have an idea.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Minister. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the finalisation of this today we expect that wit hin the next six to twelve months a lot of due diligence will be done with regard to their plans and what they want to do. …
Thank you. Minister.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the finalisation of this today we expect that wit hin the next six to twelve months a lot of due diligence will be done with regard to their plans and what they want to do. And all of that will be revealed in due course, yes.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Yes. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes, just to make sure that I understand. So at some point in time you will give us an update on that. I want to congratulate Gencom on this, as well as the government officials who took part in making sure that this …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. 2846 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly Would any other Member wish to ask a question? MP Dunkley. QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON HOTEL INDUSTRY IN BERMUDA Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Honourable Minister: This is certainly welcome news for …
Okay. 2846 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Would any other Member wish to ask a question? MP Dunkley.
QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON HOTEL INDUSTRY IN BERMUDA
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Honourable Minister: This is certainly welcome news for Bermuda with the sale and the renovatio n because it had been rumoured for some time. Honourable Minister, have there been agreed to any concessions in regard to this development? And if so, does legislation have to be formulated or are we using the existing legislation?
Hon. Zane J. S. De Si lva: We will be using existing legislation.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: That would be the Tourism Investment Act that we passed earlier under this Government. [Desk thumping]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerHonourable Member, yes. QUESTION 1: UPDA TE ON HOTEL INDUSTRY IN BERMUDA Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Sorry, Mr. Speaker. Through you to the Minister: Bearing in mind that sometimes renovations result in closures which affect beds, is there any sort of coordination of the opening of the hotel in St …
Honourable Member, yes.
QUESTION 1: UPDA TE ON HOTEL INDUSTRY IN BERMUDA
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Sorry, Mr. Speaker. Through you to the Minister: Bearing in mind that sometimes renovations result in closures which affect beds, is there any sort of coordination of the opening of the hotel in St . George’s with anything that might be affected by what is happening in Southam pton?
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: As I said in my Statement, you have not only St. Regis, but you have Azura, and Bermudiana Beach. Those will be opening within the next 12 to 18 months. And as I said in my brief, it will be a great transition from one to another.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Any other Member? We have a little time left on the clock. Good. [Laughter]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Members, for the indulgence for allowin g us to do both of those matters just now. It is greatly appreciated. And now the last item that is on the Order P aper that I believe has been given some indication that we will do today is the motion …
Thank you, Members, for the indulgence for allowin g us to do both of those matters just now. It is greatly appreciated. And now the last item that is on the Order P aper that I believe has been given some indication that we will do today is the motion by the Member from constituency 10. Honourable Member, would you like to put your motion? Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Continue. MOTION CONSIDERATION OF INITIATIVES TO REDUCE THE ECONOMIC PRESSURE ON BUSINESSES AND PROTECT JOBS Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, I am most grateful to be able to debate the following motion: WHEREAS there are increasing challenges faced by small business and businesses in general; AND WHEREAS there …
Yes. Continue.
MOTION
CONSIDERATION OF INITIATIVES TO REDUCE THE ECONOMIC PRESSURE ON BUSINESSES AND PROTECT JOBS
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, I am most grateful to be able to debate the following motion: WHEREAS there are increasing challenges faced by small business and businesses in general; AND WHEREAS there is a declining economy lacking business confidence with escalating costs and increased r egulation; BE IT RESOLVED that this Honourable House consider initiatives that will reduce the ec onomic pressure on businesses and protect jobs.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAre there any objections to this m otion? Hon. Wayne L. Fur bert: Mr. Speaker, yes. I would like to make an amendment to the motion.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYou would like to make an amendment to the motion? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: According to section 24(1) [of the Standing Orders].
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. Hon. Wayne L. Furbe rt: Mr. Speaker —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWell, put your motion. We will vote on your motion. If your motion passes, we will debate your motion. If it does not, we debate the Member’s original motion. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is fine.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerDoes everybody have copies of . . . Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: It should be online in 30 seconds. He told me 30 seconds, anyway. We are not using paper anymore.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIs it up online? Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: It is processing. [Crosstalk ]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIf you refresh your site, it will come up on your site. [Pause]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerUnder the House of Assembly news, front page on House of Assembly news. If you just refresh your page, it will come up right away. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Breaking news, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSaving a couple of trees tonight. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Saving a couple of trees. [Laughter]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers are good? Front page under House news. Front page. Once you open up the Parliament site, it will be on the front page under House news. [Pause]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAnd for our listening audience, just bear with us for a minute. We are now going paperless, and we are trying to get our Members used to the technology that is available today. And as you saw, that amendment was just put. And we are i nstantly having it put …
And for our listening audience, just bear with us for a minute. We are now going paperless, and we are trying to get our Members used to the technology that is available today. And as you saw, that amendment was just put. And we are i nstantly having it put up on the tablet for our Members to be able to read and follow it as it is printed on the government site, on the parliament site. So you are expe riencing a new forward movement in Parliament here this evening as we further advance the paperless process in the House. You know when you are in church, and the pastor says, Have you found the scripture? Has ev erybody found the site yet? Let me see a show of hands , or an Amen.
Some Hon. Members Some Hon. MembersAmen! Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: In the church say Amen if you have found the scripture. [Laughter] Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes, continue. We have got a few “Amens, ” so you can continue. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO MOTION Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I move that the motion be amended to read as follows: WHEREAS there have been challenges faced by small businesses and businesses in general; BE IT RESOLVED that this …
Yes, continue. We have got a few “Amens, ” so you can continue. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO MOTION
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I move that the motion be amended to read as follows: WHEREAS there have been challenges faced by small businesses and businesses in general; BE IT RESOLVED that this Honourable House take note of the steps Government has taken to assist small business and businesses in general in Bermuda.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSo the amendment has been put to the original motion. We now would have to take a vote on the amendment. And are Members ready for that vote? Members ready for the vote? Those in favour of the amendment as it was just put — AYES.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSounds like there were a few more ayes than nays that time, which means that the m otion has now been amended by Minister Furbert’s amendment. [Motion carried: Amendment approved; Motion to be debated as amended.]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAnd we can debate it from that perspective. MOTION [As amended] TAKE NOTE OF THE STEPS GOVERNMENT HAS TAKEN TO ASSIST SMALL BUSINESS AND BUSINESSES IN GENERAL I N BERMUDA Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased this evening to be able to …
And we can debate it from that perspective.
MOTION [As amended]
TAKE NOTE OF THE STEPS GOVERNMENT HAS TAKEN TO ASSIST SMALL BUSINESS AND BUSINESSES IN GENERAL I N BERMUDA Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased this evening to be able to stand and debate this particular motion. It is clear, Mr. Speaker, that . . . and as we said here, there have been challenging times. There is no doubt that small businesses and businesses in general have had some challenges. Mr. Speaker, we recognised this when we came into power in 2017, when we were elected in 2017, recognising the challenges that bus inesses have in general. Mr. Speaker, it was with that premise that the Government’s first budget, if you recall, the first bud get, which was 2018/19, the Government talked about . . . I remember the time the Premier and the former Minister of Finance said, “ I have been clear that I r egard pay roll taxes to be the enemy of job creation. ” These are the remarks from the former Minister of 2848 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Finance and the Premier at that time. “ I have been clear that I regard payroll taxes to be the enemy of job creation .” And we recognised that, Mr. Speaker, because at the time there is no doubt that payroll tax reaches the point where it prohibits growth within our industry. It went on to say, Mr. Speaker, that since 2013, the Progressive Labour Party has been con-sistent in its desire to broaden the tax base away from taxes on labour income only. And so, Mr. Speaker —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister, Minister, just yield for us for one second. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I am sorry.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThe process that we followed just now was correct, as I interpret it . When the Me mber rose to his feet and laid his motion, then you rose on the point that you did and amended it, and we voted on it and your amendment won. So now the …
The process that we followed just now was correct, as I interpret it . When the Me mber rose to his feet and laid his motion, then you rose on the point that you did and amended it, and we voted on it and your amendment won. So now the motion is amended to your wording rather than the original wording. But the original Member shoul d still get to speak because he brought it. And he still now has to speak to your amended version, though, not his. So he can still give his, and then you can come up after that.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, if those are the rules, I have no problem with that.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: And if that is what the House wants, I have no problem with that idea. I know the Member is going to agree with the amendment an yway, so I have no problem with it.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. Hon. E. David B urt: Point of order, just if I could, Mr. Speaker. Point of order. POINT OF ORDER Hon. E. David Burt: Can I just get clarity as to where that particular ruling or place in the Standing Orders or in May’s that came from?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWe just consulted with the Clerk on that. And the Clerk has given us the direction on that one. So we will follow. Hon. E. David Burt: Understood, Mr. Speaker. I was just wondering, because I know that precedence also reigns the House. And I know that at previous points …
We just consulted with the Clerk on that. And the Clerk has given us the direction on that one. So we will follow.
Hon. E. David Burt: Understood, Mr. Speaker. I was just wondering, because I know that precedence also reigns the House. And I know that at previous points in time whenever a motion has been . . . because I remember sitting in Opposition and the Government amended motions, and they were the ones who spoke on it. So I am just trying to get clarity on the prec edent.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOn a substantive motion, you are correct. If it is a substantive motion. But on a take note [motion], the Member would just speak as they would have spoken, but now they are speaking to the amended version and not the original version. Okay? Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, …
On a substantive motion, you are correct. If it is a substantive motion. But on a take note [motion], the Member would just speak as they would have spoken, but now they are speaking to the amended version and not the original version. Okay?
Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I am not arguing. I am just asking for clarity, because there was a lot of chirping going on up there. So I am just trying to act ually understand so we can know going forward.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. Well, I am going to take the d irection that was given as advice on how we should have done it. My interpretation was leaving out the fact that it was not a substantive [ motion] at the time. I was following what would have been a substantive motion. …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Hon. E. Da vid Burt: If I could just get clarity as to wherever the rules, or in May’s, so we can just have reference in the future. I just want to have that understanding.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerI will provide clarity for you as we go on. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Government has a majority, so I am happy to speak to a watered- down version of this take note motion as we move forward and then hear what the …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThe voted- on, the voted- on version. Hon. Michael H. Du nkley: Yes, the voted- on version, yes. But it is still watered down. Hon. E. David Burt: Point of order, Mr. Speaker. POINT OF ORDER Hon. E. David Burt: I just have a question. Given that this is a …
The voted- on, the voted- on version.
Hon. Michael H. Du nkley: Yes, the voted- on version, yes. But it is still watered down. Hon. E. David Burt: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
POINT OF ORDER Hon. E. David Burt: I just have a question. Given that this is a little bit strange that a Member is speaking to a motion that he is saying is watered down, [and that] he does not necessarily agree to, is the Member going to be directed to speak to the motion as it is laid out, or is he going to speak in opposition to the motion?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Yes. That was the convers ation just now. Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. E. David Burt: Okay. Understood.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerHe has the right to speak. But he has the right to speak to the new version, the new wor ding. Hon. E. David Burt: So he will be speaking in support of the Government’s work in assisting business, as the motion says?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWell, he will address the new motion. He will not speak necessarily in support of it; but he will speak to that version. He will speak to that version. Hon. E. David Burt: Understood.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. [Laught er] Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, it has been a long day. But, whew, some of us might be tired. But let us not stretch it that far. Because the motion that was taken over by the Government says, “WHEREAS there have been challenges faced by small …
Yes.
[Laught er]
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, it has been a long day. But, whew, some of us might be tired. But let us not stretch it that far. Because the motion that was taken over by the Government says, “WHEREAS there have been challenges faced by small busines ses and businesses in general.” Let me start by dealing with the challenges faced by small business and business in general. Mr. Speaker, I believe we are at a critical point in this economy with small business. And I say that based on the facts that many people are experiencing in the small business environment and also the reality in my view that small business is a critical part of the engine that drives our economy. Mr. Speaker, while international business pr ovides the lion’s share of our GDP , and tourism is certainly an important component in supporting so many families, helping with airlift, promoting our Island, a small business —[small businesses] provides employment to thousands of Bermudians, providing services to international business and tourism and often is the fabric of our community and our neighbour-hoods. So I contend, Mr. Speaker, without a vibrant small business sector, our economy and Island will continue to struggle. The motion which I originally put down [which] was amended b y the Honourable Member provides all of us an opportunity to discuss the current challenges we face, talk about steps that Government might have taken and also talk about other steps that could be taken. Because small business does face challenges, as we all agree. And businesses in general face the same challenges. So this is the original motion. And the motion by the Government tonight is a motion that every Member can speak to in regards to its critical importance to our lifestyles here in Bermuda, and also in regards to the representation Members make as they represent their constituencies, because I am sure as they are on the doorstep, as they are out and about, people are talking about what is going on. So, Mr. Speaker, the challenges are very ev ident for us to see every day in regard to business in Bermuda. Some of those challenges are in regard to the small business and the business economy in Bermuda. It is struggling. Way too many small bus inesses and businesses in general have seen sales decreasin g over the past few years. Costs have been escalating in so many areas. Bermudians and res idents have been burdened by increased taxation in many areas. As we talked about earlier today, and as we have talked about many times in this Honourable Chamber, there is increased regulation, which can and most of the time does increase costs of business. All of this creates extreme pressure on bus iness because of these just -mentioned challenges. So, many Bermudians continue to struggle with the lack of employment or meaningful employment in a poor economy. And, Mr. Speaker, when you add all of this up, I think it allows for confidence to seep away on a slow but steady pace. So the picture that has been painted is not a good reality. We cannot run from this situati on. We should not make excuses about the situation. Clearly, one must fix the situation, as people are struggling. People are hurting. And people are leaving the Island for the hope of a better life elsewhere. Yes, Mr. Speaker, not a day goes by where you do not have conversations with people, and a lot of those conversations talk about people leaving the Island because of a better future somewhere else. In their mind, the grass is greener. And that is what happens when we get into the difficult situation that we face. And so before I get to some of the steps that Government believes they might have taken and some of the ideas that we have, and I have, on the way forward, let me talk about some of those pressing challenges. Because you have to set the table if you are going to have the di scussion on any motion. Now, in regard to the poor and declining economy, a recent release by the Government has shown that GDP was up. And I suggest, Mr. Speaker, that a great deal of this is because of the airport pr oject, St. Regis, as the Minister mentioned, work at BELCO and, of course, the foundation of strength in international business. And clearly, if you take a look at figures just released by Government, and today I got a release from the Department of Statistics that shows the wholesale trade and retail industry profile, the economic indicators for 2017/18. GDP for the total economy was $7.142 billion in 2017. In 2018 it was up to $7.263 billion, a 1.7 per cent change. That refers to the overall economy. If you l ook at GDP for retail and wholesale trade, you will see that the number is down by 2.6 per cent from 2017 to 2018, from $418.5 million to $407.7 2850 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly million. I suggest that trend will continue for 2018/19 for the retail and the wholesale trade. So that backs up the point I just made about the economy being strong and being held up by international business and to some extent tourism. But the small business and the business in general part of the engine of our community is struggling. So these current GDP numbers show the economy could be heading in the right direction. But I believe that if you look at the real engine of the eco nomy, there is great weakness there. There is a concern there. And there is a lack of confidence there. Now certainly, Mr. Speaker, the news tonight by the Honourable Minister of the sale and the planned renovation for our largest hotel property on the Island, the Fairmont Southampton, is welcome news. It has been mooted for some time. And we are pleased to see that Gencom has finally come to the table and made this deal happen. We know from our negotiations in regard to the Rosewood property that Gencom is very thorough in everything they do. So I am sure those negotiations took a little bit longer than everyone in Government would have hoped for. But the Minister has announced the welcome news of the sale and the renovation work. And this will certainly be a boost to the economy. How much of a boost? We shall have to see. So we should also remember that while the international business sector of our community is a significant driver of GDP, in language that the PLP like to use quite frequently, it is part of Two Bermudas. And why do I say that? Because I say that there is the international business sector, which drives the vast majority of our GDP; and then there is the rest of the economy, which drives a small part of the engine. If either part of those is weak, we have real challenges. Because you get a bigger . . . if the secondary part is weak with small business and the man- on-the-street business in Bermuda, if that part is weak [but] international business is driving strong, you have a further separation between classes, which is very concerning. If the small business sector is weak, then you have less opportunity for goods and serv ices to pr ovide to international business and tourism than you need, less job opportunities for Bermudians. So, Mr. Speaker, while international business is stable with slight upticks, certainly challenges that we have talked about today with legislation, much of the rest of Bermuda is struggling. And the current situation needs attention, as business is weak with little improvement seen in the near future. So while GDP is usually a good indicator of economic strength, at this time in Bermuda it is not. A better indicator in my view, Mr. Speaker, is money that actually circulates in our community and retail sales as a sign of what is actually taking place. Now, Mr. Speaker, everyone should be aware by the Government releases, and the Honourable Minister wh o changed the motion is quite aware be-cause for the last couple of months he has released the figures, you have to be frank in that the gover nment -calculated retail sales are very weak. They have been down 16 of the past 19 months with only Febr uary 2018, April and July 2019 being up in very inc idental numbers, Mr. Speaker. Now in regard to the small increases this year in Easter and around Cup Match, I believe those small increases are because of the way the holidays fell. For example, Mr. Speaker, Easter was late in April of 2019, when in 2018 it was on April 1 st. So the busier Easter sales would have been in March. The same goes this year with July numbers. This past July the busiest, perhaps the busiest sale day of the year, the day before Cup Match, wa s in July, where in 2018 it was in August. So I was quite interested and looking for some understanding when I heard Minister Furbert say, when he released the retail sales for July showing a 1.3 per cent increase with the busiest sale day being in July 2 019 this year when it was not last year. These were the exact words from the Honourable Minister [Furbert]: “We saw some encouraging signs in July retail sales report.” Well, I have a question for the Honourable Minister as he talks about steps that Go vernment has taken: What are those encouraging signs that he was looking at, and what happened to those encouraging signs in August when sales went down by 7.6 per cent in volume and 7 per cent in value, the largest drop in both measurements in this past year? So, Mr. Speaker, retail sales are a very acc urate barometer of the health and confidence in Bermuda because they are compiled from seven different retail sectors —apparel stores, liquor and food stores, building material stores, motor vehicle stores, serv ice stations, all other types and also selected overseas declarations. In doing some research I found that the Department of Statistics says that those participating in the monthly survey represent 70 per cent of all retail activity on the Island. With thi s very broad cross section of the community and the large percentage that is supposed to be captured by the analysis of the D epartment of Statistics, I believe this is a very good monthly finger on the pulse and health of the Berm udian economy. Now, the s tatistics, no matter how bleak they are at this point, should not be overlooked or di smissed in any way. Some would seek to dismiss some of the retail sales numbers across those seven different categories due to the impact of online shopping. We hear a lot about that. Well, Mr. Speaker, I certainly understand the impact of online shopping and people taking advantage of it. But as I said previously, retail stats now are covering online shopping as well. So through the two- year slide of retail sales, we have seen very few steps taken by the PLP Go vernment to stop this downward slide. And it looks like, Mr. Speaker, that in spite of the encouraging signs, which perhaps the Minister will outline when he has
Bermuda House of Assembly an opportunity to speak, in spite of those encouraging signs which no one has seen, the downturn will co ntinue. The slide in retail sales is felt by everybody in Bermuda, Mr. and Mrs. Bermuda, from one end of the Island to the other. And yet, you know what I find interesting and very concerning, Mr. Speaker? While retail sales have slid for two years, we as the elected leaders of the community, serving the people, who have put faith enough to come up here and discuss these issues have not had one debate about the scary trend in r etail sales. But every month, three months after the sales are released, the Government comes out and mentions the retail sales index. Well, tonight I think it is appropriate to focus on that, and Government can show the steps that they have taken to improve these. Because if they have taken them, they are not wor king. The problem will not go away unless we take action, Mr. Speaker. The problem will not disappear after Christmas, and it will not disappear after our New Year’s celebration. It requires our attention. It requires our cons ideration. It requires our action. And it certai nly requires a plan. International business and tourism are important parts of our economy. But without small business and business in general, we will struggle. It would be foolish to overlook the challenges of small business. Because while we talk about work and the jobs available in hotel renovations and jobs available in international business and the jobs we have been promised in FinTech that have not seen the light of day yet, look at the thousands of j obs, Mr. Speaker, working in small businesses. In retail alone, Mr. Speaker, it is estimated that small business has between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs —3,000 and 4,000 jobs that are the very part of the engine that drives this community. So when that struggles, we all struggle, Mr. Speaker. Recently, a Government Minister stated that 200 jobs had been lost in retail sales. And I suggest if you couple this with other small business areas outside apparel sales, that figure will be significantly lar ger. Sadly, it a ppears that this number will continue to grow until we take some action to stop the rot. Now, Mr. Speaker, we all know that with the poor and declining local economy, we have seen stores close —Animal & Garden House, Pulp & Ci rcumstance, Pirates Port Kids. Arnold’s closed three stores. The list goes on. Some people compare that with closing of stores in other parts of the world. And I say we are foolish if we take that approach. Because while we can look at trends in other parts of the world, we must look at the facts that we face in Bermuda and try to deal with the situation we face at hand. Because any store closing means people are out of work. Any store closing means people are out of work, and they have to go look for further jobs. I have spoken to many business owners and small entrepreneurs, including some who have closed their establishment. And they all express the same sad tale. They did all they could. They tried their best to weather the storm. But they had to close their doors and release staff . And in this environment it is hard for people to get another job. We all know of people who have been looking for long periods of time. Some of these staff have worked with these businesses for extended periods of time. They now face that daunting task of going out in a tight job market. And especially for middle- aged or older staff, it is even more daunting, because employers are som ewhat hesitant to hire somebody middle- aged and ol der. Mr. Speaker, with the current poor trend of our small business ec onomy, it is not hard to believe that January, February and March might bring us another downturn after the festive Christmas season. There is little faith in the future, witnessed by the fact not only in retail sales, but look at some of the other industr ies that are not included in that. Look at real estate. In talking to real estate agents, they say that 2019 is shaping up to be one of the worst years of sales in the memory of Bermuda. In spite of some softening of the prices, properties are not moving. We know there is a significant amount of retail space that is available for sale in town, and it is just not moving. It is not turning over. And I can go on with a litany of information, Mr. Speaker. This holiday season and through the gatherings that I have been to, and many others, have been replete with concerning conversations about the direction of our economy and what will be next. And you are talking to individuals who have closed their store or who are struggling to keep their store open. They ment ion the challenges. Every business is confronted with the daily challenges, whether it be the rising cost of health care or significant concern about Government’s basic Bermuda health care plan, or the rising cost of supplies for the business, for increase d cost of transportation upon importation, for the cost of fuel or the cost of power, increasing general overhead. In addition, Mr. Speaker, we cannot overlook, in spite of what steps Government might have said they are taking to improve the lot of small business, we cannot overlook the fact that increasing taxation has had a negative impact on business and people. It can be the changes to health care, how it is funded. It can be the increase in foreign currency purchase tax. Everything we import is taxed more because of that increase. Or the 75 per cent sugar tax, or land tax i ncreases, the $300 yearly minimum, or an increase in stamp duty, Mr. Speaker. I was speaking to a retailer just a couple of days ago who signed a lease for a property that last year for the same square footage had a stamp duty of $450. This year, lo and behold, that stamp duty had risen to $8,000. That is a cost that sometimes it is very difficult to pass on. It is very difficult to pay that. 2852 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly There are other costs, such as the 5 per cent increase in government fees. All of these, when your sales are down, have had an adverse impact during your bus iness, and they cannot all be passed on, because much has been passed on and the people are strug-gling. All of this has contributed to the p oor state of affairs. So when times are tough, Mr. Speaker, there is only so much pain that a business or people can bear. So it was to my shock and amazement, Mr. Speaker, a couple of months ago when we had a d ebate on the motion to adjourn about a confi dence survey, which I will talk about later, where one Gover nment Minister said, Well, a business must take their licks. And what I found interesting about that is I thought it was a very callous and silly comment by a Government Minister. Because Governm ent Ministers are supposed to inspire confidence in people, not to —
Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerPoint of order. We will take your point of order. POINT OF ORDER [Misleading] Hon. Wayne Caines: This Member is misleading the House. He is taking something that I said out of context, and he is moxing it down to a sound bite for his own pleasures. I said —I …
Point of order. We will take your point of order.
