November 6, 2019

2018/19 SESSION
of the
BERMUDA SENATE
OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT
6 November 2019
Sitting number 23 of the 2018/19 Session
(pages 675–680)
Sen. The Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright, MBE, JP
President
Disclaimer: The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for
informational purposes only. The printed version remains the official
record.

Official Hansard Report 6 November 2019 675
B ermuda Senate BERMUDA SENATE
OFFICIA L HANSAR D REPORT
6 NOVEMBER 20 19
10:03 AM
Sitting Number 23 of the 2018/ 19 Session
[Sen. the Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright , President , pre-
siding ]
The President: Good morning, Senators.
The Senate is in session.
Shall we pray?
PRAYERS
[
Prayers read by Sen. the Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright ,
President ]
CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES
[Minutes of 30 September and 2 October 2019]
The President: The Minutes of the 30th of September
and the 2nd of October 2019.
Sen. James S. Jardine: Madam President, good
morning.
The President: Senator Jardine, you have the floor.
Sen. James S. Jardine: Madam President, I move
that the Minutes of the meetings of Monday, the 30th
of September 2019 , and Wednesday, the 2nd of Oct o-
ber 2019 , be taken as read.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Senator Jardine.
Sen. James. S. Jardine: Madam President .
Madam President, I move that the Minutes of
Monday, the 30th of September 2019, and Wednes-
day, the 2nd of October 2019, be confirmed as correct
records of those meetings.
The President : Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Minutes of those meetings are confirmed.
Thank you, Senator Jardine.
[
Minutes of 30 September 2019 and 2 October 2019
confirmed]
MESSAGES
The Clerk: No messages, Madam President. The President: Thank you, Clerk.
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES
The President: There are none.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Sen Vance Campbell: Madam President.
The President: Senator Campbell, you have the floor.
PENSION COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT
COVERING THE YEARS 2011 TO 2017
Sen Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I hereby present for the
information of Senate the Pension Commission Ann u-
al Report covering the years 2011 to 2017, as pr o-
duced by the Pension Commission.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
The Bermuda Health Council Annual Report.
Senator Richardson, you have the floor.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Good morning, Madam
President.
The President: Good morning.
BERMUDA HEALTH COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31ST, 2019
Sen. Anthony Richardson: And the listening aud i-
ence.
Madam President, I hereby present for the
information of Senate the Annual Report of the Ber-muda Health Council for the year ended March 31
st,
2019. And the notation is that e- copies of the report
will be forwarded to Senators for our information.
The Pre sident: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
The third item is the Chartered Professional
Accountants of Bermuda Amendment By -Laws 2019.
Senator Richardson.
676 6 November 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate CHARTERED PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS OF
BERMUDA AMENDMENT BY -LAWS 2019

Sen. Anthony Richardson : Again, Madam President.
I hereby present for the information of Senate
the Chartered Professional Accountants of Bermuda
Amendment By -Laws 2019 , as made by the CPA
[Chartered Professional Accountants] Bermuda under
the provisions of section 7 of the Chartered Pr ofes-
sional Accountants of Bermuda Act 1973.
And again, Madam President, e- copies of the
report will be forwarded to the Senators.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you.

NOTICES OF MOTION

The President: There are none.

PETITIONS

BERMUDA CREDIT UNION
CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY

The President: Senator Campbell, you have the floor.

Sen Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I hereby present the follo w-
ing petition:
The Petition of Messrs Cecil D urham and
Clarence Smith, members of the Board of Directors of
the Bermuda Credit Union Co- Operative Society, a
co-operative registered under the previous name of
the BIU Members Credit Union Co- Operative Society,
requesting the enactment of a change of name for the
organisation as formally agreed by resolution on the 12
th of September 2017 and as more particularly set
out in the Private Bill entitled the Bermuda Credit U n-
ion Co -Operative Society Amendment Act 2019,
which accompanies the Petition.
Madam Pr esident, I move that the said Pet i-
tion be referred to the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Private Bills for consideration and r e-
port.
Thank you.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Sen Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.

STATEMENTS
The President: There are none.
INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

The President: There are none.

FIRST READING OF PUBLIC BILLS

GOVERNMENT LOANS
AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2019

CASINO GAMING
(MISCELLANEOUS) AMENDMENT ACT 2019

INCORPORATED SEGREGATED ACCOUNTS
COMP ANIES ACT 2019

MISUSE OF DRUGS (HEMP)
AMENDMENT ACT 2019

The President: The following Public Bills have been
received from the Honourable House of Assembly and
are read for the first time. Their titles are, respectiv ely,
• Government Loans Amendment (No. 2) Act
2019 ;
• Casino Gaming (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019;
• Incorporated Segregated Accounts Compa-
nies Act 2019; and
• Misuse of Drugs (Hemp) Amendment Act
2019.

