September 29, 2017

Premier, thank you.
Any supplementary?
No supplementary.
We recognise the Honourable Member from
constituency 19.
SUPPLEMENTARY Mrs. Jeanne J. Atherden: I have a supplementary.
And, Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate that the Premier is trying to make sure that the public is informed of all the Government is doing to try and increase the op-tions for us in terms of growing our businesses.
In terms of the leading law firm, Katten
Muchin Rosenman LLP, could you clarify what their
area of specialty is?

Mr. Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much.
The Honourable Shadow Minister of Finance
may not be aware, but the Government has had a long relationship with that particular law firm. That par-ticular law firm has worked with Bermuda for a num-ber of years. Their specialty is dealing in the areas of international finance, and they have advised the Go vernment on a number of Acts, most recently, in 2013,
our Investment Funds Act. In addition to that, they
send a lot of clients to Bermuda, and they are in the
perfect place to advise us on what we are doing well, what we are not doing well and how we can do better. Our engagement was a very good meeting. And as
with them and with the other persons of which we m et,
they are excited about the new possibilities, understanding that Bermuda is open for business and there are no conflicts insofar as inward investment inside of this Government, as it is our mission to grow the ec onomic pie for all.
[
Desk thumping]

Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
What I would say is that, under Standing O rder 17(5)[(h) ] that would stand as a hypothetical quesB ermuda House of Assembly tion, as we are unaware. We are examining the var ious possibilities, and when we decide on a course of
action, we will be happy to come to this Honourable House with a Ministerial Statement to provide all Members of the House, and indeed the public of Ber-muda, in what our engagement strategy will be inside of Washington, DC. But as has been seen, and the
challenges of which we are facing in the latest news
from the new US administration, it is now more critical than ever that we have a consistent voice in the Unit-ed States to protect our interests. And this Gover nment is committed to doing that.
[
Desk thumping]

Thank you, Premier.
No further questions for the Premier on his
recent trips Statement?
We will move on to the second Statement.
The second Statement is that of the Deputy Premier in regard to the ferry fleet. We have an indication of five Members who would like to ask questions. The first Member who has indicated a question would be that of the Honourable Member from constituency 24.
Member Scott, MP Scott, you have the floor.
QUESTION 1: A FLEET STATUS REPORT —
DEPARTMENT OF MARINE
AND PORTS SERVICES

Minister.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Speaker, in answer to the
Member’s question, training is not an issue, because (1) much of the training is co- ordinated through the
Department of Workforce Development; and
(2) despite the challenges faced by the Marine and
Ports [Department] in its operations, it manages its
funds very well when it comes to making sure staff are trained so they can meet their international obliga-tions .


Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Okay. Thank you.
Supplementary.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, supplementary, Opposition Lea der, the Honourable Member.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, I have a
supplementary.
If the Honourable Minister, in response to the
question asked by the Honourable Member from [con-stituency] 24— if the Honourable Minister cannot say
how much was paid by the ACBDA to the Department
of Marine and Ports to offset some of the costs, how
can the Honourable Member say that there was a si gnificant shortfall, if he does not know what the revenue
side of it is?

Well, would you like to restate your
supplementary and address it?
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, I would like
to restate the supplementary. If the Honourable Mini ster would be willing to share with this Honourable
House, if he cannot say how much was paid by the
ACBDA to the Department of Marine and Ports, how can he answer the question posed by the Honourable
Member Scott from [constituency] 24 that this was
poor planning in terms of the amount of the cost relat-ing to the ferry services?

Thank you.
Supplementary? Supplementary?
I recognise the Deputy Speaker.
Deputy Speaker, you have the floor.

SUPPLEMENTARIES

Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Yes.
Mr. Minister, are you aware that approximat ely 67,500 people were transported during the Amer i-ca’s Cup by the ferries and [paid] $10 per person for a
round trip? Are you aware of that?

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes.

Supplementary. I recognise the Opp osition L eader.



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. In light of the
number that was put out by the Honourable Member
from constituency 5, approximately $675,000 was being taken in as revenue as a result of the passenger
fees coming from these trips. Can the Hono urable
Member let us know the breakdown with where the
deficiencies lie in terms of the cost versus how much
actually was taken in as revenue and how much was
contributed by the ACBDA with respect to the cost of
running the ferries?

Thank you.
Any supplementary before we move on to a
new question?
New question. On the list we have the Ho nourable Member from consti tuency 5, the Deputy
Speaker, has indicated he would have questions.
Go ahead, Deputy Speaker.

QUESTION 1: A FLEET STATUS REPORT —
DEPARTMENT OF MARINE
AND PORTS SERVICES

Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in the Statement, we talk about
the deficiencies in the department regarding the hiring
freeze and retirement. Mr. Minister, are you aware
that, under the 2017 budget as at March 31st, actually
4,955 people were budgeted to be employed by go vernment, but only 4,608 were actually hired, meaning
a shortfall of 247 people?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In light of the fact that the Statement reads
that $7,933,728 was spent on the Millennium ferry for
the last four years, I just want to know, prior to J u-ly 18th, 2017, what was the plan for the old town of St.
George’s when this ferry contract expired this year, and if ther e even was a plan?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Very good question, Mr.
Speaker.
I cannot speak to what the plans [were] that
the Government made in these matters prior to J uly 18
th. But having examined the situat ion, I see no
evidence of any plans that were left for us to review
after July 18th for St. George’s around replacement of
the Millennium ferry.

Supplementary. We recognise the
Honourable Opposition Leader. You have the floor.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I wonder i f the Minister, since he seems definitive in his response, would be able to tell this Honourable House what the differential might have been if there had been a different glide path with respect to
making maintenance service agreements and work
being done when there was no money?

One second. One second before you
get up.
Let me remind the House that we should try
and stay away from hypothetical questions here. The
questions . . . if you follow the Standing Orders on the
instructions for how questions should be put, try not to
be hypothetical. And that was basically a hypothetical,
what it might have been.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: I accept your ru ling, Mr. Speaker.

Point taken.
Do you have any further supplementary?
No further supplementary.
The other Member who indicated she had a
question on this Statement was, in fact, the Oppos ition Leader.
Did you ask your question yet? I know you are
on supplementaries. You have not asked your ques-tion yet?
[Inaudible interjection]

The S peaker: Okay, you are fine. Good. The Opposition Leader, you have a question
for the Minister on this Statement?

QUESTION 1: A FLEET STATUS REPORT —
DEPARTMENT OF MARINE
AND PORTS SERVICES

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, I do have a
question, becaus e my question relates to the Mini ster’s Statement on page 4, respecting the costs. And
my question to the Minister is, does the Minister ap-preciate that it takes money to do major repairs and
that, if such money is not available, such repairs are
not able to be done?

Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Mini ster.
All Members who had indicated that they had
questions of the Minister for that particular Statement
have taken advantage of their questions.
We are going to move on now to the third
Statement, and that third Statement was also from the
Minister Roban in reference to the bus fleet.
We have five Members who have indicated
they have questions, and first being the Honourable Member from constituency 24.
The Honourable Member, Mr. Scott, you have
the floor.

QUESTION 1: THE STATE OF PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION —BUSES

We are going to ask the questions, tr ying to be more pointed to what the Statement is so
there is a clear response.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Speaker, I will avoid the
hypothet ical, other than to make it clear that we did
inherit a service in disrepair. We did inherit a service
where most of the fleet actually is broken. And we are
now doing our best to fix it.

Thank you.
Supplementary?
No supplementary.
The nex t Member who indicated he had a
question for the Minister is the Opposition Leader.
We recognise the Opposition Leader.
QUESTION 1: THE STATE OF PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION —BUSES

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Minister would
share with this Honourable House, how are the drivers
being redeployed in light of the Minister’s indication
that the drivers have no buses to drive?

Minister.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I do not believe that is actually a topic that was discussed in my Statement. But at
this point, our drivers are very cooperative, and they
are working and cooperating with the team in DPT
[Department of Public Transportation] to deal with the situation that they are confronted with on a dai ly basis.
That is all I have to say on that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it was a matter of r ecord, certainly for the former Government, that the bus schedule contributed towards the issue of maintenance and cost. Will the Minister be going forward to revise the bus schedule, something which has been in the works
for some, I think, almost 15 years now, to essentially


Bermuda House of Assembly improve the effectiveness and deployment of the buses, which should reduce both cost of maintenance
and also reduce the cost of the service?

The Opposition Leader, you have a
supplementary?

SUPPLEMENTARY

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. Yes, Mr.
Speaker.
The Honourable Minister indicated that the
schedule was not a part of his Statement. However,
maintenance is the subject of his Statement. And if the Honourable Minister would be able to tell this
Honourable House, since he has now indicated that he has no intention to move forward with a new
schedule—

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: I am sorry; maybe
I misunderstood.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Will he or will he not have a new
schedule?

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Okay. Will the
department of bus operators, given that maintenance
is the subject of his Statement, and it is agreed that
buses can be maintained if a proper schedule is i mplemented to allow freedom for a bus to go in for maintenance, is there an intention or not to implement
a schedule which accommodates allowing buses to be
free to go in for maintenance?
That was the question.
And I do apologise, because it certainly was
not my intention to mislead this Honourable House,

Minister.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Speaker, I myself would
not have a role with designing an RFP for the new buses. But I can tell you that we are leaving all of our
options open to any possible opportunities that can
further advance the fleet in a positive way, whether it
be with hybrid, whether it be with other types of tec hnology. But we are just more interested in just having
buses that can operate, right now.

Thank you.
Supplementary?
No supplementary. The next Member who
indicated that he had a question in regard to this Statement would be the Member from constituency 6.
The Honourable Member, Mr. Furbert, you
have the floor.

QUEST ION 1 : THE STATE OF PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION —BUSES

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, would the Honourable Minister
agree that the former Government was negligent in
not giving sufficient funds in the 2017/18 budget to keep the buses maintenance- clear?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister, recognising in your Statement that
there was an indication that the OPMP [Office of Pr oject Management and Procurement] had a request for
tender for eight buses, recognising that the Budget
Book says that $2.5 million has been allocated f or this
fiscal year 2017/18, would the Minister be able to clarify whether any of that 2017/18 money has been
spent?

Minister.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Speaker, well, that is
money that was approved under a previous budget,
and we have not constructed our own budget yet. But
I can say that this is the money that was allocated for
buses. We are receiving the four buses. Presumably,
that is money that was allocated to pay for the four
buses that are already here. We are preparing an RFP to go forward. And what we spend going forward
will be determined by the conclusions of that RFP. I can only say that I believe that $2.5 million has to do
with the four buses that we are receiving at the end of
this year.

Minister.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: I believe, Mr. Speaker, to land
a bus t hat is based on the type of buses we have now,


Bermuda House of Assembly that we are currently in, is somewhere between
$350,000 and $400,000 to land a bus. That means the
payment for it and customs and everything that it
costs, shipping to get it on the land that is Bermuda.

Just to clarify, if my a ccounting is correct, if $2.5 million is in the budget, and
if I take the lower end of the scale, $350,000 wo uld
give us at least seven buses. And $400,000 would
give us six. So the eight that are in the Statement
should mean that there is not going to be any big su pplementary, because $2.5 million is already in the
budget.

Thank you.
Minister.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I cannot speak to what the
budget plans are going to be, going forward, Mr.
Speaker. And perhaps we can wait until the budget to see what we do, and I can . . . around our future purchase of buses. But we have an RFP, as I said in my Statement, that we are in the midst of repairing and
finalising. And that will give us a better picture of how
much we are going to spend on the next group of
buses, going forward.

Supplementary, the Opposition Leader.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker, just for clarification.
Is the Honourable Member saying to this
Honourable House that there is no intenti on of getting
new buses until after the 2018/19 budget? Or are you planning on spending money between now and
March 31, to spend some of the money that has already been budgeted? I am just trying to understand
what you are saying.

Minister.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: That money in the budget is a
capital allocation. So presumably, we will not use it for
anything but what it has been allocated for. We have four buses coming, [and they] will be here by the end
of the year. And we are preparing an RF P so that we
can finalise the purchase of another group of buses.
How that will affect the spending of what is in the
budget I cannot report at this time. But I am prepared to give information about that once we know what we
are going to do with it, that w hich is left over from the
$2.5 million. I’m happy to bring the information to the
House, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker;
certainly.
The question that I think we are trying to get
an answer from the Minister is, will the money for the
eight buses be spent as a capital expenditure in this budget year, which is the 2017/18 budget year, for
which $2.5 million (I think) has been allocated a lready? Or will it be in the next budget year?

Minister.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Speaker, all I can report
is that we have the four buses that are coming. And we are focused on spending that and preparing to . . .
the RFP for the eight buses , going forward. How we
are going to use the rest of the $2.5 million I am happy to report back to the House at a later time, if there is any left over after that is done.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, if I could ask the Honourable
Minister, recognising that part and par cel of this
maintenance issue are some of the flaws that have
been identified, and recognising that an RFP is being
proposed, I guess I would ask the Honourable Mini ster as to whether some of these flaws, which one would think should have been anticipated, as to what
involvement is there in terms of individuals who drive
the buses or individuals who maintain the buses? B ecause things like the fact that we have summer . . .
and I just wonder whether there has been wide consultation with respect to the RFP it ems.

Recognising that the
Statement indicates that there are some buses here
that are 20 years old, which meant that we had a good
model of buses that we were able to keep on and on
forever and we have changed to some new buses
which are now creating problems as it relates to heating, as it relates to the outside . . . I just wondered, on
what basis are we changing from what I call tried- andtrue models to new models which have not been as
efficient?

Yes. I think the question
we were trying to get out of the Minister, and the pr evious Member asked, was . . . it would appear that the former Progress ive Labour Party Government bought
some lemon buses, which the previous OBA Gover nment had to deal with. Is the Minister going to avoid those mistakes, going forward?

[Inaudible interjections]

Supplementary from the Honourable
Opposition Leader.
You have the floor.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. Can the Mi nister advise, of the buses that are out of service, how many of those buses were purchased prior to 2012
and how many of those buses were purchased subsequent to 2012?
Hon. Walter H. Roban: I will undertake to get that
answer to the House, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister.
There are no other Members who have ind icated they have questions for that Statement.
So we are going to move on to the next
Statement, that from Minister B rown. And we have
had two Members who have indicated that they had
questions, the first being the Honourable Member
Cole Simons, from constituency 8.
Member Simons, you have the floor, Honourable Member.

QUESTION 1: AN EXPLANATION OF THE
RECENT FISH DIE -OFF

Minister.
Hon. Walton Brown: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I
appreciate the question.
Obviously, it is a matter of concern, and so,
the technical officers are keeping a watch on the i ssue. And we have not noticed any increase in inc idents of diseased fish. We have reports on an ongoing basis from fisherman, as well as members in the


Bermuda House of Assembly Department of Marine Resources . . . the Department
of the Environment. So, we have not received any
data that would support that query.

Minister.

Hon. Walton Brown: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Obviously, the Member must know I cannot
speak for the Minister of Healt h. What I will say is that
we rely on the excellent service and work undertaken
by the commercial fishermen who catch the fish and
sell the fish. They are highly unlikely to have any fish
made available for public consumption that is not fit
and proper. So , in response to your question, it is
highly unlikely that any fish unfit for consumption will
make it into the public arena.

Yes. He spoke to the commercial fishermen. I am speaking of inshore fisheries,
where the average Joe, the weekend fisherman, might
go out and go fishing. They, obviously, do not have
the responsibility for reporting their catch like the
commercial fishermen. So if I, as a weekend warrior,
go out fishing, can I be sure that the fish that I catch
are safe for consumption? And that is what I am tal king about, your average man, not your commercial fisherman.

Minister.

Hon. Walton Brown: Thank you, Honourable Member.
[Inau dible interjections]

Hon. Walton Brown: The issue of global warming is
one that has been ongoing since we decided to mess
with the environment. And, yes, in a moment of elation
I might want to hold the OBA responsible for global warming; I will not do it today, Mr. Speaker.