POINT OF ORDER [Misleading]
Hon. Wayne Caines: This Member is misleading the House. He is taking something that I said out of context, and he is moxing it down to a sound bite for his own pleasures. I said —I said, and I gave a clear [reason] as to why businesses must adapt and overcome in significant sets of circumstances. Mr. Speaker, you would remember when I gave the example of businesses going online and diversifying so they can indeed [adapt ] and make it through difficult times. That Member, as always, is making —that Member, as always, Mr. Speaker, is taking a Member’s words and using them for his own purposes. And it must stop.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerJust be mindful of the real content of what the statement was. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, Mr. Speaker. I certainly have looked through Hansard a number of times about t hat. I make the point because, while the Mini ster did say that, and the Honourable Minister …
Just be mindful of the real content of what the statement was. [Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, Mr. Speaker. I certainly have looked through Hansard a number of times about t hat. I make the point because, while the Mini ster did say that, and the Honourable Minister is sa ying—
Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker —
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, it is not a point of order. POINT OF ORDER [Misleading]
Hon. Wayne Caines: He must —point of order. He misled the House. He will not say that my words in this House were silly. He is taking them out of context, and he must retract that, Mr. Speaker. He must retract that. My words were not silly, and he has taken them out of context. And this is my reputation.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, I am happy to retract silly. I will say irresponsible.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. [Crosstalk] Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: In my view, in my view, Mr. Speaker — Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWait, wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Thank you. Member, I am asking you just to be mindful of the context in which the Minister stated what he said. And then, Minister, if he has some way of — there are some leanings in his interpretation of i t, provided that he …
Wait, wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Thank you. Member, I am asking you just to be mindful of the context in which the Minister stated what he said. And then, Minister, if he has some way of — there are some leanings in his interpretation of i t, provided that he does not misuse your words, he can give his interpretation of it. I will not let him be offensive in his words, but he can interpret it, and you can clean it up when you speak. Hon. Wayne Caines: I’m guided, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOkay. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, Mr. Speaker. It is there on Hansard to see, for all to see. And the reason why I say they are irresponsible is because the Mini ster was relating to times when businesses made profits, and then when the economy took a do wnturn, …
Okay.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, Mr. Speaker. It is there on Hansard to see, for all to see. And the reason why I say they are irresponsible is because the Mini ster was relating to times when businesses made profits, and then when the economy took a do wnturn, then businesses must take their licks. But when businesses take licks, the emplo yees suffer as well. That is the critical point here. When you focus in on any business, there is more than just the owner or the shareholders in the business. There are employees who work for the business. So whether you like it or not that the businesses are making a profit, and all of a sudden the downturn comes, if pe ople are let go, they suffer as well. So those comments were irresponsible, Mr. Speaker. Staff who are let go in a difficult environment find it very, very tough to get back on their feet. And when a business suffers, everyone suffers at the same time. Now, Mr. Speaker, moving on to some of the challenges that businesses face, and it is interesting because in this House we talk about larger busines ses. We talked about our international business and
Bermuda House of Assembly economic substance and changes to the Investment Act and Insurance Act. But all of that increased regulation also has an adverse impact on our small bus iness es with their KYC [know your customer] and all sorts of compliance requirements. All of these place an added burden on the cost of business, not only in time, but in money. And so we should not overlook the impact that increased regulations could have on a small business because many of these small businesses do not have what is required to get up and running to deal with compliance. It is a serious impediment in their way because most of them are run by a family operation or a small management structure, and they have to devote extra time and money to deal with compliance. And compliance continues to come. And that is an added layer of bureaucracy that really takes away from the entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to be successful in your business. So when you put it all together, it is a very toxic cocktail of a poor and declining economy, i ncreased costs of doing business, increased taxation, and burdensome compliance. All of this has put pressure on businesses and people and sapped conf idence in people. So, Mr. Speaker, I want to just refer to conf idence for a short moment here because I believe con-fidence is important in everything that you do in your life. It is very important and critical for our success in many ways, whether it be personal, private or your business. Confidence provides you the strength of your convictions. It allows you to have hope. It greatly helps you in making decisions in a timely fashion. It helps you to take on risk when it might be required. It enables you to weather storm s along your life. Let us face it, Mr. Speaker. If you have conf idence in life, it is easy to step up and sink a three- foot put on the golf course. If you have confidence in life and you are prepared, it is easy to stand here in the House of Assembly and speak. If you have conf idence, it is easy to invest in a home, knowing that you have the ability to repay that investment. If you have confidence, it is easier to invest in a business and know you are going to get a return on your business. Without confid ence, the way forward is diff icult. Without confidence, decisions are delayed or never made. Without confidence, progress is certainly stymied. Confidence is critical in all we do. And that is why, Mr. Speaker, I want to reflect on the Bermuda Business Confidence Index that shows as a micr oscope some of the problems that we have in Berm uda. This confidence index started in 2014, and it shows that business confidence has dropped notably and now sits at the lowest level since its inception in 2014. Business c onfidence this year was measured at 62.8 points, down 23 points from 2018, a 23.6 slide in one year. Business confidence in 2018 was down 19 points from the year before—sorry, from two years before because in 2017 the survey was not done, I assume because of the election and America’s Cup. So in two years, we have seen a confidence decline of 42 points. That is a precipitous drop in anyone’s imagination. The survey also revealed, which is quite interesting, that a majority of business leaders now consider the current economic direction to be negative. The survey also revealed that immigration is seen as a key opportunity for change. The survey showed that taxation is considered amongst the top issues facing the Island, as is the cost of doing business. It also r evealed, Mr. Speaker, just as business confidence is plummeting, that consumer confidence—consumer confidence has declined notably and sits at the lowest level since the inception of the survey. People were asked in the survey, Mr. Speaker, if the economy was stable and moving in a positive direction. And that number was down 43 per cent in one year alone from last year, down to a level of 41 per cent. People were asked if in the next year they believed Bermuda’s economy will be stable and better, and that number was down 29 per cent, to 44 per cent who thought it might be stable or better. People were asked, compared to last year, is Bermuda’s economy stable or better? This number was down 33 per cent, to 28 per cent in agreement, 28 per cent. People were asked if they were confident in Bermuda’s economic future, and the number was down 18 per cent in 2018 and now measures as a paltry 31 per cent. In the section that was devoted to solution, one of the ideas was to foster a more positive bus iness environment to support small and local business. So, Mr. Speaker, I have taken the opportunity to focus on where we are. And simply put, it is unsustainable. So whatever steps this Government has taken in their view to improve the challenges that small busi nesses face and their viability going forward, we still have a great deal of work to do. With levels of 62.8 per cent in business confidence, with only 41 per cent saying the economy was stable and moving in the positive direction, and only 31 per cent expressing confidence in Bermuda’s economic future, my fellow Parliamen-tarians, we have a serious problem. If confidence is shot, inertia sets in and people do little. They do little but get entrenched or emigrate to greener pastures. And that is what we hav e happening right now. Neither is good, neither is accept able, both are painful to the health of our community and our people. So without a change of direction, without changes in policy and without a plan, the downward trend will certainly continue, with more businesses closing and more job losses. This means that more families will continue to struggle, and more people will leave for greener pastures. So, Mr. Speaker, we must stop making pro mise that we cannot keep. And we must deliver on commitment. The PLP and all of us must work for the 2854 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly people and clearly lay out a plan. So here are some suggestions, Mr. Speaker.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberAh, here we go. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Immigration reform must happen. Failed timelines must cease. Excuses must die. Hol low promises do nothing. We need more people creating jobs and more people spending money in our community in our Island. Mr. Speaker, we must attract more inward investment of …
Ah, here we go. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Immigration reform must happen. Failed timelines must cease. Excuses must die. Hol low promises do nothing. We need more people creating jobs and more people spending money in our community in our Island. Mr. Speaker, we must attract more inward investment of capital —more i nward investment of capital, not pie- in-the-sky schemes that will not work. Inward investment of capital shows confidence and creates jobs. Today’s announcement is one step in the right direction. I look forward to see how much more will follow that. Mr. Speaker, while improving the education system, which I believe we all agree on—
[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: What are pie- in-the-sky schemes?
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: While improving the ed ucation system, Mr. Speaker, we must also launch training programmes for mature workers and . . .
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWhat is that? POINT OF ORDER [Misleading] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: The Honourable Member is misleading the House, unless he can verify. The Honourable Member just said that the PLP’s pie- in-the-sky pipe dreams were . . . I mean, tell us what they are. Tell us one.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Member. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, that is not a point of order. Because that is not even what I said. So I can go to Hansard like I will on the motion to adjourn later tonight. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Just give us one! …
Thank you. Member. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, that is not a point of order. Because that is not even what I said. So I can go to Hansard like I will on the motion to adjourn later tonight.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Just give us one! Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: So, Mr. Speaker, while we all agree on improving the education system, we must also launch training programmes for mature workers and what I would c all workers who need our assi stance so they can assume jobs filled by work permit holders in blue collar jobs. There are many jobs out there like that. These employers currently lack the training ability or budget. So we need to offer incentives to train these Bermudians to get them in those jobs. And it has got to be a partnership between the government and the employers to make it happen. We should go back to one of the policies that worked before, Mr. Speaker, short -term payroll tax relief for strugglin g businesses. It helped before, and it can help again. It saved jobs last time. It helped keep doors open. It helped keep people on their feet.
[Inaudible interjection and laughter ]
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, the Honourable Member says, How c ome we did not do this when I was the Premier? Because we were turning the economy around. We were turning the economy around, Mr. Speaker. And the Honourable Member would have a chance to speak instead of interpolating from his seat. But in the two years, the economy has gone backwards, as I have illustrated. And the steps that the Honourable Gover nment has taken have so far failed. And you can stand up when I finish and talk about all the wonderful things you have done. B ecause that is not the feeling of the community!
Hon. Wayne Caines: I can stand up every day and speak.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberVoters didn’t believe you! Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: So, Mr. Speaker, the verbose comments from the seat can be backed up from standing on your feet. Mr. Speaker, I believe it is also time that Government looks to streamline itself, make itself more efficient to take the burden off of …
Voters didn’t believe you!
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: So, Mr. Speaker, the verbose comments from the seat can be backed up from standing on your feet. Mr. Speaker, I believe it is also time that Government looks to streamline itself, make itself more efficient to take the burden off of some of the taxpa yers. We have seen increasing taxes over the years, in the last couple of years that people cannot pay any more. And people are struggling to pay their taxes and keep a roof over the head, to keep groceries in their refrigerator. People are struggling. Government needs to streamline itself. Now, Mr. Speaker, in support —
[Inaudible interjection] Hon. Michael H. Dunkley : The Honourable Member said, Fire civil servants. I never said that. You can go to the Hansard and check that. I never said that. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: What does streamline government mean? Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Well, you can go back and look at the SAGE Commission and see how you do it, because you are adding people to it. You are adding more of a burden to taxpayers. Go back and look!
Bermuda House of Assembly [Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Government Members on that side are full of it tonight and spinning. But it is not going to work. Mr. Speaker, to create more efficiencies, Government should honestly and earnestly look at any opportunity for privatisation. There are certain government services that only a government can do, such as customs and immigration, vector control and licensing. But even the current Premier believes that privatisation will work, because I sat in the Senate when he talked about it. And so now is the time to consider that. So, Mr. Speaker, I have laid out the very ser ious challenges we face. And I have listened to the motion that the Honourable Member who will speak next took over from me when it was only a take note motion. And I have not seen the steps to impact the small business sector yet. Or if there are steps, they have failed. A lot more needs to be done. And I do not want to hear for the rest of this debate, Mr. Speaker, of what they have done without showing me the r esults of how it means.
Hon. Wayne Caines: We don’t have to show you anything, Michael! Hon. Micha el H. Dunkley: The Honourable Member says, Michael, we don’t have to show you anything! Hon. Wayne Caines: No! Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: No! You have got to show the people of Bermuda something. And I am here speaking on behalf of some of the people of Bermuda. Hon. Wayne Caines: No, you are not. No, you are not. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: So the Honourable Member gets very chastised.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerKeep your conversation coming this way, direct it this way. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: All through you, Mr. Speaker. It is bouncing off your Chair back to the Honourable Member. Honourable Members do not like criticism. But it is going to happen because the economy and pe ople are struggling. …
Keep your conversation coming this way, direct it this way. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: All through you, Mr. Speaker. It is bouncing off your Chair back to the Honourable Member. Honourable Members do not like criticism. But it is going to happen because the economy and pe ople are struggling. Whether you like it or not, people are struggling. People are struggling from one end of the Island to the other. And the Honourable Member, instead of being critical from his seat, should be aware that the struggle is real for many people. And if they cannot get over that, then you should not be in the hot seats of government . So I have laid out some very serious problems. I have given some suggestions that Honourable Members can think about on the Government benc hes. We have provided an overview of the current sit uation. And there is good potential for the people of our Island. We are always ready and willing to work to turn the current situation around. And I believe we can turn it around, Mr. Speaker. That is, if the Government will accept that we have a problem, stop blaming ot hers, stop dividing people and actually comm it to doing something for the people who are struggling. Get in the streets. Listen to the struggle. And help those before we have more closures and more layoffs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourab le Member wish to speak? We recognise the Honourable Member from Hamilton Parish. Minister Furbert, you have the floor. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Honourable Member spoke probably about half his time on retail sales and …
Thank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourab le Member wish to speak? We recognise the Honourable Member from Hamilton Parish. Minister Furbert, you have the floor.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Honourable Member spoke probably about half his time on retail sales and whol esales. And I am not sure if I heard, and I stand to be corrected, any suggestions coming from that side of the House. Well, he spoke about immigration reform and more inward investment. And all of the Members are aware that this Honourable House j ust mentioned about some inward investment that we are doing, mi llions of dollars. We mentioned that. So we can tick that one off. The Minister of Education will speak about what we are doing in education. And training? I am sure the Honourable Member who speaks, who just got elected, who was your colleague in that C - whatever it was . . . What was it? C . . .
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberSeventeen. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: C-17 will speak about what is happening in workforce development. Short -term business? I do not r emember any results coming from the short business tax breaks. And streamlining. And we know what happens in that because we found that things were not getting done …
Seventeen.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: C-17 will speak about what is happening in workforce development. Short -term business? I do not r emember any results coming from the short business tax breaks. And streamlining. And we know what happens in that because we found that things were not getting done in government. But, Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind this Honourable House when in 2008 the Honourable Paula Cox said, “[I recognise that] as a result, business activity in Bermuda has been slow to recover. In fact, in many instances scaling back by some businesses and the associated redundancies are taking a . . .” (deliberately toil) “on m any Bermudian families.”
An Hon. Member An Hon. Member“Toll.” Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Toll. Okay. I said “toil.” En glish. 2856 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly “This is a serious matter that requires an i mmediate response.” That is what the Government said at that time. It was the Progressive Labour Part y …
“Toll.” Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Toll. Okay. I said “toil.” En glish. 2856 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly “This is a serious matter that requires an i mmediate response.” That is what the Government said at that time. It was the Progressive Labour Part y Go vernment. “ “Therefore, in taking note of this continuing economic” malice [sic] “and the possible” —
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: “Malaise.”
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: “Malaise,” sorry. Thank you. —“the possible social consequences, Government wil l immediately institute several temporary emergency measures to assist businesses that have a pressing need for financial relief. “The retail sector has been particularly hard hit” (That is what the Honourable Member said at the time) “by the continuous d ecline in sales volume over the last several years. Discussions with industry lead-ers have been bleak but sobering. “Therefore, with effect from October 1, 2011, the following measures will be instituted: “Payroll tax will be set at a zero rate for the retail sector for a six month period ending on . . . March 2012.” Mr. Speaker, do you know what the Honour able Members, when they got elected in 2012, what they did? They increased retail tax to 10.25 per cent.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberNo. Tell me. Tell me that is not so. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: It went from zero to 10.25 per cent. This Government, former Government under Paula Cox recognised the retail sales were a problem. They got in and increased the taxes on the employer by 10 to 10.25 [per …
No. Tell me. Tell me that is not so.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: It went from zero to 10.25 per cent. This Government, former Government under Paula Cox recognised the retail sales were a problem. They got in and increased the taxes on the employer by 10 to 10.25 [per cent]. And so the H onourable Member speaks about their concern about retail sales and the taxes. We all recognise . . . I remember someone calling me, Gary Mareno calling me and said, Minister, so what are you going to do about retail sales? I said, Gary, do you shop at amaz on.com? He said, Yeah, my wife just bought something last week. I said, You are asking me what I am going to do? The question is what each one of us in this room . . . times have changed. People, it is not only Bermuda. It is not only Bermuda that has . . . Sales stores are closing down all over the world! We are not unique. We are not! So let us not talk about . . . look. I do have concern. And we continuously try to do something. I will mention a few things that we have done since your 10.25 per cent, by the way. So it is not, this is not new. As a matter of fact, I do not think most Bermudians get shocked now when they see their retail sales down, particularly in apparels, stores. Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: It is down all over, not just stores.
Hon. Wayn e L. Furbert: I said particularly in apparel stores. Because they weight it, by the Statistics D epartment, is more on clothing, or apparels, than most other things. We weight it basically on that because what was driving our economy in those days was, you know, Trimingham’s, Smith’s, you know, we know the stores, Embark.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberLines Brothers . Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Lines Brothers. We all know those stores. [Inaudible interjections]
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberEmbark? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, Embar k. [Laughter] Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Well, that is why I read in the history book. I read in the history book about Embark. But my point is times have changed. There is not one person in this Honourable House, Mr. Speaker, I …
Embark?
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, Embar k. [Laughter]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Well, that is why I read in the history book. I read in the history book about Embark. But my point is times have changed. There is not one person in this Honourable House, Mr. Speaker, I would be surprised, who has not bought online. I am looking around, Mr. Speaker. And I see that ev erybody is guilty. I find, Mr. Speaker, that everyone is guilty. Right? Or if they travel abroad, they are bring enough on the trip back.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberEverybody under 65. Hon. Wayn e L. Furbert: Everybody under 65. [Laughter] Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Honourable Member said, “everybody under 65.” This is not secret. My wife, I see her online every night looking at where she is g oing to buy some stuff. It gets me nervous. An …
Everybody under 65.
Hon. Wayn e L. Furbert: Everybody under 65. [Laughter]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Honourable Member said, “everybody under 65.” This is not secret. My wife, I see her online every night looking at where she is g oing to buy some stuff. It gets me nervous.
An Hon. Mem ber: She is looking for a replacement.
[Laughter]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: And she probably is, r eplacement of shoes, the replacement of dresses, the replacement of all those type—
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: You are absolutely right. She does. She is just shopping online. So we are all guilty. Let us not think that because the Government, retail sales is going down, you are blaming the Gover nBermuda House of Assembly ment. I try my best to buy my shorts at Trimingham’s and my socks at Trimingham’s —not Trimi ngham’s. [Laughter] Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: English Sports Shop, English Sports Shop.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWhen was the last time you bought a pair? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: English Sports Shop.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWhen was that? [Laughter] Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: English Sports Shop. I try my best. Right? My yellow shorts and my — Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, point of order. POINT OF ORDER [Misleading] Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: The Honourable Member is misleading the House. He does not even …
When was that?
[Laughter] Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: English Sports Shop. I try my best. Right? My yellow shorts and my — Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, point of order.
POINT OF ORDER [Misleading] Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: The Honourable Member is misleading the House. He does not even know what decade he is in! So how can we discuss this substa ntive motion? This is . . . Trimingham’s closed a long time ago. He has not been out shopping. He is mi sleading the people of this country. He should retract what he said. —
[Laughter]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, the Honourable Member is right.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: And it gets worse! All of his colleagues are laughing at him. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I was not misleading the House, Mr. Speaker. I was seeing if everybody was up. I am trying to get e verybody up. So we accept that. So let us —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYou just wanted to make sure we are all paying attention, right? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: What can we do based on . . . and the Government has had repeatedly discussions with retails since 2017. The current Minister, the former Minister, I know I have met with them over …
You just wanted to make sure we are all paying attention, right?
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: What can we do based on . . . and the Government has had repeatedly discussions with retails since 2017. The current Minister, the former Minister, I know I have met with them over and over. What shall we do? And Ms. Paynter, Danielle Paynter, who has something on Instagram right now, did a fantastic job trying to boost things. So we understand that. But let us not put the blame at the Government. So I recognise that we had it at zero in 2012. You put it up to 10.25, payroll tax. And now we have put it down to, Mr. Speaker, guess what? It is down to 7 per cent. We put it down to 7 per cent because we recognise t he concern of retail and how many people were working in that industry. So we recognise that. You cannot say the Government has not done an ything. So, Mr. Speaker, I talked at the very begi nning about what has the Government done since 2017? Because I hav e not heard one . . . I have not heard one thing that to me generates any new creative ideas coming from the other side. So I started off by saying that in 2017 the former Minister recognises that payroll tax was prohibitive to growth. And so what did we do, recognising that situation? The Gover nment put in place a procedure that recognised that any company . . . now, I must admit that it was larger companies whose payroll tax was over a certain amount, the employer did not have to pay payroll tax for the new employee. And, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that since that time, which was done in 2018, probably roughly 10 months now, that has generated over 400 new employees. And the cost for the employer has gone down because the individual, the company, does not have to pay payroll tax for that new employee. Simple. Mr. Speaker, we did not [give] it only to large businesses. Guess what the Government did for some small businesses? Mr. Speaker, the Government pr ovided new tax relief for first -time entrepreneurs t o assist them in creating Bermudian jobs. And that was put in place for a three- year period—sorry, with the first year of business, no payroll tax at all.
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Honourable Member said that . . . I am just s aying what we have done. And it is more than what they did. That is my point. You did not do anything for retail. As a matter of fact, you i ncreased payroll tax for employers, and the taxes went up, and the cost burden went up for the employer for retail. And for small businesses, Mr. Speaker, we have put in place for the first time for businesses, for new businesses, there was an exemption from payroll tax for the employer. And, Mr. Speaker, guess what? There are 600 taxi operators. At that time under the OBA they were paying just about $3,000 per year on payroll tax to the government. We recognised that they were a small business, 600 of them, by the way. And guess what we did, Mr. Speaker? As a matter of fact, not only is the employer who owns the taxi, but for those who were driving the taxi for those individuals. What did we do? So the taxi was paying over $3,000 for a year on payroll tax. We made it a straight fee of $1,000 in our first year, Mr. Speaker. That is what we did for the small business. 2858 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly As a matter of fact, the relief driver, Mr. Speaker, guess what we charged them? Zero! They had to pay payroll tax, Mr. Speaker. Guess what? By doing that, Mr. Speaker, we started to collect more payroll tax from taxi drivers than when they had to pay the $3,000. Some were paying, some were not. But now when they register, every year they register the taxi they pay $1,000. And, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you right now the majority of the taxi drivers whom I speak to are very, very happy. But, Mr. Speaker, I mentioned three things right now, and I will get into some more, of what the Government has done since 2017 to help out large businesses, new businesses, our small businesses. Taxi drivers are a small business. And the list goes on, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, $1,000 compared to $3,000 that they were paying. Mr. Speaker, this Government recognised that we had to take action. And action we took. As a matter of fact, I recall when the Honourable Minister Bob Richards put in place his tax relief for new businesses for hiring people. He never even proved there were any statistics. As a matter of fact, the numbers went down. Employment went down. But we were creative enough to recognise, as the former Minister of Finance, the Honourable Minister and Premier, rec ognises that tax, payroll tax was prohibitive to growth. And so, since this Government has been in place, there have been reduction to employers in the cost of payroll tax. But guess what, Mr. Speaker?
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberWhat? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: By ge nerating that and putting in place the procedure, the Minister, the current Minister will tell us that we now generate more payroll tax. What? We are talking . . . that sounded like—that sounded like some nice math. Because we encour-aged the employer …
What? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: By ge nerating that and putting in place the procedure, the Minister, the current Minister will tell us that we now generate more payroll tax. What? We are talking . . . that sounded like—that sounded like some nice math. Because we encour-aged the employer to hi re new employees. The employee pays a portion. The payroll tax for the emplo yer went down. But the Government has now collected more payroll tax. What a . . . Minister/Premier and Minister Curtis, what a mark. I mean, that was intell igent.
[Laughter]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: That was courageous.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberThank you. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you. And, Mr. Speaker, not only that, we reco gnised that the hungry musicians who were paying pa yroll tax, hungry musicians who were unemployed in the summ er and in the winter, you know what we did in the budget for 2019/20?
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberTell us. Tell us. Tell us. Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: We decided to charge them a year’s payroll tax, because it made sense. I mean, why shouldn’t we? We should have charged them ex-actly what the OBA Government charged them. But we did not want to charge them more. You …
Tell us. Tell us. Tell us.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: We decided to charge them a year’s payroll tax, because it made sense. I mean, why shouldn’t we? We should have charged them ex-actly what the OBA Government charged them. But we did not want to charge them more. You know what that tax was? Zero. And so “X” whatever the number is times zero is always zero.
[Laughter]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: So if their salary is $5,000 and tax is zero, guess what? The payroll tax is zero, less than what the One Bermuda [Alliance] Gover nment was charging them before we got in in 2017. And you are asking us what we have done? And as a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, this is only the second budget. This Government, you had five budgets and never produced one—one situation in regarding to improving payroll tax. You did drop it for the emplo yee, and we did lower. We went lower. But also, Mr. Speaker, if you look back, because I sat in the—happened to sit in that place in that Ministry for a while, the Government intended to i ncrease payroll tax on the employer substantially, substantially. But we did not. And now we collect more payroll tax than we have ever done before. Mr. Speaker, to help ou r restaurants, the Government extended the hotel temporary customs duty relief and the restaurants temporary customs duty relief for a further five- year period expiring on March 31 st, 2024. These Acts provide guess what, Mr. Speaker?
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberTell him. Tell him! Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: A zero rate! A zero. We are collecting more taxes now on all the zeroes we are giving.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberAnd what does that mean for their income? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: So, Mr. Speaker, with all the brains that the y said they had over there, for some reason . . . I am sorry. I am trying to get like my friend, Walton—
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberBrains or reins ? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Reins . I am trying to get like my friend Walton. I am trying to calm down. So zero, Mr. Speaker, zero. So if any restaurant buys any capital goods for renovations and refurbishing a restaurant, and a small restaurant, large res-taurants, …
Brains or reins ?
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Reins . I am trying to get like my friend Walton. I am trying to calm down. So zero, Mr. Speaker, zero. So if any restaurant buys any capital goods for renovations and refurbishing a restaurant, and a small restaurant, large res-taurants, hotels and properties benefited from this Act. They pay absolutely zero duty.
Bermuda House of Assembly And the Honourable Member came here with a motion talking about initiatives. I have not heard one. He did mention immigration. And the Minister is working on those things, and two Members on their side actually sit on that committee. So, Mr. Speaker, and guess what about the [BEDC]? Sin ce 2017 t he [BEDC] has done a tremendous job, Mr. Speaker. They have done a tremendous job since 2017. The number of programmes they have in place now to help out small businesses is remark able. And let me [ask] Mr. Speaker, is the work that we are doing c omplete? No. No. It has just begun. It has just begun, Mr. Speaker. Every day I am sure the Mi nister of Finance and the Premier, and I am sure the Members in this Honourable House, wake up! What more can we do? What more can we do to find a balance on taxi ng and a balancing on withdrawing? Taxing and withdrawing. So, Mr. Speaker, we have done a consider able number of things regarding small and medium - sized business in the economic empowerment zone. Mr. Speaker, new financial products were introduced in 2018/19 fiscal year in BEDC [Bermuda Economic Development Corporation]. So the Government’s f ocus was on expanding entrepreneurship, to create greater and fairer access to funding for businesses, owners, to remove red tape and roadblocks to bus iness creation , and last but not least to create opportunities for innovation in Bermuda. Mr. Speaker, we have made great inroads in those areas. Entrepreneurship is growing. I had the privilege of attending two particular programmes, one not directly by BEDC, but I kn ow BEDC was ,,, I think Erica [Smith] sits on the committee or on the chair, unless At Night —not At Night.