FIRST READING OF PRIVATE BILLS

The President: There are none.

QUESTION PERIOD

The President: There are none.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

The President: We have no Order s of the Day today.
The Bills will be taken up at the next sitting.

MOTIONS
The President: There are none.

CONGRATULATORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES
The President: Would any Senator care to speak on
this?
Senator Kempe, you have the floor.

Sen. Nicholas Kempe: Thank you, Madam Pres i-
dent, and obviously we have two of our former Me m-
bers not present today due to their extracurricular ac-
Official Hansard Report 6 November 2019 677

Bermuda Senate tivitie s that have now been put forward for us. But I did
want to congratulate Senator Robinson, while he is
still technically a Senator, on his recent marriage.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Kempe.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Jones, you have the floor.

Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, Madam President.
Good morning to my fellow colleagues. Good morning
to the listening audience.
I would just like to extend congratulations to
the CedarBridge Academy. I was most delighted to attend their special event where they crowned their Mr. and Miss CedarBridge Academy. There were 15
senior students who displayed their talents in dance,
in singing, in poems, in rap. There was a large tur n-
out. And truly, Bermuda has much to be proud of, i n
its young people at this age who had the wherewithal and the boldness to stand and perform. They also dressed in evening wear and career attire. It was a
great, great evening. And I would just like to specif i-
cally extend congratulations to our Mr. CedarB ridge
Academy, who was Rayquon Woodley -Smith ; and
Miss CedarBridge Academy, who was Tamia Place.
Secondly, I would like to also extend co n-
gratulations to my former alma mater, the West End
Primary School, which this week is celebrating their
150
th anniver sary. There have been ongoing events
this week. They started off with a service in church on Sunday, and then they had their special assembly
yesterday.
Many of the graduates of West End Primary
School are former Members of Parliament and pr e-
sent Members of Parliament. In fact, the Minister of
Finance, Curtis Dickinson, is alumni , as well as m y-
self. We were in the same class together, as a matter
of fact. Mr. Randolph Horton, former Speaker of the
House; Mr. Walter Lister; Mr. Ed Bailey . . . the names
go on and on. I am so proud and happy about my
former school, and 150 years is not something to sniff
at. So, congratulations to Ms. Trina Cariah and her
staff there at the West End Primary School.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
Senator Michelle Simmons, you have the
floor.
Sen Michelle Simmons: Good morning, Madam
President.
The President: Good morning to you.
Sen Michelle Simmons: On a sad note, I would like
to ask for condolences to be sent to the family of the
late Rev. Dr. Charles A. Swan. I had the pleasure of teaching with Rev. Swan many years ago. And he
decided that his true calling was, in fact, in the Chri s-
tian ministry. He has been affiliated with the Un ited
Church of Canada for many, many years and, in fact,
has resided in Toronto, Canada, for quite a number of years.
During one period back in Bermuda, he was
the resident pastor —I do not know if that is their d e-
scription, but it is mine —of Grace Methodi st Church
on North Shore Road. And it is there that there will be a memorial service in memory of Rev. Swan tomor-row. But in the meantime, I would like to ask for con-
dolences to be extended to all of his siblings, to Da w-
son, Gerald, Greta, Marion, Esther a nd Valerie, on his
passing.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si m-
mons.
Senator Jardine, you have the floor.
Sen. James S. Jardine: Thank you, Madam Pres i-
dent.
Madam President, this may be a somewhat
unusual congratulatory set of re marks. But I would
certainly like to send congratulations to all those who
were involved in organising the series of events to
celebrate the arrival of the first Portuguese in Berm u-
da.
I had the pleasure of attending one of those
events on Saturday, and i t was extremely well organ-
ised, well put on. There was a good cross section of
people there from the Portuguese community and from the Bermuda community. And there was an ex-
change of gifts between the Premier and the Pres i-
dent of the Azores, some very good speeches and a
very good feeling amongst all those who attended. I
did not get a chance to attend the event on Reid
Street, but I hear it was a roaring success. And I just wanted to acknowledge that event and to thank all
those who worked very hard to mak e the visit a great
success.
Thank you very much, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Would any other Senator care to speak?
No.
Then I would like to have congratulations ex-
tended to the Bermuda Tourism Authority, Bermuda
Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), and the Bermuda
Championship, PGA [Tour], for hosting the first Ber-
muda Climate Risk Forum, on October the 30
th, at the
Hamilton Princess, which I was able to attend. The
forum had attracted 150 delegates from around the
world and included Mr. Michael Bloomberg, who is a
global leader on climate change and who engaged in
a keynote conversation with our Premier , David Burt.
Mr. Bloomberg spoke on a number of issues
related to climate change, and he highlighted the fact
678 6 November 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate that it is getting worse and that people must pay atte n-
tion to this reality. He also spoke to the importance of
reducing carbon emissions and highlighted the role
Bermuda can play in this regard because of the direct
impact the Island experiences from the st orms and the
fact that the Island is home to a global insurance i n-
dustry and because of the good science research that
is carried out here.
The presentation was followed by two expert
panel discussions on climate risk and its effect on
small island s, and the science and the business of risk
and resilience. And these were very informative.
I share this because it was a very, very inter-
esting forum, and I am hoping that it was taped and that it can be shared with others because I think there
was a tremendous amount of information. And as we
all watch the news and we see what is happening
worldwide with regard to climate change, I think that it
is important that people do take it on board and really
understand, and also appreciate the role that Berm u-
da plays in this arena.
And on the side of condolences, I would like
for the Senate to send condolences to the family of
Ms. Tamra Suzette Broadley, who was funeralised on
October the 20
th at the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Tamra was a highly qualified nurse who worked at the
hospital.
And sadly, there was an incident in which she
was involved in an accident. But when she was funer-alised, all the nurses at the hospital turned out and
formed an honour guard. And I thought that really was
a real tribute to her. And so, I think condolences
should be sent to the family.
Thank you.