[Laughter]

Hon. Walton Brown: But what I will say is that we
need to be mindful of how the environment is changing as a result of our interference and our lackadais iBermuda House of Assembly cal attitude toward a number of issues with respect to
economic devel opment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Honourable Member mentions the singlecell parasite called Brooklynella, in his Statement. Is the Honourable Member aware of whether this pathogen affects humans? And would he be aware as to
whether raw fish might present a problem if ingested?
A lot of people do eat sushi, sashimi, these days. So
is there any possibility of cross infection with Brooklynella in humans?

Minister.

Hon. Walton Brown: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would say that is highl y unlikely. First of all,
the sushi -grade fish that we get very rarely comes
from our waters, in the first instance. Secondly, the
Brooklynella penetrates the gills of fish. It is not in any
other organ of the fish; it is only in the gills. And because there is no comparable organ in the human, it is
unlikely to have any impact if we made contact with it.
And also, the fishermen and others, the scientists who come into contact, always use gloves. So it is unlikely
there would be any impact in that regard.

Thank you.
The other Member who had indicated he had
a question has waived his question.
We are now going to move on to the next
Statement. And that Statement is from the Honourable
Minister of Education. It is the Statement in reference
to funding for the college students.
First, do we have the three Members who
have indicated that they had questions?
The first Member is the Member from consti tuency 24, the Honourable Member, Mr. Scott.
Lawrence Scott, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: FI NANCIAL SUPPORT FOR BE RMUDA COLLEGE STUDENTS

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, enrolment at
the Bermuda College had decreased from a total of
1,207 students in 2012 to 675 students last year. And it can be attributed t o the direct effect of the previous
Government’s cutting the subsidy to students from
50 per cent, first to 25 per cent and then to 0.0 per
cent.

Thank you.
Supplementary. I recognise the O pposition
Leader. Opposition Leader, you have the fl oor.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, I have a
supplementary.
The Minister indicated in his Statement that
there was $300,000 that had been budgeted for st udent assistance for tuition and that $102,000 (I be-lieve) was left after the l atest take- up. So would the
Minister explain to this Honourable House whether the
$300,000, given that it has not all been taken up, was
adequate in terms of funding and financing for this
current year?

Good question. But go ahead.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: That supplemental.
As I indicat ed within the Statement, we granted the Bermuda College the $300,000 as the grant
they advertised for students, and 197 students applied. Out of those 197 students, 183 qualified. So, the
fact that we have money left over means that it was
suitable enough for what the Bermuda College needed for the number of students who did apply.

Does that necessarily relate to the
question that was asked right now? I think you are
taking it outside the scope of his question.

[Inaudible interjections]
The Speake r: Okay.
The other Member who indicated he had a
question for this Minister on this Statement was the
Honourable Member from constituency 28.
Do you still have a question? We recognise
the Honourable Member D. Lister, from constituen-cy 28. You have the fl oor.

QUESTION 1 : FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR BE RMUDA COLLEGE STUDENTS

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister
answer that what the Ministry has done is find ways to
reallocate funds to invest and educate our children
and give opportunities for hig her learning and trai ning?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: The simple answer to that,
Mr. Speaker, is yes. And this Government will conti nue to find more ways to provide our people with funding so they can continue their education and improve their training, im prove their stead in this Island of
Bermuda.

Mr. Speaker, if the Honourable Minister can clarify, we keep talking about . . .
I think the word is talking about improving their educ a-tion and training. My concern is that everything I have
seen here in terms of the courses and what is avail able focuses very strongly on academics, people getting courses. We have known, because of when we
were on the doorstep we had people talking about going to the college, taking these courses and not b eing able to get any jobs.
And I am just wondering whether any opportunity has been availed of reachin g out to businesses
to say that, in conjunction with getting someone at the college, offering them the opportunity of having, if you will, a free (if you will) person to come and use their
skills in their employment —

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, under the
previous Government a department was established
called the Department of Workforce Development.
Unfortunately, that department was not given the mandate possible to make things as easy for our people to find em ployment. Instead, we spent four years
waiting for a National Training Plan that just did not
exist and did not happen.
So, this Government will ensure that opport unities are afforded to our people based on the training that they receive.

[Desk thumping]

I recognise the Honourable Member
from constituency 14.
Honourable Minister Caines, you have the
floor.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to offer congratulations to Senior
Airport Fire Officer, Mr. Gary Renaud. He joined the
Bermuda Hamilton Fire Service as a volunteer in O ctober 1970. In 1973, he joined the City of Hamilton
Fire Service as a full -time member of staff. In 1981, he
left the Bermuda Fire Service to pursue a business
opportunity, but he returned in 1983. In 1990, he became the Chief Fire Officer for St. George’s, and in
2000 became Chief Fire Officer for the Bermuda I nternational Airport Fire Service. In 2007, [he] amalgamated with the Bermuda Fire Service and Rescue
Service as the Divisional Officer and the Senior Ai rport Fire Officer. On September 30th, 2017, he retired
from active service after a total of 45 years serving firefighting in Bermuda. But that said, he would never
retire in his heart and [had] appreciation for having
served his Island home. My colleagues have indicated
they would like to be associated with those remarks.
Mr. Speaker, last night the Bermuda Reg iment returned from a two- week deployment in the
Turks and Caicos Islands. I would like a letter of congratulations to go to Lieutenant -Colonel Curley. The
mission was headed by Major Corey Smalley, Lie utenant Gordon Emmerson, WO2 Jason Harrell, and WO2 Peter Ramm.
Mr. Speaker, I crave your indulgence, because this is a significant undertaking by the young
men and women of the Bermuda Regiment. I seek your indulgence to read off all the names of the young
people who went on this endeavour, Mr. Speaker.
The S peaker: Let us see if time allows it. Continue.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We have Major Smalley, Lieutenant Emme rson, Warrant Overclass 2 Harrell, WO2 Ramm, Colour
Sergeant Edwards, Colour Sergeant Smith, Colour
Sergeant Fort, Corporal I ris, Corporal Fox, Corporal
Swan, Corporal Maderas, Corporal Am os, Corporal
Raynor , Corporal Arruda, Corporal Iris, Corporal
Showers Cassidy, Corporal Robinson, Corporal Martin, Corporal Bowman, Corporal Abrams, Corporal
Govia, Corporal McKenzie, Corporal Outerbridge,
Corporal Bean, Corporal Darrell, Corporal Steede ,
Private Darrell, Private Steede , Private Francis, and
Private Tucker .
If we can send letters of appreciation and
thanks to those people on behalf, and associate the
whole House with those remarks.
Mr. Speaker, one of our senior educators has
recently retired.

[Timer beeps]

I am going to recognise the Honourable
Member from constituency 36.
The Honourable Member, Mr. Scott, you have
the floor.
Hon. Michael J. Scott: Mr. Speaker, I thank you.
Mr. Speaker, a request for a welcome to be
sent by this Honourable House is the order of bus iness, sir. Mr. Speaker, may I ask that this Honourable House send a note of welcome? And it is a notific ation, really, to the Members of this House of important
medical information, of the arrival in our Island of r enowned urologist, Dr. Abdussalam Musbahi . He has
joined Brown- Darrell Clinic. He is a practitioner of
more than 30 years within the United Kingdom. We
would like the indication of this House to be a warm
welcome to urologists, who are particularly needed in the population of this country at this time.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask that this
House also send a note of congratulations to the es-tablishment of a panel of legal practitioners that has
been appointed, as part -time assistant justices, to
deal with civil and commercial matters in our Island.
Heading up the line, members of ladies and gentl emen are Mr. Narinder Hargun, Mr. John Riihiluoma,
Mr. David Kessaram, Mr. Delroy Duncan, Mr. Mark Diel, Mr. Jeffrey Elkinson, Mr. Rod Attride- Stirling, and


Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. Kiernan Bell. These members of the bar will fill
the role of commercial and civil judges on a part -time
basis.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, if time permits, over the
period before this House came into session, we lost
Ms. Corinne Nina Powell, the wife of my constituent,
Mr. Ivoe Powell. I would ask this House to send a letter of condolences to Mr. Ivoe Powell. Mr. Ivoe Powell
and his wife, during the period when I canvassed, and
either a relative or a friend in the name of the Oppos ition Leader, because I remember . . . I think she was
at the service for Ms. Powell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would just like this House to send a letter of
congratulations to Dr. Lou Matthews. He has put in a
lot of time and effort in our educational system here,
and he is now going to be going overseas and sharing
his talents in the African region. He is going to be
sharing his talents in Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, N epal, and Cambodia. In Februar y, he is going to be in
Ghana. And he is just going to be going and focusing on mathematics to the children and to the youth of Africa, which I think is very noble in nature. And he is
probably the best person to do it. The only thing that
Dr. Lou Matthews excels at more than math is out
there on the football field, where I have had a chance
to play with him. I have had a chance to play with him
when the Alphas would beat up on the Kappas on the
football, as we are reigning champions right now. So I
do not want to take up too much time talking about
how much better the Alphas are in football than the
Kappas, but right now I want to focus on Lou Matthews’ taking his knowledge . . . that he has given
back.
This is a young man, a Bermudian, who came
up from the town area, has gone and he has been
part of the education system, part of putting our chi ldren first and setting our children up for success on a daily basis. And I feel as though we cannot say
enough and thank him enough for his service to his
country t hrough education and mathematics. I would
like to associate the Honourable Premier. I would like to associate the whole House—
Some Hon. Member s: The whole house.

Thank you.
I recognise the Honourable Minister.
Deputy Premier, you have the floor.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I just want to be associated with the remarks
of the Honourable Member who sits for constitue ncy 24. Any time any of our Bermudians go out with
their acquired skills and do something positive in the
world, t hat is an example of Bermuda, and certainly it
is as an ambassador, Dr. Lou Matthews will be for all
of us.
I would like to ask for two congratulatory messages to be acknowledged. One is for the 109
th anniversary of Heard Chapel. They celebrated it just t his
past period. It is a testament for any organisation in
Bermuda to be thriving and alive for 109 years as a
member of the AME family. And they had a humble
service to celebrate that, and I just wanted to ensure
that this is recognised.
The other event I would like to give some
congratulatory remarks on is, I attended last night on
behalf of the Premier the Grow, Eat, Save graduation
at the Botanical Gardens. This is a programme that is
orchestrated by Pastor Santucci, who is the chaplain, I believe, for the Corporation of Hamilton. And he has
taken it upon himself to put together a programme to
assist people with learning how to cultivate their own
gardens and become, essentially, much more in control over what they are eating to better themselves
nutrit ionally and also physically.
It was a number of people who received their
graduation certificates, and I am impressed with the
keen interest across the board with these activities,
because, as we know, in the past, long before we had supermarkets and thes e large opportunities to buy
food from single providers, we had to cultivate our own food in our backyards. And I myself have been
impressed by what I have seen in my own constituency, which is very much an urban- developed area, the
number of home gardens that people have in just
small spaces, even some spaces smaller than the
table where the mace sits, where they are cultivating
local products for themselves and their families. So,
hats off to any programme, and the Parks Department


Bermuda House of Assembly and others, who are supporting that programme! And I
encourage other Bermudians to take advantage of it
as well.
My last remark, I would like to congratulate
the West Indian Association, Mr. Speaker, of which I am a member, for their efforts to promote a campaign
for Caribbean relief. This has been launched just r ecently to respond to what we have seen happen to our
brothers and sisters in the Caribbean. And I encourage all of us in this House and the community to support their efforts, along with all of the efforts being made l ocally to support the recovery of our brothers
and sisters in the region. Thank you very much.

Thank you.
I recognise the Honourable Member, the O pposition Leader. The Honourable Member, you have
the floor.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin : Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask that this Honourable
House send congratulations to the organisers respec ting Dive In —the festival for diversity and inclusion in
insurance. This is a programme, Mr. Speaker, which
was conceived under the auspices of Lloyd’s for their
members to try and enhance and perpetuate the inc idents of diversity and inclusion within the insurance industry. Bermuda joined countries from around the
world in recognising this particular festival. We joined
Australia, Bra zil, Canada, China, Dubai, France, Hong
Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, South Africa,
Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. And in each of those jurisdictions, Mr.
Speaker, there were various events that were held to
recognise this particular festival.
The opening festival —and I would just briefly
speak to the local participants. But before I do that, so I do not run out of time, the opening ceremony, which
was hosted by XL, actually had guest speakers who
were a couple of m embers from the Red Bull sailing
team that Bermuda put forth in the America’s Cup.
And Shomari Warner, who was one of the speakers, was one of the members of the Red Bull team, Bermuda team, who in his presentation indicated that he
had spent a year and a half of investment in his life, which is now paying and repaying tremendous div idends. Mr. Speaker, I would ask that this Honourable
House send congratulations to the organisers and just
indicate that the events were hosted by CHUBB. Ot her events were Today’s Leadership Is Evolving by XL
Catlin; Next Generation Strategies by XL Catlin; Argus
Group on No Limits ; Lip Service: A frank discussion
about race in the workplace by Willis Towers [Wa tson]; Racial Diversity and Inclusion: Lessons from the
Classroom by XL Catlin; and then, ultimately, the closing event, which was hosted by XL Catlin.
And I do believe, Mr. Speaker, that everybody
who attended was able to get something out of it in terms of how they can improve the lot of each of their
respective jurisdic tions and how we can make sure
that this diversity and inclusion are perpetuated in a
very positive way for our jurisdiction.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Raynor and Burrows families
are jointly mourning today. Firstly, I would like to offer
condolences to the family of Tyrone McDonald Ra ynor, from the Mount Hill Raynors, and particularly his
lovely wife, Heather. He was a constituent of mine. It was extraordinary, Mr. Speaker, because during the
funeral at the First Church of God, his brother -in-law,
his sister’s husband, had died only a few hours befor e
that funeral. And I am speaking here now to the pas sing of Mr. Maxwell Harold Tracy Burrows, Mr. Ra ynor’s brother -in-law. So, to such an extent that Mr.
Raynor’s sister, Debra, was not in the condition to attend her brother’s funeral because of the great grief
she was experiencing . . . and so I would ask again,
and I want to associate the Member from constituency 2 with these condolences. I would ask the House to
extend condolences. . .and the Member from consti tuency 16. I repeat, I would ask the House to extend
condolences to the Raynor and Burrows families as they are joined together in grief over the passing of these two men. Thank you.

Thank you, Member.
I now recognise the Honourable Member from
constituency 3, Minister Foggo. Minister Foggo, you
have the floor.

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the Minister of
Social Development and Sports, and indeed the Mi nistry itself, to share condolences to the entire sporting
community and the B ermuda public regarding the
passing of Mr. Thom. Mr. Thom was recognised for
his efforts and coaching of the Paralympics. Indeed,
Mr. Thom gave athletes whom he coached the e ncouragement to believe in themselves and to believe
in their ability to overcome seemingly insurmountable
obstacles. Mr. Speaker, let me just remind you of a well-known Paralympian, Jessica Lewis. And her abi lity to capture a Gold Medal in the Parapan Am Games
in Canada in 2015 indeed serves as a tribute, Mr.
Speaker, to the works of her coach, Ken Thom. And I
can say, Mr. Speaker, that Bermuda is now at a loss,
having lost Mr. Ken Thom. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Good morning and thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I would like to take this time to . . . first of all, I
would like to be associated with the comments for Mr.
Gary Renaud, whom I knew very well from not just my
days of being on the cor poration as councillor and an
alderman, but also just in my time of being around the
Corporation of St. George’s, because, in his capacity
as fire chief, he spent a lot of time in the corporation.
And I spent many years in the corporation, as my
mom worked there for 41 years. So, you can imagine
that we go way back.
And I would also like to be associated with the
comments for Shomari Warner because I remember
this young man from baseball days down at Kindley
Field. I did not coach him, but my husband coached
him, and I got to know his family very well. So I am happy to hear that he is progressing and doing things
that we would like for him to do.
I would like to offer an obituary note right now
to the family of Cal Brown. And, Minister, you are from St. Ge orge’s, If you remember . . . those of you from
St. George’s, you will know exactly where you knew
him from. I would like to associate Mr. Swan and Mrs.
Foggo with those comments, as well.
I would also like to send congratulations, and I
am sure that Mr. Swan and Mrs. Foggo would like to
be associated with this, for the St. George’s Sea C adet tribe. We left here last week Friday, and we went
down and looked at their presentation and their r ecruitment for nine new recruits. And it was awesome
to see young people being engaged and actually i nterested in sailing.
And my last congratulatory is for George
Dowling III. And he is the new councillor down at the Corporation of St. George’s. I am sure that each and
every one of us who sits here can attest to what i t is
like living in a political world, whether it be big politics,
small politics. But we want to let him know that he is in our thoughts. I would also like to associate MP Foggo
with those comments, and MP Swan with those comments, MP Burgess with those c omments, as well.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Good morning, Mr.
Speaker, and good morning, colleagues.
I want to speak briefly on Mr. Cal Brown, as
well. At one point in time, I used to pump gas for a
high school living, and Cal Brown was my manager at
Flatts. He then moved on to Blue Hole Hill Gas St a-tion. Anyone who knew Cal knew he would always
talk about , I think, Wellington Rovers, because he was
a proud St. George’s person. So, you know what else
he talked about, Mr. Speaker. I just want to give condolences to his family, as well.
I want to say thanks to BELCO for sending six
linesmen to BVI [British V irgin Islands] to help with the
restoration.