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Ignite? Yes, Ignite, Ignite. Ignite, Ignite. Fantastic! I mean, Sargasso Sea. Sargasso Sea was not here in 2017. It has come in under the Progressive Labour Party Government. Ignite, you can order . . . You do not have to even order. We can just order all online. And Sargasso Sea, you can set up your house and get something from most restaurants delivered to your house, Mr. Speaker. So that was fantastic. I saw that young gentleman. And guess what? His business has grown 500 per cent in one year—500 per cent, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we are making inroads in each of these areas. And entrepreneurship is growing. There are more accessible entrepreneurial business financing than ever before. Bureaucracy is being curtailed. And Bermuda is wholeheartedly embracing i nnovation. I mentioned Sargasso Sea. Mr. Speaker, here are some of the achiev ements since 2019. So, thanks in part to the increase of the sustained grant funding, the BEDC received increased funding in fiscal year 2018/19, 2019/20 from this Government. Entrepreneurship Advisory Services, Mr. Speaker, we have now a total of 610 one- on-one advisory meetings with entrepreneurs talking about how they can improve their business, compared to 568 in 2017 under the One Bermuda Alliance, a 7 per cent increase. More than half of them, 58 per cent, or 355 of them were entirely new advisory clients under the BEDC. Mr. Speaker, when we reflect and think about what happened, that was 2018. In 2019 there was an increase to 351 one- on-one advisory meetings, 52 per cent, or 182. And you are asking on what we are doing? You guys are sleeping! Mr. Speaker, the BEDC has implemented a series of lunch- and-learns to supplement one- on-one advisory services clients. Entrepreneur education, they now offer comprehensive entrepreneurship ed ucation for portfolio, with one- year courses and wor kshops aimed at improving the business skills for en-trepreneurs throughout their business life cycle. Fifty - two existing and budding entrepreneurs have grad uated from this course. How many graduated from you, from . . . as a matter of fact, you guys did not have the course, did you? I am sorry. Mr. Speaker, they learn financial management. They talk about growth for the business. We now, the BEDC has now partnered with external pr ivate sector experts to provide entrepreneurs with much -needed education in advanced business financial lit eracy and profits and privacy, PIPA [Personal Information Protection Act] and GDPR [general data protection regulation] compliance. Entrepreneur f inancing, something new that was not in place in 2017. Microloans, debt consolidation microloans, sports club microloans, retails goods customs duty deferment, new start -up entrepreneur payroll tax relief. These are all new for small business! I know I said it before. But I just wanted to make sure I repeat it so everybody can know what it is and you can hear it. I just want to make sure that you understand it. And you are asking us what we have done.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWe will take your point of order. POINT OF ORDER [Misleading]
Ms. Susan E. JacksonThe Minister i s maybe uni ntentionally misleading the House. But the BEDC has been providing educational programmes for a number of years, and successful. And the MBA Streetwise has been going on for well over five years. And then, on top of that, the microloan programme has also been …
The Minister i s maybe uni ntentionally misleading the House. But the BEDC has been providing educational programmes for a number of years, and successful. And the MBA Streetwise has been going on for well over five years. And then, on top of that, the microloan programme has also been something that has been going on for a while because Clarion Bank started that, and that was about three– four years ago.
[Inaudible interjections] 2860 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. E. David Burt: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWe will take your point of or der. POINT OF ORDER [Misleading] Hon. E. David Burt: The Honourable Member is mi sleading the House. Clarion Bank does not provide m icroloans from the BEDC. Clarion Bank may provide back loans. But loans that come from the BEDC under the microloan …
We will take your point of or der.
POINT OF ORDER [Misleading]
Hon. E. David Burt: The Honourable Member is mi sleading the House. Clarion Bank does not provide m icroloans from the BEDC. Clarion Bank may provide back loans. But loans that come from the BEDC under the microloan program mes are done directly. The former Government did give microloans only for the America’s Cup. We have expanded it. We are increasing the amount, and we are now going to be viewing more loans out of the BEDC because we funded them with more money, Mr. Speaker.
[Inaudible interjections]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Minister, would you like to continue? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, Mr. Speaker. I am glad the Premier made that very crystal clear. Twenty -seven businesses were approved on 2018/19 fiscal year, as I said, for microloans; $431,000 BEDC’s funds were lent, surpassing 2017/18 figures. Twenty businesses had …
Thank you. Minister, would you like to continue? Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, Mr. Speaker. I am glad the Premier made that very crystal clear. Twenty -seven businesses were approved on 2018/19 fiscal year, as I said, for microloans; $431,000 BEDC’s funds were lent, surpassing 2017/18 figures. Twenty businesses had their bank loans actively being supported by the BEDC in 2018 by $1.6 million in guarantees, securing a total of $3.8 million in loan funds. Fif ty to sixty -five per cent were of business es received an approval of bank loans surpassing fiscal year . . . I am just repeating everything that is surpassing 2017. I just want Honourable Members to be aware of that. Mr. Speaker, the Government recognises that it cannot assist entrepreneurs on its own, and as such continues to bargain with Bermuda’s financial instit utions to also provide access to capital and products (that is the BEDC, I shouldn’t have said the Gover nment) to small and business -sized loans. So we are talking about microloans. We are talking about what the Government is doing. Entrepreneurship, Catalyst, Mr. Speaker. I think the point that we have made, based on our motion, youth entrepreneurship, and the list goes on and on. Mr. Speaker, I coul d probably stand here for much longer, but I do not think there is much of a need. But, Mr. Speaker, the work, what we are trying to say is that the motion that we have laid down here . . . the motion that we have laid talking about the Government, we recognise the challenges small bus inesses have and businesses in general. And we talked about how the Government takes note of what steps the Government has taken. And, Mr. Speaker, I believe that I have proven the point that —and as I said, I can go on more, but I will not. I will leave [some for] other Members. But my point is we have taken steps since 2017 to assist small businesses and bus inesses in general, Mr. Speaker, reduced payroll tax. And I heard the Members speak about and I talked about retail sal es and how the Government before they got in, it was zero. And then when they got in, they put in a 10.25. Mr. Speaker, I can just congratulate the former Minister and the Premier and the current Minister for recognising the need of our bus iness community and have acted accordingly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? We recognise the Honourable Member from constituency 17. Honourable Member Hayward, you have the floor.
Mr. Jason HaywardFirst and foremost, opinions are not facts. The economy is seemingly going in the wrong direction. Business confidence is seemingly down. The reality is, Mr. Speaker, Bermuda’s ec onomy is growing. It grew in 2017, and it grew in 2018. The gross domestic product is the official measure of economic …
First and foremost, opinions are not facts. The economy is seemingly going in the wrong direction. Business confidence is seemingly down. The reality is, Mr. Speaker, Bermuda’s ec onomy is growing. It grew in 2017, and it grew in 2018. The gross domestic product is the official measure of economic performance, not the retail sales index. When we talk about small businesses, to only quote the retail sales index is a very narrow focus . There were small businesses in every industrial sector in this country, not just in wholesale and retail. And so, Mr. Speaker, if we looked at the r ecent release, the GDP report, we see that in the electricity, water and waste sector, their economic per formance was up 9.2 per cent. In construction, it was up 14 per cent. In transport and storage, 1.3 per cent. Finance and insurance, forming and financial exponential intermediation, 0.9 per cent. Real estate activ ities, 1.8 per cent. Administrative and support services were up 4.3 per cent. Human health and social work was up 2.8 per cent. International business, still Bermuda’s lifeblood, up 1.5 per cent. We usually judge the economy on the performance of international business. But there has been no mention of international business recently. But that sector is growing, Mr. Speaker. In each of those i ndustries that I named, there are small businesses in those industries. Not all small businesses are stru ggling to the extent that some people want to paint the picture. And even if one would say, Well, that was 2018 numbers, when we look at the GDP performance for the first quarter of 2019, we see that GDP is up 3.7 per cent. To say that our economy is in decline is an outright lie. The number of times the Member, the Honourable Member said that, I could have said point of information a dozen times. But it makes no sense.
Bermuda House of Assembly Because that is his belief. And that is what he wants the rest of the country to believe despite what the facts actually are. Consumer confidence was mentioned. That is opinion. But if you look at the composition of bus inesses that participated in the business confidence survey, there were very few small businesses that participated, very few. There are success stories, small business succe ss stories that we see on a weekly and monthly basis. Most of those small bus inesses that have success stories have been suppor ted by government initiatives, especially new start -ups where they can take advantage of tax relief, where they can take advantage of the business incubator. And if you speak to the individuals who work at the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation, they will share with you the success stories, the performance of their clients. And it is extremely positive, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speak er, the reality is employment income in Bermuda is up. Employment in Bermuda is up. Let me say that again. The economy is not in d ecline. Employment income is up, and overall emplo yment is up. Those are positives. There was also something released recentl y this week, Mr. Speaker, and that is the tourism satellite accounts. The tourism’s contribution has increased from 2017 to 2018, according to the tourism satellite account. And those who do not know what the tourism satellite account is, Bermuda does not have a formal tourism sector. So when you look into our gross domestic product press release, you will not find a tourism sector. So what has to happen is the Department of Statistics draws out the tourism components from other industrial sectors so that w e can get a true measure of the performance of our tourism industry. That is trending in a positive direction. It is trending in a positive direction, and tourism spending is up 16.1 per cent. Jobs in the tourism sector is up, Mr. Speaker. Our tourism industry and the tourist spending . . . tourists mainly spend in three major areas: They spend on accommodations, they spend on transport and they spend on food. Accommodations, we can then talk about the growth and success of Airbnb. Last time I checked, Air bnb’s were small businesses. When we look at our transportation sector, it is not monopolised by large transportation companies. It mainly comprises small businesses. When we look at our restaurant sector, what we can see is that our restaurant sector is a lso [made up of] small businesses. And so when we look at it, it is incorrect to paint the picture of doom and gloom when the num-bers do not support doom and gloom. It is also i mportant to understand that economics works in cycles. So you are not going t o have periods of prolonged, constant growth without periods of decline. And I am sure our retail sector, like many other sectors within our economy who experience a cyclical nature, will also improve. When we look into tourism, we had a PwC report that a nticipates an additional 555 to 814 jobs in the next two years. It is partly the responsibility of the Department of Workforce Development to ensure that Bermudians are trained and have the skill sets to take advantage of those jobs. There are active steps taken by the Department of Workforce Development to ensure that persons are trained. There are active steps that are actively, currently being taken by the Berm uda College to ensure that people are trained so they have the skill sets to take advantage of the jobs when they come on board. We have to accept that there are improv ements that need to be made in our retail sector. Not for all small businesses, but in our retail sector in particular the declining numbers are not positive for any government. However, when we look at it in the over-all scheme of our total economy, our retail sector, our wholesale and retail sector, is not a significant industry. Not to say it should be ignored, but to paint the picture that the economy is failing because the retail sector is struggling is totally incorrect. And we should stop preaching it. We really should. We are misleading the people of Bermuda when we continuously say that the economy is struggling because the retail sector is struggling. The numbers support a gro wing economy. The numbers support economic growth. Mr. Speaker, I was responsible for chairing the National Workforce Development —the formulation of the National Workforce Development Plan. In that plan, it outlines what has to take place, the synergies that need to take place in order to ensure that we pr epare our people for the current and future world of work. We are taking active steps to ensure we have a system in place that works for our people. If we explore what is in the report, fundamental to the success is employer engagement and ensuring the employers are a partner in our workforce development system. And so when you see the new Workforce D evelopment Board, it will be industry led. Why industry led? Because industry can better anticipate what are the jobs of the future, and they have a proper grasp on the needs of the current demand for jobs. To say that we are not doing anything is incorrect. Because members of the Department of Workforce Develop-ment are working extremely hard to get Bermudians in a position where they can take advantage of emplo yment opportunities. Mr. Speaker, I really believe that we should be mature about this subject because continuously sa ying that persons do not have confidence in Bermuda is incorrect. When the rating agencies continue to r eaffirm our position, they certainly have confidence in Bermuda. They actually support what we are doing. And they are affirming it by ensuring or providing us with excellent standards of approval in reference to our top- class internati onal ratings. 2862 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly But, Mr. Speaker, what would be one’s m otive to continuously preach doom and gloom when it does not exist?
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberTalk about it, Jason. Talk about it.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberHe wants to come back.
Mr. Jason Hay wardI ask that question seriously, Mr. Speaker. What would be one’s motive to continuously preach doom and gloom when the numbers do not support doom and gloom? I can accept if the Member says, There are still things to be done, and we can do things bett er. We recognise …
I ask that question seriously, Mr. Speaker. What would be one’s motive to continuously preach doom and gloom when the numbers do not support doom and gloom? I can accept if the Member says, There are still things to be done, and we can do things bett er. We recognise that we are having difficulty on the immigration front. But we know why we are having issues with immigration, because in the past immigration has been abused. People have lost trust in any changes to immigration even if those changes are beneficial to the Island.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberTalk about it.
Mr. Jason HaywardI recognise, as a trade unionist, that the best environment for workers is one where the economy is growing. The best environment for workers is one where there is economic devel opment because that translates into better wages and benefits for workers, and employment opportunities. I also know that there …
I recognise, as a trade unionist, that the best environment for workers is one where the economy is growing. The best environment for workers is one where there is economic devel opment because that translates into better wages and benefits for workers, and employment opportunities. I also know that there is a multiplier effect from having guest workers both working and participating in our econ omy. And we want to move forward with immigration. But we have to have conversations in terms of restoring trust, trust amongst our own people. Why? Why, if everybody says that immigration, if every r eport that comes out there says we have to move forward with progressing immigration? The Go vernment even wants to move forward with progressing imm igration But we cannot because there is an enviro nment of mistrust that was not created by the Progressive Labour Party Government. Mr. Speaker, I ask, where that lack of trust actually emanates from? And so, Mr. Speaker, we know that having more people working in Bermuda is a positive. We know that having job creators here is a positive. But we also need to bring some of our Bermudians back who left this country because of lack of opportunity. And that is our aim. Part of what we aim to do under the National Workforce Development Plan is ensure that we create an environment where our Bermudians feel comfortable with coming back home and enjoying in the success of our economy. We need to work collecti vely together. Easier said than done because some simply want to see the Government fail for their own political gain. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? I recognise the M inister of National Security. Minister, you have the floor. Hon. Wayne Caines: If it pleases you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a concept was developed by Albert Ellis. It was later mooted by Walter Michel …
Thank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? I recognise the M inister of National Security. Minister, you have the floor.
Hon. Wayne Caines: If it pleases you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a concept was developed by Albert Ellis. It was later mooted by Walter Michel and later by B. F. Skinner. In 2017 Paul Meehl, a ps ychologist, developed this concept a little more. And it was that past behaviour is the most likely determinant for future behaviour. Skinner looked at the psychology of past behaviour being the determinant of future behaviour. And when I listen to the Mem ber from constituency 10, I am reminded of everything that we heard tonight was determined or should have been determined by the past musings and the past speec hes that he has given in the House. I think first things first. The conversation that we are ha ving in all of our homes, that we are having in our caucus, that we are having in our central com-mittee, that we are having in our Cabinet is that there are people in our country who are struggling. That is not lost on us. I mean, that is something that, as a Labour Government, we are aware of. Let me say it again. We are aware that there are people in our country who are struggling. There are people who are hurting. There are people who need help. And there are people who are relying on us to make a better way of life for them. There will be no one in this room who will d ebate that. We walk these streets. We listen to the people of Bermuda. We hear the people of Bermuda. So anyone suggesting, anyone suggesting or intimating that we do not know that there are problems in our country and that we must deal with them, deal with them effectively and deal with them immediately, they are misleading the people of Bermuda. We understand that. We know our mandate, and we understand what has to happen. The thing that we will not allow to be said from any pulpit, any throne, any microphone is that the Progressive Labour Party does not have a plan. Sometimes when you put a plan in place, there are easy solutions. There are low -hanging fruits. There are long- term solutio ns. There are near -term sol utions. But there has to be a plan. We have committees within all segments of our Government, whether it is the EDC [Economic Development Committee], whet her it is Cabinet, whether it is our backbench commi ttees. We are constantl y looking for ways, we are co nstantly looking at ideals. We are constantly talking to people to advance a plan for the economy of Berm uda. Some people would be disappointed that we are in Government. And so no matter what we do, there will be a disappoint ment by a certain segment of the country that we are doing it. And we will not apologise for that; we must continue to work.
Bermuda House of Assembly Immigration. Immigration reform is oftentimes used as it was tonight by the Member from constit uency 10 for intellectual twerking. There is an opportunity for us to look at this clinically. When we look at immigration reform, we have to look at it from many different perspectives. Most recently, we had all of the stakeholders, about 15, come on Wednesday. We had 15 companies in inter national business. We had representatives from ABIC, ABIR, all of the top reinsurers, all of the HR directors, a number of the HR offi cers from the reinsurance companies. And we rolled out the streamlined, the new and improved work permit process. We stood six months of implementation led by KPMG, funded by industry. We had to take a critical look at what that process looked like. Now here is the challenge. The challenge is that people in international business, they were in the room. They saw the work. They lauded the work. They understood that we were going in the right direction. They shared the fact that we were going in the right direction. We even had one of the local Bermudian companies that were the pilot companies for the new process come and give a testimonial on how the pr ocess is working. So when we are talking about comprehensive immigration reform, there are passion bits, things that every person is . . . something that they are passionate about. So to put it in context, if you are a young Bermudian who is 23 years old and your parents were Bermudian and you are looking to come back home, immigration reforms means that you want to come back home and have the opportunity to get in the game and work. We understand that. And that forms the bulwark of the new repatriation Bill for immigration reform. If you are a local entrepreneur and you are struggling to find a trained Bermudian, you want i mmigration reform to reflect that your company needs an opportunity. Immigration reform for a young Bermudi an who has been off to school or somebody who does not have opportunity, well, immigration reform means that you want an opportunity in your country to thrive. We have used this word that sometimes is given a negative spin, and it is called a place of pr imacy for Bermudians. I was talking to a member of the community, and he shared, What does place of primacy mean? It sounds like you are retreating to tribalism or you are trying to say that you are going to do this at all costs . No. A place of primacy simply means this is Bermuda. That we expect for Bermudi-ans to be the highest qualified persons, to give the most efficacious standard of work, to be at work at the prime hours and to be such good potential employees and current employees that they take their rightful place and form and keep forming the bedrock of i ndustry in Bermuda. Immigration reform is now in full swing. And we are working. But look at the part we are talking about this evening. I would like to highlight the fact that one of the small part s that we are talking about is the work permit reform process. That process has been completed. We have rolled this out. The next phase is the digitisation phase. It is fully, fully in train. The companies that have been the beneficiaries of the new proces s, they will now see a streamlined process. So processes that were taking 14 and 15 days for forms to be vetted have now —that group with the new system were down to 2 days, 2 days. And so if you are going to tell the story about what immigration reform lo oks like, Mr. Speaker, I am just asking that we tell the whole story, that immigr ation reform is going exceedingly well.
[Laughter]
Hon. Wayne Caines: I will not leave . . . Immigration reform, and I will say it again for the intellectual twer ker from c onstituency 10 — [Laughter] Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Point of order. Point of order,
Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerPoint of order? Yes. POINT OF ORDER [Unparliamentary language] Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: I know this is . . . I know he is famous for talking about a certain type of milk. But intellectual twerking really is unparliamentary la nguage. I think you would ask him to withdraw that. …
Point of order? Yes.
POINT OF ORDER [Unparliamentary language]
Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: I know this is . . . I know he is famous for talking about a certain type of milk. But intellectual twerking really is unparliamentary la nguage. I think you would ask him to withdraw that.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: And point of order, Mr. Speaker.
POINT OF ORDER Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I would ask that Member to withdraw the milk .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOne second. One second. One second. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: So if you do not want twerking, you do not want milk.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAh! Ah! Ah, ah, ah! Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Make up your mind.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinist er, one second. What was the . . . Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: He said intellectual twerking . He keeps saying it. 2864 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: I am a bit stretched on that one to see how it is following …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerHow it is unparli amentary. [Laughter] Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Well, then you do not know what twerking is, I guess.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWell, maybe I do not know what twer king is then. But I am stretched to see where it is unparliamentary there. Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Well, you had better google it then.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerI will have to. Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: You know what milk is, though.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister. Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: You know what a twerk is, too!
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers. Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker, I will go directly back to where I am. I will not be distracted. Comprehensive immigration reform is not a political football. We heard the Member from constit uency 17 set out a clear outline for what that has to look like. We believe …
Members. Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Speaker, I will go directly back to where I am. I will not be distracted. Comprehensive immigration reform is not a political football. We heard the Member from constit uency 17 set out a clear outline for what that has to look like. We believe that we are going in the r ight d irection with comprehensive immigration reform. I sit on a bipartisan committee with MP Leah Scott and MP Ben Smith. It is my prayer that my colleagues share the vision, the stages, the steps that we are having with our colleagues. It is indeed a pri vilege to work with MP Scott and MP Smith on solving these challenges for our country. It is a privilege to work with the both of them, as well as MP Ming and as well as MP Famous, who is abroad on government business. We have to . . . recently I saw a st udy from PwC. And the study from PwC, Mr. Speaker, it highlighted the fact that in the next 18 months, we will need an additional 500 to 650 jobs in tourism in Bermuda. Mr. Speaker, we will need an additional 500 to 650 jobs in tourism in Bermuda. What does that mean? That means we have an opportunity now to say to our young people who, many of them, are not interested in going off to law or to study reinsurance or who are considering trades, that they have the oppor-tunity to work in the tourism field. Why will this be different on this occasion? Well, Mr. Speaker, for a very long period of time, young people came back to Bermuda and they saw the tourism trade as something where they can go in, but they could not advance up. We have an opportunity with trai ning and development, with this new imm igration plan and how we are talking to the potential employers that when young Bermudians come, they are putting training and development programmes in for young Bermudians so that not only do they come in and work w ith the hotel, but they have the opportunity to matriculate through the organisation. What does that mean? That means if you have a young person and they are coming to work in the hotel, that they can see an opportunity maybe in one of your establishments in New York or in London or Dubai. Or maybe if you are a bartender, you can go and work with one of the best bartenders in one of the big cities like Miami or New York City, and you have the opportunity not only to be working in the hotel in Bermuda, but to be the best in your trade. The version of immigration reform in the hotel industry that with the BTA [Bermuda Tourism Author ity] and with the Bermuda Hotels Association, that we are meeting on a regular basis with the Minister with the responsibility of Tourism, we are able to look at a plan, 500 potential jobs. The Member of Parliament for constituency 10 asked for what is the plan. I am now sharing the plan. The plan is that we believe that there will be significant opportunities in tourism. Five hundred to six -hundred and fifty jobs in tourism. It is now our plan. Working with the Minister for respons ibility for Workforce Development to get in contact with the major hotels in Bermuda and put together training and development programmes. Next week the Hamilton Princess will have, next week Thursday, Hamilton Princess will have an open house, an opportunity for Bermudians who are looking to work in the hotel industry in Bermuda to go to the Hamilton Princess and find employment. Mr. Speaker, if they wa nt an opportunity in the hotel i ndustry, next week there will be an opportunity for Bermudians of every sort to go to the Hamilton Pri ncess, where they have jobs on offer for them. Those jobs will be on offer at Azura. There will be opportun ities at St. Regis. Clearly, clearly, Mr. Speaker, the Member from constituency 10, he did not understand the magnitude, the magnitude of the announcement of Sout hampton Princess. I do not believe it is a panacea. I do not believe it is a magic bullet. I am simply sayin g that we have an opportunity now to look at this from a cli nical standpoint. Sometimes, and we can admit that all cylinders sometimes are not going up. But now we see the bones of a plan coming into place. Hotels, through the Tourism Authority, through Pw C are sa ying, Guys, if you follow this trend with the hotels that are opening up in Bermuda—Azura, the Bermudiana, St. Regis, Airbnbs aplenty, and now with Southam pton Princess, Bermuda has to look at fast -tracking its plan.