ADJOURNMENT

The President: We are going so quickly here.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President.
Adjournment ?
The President: Yes.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: I move that
Senate do now adjourn until Wednesday, November 13
th.

The President: Wednesday, November the 13th?

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Mm-hm.
The President: Thank you, Madam AG. That is next
week.
Would any Senator care to speak on the mo-
tion to adjourn ?
Senate Kempe, you have the floor.
GOVERNMENT’S ABUSE OF POLITICAL CAPITAL
AND TAXPAYER FUNDS

Sen. Nicholas Kempe: Thank you, Madam Pres i-
dent.
I have written, I believe, a couple of times on
some of my concerns about the increase in spending
from this Government’s first fiscal year into the subs e-
quent years on the various lines of state -funded com-
munication.
And I think if people check their mai lboxes,
they will notice what seems to be a thinly veiled polit i-
cal communication that has been funded by the tax-payer, sent out to everyone. It is called “Two Years
Working for the People.” The timing is curious, seeing
as two years of the election was back in July. This has
conveniently arrived in everyone’s mailboxes in the time of the bye- election.
And I just think that this is the type of kind of
wanton misuse of taxpayer funds, to service a party
as opposed to the government and the country as a
whole , that people should be mindful of and should be
asking the Government to do better on.
You add that to the recent, we will call it for
lack of a better word, ‘Throne Speech ’ that was d i-
verted into the delegates ’ conference, which was ex-
tremely toxic and divisive in nature. It seemed to walk entirely away from any sort of a record. FinTech was barely a mention. And it felt like we were . . . i n the
lack of results, there has been this definitely stronger
push, a ramping up of the rhetoric to divide and t here-
fore divert and deflect the attention away from the lack
of results.
All dissenters or contrary voices to the master
plan and those who did not absolutely assent to the wishes of our glorious Leader were deemed enemies.
And this is certainly a turn for the worst that concerns
me. And I am hoping we can see a shift towards a more accountable use of political capital and taxpayer
funds.

The President: Thank you, Senator Kempe.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Senator Kathy Lynn Simmons, A ttorney Gen-
eral, you have the floor.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President.
Before we close today, I listened with great
interest to the remarks of Senator Kempe. To sit here
in this Chamber and pretend that the Government has
had no results, I would ask him, as I do, to go back
and check his facts.
We all sit in this Chamber, and we have
passed a multitude of legislative initiatives that speak
to the Government’s work on behalf of the people of Bermuda. So, before we add to or create our own
rhetoric or narrative that does nothing to advance us
Official Hansard Report 6 November 2019 679

Bermuda Senate as a country, I would caution and advise the Member
to take more care.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Kathy Lynn Si m-
mons.
Would any oth er Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?
Senators, we have completed the business of
the Senate today. The Senate stands adjourned to
next week, the 13th of November.
Thank you.

[At 10:22 am, the Senate adjourned until 10:00 am
Wednesday, 13 N ovember 2019.]

680 6 November 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate


[This page intentionally left blank.]