In 1989, BELCO sent
people down there, as well. So I want to thank BELCO for continuing to help CARILEC [Caribbean Electric
Utility Services Corporation] .
And l astly, Mr. Speaker, at times we take for
granted the cleanliness of Hamilton and the function of the street lights. So I want to take this time to thank
the workers of the Corporation of Hamilton, who keep
Hamilton meticulous and functioning.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, good morning, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would just like a letter of thanks
and congratulations to be sent to performing artist, Mr.
Jeffrey Osborne, who had a group who had come on a jazz cruise and played golf at Port Royal yesterday.
I was honoured to be able to provide an exhibition and
clinic for them. And it was an awesome experience,
and it was a very wonderful gathering that took place
yesterday. In spite of any inclement weather that tried to threaten the situation, a wonderful time was had by
all. And I would like to associate the Honourable Member —Brother Week s claims to know a little bit
about that music.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

[Laughter]

There are two Bills to be introduced.
We recognise the Premier. Both Bil ls are under the Premier.
Premier, you have the floor.

FIRST READINGS

TAX REFORM COMMISSION ACT 2017

APPEALS TRIBUNALS
(MISCELLANEOUS) ACT 2017

Hon. E. David Burt: Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am introducing the following
Bills for th eir first reading so they may be placed on
the Order Paper for the next day of meeting: Tax R eform Commission Act 2017, and Appeals Tribunals
(Miscellaneous) Act 2017.

We have indication that there is one
item that we will deal with today under Orders of the
Day. And the first item is the s econd reading of Corporate Service Provider Business Amendment Act 2017.
Mr. Premier, we recognise you as the Minister
of Finance.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can
you give me one second, please?

Go ahead.

BILL

SECOND READING

CORPORATE SERVICE PROVIDER BUSINESS
AMENDMENT ACT 2017
Hon. E. Dav id Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the primary purpose of the Corporate Service Provider Business Amendment Act 2017, which I will refer to as I go forward as the “Bill,”
is to amend section 10 [of the Corporate Service Pr ovider Business Act 2012, the “principal Act”] in order to clarify the tiered licensing regime for corporate service providers. The passage of this legislation is int egral to the effective operation of Bermuda’s corporate
service provider regime, which is, in turn, critical in the
context of the 2018 evaluation of Bermuda’s compl iance with the Financial Action Task Force (the FATF) standards on [combatting] money laundering and the
financing of terrorism and proliferation.
Mr. Speaker, the objectives of FATF are to set
standards and to promote effective implementation of
legal, regulatory, and operational measures for co mbatting money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international f inancial system.
FATF recommendation 28 requires Designated and Non- Financial Business and Professions,
which I will refer to going forward as DNFBP, to be
subjected to regulatory and supervisory measures.
The term “ designated non- financial businesses and
professions ” includes lawyers, notaries, other i ndependent legal professionals and accountants; or sole practitioners, partners or employed professionals wit hin professional firms. The Corporate Service Provider Business Act 2012 places the responsibility for oversight and enforcement of the corporate s ervice pr ovider sector with the Bermuda Monetary Authority [the
“Authority”].
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members are a dvised that, while the Corporate Service Provider Bus iness Act 2012 [the “principal Act”], established a new
licensing and supervisory regim e for individuals or
companies involved in the business of formation of
corporate entities providing nominee services, corp orate services, and other related administrative services, to such corporate entities it is necessary to amend so that the Act be rev ised to meet FATF r equirements.
Mr. Speaker, provision of the necessary
framework has been delayed several times in order to


Bermuda House of Assembly make adjustments for the international developments
related to beneficial ownership and transparency,
ranging from the 2013 G7 Lough Erne Declaration to
the exchange of notes between the Government of
the United Kingdom and the Government of Bermuda in respect of the sharing of beneficial ownership i nformation, dated the 9
th of April 2016.
Mr. Speaker, currently, FATF mutual evaluation results for recommendation 28 revealed that the
majority of countries, 21 out of 36, evaluated to date have received a partially compliant rating, while 6 out of 36 countries have received a noncompliant rating.
This is largely because of the following implement ation issues:
1. Lack of adequate coverage. There are no
legal requirements for all DNFBP sectors
to comply with AML [anti -money laundering] and CFT [counter terrorism financing]
obligations .
2. Assessing or understanding risks . A low
level of understanding risks at the entry level, at the supervisor level and nationa lly. This has led to a rul es-based approach
to compliance.
3. Low level of awareness of compliance
with obligation. Requirements may exist in
law, but they are not implemented or enforced—o ften as a result of lack of supervision and guidance.
4. Identifying the DNFBP population. Large
numbers of DNFBPs make identifying the regulated population challenging.
5. Legal professional privilege. Issues with
defining how privilege applied contributes
to low compliance in the legal sector; and
6. Sanctions. Sanctions have not been applied or are not sufficiently dissuasive.
Bermuda fits into category 3, which covers
countries where the requirements exist in law, but
they have not been fully implemented.
Mr. Spe aker, the Authority has advised the
Minister of Finance that there are approximately 100 entities or individuals to be licensed. As applications have already been received, licensing can commence
from the date of the commencement of the Bill.
Mr. Speaker, key aspects of the amendments
are as follows: Section 10 of the Corporate Service
Provider Business Act provides for a tier licensing r egime, an unlimited licence allows a corporate provider
to provide any or all corporate services set out under
the defin ition of “ a corporate service provider bus iness. ” A limited licence prevents a corporate service
provider from acting as a company formation agent —
an agent for the establishment of a partnership— and
keeping or making any necessary alteration in the register of members of a company, unless certain r equirements are met.
It is proposed to amend the principal Act as
follows . . . and to make sure that . . . The Amend-ments provide that a corporate service provider hol ding an unlimited licence may provide any or all of the
corporate services under the definition of the “ corporate service provider business .” It is also to amend the
Corporate Service Provider Business Act to provide
that a corporate service provider holding a limited l icence may provide any of the corporate services under the definition of “ corporate services ,” subject to
the limits that are going to be set out in the amended
and new subsection.
Further amendments to the principal Act will
impose limits on corporate service providers with a
limited licence by requiring that an undertaking so l icensed shall not provide the following services unless
those requirements are met —and those services that
they will not be allowed to provide are acting as a company formation agent or agent for the establis hment of a partnership; and keeping or making any
necessary alteration in the register of members of a
company, in accordance with section 65 of the Companies Act 1981.
The requirements are as follows:
Corporate services to be provided to a company/new for mation. Where the corporate service is to
be provided to a company or in the case of a new
formation, the proponents of the company, the r equirement is for the company or for the proponent to have obtained the permission of the controller of for-eign exchange under the relevant section of the E xchange Control Regulations 1973, as follows: Regul ation 12 with respect to the issue of securities; Regul ation 13 with respect to transfer of securities registered
in Bermuda; Regulation 14 with respect to matters
related to nominees; Regulation 17 with respect to a
substitution of securities and certificates outside of
Bermuda; Regulation 19 with respect to duties of persons keeping registers; and Regulation 20 with r espect to additional provision as to nominee holdings.
Corporate service providers are to be provi ded to a partnership. Where the corporate services are
provided to a partnership, the requirement is for the
partnership to have obtained the consent of the A uthority for the formation of a limited partnershi p or its
change of particulars under section 5 or section 8B of
the Limited Partnership Act 1883, or for the registr ation of an exempted partnership or the change of its general partner under section 8 or section 13(1)(a) of
the Exempted Partnership Act 19 92.
Corporate services provided to a limited liabi lity company. Where the corporate service is provided
to a limited liability company, relating to issue or trans-fer of an LLC interest, under section 45(7) of the Li mited Liability Company Act 2016, the requirement is for
the limited liability company, or in the case of a new
formation, the proponents to have obtained the consent of the Authority for such issue or transfer in accordance with section 45(7). Section 45 of the Limited Liability Company Act 201 6 deals with matters related
to the admission of members of the limited liability


Bermuda House of Assembly company. An LLC interest referred to under section
45(7) is an LLC interest with specified voting rights.
The Bill before us today would make cons equential amendments to sec tion 45 of the Limited Li ability Company Act 2016 and to amend section 45(7),
providing for LLC interests with voting rights to clarify
when a limited liability company is required to obtain
the consent of the Authority for the issue or transfer of
such LLC interest. Where an LLC has its registered
office at the registered office of a licensed corporate
service provider, an LLC is not required to seek con-sent of the Authority for issue or transfer of such LLC
interest.
The Bill before us will also amend s ection 45
of the Limited Liability Company Act by repealing section 45(7A), which requires that a limited liability company should notify the Authority of an issue or transfer
of an LLC interest under section 45(7) on a forthwith
basis, and replacing it wi th a requirement to notify the
Authority as soon as practicable, but no later than 14
days after such issue and transfer.
Finally, clause 3 will also repeal the effective
date provision in relation to the issue or transfer of LLC interests to which section 45(7) relates. The
amendments to section 45 of the Limited Liability
Company Act 2016 are linked to other legislation
which is still to be tabled in the House relating to ben-eficial ownership. This Honourable House is advised
that the minimal requirement s have been included for
the purposes of these amendments in order to clarify
to the service provider regime. Further amendments
are expected, but it was considered that the Bill
should not be delayed, for these reasons.
Mr. Speaker, Bermuda benefits by having our
own legislative regime which is intended to address
speed- to-market and privacy concerns raised by i ndustry, as well as the Financial Action Task Force and the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and D evelopment policy standards and commitment s that are
applicable to Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I wish to express my
sincere thanks to the Bermuda Monetary Authority for leading this initiative, together with the Regulatory Unit within the Ministry of Finance, the National Anti -
Money Launder ing Committee, and the Attorney Ge neral’s Chambers, for our progress to date. Thank you,

Mr. Deputy Speaker, I
must say I was very pleased that the Opposition—the
Premier, sorry, the Premier and Finance Minister gave
me his brief because that i s also continuing in the spi rit of collaboration and cooperation.
I obviously have to start off and say that this
Bill has come . . . it has had a long journey. And most
of the journey has been part of the journey that the
previous Government (of which I am a part) was i nvolved in. Because if you stop . . . and I reminded m yself that the Bill that we are trying to modify here is the Corporate Service Provider [Business] Act 2012, and we came in right along after that. So when I started to
go back and look at the transition, I recognised that
there are effectively one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, actually seven Bills or Regulations that have
come as a consequence of this.
We all know why we are doing this. We know
that Bermuda is trying to make sure that we get on the
right side of FATF [Financial Action Task Force], because if we do not do that then Bermuda is not going
to be well positioned. And if we are not deemed to be