Bermuda House of Assembly We have the hotel cottage at S tonington. We have the ability. And why is that important? Because just over a year and a half ago, we had 550 students go to the Bermuda College. Why is that important? Because if you see how the Bermuda Government subsidised the attendance at the Bermuda College for Bermudian students, well, we are building for the f uture. So let us take the 550 jobs that will be on offer. Let us take the Bermuda College. Let us take the training with the restaurants, and let us take the trai ning with the hotel industry. Cannot we see that this is an opportunity for us to go in the right direction? This is what we call green shoots. This is what we can say to the people in Bermuda. You know what? We are going to work on a plan, and this is what we are doing as your Gover nment, as your country. There are a number of people who find themselves having the opportunity to think of things and do things differently. What does that mean? I was misquoted earlier. I think one of the banes of great is good. I think that there are leg itimate organisations in Bermuda that have struggled, and they are a convergence of a number of things that have happened in the business sphere that have caused a number of our businesses to stutter step. We have an opportunity now for a new crop of entrepreneurs to emerge. [Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne Caines: (Thank you, ma’am. I have always struggled with that [word] entrepreneurs. ) We now see a new generation of leaders of hungry, of people who are now going to the Ignite A ccelerator. What is the Ignite Accelerator? That is a private enterprise where people who need guidance with business plans, guidance with finance, guidance with how to deal with companies and how to procure items, they are learning this step by step. The Ignite Accelerat or is bursting at the seams with Bermudians learning, who are coming in to learn how to develop and manage and grow businesses. Now, if you want to criticise us, you have the ability to do so. But the theme that I have heard said so many times over the la st two weeks in this House is that, We are not going to criticise just to criticise . And I love that. I respect that. The part that I have taken the most solace in is that I am now giving the plan. What is the plan? We are going to continue to develop int ernational bus iness as is our bread and butter. We understand what we have to do with immigration to make sure that it is an opportunity for not only Bermudians to watch opportunities, but to participate with training and development, to get the best Bermudians, the most disc iplined Bermudians into the workforce, for us to look at the tourism opportunities, to spend money in tourism, to allow Bermudians not just to see opportunities with trays in their hand in the hotels —and that is a solid opportunity —but for Bermudians to matriculate right up to the general manager, to say to the companies, You know what? We are excited about you being in Bermuda! But we look forward to you sending some of our students abroad. Allowing people to train and go in the organis ations in other parts. And on large, the hotels that the Minister of Tourism and I have spoken to, they are actually ecstatic to be a part of these initiatives! So can we see the horizon now? Can we see the change now? Can we see the green shoots of hope now? Because we can when we see the accelerator. The accelerator is so exciting. What is happening at the BEDC, 610 applications, people coming in for advisory meetings, 71 students graduating from the BEDC’s entrepreneurship education class. Why should al l of that make us all feel excited? It makes us feel excited because whilst we are sitting and struggling in certain regards, there are young entrepreneurs looking at opportunities to go out and challenge the status quo and to do things a bit differently. I think of a company called Aye Yo. You know the sound that the Gombeys make, Mr. Speaker? Aye Yo This is a young man who has just finished the BEDC accelerator. He has a T -shirt company and an apparel company. And he is totally enveloping the young market with clothing and with apparel and with T-shirts. There was a women’s conference two weeks ago with about 500 women at the conference. And he and his fiancée were up to five o’clock in the morning making these T -shirts at $20 to $35 a pop for this conference. A young, a new business that we see just flourishing. Ah, some will say, it is happenstance. And that is only one business. But what we can say is that we, the people who are putting their heads together, are looking at the accelerator and at the BED C inc ubator. It is now indeed starting to bear fruit. We sit in the Economic Development Commi ttee every week. And in business, they call it a pipeline. We have been able to look at the pipeline and to look at each one of the opportunities critically and dispassionately. We understand that people in Bermuda are hurting. But that does not allow us to rest on our laurels. We plan weekly, we plan monthly and we meet to discuss our pipeline to see how we can ac-celerate those plans and keep moving in the right direction. The subsea cable industry. Mr. Speaker, my first job out of law school, I worked for a company in Bermuda called Global Crossing. Global Crossing was a company that dropped subsea cables into the water that allowed people globally to get Intern et connectiv ity. Well, we are looking for a subsea corridor in Bermuda. And whilst I will not go into detail because it is one of my colleague’s domain, I can tell you without fear of contradiction we have been asked to give what the plan is. Let us go bac k to the plan. A solid imm igration strategy. Bermudians being employed and given opportunities through education. Investing in our 2866 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly tourism product. Our young people going away with the tourism product. Developing and inviting inves tment to come to Bermuda. Evidence —the Southam pton Princess deal, and we will get more detail about that in the future. No, not perfect, but a plan. What are we doing to make sure that people are being trained? Well, let us talk about the incubators and the accelerators that are coming to Bermuda. That is a part of the plan. We have to do more, and we are constantly working and developing this plan to go forward. And something that I am passionate about is FinTech. You will hear the purveyors of doom speak about how many jobs FinTech has given in Bermuda or how many FinTech, how many jobs have come to Bermuda. We have 99 company registrations in Bermuda. We have over —in the next few months 98 expected jobs. We have 29 companies with a physical presence in Bermuda, and 8 came in Oc tober. This week and last week, both weeks I spoke at FinTech, or cybersecurity -based conferences. I was surprised to see how many times the Premier said, Minister, I am so busy this week. Somebody from my team cannot speak. Can you cover for me at this ev ent? He has had to do that on too many times to name. Why do you think they are coming to Berm uda? Why do you think they want to be a part of what we are doing? Let me tell you why before you hear the purveyor of doom again. They are coming because we are regulated, the Digital Asset Business Act, the DABA, or ICO [initial coin offering] legislation. If you look around the world and ask anyone who knows anything about FinTech, they will tell you that the first country on this planet to have regulations for ICOs, to have regulation for digital assets was Bermuda. And they still are flocking here in droves for conferences to come to see how to set up their companies in Berm uda. No, that will not happen overnight. Of course, it is a burgeoning space. Have we hung our proverbial hat here? We have not. We understand that it still takes work. But the FinTech business unit is growing. Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that when I walk the streets and I talk to Bermudians, I can tell them that there are struggles in Berm uda and there are struggles all around the world. They actually do not want to hear that. They want an opportunity to feed their families. They want an opportunity to make the lives better of their loved ones. [Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan , Acting Speaker, in the Chair] Hon. Wayne Caines: That is something, Mr. Acting Speaker, that this party gets. I know that I have shared not all of our plan, but I have shared enough to show that we have green shoots, that we have a plan and that we acknowledge that we have a lot of work to do and we are going to continue to do the work on behalf of the people of Bermuda. We are dedicated. We are committed. We will be fastidious. We will not stop working until we make the lives better for each and every Bermudian. Thank y ou, Mr. Speaker.
[Desk thumping]
The Acting SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. We recognise the Honourable Member from constituency 7. Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Thank you, Mr. Acting Speaker. I am glad that I am here tonight. I actually feel a little more positive after hearing the plans that the Government has put forward tonight. It has …
Thank you, Honourable Member. We recognise the Honourable Member from constituency 7.
Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Thank you, Mr. Acting Speaker. I am glad that I am here tonight. I actually feel a little more positive after hearing the plans that the Government has put forward tonight. It has been enlightening for me, and hopefully it has been enlighte ning for those who are listening on the radio. Because there is a disconnect going on in this country between what the Government says it is doing and what people are feeling out there on the street. And I am not on my feet tonight to criticise the Government because I have been on that side in a number of different mini sterial positions, sat in Cabinet and talked about a lot of the very same issues that the current Government is grappling with. And I know it is a very difficult task to create an environment that is conducive for busines ses to thrive in Bermuda. I have concerns. And I am sure that all of the Members over that side have concerns. Because I, too, when I look at the reports that come out in the media locally about GDP being up and employment numbers being up, and then I talk to local business owners and employees in local businesses . . . there is so much angst out there. And I do not know what to tell them. I do not know what to tell them, because as Opposition we have very limited say in what the Go vernment does. That is just our system of governance. So I am very pleased to hear the ne west elected Member put out statistics. I am very pleased to hear the Minister with responsibility for Immigration say that he met with international business to bring them up to speed with what the department is doing to streamline the immigration work permit process. B ecause, frankly speaking, it has not been working too well. I am sure the Minister knows that. So I will be watching that space very closely because we do need to streamline the process, get rid of the bottlenecks, do the necessary due dilig ence, ensure that Bermudians are given a fair shake in their own country, all of that. But I have to go back to what I feel is the di sconnect that is going on in this country. I walk the streets. People stop me. And inadvertently, the conversation always goes to what is going on in Berm uda, what is happening, what is coming down the pike. I need a job. A lot of fear, a lot of fear. And I do not consider myself a doomsday type of individual. I am
Bermuda House of Assembly actually a pretty positive person. So I do my best to uplift [people] wherever I go. But there is a disconnect going on in this country. And it is the Government who has to bridge that gap, because we have heard a lot of good things here tonight. But the fact is that conf idence in Bermuda . . . and I am not talking about a rating agency. That is all well and good. But they are not here on the ground. The confidence that matters to me, the confidence levels that matter to me, are the confidence of everyday Bermudians whom I come into contact with. So when I see the B ermudaFirst report and I see the independent group that rates Bermuda every year, that makes recommendations to the gover nment, it is a constant, consistent theme, consistent theme on what needs to be done. It is really interes ting to me because our closes t trading partner is the United States. And right now the US economy is booming. The stock market is up. Unemployment is at its lowest levels in 50 years. Jobs are being created. Lots of jobs are being created in a wide variety of segments. But if you look at the jobs that are being created, and I am wondering if the same scenario is here in Bermuda. The jobs that are being created are low-paying jobs. They are not jobs that are providing the income necessary for people to sustain themselves or their famili es. So when I hear that employment is up in Bermuda, I really would like to see, where are those jobs? Are they jobs being created in the civil service? I know that some of them are. I would hesitate [sic] a guess that the vast majority of these new jobs are being cr eated in the civil service, the civil sector, the public sector.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Point of order, Mr. Acting Speaker.
POINT OF ORDER [Misleading]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Honourable Member is misleading this House. Unless he can sho w some facts, I know what the real facts are. So I can tell you right now he is misleading the House. These jobs are not coming from the civil service.
Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Well, I would like to see those figures. Like I say, I am not here to crit icise or be controversial. I am just calling it like I see it. So I get back to my theme here. There is a massive, massive disconnect between what the Government says it is doing and the results that it is ha ving and what people are feeling in the communi ty. There just is. I know they are hearing it. It is part of the nature of the beast. When you are in Government and you are a Minister or an MP for the Government, people stop and they bend your ear. So I am not saying anything that they are not hearing. So I am going to digress just a bit because immigration keeps coming up, as it should. And the newly elected Member made a very interesting stat ement when he talked about immigration and the lack of trust around the immigration. And I agree with him 110 per cent. It is a trust issue. Whenever you talk about immigration, there are people who automatically go on the defensive, question your motives. I get that. Trust . . . I am glad that you brought that up, Honourable Member. I am going to read something f rom the Hansard. And it is from a while back when we were in this place talking about immigration. And I made a comment, and the Honourable Premier responded to my comment. I am going to read the comment that the Premier made in response to my comments on immigration. And I am quoting. So the Premier said, “ 2Now, I heard the Member” (which is me; he is responding to me). “ I heard the Member who just took his seat talk about immigration. And the statements of which he made were quite interesting. But I think the most i nteresting statement of all was, he said that ‘immigr ation reform is controversial .’” And I did say that. I said immigration is difficult because it is controversial. The Premier then went on to say, “Mr. Speaker, immigration reform is not controversial if the people trust what you are doing and trust your aims and objectives.” So I think the Premier, the Minister with r esponsibility for Immigration, is running up against the same roadblocks that we did when we were Gover nment and we tried to reform immigration. And we were not successful. We made a lot of mistakes with it. But the issues are the same now that they were then. So I encourage the Government to continue to work on gaining the trust of the people necessary to reform immigration, because I am of the opinion that until we do that, we are just spinning our wheels. We are just spinning our wheels. Because it is kind of like you have a hous ehold. And you have monthly expenses, electricity, w ater if you pay for it, groceries, gas, cable. And then there is an income that comes into that household to pay for those expenses. And if your income slowly degrades over time and your expenses increase over time, there is going to come a point where your i ncome is not sufficient to cover your expenses. And unfortunately, that is the situation that a lot of Berm udians are finding themselves in right now. Because contrary to what Members on the other side may say, Bermuda is a more expensive jurisdiction to live in now than it was in 2017. It is just a fact. It is nothing controversial about it; it just is.
2 Official Hansard Report , 16 November 2018, page 81 2868 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly And it is more expensive because the Go vernment has found itself in a place where it has to i ncrease taxes in order to cover government expenses. The cost of government has increased. It is just a fact. So this disconnect and this angst out there in the public is real. And I wish the Government success. I wish them success in getting things to a point where the average Bermudian can survive here, because there is still an exodus of people leaving this country, people planning on leaving the country, young people abroad who are getting the schooling coming home and still cannot find jobs, and young people who are here, talented young people who maybe because of their immigration status are contemplating leaving Bermuda and taking their talents and their brilliance with them. I know some personally. This thing is real. So, let us not kid ourselves up here. Numbers are good. Statistics are good. But when it is not connected to the reality, to me it is just smoke and mi rrors. So, I am going to take my seat. And I am going to be interested to hear more of what the Gover nment is doing. Like I say, it is not easy. It is a difficult, difficult thing. But I want Bermuda to succeed, and I want this Government to succeed because when they succeed, Bermuda succeeds and Bermudians succeed. Thank you, Mr. Acting Speaker.
The Acting SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE ACTING SPEAKER HOUSE VISITOR
The Acting SpeakerThe SpeakerBefore we entertain any other speakers, I just want to acknowledge the presence of former Deputy Speaker and long- serving Member, Mr. Walter Lister, from that fine parish of Sandys. [Desk thumping]
The Acting SpeakerThe SpeakerNo other speakers? All right. We will move on to the n ext Order of Business, which would be the third readings of legisl ation today. [Pause] [Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMembers, we now come to the close of the Orders of the Day. And that takes us down to our third read ings. Ministers, we are going to start with the first Order that was done this morning under the Minister of Finance. Minister. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. …
Members, we now come to the close of the Orders of the Day. And that takes us down to our third read ings. Ministers, we are going to start with the first Order that was done this morning under the Minister of Finance. Minister.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Temporary Amendment Act 2019 be now read the third time by its title only.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAny objections? No objections. [Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.] BILL THIRD READING NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME (OCCUPATIONAL PENSIONS) TEMPORARY AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I move that the Bill be now read a third time by its title only and passed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerSo it has been. And without any objections, it is now passed. [Motion carried: The National Pension Scheme (O ccupational Pensions) Temporary Amendment Act 2019 was read a third time and passed.]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister, the next item is the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019, in the name of the Mi nister of Legal Affairs, the spokesman, Minister of Health rather. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me …
Minister, the next item is the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019, in the name of the Mi nister of Legal Affairs, the spokesman, Minister of Health rather.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled the Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 be now read the third time by its title only.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAny objections? No objections. Continue, Minister. [Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.] BILL THIRD READING CHILDREN (NO. 2) AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Kim N. Wilson: I move that the Bill do now pass. Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: With no objections, the Bill is now passed. [Motion carried: The …
Any objections? No objections. Continue, Minister. [Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.]
BILL
THIRD READING
CHILDREN (NO. 2) AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Kim N. Wilson: I move that the Bill do now pass.
Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: With no objections, the Bill is now passed.
[Motion carried: The Children (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 was read a third time and passed.]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThe next item is back to you, Minister of Finance, and the Bermuda Monetary Authority. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled the Bermuda Monetary A uthority Amendment Act …
The next item is back to you, Minister of Finance, and the Bermuda Monetary Authority.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled the Bermuda Monetary A uthority Amendment Act 2019 be now read the third time b y its title only.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAny objections? No objections. Continue on, M inister . [Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.] BILL THIRD READING BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I move that the Bill be now read a third time by its title only and passed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIt has been done; it has passed. [Motion carried: The Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2019 was read a third time and passed.]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister, the next matter is yours as well. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled Economic Substance Amendment (No. 2) Act 2019 be now read the third time by …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAny objections? No objections. Continue, Minister. [Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.] BILL THIRD READING ECONOMIC SUBSTANCE AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2019 Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I move that the Bill be now read a third time by its title only and passed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIt has, and has passed. [Motion carried: The Economic Substance Amen dment (No. 2) Act 2019 was read a third time and passed.]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister, the next item is yours as well. Hon. Curtis L. Dickinso n: The insurance one?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThe next is the Insurance (No. 2) Amendment. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 be now read the third time by its …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAny objections? No objections. Continue, Minister. [Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.] BILL THIRD READING INSURANCE (NO. 2) AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Curtis L . Dickinson: I move that the Bill be now read a third time by its title only and passed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIt has been read and passed. [Motion carried: The Insurance (No. 2) Amendment Act 2019 was read a third time and passed.]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister, I beli eve the next one is also yours. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled Investment Funds Amend2870 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of …
Minister, I beli eve the next one is also yours.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled Investment Funds Amend2870 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly ment Act 2019 be now read the third time by its title only.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerNo objections. Continue on, Minister. [Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.] BILL THIRD READING INVESTMENT FUNDS AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: I move that the Bill be now read a third time by it s title only and passed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIt has, and it is passed. [Motion carried: The Investment Funds Amendment Act 2019 was read a third time and passed.]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThe next item is item number 8 on the Order Paper for its third reading. Minister F urbert. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled Gover nment …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerNo objections. Continue. [Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.] BILL THIRD READING GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES ACT 2019 Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I move that the Bill now be read a third time by its title only and passed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIt has been read and passed. [Motion carried: The Government Authorities Act 2019 was read a third time and passed.]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThe next item is in the name of the Minister of Tourism. Minister. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr . Speaker. I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled Superyachts and Other Vessels …
The next item is in the name of the Minister of Tourism. Minister.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr . Speaker. I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019 be now read the third time by its title only.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerNo objections. Continue, Minister. [Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.] BILL THIRD READING SUPERYACHTS AND OTHER VESSELS (MISCELLANEOUS) AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I move that the Bill be now read a third time by its title only and passed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIt has been read, and it is passed. [Motion carried: The Superyachts and Other Vessels (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019 was read a third time and passed.]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerI think the next item is also yours. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. Zane J . S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that the Bill entitled West End Development Corporation (Traffic Officers) Amendment Act 2019 …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerNo objections. Continue. [Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.] BILL THIRD READING WEST END DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (TRAFFIC OFFICERS) AMENDMENT ACT 2019 Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I move that the Bill now be read a third time by its title only and passed.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIt has been read and passed. [Motion carried: The West End Development Corpor ation (Traffic Officers) Amendment Act 2019 was read a third time and passed.] Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: The Member from St. George’s, would you like to do the Private Bill for its third reading?
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGood evening, Ms. Ming, MP Ming.
Mrs. Renee MingMr. Speaker, I move that the following petition together with the report of the Joint Select Committee on Pri vate Bills, which was pr esented on the 13th of December 2019, be now consi dered: The Petition of the Bermuda Credit Union Co - operative Society requesting the enactment of …
Mr. Speaker, I move that the following petition together with the report of the Joint Select Committee on Pri vate Bills, which was pr esented on the 13th of December 2019, be now consi dered: The Petition of the Bermuda Credit Union Co - operative Society requesting the enactment of amendment to the B.I.U. MEMBERS Credit Union Co - Opposition Society at 1983 to effect the change of name for the body corporate.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAre there any objections? No. Agreed to. Continue. PRIVATE BILL FIRST READING B.I.U. MEMBERS CREDIT UNION CO -OP SOCIETY (CHANGE OF NAME) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
Mrs. Renee MingMr. Speaker, I move for leave to introduce and read for the first time by its title the fol-lowing Private Bill entitled the B.I.U. MEMBERS Credit Union Co- Op Society (Change of Name) Amendment Act 2019.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAre there any objections? None. Agreed to.
Mrs. Renee Min gMr. Speaker, I move that the pra yers of the petitioners be granted and to give effect thereto, that without prejudice leave be granted to bring in the proposed Bill reprinted to accord with the recommendations of the Joint Select Committee on Private Bi lls for the amendment thereof.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAre there any objections? There are no objections to the motion; agreed to. The necessary certificates have been furnished. Yes. Continue on.
Mrs. Renee MingMr. Speaker, the Private Bill is hereby read for the first time by its title only: the B.I.U. MEMBERS Credit Union Co -Op Society (Change of Name) Amendment Act 2019. Mr. Speaker, I move that the provisions of the Standing Order 33(7)(a), the remaining stages of the said Private Bill, …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAre there any objections? There are none; agreed to. PRIVATE BILL SECOND READING B.I.U. MEMBERS CREDIT UNION CO -OP SOCIETY (CHANGE OF NAME) AMENDMENT ACT 2019
Mrs. Renee MingMr. Speaker, I move that the said Private Bill be no w read the second time in the House by its title only: the B.I.U. MEMBERS Credit Union CoOp Society (Change of Name) Amendment Act 2019.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIs there any objection? None; agreed to.
Mrs. Renee MingMr. Speaker, I move that the clauses and preamble of the said Private Bill be a pproved.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAny objections to that motion? None; agreed to. [Motion carried: The preamble and clauses passed] PRIVATE BILL THIRD READING B.I.U. MEMBERS CREDIT UNION CO -OP SOCIETY (CHANGE OF NAME) AMENDM ENT ACT 2019
Mrs. Renee MingMr. Speaker, I move that the said Private Bill be now read the third time in the House by its title only and passed. The title is the B.I.U. ME MBERS Credit U nion Co- Op Society (Change of Name) Amendment Act 2019.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIs there any objection? There are none. Agreed to. The said Private Bill has now passed. [Motion carried: The B.I.U. MEMBERS Credit Union Co-Op Society ( Change of Name) Amendment Act 2019 was read a third time and passed.]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGood evening. Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I believe it is my honour to now move the motion to adjourn, and I move that this Honourable House— 2872 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerOh, oh! Yes. Yes. I forgot this. Before you got there. Premier, the Deputy has a comment that he likes to give at this time of year to acknowledge certain people and some of his favourite people. So I would not want to deprive him of that oc casion. Deputy, …
Oh, oh! Yes. Yes. I forgot this. Before you got there. Premier, the Deputy has a comment that he likes to give at this time of year to acknowledge certain people and some of his favourite people. So I would not want to deprive him of that oc casion. Deputy, you do have the floor.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that a message be sent to the Senate conveying Christmas and New Year’s greetings.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerContinue, Deputy. [Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.] MESSAGE TO THE SENATE CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: “To the Honourable President and Members of the Senate: “The Speaker and Members of the House of Assembly desire to extend to the President and Members of the …
Continue, Deputy.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.]
MESSAGE TO THE SENATE
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: “To the Honourable President and Members of the Senate: “The Speaker and Members of the House of Assembly desire to extend to the President and Members of the Senate our greetings and best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.”
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDE R 21
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Mr. Speaker, I move that the Standing Order be suspended to enable me to move that Christmas greetings and best wishes for the New Year be conveyed to His Honour the Speaker.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.]
MESSAGE TO THE SPEAKER
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: I move that His Ho nour the Speaker be requested to accept Christmas greetings and best wishes for the New Year from the Members of the House of Assembly.
The Sp eaker: Well, I think I can find room to accept them. Thank you.
[Desk thumping and laughter ] Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Mr. Speaker —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThis is his most favourite one, though. [Laughter]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerCome on. So here you go, Deputy. SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21 Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that Christmas greetings and best wishes for the New Year be conveyed to His Excellency the Governor, Mr. John Rankin, …
Come on. So here you go, Deputy.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move that Christmas greetings and best wishes for the New Year be conveyed to His Excellency the Governor, Mr. John Rankin, CMG.
[Motio n carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.]
[Laughter]
MESSAGE TO THE GOVERNOR
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: I move that his Honour the Speaker be requested to convey to His Excellency the Governor, Mr. John Rankin, CMG , a hearty Christmas greeting and best wishes for the New Year from the Speaker and the Members of the House of Assembly.
[Laughter]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerDeputy, being that message is deli vered from you, I will most certainly make sure it gets delivered to wher e it needs to be.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberLilibet. Hon. E. David Burt: Lilibet. ADJOURNMENT Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I move that this Honourable House do now adjourn until Friday, Janu-ary 31 st, 2020.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerDoes any Member wish to speak to that? I recognise the Honourable Minister of Educ ation. Minister, the clock is on. Bermuda House of Assembly PLP ACCOMPLISHMENTS— EDUCATION Hon. Diallo V. S. R abain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good evening, colleagues. Good evening, listen-ing public. Mr. Speaker, as I …
Does any Member wish to speak to that? I recognise the Honourable Minister of Educ ation. Minister, the clock is on.