Bermuda House of Assembly a regime or a jurisdiction that adheres to the rules,
and if FATF feels that the regime is such that we [do
not] meet the standards, then it is going to be really
bad for Bermuda.
I am mindful of the fact that these changes
here are in line to make sure that we have to combat
money laundering and the financing of terrorism and
proliferation. And I must admit [that] sometimes Bermudians do not understand that when we first started
to do all of this we used to just worry about, you know,
are we a “tax haven” and whether people thought that we were a “tax haven.” We have gone past that. Right
now the name of the game is making sure that we can
make sure that FATF understands and believes, when
they look at us, that we are doing the right thing so that we do not have people coming here and laundering their money and turning around and . . . Who
would have thought? Who would have thought years ago that terrorists would be turning around and figuring out ways to get their money to wherever they need
to go to make sure that the terrorist acts that they committed to would be used through al l of these very
intricate avenues?
So, I am mindful of the fact that everything
that we do is designed to make sure that we do the
right things with respect to the Financial Action Task
Force standards and that what we are doing here . . .
and as the Fina nce Minister and Premier said, this is
not the end of it. There are more things. I mean, each
time something comes up he has to remind us that
this is just another layer in getting it right as it relates
to making sure that we have the standards in place
and that we are able to turn around and make sure
that, not only do we have the standards in place, [but]
that we are actually turning around and adhering to
these standards.
And so I do, and I know that my colleagues
[do], support this. We support this because we realise that it is important, especially as you go over time, you
start to recognise that different areas have been, if
you will . . . the areas where countries have seen that
if terrorists want to do something, certain areas have
come up. And, therefore, the corporate services area is something that has come up as a way for people to
do things and, therefore, it is . . . these changes are
things that have been designed to take care of this.
I know that the people in the Ministry of F inance have been effectively working with people in other jurisdictions to understand what is happening in
other places to make sure that if something has come
up as an issue that we get on the right side of it. B ecause the last thing we want is when the Task Force
comes to look at Bermuda that we have anything here
that someone can turn around and say, Oh, this is a
gap, or, Oh, they haven’t done this. We are trying to
make sure that all of our boxes are ticked so that we
can then turn around and get the good, clean report.
So I am mindful of that. And I am mindful of the fact that there is this
balance of trying to make sure . . . especially when
you already have people that are corporate service
providers and, you know, they sort of feel, W ell hey,
we’re doing the ri ght thing . . . and I must admit . . .
and I will say this, especially when you start looking at
the range of persons that are corporate service pr oviders. Because you forget that it is not just lawyers. It
is when you talk about the notaries and you talk about
the people in the legal professions and the accountants, and then you start talking about the fact that it is not just corporate entities, you have sole practitioners.
And if you think about it . . . and I know from even my
profession that corporate entities, everybody tries to
do the right thing, okay? But corporate entities tend to have much more structure and control, et cetera. Sole
practitioners sometimes are a stretch from the point of view of trying to make sure that they live up to the
standar ds and they do all of the right things. And
maybe sometimes they come across some things that they have not ordinarily done, but I am sure, with their
Bermuda spirit they go at it and they sort it out and they do it.
Now, whether it was outside of their r ealm . . .
I think what we are trying to do . . . this is trying to
make sure that everybody does things that they are
appropriately qualified to [do]. And if they are getting
into an area which they are not normally involved in, that we put some sort of c aveats there so that they get
permission and they do not do anything such, as I
say, that they get outside of their normal comfort zone
and then something slips through and . . . you know
what it is like. It slips through and when somebody
discovers it we cannot turn around and take it back.
But one other thing I am mindful of is the fact
that the BMA [Bermuda Monetary Authority] (who is
the Authority to do all of this) has started the process.
Because, remember, the applications have been in
and that is why they have the opportunity to see how
many people out there are basically saying, I am a corporate service provider. It has given them the opportunity to see the entire range of who is out there.
And I bet, if we could turn around and ask the
technical people, I bet you they found that there were
some people that perhaps they were not even thinking about as qualifying as corporate service providers. But
the understanding is that as long as you are in this
area of business and you are doing these types of
things, then you are deemed to be a corporate service
provider. And that is why it has been important to say
with respect to people who have (what I call) traditio nally done these things, and it has been accepted that
they are a corporate service provider and properly
licensed . . . those persons have effectively been able
to be . . . I will not say “grandfathered,” but those persons have been able to go through and have what I
call the “unlimited licence.”
Therefore, it has been important for us for
when we start to look at people who might not be i nBermuda House of Assembly volved in this, or might not have had the extensive
experience, to turn around and have something in
there so that they could have limited licences. So that
is where the BMA has to turn around and, based on
the application, based on all the information that has been provided, the BMA has to make this decision
about whether you have what I call the “limited l icence” or whether you have the “unlimited licence.”
And I think, by and large, all of the things here focus a
lot on what I call the “limited licence,” because that is
where you have the concerns in terms of people un-derstanding clearly what the requirement is, understanding the various types of transactions that you will
be involved in, and making sure that you understand
what you have to do.
So the clause which talks about the limited
licence and talks about what you have to do in terms of applying to the BMA before you do certain things,
as opposed to just doing them, those are all things . . .
making s ure that somebody, some entity, does not
inadvertently create a problem and do something
which Bermuda is going to be harmed by. Because
the bottom line is if you do something and it comes up
that you should not have done it, and we are then
stuck saying, Okay, this happened here in our jurisdi ction . . . you know, the red mark that we have [which]
we cannot take away. That is why it is important to
help entities understand, if they are in that limited category . . . Well, first of all, help entities unders tand
why they might be given a limited licence.
It is really important for them to understand
why they might be given a limited licence; especially if
in the past we did not have any of this, what I call reg-ulation, et cetera. So this is what I call the new proc edure and you have to make people understand why
the procedure is there so that when you tell them
about it they do not feel that they are being picked on;
they understand that it is something that Bermuda has
to do. And the more that we can turn ar ound and
make sure that they understand why they have a li mited licence, then it is very important.
I think after that, you know, it inserts the section to talk about if you have a limited licence that you
are not supposed to do the service if you are in certain
categories, et cetera. And especially when you start
talking about new company formations, because this is what happens a lot. Somebody comes up with
something that you had not thought about and som ebody that is not aware of the trickiness of this and you decide to think, Oh, it’s fine. And then before you
know it someone has formed a company and som ething is happening in there and the genie is out of the
box and we are not able to turn around and talk about
where the money is coming from.
And the sophisticated people out there now
have ways in which this money goes in somewhere
else and comes around and comes back and they
make it awfully difficult. The persons out there who
have a criminal mind are the brightest people that you want to see and I t hink we all acknowledge that. So
what we have to do is make sure that the regulations are in place to try and prevent people from doing
things that are going to harm Bermuda, try and make
sure that the individuals that might have these things come across t heir businesses are alerted.
I think most people want to do the right thing.
Obviously, people are entrepreneurs [and] they would like to make money. But I think that if they knew that it
was going to cause a problem, or cause harm, then I
think most people would turn around and make sure that they do not do that. But that does not mean that
there are not people out there who are deciding to let
it go and chance it. But then they have to understand
that when they do things there are going to be pena lties a nd they have to understand how all of these
things take place.
I must admit that when I looked at the range
of corporate services that were highlighted I realised
that over time those are the ones that, if I reflect back
on changes that have been made and regulations that
have been introduced over time, relate to some of the things which, as I say, are a little more unique and
which are things that we are not normally exposed to.
So, this is where Bermuda has to make sure that we
get this right.
Also, the regulations reflect the fact that if you
are used to being in the business and, like you say, if you have the registered office and you are doing
something, you do not have to turn around and seek
the consent for transferring the LLC interests, et
cetera. So certain things give recognition to the fact
that if you are used to doing certain things we are not
going to turn around and say that you need, effectiv ely, your hand held. And I do not mean that in a neg ative way, but to say that it is giving recogniti on that
you have been involved in that and, therefore, the risk and the danger is not quite so much.
So, Mr. Deputy Speaker , I just wanted to say
it is . . . also the fact that the Finance Minister and
Premier indicated there are going to be more amendment s coming to be tabled in the House relating to
beneficial ownership, which is fair enough. I think ev erybody understands that beneficial ownership has
been one of the . . . how people do their beneficial
ownership, how they have all their layers and ever ything, that has been one of the most difficult things in
terms of transactions and how things can go. So it is not surprising that there are going to be additional
amendments because I think what we have been
mindful of is that the technical officers have been able to be out there to see what is happening, even in ot her jurisdictions or when concerns have been raised to
make sure that we get it right.
And as the Premier and Finance Minister said,
you did not want to delay all of this. We want to get a
lot of it in place because some of these other things
can be picked up later. Especially bearing in mind that
the applications are out there, the BMA has to let


Bermuda House of Assembly these people know what type of restrictions they are
going to have, especially if people are going to have
limited licences because those are the ones. And,
therefore, it is important for us to get out and have the
BMA start to talk with them about what is going to happen.
So, Mr. Deputy Speaker , I just wanted to say
that we, obviously, support this and I know that as we
go forward the idea of making sure that Bermuda
stays on the right side, that we do not get that red
mark, is what everybody is working towards. Now, that does not mean that there might not be some concerns
in terms of people having to und erstand things that
they might have to do that they did not have to do b efore. But I think that all we are all recognising now is
that we are going to enter an era of having to have
more regulations and having to do more things to
make sure that we are on the right side.
I do not think any government . . . in the past,
remember we used to say to ourselves that we would
come here and would have more red carpet and less
red tape? Well, we still want to have red carpet; but
we have to make sure that where the tape is needed,
we have to do that because we do not want a red tick against Bermuda. So I guess I have to say more red
carpet , maybe we have to have a bit of red tape because we do not want a red tick.
So, Mr. Deputy Speaker , we support this and
we under stand why this is required. And the one thing
that we can do to help those people that will have the limited licences is to help them work their way through
having to have a limited licence and try and make
sure that more and more people understand. Becaus e
the BMA has got to get on the second part of this,
which is what we talked about when I think someone
was talking about FATF and all the other stuff. [And
that] is that we cannot be having all of these things as
stuff we are going to do. We have to have it as stuff
we are doing.
If we are not seen to be doing this then we will
not have that year in which to show that, you know, it
has been in place and we have been making sure that
these entities have been subject to the review for an-other year. Because as the Finance Minister said, you
have got people in there who have implementation issues, so we are trying to make sure that we reduce our implementation issues by getting it right up front
as it relates to the Act here and then over time making
sure that we have enough time to get out and help the
individuals.
So, Mr. Deputy Speaker , I am looking forward
to the Committee stage. Thank you , Mr. Deputy
Spea ker.

Thank you, Mrs. Atherden.
Any further speakers?
We recognise the Shadow Att orney General,
the Honourable Trevor Moniz. You have the floor.
Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Thank you, Mr. Deputy
Speaker . I am going to be brief on this —
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Oh, we want to know what is
happening with those prosecutions and civil recover-ies. We want to know. We have not . . . the Premier
can stand on his feet right now and say where he
stands on corruption.

Okay, well, let’s . . .
Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: That Honourable Member can
stand on his feet right now and say what he is going to do about corruption. He is welcome to do that.
Now, with respect to the piece of legislation in
front of us, Mr. Deputy Speaker , I agree in broad pri nciple. Obviously, we want to pass the assessment that
we face in the coming year with respect to FATF. I am
a little bit unsure, on reading the piece of legislation,
exactly who would apply for a limited licence. I was
not able to hear the entirety of the Premier’s present ation when he spoke on this, and I do not know if it is
possible to give exact examples of w ho would have a
limited licence.
Now, one of the problems here is I have had a
lot of complaints from people in the industry —and I
declare my interest as a barrister and an attorney. A
lot of the people in the practice do some corporate ministration work. And you get some people who are
obviously large and you get those people who are
much smaller. And, clearly, there have been complaints from the amount of paperwork that is required,
exactly the “red tape” my colleague, the Shadow F inance Minister Mrs. At herden, spoke to. There have
been complaints about the paperwork required.
So, while we want to have compliance with
FATF, we clearly want to have a light touch in this j urisdiction insofar as we are able. We do not want to be putting people out of business. And, of course, there
are constantly suggestions that in the broader world there are those competitive jurisdictions who would
like nothing better than to make us inefficient and u nable to produce a good product for our customers.
So what I would like to be assured of is that
this is going to be an efficient and a light -touch regime
for those people who give these services, and to
make it clear that there has been no allegation against


Bermuda House of Assembly this jurisdiction of any substantial improprieties with
respect to financial behaviour internationally.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .

Thank you, Honourable Member.
Any further speakers?
We recognise the Honourable Member from
Sandys, Michael Scott.

Hon. Michael J. Scott: Thank you, Mr. [Deputy ]
Speaker .
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I too am hopeful that
we will be focused on a risk -based approach to these
issues of compliance, rather than rule based. I declare
an interest as a practitioner as well, as barrister and
practitioner in this jurisdiction, so that there is a risk -
based approach.
By and large, the issues that we are seeking
to cover under the supernumerary regulators have
been driven by the corporate service providers who are the big players. Those have been the areas
where, I rather suspect, the large breaches of money
laundering and anti -terrorist financing have been occurring. And taking the point of the Shadow Attorney General, small practitioners, or single practitioners, or
medium to small practitioners, . . . there should be the
minimum of impact, Mr. Deputy Speaker , on their being cut out of carrying on formations of companies (if this is a part of their practice), because the compl iance requirements or, indeed, the specific provision
where you are forced to go into the cubbyhole of li mited practitioner (where you cannot form a company)
is imposed on you.
I am hoping, therefore, that across the board
of the legal practitioners in this country the ability to
form up an unlimited practice . . . or fall into the “unlimited” category of cor porate service provision, is
made as smooth as possible, and possible. Because it
is pointless for a practitioner, as a sole practitioner like
myself or some of the medium -sized firms, to only be
able to have a limited category, or be in the limited
category of limited corporate service providers, and not be able to form companies. Because that is where
the basic practitioner and the basic service you offer
is—to form the company, to maintain the corporate
books, to earn the annual fees for renewal of these
local companies. So, I hope we do not lose either the
focus or fall into the fiction that we are confronted
with.
The problem has no doubt been driven by existing major corporate service providers across the world, globally, that is driving these requirements. And
a small practitioner, or a sole practitioner, is unlikely to
be approached by a major money launderer or terrorist financier without the BMA being able to pick it up quickly. And so this is about how the risk can be better
. . . will be well man aged. The risk will be well managed by ensuring that the smaller practitioners who are simply trying to make a living are doomed right
there and expand their practice beyond civil and matrimonial into levels of corporate service provision and
not be cut out.
I have had anecdotal information given to me
that some small firms are just abandoning their corp orate services altogether for the reason of not being
able to meet this hurdle.
But, I obviously concur and am supportive of
the Minister’s principal aim and, as has been indicated
in the House, of getting this Bill put in place. And I do welcome . . . and I know that I have spoken briefly
with the Premier and Finance Minister who has taken
on board the whole concept of risk -based management of this process rather than just strict black -letter
laws, rules that you must comply with and making it
inflexible.
So, with those observations on behalf of sole
practitioners and/or medium -sized practitioners, I think
I have taken the point that I wished to make in relation
to this important legislation.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .

Thank you, Honourable Member from constituency 36.
Any further speakers? Mr. Premier?

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .
Mr. Deputy Speaker , I thank honourable colleagues for their comments and the few questions
and, of course, I thank the other side for the support.
As the Honourable Shadow Minister had stated, it is my practice to share briefs on financial matters with
the Shadow Minister and allow her and her colleagues
to have briefings from technical officers so that they can be well prepared with the subject matter that we
have before we come to this House.
And I thank the Learned Member who just
took his seat for understanding and recognising t hat
we must make sure that Bermuda maintains its place
as an internationally recognised and well -regulated
financial jurisdiction, and that we cannot fail on the
upcoming test. So what I would say is that it is surpri sing . . . and I will answer the questi on that the former
Attorney General asked when he asked, What types of firms? even though he, a former Attorney General
who had access to the brief from the Shadow Minister
of Finance, is not able to understand precisely what it
is.
And from that perspect ive what I will answer
him is . . . he [asked], Who will apply for limited l icence? And it will likely be small firms who are not
able to or are interested in making the size of inves tment required to be in possession of the capabilities necessary to do al l of the items that are performed by
the unlimited stuff, including company formation and/or becoming shareholders. And from that per-spective what we are trying to do, as was stated, is
set up a two- tiered system for the small firms, or those


Bermuda House of Assembly that do not w ant to do everything, so it is not unnecessarily onerous, and then for the large firms they can
do other items.
But what I think is most important, Mr. Deputy
Speaker , is that it is surprising to me that the old Uni ted Bermuda Party does not even remember what they
advocated for. Because I am certain that . . . and I
was not in this place, I was in another place. But I r emember ad nauseam the former Minister of Finance
(when he was the Shadow Minister of Finance) talking
about double- vetting, double- vettin g, double- vetting,
and how we needed to get past double- vetting. So,
here we are . . . the things that are necessary to get
past this whole double- vetting. And, of course, the
former Honourable Attorney General (now the Shadow Attorney General) gets up and complains about his
interests.
Well, here is the thing, Mr. Deputy Speaker , it
is a new world.

Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Mr. Deputy Speaker , that
Honourable Member is misleading the House.

Do you have a point of order?

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading
]

Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Yes. He is misleading the
House. I was not complaining about my interests
whatsoever. I was just saying that I had received
complaints from people in the community that there was a lot of paperwork involved with these applic ations, and I was hoping that this would use a light hand in terms of regulation. That was all.

Thank you, Honourable Member.
Carry on, Mr. Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker .
As the Honourable Member who just took his
seat—the Learned Member —spoke about his interests and the fact that he has a small law firm . . . and we understand because we have seen what happens
when Members of the Government allow their interests in their private law firms to—

Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Mr. Deputy Speaker , the
Honourable Member continues to—

Thank you.
Carry on, Mr. Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: And, Mr. Deputy Speaker , that
Honourable and Learned Member must have a pro blem with his memory because he spoke about his law
firm.
But let me explain to you what happens when
Members of the frontbench allow their private interests
to get in the way of public business. That would be the
reason why for five years, under the former Gover nment, there was no Land Title Registry put into place, Mr. Deputy Speaker . So let us talk about interests being in the way.

Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Mr. Deputy Speaker , that
Honourable Member is imputing improper motive.

Well, you must state that first.

POINT OF ORDER
[Imputing improper motive and misleading]

Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: He is both imputing improper
motive and he is misleading the House and the public
of Bermuda. The situation is that those are not the
reasons and we will, obviously at some point, get to
the Land Title Registry and the debate on that item.
But if he would learn himself up he would know that that is not the reason at all for the delay. It has nothing
to do with that.

Thank you.
Carry on, Mr. Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Deputy Speaker , the learning
that took place inside of this country on July 18
th
should be clear for all to see, and that is the reason
why we ar e over here and they are over there.
Again, the point: [For the] four and a half
years that they were in Government, [the] Land Title
Registry [was] not put into place because persons


Bermuda House of Assembly may be looking out for their own interests instead of
the interests of the country. And if the Honourable
Member has a guilty conscience, then he can stand to
his feet and say “point of order” one more time.

Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Point of order. Point of order. I
do not think he can be suggesting, —

Honourable Member , when I
take to my feet, you sit, right?
You do not talk . . . or have that language in
this House [about] what I should do. You have been here long enough to know better.
Carry on.
Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: He is c ontinuing to do the
same thing, Mr. Deputy Speaker . He is imputing i mproper motive. That . . . Land . . . and we are getting
off the subject entirely, Mr. Deputy Speaker . So I think
there should be more control over the debate. But the
Land Title Registry could have been introduced under
their Government —

That is your point . . . you are
not . . . you are going into a speech. You may sit.
The Premier can continue.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker .
But as we see, the guilty conscience has run
far and wide on that side because when we talk
about —

Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Mr. Deputy Speaker ,—

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Point of order.

What is your point of order?

POINT OF ORDER
[Imputing improper motive]

Hon. Trevor G. Mo niz: He is imputing improper m otive. He is suggesting I have a guilty conscience. I
have a clean conscience. Sometimes people look and
they think they are looking in a mirror and they are
saying something about themselves.
I, for one, do not have a guilty conscience.

The ruling is . . . Mr. Premier,
carry on.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker .
I will continue because . . . let me get to my
point, because for those persons who seem as though
if the best thing to do to progress this country is to protect established interests and the old way of doing
things, they will realise that this is not the way to advance. And what we have to do in this country is look
at compliance and the way in which the world is going
towards as an opportunity. It is an opportunity for new
law firms and maybe even older law firms, like the Honourable Shadow Attorney General has, to modernise their activities. It is an opportunity for Bermuda
to become a centre for compliance and to look at how
we can benefit off of what the world is going to.
So those are the type of opportunities, so the
conversations that we should be having up here. And
the conversation that fortunately this Government is
having is how we are going to capitalise off of those
opportunities. How are we going to make sure that
Bermuda is not only a well -regulated jurisdiction, but
how are we going to use these changes to provide
jobs and opportunities and new industries inside this
country? That is where our focus is and, as I have
said many times, Mr. Deputy Speaker , they are the
past, we are the future and we are moving forward.
And with that I move that the Bill be commi tted.

[Desk thumping]

Would anyone like to speak to the
clauses?

Hon. E. David Burt: I will. Thank you very much,
Madam Chairman.
Madam Chairman, clause 1 provides for the
citation of the Bill.
Clause 2 amends section 10 of the Corporate
Service Business Provider Act 2012 to provide that a
corporate service provider holding an unlimited l icence may provide any or all of the corporate services under the definition of corporate service provider
business and one holding a limited licence may pr ovide any or all of the corporate services under the definition of corporate service provider, subject to the
limits set out in subsection (6).
Clause 2 further amends section 10 of the
Corporate Service Business Provider Act 2012 by i nserting a new subsection (6), which imposes limits on a corporate service provider limited licence by requi ring that an undertaking so licensed shall not provide
the services to a company, partnership, or limited li ability company unless certain requirements are met.
And those requirements are:
• Acting as a company formation agent or agent
for the establishment of a partnership and
keeping or making any necessary alteration to
the register of members of a company in accordance with section 65 of the Companies
Act 1981.


Bermuda House of Assembly • Corporate services to be provided to a company in new formations where the corporate
services to be provided to a company, in the
case of a new formation, the proponents of
the company relating to the issue or transfer
of securities or related matters, the requir ement is for the company or the proponent to
have obtained the permission of the Contr oller
of Foreign Exchange under the relevant sec-tions of the Exchange Control Regulations
1973.
We are going over the requirements, Madam
Chairman, sorry.
• The corporate services provided to be a par tnership is another requirement. And that
means where the corporate service is to be
provided to a partnership, the requirement is
for the partnership to have obtained the con-sent of the Authority for the formation of a li mited partnership or its change in particulars
under section 5 or 8B of the Limited Partnership Act 1883 or for the registration of an exempted partnership or the change to its ge neral partner under section 8 or section
13(1)(a) of the Exempted Partnerships Act
1992.
• And the final requirement would be for corpo-rate services to be provided to a li mited liabi lity company and that would say that where
the corporate service is to be provided to a
limited liability company relating to the issue
or transfer of an LLC interest under section
45(7) of the Limited Liability Company Act
2016, the requirement is for the limited liability
company, or in the case of a new formation,
the proponents to have obtained the consent
of the Authority of such issue or transfer in accordance with section 45(7).

Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
Madam Chairman, obviously . . . and I just
wanted to state this again because somehow it did not
seem to get across. We understand t he need to have
this. We support these changes. And, therefore, I am really concerned when I hear this back and forth
across the House as if to suggest that we do not understand that it is necessary for these parts of the
Act—

—that it is important for us
to understand, especially as it relates to [clause] 2 where the limited licence is amplified and the requir ements, et cetera, are laid out.
I am speaking to that because these are the
new things that are being introduced, and I want to
make sure that everybody understands [that] we understand the need for it. We are not turning around
and saying we do not support this. So, let us see if we
can stop this back and forth of saying that we do not
understa nd that this is important for Bermuda and,
therefore, we want the right things to happen.
We understand that new people can go and
decide to go into these areas of business. We want
people to have opportunities and, therefore, knowing
that there are ways i n which they can apply for licences and knowing that this is the limited licence, and
especially as it relates to a limited licence we understand and we think that it is setting out restrictions, et cetera, which will give the control, which is the other
side of this, to make sure that they do not get into
things, that the BMA gets the opportunity to give their consent for those areas which are a little more unique
and, therefore, we understand and support these changes.

Thank you, Shadow Minister.
Would anyone else like to speak to clauses 1
and 2?
Minister, you have the floor.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much and I
thank the Honourable Shadow Minister for her support. As I said in the general debate, Madam Chairman, I do not believ e that the question of understanding lies with her; I think it may be with other Members on her frontbench.
With that I will move that clauses 1 and 2 be
approved.

It has been moved that clauses 1 and
2 be approved.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Agreed to.
[Gavel]

[Motion carried: Clauses 1 and 2 passed.]

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I would like to move clause 3.
Clause 3 makes consequential amendments
to section 45 of the Limited Liability Company Act
2016 in subsection (7) by causing the subsection to
be subject to subsection (8) and by deleting the end
provision that states that the consent of the Authority
is not required for the issue or transfer of the LLC i nterests referred to in that subsection where the issue
or transfer of such LLC interests is made by a limited
liability company having its registered office at the regBermuda House of Assembly istered office of a Licensed Corporate Service Provi der.
Further, section 45 is amended by the repeal
of subsection ( 7A) and the substitution of subsections
(8) and (9). The new subsection (8) provides that subject to subsection (9) the consent of the Authority is
not required for the issue or transfer of an LLC interest
referred to in subsection (7) where the issue or t ransfer of such LLC interests is made by a limited liability
company having its registered office at the registered
office of a Licensed Corporate Service Provider.
The new subsection (9) requires a limited li ability company that has, under subsection (8) , issued
or transferred an LLC interest referred to in subsection (7), to notify the Authority of the issue or transfer of such LLC interest as soon as practicable, but no later
than 14 days after such issue or transfer.

Thank you, Mr. [Deputy ]
Speaker , for your indulgence here. I am just trying to
get myself together.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , on the 15th of September 2017, I gave notice that, at the next day of meeting, I propos ed to move the following motion:
“WHEREAS it is acknowledged that the i ncreasing maldistribution of national income has facil itated the growth of income inequality and thus incip ient poverty to levels not witnessed in over seven decades [in Bermuda];
“AND WHEREAS, in addition, due to the near
widespread utilisation of foreign sourced low cost l abour over the last quarter century, wages in real terms
once inflation has been factored in; have declined for
many of Bermuda’s workers;
“BE IT RESOLVED, pursuant to the Parli ament Act 1957 part IV, that a Joint Select Committee
be appointed to investigate, report on its subsequent
findings; and to make recommendations to the House
of Assembly with respect to the implementation of a
living wage regime for Bermuda.”
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , thus we are here today
in this hallowed Chamber of a House of Assembly in order to move the motion as articulated.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , allow me to share with
the Members the following quote: “We can have d emocracy in this country, or we can have great wealth
concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” Those words are from Louis D. Brandeis, the
US Supreme Court Justice (1856 –1941).
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , one of the more pos itive bipartisan developments with respect the recent
general election was that both parties —the One Bermuda Alliance and the Progressive Labour Party, which went on to win the election in question —
affirmed their commitment, by way of their respective
election platforms, to the proposition of a living wage
for Bermuda. For many people, along with myself, that was an affirmation that this, indeed, was an issue
whose time had come.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , certainly you will recall
that as a Member of the previous Parliament I stood
before this body and co nveyed an internal report on
the 19
th of May 2017, as the former Chairman of the
then Joint Select Committee, that the then Committee
would lay its final report before the end of the summer
session. However, my one regret was that our Joint Select Committee of Parliament, which was charged
with laying before this Chamber that anticipated final
report, found that task pre- empted by the decision of
the then- Premier, the Honourable Michael Dunkley
(who remains a Member of this body), to call upon the Governor to dissolve Parliament with the aim of bringing into being the recently concluded general election. So I am here to beg the indulgence of the
Members of this Parliament, and specifically this Chamber, to affirm once more your bipartisan support
in order to ensure that this work is completed and that
a final report can be brought before you for your due consideration in a timely fashion.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I am gratified that the
present Government, led by the Honourable Premier
David Burt, has made the d ecision to honour the
aforementioned platform pledge made to the Berm udian people and has given support to this renewed effort to complete the work around this critically i mportant task of devising the most efficacious model for
the implementation of a liv ing wage for Bermuda. I
also reach out my hand to the new Opposition Members and their Leader and, as noted, commend them
for their support on this issue and hope that this m otion can enjoy their unal loyed confidence.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I wish to thank you and
your Clerk, Ms. Shernette Wolffe, for your guidance in
this matter. And for the benefit of the listeners out
there I have been referring to the Speaker, but actua lly we have the [Deputy] Speaker, the Honourable Derrick Burgess in the Chair at this time.
Members, I will not belabour you with a
lengthy presentation or engender a long debate. Suf-fice it to say that I believe that we have reached a
common consensus to askew that outcome today so that we can get to the matter at hand, which is to approve the establishment of a Parliamentary Joint S elect Committee so that we can complete this great and
necessary work.
I am sure that you will share my view that the
critical and substantive debate will come once the final
report is laid before this House. Moreover, there was
an extensive and rigorous debate in 2016 when a si milar motion was approved by the House of Assembly.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I have agreed to this
approach as agreed earlier, so I will keep my comments as brief as possible. I am also refr aining from
diving into the weeds with respect to the whole body
of information or findings culled from submissions
conveyed to the former Joint Select Committee over
the preceding year. I am of the opinion that the incoming Committee should weigh those fi ndings first before
they are made available to this House. Instead I will address some of the overarching structural challenges
that are relevant to our understanding of this issue.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , anyone who knows me
knows that I did not get involved in politics in order to
obtain status, great wealth or power, but to get things done, both great and small, on behalf of the Bermudian people, especially on behalf of the voiceless and
the powerless in our midst. After all, in a land of ple nty, of one wi th an abundance of riches, children go
hungry and too many hard- working parents struggle to
survive on wages that have been stagnant or even
declining for years in real terms, and increasingly
wages that do not afford many even the dignity of a


Bermuda House of Assembly decent life. Charitable need has exploded and tho usands of our fellow Bermudians have migrated to the
United Kingdom and beyond since the great recession, many of whom because they simply could not
afford to live here any longer.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I believe that this question of a living wage will not answer every need, but it
will begin the process of answering the existential
question of what kind of country we want to be. And
for that very reason it remains for me not only an ec onomic issue, or purely a labour versus business issue.
Nor, for that matter, is it purely a political issue. It is all of that. But at heart it is also a moral issue. Note that
over 90 per cent of countries have established statut ory wage floors of one kind or another. In addition,
many are beginning to embrace the call for a living
wage even when it may not be characterised as that in terms of its nomenclature, the battle for $15 per
hour throughout the United States of America being
but one example. At the other end of the spectrum,
the UK has imposed a statutory wage scheme that will
result in wage levels approximating living wage levels
by 2020.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , certainly one of the defining questions of our age and particularly western political economies, in fact, revolves arou nd the question of income inequality. But what is income inequal ity? Simply put, income inequality refers to a maldistr ibution of income as the financial gains in an economy
such as ours increasingly and disproportionately accrue to an ever smaller segment of the population,
usually characterised principally by the owners of capital and the professional classes.
However, we now live in a world whereby the
1 per cent of the global population has now captured
more wealth than the remaining 90 per cent and extreme levels of income inequality with diminished s ocial cohesion and even political stability.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , Bermuda is not i mmune to these trends. It is widely acknowledged that it
also contributes, as in the case of Bermuda, to a slow
but steady hollowing out of our middle income stratum
and/or class and has concomitantly facilitated an expansion in the number of households that can be
characterised as low income, and/or of households, a
small but expanding number being Bermudian hous eholds, that are mired increasingly in multi -generational
poverty.
As I have said before, some of the factors
which have driven the growth of inequality on Island
and which Bermuda has not been immune to are: the
growth and mere impact of globalisation; the increas-ing financialisation of the economies of most so- called
developed nations, including our own, over the last
four decades; the decline in collective bargaining, and
thus organised labour, as a countervailing power to capital; the growth of outsourcing and off -shoring;
and, very relevant to Bermuda, the movement of un-precedented numbers of low -cost migrant labour be-tween countries, across what former United States
Foreign Secretary, John Kerry, described as a “borderless world.”
Some of my colleagues will speak to some of
the other corrosive effects associated with widening income inequality on societies such as Bermuda. But
allow me to offer an analysis that speaks to how it has
driven, along with the growing adoption of low -cost,
low- to medium -skilled foreign labour, an unprec edented increase in the number and the need for financial assistance for Bermudians over the preceding period as but one example.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , the growth of the client
base at Financial Assistance over the last decade and a half can, in part, be attributed to that trend. In other
words, there has been a price, largely unacknow ledged, that the country has paid for this phenomenon as it relates to the growth of this sector.
Firstly, we have experienced the growth of
those on the Fi nancial Assistance roles as noncollege educated, low -skilled, mostly black Bermudians that have been marginalised within our labour market.
Secondly, the outward migration of scores of
Bermudians to the UK over the last decade is also, in part, a by -product of a ruinous cost of living, on the
one hand, meeting low -paying jobs that cannot afford
an employee a decent standard of living on the other. This has produced a continued downward pressure on
wages precipitated by the wholesale adoption of foreign low -cost labour, as noted.
Thirdly, moreover the biggest price we pay for
this is the millions of dollars that the Financial Assi stance Department pays out every year on necessary
assistance to the able- bodied and those that we cat egorise as low earners. Rem ember, the growth in both
of these categories, again, over 90 per cent black cl ients, began during the greatest economic boom in Bermuda’s history under the previous PLP Gover nment between 2000 and 2008/09, reinforcing the view
that this is systemic and/or structural and not just the
result of cyclical changes to the economy as occurs
with recessions.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , one cannot be in denial
over the fact that in Bermuda there has been unabat-ed growth in the demand for low -cost foreign labour
since th e mid - to late- 1980s. The reality is that this
migrant labour force (most of whom are low - to medium-skilled), competes directly with non- college educated, low - to medium -skilled Bermudians within our
workforce. And the most pernicious part of it is that i t
has had the deleterious effect of keeping wages low,
as noted, and even led to their decline, once inflation
is factored in, for many years of Bermudian household
incomes. This as inflation soared during the self -same
period.
We now live in a country where many occupational categories pay wages below the low income
threshold established by our own Department of St aBermuda House of Assembly tistics; or, to be more frank, they pay wages that keep
growing numbers of employees mired in relative and,
in some cases, real poverty. Is there any wonder, despite the modest decline in the numbers, that the cl ient base of those Bermudians on Financial Assi stance, as noted, has grown exponentially?
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , how can a Bermudian
electrician, for example, compete with a fully -quali fied
electrician from India—the best that India produces —
who back home works for only about $25.00 a week?
This is not a hypothetical example, Mr. [Deputy ]
Speaker . The Bermudian tradesman who told me of
this conversation with an Indian work colleague a few
years ago is still in shock every time he recounts it —
as he should be. Fifteen dollars per hour to this individual would seem like a windfall. But it would consign
the Bermudian tradesman to a poverty level wage.
However, I offer a caveat to my fellow B ermudians. Let us neither denigrate nor oppress those foreign workers who, in some cases, are fleeing lives of
abject deprivation, who in their endeavours here are simply trying to take care of their families back in their
countries of origin. No. Let us f ocus on the unscrupulous Bermudian employer and/or Bermuda- based
companies that indulge in these exploitative emplo yment practices.
Let us make it clear that, to paraphrase Pres ident Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “No business which depends for its existence on paying less than living
wages to its workers has any right to continue in this
country. By living wages, I mean more than a bare
subsistence level —I mean the wages of a decent li ving.”
Let us also be clear, Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker ,
this level of exploitatio n will continue unless we here
in this Chamber say, Enough! No more, and put in
place the right policy and legislative prescriptions to
curtail these egregious abuses.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I said before in this
House that when Bermuda stops working for Berm udians, then what is the point? During the period of the
1960s, the 1970s, and the 1980s those Bermudians
with only a high school education, and many with even less, could enter into the workforce and go into
the hotel industry or the trades, such as those assoc iated with the growing construction sector as well, and
earn a middle income standard of living. They got
married, had children, and provided for their families.
And even if they had to work two or three jobs, they
did so with the knowledge that th ey were getting
ahead; unlike now, where the prospect of working two or three jobs represents nothing more than an effort to keep from drowning financially for too many.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , my point is that Berm uda cannot just work for its college educat ed and/or
professional classes and the owners of capital. It must also work for its masons, its labourers, its landscapers, its restaurant and hotel workers, its delivery persons, and so many others trapped in occupations that will hardly afford them, to quote President Roosevelt
again, “the wages of a decent living.”
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , Bermuda is certainly
not working for young 26- year-old Lady M. “Lady M” is
not her real name. She has a precious four -year-old
daughter and is a constituent of mine. Lady M works
as a waitress and during a two- week period earlier
this year —and I want the listeners in radio land to
hear this. During a two- week period earlier this year,
[she] worked for 96 hours over a two- week period as a
so-called part -time waitress, and s he did so without
benefit of health insurance at a well -known mid- sized
restaurant. I ask the Members here to consider that her hourly wage was $7.50 per hour and she worked
eight -hour shifts over a six -day week.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , Lady M also did so
without the benefit of overtime pay. At the end of that
gruelling two weeks she took home the princely sum
of $620.90, once social insurance and payroll taxes
were deducted. Her gross earnings for 96 hours of
unmitigated toil amounted to $720.00. When one a dds
in her average tips per week of only $130.00 to about
$140.00 per week . . . well, I challenge you to do the
math. But allow me to put it this way: When it comes
to her household budget the numbers never add up.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I implore the Members
of this House, let us work together to halt this race to
the bottom that is affecting the most economically vu lnerable among us —fellow Bermudians. We all know
that markets left up to their own devices, or left unfettered, will surely result fairly soon in wage rates falling
even further. Already I have heard of certain emplo yers who pay their staff $6.00 an hour. In five years’
time, Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , will the wage reach $4.00
or $5.00 per hour?
Let us also not forget that it was in this same
Chamber two weeks ago today that the Minister of Home Affairs revealed that another employer was
seeking to bring in a migrant worker —and that is the
global title for those workers —under the premise that
they would pay that worker $11.00 per hour. To the
Ministe r’s credit, he assured us that this approval was
not granted. Colleagues know that by way of a full 40hour week that worker would have earned the princely
sum of $440.00 before deductions.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , $7.50 per hour is not a
living wage and neit her is $11.00 and neither is
$15.00 per hour —not in Bermuda. It is a poverty level
wage. Do not get me wrong, there are many excellent
employers —and I mean this —some in this Chamber
today on both sides of the aisle. But as long as we
allow these perverse i ncentives that flourish unchecked while systematically placing Bermudian
workers, and black Bermudian workers, in particular,
without a college degree, at a distinct competitive di sadvantage, it will only get worse, as it has over the last two or three dec ades.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , recent surveys over the
last 18 months, including one from the Telegraph