Bermuda House of Assembly PLP ACCOMPLISHMENTS— EDUCATION
Hon. Diallo V. S. R abain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good evening, colleagues. Good evening, listen-ing public. Mr. Speaker, as I reflect and think about some of the things that have been said all during the co nversations we have had today, I would like to start by quoting some numbers, if it pleases you. Mr. Speaker, $1.3 million. That is the amount of money the budget for the Department of Workforce Development was cut from when the OBA came in to when they left. Mr. Speaker, $16 million, that is the amount of the budget that was cut from the Depar tment of Education from when the OBA came in and left. And $40,000, that is the number that educational awards given out by the Ministry of Education to st udents who show financial need was cut from $780,000 when the OBA came into Government. Zero is the percentage that students at Bermuda College got off their tuition after the One Bermuda Alliance became Government and the enrolment at the college dropped to under 500. Zero is the number of education officers hired by the Depar tment of Education after those posts were left vacated by persons who retired due to hiring freezes by the One Bermuda Alliance when they became Government. Education officers are the officers responsible for the curriculum that our teachers use within the sy stem. They are responsible for creating professional development and the curriculum. For four years, our system did not have education officers for English, math or science, our three core subjects, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, earlier today . . . Oh , Mr. Speaker, I forgot another number. Four —the number of Education Ministers in four and a half years. But, Mr. Speaker, I mentioned those numbers because something resonated with me earlier today. We heard we need an improved education system. We need more training programmes as possible sol utions for moving to where we are. But, Mr. Speaker, the PLP Government finds themselves digging themselves out of a hole created in these two very critical areas of need for our people because of draconian cuts and lack of attention during the OBA years. So, Mr. Speaker, it is ironic that today we hear the former Leader of the One Bermuda Alliance say, These are some of the solutions . He only mentioned about four or five solutions. But those were two very important ones that stood out with me. So when we find ourselves digging out of this hole, Mr. Speaker, we have to understand that we are going to get there. We are doing things to get us there. We are doing things that are going to get us to the places we need to be. As we heard the Member from [constituency] 17 talk about the National Workforce Development Plan, Mr. Speaker, if Members have not read it or have forgotten about it (because it has been tabled in these Honourable Chambers), I suggest you go back and r ead it. It is a good read, Mr. Speaker. It is som ething that I firmly believe will get us to where we need to be in terms of empowering our people, empowering our employers to be a part of the conversation of what our people need to know, what they need to learn and the skill sets they need in order for us to move forward, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are working with four and a half years of neglect in these two very important areas of our society, education and training. But, Mr. Speaker, we were asked t oday, What has the current Government done to help? And, Mr. Speaker, when I look at the Bermuda College, I look at the immediate influx of $300,000 per year in additional financial aid and the number of students who have benefited from that, and we heard Minister Caines talk about that. Over 550 students have benefited from that particular pr ogramme already, Mr. Speaker. We have our PACE Department that has doubled in size in terms of st udent population. So, Mr. Speaker, there are green shoots working ther e. Are we where we want to be? No, Mr. Speaker. But I will posit that we should not have had to be in the position we have been in because of some of the things that were done by a previous Government. So when we talk about education, we talk about what i s being done, first and foremost, Mr. Speaker, we have increased the budget. We have put our money where our mouth is, Mr. Speaker. We have added $14 mi llion back to our education budget so we can continue to do the things that need to be done. Are we wher e we need to be, Mr. Speaker? No, we are not, but we are steadily moving, and Mr. Speaker, we will continue to do the things that need to be done, say the things that need to be done and make no apologies for providing for our students and for our children and by extension, Mr. Speaker, for our future. Mr. Speaker, what have we done within the Department of Education? Mr. Speaker, we have inst ituted safeguarding for our students. All of our teac hers, all of our workers that work within our school walls are required to be SCARS certified now, Mr. Speaker. We are bringing change. We are bringing change to areas [where] some people do not necessarily want to see change, but we are still doing it, Mr. Speaker. Standards based grading, Mr. Speaker. Standards base d grading is being implemented. U nfortunately, it started very badly in 2014. And Mr. Speaker, before anyone else on the other side gets up, if they go back and look at their 2013 Throne Speech it was lauded as the panacea for what is g oing to happen to radicalise and made education better. It was never implemented, just like some of the other wonderful things that were talked about but ne ver brought to the fore. Standards -based grading and standards -based education has the power to reform 2874 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly our system and ma ke our schools much more equit able and stands to hold our teachers much more accountable for what is being taught in the classroom. Mr. Speaker, early childhood literacy is som ething that has been implemented this year for the first time ever within our sy stem. We have implemented phonic awareness curriculum at the preschool, P1 and P2 levels. This is because we recognise, Mr. Speaker, we need to start as our students first come in, so we can prevent the issues that we are seeing later on. We still have things in place for our older students, Mr. Speaker, but a lot of focus has been put into when they enter the system because that is where we need to get them done. Mr. Speaker, we have system -wide reading assessment. What we have recognised is that what we have done in the past just has not worked. We now assess all of our classes, from P1 all the way to S4 versus just intermittently throughout our system, Mr. Speaker. We understand that reading is fund amental and reading is something that needs to be done an d our students need to benefit from that. Mr. Speaker, we are now doing a lot more of online data collection and compiling that data so we can make educated data- driven solutions. Mr. Speaker, we can go back as far as the Hopkins report and one of the major issues w ith the Hopkins report stated that it is difficult to make decisions because the data is impossible to compile. It is just not there. And you fast-forward 12 years, Mr. Speaker, to the Berm udaFirst report , one of the things they mentioned about education is that it is difficult come up with solutions because the data is just not there, not compiled properly. This is something that our commissioner is committed to, and something that our commissioner will move forward with. Mr. Speaker, one of our coups de grâce: a 21 st century evaluation tool for our principals. For the first time ever, our principals will be graded. Our pri ncipals will be encouraged to do better and there is a tool in place that will allow us to look at principals, see what they are doing effectively and help them to do things that they are probably not doing more effectiv ely a little bit better. In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, through [Framingham] University, all principals will have to be certified through a programme through [Framingham]. So, this is a significant leap forward in what we are doing to ensure that our students get the best that they need from our school system. The Bermuda Public School System Code of Conduct. It is finally being updated, Mr. Speaker. This has not been touched, I believe since around the early 2000s, Mr. Speaker. This is something that is critical for us moving forward, because it is going to be the guideline of what needs to happen within our schools, what needs to happen as we move forward, Mr. Speaker. Our ASD programme at the preschool level, with this being implemented this year, Mr. Speaker, this allows us now to have Autism Spectrum Disorder programmes at all levels throughout our school sy stem. Mr. Speaker, foreign languages introduced at the preschool level. Now our preschoolers will have exposure to French, Spanish and Portuguese, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will continue to expand the STEAM curriculum that did not exist within our school system at the elementary level. So, at the primar y level that will continue to move forward. Our coding pr ogramme within the primary schools is growing as well, Mr. Speaker, and I am thankful for ConnecTech and the corporate sponsors that we have to allow us to continue that programme. Mr. Speaker, most importantly and something that is probably on everyone’s mind is, coming Janu-ary, we hope to have a math specialist employed wit hin our system that will be charged with improving the way math is delivered, all the way from primary school through to high sc hool. We understand math is a particularly vexing problem that we do have. And our test results are not showing that the math scores are i mproving, but we are looking at someone who has shown to have made some progress working with Harrington Sound in some pilot programmes and so we are looking to bring this person on board, so we can have math testing throughout our system. Mr. Speaker, we will move away from just having checkpoint exams at specific times at specific levels. Checkpoints will now be conduct ed at every level as we go through our system, because, Mr. Speaker, we need to start tracking our children on how they are improving from year to year, not only at P6, not only at M 3 and then not only at S2. So, we will now be able to have an idea of what is moving forward. Mr. Speaker, there are lots of things that this Government is doing to ensure that our people are trained, ensure that our people are educated for the jobs that Minister Caines talked about that are coming—and they will come, Mr. Speaker. We heard the wonderful news of Fairmont Southampton being sold and we know they are going to expand on that, Mr. Speaker. We know there are jobs coming there. We know when they are booming, they are going to bring other jobs, Mr. Speaker. Currently, right now, Mr. Speaker, we have 13 students at the Bermuda College participating in a very extensive coding bootcamp. Mr. Speaker, this is a bootcamp that is from 9:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday, every single day of the week. They are atten ding this at no cost to themselves, Mr. Speaker. To put this in perspective, comparable bootcamps like this, Mr. Speaker, if you took them in the US would run you about $15,000 to $20,000 dollars for those three and a half months that they are going to Bermuda College for free , Mr. Speaker. Because this is what we do, we
Bermuda House of Assembly believe in our people and we want to give them opportunity to show us what they can do, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we spoke earlier about what we are doing. We heard from the other side about what we should be doing, Mr. Speaker. But som etimes it is understood, Mr. Speaker, that we need to just acknowledge what is happening, we need to acknowledge what has happened in the past and we need to acknowledge the path we need to be on to move forward, Mr. Speaker. It was very rich of the speaker that brought the motion that happened to be changed to talk about education. I thought that was very, very interesting that he would mention education—
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Point of order. POINT OF ORDER [Rules of Debate—reflecting on prior debate] Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: The Honourable Member is clearly reflecting on a past debate and is making reference to the motion that was brought. The Honourable Member did not speak during the motion, and I just …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMember, just be mindful of the fact that you cannot reflect on the earlier debate in making any real comments here. Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYou can refer to the fact that that the topic was discussed earlier; but you do not want to get into the details of it. Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: I am guided by you, Mr. Speaker. But thank you, constituent, for making that point —
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberOh! Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: —because I do not want to reflect on the previous. [Inaudible interjections and laughter] Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Yes, she did vote for me. She did vote for me. [Laughter]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerActually, that looks like good MP and constituent relationship building. Good. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: We do, if he gets that trash picked up off my road. [Inaudible interjections and laughter] Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: So, Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to have an opportunity to talk about …
Actually, that looks like good MP and constituent relationship building. Good. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: We do, if he gets that trash picked up off my road.
[Inaudible interjections and laughter]
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: So, Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to have an opportunity to talk about some of the wonderful things that we are doing in education. There will be some significant announcements coming early in the New Year, where we talk more about the transformation that we are having with education. Of course, there will be the big decision about T. N. Tatem coming up in January once we finish our consultation process and actually, we have a plan on what and where we can move forward with that, Mr. Speaker. So, we will have some good things and Mr. Speaker, I just ask for people’s patience. With educ ation it is not something that is going to change overnight, but it is something that we are working really, really hard to move forward with. I have every conf idence in the Commissioner of Education and her team. The y are doing some wonderful, wonderful things. It is making some people uncomfortable because we are moving away from more of the status quo into a more data- driven operation that talks about what is happening and how we can address what is happening versus how we feel about moving forward. So, I think there are some great things moving ahead with that.
SEASON’S GREETINGS
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Now, with that Mr. Speaker, I want to take my time on my feet, I only have just over four minutes left to wish all of Bermuda a happy and successful New Year and please be careful over the holidays. Also, have a Merry Christmas and to all my constituents, including the one sitting in here, I want to thank you for your support, and for our Loyal Hill constituents t here will be a truck picking up your bulk on Saturday, December 21 st and so we will be out there talking to you. [Laughter]
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: We will be out there talking to our people, but Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and a privilege to be able to stand here and speak on behalf of the people. It is even more humbling to be able to stand here and speak to the people as the Minister of Education. Our teachers are hard- working. They are dealing with things within our classroom that you know, all of us know did not happen 20 years ago, 10 years ago. But, Mr. Speaker, we are going to move through that and we are going to come out on the ot her end a much better society, a much better school system than the one that we see now, Mr. Speaker. 2876 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly So, I ask all of us, including the Members here just be patient, allow the system to do what it needs to do, allow the plans to come to fruition, because at the end of the day everything that we say, everything that we do is taking into account what is best for our students, what is best for our children, and as I always say, by extension, what is best for our country. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you Minister. Does any other Honourable Member —your constituent wants to follow you. Honourable Member Gordon- Pamplin , you are following your MP tonight. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, I am, Mr. Speaker, and thank you very much for the opportunity.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. HEALTH CARE REFORM Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: And I thank the Honourable Member who just took his seat for saying that the egregious challenge that we have had within our constituency in which I live will be rectified on the 21 st of December. I look forward to …
Yes.
HEALTH CARE REFORM
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: And I thank the Honourable Member who just took his seat for saying that the egregious challenge that we have had within our constituency in which I live will be rectified on the 21 st of December. I look forward to it, because Mr. Speaker, I believe that we have the kind of relation-ship in which, if there is something wrong on a par ochial level I can go to the Honourable Minister, and I do understand that we can work together on things that are mutually beneficial for the constituency and for the country. I wanted to try to keep my comments in the kind of vein that belies the temptation to pretend that we are like the politicians that we see in the United States, in which the individual who heads the United States government at the moment, whenever he has opened his mouth he speaks about the guy who came before him and what he did or did not do. I look at it, Mr. Speaker, that the person who is in charge now is the person responsible for what happens, and how things are meant to be delivered and how things are to be improved —
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberPicking up the garbage. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: —such as picking up the garbage. And in that vein, the people in charge now are the PLP Government. It is the Government that we voted for. I say “we” because the result of an election, to the vict or goes …
Picking up the garbage.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: —such as picking up the garbage. And in that vein, the people in charge now are the PLP Government. It is the Government that we voted for. I say “we” because the result of an election, to the vict or goes the spoils and irrespective of how one may have cast their individual ballot, it is i mportant to recognise that the Government we have is the Government that we voted for. The majority of people voted for this Government. So, when I have to deal wi th people coming to me in the street, Mr. Speaker, showing concerns for things that may not have happened in the manner in which they would have liked, I have to say to them, This is the Government that we have. And I have to take the abuse that comes with it when people believe that things that they were hoping for did not quite manifest themselves in the manner in which they wanted. And I am specifically speaking now to the i ssue of the proposed amendments to the health sy stem, and I believe it is appropriate. I asked the Mini ster two weeks ago to give me a response (to which she did) in terms of what was the actuarial . . . May I have the report that provides the actuarial study which gave rise to the determination of $514 for the premium supporting the core benefits for Bermuda Health Plan 2020 ? And the response that came back, along with a document, which actually is the Morneau Shepell r eport, indicate d that the costing of the mock plan developed for discussion purposes during the four - month public consultation period comprises two co mponents. One is the attached actuarial modelling which was conducted for the draft plans up to $472.39, and that is what Morneau Shepell provided for us. Then item number two indicated that on review of the draft actuarial estimate, Cabinet decided to consider add itional benefits to offer better coverage in the mock plan. The additional benefits were costed by building on the $472.39 actuarial draft, plus further modelling based on the assumptions published as part of the consultation, resulting in an estimated per capita cost of $514.00 for adults and $178.00 for children. And then it went on to say that the modelling assum ptions were published with the consultation guide. And there is a caveat indicating that, as stated in the multiple public forums, the mock plan is for di scussion purposes during the consultation period. It was never intended as the final or promised plan. And I accept that and I appreciate that because that is my understanding of what is the reality. What has also been explained is that the next step in the process is for working groups to consider the public feedback and recommend what the core package s hould include, and once that has been determined, then there will be a further actuarial model-ling which is done for the standard benefit every year, and the actuarial modelling will be published once the work is complete. I say that to say that when I hav e been asked about where did the $514.00 come from, I expected that I would have been able to see an actuarial study that came back with that number being provided by the actuary of record, who is Morneau Shepell , who have been used by the Government and b y the Health Department for a significant number of years, and who do a stellar job. It is a little disappointing that, having seen a detailed actuarial study giving rise to the $472.39, there was effectively a ‘back of the envelope’
Bermuda House of Assembly on a spreadsheet which came up with the difference between that and the $514.00. Now I understand that it would not have been efficacious or worthwhile for the Government to go back to Morneau Shepell and say to them, Could you tell us . . . these are the extra things that we w ant, can you do another study? That may have been an exercise in futility, inasmuch as it would have cost money that perhaps the Government did not need to spend at that point in time. But what they have done, though, is to give the public a comfort that s ays $514.00 is the number. But that $514.00 is not supported, in my estimation, by the same standard of study that we have gotten from Morneau Shepell, so we do not have a consistency coming out of that report to take us from $472.39 up to $514.00. I think what would have been better for the Government to do is to say to the public of Bermuda that we have got an actuarial study which we can support which takes us to $472.39. From that we want to provide extras when you tell us what you want and from those extras we can then model the revisions to the extras that we are going to provide for you, and then they would have been able to come up with a consistent number from an actuary that is tried and tested that we would have been able to see exactly what it is that they are offering. We did not get that. So, we now have a number that, obviously, I looked at the spreadsheet and it looks like it was just, you know, you have got some numbers here added on to this. And I do not know whether Morneau Shepell supported those numbers. My understanding is that they did not. But I could be proven wrong, and if I am, I would be happy to apologise, because I ne ver wish to mislead in these instances. But what is important Mr. Speaker, is that when we go to the public, and I know that at some point in time we will see something that is more substantive that hopefully encompasses every aspect of the study, that we will be able to see something that we have put to the public that either justifies or will be somewhere north of $5 14, I have no doubt, and the reason for that is because people want more. And if we already have decided that people want more, then clearly it is going to cost more. So, all I want to say is that we are waiting for something that will come out of this so that the public of Bermuda can have a better understanding as to what will happen in terms of their expectation for their health care plan. Because some of the comments that were made in the Morneau Shepell, the very basic plan, Mr. Speaker —and it was prov ided in the House this morning— it was saying insurance would presu mably continue to offer supplemental coverage and apply considerations similar to current in the determina-tion of their premium rates. The new SHB [Standard Health Benefit] would be an expansion in coverage when compared with many existing supplemental policies. HIP does not provide for prescription drug coverage, and in the aggregate the new SHB could lead to a higher overall premium expenditure. On the flip side, certain segments of the population will have lower personal out of pocket expenses. But what I think caught my attention perhaps more than anything, Mr. Speaker, is that when adjus ting for the overall effect of the new premium structure, at this time it cannot be predicted whether higher su pplemental premiums will result, or even if insurers may exit the market. I believe that the downside, the cha llenges, the concerns, need to be put very clearly to the public to let them know that there is a possibility that we are not going to be able to sustain the level and quality that we have been able to have historica lly, and certainly we want to ensure that we do not find ourselves short. But what I am concerned about is when we speak about having a single . . . not just a single payer unit but having a single population, as it were, to i nclude everybody in the cost, that it seems as though, at the moment, based on the actuarial extrapolations it seems as though HIP and FutureCare are still carved out. I do not know where GEHI stands. So, the question that has not become very clear in terms of how I am able to explain this to the public as they are asking is whether, in fact, this pool is going to be an entire pool or whether it is going to be a pool of the rest and not include the programme f or HIP, FutureCare and GEHI, and all of the other ancillary types of health programmes that exist. Because if they are not all put in one basket, as it were, we do not truly have a community pool. And if we do not have a community pool, then the ra ting wil l become a little bit askew. And we also understand, Mr. Speaker, that the cost of health care when it comes to seniors and people who have a higher demand for the most part on the health care system are heavily subsidised, as we speak, by the Gover nment i n terms of the subsidies that they get through FutureCare. And is the Government’s intention to continue any level of subsidy once this community pool is put together, if, in fact, it is going to include F utureCare clients, HIP clients, as well as GEHI? So, it is just a little bit of clarity that has yet to be offered in the public meetings that have been had and I know that there will be further information coming out, and I have said when I have been asked that I am looking for the full picture. Because I did not want . . . somebody asked me the other day, Have you signed the petition ? And there were some 7,000 si gnatures as I was made to understand. And I did not sign it. And the reason is because I did not want it to be automatically assumed that everything that has been presented was bad and, therefore, stop the whole thing. What I have asked for, and I have been consistent in asking for, is can we at least please e nsure that people understand what it is, pause for a moment to make sure that people feel comforted. 2878 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly So, when we hear the Honourable Member who just took his seat, my MP, my representative, say that they want to make sure that the community has the information that they need to have, let us make sure that this policy expands right the way acros s the government and through certainly this particular issue which is going to impact every single person in this community in some way, shape or form, whether they are carved out with HIP, FutureCare, GEHI, and ev erybody else put in a pool, or if everybod y else fits in the same pool and everybody jumps in and there is a community rating for everybody, whether Government will supplement or not supplement. These are things that will come out when the committees continue to meet. And obviously, the final studies and recommen-dations as to what would be the basic package that will be included will be made manifest. But I think it is important that people be li stened to and understand that when they have unrea diness it is not just a matter that they are trying to stymie the Government or to thwart the Government’s progress in advancing their policies. It is more i mportant to recognise and understand that when people feel unready about something, it does not hurt to li sten. So, when one says, Well, we are going to do it anyhow , don’t care, really , it came across. And so, We really don’t care what you think , that is the way it came across. And that is not the message that I am hearing, Members opposite , who spoke today on their motion . . . and I note that there were three people. They have got 24 people on that side. Three people spoke to this last motion. But of that, Mr. Speaker, it just does not seem to me to be the kind of message that was coming across. They do not want to come across . . . I think the Honourab le Minister from Immigration said, We care! We want you to know that we care! Well, if when someone says to you, I have a problem. I have unreadiness . I have a challenge and I am nervous about what is happening . . . I just think it does not indicate a lev el of care and concern when the response to that is, Notwithstanding your signature, I am going to go through with what it is that I am going to do. But don’t worry, we are only going to do a piece by next year. And we are going to do a piece of what? What are we going to introduce a piece of? It might be only one part of the programme. It might be. But then it might not be, because at this point, we do not know. So, I think that to the extent that people are feeling a little uneasy and unready in respect of this entire approach that Government has taken, I would simply just ask that the Minister, the Government and whatever their intentions are, that at least people get the feeling that this Government cares enough to li sten to ameliorate some of the concer ns that people have to ensure that they do not panic and become frantic over what their health care coverage is going to look like. And when one starts to see that they are already manifesting challenges . . . I think I read an art icle indicating that there was something like an 11 - hour-wait for somebody to get a bed at the hospital. That does not sound good. And it certainly does not give confidence that we are capable of handling our health care system overall for the better good of all of our people, not just those people who are on any particular type of insurance coverage, just for everybody. Because I believe that everybody not only wants, we expect and we deserve a decent level of health care coverage. But with an attitude that does not give us comfo rt that this is going to be achieved, I think that we need to go an extra step further. And this is not criticism, it is really just trying to say to the Government that when you force pr ogrammes onto the community that we want to make sure that if people do not feel comfortable, then at least stop and listen to them . And I do not think that there is any . . . it is not a sign of weakness. To me, it is a sign of strength when you recognise that whate ver your policies are, whatever you have promoted to the people of this country, if it does not resonate then there has got to be something deficient in the comm unication process. And I am only simply asking that the communication process be improved upon so that the anxieties that people are experiencing are mi nimised.
SEASON’S GREETINGS
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon –Pamplin: With that said, Mr. Speaker, I would like to also take advantage of this opportunity to wish you and yours and to all of the Members of the Honourable House a blessed Chris tmas, and all the bes t for the New Year. And in partic ular to my MP, I will have . . . he can even stop by for eggnog when he comes and picks up the trash on my street, quite happy, quite happy. [Laughter and inaudible interjection]
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: No, that might be the way you think, Mr. Premier, but you can be assured that is not the way that I think. I am too much of a human being and too much of a decent person to even harbour such mal icious thoughts as you have just uttered. So, that is not me. I am certain you are always happy to be able to embrace any Member of this Honourable House and to be able to share . . . the Honourable Member did not think I was poisoning him when I gave him a wine gum s.
[Laughter] Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: So, he obviously trusted me enough to have my . . . and I have got some more. I am quite happy to share, Mr. Speaker.
Bermuda House of Assembly But I do wish that everybody has a happy, healthy and safe Holiday Season, and I wish everyone the best for the coming year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? I recognise the Honourable Member Commi ssiong. Honourable Member, you have the floor. CHALLENGES FACING BERMUDA
Mr. Rolfe CommissiongMr. Speaker, I do not know where to begin after that. I really don’t. You know, talking about people who have some anxiety to You know, talking about people who have some anxiety , to say the least, what about that young man and his family facing a $300,000 medical …
Mr. Speaker, I do not know where to begin after that. I really don’t. You know, talking about people who have some anxiety to You know, talking about people who have some anxiety , to say the least, what about that young man and his family facing a $300,000 medical bill? Now that is a lump of coal, to say the least. Or the 5,341 persons who do not have health insurance at all, even including some children and seniors? Mr. Speaker, I just want to start off by saying to those in radio land, such as the hotel man, Mr. R iley; Dr. Eva Hodgson; Ms. Esme Williams; my mother, my wife, and all of those I speak to tonight in my ef-forts to bring some Christmas cheer, I believe that can only be done by being honest and frank, maybe even verging on being brutally honest and brutally frank. There has been a lot of talk tonight about statistics, numbers, and I want to continue in that tradition m yself. I believe that in Bermuda we have a problem because we are not inclined to be brutally honest and frank when that is needed. I think that hobbles our ability even at the Government level, the level at which I sit, and the domain at which I participate in, for us to put in place effective public policy. For example, we know that racial disparities in Bermuda are replete throughout our society. Right now black Bermudians only comprise 54 per cent of the total Bermudian res ident population. Whites are at 31 per cent. Yet, getting back to health care, when you add the uninsured with the underinsured, 91 per cent of those are black Bermudians. The Royal Gazette series that we talked about earlier today, about our most vulnerable young men and women (at the time they were young boys and girls) . . . as I said, a former Minister informed me that that client base is at around 90 per cent to 95 per cent black—and has been for some time. You see, these racial disparities in Bermuda hide in plain sight, but we do not acknowledge them . And by not acknowledging them we are normalising these racial disparities and even, in many cases, the raci st legacy that inform ed them. Do not get me wrong, we know there are many whites in the country who do not want to hear this. But let me tell you something; there are a lot of black Bermudians who do not want to acknowledge it either. So this is the Christmas cheer I bring tonight. [Laughter]
Mr. Rolfe CommissiongThat’s right! Ninety -five per cent, and more, of our prisoners in our prisons are black Bermudians. Again, let’s not normalise these numbers. The late Walton Brown talked about the 66 per cent rise in immigr ation during the 1960s alone, to a point where we had 14,496 persons who …
That’s right! Ninety -five per cent, and more, of our prisoners in our prisons are black Bermudians. Again, let’s not normalise these numbers. The late Walton Brown talked about the 66 per cent rise in immigr ation during the 1960s alone, to a point where we had 14,496 persons who were foreign born living in the country, due to that rise. Why? In anticipation of that 1968 election. Over-whelmingly white. These are the numbers that have determined who we are toda y. The present numbers indicate that it is not a pretty picture. When we talk about opportunities for Bermudians in the workforce, to some degree we are talking in code because we know that whites, historically, at every level, have never had problems gett ing jobs —in this economy or in a prior iteration of our economy in the modern era. Why would I say “Bermudians?” It is a multi -racial s ociety. I think we need to be more specific in who we are talking about, because not all “Bermudians” are suffering or ar e as marginalised as others. Let this be a liberation for us. This is the Christmas cheer I bring. We talk about the growing hotel industry. We are happy about that. We are happy that the hotel i ndustry is being revised, that there is going to be i nvestm ent and continuous growth. Some of this started with the previous Government. And we talk about the jobs that are going to be increased. But guess what. Without a living wage the troubles that beset our Ber-mudian workers, particularly our young working class, and not -so-young workers, are going to continue, because unless they are earning a decent wage in the industry, that industry will be populated with low -cost foreign labour from Asia and other parts of the world and the Caribbean at the expense of blac k Bermudians, for the most part. So, let’s be real here. We need to ensure that Bermudians are going to get a decent wage for the efforts they put in, even those without college d egrees. That is why the statutory wage regime is i mportant. So when we see this new growth beginning, a revitalisation of this economy —you heard the numbers, and those numbers are accurate—let’s ensure that, unlike in previous eras that black , Bermudians are going to benefit at every level from that growth, right on par with the white Bermudians who we live with, who we work with, who we play with. That is what I am fighting for. It’s called racial justice and e quity. And I am not ashamed to say it. That, too, is the good Christmas cheer I bring. Mr. Speaker, I had an occasion to read an article that reminded me of something that I wrote and that was published in a newspaper, probably 15 to 20 years ago (probably closer to 20 years ago). It was an article featured in the Royal Gazette, and it chronicled the numbers of Bermudians who had fallen to the 2880 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly scourge of HIV/AIDS over the last (what would it be?) since the 1979/80 period. That was when scientific opinion globally came to the conclusion that what they were doing in terms of their research could only at that time be describe d as what we now know as HIV/AIDS. Mr. Speaker, during that period of 1979/80, when scientific opinion had finally coalesced around what I just described up until probably, let’s say 2000 for the purposes of this conversation, we had roughly 200 Bermudians, most of whom were HIV [ heroin] users who injected heroin. Most of those individuals also shared needles . And that is how the virus was allowed to circulate amongst that group.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberCohort.
Mr. Rolfe CommissiongNow, my colleague says cohort. Some families lost two sons. Some families lost three sons. Again, overwhelmingly, young (at that time), black Bermudian men. There were a few wo men, some of their wives and girlfriends . . . there was a small minority of whites , but very miniscule. …
Now, my colleague says cohort. Some families lost two sons. Some families lost three sons. Again, overwhelmingly, young (at that time), black Bermudian men. There were a few wo men, some of their wives and girlfriends . . . there was a small minority of whites , but very miniscule. A gain, consistent with what we find throughout Bermuda. And it reminded me of an article that I wrote then. Imagine, the number of families that had all of their sons die as a consequence of that over that per iod. Those men at the time would have died betw een the ages of probably late 20s up until 40 or 50. If many of them were living today they would be an ywhere from 55 to 70 years old. Many of them had young children who were left behind. The children were probably young. What happened to those chi ldren w ho grew up without their fathers, and in some cases without their mothers? But they are largely forgotten, Who cares about them? They were just from black working- class families. Men . . . they were surplus to Bermuda’s requirements. Truth be told, there would have been some parts of Bermuda that were glad that was happening. Just as when young black boys were shooting each other, there were some parts in those same communities who were saying they were glad it was happening. Let them kill each other! This too is the dark underbelly of what Bermuda is. And let’s be honest about who we really are as opposed to the myth of who we are. This too is part of the good cheer that I bring. So, Mr. Speaker, before I take my seat, I hope that we go into 2020 with the determination to be frank and honest about our problems —and that includes the racial problem in Bermuda. Not to point fingers, but to make a healthier community, one that is going to pr ovide opportunity for all of our people, especially those who have bee n denied opportunity even up until the modern era of Bermuda. Look at the current leader of Bermuda. Take a good look at him. Over 20- something applications to companies . . . when he came back here for a promise and a hope, and optimism, from George Washington University, not one interview —the Honourable David Burt. That was not a problem of mismatched skills of what was available in the community. No, that came under a different heading. How many like him are now over in the UK? How many like him in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, never were able to realise their potential? Black Bermudians, especially black men. Ended up driving a taxi when he was a nuclear phys icist. Catching fish. There is nothing wrong with that; but I am saying that if that was the only option you had in a society that provided options for everybody else, then that is a problem. At the turn of the century in 2000, that young man came back here and was rejected, just like so many before him. But he found a refuge. And look where he sits now! That refuge was the Progressive Labour Party, because this is what we have been fighting for. Let’s not forget. Again, that is the good cheer I bring. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. No other Honourable Member wishes to speak? Mr. Tyrrell are you trying to get up, or . . . you need to move a little quick er than that.
Mr. Neville S. TyrrellThank you, Mr. Speaker. I was a little reluctant to speak tonight.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGood evening, Mr. Tyrrell. You have the floor. CONFIDENCE IN BERMUDA
Mr. Neville S. TyrrellThank you. We certainly have had a long day ourselves already , and I did not want to extend it much more. But I will be very brief, Mr. Speaker. I have heard a lot of negatives today. It is basically a theme of no confidence in this Government, and …
Thank you. We certainly have had a long day ourselves already , and I did not want to extend it much more. But I will be very brief, Mr. Speaker. I have heard a lot of negatives today. It is basically a theme of no confidence in this Government, and it is almost of no confidence in Bermuda itself. It seems like this Government is not improving the economy, we are not creating jobs, et cetera, et cetera.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon –Pamplin: Point of order,
Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerI will take your point of order. POINT OF ORDER [Rules of Debate—reflecting on prior debate] Hon. Patricia J. Gordon –Pamplin: Yes, Mr. Speaker. Bermuda House of Assembly The Honourable Member again is reflecting on a debate. He did not choose to partici pate and he should not bring those …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerHe is basically saying that he has heard a lot of what was said; he is not really speaking to it. If he starts speaking to it, then I will call him to order. But he is basically saying he hear d this and he heard that. Continue on.
Mr. Neville S. TyrrellMr. Speaker, thank you. So, Mr. Speaker, I thought that I would at least try and end my calendar year in this House on a more positive note, showing basically my confidence in the people of Bermuda and especially our youth. Let me say that these are my views from …
Mr. Speaker, thank you. So, Mr. Speaker, I thought that I would at least try and end my calendar year in this House on a more positive note, showing basically my confidence in the people of Bermuda and especially our youth. Let me say that these are my views from attending various functions in my capacity as an MP, and if can call it my personal life, going out to various functions. First, Mr. Speaker, let me give some thanks to one of the H onourable Members on the other side. He has left the House at this time, but I will mention the Honourable Member Sylvan D. Richards, Jr., who seems to have taken a different tack tonight , which sort of brought back a little more faith in my having confidence in what we are doing on this side. He was not combative—
POINT OF ORDER [Rules of Debate—reflecting on prior debate]
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon –Pamplin: Point of order, Mr. Speaker. I must raise this point again. The Honourable Member is, again, reflec ting on a debate. He had the opportunity to speak. He is speaking to the infor-mation that was advanced by the Honourable Member Sylvan D. Richards, Jr., who only spoke on the last motion. The Honourable Member is reflecting on a debate!
The SpeakerThe SpeakerI am listening carefully. I did make comment earlier; I am watching carefully to see where he is going. [Inaudible interjection]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerHe’s on the edge, but he hasn’t slipped over yet.
Mr. Neville S. TyrrellThank you, Mr. Speaker. I will just s ay that I am thanking the speaker. He was non- combative, that is all I was getting at .
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYou were actually complimenting him, it sounded like. That is why I was giving you a little leverage.
Mr. Neville S. TyrrellUnlike some Members on the other side who I have previously called the Honour able Member of doom and gloom. But I digress, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me share some of my exper iences that have fully restored my faith and confidence in Bermuda. I had the privilege of …
Unlike some Members on the other side who I have previously called the Honour able Member of doom and gloom. But I digress, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me share some of my exper iences that have fully restored my faith and confidence in Bermuda. I had the privilege of attending very r ecently a school Christmas concert. In it the students of the school, young, of course, displayed what I would call much talent in either musical or artistic form which, I can say , gave me confidence in the future. I attended recently the school football tourn ament which, of course, is for school -age persons up to under 18. Again, my confidence is restored because I think those young women and men displayed the sort of confidence in themselves that I think is going to carry us forward. Mr. Speaker, I had the privilege to attend a recent candlelight service at church.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerIt was a very nice service, actually.
Mr. Neville S. TyrrellYes, Mr. Speaker, you were there as w ell. And the majority of the participants were young, white, brilliant Bermudians. Again, restoring my confidence in Bermuda. Mr. Speaker, in the recent play -off for a spot on the PGA Bermuda Championship there was a young man, 15 years old, who …
Yes, Mr. Speaker, you were there as w ell. And the majority of the participants were young, white, brilliant Bermudians. Again, restoring my confidence in Bermuda. Mr. Speaker, in the recent play -off for a spot on the PGA Bermuda Championship there was a young man, 15 years old, who showed hi s talent and got a place in that main tournament. Again, restoring my confidence in Bermuda and its people. Mr. Speaker, I attended very recently the Centre on Philanthropy community awards. The majority of those people receiving awards were young, talented Bermudians. Again, restoring my confidence in the people of Bermuda. Mr. Speaker, I also had the honour of attending the celebration for a very good friend of ours, Bishop Vernon Lambe, for his 80 th birthday, and 54 years in preaching in Bermuda. And t here were in that audience, a packed house, young Bermudians supporting him as well. Again, restoring my faith and confidence in our people in Bermuda. I also attended the recent Portuguese holiday celebration, some aspects of it (I think it was over four days). Mr. Speaker, again, young people were taking part, restoring my faith and confidence in Bermuda. Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity to attend the sports awards put on by a young man who I know as “Burger” Jennings. He has fallen on hard medical times, medical conditions. But he himself is showing that he is confident in Bermuda’s sports people. Again, restoring my confidence in Bermuda. Personally, Mr. Speaker, I attend the gym very regularly. (It doesn’t really show too much, I guess.) But in th at gym there are young Bermudians who obviously have health as one of their main goals, 2882 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly and they want to stay healthy. Young Bermudians. They are Bermudians who are going to continue to show us confidence in Bermuda. So, Mr. Speaker, as I said, I did not want to end my day here on a note which I have heard all day, [a note] of negativity. So those are some examples that I felt I wanted to bring out just to show that there is still confidence here in Bermuda.
SEASON’S GREETINGS
Mr. Neville S. TyrrellSo, Mr. Speaker, let me end by extending first to my colleagues in the House as we are approaching the season of good will, I wish us all a healthy and prosperous, and to the people of Ber-muda, especially those constituents in C -26 who got me here and continue …
So, Mr. Speaker, let me end by extending first to my colleagues in the House as we are approaching the season of good will, I wish us all a healthy and prosperous, and to the people of Ber-muda, especially those constituents in C -26 who got me here and continue to support me, I wish them all the best. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member wish to speak? I recognise the Minister of Public Works. You have the floor. PGA PREPARATIONS AT PORT ROYAL
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMr. Speaker, I would like to speak about three things this evening, and I am going to start in relation to the Ministerial Statement I made this morning in relation to the PGA. During the course of this day, I hav e reflected on the numerous questions we have had …
Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak about three things this evening, and I am going to start in relation to the Ministerial Statement I made this morning in relation to the PGA. During the course of this day, I hav e reflected on the numerous questions we have had in this r egard, and I took the step this morning to answer the questions that were asked of me based on the information that was provided to me. And, clearly, they were insufficient. I left out of that report this morning— not deliberately, even though I have been accused of that on social media —the question of sand for Port Royal, Mr. Speaker. But you may recall that on the 27 th of September I gave a full and comprehensive Statement to this House on that subject. Mr. Speaker, the truth of the matter is that this has nothing to do with the PLP not budgeting for the PGA Bermuda Championship. It has nothing to do with that at all, Mr. Speaker. It has to do with the narrative that continues to be presented about friends and family. Why do I say that, Mr. Speaker? Because after that Statement, when the information was pr ovided to this House and to the country and those who chirp about the PLP’s inability to manage finances, there was silence, Mr. Speaker. And there was silence because fairness had prevailed, that not even the i ncompetent financiers in the PLP would have chosen a contract valued at $1.815 million versus $546,000 just not to be accused of friends and family. Mr. Speaker, I have had enough, quite frank ly. The suggestion that the private firm of a sitting Mini ster of the Government should not participate in the contract is simply absurd, because it only applies and you only hear it when the Progressive Labour Part is in Government. And since we have so f ew people who own businesses in this country, this particular one stands out. But let me say this, Mr. Speaker, before saying a few other things. Island Construction may be owned by Minister Zane De Silva. But that company employs almost 100 staff, 99 per cent of which are Bermudian. So when Island Construction wins a contract, no matter how they bid for it, that money goes to support Bermudian families and Bermudian jobs in this country. But I know why it is being asked, Mr. Speaker, because the Honourable Member who asked the question . . . and I know that I promised this morning that I would provide the information. I cannot find anywhere in the rules of this House that I should do so. And I withdraw that offer, because that Honourable Member, in my opi nion, is disingenuous in the extreme. And not very bright either.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWell, well, well, let’s not go that far —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYou were doing pretty good —
The SpeakerThe SpeakerKeep it where you were before.
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchI say that because normally when somebody is going to start firing ammunition at somebody else, they wait until they have all the ammunition. But that Honourable Member couldn’t wait. He ha d to go at lunchtime on social m edia criticising the fact that this Government did not have …
I say that because normally when somebody is going to start firing ammunition at somebody else, they wait until they have all the ammunition. But that Honourable Member couldn’t wait. He ha d to go at lunchtime on social m edia criticising the fact that this Government did not have a budget for $2.5 million. And, of course, the usual course of—
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. Burch—people that do not support this Governm ent followed suit. So on that basis, Mr. Speaker, in fact, I will provide the information. I will provide the information Bermuda House of Assembly to everyone as soon as I can figure out how to post on social media —and I do …
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchThat is when they will get the answer, Mr. Speaker. POINT OF ORDER Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerPoint of order? Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I am assuming that the Minister is not going to rescind on his agreement to provide me with the information.
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchOkay. It was in the Statement. For $546,000 the Statement stated “to procure and provi de sand for Port Royal Golf Course.” So what that means, Mr. Speaker, is to go and find wherever they buy golf course sand—
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberProcure.
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchProcure. Done. Find a ship to bring it to Bermuda. They delivered it to Doc kyard. Got some trucks to come and deliver it to Port Royal. And they hired everybody in the country. I was up there. D&J [Construction Co Ltd.], Island [Construction Services], everybody. There are a lot …
Procure. Done. Find a ship to bring it to Bermuda. They delivered it to Doc kyard. Got some trucks to come and deliver it to Port Royal. And they hired everybody in the country. I was up there. D&J [Construction Co Ltd.], Island [Construction Services], everybody. There are a lot of small contractors. All of that was done, Mr. Speaker, for the total sum of $546,000. Mr. Speaker, this Government has made a decision. Just as that Government made a decision to hold America’s Cup, we made a decision to support and host the PGA Bermuda Championship for five years, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we made the decision late. But we made a decision that we believed was a good investment for this country in order to be able to pr ovide opportunities for Bermuda. I do not know how much news coverage or radio coverage other folks [saw or] listened to, but I heard the CEO of the BTA [Bermuda Tourism Author ity] on radio, I think at some point this week . And he was being asked by one of the organs of the Oppos ition collectively, was the PGA Bermuda Championship of good value for Bermuda. And what he said, Mr. Speaker . . . and I am not a golfer . I declare that. I am never going to be a golfer. I am not interested. But what he said was not only did we get the television coverage during the course of the event, that the per-son who won it went off the next week and won another tournament, and they talked about Bermuda and showed Bermuda all over the place. And then they went off and won another. And then they called it the “Bermuda Triangle,” Mr. Speaker! And that is just for the first year. And yes we spent more money than one would expect on a golf course. And if it was a one-shot wonder it might have been a waste of money. But it was not. And I think that equally both a previous Progressive Labour Party Government and the OBA Government can take responsibility for the decline in the standard of Port Royal Golf Course by never gi ving them what they asked in order for them to operate. But every year, almost, for the last decade they had to give them a supplementary in order to meet their commitment. So, Mr. Speak er, just as they make no apol ogies for spending $100 million on a boat race, we make no apologies for spending considerably less than that on a golf tournament. Mr. Speaker, if we want to have a golf course, then we must invest in it. And I think we do, because we could do something else that begins with a “g.” We could turn it into a garden if they do not want to support golf. Enough of that, Mr. Speaker.
AUDITOR GENERAL CRITICAL OF PLP
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchMy next point, Mr. Speaker, is I have to wonder that every time the former Government comes to power in this country, many people either suffer from laryngitis, amnesia, or just plain I -don’t -know -what, Mr. Speaker. And I am speaking in particular about the perennial problem that successive …
My next point, Mr. Speaker, is I have to wonder that every time the former Government comes to power in this country, many people either suffer from laryngitis, amnesia, or just plain I -don’t -know -what, Mr. Speaker. And I am speaking in particular about the perennial problem that successive P LP Governments have had in rel ation to the Office of the Auditor General. There must be something in that air, Mr. Speaker. On the 16 th of November this year, there was an article in the paper where the Auditor General was ripping the Government about get ting to grips with the debt. I read the article, Mr. Speaker. I was curious to see if there was going to be some acknowledgement of the fact that the period in which she was discussing was not 100 per cent when the Progressive Labour Party was in Government. So what do you think happened, Mr. Speaker? They missed that part. Now, Mr. Speaker, I thought, Okay, maybe I’m being a little unfair. I would go back, even this thing here I do know how to use a little bit of things on this. So I googled “Auditor General.” And I went back and looked at how many times, and I gave . . . I must a dmit I gave up by the time I got to 2015. I gave up, Mr. Speaker, because for the whole year I could not find a word. What I did find, Mr. Speaker, was on the 16 th of August . . . let me go forward. Okay, so, on the 15th of September 2017, soon after we came to Government, I made a statement in this House about the lack of audit reports in relation to the BLDC [Bermuda Land 2884 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly Development Company] in particular, because they were six years behind. Not a whisper, Mr. Speaker. Not a whisper in previous years of the entire term of the OBA Government. Do you know what I got, Mr. Speaker? Oh, two of those years were the PLP. Okay, I give up. I give up! Sure, criticise me . . . two years lat er, but what of the five years of the OBA? Not a whisper, Mr. Speaker. I then found in December [20]12 is when she surfaces. She gets her voice, Mr. Speaker, for the first time and is criticising us. The next time she speaks up is August 10 th . . . sorry, August 16th, September 22nd, December 14th, December 15th, December 21st, all 2018. Prior to that, Mr. Speaker, not a word for five years. Mr. Speaker, I also made a Statement in this House soon after we came about 100 homes in Doc kyard that were reduced down to 20 homes, at a million dollars a pop! Not a word, Mr. Speaker. Not a word. And I know full well , had the Progressive Labour Party been in Government , you would have had a special report. And all I am saying, Mr. Speaker, is let’s have some fairness . And not only fairness, I want the r eports done! I want the reports done; this Government wants the reports done, Mr. Speaker. And I know you hear the chirping from the other side. Why do you think, Mr. Speaker, that in the case of King’s Wharf we are spending $15 million? Five million [dollars] less than the estimate of the former Government to build King’s Wharf. The first thing we did at the conclusion of that project was to invite in the auditors because we want . . . before any audit is done, I want to know , and the Permanent Secretary and the staff in the Ministry of Public Works and the experts and the professionals that worked on that pr oject want to know , that before they walk away and do something else that all is in order. Mr. Speaker, we are going to do exactly the same thing with Port Ro yal. The exact same thing. Before the auditor gets around to doing the audit of PGA or anything else at Port Royal, we will have done it ourselves. And what I am saying, Mr. Speaker, is that apart from criticis ing and finding your voice only when the PLP is in Government do your damn job!
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchWe heard . . . and I am not going back to the previous debate that was held in this House today, but we hear all the time the gloom and doom and lack of confidence in Bermuda. But the lack of confidence in Bermuda only exists in one place …
We heard . . . and I am not going back to the previous debate that was held in this House today, but we hear all the time the gloom and doom and lack of confidence in Bermuda. But the lack of confidence in Bermuda only exists in one place —Music Box. Upstairs from Music Box. Mr. Speaker, there is not . . . first of all, Mr. Speaker, let me just say this. Mr. Speaker, you may recall that during the summer I paraded in this House a number of students who were outstanding, doing amazing things, and planning on coming back to Bermuda. I do not know why , probably because there are opportunities here, probably because the Government currently in office is welcoming them here, probably because the Gov ernment that is in office is providing opportunities for them to come back to this country. And I challenge the Royal Gazette. You know we have a full love affair —they hate me; and I hate them!
[Laughter]
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchAnd they put on the front page of that newspaper anything that they poss ibly can to paint me in the worst possible light. And guess what, Mr. Speaker. I still sleep well at night b ecause they are so irrelevant to the existence of this country, but are also …
And they put on the front page of that newspaper anything that they poss ibly can to paint me in the worst possible light. And guess what, Mr. Speaker. I still sleep well at night b ecause they are so irrelevant to the existence of this country, but are also very dangerous. All they do is highlight the negative. And I challenge them for just one day, my goodness, put some of those young pe ople on your front page. Do you know what they did, Mr. Speaker? And it really is laughable, because she was not even a student. They went and found a female, white engineer. She is Bermudian, so no criticism there. But the fact of the matter is they always show their cards, Mr. Speaker. And do you know the reason why that is? I believe that more than anything else it is because they do not have one Bermudian . . . well, they do have one Bermudian junior reporter out on Bermudiana Road. And they scrape the bottom of the barrel to bring people into this country, because some of the questions . . . A reporter is supposed to do some r esearch, not just regurgitate everything to everybody around here about things that they know nothing about. Mr. Speaker, the best part of this job I think for all of us on this side, is being able to have a young Bermudian progress and succeed.
Lt. Col. Hon. David A. BurchThere is not a day that goes by . . . and I am not making this up, Mr. Speaker. There is not a day that goes by that there is not a young Bermudian who comes up to many of us asking for advice and help. I had two …
There is not a day that goes by . . . and I am not making this up, Mr. Speaker. There is not a day that goes by that there is not a young Bermudian who comes up to many of us asking for advice and help. I had two today . . . well, one last
Bermuda House of Assembly night and one today, one of whom is local . And I pointed him in the right direction. I do understand that we cannot interfere with jobs. I get that part. But that does not mean that we cannot give them the best advice and point them in the right direction and identify the person who they should go to in order to be able to take advantage of those opportunities. I was so pleasantly surprised, Mr. Speaker, the last one I got was today, from a young . . . I do not know him, Mr. Speaker. I think I know his family. But he sent an email to me. And this is a young Bermudian who has been in UK for the last five years, because he went to school and is working. So a lot of the Bermudians who are leaving here to go abroad, not all of them are abandoning Bermuda, Mr. Speak-er. They are going to ensure that they do not have to overcome the hurdle that traditionally Bermudian st udents have to overcome. And that is having a piece of paper that says they have an education [but have] no experience. They are going to make sure they have the experience, so that when they come back to this country they can demand their place in this country, Mr. Speaker. That is the best part of this job. You will recall that a couple of weeks ago I highlighted the new chief engineer and the new man-ager at Tynes Bay , and I talked about being proud to be Bermudian. Do you know how much criticism I got from certain quarters in this country about how offended they were, because I was highlighting Berm udians? Mr. Speaker, I have 24 seconds. I am never going to apologise for being pro- Bermudian, because I know that those very same people who criticised me and criticised us for promoting Bermudians would stand up until they breathed their last breath and say I am from wherever I come from. So don’t ask us ever to deny the fact that we will always support Bermudians. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. Minister Wilson, the Honourable Minister is being a gentleman and allowing you to go first. Hon. Kim N. Wi lson: Yes, as per usual, my colleague also betrays his gentlemanly qualities. [Laughter] HEALTH CARE REFORM Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I am just going …
Thank you, Minister. Minister Wilson, the Honourable Minister is being a gentleman and allowing you to go first.