Bermuda House of Assembly newspaper in the UK, now assert that Bermuda has
the highest cost of living in the world. Clearly, if some
of us are not prepared to accept that dubious t itle we
cannot ignore the fact that Bermuda’s cost of living is now at least one of the highest in the known universe.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I conclude by noting
that the September 22
nd Royal Gazette edition had a
front page headline that read, “Bermuda has 23 per
cent living in ‘poverty.’” I repeat, “Bermuda has 23 per
cent living in ‘poverty.’” They were quoting the com-ments of Bermudian economist Robert Stubbs, who noted, “Bermuda’s economic model and tax system is
producing systemic poverty on the islan d.” And I
would add, to an extent that we have not seen since
the 1930s before the Yankee dollar bill arrived with the Great War, otherwise known as World War [I]. It is
also producing widening racial disparities as the President of the Bermuda Industrial Union outlined in a
presentation at the BIU banquet in 2015. This, too,
should come as no surprise. Mr. Stubbs arrived at that
figure by way of the 2010 Census, and his findings
were delivered at a recent lecture entitled, “Bermuda 2017: Test tube to the W orld.” His calculation was
based upon the simple measurement of how many
were living below the median household income in
Bermuda as per that 2010 Census.
That begs the question, What will the next
census reveal in a few months? Will Mr. Stubbs, shortly after that census is published, tell us that the
poverty rate by that same measurement is now at
28 per cent? Or even 30 per cent? In 2010 we were in
the depths of that Great Recession. Certainly, without
major job growth since that period, why would it have gotten any better? I suspect that it has gotten worse.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , what should we do then
as more and more young Bermudians migrate to the
UK, as noted, while we turn a blind eye to the explo itative practices of some employers who seemingly
have devised a business plan contingent upon the
payment of poverty level wages? Or do we, assembled here, do the right thing and say with one voice,
no more?
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , allow me to remind
Members and the listening public that implementing a
living wage in Bermuda, as indicated, is not the only
answer in response to the structural challenges that
confront us. Far from it! But it is an important and
necessary part of the puzzle that we will need along
with other critical structural reforms, such as tax r eforms, which, combined, will reduce income inequality,
arrest the concomitant erosion of our middle class,
and revert the inexorable march of poverty in Berm uda.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , I will leave you with this
sobering thought from a readers’ survey conducted by columnist Martha Myron, featured in the September 23
rd 2017 edition of the Royal Gazette. The headline for the column that week read, “Dealing with Ber-muda’s high cost of living.” One respondent to the
survey wrote the following:
“‘Living in Ber muda is absolutely unaffordable
for the ordinary person. If we did not have decent pr ofessional jobs’” . . . now I just want that to sink in, so
everybody out in radio land and the Members here,
she, or he, said that l iving in Bermuda is absolutely
unaffor dable for the ordinary person. This is the kic ker. She (or he) went on to say, “‘ If we did not have
decent professional jobs and have help from my r etired family member who lives with us, we would be
forced to leave Bermuda. ’”
When you get to a point where members of
the professional class, that I talked about earlier, are saying things like that, if that is not a wake- up call for
where we are at right now, then nothing is. Imagine
then, this puts in greater relief what Lady M is going
through with her four -year-old. I might also add she
lost her fiancée who passed away due to diabetes . . .
you know, only about five or six months ago.
So, Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , as I conclude here,
I am grateful again for this opportunity to call for the House to sanction the formation of a new Committee.
I am happy that, at least as we stand right now up to
this point, we enjoyed bipartisan support. Both parties,
as mentioned, are in favour of us moving in this direction. I know there will be disagreements and honest argument s about, not necessarily when, but how. I
take great responsibility here that we have to make sure that we have a model that is going to be one that
can achieve broad support for this proposition.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , the professional said,
“we would be f orced to leave Bermuda” if we did not
have these jobs and the help from a retired family
member , who probably has multi -generational wealth.
I will only say, in closing, [leaving] will be an
option, unfortunately for us, that thousands of our fel-low Bermu dians, as noted, have already exercised.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I humbly beseech the
Members of this House to support this motion.
Thank you.

Before we hear the next
speaker, I would just like to recognise the Honourable
Senator Hayward.
[Desk thumping]
[Motion: Joint Select Committee to Investigate, Report
and Make Recommendations on the Implementation of a Living Wage, debate thereon continuing.]


Bermuda House of Assembly The Deputy Speaker: Any further speakers?
The Opposition Leader, Ms. Pat Pamplin.
You have the floor, Ms. Pamplin.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Deputy Speaker .
Mr. Deputy Speaker , the propos ition before us
today is a motion requesting Parliament to agree to a
resolution to appoint a Joint Select Committee to i nvestigate, report on its subsequent findings, and to make recommendations to the House of Assembly with respect to the implementation of a living wage
regime for Bermuda.
You will know, Mr. Deputy Speaker , that a
similar motion was tabled before, in the prior House,
and it was a motion which enjoyed bipartisan support.
It is a subject for which this party has supported—the
concept. It i s one that you will know that as a part of
the Labour Advisory Council there was a subcommittee that had been formed under the leadership
of the Honourable Member who sits in the Gallery to
whom you just referred, the Honourable Member who
sits in another place, Mr. Jason Hayward, in terms of
bringing a report, through the Labour Advisory Council, on this very same topic.
I was privileged at the time, Mr. [Deputy ]
Speaker , to be the Minister who commissioned that
report to be done and who received the substantive
part of the report that had been completed up until the
time that we were no longer in the Government.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I believe that the n ucleus of what we require going forward would have been encapsulated in some of the recommendations that were included in that sub- committee report, and I
believe it could be useful for that sub- committee report
to be made available to the new Committee to which
the Honourable Member is now attempting for this
House to support the implementation of —

I agree. I agree.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: —in order that we
can reach a conclusion on this matter in an expeditious manner.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , there are times when
work is done and the results thereof find their way on-to some shelf. And the idea comes up again and it
sounds like a wonderful, great, new idea that already
has had its genesis in a significant amount of work
that has already been done. So my suggestion and
hope is that we not have to go back to square one, but
that we utilise some of the information that has a lready been garnered with the massive man hours that
have already been expended to deal with this issue,
and then to be able to bring that along with new information that will come from the new Committee in or-der for this House to debate this in a fulsome manner.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , it is egregious to us —
both as Government and now as Opposition— to know that we had employers who engaged in unscrupulous
business practices in terms of trying to circumvent the
rules and the restrictions that were implemented by
the Immigration Department, and to utilise those u nscrupulous practices to be able to undermine the abi lity for Bermudians, as well as our guest workers, to be
able to live in an appropriate manner based on the
salaries that they were being paid.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I can just make reference to one situation in which I can say the now -
Minister of Immigration is not isolated in the requests
that come before him and looking at documentation
where you may decide that this is an inappropriate
request and, therefore, could not be supported. I can
just tell you, Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , of a situation in
which a particular application came before me, which I looked at and declined. It was sent back by the tec hnical people to the person making the application. And
then on the appeal the individual came back and said,
The Chief Immigration Officer doesn’t know what
she’s doing, the Permanent Secretary doesn’t know
what she’s doing, and, more importantly, the Minister
doesn’t know what she’s doing because this is the
person that I want to hire and this is the person that I
will have.
I was able to go back to that applicant to say,
Sir, you are perfectly right that I cannot tell you who to
hire. But I can tell you who you can’t have and you’re
not having this applicant. Because what you are as king for is not just unfair, I will not stand by and allow
anybody to be used so shamelessly in the workplace and consider myself to be a part of the human family. So, if you feel that this is the way you wish to operate,
you are entirely on your own. But you will not do it with
my blessing. You cannot have this particular individ ual.
And those are the underlying challenges that
we face when we talk about people being able to live and to be able to survive and to sustain themselves and their families in the manner that is appropriate in
the environment in which we live. We do not profess
to be a Third World country where we can look to eke
out a subsistence.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: I said we do not
profess —

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Okay. To be a
developing nation in which . . . and I apologise. I do not mean to offend anybody. But we are not a developing nation whereby we have to look at how we can
eke out a meagre existence and still force ourselves
to get by in a manner which was forced on certain j urisdictions heretofore.


Bermuda House of Assembly Bermuda went through its own challenges in
that respect way back when, and we have develope d
and matured to an extent where, for the most part, we
can manage in some way, shape or form with our own
devices and with the additional support that has been offered by the Government in the various pr ogrammes.
But we heard the Minister responsible for Social Development last week indicate that it was going
to be difficult to sustain the level of assistance that
had heretofore been offered and, therefore, we have to start looking at different ways in order to ensure
that our people are able to live in a dignified kind of
way.
Mr. Deputy Speaker , let me just say that as
we support the formation of this Joint Select Commi ttee, certainly from our perspective we will offer to the
Chairperson who has brought this motion, Mr. Commissiong, once the Committee has been established,
our unwavering support in terms of involvement, di scussion, investigation, and the reporting of information
that is appropriate. It is not my intention today, nor is it
the intention of my team, to belabour the challenges,
because I beli eve they have been adequately expressed by the Honourable Member who brought the
motion. I believe that it is more appropriate for us to be able to save the information that is garnered as a result of the investigation and the Committee’s findings and to have a fulsome debate at that point in
time. It is also my understanding that the prior Committee that was established with the blessing of this
Honourable House had reached the stage of nearly
being, or at the cusp of being, able to bring a report to this Honourable House.
So it is my expectation, Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker ,
that new members of the Committee (because we do
have new Members who are now in this Honourable
House) will be able to bring themselves up to speed
with respect to the requirements, with res pect to the
information that has already been investigated, with that which has already been gleaned, and will be able
to compile a report to bring to this Honourable House
in a reasonably short period of time. Because I believe that we recognise and under stand that the matter is
urgent, that we cannot rest on our laurels —for those
of us who are better off than others —and to think, I’m
okay, Jack. Let’s pull up the ladder. We have to be our
brothers’ keeper and we have to show, Mr. Deputy
Speaker , that we have the level of concern and the
level of human consideration to make sure that all of us as countrymen— whether born here in Bermuda,
whether transplanted from other jurisdictions as permanent residents, or whether guest workers —that we
make sure that we do not exploit humankind in such a
. . . and it is not just exploitative, but an unscrupulous
manner.
So, Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , as we support this,
I certainly hope, as I said, I do not believe that there is
a necessity, and I have no doubt that other Members may wish to speak, but I do not believe that today is
necessarily the time. According to this motion this is
the establishment of the Joint Select Committee. And I
certainly, again, reiterate the support of our party and
our team to achieve the ends that are attempting to be achieved by the Honourable Member who has brought
the motion.
Thank you.