Hon. Kim N. Wi lson: Yes, as per usual, my colleague also betrays his gentlemanly qualities. [Laughter]
HEALTH CARE REFORM
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I am just going to spend a few moments. Health care reform is a very complicated issue and has obviously occupied quite a lot of public atten-tion in recent months, principally because it affects each and every one of us. I feel glad and blessed that we live in a society where we get to exercise freedom of speech and democracy prevails. And the fact that persons feel that they have the ability to voice their concerns and/or objections by virtue of the present ation of a petition, I think speaks volumes of the country that we live in, because, obviously, we read in the newspaper daily where people are per secuted for exercising their freedom of speech and democracy. So I am thrilled that persons have felt the need to present the petition concerning the health care reform. Mr. Speaker, the petition itself speaks to the principal issue saying that they wish for the Gover nment to withdraw the support and their decision for the Unified [Health] Plan. And I am not sure what the exact number is, the present number, but about 7,000 is floated around with respect to that petition. However, Mr. Speaker, on the other side, notwithstanding the importance of the democratic process being recog-nised, also part of democracy is open and free elec-tions. And in 2017 the PLP Government received an overwhelming mandate of 58- point -something per cent, I believe, of the population —far more than 7,000—to be the Government. And part of our platform was to take steps to implement the National Health Plan and to take steps to reduce the cost of health care, because we heard on the doorsteps throughout our canvassing up and down the co untry that that was one of the principal concerns of the pe ople. So we were elected to do that, and that is what this Government is proceeding to do. Mr. Speaker, you have heard me speak quite a lot about the issues concerning the dire statistics of our being overweight, how much we are spending on our health care costs, 13 per cent of our GDP, over $11,000 per person, we have to do something differently because it is not sustainable. In fact, Mr. Speaker, part of the discussion that we have heard throughout the last several months is that this Government does not listen, and that we have not been adhering to the comments and concerns raised. Well, Mr. Speaker, we have just finished on December 8 th, four months of extensive consultation with members of the public. We have had over 58 touch point meetings with individuals, over 600 per-sons attending those sessions, all of this information fully transparent and made available, insofar as who we have met with, the dates, the discussions. We have had community discussion groups through the Bermuda Health Council three times a week where persons are able to participate in the discussions concerning the reform. If you were not able to physically be present, then you could participate via Zoom. The conclusions of t hose meetings were also published on the website so you could see what the position papers were. So we have had open full, frank, transparent consultation. In fact, the OECD supports the fact that consultation should, in general, be between two months. And then if it is something that perhaps requires further lengthy discussion, because of the nature of the topic, three [months]. So we have met and exceeded 2886 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly the OECD recommendations with respect to the time periods for consultation. So, yes, we have listened, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of misinformation out there that needs to be addressed. And un-fortunately, some might argue that the misinformation is there because it is, I don’t know, perhaps persons have self -interest s, perhaps persons just want to perpetrate fake news . There are a number of reasons. But there is a lot of misinformation, and I just want to clear up for the public so that, again, they can under-stand that this is not the fake news. So, Mr. Speaker, you hear about whether or not I will be able to keep my doctor on this new plan. Yes, of course you will be able to keep your doctor. There is no intention for that to change, Mr. Speaker. Your physician is obviously a person that you utilise and trust. That will continue. There has been fake i nformation out there about FutureCare and whether or not the prescription drug coverage, which is currently $2,000, will be reduced by this plan. No, that is not correct as well, Mr. Speaker. Whatever benefits that are going to be included in this plan, those benefits will also be provided in everyone’s plan. So, the mock plan that we have been discus sing has on it $400 for prescription drugs . So that would mean that FutureCare would potentially have the $2,000 plus the $400, whatever is settled on the mock plan. And I say “mock” because it has not been determined yet. Mr. Speaker, there has also been misinformation out there about whether or not this plan is d esigned simply to put the medical community out of business. Absolutely not. In fact, because we reco gnise it is critically important to put more prevention in our health care system, the objective of part of this reform is to do just that and to put more money into primary care so that person can have the opportunity to go to their doc tor, as opposed to waiting until an illness takes hold and they end up sicker and in hosp ital. Mr. Speaker, again, it is important for me to reiterate that the plan that we are looking at will i ncrease the benefits. Right now the Standard Health Benefit, w hich is by law required in every insurance policy, 95 per cent of that goes simply to in- patient and out -patient care. There is a little bit for home care things like infusion as well as diagnostic imaging. It does not include things like doctors’ visits, and it does not include things like prescription drug benefits. The plan we are looking at will include things like that which will help keep people healthier and prevent il lnesses. Mr. Speaker, there has been information about whether or not this reform has been rushed. This has not been rushed. This has been a work in progress since 2012. In 2012 a Health Financing O ptions Review task group was put together . And after a year of work, and I say bipartisan . . . and what I mean by bipartisan I mean because it represented individ uals from a cross section of our community. Insurers, employers, medical professionals were all at the table. All that information has been made public and I have spoken about it in here, Mr. Speaker. They took over a year to deliberate and review other best practice financing models throughout other jurisdictions and they produced a report in December 2012. And in that report they looked at health financing options and came up with two options, Mr. Speaker, a dual and a unified. And t hat was part of their report. Not much was done with that report because you know what happened in 2012, and in 2017, Mr. Speaker . The PLP Government, again operating on our platform to reduce health care costs, picked up that report and started. And I mus t say, Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that the financing options that existed in 2012 are still relevant today. We looked at that report. We also put together a stakeholder consultation group, Mr. Speaker, that has key stakeholders, such as unions, health professionals, insurers , employers, as well as the not -for-profit segment. And they looked at that r eport and went back to their constituent body to ask them what they thought would be the best and consulted with them. They also produced a report. And following that, Mr. Speaker, the Gover nment looked at all the options and they selected the one that they felt was the most efficient for a small jurisdiction that would adhere to our objective of un iversal health care that was affordable as well as sus-tainable. And that is when, in August, the Government announced that we would be proceeding with the un ified model. Mr. Speaker, there is an expression: your damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Following the consultation, Mr. Speaker . . . and the consultation process, like I said, that just ended was twofold. One was so that we could find out from members of the public the nature of the benefits that they would like to see included in this benefit package; and two, the transition of how we get from t he existing fee structure to the unified structure. Mr. Speaker, had we . . . imagine this. Imagine if on the 9 th of October the Government stood up and said, Yes, we have deliberated and we have decided that we are going to go with a unified system. And, in addition to that, ladies and gentlemen of the public, the benefit package will be this, this, this and not that and that. It will cost this, and the co- pay will be that. Had we come out full front and said this is the decision that we have made, we would then have been charged with saying that we did not consult, and we didn’t listen to the people. So, again, it goes to the expression your damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. This Government decided that in addition to the selection of the unified option we would go to the people to ask them what type of benefit package they would like to see, as well as assisting with the trans iBermuda House of Assembly tion. So now, Mr. Speaker, with respect to this, as part of that decision of the unified ( and you have heard me speak about this ), we needed to establish and create fiscal responsibility. And in order to do that by unifying everyone and putting all 6 5,000 people in one large risk pool in addition to creating fiscal space to address other things that are drivers in our health care costs, such as fees and utilisation, it obviously provides more efficiency as well. Mr. Speaker, if I can just refer quickly to something that was in the Royal Gazette, and, again, I started off by saying that this is somewhat of a complicated issue, this health care. I am just going to quote . . . this was in this week’s Royal Gazette , just a moment, Mr. Speaker, please . . . oh dear . . . it was in the Royal Gazette and one of them was an editorial and it was speaking to . . . here we go. It w as in the Royal Gazette on Wednesday, December 11th. It was an editorial and it was speaking about . . . it was ent itled “A healthcare tug- o-war.” It was talking about the health care reform and the petition, et cetera, and what, in the editor’s opinion, w e should be doing. And I am quoting. “Having said that, moving to an outcomes - based system does require changes in approach.” And an outcome base system is certainly something that we are looking at. It does require changes in a pproach. “It may work well only when the central pr ovider —whether that is a medical system or a sole i nsurer —can control what services may be offered and at what price.” That is the unified system. That is exactly what we are doing. See what I said? It is somewhat complicated. So yo u hear people saying I don’t su pport unified on the one hand, but what they describe as the system that they think would work best for Bermuda insofar as efficiency, affordability and the size is the unified system. And likewise, also in the newspaper thi s week was a report from the Fiscal Responsibility Panel. And I believe the Honourable Minister of Finance will be dealing with that, obviously, sometime in the near f uture. However, if I can quote, “The panelists were encouraged by the Government’s effort s to reform the healthcare system, which they saw as a step in the right direction.” And they go on and speak about things that we know insofar as our ageing population and the likes. So that is a good indictment on the Government and the position we are t aking with r espect to this by the Fiscal Responsibility Panel. Mr. Speaker, the Government has reviewed all of the options as it relates to health financing r eform. This Government was elected in 2017 on a platform to reduce health care costs. Following the review of those options we feel that the best method to start transforming our health care so that it can be affordable to everyone is by the unified system. When we canvass, Mr. Speaker, I am sure each of us can give a story and a testimonial of hearing from some person who has had to split their medication because they cannot afford to get it. So they are taking tablets one day at a time, as opposed to three times a day. We have all heard of persons who have unfortunately fallen ill and their families do not have suff icient insurance because we know that over 20 per cent of our population is either underinsured or uni nsured. And a family that does not have the proper i nsurance coverage has to do bake sales and G oFundMe pages to try to pay for their loved one’s med-ical attention that is vital and needed. We have all heard stories of how mothers have had to decide whether or not to purchase groceries as opposed to keeping their insurance. We have all heard these stories, Mr. Speaker, and they are alive and well. And we have been elected to address that. Some people might say that the opposition that we are getting in respect to this may be more from self-interests and vested interests as opposed to public interests. But we as a Government were elected to look out for the interests of the public first and for emost, and that is what we will do. We made a decision based on all of the informed information and we are standing by that decision. We are hopeful that persons can either support this decision as wel l because it will certainly be nefit each and every one of us because this plan will be required by all of us. And it is probably more important for us all to try to move forward with this and the consultation process is continuing insofar as the esta blishm ent of working groups. Persons can become i nvolved with that and there will be more information in January. However, at the end of the day this is what we were elected to do. Governments sometimes make unpopular decisions . But with a mandate of 58 per cent of the population electing us on a platform to reduce health care costs, we are certain that the steps we are taking with respect to the unified system are a step in the right direction. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you Minister. [Desk thumping]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerMinister De Silva. HEALTH CARE REFORM Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are almost at the end of the year. And in a couple of weeks’ time, we will have been in office for two and a half years. And it would appear …
Minister De Silva.
HEALTH CARE REFORM
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are almost at the end of the year. And in a couple of weeks’ time, we will have been in office for two and a half years. And it would appear that the Opposition are getting ready for the election already. All you have to do is listen for the past couple of weeks to the things that they say in this House, what the combined Opposition produces in the 2888 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly daily paper, and of course w hat they produce on s ocial media every single day. But, Mr. Speaker, I would like to just carry on a little bit from where my colleague the Health Minister just finished. And it is funny how you have had this group come out, talking about the Patients Fir st. And I heard somebody say the other day that rather than “Patients First,” I think it is more . . . and I think they are right. They are about “Profits First.” I do not think it is anything to do about patients at all. Because if that was the case, wher e have these people been for the last 10 years? Okay? And then they state publicly they are well funded. Well, who is funding them? Now we know that the health providers in this country, especially doctors and dentists . . . I do not know too many poor on es. But who are they being funded by? I would like to see them publicly state who they are funded by. And I would not be surprised if it is by someone like Colonial. I would not be a bit surprised. And why do I say that? Well, I will tell you why I say it. I heard the Honourable Member Pat Gordon- Pamplin speak just now about the health system. She spent the whole 20 minutes talking about it. I have not heard her mention a health insurance company yet. But yet, they declare $20 million in net profit every year, year after year, $20 million! That is $388,000 a week —$388,000 a week! But nobody is talking about the insurance companies. And I tell you what. I do not know about an ybody else here. But I know that my company was told that their insurance premiums f or all of their emplo yees are going up 28 per cent this year —28 per cent. But I do not hear anybody talking about the insurance companies. Why is that?
CONFIDENCE IN THE PLP
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Now, Mr. Speaker, I am going to leave that alone because I know that 20 minutes goes quick. But one thing I want to talk about again, because you know the last time we were in this House I preached to the Opposition. I said, Stop it. Maybe I shouldn’t have told them to stop it. Because it seems like it is ge tting worse. They seem to talk about doom and gloom more and more every week. Maybe it is because we are two and a half years in and two and a half years to go, because it is the same narr ative. We have seen this movie before. They preach doom and gloom every chance they get. The sky is falling, and you see the word . . . And I talked about this a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Speaker. They are bringing that word back out again, “no confidence. ” No confidence. You hear it almost verbatim by all of them. [Inaudible interjection] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: No. No, they would not point -of-order, Jason. No. But you see, there it is. But the thing is, you know, Mr. Speaker, the thing is they can talk about no confidence. But what happened today with the an-nouncem ent? Huh? This is going to be one of the bi ggest projects this Island has probably ever seen. Now if people did not have confidence in Bermuda and we have Members on the other side talk about foreign investment almost every week in this House. So we have b een preaching that for the last year and a half. And we kept saying, Look. You know, it’s coming. Well, this is the first, Mr. Speaker. And I would not dare say we are on the verge of a platinum period. But I tell you what. You look at St. Regis, Azura, Berm udiana Resort. We have Harbour Village that has been announced. We know that we are going to continue on with the programme providing housing for Berm udians. That is going to provide some jobs for Berm udians, too. But they have to stop this doom is gloom, sky - is-falling stuff. I mean, if the sky is falling, if the conf idence is so bad in this country . . . and I tell you what. We borrowed . . . we had to raise our debt ceiling a couple of weeks ago. We are looking at paying out $200 million for Morgan’s Point. But guess what? The rating agency said, You know what? These guys have got it worked out. They increased their debt ceiling, and we still have a AA rating. So where is the lack of confidence? I tell you what, had the rating agencies dropped this do wn a quarter of a point, I guarantee you they would have rode that horse until he could not ride anymore. But we have not heard a peep from that, not at all. Mr. Speaker, I am going to tell them again to stop. I remember when we were in Opposition and the Honourable Member Sylvan Richards, in particular, used to say, Hey, you guys, be careful. The international business is listening. And they are right. B ecause I tell you what, after I read my Statement today, Mr. Speaker, I received emails from the inves tors themselves. And not only at Gencom, but the Purroys sent me an email too and said, Thank you very much. And I wrote back and said, No, no. I thank you for having the confidence in Bermuda.
Some Hon. Members Some Hon. MembersYes. Yes. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes, they did, the Purroys. Yes, yes. And you know, would you like to say som ething, Honourable Member? Because I think what the Honourable Member Pat Gordon- Pamplin would say, because I heard the Opposition Leader say earlier, Well, …
Yes. Yes.
[Inaudible interjections] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes, they did, the Purroys. Yes, yes. And you know, would you like to say som ething, Honourable Member? Because I think what the Honourable Member Pat Gordon- Pamplin would say, because I heard the Opposition Leader say earlier, Well, yeah, you guys are talking about jobs. We got the airport and the hotel; those happened under OBA. Well, I tell you what. If we were so piss -poor at manBermuda House of Assembly aging, Mr. Speaker, they would have probably left. But they did not, did they? [Inaudible interjecti ons] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: If the PLP was so bad, why would they stay and why would they look at doing more in the country? Why would they? [Inaudible interjection] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I have heard you say it. You said it earlier today, Honourable Leader.
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: No, not about me. I am talking about you said that when my honourable colleague Jason Hayward, our new Member, was talking about the jobs in the country, right? No, this is on track. It i s okay. When he was talking about jobs in the country, they were chirping, talking about because of the airport and St. Regis. Right? Okay? But the fact is, and they have said it before. They have said it before. That happened under our watch. Well, yes, yes. Some of those things happened under their watch. And they are continuing under ours. In fact, I made a prediction. When I went down to St. Regis for the groundbreaking, I said, I hope you are enjoying it because you won’t cut the ribbon.
[Laughter]
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: And they will not! Because that is another thing they continue to say is we are disconnected with the people of this country. Really? Ask Jason Hayward that. Ask Jason Hayward if we are disconnected, and they tell us to spend ti me talking to people on the ground. We are a living example of talking to people on the ground in this country. Nobody has been better at talking to the people on the ground. That is why we have the majority we do. Because if people who not only are foreig ners, foreign investment companies, foreigners who want to invest, developers have conf idence in this Government, but the people of this cou ntry do, too. Confidence in the Progressive Labour Party. I do not want to hear that word “ no conf idence. ” You can talk it all you want. We are going to start talking up the word “ confidence. ” And you know what? We will not have to talk that much because we are going to have foreign billionaires to come in and tell the Opposition about the confidence they have in this country. And it is more coming. And it is more coming, too. And it is more coming. So, Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear the Ho nourable Member Pat Gordon- Pamplin say, Yeah, and bring their yachts! Yes! Yes. And, of course, we have changed the legislation so that they do bring their yachts. But the thing is, I tell you what. The Honour able Member says it is a good idea. I tell you what. I tell you what, when I was in Opposition, guess what, Mr. Speaker? You want to talk about superyachts? That started under t he Pr ogressive Labour Party way back when. And I will tell you what, I will call a name for you. Ask the Greenes down at the Hamilton Princess when we started tal king about superyachts in this country when we were in Opposition. And ask Michael Scott, the Honourable Member from constituency 36. He was at the same meeting as I was when they said, Listen, I want you guys to push that. That is right. So I tell you what, Mr. Speaker. I want to give thanks yet one more time to Hotelco Group, to the Purroys and to also Gencom for having the conf idence in Bermuda to not only do what they are doing, but to continue what they are doing. And that is having confidence in the Progressive Labour Party. Thank you.
[Desk thumping]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Minister. I now recognise the Leader of the Opposition. Honourable Member, you have the floor. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to keep on a level note here. [Inaudible interjections] THE ECONOMY —NEED TO STIMULATE Hon. L. Crai g Cannonier: Yes, …
Thank you, Minister. I now recognise the Leader of the Opposition. Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to keep on a level note here. [Inaudible interjections]
THE ECONOMY —NEED TO STIMULATE
Hon. L. Crai g Cannonier: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Some of us do not like reality calls, and when stati stics show us things, I know it is tough to accept certain things. But I did read in the paper from an esteemed member of the community, and he was giving a speech. And he, Patrick Tannock, talked about eight things that we need to be doing to remain relevant and to be relevant in the face of creating Bermuda and continuing Bermuda to be a domicile and an at-traction for business. The very first thing that he spoke to was i ncrease the speed of execution. And I kind of just wanted to hover around that whole idea because, as we have seen from one generation to the next, there is an expectation that things get delivered much quicker. Whether it be food, you can now get basically home- cooked food almost in an instant, per se. You can pop something in the microwave, and you can get it heated up almost right away. And so there is an expectation amongst people that we need to increase the speed of getting things to people. We can go on the Internet and essentially find out just about an y2890 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly thing we wish by just pushing a few buttons and as king a few questions, and there is the answer. And so, as one of the business leaders of Bermuda, I take to heart what he has to say because I recognise as politicians at times we tend to deliver resolution to things not as swiftly as people would like. And I am only reminded of a personal situation where an uncle of mine had a heart attack, and I raced to the hospital, one of the first there. An d they had him monitored, and he flatlined. The alarms all went off. And you could see the heart monitor there basically go to a flat line —the first time I have actually seen that in person. But as a result of that, bells and whistles went off, and a whole lot of doctors, nurses, you- name- it came immediately in to tend to the situation. And so the job of being a politician is not easy. And even more importantly, as we listened to our Government end our debates today and also in the motion to adjourn, it is not easy being Gover nment. Even in the face of a survey, and when the survey is done and local businesses say that their conf idence is down, that is an actual report that was done. And we can debate over whether it was —
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Point of order. Point of order. Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerPoint of order, yes. POINT OF ORDER [Rules of Debate—reflecting on prior debate] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I think several Members on this side were stopped from reflecting on an earlier debate.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberNo, they were not. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: I am not reflecting on that . . . exactly. Yes.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerBe cautious. Be cautious of earlier d ebates. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. I take note that t hey changed the motion and only three people spoke to it. So he had an o pportunity to speak, and he did not. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. …
Be cautious. Be cautious of earlier d ebates.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. I take note that t hey changed the motion and only three people spoke to it. So he had an o pportunity to speak, and he did not. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Only three. Your motion! Your motion! Your motion.
[Inaudible interjections and laughter ]
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberYou did not speak either. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: No need to. So, Mr. Speaker, when I take a look at this here, it is quite interesting that in this whole concept of speed to market, getting answers out there quickly, there is an expectat ion of us to deliver …
You did not speak either.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: No need to. So, Mr. Speaker, when I take a look at this here, it is quite interesting that in this whole concept of speed to market, getting answers out there quickly, there is an expectat ion of us to deliver sound jud gment on things, well -thought -out ideas and resolutions or solution to certain issues, and get them to our pe ople as quickly as possible. I have spoken to this before. And when I think about how real estate in Bermuda has been one of these areas that has allowed Bermuda and regular Bermudians to amass a certain amount of status in Bermuda in being able to own a home in Bermuda. It has allowed us to rent it out to get it paid for, and even once it is paid for it has allowed us to be able to travel and to be able to support our kids in education, even to support our kids in a situation like mine, for them to even help them buy a piece of the rock, as well. And one of these challenges with this partic ular industry is that in 2012, and a large part of this had to do with the recession, the worldwide recession that took a grip on even Bermuda, real estate sales had gone down to 200 by 2012. And so, you know, it is fairly easy to speculate. A large part of that had to do with the fac t that there was a recession and it affected all of us. And in talking to . . .
[Inaudible interjection] Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Two hundred sales, res idential sales, or property sales I should say, within the year. We had gone from a high of 650 just prior to 2008. And we saw those numbers dwindle down. Now we are beginning to see for 2019 those numbers move more towards, by the end of this D ecember, that 200 mark, which was an all -time low for us. The result of that means that property values are going down. We recognise . . . and I am not blaming any particular administration for this. These are just the facts. And whether or not people want to accept them or not —
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerHonourable Member . POINT OF ORDER [Misleading] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: The Honourable Member is certainly misleading the House. Property values have not been going down this year. The Honourable Member needs to double- check the real estate because that is untrue. So he would need to just …
Honourable Member .
POINT OF ORDER [Misleading] Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: The Honourable Member is certainly misleading the House. Property values have not been going down this year. The Honourable Member needs to double- check the real estate because that is untrue. So he would need to just doublecheck his facts.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not sure . . . He has not given me anything to prove otherwise. I just sat down a whole night last
Bermuda House of Assembly night with a head of the largest real estate agency in Bermuda and got the numbers. So I do not know where he is getting his numbers from. I am speaking from facts.
[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Exactly. Facts were given.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerTalk to the Chair. Speak to the Chair. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: As I said, values for our properties have gone down. And this goes back to again just not accepting the facts. No one is blaming anyone. The facts are that value for homes in this I sland and …
Talk to the Chair. Speak to the Chair. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: As I said, values for our properties have gone down. And this goes back to again just not accepting the facts. No one is blaming anyone. The facts are that value for homes in this I sland and property have gone down. Whether it is i ncremental in one year or not, the fact is that the same house that many of us bought for $1 million is now selling . . . if you go to sell it you can only probably get about $750,000 for it. But whether or not many of the Members of Government are willing to accept th at or not does not change that fact. And so they can chirp all they want. They can make all the noise that they want. The facts are the facts! [Inaudible interjections]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerDo not let them take you off track now. Do not let them take you off track. Stay where you were. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: And so if we are moving back to, Mr. Speaker . . . Exactly. Here we go.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerStay on track. Stay on track. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: So if we are moving back to those 200 property sales for 2019 . . . that is a fact. Whether they accept it or not, it is a fact. And if we go back to what Patrick Tannock was …
Stay on track. Stay on track. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: So if we are moving back to those 200 property sales for 2019 . . . that is a fact. Whether they accept it or not, it is a fact. And if we go back to what Patrick Tannock was saying, increased speed of execution, that particular property in Berm uda is flatlining. It is flatlining. And we as legislators collectively ha ve to find a way to deal with this. We have got to find a way to approach and deal with these things.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: We have so much information available to us, so many reports. And whether it is a report coming from the Berm uda First group that says the exact same thing, that we need to increase the speed of execution, they said it in slightly a …
Yes.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: We have so much information available to us, so many reports. And whether it is a report coming from the Berm uda First group that says the exact same thing, that we need to increase the speed of execution, they said it in slightly a different way, but the same message. Whether you talk to the Fiscal Responsibility Group, same thing. Whether you talk to locals who own their own businesses, l ocals who are working, they are looking for resolution. Simple as that. And with speed. And so I am just tal k-ing about this particular sector where there are cha llenges. So, unless we start accepting the fact that there are som e facts out there that may not be pretty, without pointing fingers at anyone, we simply need to address them. And we heard reflection and debate earlier today. And I am just reflecting on the fact that, okay, well, there are some solutions that have been put into place. But what I did hear as I listened to ev eryone was, quite frankly, it has been a collective effort. Because Gencom came here under a different Gov-ernment than this Government. And so did St. Regis, under a different Government than this Gover nment. And now this Government is taking the opportunity to build on the confidence that they had, and rightfully so. They should! Rightfully so. But it was not done in a tube or a vacuum of their own. It was efforts by this Government when we were Government, and now it is an effort by them as a Government to capitalise on these things. So when Honourable Members get up here talking about people, you know, People must be dumb, and this kind of a thing, what kind of language is that in this House? We are s till looking for the $800,000 that the Honourable Minister gave to somebody for music up in Doc kyard! You know, we need to stop throwing these things back and forth!
[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Well, you find it. Where is it? Where is it? You know, we want to throw stones at people, but you build a $42 million complex, and it is just now coming to resolution, what, 10, 12, 15 years ago? Huh? You know? So, what we need to do . . .
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. L. Craig Cannoni er: Yes. It is on the jet. It is on the same jet that the Premier was supposed to be taking, and he still has not explained exactly who he was going with. So what? I had no issues with that. I got no problems with that at all. I am standing here because I know what took place. The question is, what took place there? It means nothing to me. It is no threat to me at all.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGetting you sidetracked. Getting you sidetracked. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: I am sure. I am sure. I am sure. So they can sidetrack it all they want. All of the skeletons that they have in their closet, they should be very careful what they are saying, very, very …
Getting you sidetracked. Getting you sidetracked. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: I am sure. I am sure. I am sure. So they can sidetrack it all they want. All of the skeletons that they have in their closet, they should be very careful what they are saying, very, very careful. 2892 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly We have got Honourable Members who are in court now over this issue. But yet, th ey are still chir ping! Unbelievable, Mr. Speaker! So the disrespect that we continue to see continues on with this Gover nment, disrespect! We have seen disrespect in this House of Assembly, to the House, to the House! To the House, Mr. Speaker!
The Speake r: Speak to your point, speak to your point. Just stay on your point. [Inaudible interjections]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerStay on your point. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: My point is this, Mr. Speaker. There is a whole lot that we can throw around here.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: And obviously there are select Members of the Government who still feel that they want to throw stones and they live in a glass house. Unbelievable, quite frankly. Unbelievable. But yet, at the same time, the facts still remain the facts. And whether we want …
Yes. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: And obviously there are select Members of the Government who still feel that they want to throw stones and they live in a glass house. Unbelievable, quite frankly. Unbelievable. But yet, at the same time, the facts still remain the facts. And whether we want to accept it or not as we lead into this Christmas season, people are still hurting. And people are looking for answers. And they are looking for answers now. So, I have heard from this administ ration that, We are working on things. We’re going to stick to our plan. In the meantime, there are people who are looking for resolution right now because they are flatlining. And until we can find those resolutions and those s olutions, people will continue to be unemployed. People will continue to lose their businesses. People will continue to lose their homes. And people will continue to lose their buildings that they bought. And I am not talking about the white community. I am talking about the black co mmunity who has gotten to a point where some have attained certain things and it is at jeopardy right now. And so what they are waiting for is the next move from our Premier that is going to give them some reassurance that they can hang in there. B ecause if they go to the bank, the bank is not going to give them anything. The bank is not going to extend any overdraft to some of these businesses. It is just not going to happen. Because they are going to say to us, as they have already said, Deposits are dow n 30 per cent. And so we are going to protect ourselves. And that fact alone is a sobering one because it does mean that money is being moved when deposits are down by 30 per cent. It is a sobering fact. And so we have a great opportunity, because the int ellectual capital is in this room and it is outside of this room to come to resolution and to help the sit uation out. So to come into the House and start calling people names and that kind of thing ain’t going to help. They can talk about playing right all they want. It ain’t going to help them resolve things. I does not matter to me. It does not matter to me whatsoever. B ecause I know there are plenty of issues over there So let us get on as we move into this next season, well, into the season of Christmas and a New Year, with the intent of really sticking to the issues and trying to resolve them. As I have said already, we can see where one has made a decision. The company is here. And now this Government can take advantage of building more confidence wit h them and getting to buy more. It is a brilliant scenario. Now what we need to do is get a couple more like that, and we will see this Island flourish.
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Oh, yes. I know about it. I know about one more bi g one that is coming. [Laughter] Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: And it has to do with . . . Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And it already has to do with som eone who is already here and whom we have already mentioned in this House, the name. So we know that. I am happy for that. It is a good thing! It is a good thing because just like they talk to them, they also talk to us. So, you know, listen. I am grateful that they have confidence to buy more property. I do. I do.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Well, get it now while it is cheap! Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: So . . . unbelievable, Mr. Speaker.
[Laughter]
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Unbelievable. Unbeliev able.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerDo not get sidetracked. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: I am not sidetracked.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerDo not get sidetracked. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: I marvel. I hope that the public is listening. This is unbelievable, when people are hurting. People are literally hurting. People are literally hurting. [Inaudible interjection] Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Now he is talking about me saying something …
Do not get sidetracked. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: I marvel. I hope that the public is listening. This is unbelievable, when people are hurting. People are literally hurting. People are literally hurting.
[Inaudible interjection]
Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Now he is talking about me saying something I did not say. Unbelievable, unbelievable. So, Mr. Speaker, with all that he has, maybe he should buy it, like he said he was going to buy Grand Atlantic. Maybe he should do that. Maybe he should buy a hotel property, you know?
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I am going to buy a jet.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: And he probably should buy one of those as well, because we know plenty of them flew on jets. Plenty of them flew on jets, but they do not want to talk about it —and they did not pay for it. And they did not pay for it. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Oh, of course they do because I am the Opposition. Of course they do. Of course they do.
SEASON’S GREETINGS
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: So, Mr. Speaker, what is important, as we go into the season, is that we have a merry one and that we find a way, each one of us, to give, even when it is painful for us, because we are leaders in this community.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: That we give. It is a ti me when most people find the opportunity to extend themselves. I hope that we can take this season and extend it into 2020 so that we will have a better for ecast for our people, a stronger Island …
Yes.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: That we give. It is a ti me when most people find the opportunity to extend themselves. I hope that we can take this season and extend it into 2020 so that we will have a better for ecast for our people, a stronger Island where people are continuing to invest and where our own people can find a way to come home and to find work. And so, Mr. Speaker, to you, Merry Chris tmas; to the House and your team, Ms. Wolffe, Merry Christmas; to the Government, Merry Christmas. And to my team, Merry Christmas.
Some Hon. Members Some Hon. MembersMerry Christm as. Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: All confidence is in our people even when they do not have the confidence in the Government or the Opposition. We have conf idence in our people to make the right decisions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [Desk thumping]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Does any other Honourable Member . . .
Ms. Ming.
Mrs. Renee MingMr. Speaker. The Speaker: MP from St. George’s. How are you this evening? ST. GEORGE’S COMMUNITY POLICING STATION
Mrs. Renee MingI am fine. I just want a minute of your time. Since we are talking about facts, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to say that yesterday we opened the St. George’s Community Policing Station, and that is a fact! That is a fact. Okay? Not one that I sat up and …
I am fine. I just want a minute of your time. Since we are talking about facts, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to say that yesterday we opened the St. George’s Community Policing Station, and that is a fact! That is a fact. Okay? Not one that I sat up and talked about over somebody all night; we went down there and we did it. So it is a fact, yes. [Laughter]
Mrs. Renee MingSo it was with pleasure, Mr. Speaker, that we opened the St. George’s Community Policing Office yesterday. And it is one of those situations, Mr. Speaker, w here we listened. We hit our doorsteps, Mr. Speaker. We got out there and we actually listened to what our people said. So …
So it was with pleasure, Mr. Speaker, that we opened the St. George’s Community Policing Office yesterday. And it is one of those situations, Mr. Speaker, w here we listened. We hit our doorsteps, Mr. Speaker. We got out there and we actually listened to what our people said. So despite sometimes these things that we hear, that we do not listen, and we have to show people that we care, that is something that w e did do. And despite whether people think that we do not care, we do care. Yesterday was something I think that the pe ople of St. George’s and the surrounding areas have been waiting for for quite some time, Mr. Speaker. And it was the culmination of meetings between the area MPs, and that would be MP Swan, MP Ming, MP Furbert and Minister Foggo with regard to the . . . and we were meeting with the Bermuda Police Service. I have to commend Superintendent Na’ima Astwood, because first of all she is a Somer set lady.
Mrs. Renee MingYes. So we will note that up front. It is her one flaw.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThat is her great strength. [Inaudible interjections]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThat is her strength right there.
Mrs. Renee MingJust one flaw. But, Mr. Speaker, I have to say that she persevered with us. She kept us on track sometimes when we wanted to go off track. And she made sure that what we talked about initially came to fruition. I know she worked hard on our side; we …
Just one flaw. But, Mr. Speaker, I have to say that she persevered with us. She kept us on track sometimes when we wanted to go off track. And she made sure that what we talked about initially came to fruition. I know she worked hard on our side; we worked hard on our side. And then I also want to thank the Minister for National Security because I think he got an earful ev ery five minutes when we wanted to go to him and say, We want this to happen! I need this to happen! We want you to look at something! So it was what yo u call 2894 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly a collaborative effort. Because I do not think any . . . no one person did anything by themselves, Mr. Speaker. It was a group or an entity of people who came together and made something happen. And yesterday, when we stood there, getting ready to cut the ribbon for the office, it was even more heart -warming to look out and see so many St. George’s residents and business owners coming out, because they too were excited to see that this is ha ppening in St. George’s. And for those of you who do not know, the new station is on Somers Wharf. And it actually has land and marine access. And so that is something that is a bit different, too, as well as that a police marine boat can actually pull up, and they can go into the station as well. But the generos ity of the blessing was from Mr. Somers himself, who afforded the Bermuda Police Service the space to be able to have the Community Policing Office. Mr. Speaker, sometimes, you know, you get things right. And sometimes you just have to work hard for some things. And I think that what we saw was collaboration. It was hard work. But at the end of the day, it was a community coming together to work for its people. And when I say community, I do not mean just those persons who live and reside in St. George’s. I am talking about those persons who just basically have an interest in St. George’s. So, Mr. Speaker, my comments are brief on that. We are proud of it. We will support it and do the best we can with it.
SEASON’S GREETINGS
Mrs. Renee MingAnd on that note, Mr. Speaker, I just would like to wish and extend season’s greetings to all of the people in Bermuda. To my legislative co lleagues, I wish you all the best this Christmas season. I wish you a prosperous New Year. And I hope that when we …
And on that note, Mr. Speaker, I just would like to wish and extend season’s greetings to all of the people in Bermuda. To my legislative co lleagues, I wish you all the best this Christmas season. I wish you a prosperous New Year. And I hope that when we come back in t his space, we continue to do the work for the people of Bermuda. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you, Honourable Member. Premier. [Pause] [Inaudible interjection] Hon. E. David Burt: I do not want to make it up as I go along, see? So I collect my thoughts, Opposition Leader. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. E. David Burt: Yes, I have got a plan all laid out. Battling the status …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerTime is ticking. Hon. E. David Burt: Good afternoon, or good evening or good morning, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. It is morning. Hon. E. David Burt: We are now at midnight.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGood morning. [Inaudible interjections] Hon. E. David Burt: Oh, yes, you did at the very first sentence. We are going to talk about the status quo and the guy you are sitting next to. We are going to talk about him today. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, it has been a …
Good morning.
[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. E. David Burt: Oh, yes, you did at the very first sentence. We are going to talk about the status quo and the guy you are sitting next to. We are going to talk about him today. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, it has been a long time since I have had an opportunity to get up and speak on m otion to adjourn. And I have missed you, too, MP Pearman.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberUh-oh. HEALTH CARE REFORM Hon. E. David Burt: But I am going to talk about a few things today because I think they are important. And we have heard a lot of things today, and we are ending this calendar year in the House of Assembly, which, again, the Government …
Uh-oh.
HEALTH CARE REFORM
Hon. E. David Burt: But I am going to talk about a few things today because I think they are important. And we have heard a lot of things today, and we are ending this calendar year in the House of Assembly, which, again, the Government has put forward an i mpressive array of legislation and advanced things on a number of particular topics, Mr. Speaker. And it has not always been rosy, and it has not always been fun. And it has not always been without controvers y. But at the end of the day, we are doing what we believe is in the best interests of the people who elected us to serve. Now there is something that we heard a little bit about earlier, and I did write a lot of notes, but I did not have to speak about i t too much because the Mi nister of Health adequately answered the questions and the charges of which were laid by the Honourable Member for constituency 23. But —
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
An Hon. Member An Hon. MemberThere we go! [Laughter]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. POINT OF ORDER [Misleading] Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: The Honourable Members is misleading the House. I laid no charges.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerPremier. Premier. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: I laid no charges. I simply m ade comments in respect of observations and information that had come to us, which I am commanded to relay to the Government. I made no charges whatever.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGo ahead. Continue. Hon. E. David Burt: I am going to be polite. But I might have to gi ve the young lady some gingko biloba, because I remember when she was up here talking about how this Government would not do this and is not doing that and all …
Go ahead. Continue.
Hon. E. David Burt: I am going to be polite. But I might have to gi ve the young lady some gingko biloba, because I remember when she was up here talking about how this Government would not do this and is not doing that and all the rest, and what about this? But here is the thing. Let me just be very simple.
[Inaudible in terjection]
Hon. E. David Burt: That is okay. Because, you know, it is this whole change. So here is what we are going to say. The challenge that the Opposition has is that they believe that we approach situations the way that they did. This is very imp ortant. I can give no better example than the way in which they approached Pathways to St atus, announcing a decision of which they had made a day after they had lost a bye- election. Understand, they believe that that is the way that the Government is operating. And they believe that we have some pr econceived notion that we have made up. So when we actually go through a four -month consultative process and, as the Minister of Health said, You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. And when we hear the Hon ourable Member from constituency 23 talk about how the Government should stop and listen, what do you think the Minister of Health has been doing for the last four months? In countless forums, making sure to listen exactly to what is being said from doctor s, from allied health pr ofessionals, all over the place. See, the fact is . . . you know what it is, Mr. Speaker? They do not like the fact that they lost the election. We won the election. We promised the country that we will implement a national health care plan, and we are actually doing it. The fact that we are f ocusing—focusing—on the people of this country and putting their interests first is something that burns some of them. Because they have interests to protect. Here is the thing, Mr. Speaker. N o one on this side owns an insurance company. No one on this side is tied to the insurance industry like that, Mr. Speaker. And the fact is that where we are coming from is to make the changes that work. It is very simple. The Honourable Member for constit uency 23 says you have to have something that resonates. You know what resonates, Mr. Speaker? It is very simple. Pe ople want better health care access, lower health i nsurance costs, and they want to make sure that there is some regulation on co- pays. Simp le. That is what we will deliver. That is what this Government is f ocused on. And guess what? We have a different approach. We want to make sure that we are focusing on the needs of the many, whereas some want to be focusing on the needs of the few, the i nsurance companies. We know which side we are on. Understand. I think that is the exact point that Minister De Silva made. Who mentioned insurance companies? That is it, eerily silent. But who stands to benefit from no change in the current system? Who stands to benefit?
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerWe will take your point of order. POINT OF ORDER [Misleading] Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: The Honourable Member is intentionally misleading the House. N obody said that there is going to be no . . . that we were criticising the change in the system. He says, Who stands …
We will take your point of order.
POINT OF ORDER [Misleading] Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: The Honourable Member is intentionally misleading the House. N obody said that there is going to be no . . . that we were criticising the change in the system. He says, Who stands to benefit? The people stand to benefit from changes in the system. What the people will not benefit from is the failure to give them the information that they need in order to feel comfortable with what they are getting. That is where the miscommunication is.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerPremier. Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerGo ahead. Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will now move on because health care is important. because those are the issues that we have to tackle which are important inside the country. CRIME AND VIOLENCE —PLP TACKLING ROOT CAU SES OF Hon. E. David Burt: Do …
Go ahead.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will now move on because health care is important. because those are the issues that we have to tackle which are important inside the country.
CRIME AND VIOLENCE —PLP TACKLING ROOT CAU SES OF
Hon. E. David Burt: Do you know what is another important issue, Mr. Speaker? Crim e and violence. Again we have a different approach. It was outlined inside of our election manifesto that we are going to take a different approach and tackle the root causes of violence. Very simple, Mr. Speaker. We said in the first 100 days we would appoint a gang violence r eduction coordinator. We said that we were going to focus intensively on treating the causes of gang vi olence. And the work of which we have engaged in in 2896 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly the last 28 months is bearing fruit, Mr. Speaker. And that is because we have t aken a different approach. And that is because we did not listen to the noise from that side who want to chirp about how much someone is getting paid, who want to chirp about exactly what is going on. Do you understand? We cancelled the $250,000 for John Jay College, and we spent that money here on this Island, Mr. Speaker, investing in Bermudians who would do the job and get inside the schools and all the rest, Mr. Speaker. See? That is it. We are focused on our mi ssion. We understand that the plan of w hich we have laid out is the right plan, and no amount of noise from that side is going to deter us from our goal. If we would have listened to them in 2018 and been scared off of making sure that we invested in dealing with these root causes, then we pro bably would not have had the success we have right now, Mr. Speaker. But we did not. We remained focused on the job. And I want to congratulate the Minister of N ational Security and his team for the work and energy and effort of which they are putting in. Because it is bearing fruit, Mr. Speaker.
[Desk thumping]
Some Hon. Members Some Hon. MembersYes. Yes. PLP’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS—EDUCATION Hon. E. David Burt: Again, Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the difference in approach. The Minister of Education on the motion to adj ourn, as he led off, spoke about the difference in approach, Mr. Speaker. He spoke about the $15million cumulative additional i nvestment …
Yes. Yes.
PLP’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS—EDUCATION
Hon. E. David Burt: Again, Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the difference in approach. The Minister of Education on the motion to adj ourn, as he led off, spoke about the difference in approach, Mr. Speaker. He spoke about the $15million cumulative additional i nvestment that has gone into education and training Bermudians, Mr. Speaker. And we are seeing the r esults, Mr. Speaker. The bes t investment of which any Gover nment can make is investment in its people through education and ensuring that people have the tools with which to succeed in a changing economy, Mr. Speaker. I make zero apologies for the fact that we have spent and invested money not only in our prim ary schools, in our middle schools, in our secondary schools, but also at the Bermuda College and through Workforce Development, which increased scholarships, increased training opportunities and increased apprenticeships, Mr. Speaker. And that is bearing fruit. Again, Mr. Speaker, it is a difference of approach. The Opposition could find money for a boat race, but could not find money for scholarships. We will find the money for the scholarships.
THE ECONOMY —PLP’S DIVERSIFICATION OF Hon. E. David Burt: We will find the money for i nvestment. And guess what, Mr. Speaker? We have also found a way to balance this country’s budget. Now there is a lot of chatter talking about the economy, Mr. Speaker. And we heard earlier som eone s aying that there is a disconnect between what the Government is saying and what is happening. And here is what I will say, Mr. Speaker. I can accept some of that. And as the Leader of the country, I must bear the responsibility for it. And if there is something that I think that we can certainly do better, is that we can certainly improve our communications and our efforts with the public. So I accept that. I accept that criticism. But here is what I will say. Here is what I will say, Mr. Speaker. [Inaudi ble interjections]
The SpeakerThe SpeakerJust stay in your corner. Do not get sidetracked. Hon. E. David Burt: What I say is, however, if there is a view of a faltering economy inside the country, when the statistics point otherwise, Mr. Speaker, as was ably lai d out by our newest Member of Parliament earlier …
Just stay in your corner. Do not get sidetracked.
Hon. E. David Burt: What I say is, however, if there is a view of a faltering economy inside the country, when the statistics point otherwise, Mr. Speaker, as was ably lai d out by our newest Member of Parliament earlier today, I have to ask the exact same question of which she asked: Why does the Opposition think that it is good for the country to attempt to talk down the economy? Let me be very clear, Mr. Speaker. Retail sales are just one part of the puzzle. And do you know how retail sales are done? Retail sales are from exis ting businesses, and very rarely new businesses get factored in. And the only time, or most times that most new businesses get entered in is when ol d businesses go out of business, Mr. Speaker. Here is the fact. Shopping patterns are changing, Mr. Speaker. People are getting different and better and wiser. Do you know why there has been a drop in motor vehicle sales as well, Mr. Speaker? B ecause taxi owners are bringing used cars that they are able to land in the country for $6,000 as opposed to going down the corner and getting one for $45,000, Mr. Speaker. Shopping patterns have changed. The reason why inflation is at a record low, Mr. Speaker —inflation has not been this low in 20 years —is because shopping patterns are changing, and there is more competition in the economy. But here, Mr. Speaker, are the economic facts. There are more jobs in Bermuda now than when we came into office. I am going to say it again, Mr. Speaker. There are more jobs in Bermuda now than when we came into office. And here is what they say, Mr. Speaker. They say that, Oh, it’s all due to hiring inside the public service!, once again making it up as they go along. Because last year, there was an increase of 151 jobs. And only 24, or 16 per cent of them, were in public
Bermuda House of Assembly administration, Mr. Speaker. So, no. Most of them did not come from the public sector. But the lies do not stop there, Mr. Speaker! We just heard the Honour able Member, the Honourable Opposition Leader, talk about —
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Point of order, Mr. Speaker. Point of order, Mr. Speaker.
POINT OF ORDER [Unparliamentary language ] Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: We have been admonished that the word “ lie” is inappropriate. I can accept “ misinformation” if that is what the Honourable Member says. But what is good for the goose must be good for the gander. If we cannot say somebody is lying, then he should not be able to either.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Hon. E. David Burt: I withdraw, Mr. Speaker. I apol ogise for that.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAppreciate it. Hon. E. David Burt: I withdraw. I withdraw. The misinformation , Mr. Speaker, continues. Because the Honourable Leader of the Opposition just got up a nd said there is a 30 per cent decline in d eposits! Well, thankfully, the Honourable— Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Point of order, …
The SpeakerThe SpeakerYes. POINT OF ORDER Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: That came directly from the bank. [Laughter] Hon. E . David Burt: Well, Mr. Speaker, allow me to give directly from the Bermuda Monetary Authority’s latest statistics of which they publish on their website, of which I had the opportunity to look …
Yes.
POINT OF ORDER Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: That came directly from the bank. [Laughter] Hon. E . David Burt: Well, Mr. Speaker, allow me to give directly from the Bermuda Monetary Authority’s latest statistics of which they publish on their website, of which I had the opportunity to look at, Mr. Speaker. And here we go! Deposits fluctuate all the ti me. But the year -over-year change in deposits was down 1 per cent. Not the 30 per cent of which he wants to say.
Some Hon. Members Some Hon. MembersWhoa! [Inaudible interjections ] Hon. E. David Burt: Now, here is the thing, Mr. Speaker, as I say. We come in here and ma ke things up! That is what they do, Mr. Speaker! They find a statistic, and they go and run with it. And they say that no …
Whoa!
[Inaudible interjections ]
Hon. E. David Burt: Now, here is the thing, Mr. Speaker, as I say. We come in here and ma ke things up! That is what they do, Mr. Speaker! They find a statistic, and they go and run with it. And they say that no one will ever call them for it. But people of this country are wiser, Mr. Speaker. Incomes are higher. Unemployment is lower. And ther e are more jobs in this economy than there were when we came into office. Those are the facts. So they can continue to talk down the economy. But guess what, Mr. Speaker? The people of the country do not have to listen to those who want to score political points. They can listen to those who do not have a dog in this fight. They can listen to Stan dard & Poor’s, who will confirm the ratings and congratulate the Government for the way in which they handled the Morgan’s Point situation. They can look at Conv ex Insurance, who set up in Bermuda the largest insurance start -up in Bermuda’s history, Mr. Speaker, started because of the confidence in this Government.
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. E. David Burt: World’s history, my apologies; thank you. We can look at the fact that Bermuda is one of three jurisdictions that have reciprocal status with the United States. That was done under our Government, Mr. Speaker. New hotel investment today, which will create hundreds of Bermudian jobs, Mr. Speaker, not only in construction, but also after the job is finished. And here is the kicker, Mr. Speaker. The One Bermuda Alliance set up the Fiscal Responsibility Panel with the majority of the members appointed by the former Mi nister of Finance, say they support the Gov ernment’s approach and changes to our health care system, Mr. Speaker. That is what happens, Mr. Speaker. So what we have are those people who do not have a dog in the fight, those people who are independent, those people who do not need to serve poli tical aims, who will say that they support the work of which the Government is doing, Mr. Speaker. So let us be clear. We have new investors coming into the country. We have new international business coming into the country. New banks, new insurers, new industries. And yes, Mr. Speaker, let us talk about FinTech. Because the latest intelligence report, Mr. Speaker, now says that they are up 99 companies. Here we go, Mr. Speaker, and now up from one month to the next. We now have 43 jobs, and 25 of them are Bermudians who are working inside that i ndustry, Mr. Speaker. Very simple. This is called pr ogress, Mr. Speaker. So no matter how many times the One Bermuda Alliance would like to tear down the direction in which we are going, we are going to r emain focused because we have to progress this cou ntry and this economy, Mr. Speaker. So I will say it again before I close. They represent the past. We represent the future. They repr esent the status quo, and we represent the party that 2898 13 December 2019 Official Hansard Report
Bermuda House of Assembly recognises that the status quo is not delivering for the people of this country, Mr. Speaker. And we will make no apologies at any point in time, whether it comes from health care or diversification of the economy, investment education, tackling the root cause of the gang violence. We w ill not apologise for a different approach because it was the approach that we were elected to fulfil, and that is the approach of which we are taking, Mr. Speaker. So now in the two and a half minutes I have left—
The SpeakerThe SpeakerAbout that. SEASON’S GREETINGS Hon. E. David Burt: Allow me to, as Rolfe said (sorry), MP Commissiong said, spread some Christmas cheer. Now, Christmas at some points in time can be a sombre time for many because it is a time when they remember the persons whom they no longer …
About that.
SEASON’S GREETINGS
Hon. E. David Burt: Allow me to, as Rolfe said (sorry), MP Commissiong said, spread some Christmas cheer. Now, Christmas at some points in time can be a sombre time for many because it is a time when they remember the persons whom they no longer have with them. And there are many around us who have lost people who have been close to us this year. And there are many inside of our communities who have. And I think that it is important for all of us to r emember those who may not be as happy as they normally would have been during the Christmas season, Mr. Speaker. And it is also important to note that there is tragedy inside of our communities every day. Our newest Member of Parliament was called into action last Saturday, as there was a fire in his c onstituency, which managed to devastate an entire family. And the Government has managed to re- house that family, and we are working to make sure that we can get them the provisions of which they need. Our party has committed to assisting. Our Christmas party that we are having this week is part of a fundraising drive . . . not a fundraising drive, a drive for equipment —not equipment, supplies for the house.
The SpeakerThe SpeakerFurniture, right. Hon. E. David Burt: Provisions like sheets, towels, plates, all the things of which you need when all of your items are destroyed. And we want to just be sure to continue to encourage persons to look out for ot hers when they have. This year we showed …
Furniture, right. Hon. E. David Burt: Provisions like sheets, towels, plates, all the things of which you need when all of your items are destroyed. And we want to just be sure to continue to encourage persons to look out for ot hers when they have. This year we showed the incredible generosity of the Bermudian community when it was with t he hu rricane in the Bahamas and our response to make sure that we helped those persons in need. And I would sincerely hope, as I know actually will happen, that in Bermuda during this season, remember those in our community who are in need. Because there are many. That is the reason why we have to make sure to continue working, Mr. Speaker. But it is important at Christmas that we remember those who need our help. So, please, I encourage everyone to look in on their families. Look in on their neighbours. Look in on those persons who might need a helping hand. Invite them to dinner if you have space, and let us make sure that we have the Christmas spirit. So with that, Mr. Speaker, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. I wish all Members a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I sincerely hope that everyone here can remain safe and have a happy and joyous holiday. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SEASON’S GREETINGS
The SpeakerThe SpeakerThank you. Members, the Premier ended us on a good note. In fact, the Opposition Leader ended his as well on that note. And I would just take from where they both are and remind us of the importance of the season that we are in. It is remembering those …
Thank you. Members, the Premier ended us on a good note. In fact, the Opposition Leader ended his as well on that note. And I would just take from where they both are and remind us of the importance of the season that we are in. It is remembering those who are around us whom we should take an extra special care for, those who are not necessarily as fortunate as some of us may think we are. Remember to just reach out and remember them at this time. And with that, I would like to wish each and every one of you here in this building this evening a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year. But remember it is family time that is most important as well. Do not forget your family. Be close to them. Take time away from the stress and headache that the pu blic responsibility gives us during this time and just be close to your famil y. And remember your communities. With that, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and we will see you the 31 st of January.
[Gavel] [At 12:24 am, (Saturday, 14 December 2019), the House stood adjourned until 10:00 am, Friday, 31 January 2020.]