Thank you, Honourable Opposition Leader.
Again, we want to have a very limited debate.
The debate has occurred already, so we are not goin g
to be long with this.
Are there any further speakers?
We recognise the Honourable Member from
constituency 36.
Hon. Michael J. Scott: Mr. Deputy Speaker , good
afternoon, sir.
I take note of the caveat just declared by
yourself, but just briefly suppor ting my colleague the
Member piloting this particular and important motion,
Mr. Deputy Speaker , as he presented what really
amounts to a clarion call, the Sermon from the Mount,
and he delivered it as it was a sermon with urgency
and with passion.
I pick up the point that the Honourable Member from constituency 21, Mr. Commissiong, mentioned the development, a side- product or by -product
of the poverty in our midst, of charitable explosions in
our country. And we have watched this take place and as a concom itant reaction to the explosion of charities
in our country, in our Island, our little Island, there has been an equal reaction to regulate charities. And so
on one hand charity and charitable activities, Mr.
Deputy Speaker , as a typical human response by our
Bermudians and fellow Bermudians, from small char ities, like the Orchid Club, trying to deal with this question of reducing immigration or just helping Bermudians get by. We have over -regulation and the situation
has become untenable, as has been indic ated by Mr.
Commissiong.
The issue of club hands has also been attacked and the helping practice of club hands has
been regulated and soon probably will be because of matters presented by the Minister of Finance this
morning (not to reflect) because of FA TF and money
laundering regulation, even saving efforts in club
hands is being barriered in our Island. So I am merely
underscoring in this debate and in this motion the urgency of this need for an adequate response.
You know of the presence of foreign, c heap
labour in our country. It has become cheap labour because of the arguments made in this very motion that
result in $6.00 an hour wages and $7.00 an hour
wages amount to princely sums for many foreign m igrant labourers in our midst. It also drives remi ttances.
Remittances are a critical part of the majority, I would


Bermuda House of Assembly say, of our foreign labourers. Remittances are taking
place at a major pace and so with remittances there
is, driven by it, the need and the absolute reaction by
foreign migrant labourers to live off of fishing in our
country so that their remittances are higher and get
fully sent over to their families in their respective countries.
And rents are contributory rents, they are not
full rents being paid into our economy, they are rents contribu ted by a migrant labourer living in a unit or in a
room where they are contributing to the rent there.
They are not spending in our economy in the
measures and levels that they would otherwise do, or
they are living on hospitality properties with reduced
rents. And so the arguments that we need to have
foreign workers in our country to occupy our homes
and to boost our economy by and through rents and
the spending in our supermarkets and the spending
across all of our economy by our foreign guest wor kers is not occurring. So this is a deleterious outcome
connected with low wages —poverty wages —and this
motion will address this at the same time of lifting into dignity of earnings . . . native Bermudians, something
that we have got accustomed to.
But my researc h tells me that it was in the
1970s that the cost of living began to be spiked in our
country —spiked upwards —and there has been no let -
up ever since. And it has produced a catastrophe, li terally a catastrophe (or a ca-tas-troff, as the French
put it), in o ur midst, a catastrophe of emigration, a c atastrophe of Bermudians being and feeling under
siege in income, in housing, in education. And these
were the indicia identified by Professor Newman many years ago, looking at it happening in the 1990s. Pr ofessor Newman examined this peculiar and particular
worrisome development in our midst in 1994 and
wrote a report on it.
But when I last referred to the Newman ana lyses in a meeting of our group, the Member piloting
this particular motion, Mr. Commissiong, reminded me
that in 1994 the Professor Newman analyses that was
being directed, Mr. Deputy Speaker , to just Pembroke
East—just there, across the way, in our suburb —has
spread exponentially across Sandys North, Sandys
South, down to St. David’s, where the Honourable
Member s Ms. Foggo, Mrs. Ming, and Mr. Swan are
holding up their representation.
And it is equally concerning that the 1994
presence of low income, low education, low housing occurrences in these communities are having an i mpact on our kids, are having a negative impact on their
outcomes, are driving more children into the criminal justice system. It is causing all of the concerns that
have become the everyday concerns of this House —
whether it is gang management, whether it is intergenerational traumas of our kids.
And so I stand merely to support and underscore the urgency of this present problem of a liveable wage, and I commend Mr. Commissiong for reviving it, inviting the support of the whole House for it, and I
certainly look forward to its being pr ogressed, Mr.
[Deputy ] Speaker , to the point of adoption and then
being actioned into real legislation that creates sol utions.
Mr. [Deputy ] Speaker , I mentioned the sprawl
that is occurring, the negative sprawl that is occurring on this critical problem and how, when we address it,
we should hope to see better outcomes and the return
of our capital —both intellectual and in the form of our
human capital —back into contributing to the success
of making Bermuda a better, fairer place for all of us. And so I thank you, Honourable Member , Mr. Commissiong, for the revival of this important initiative and
I too, like Members who have already spoken on this
matter across the House, look forward to the progress
of this motion into its full implementation.
Thank you.

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

Thank you , Mr. Speaker .
Mr. Speaker , I am taking note of the fact that
we are being asked to be relatively brief in terms of
our comments this afternoon because there will be a
report of the Committee at a certain point in the not too distant future.
Let me just reiterate quickly that, as my honourable colleague Pat Gordon- Pamplin said, we are
certainly in support of the notion to set up a Joint S elect Committee to look at the implementation of a li ving wage. I certainly do not have a problem with that. I
would like to make a couple of observations, though.
My understanding is that in the previous Parliament report, or maybe a draft report had actually
been done . . . I have not seen that report and I do not
know how many people actually have, but I thi nk it is
going to be important to make sure that it is carefully looked at with some of the information that, perhaps, was not available to the last Committee.
And one of the things that I will start with right
off the bat is that at this point we have not yet seen
the results of the recent census. My understanding is
that those results will be available sometime in Oct ober. But I think that it is going to be very important that
this information be used to essentially educate or,
perhaps, provide up- to-date information that could be
very useful because the previous census goes back to
2010. And I think some Honourable Member s will
know that the 2010 Census was somewhat flawed because of the difficulty in getting a reasonable pr oportion of responses.


Bermuda House of Assembly But I t hink it is interesting because that census actually . . . and I had a quick look at some of the
information (and I am not going to get into detail). But
even between 2000 and 2010 there was significant
movement in terms of, what I will call, annual hous ehold income. For example, in 2010 those households
earning under $36,000 actually had halved from 2000.
And in a sense, if the former Government —not the
former Government, the former, former Government —
wants to take credit for that I think, perhaps, they
should as well.
I think the other thing I want to touch on is
there was a fair amount of work done by the Depar tment of Statistics back in around 2008. And some Honourable Member s will be aware, others will not,
that the Premier of the time, Dr. Brown, actual ly co mmissioned a council on economic advisors. And one of the reports that they were asked to look at was a r eport that was done by the Department of Statistics
called “Low Income [Thresholds].” And the point I am
going to make here is that I think the st ats department
was rather pointed in terms of looking at it on a
household basis as opposed to simply the issue of a
wage basis because . . . and again, I have not seen
the report of the Committee that was struck before
and that worked on this. But I think the household basis is an important way to look at this. And if the
Committee did not have a look at this report, I would
suggest that the new Committee do so.
Now, I think the sad thing is that the Council
of Economic Advisors met, I think twice, had the report given to them and nothing much happened after
2008. But there are a couple of things in here which I found very interesting and, perhaps, are cogent in
terms of the current consideration of this issue of a
minimum wage.
The first was a quote, with your permission,
Mr. Speaker , which came—and this is in the 2008
Report from stats —it came from the Chief Statistician
of Statistics Canada who essentially said that “Poverty is a very difficult concept to define and measure.” His
quote was that: “Poverty is intrinsically a question of
social consensus at a given time and in the context of
a given country.” And I think that is really important in
terms of making sure that we do not simply adopt all
of what other countries may or may not be doing with respect to one part of this, which is a minimum wage.
And I am not suggesting that a minimum wage is not
something that we should not adopt; but I think we
should be aware of that in the context of Bermuda, our
own economy, and our own consensus here.
The Repor t was also interesting in the sense
that it went on to say in the conclusion, with your permission, Mr. Speaker , “In an affluent society such as
Bermuda, it is very difficult to distinguish between
those who are in need and those who are simply less well-off. However, the results of this study not only
confirm that there are households in need but also provide the empirical data on the number and the type
of households with low incomes.”
It goes on to say: “The results deserve much
thought and policy attent ion. Among the selected
household types for this study, single adult, singleparent households with children, and two- parent
households with children are the household types
most vulnerable, with income levels falling consistently below the threshold level s for each method.” They
had a number of methods they looked at in terms of looking at issues of poverty.
It said: “Those households with children aged
16 years and younger increase the cost of essentials
for a family and therefore the burden of provision is
heavier. Further investigation will be carried out to
identify the extent of low income level incidences for
larger family household types with more than two chi ldren.”
I do not know whether the stats department
did any further work on it, but I think i t is important not
to lose some of the work that they did and to look at some of their conclusions and, in fact, if it has not happened already I would certainly suggest that Government look at asking the stats department to update
their “Low Income Thresholds” report from 2008 to the
current time, looking at some of the current census
data.
Now, one of the other things that I think is
worth pointing out is that in these things there is often what is known as a law of unintended consequences.
And I think I say that because we have seen examples of that before in Bermuda. And while the issue of a living wage is certainly well intentioned and I think,
as I said before, we on this side think it should be
carefully looked at, one has to be sure that in an
econom y like Bermuda it is going to work and it is going to be effective in terms of what may or may not have happened in other jurisdictions. And there is
some interesting data that has come out fairly recently which, and this is the UK (and I think the Honourable
Member touched on it very briefly), but an independent office there that I will refer to as the OBR (which is the Office of Budget Responsibility) in the UK. It is not
a political office; it is independent, and it basically
suggested that the overall i mpact of the living wage
would actually not impact those who were poor and
low-skilled. But many of those who would benefit the
most would be second- earners in higher income fam ilies, whereas it went on to say many poor Britains do not work at all.
I say t hat because, again, I just want to rei nforce this issue that simply looking at it through the lens of what is an appropriate living wage or not may
not be the best way to look at it and we may actually
do better by going back to what the stats department
did, which was looking at the whole issue of hous eholds as opposed to single individuals and wages.
The issue of unintended consequences we
have certainly seen before. The whole issue of term


Bermuda House of Assembly limits was certainly well intentioned, but in the end
what it end ed up doing was essentially having lots of
jobs outsourced out of Bermuda and, in fact, it made
many of the entry level jobs simply disappear. Al though, obviously, the issue of term limits was certainly
by a former, former Government well intentioned and
was put in to help Bermudians. But in point of fact,
because of our very mobile economy and the fact that
a lot of businesses that we have do not actually have
to be here, it had an impact that certainly was way
beyond what was intended.
I think the other t hing (and again, I said I had
a number of observations that are important here) is
looking at where the impact will fall. And I think it does
not take much consideration to know that it is probably
not going to impact international business in any kind
of direct way. I think most of those salaries from top to
bottom are well above what would be considered to
be a living wage. But it is going to impact areas like
tourism, particularly hotels. And I think most of us understand, Mr. Speaker , that hotels in Ber muda have
been subsidised —some would say heavily subsidised.
And one of the largest components of their general
G&A expenses [ general and administrative expens es],
their COLA [cost of living adjustment], or their cost of doing business is certainly labour.
So, I hope that the Committee going forward
will certainly take some time to talk to hotel operators
and have a look at what the impact could conceivably
be on them. Simply putting up a living wage may not
discourage foreign workers —because we seem to be
spending some time talking about the impact to foreign workers —it may also have the impact of essentially making hotels very difficult to function here. Ot her services, certainly, horticultural services, cleaning, restaurants, and that sort of thing.
One of the things that the Honourable Member who introduced the motion has commented upon
before, and I think this is also really important, partic ularly in terms of Bermuda, is . . . and this is, again, be
careful of unintended consequences and be careful
what you wish for. And I will give you an example.
Those who have been in New York recently and have been in a CVS will know that they have done away with a lot of the cashiers or checkout counters. And
what you are finding now with improved software and,
dare I say, artificial intelligence is a lot of customers
now are simply checking themselves out. And as we
all know in Bermuda cashiering is a job that provides
income for a lot of families. But when you start to es-sentially make it more advantageous to ess entially
invest in capital or software and things of that sort [to] reduce labour, what you end up with is job loss. And I
think that is certainly something that has happened
here.
We have also seen, obviously in this economy, and it happened in the late 1 990s and early
2000s, a real shift from what I would call blue- collar
jobs to more white- collar service [and] professional jobs as well. And I think one of the things that you
have already seen in Bermuda to some degree is . . .
because of the cost of labour here you have seen a
certain amount of back office that has been outsourced. And you have seen it in IT, you have seen it in the banks, and you have seen it in a number of areas where those jobs simply are no longer here. They
have gone to other countri es. India is a prime exa mple. But we have also seen a number of jobs where
companies here have put that back office in Canada
as opposed to having it in Bermuda because the cost and the availability of labour is that much higher.
So, I think it is important for the Committee to
look at this issue of potential outsourcing, the smal lness of our economy, and to make sure that those
unintended consequences do not come about simply
as a consequence of a well -intentioned effort. So
those are some of the things that I wanted to observe,
Mr. Speaker .
I also had a little bit of an issue with the way
the motion was written. I am not sure I would agree that “it is acknowledged that increasing maldistribution
of national income has facilitated the growth of income
inequality.” We have not seen any data on that. Or
that poverty levels have risen . . . fallen to levels not
seen in seven decades. We had quite a few issues, I
think, during the Second World War that effectively
made it very, very difficult in Bermuda at the time. And
I think simply to make assertions of this sort without any evidence to support them is certainly not som ething that I would be prepared to put my name to.
But as I said, I certainly do not disagree with
the need to have a good look at this. But I hope it will
be looked at in the context of some of the issues and
some of the more recent data that has come out, particularly the census, because I think that it is going to
be important that we use up- to-date data and that we
look at it in a slightly broader way, not simply whether
we should choose a minimum wage . . . not a mini-mum wage, but whether we should choose a living
wage; but look at it on the basis of household income
and what would be an appropriate way to measure
how much a living wage is r equired. I think it is a
broader issue as opposed to simply looking at a silver
bullet which, as we all know, sometimes turn into lead
balloons.
So, Mr. Speaker , with those comments, I appreciate the opportunity to make a contribution.
Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker .
Just to add my voice to this motion moved by
the Honourable R. P. Commissiong:


Bermuda House of Assembly “WHEREAS it is acknowledged that the i ncreasing maldistribution of national income has facil itated the growth of income inequality and thus incip ient poverty to levels not witnessed in over seven decades;
“AND WHEREAS, in a ddition, due to the near
widespread utilisation of foreign sourced low cost l abour over the last quarter century, wages in real terms once inflation has been factored in; have declined for
many of Bermuda’s workers;
“BE IT RESOLVED, pursuant to the Parli ament Act” (of the great year of) “1957 part IV, that a
Joint Select Committee be appointed to investigate,
report on its subsequent findings; and to make recommendations to the House of Assembly . . .”
Mr. Speaker , let me say that income inequality
in Bermuda is very real, and I want to commend the Honourable Member for his stick -to-it-iveness to make
sure that this is being followed through.
And, Mr. Speaker , I look forward to assisting,
participating, contributing going forward as this parti cular issue impacts many, many thousands of people in
this country in many complex ways. And the knock -on
effect of what living beneath what one needs to live is
far-reaching, and we have it taking place in this country—this country of plenty, this country of affluence,
and this country when we go overseas and represent
Bermuda.
When we go overseas and represent Berm uda we are proud of many things about Bermuda, but
the underbelly that is masked is that great inequality
exists in Bermuda. And great inequality exists because the economy that we are operating under is
allowing Bermudians, and especially black Bermudians, to find ourselves at the lower end of the economic spectrum, and we must address that.
This motion gives us cause . . . whilst narro wing it down to a living wage, it does not preclude us from looking in a far more reaching way at some of
the other knock -on effects that I think other Members
have alluded to in supporting this motion, as I do.
In looking just a few minutes ago . . . and if
one would just Googl e “Bermuda cost of living,” Be rmuda Online, produced by Mr. Keith Forbes, outlines
in great detail many areas in which Bermuda does have a high cost of living, Mr. Speaker . The article
that some would refer to was in The Independent UK
newspaper. He actual ly lists right up front when you
talk about Bermuda’s cost of living and how we are listed first amongst many noteworthy countries as
having a high cost of living. And those who are grea test impacted by that, unfortunately, are we the Bermudian people. And I think it is incumbent upon us to
grapple with this problem.
The presenting Member of Parliament for this
[motion] touched on matters and has done so in the past about the cost of food in the country, the cost of
healthcare in the country, and for many p eople the
absence of healthcare in our country. There are per-sons who approach the age of 65 still healthy and still
very much vibrant who need to work just to be able to
pay that health insurance bill that is ever escalating,
with the fear that this, inde ed, could be the undoing of
any savings that they have.
And so the living wage brings under the m icroscope persons, and many in Bermuda, of an i ncreasing population by age that the census —which
has been delayed— will reveal. The many vulnerable
in Bermuda, in a buoyant economy, Bermudians who
still did not escape being in the category of poor or
near poor, whether or not you would choose to look at
those persons individually or collectively in a hous ehold. We have seen a great exodus of Bermudians
and we do not want that for our people. We want our
people to look at Bermuda as the place that they can return once they have been educated, or stay even when times are tough.
And so the challenge that we have is a great
one to tackle, but with motions such as thi s coming by
the Honourable Member Commissiong, I just want him
to know that I will do my part as I am out and about in the community talking to people, listening to people
who have lived without health insurance for many
years in this country, who cannot afford that, with
people who in great numbers you hear the stories that
are working for wages well below what it takes, are
working and hustling 50 and 60 hours and not getting overtime and the like.
I would encourage those people to not be
afraid to collec tively come together and even seek the
assistance of professionals like the Bermuda Industr ial Union in this country. And that would help them, as
it helped this country, grow to greater strengths. Even
those persons who were not unionised reaped the
benef its of organised labour in our country.
So, I wish not to speak too much longer, Mr.
Speaker —

Thank you, Mr. Speaker , and
good afternoon to you.
Mr. Speaker , I would like to rise ever so briefly
to speak to first of all commend the Honourable Member from constituency 21 for not only bringing this m otion in a previous Parliament and managing to pass it
successfully while we were in Opposition, but also agreeing to bring this motion again to complete the
work which was started in the last Parliament.
It is without question that his passion on this
issue is well regarded, and it is something that, clea rBermuda House of Assembly ly, we must deal with. And the issue of income in equality and wages and poverty were no clearer on
display than when we heard a Ministerial Statement
from the Minister of Education this morning speaking
about the work that this Government has done to recognise that there are barriers to higher educational
attainment and that we have to provide financial support for those persons recognising that a vast majority
of those persons who were able to receive that [support] lived below the poverty line.
Now, some of those persons may have been
unemployed, but some of those persons also, Mr.
Speaker , may have been working. And therein lies the
challenge. The challenge is that when you talk about a living wage and you talk about a society, when you have persons who are deemed as responsible people
who are working in full -time employment who cannot
afford to keep up with the basic necessities of life due to the high cost of living which we have in Bermuda,
that is a problem. Income inequality leads to reduced
economic growth. That is a problem.
So when we hear the, I will call them old discussions, the old theories, the things about the past
and not looking forward to the future, what we will
hear . . . it puts us in a place where we have to imagine and wonder. If you keep on doing the same thing
which you have been doing, how exactly do you ex-pect to get a different result?
That is the reason, Mr. Speaker , why we are
here. And what we said inside of our Throne Speech
this year, what we said inside of our platform this year,
is that we would implement a living wage. Our Throne
Speech was very clear that we would support the reformation of this Committee so they can finish their
work, complete their consultation, make their recommendations, and that Cabinet can move forward and
this Government can move forward to implement a
living wage. That is what the people of this country
expect, that is what the people of this country demand, that is what the people of this country voted for
on July 18
th and that, Mr. Speaker , is what this Go vernment will deliver for the people of this country.
I commend the Member and I hope that the
House will support this motion.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Mr. Speaker , I move that
this Honourable House approve the following motion:
“WHEREAS it is acknowledged that the i ncreasing maldistribution of national income has facil itated the growth of incom e inequality and thus incip ient poverty to levels not witnessed in over seven decades;
“AND WHEREAS, in addition, due to the near
widespread utilisation of foreign sourced low cost l abour over the last quarter century, wages in real terms
once inflation has been factored in; have declined for
many of Bermuda’s workers;
“BE IT RESOLVED, pursuant to the Parli ament Act 1957 part IV, that a Joint Select Committee
be appointed to investigate, report on its subsequent
findings; and to make recommendations to the House
of Assembly with respect to the implementation of a
living wage regime for Bermuda.”

It is the third readings. There are no
other Orders of the Day so we will now do the third
readings.
The only matter would be that of the Premier,
and could we hav e the third reading for his item?
The Corporate Service Provider Business
Amendment Act 2017, will one of the Ministers please stand in for him? Yes, Minister of Health?

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes, thank you and good afternoon, Mr. Speaker .
I move that [Standing Order 21] be suspended
that the Bill entitled the Corporate Service Provider
Business Amendment Act 2017 be now read a third
time.

Five minutes?

BERMUDA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION LOAN GUARANTEE
PROGRAMME

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I will be very brief, Mr.
Speaker .
Mr. Speaker , I would like to congratulate the
Government for moving ahead with one of its promi ses, that is, the Bermuda Economic Development Cor-poration [BEDC] and increasing the capital. I see Ca binet has now moved forward to increase that amount
from $1 million to $2 million. And it is very important,
particularly when we are trying to encourage entr epreneurs i n the fields and whatever it takes to make it happen. And it is very difficult if you have very little
access to capital to make it happen.
The last increase that was done in this Parliament, as a matter of fact, it was done by yours truly
when I was the Minister of Culture in 1993. It has
been a long time, and you know it is surprising that it
has taken this long to increase it, but I congratulate
this Government for doing that.
But let me just say that increasing the capital
by the BEDC are now allowing to lend out . . . guara ntee, I should say, guarantee more than it has in the
past, does not put cash injection into the hands of
small business. And I will give you an example, Mr.
Speaker .
If a small company or small businessman
wants to start a company with $100,000 in capital they
can only, based on this scenario, borrow $50,000 (because it is 50 per cent right now). . . guarantee . . .
sorry, guarantee $50,000 by the BEDC. And they
themselves still have to come up with $50,000. That is
not an easy tas k for any small business individual.
There are many aspects that one needs to
look at, and I would encourage some more entrepr eneurs not to run out there and fill their coffers with
debt, but look at the possibility of doing equity and
debt. And that is p ossible. Now what I mean by that is
taking on some other shareholders with small amounts of equity being owned by them. The biggest problem is that banks (and I saw it in the report by the
Minister) are still not lending out money. That is the
real problem . It is not about increasing the capital, and
I think that is great.
But now we are still having problems because
what they put . . . and you know if you go borrow
money from the bank not only do you have to guarantee it, but your grandmother and your grandfather who
are dead. And that is difficult. It is very difficult. Most
banks are not lending out to small businesses as they
have in the past. So, there are many means that I think the Government needs to take a further look at
and I will give you one ex ample.
The Bermuda Economic Development Corporation should be the one stop for lending out and guaranteeing entrepreneur businesses out here. And
why do I say that? Because the Bermuda Tourism
Authority should get out of the business of doing it.
They len d . . . they have a $1 million . . . where they
can give grants to individuals. Why is the Bermuda
Tourism Authority involved in giving out funding? It
was a bad decision, and I hope that the Government
will take a look at that and make sure that it is not in
keeping going forward— a million dollars.
The only body that should be giving out money should be the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation. Now, if the Bermuda Tourism Authority feels that there is a product out there, Mr. Smith and
Mrs. Trott, go up there to say to them, I want to put
this attraction in place, I want to put this new product in place, and the BTA should be able to walk them


Bermuda House of Assembly through and say to BEDC, I support the project. Give
that million dollars to the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation.
Now what you have is the ability for the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation to guara ntee up to 50 per cent . . . and I see the Government is
going to be eventually . . . hopefully up to 65 per cent,
and I think that is great. But then B EDC has some
cash that they can also give, maybe $50,000 which
was not there before.
So we should not be . . . and then we can
save some money and BEDC . . . BTA . . . and all
these different letters around here, the BTA . . . because we are spending probably within just that one
department who is out there lending out money, pro bably $400,000 or more a year. That money should be
going out there to market and bring in tourists.
So, let us remove that facility from the BTA
and allow the BEDC [to be] what i t was meant to be—
a corporate entity to allow entrepreneurs to get access
to [money] guaranteed by an organisation. There is no reason why the BTA should be out there lending out
money. And I understand the money they give out
does not even have to come back. So why can we not
have that funding at BEDC —a million dollars —so they
can then give out a couple of dollars and help out new
entrepreneurs going forward?

[Inaudible interjections ]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker , I promise the
next [Member that speaks] that I am going to put a
sign up here that says “Don’t forget July 18
th” because
they keep on forgetting it. They keep on forgetting it.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker —
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I will, Mr. Speaker . The
Honourable Member Trevor Moniz . . . in case the
public is wondering who I am talking to, and the Honourable Member Grant Gibbons.

Direct it to my Chair.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: —who does not have to wo rry about going to the BEDC to get any funding for any
guarantees.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: So, Mr. Speaker , if we are
going to help . . . if we are going to work with sm all
businesses I believe that we have to ensure that one
body —which is the BEDC —speaks for it. So, again, I
congratulate the Government on this promise, one of
the 108 promises, and I think there are probably 75
there, so I think that the Government is mov ing ahead
very quickly to make it happen.
So between the guarantor from the BEDC . . .
so if we get some funding put in place by taking that
money from the BTA and with a structure put in place where equity and debt can work, I think the company
and the entrepreneur can make some headway going
forward.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Thank you, Mr. Furbert.
I recognise the Honourable Member , Mr. Moniz, from constituency 9.
Mr. Moniz, you have the floor.

STATUS OF CIVIL LAWSUITS FILED BY ONE
BERMUDA ALLIANCE AGAINST LAHEY CLINIC
AND PORT ROYAL GOLF COURSE

Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Thank you . Thank you, Mr.
Speaker .
I apologise to my honourable colleague, Dr.
Gibbons. I know he wanted to have a piece of the
Member there, but I want to change this conv ersation.

Thank you.

Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Take him to the woodshed, as
it were.
Mr. Speaker , I want to change the convers ation here, and it is really as a result of something that
came up earlier. You know it has been . . . and the
Honourable Member who just spoke, spoke about July
the 18
th and how that was a watershed, et cetera. But
of course that was a watershed in many ways. And
the jury has been out, and I know the Government
talked about their 100 days, what they are going to
accomplish in their 100 days, and so people are still very curious about what is going on.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: And largely what is happening
so far —

Speak to the Chair.



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Trevor G. Moniz: Largely, what is happening so
far is [that] OBA measures are being carried through.
There is a little bit of the new PLP platform,
we see the Tax Reform Commission, et cetera, Bills
being tabled today, but most of the Bills that are com-ing are still OBA Bills.
Mr. Speaker , what I want to speak about t oday is really to encourage the new Premier —and I
know he is a very young Premier, I think he is the
youngest we have ever had—to take a firm position
on improprieties of past governments; and that speaks both to general corruption and to other malfeasance in
government.
As you will be aware, there were two civil
cases started by myself when I was Attorney General;
one involving the Lahey [Clinic] (which is taking place in Boston), and the other one involving Port Royal.
Now, those two cases. . . my recollection . . . and I am
sure the Premier will correct me if he thinks I am
wrong, but when he was asked generally about these
issues, he referred the matter to the new Attorney
General. And the new Attorney General called a press
conference and really did not shed any light on either
matter.
In one case she said that there were not p aper files in the office and, of course, that case is being
run out of Boston so the files are there in Boston and it is being run electronically. And the other case is a
Bermuda case, the Port Royal case.
And they are both very concerning. The Lahey
case, obviously , concerned activities by a previous —

Hon. Michael J. Scott: Mr. Speaker , point of order.

Point of order.
Mr. Moniz, we must entertain this point of order.
Your point of order?

POINT OF ORDER
[Sub-judice ]

Hon. Michael J. Scott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
I am not making the sub judice point in rel ation to Boston, we have had it clearly indicated that overseas matters are not sub judice, but if the Honourable and Learned Member and former Attorney General is going to be making a speech in this House
at MTA [motion to adjourn] on Port Royal, matters that
have been committed to the courts, he is breaching
the fundamental standing order and I would invite him
to tread . . . or just cease, really.
Thanks.

Is the matter still before the courts or
has it been settled? Is there a current matter before
the courts? Is there a current matter before the
courts?

Hon. Michael J. Scott: It is not only before the courts,
it has been taken out of the list, but it is very much a matter that has been filed in the Supreme Court of this
country by the [Member].
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Honourable Member , I am a little co ncerned about that because from what I understood it is not a current listing before the courts at the m oment. And if it is not a current listing before the courts,
then I do not see it as being sub judice at this time.

Hon. Michael J. Scott: Mr. Speaker , I see the former
Attorney General looking at me.
You can . . . it is filed. That is the rule. The
fact that it is taken out of the list so that it is going to
be not listed for hearing is just a procedural matter. It is under the judicial consideration, simply out of the
list for being heard. So may I invit e you, Mr. Speaker ,
to trust my legal view on this, that it is sub judice in
that it is in the courts, it is simply taken off the list so that the current Attorney General is examining it, r eviewing it, with the view to whether it should be either
reintroduced into the list or altogether withdrawn. But
it has not been withdrawn. De- listed is the current st atus. That is my understanding.

I am still a little uneasy and here is
what I am going to do. I am going to ask the Honour able Member to be guided by that until we can get a
proper clearance on it because I feel that if it was actually still listed you would not be speaking to it. But I
am not clear on that point, and until we get clear on it,
we will ask you to just be guided by that.

Hon. T revor G. Moniz: Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
I accept that ruling by you and I think it will . . .
I think the general members of the public are probably
interested to know whether it is in a temporary limbo
or it is in a more permanent state. So, I guess at s ome
stage we can expect the Attorney General to make a
more definitive statement on what the position is in
that respect. So, I will decline to speak any further on
that detailed matter.
But the point I have to make is really a much
broader point and the point is, you know, we have a new Government coming in, we have outstanding
matters, we are dealing, obviously, with an OECD assessment, we are dealing with a FATF (Financial A ction Task Force) assessment —these are all related to
AML [Anti -Money Laundering] and ATF [Anti -Terrorist
Financing] and our position as a jurisdiction. We heard
the Premier give a grand statement about Bermuda

B ermuda House of Assembly being on the White List in France so, obviously, we
are doing our best efforts to keep above board.
So the point I am making is that this new
Government should be making a firm and very public
commitment to keeping the highest standards and to ensuring the prosecution of . . . in civil cases and in
any criminal case . . . a criminal case is obviously an
independent DPP [Department of Public Prosec utions], it is Larry Mussenden who governs those. But,
of course, the Government provides the budget that he would need in order to proceed with cases.
So what I am saying is that the Premier . . . it
is time for him to make a firm and public commitment
to proceeding with those matters. If we see matters
where the advice has been received, and certainly when I was Attorney General I followed the profes-sional advice that I received from the best lawyers and solicitors that I could find and the best QCs I could
find. I got advice and I followed that advice. Now that
advice is there. I think the people of Bermuda expect
this Government to follow through with it. Otherwise Bermuda as a jurisdiction will suffer.
We heard today in the Minister’s brief (and I
will reflect ever so quickly) . . . we talked about Bermuda having a legislative framework. But they did not
see the implementation. Where the rubber meets the road, nothing was happening. And my concern is that Bermuda’s credibility as a jurisdiction will be swiftly eroded, and even corroded, if those cases are not followed with and if a statement is not made that this
present Government has a firm commitment. It is very
difficult when, you know, one of the cases involves a present Member of Cabinet.
So these things are discussed in Cabinet. So
the public is thinking, Well, is that sending a signal that this person is in Cabinet who is up . . . ? So I think
the air needs to be cleared. And it needs to be cleared
at the highest level by the person who appoints Cabi-net and by the Attorney General who proceeds with the civil cases and funds the criminal ones.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Good evening, Mr. Speaker .
Good evening to my honourable colleagues, fellow
Opposition, to those in the Gallery, and the listening audience. I stand today to speak on purpose. As a
young person I feel that it is my duty to speak not only to the House but also to the young people in Berm uda.
In our Throne Speech and in our platform the
PLP has said that we will look to fix the education sy stem and also to give local Bermudians opportunities
for better education and better training. I believe also
to that we have to speak to teaching and getting pe ople to reach their purpose.
I have here the definition from the dictionary
of what a “purpose” is. The definition of a purpose is: The reason for which something is done or created or
for which something exists. If you know what your
purpose is, then you will know what you are born for
and what you were made to do.
I believe that young people must be given the
opportunity to find their purpose and pursue this. So the young people with education, if you are taught
from young or given the opportunity to get the best
education, you will be able to then have more oppor-tunities to reach your purpose and to pursue it to the ultimate ends.
Not everyone will be a doctor, a lawyer, an
accountant or an insurance agent. There will be m echanics; there will be masons, artists, tradesmen, at hletes, and more. Everyone must be given the oppor-tunity to reach their goal.
Today’s school system is geared towards the
academics. So those that are academically inclined
will always have a better chance to succeed at school
and to go on to higher education or whatever else
they pursue in life. For thos e that are not academically
inclined, that is where the c hallenge lies. And that
challenge has a knock-o n effect in soc iety and what
we see today with a lot of antisocial behaviour, a
lot of negative that young people get caught up
in. If a young person in school knows that they
can be, whether it is a hands-o n or skills person or
an athlete, or they can do the arts or dance, which is
their talent or is what they want to do and pursue,
then they will see that [as something] to k eep them
away from any negativ e influences in life.
I
want to use the story of a well -known Bermudian, Nikki Bascome. Mr. Speaker, can I —

Okay.
I want to refer to the August 15th article in the
Royal Gazette about Nikki Bascome in which says:


Bermuda House of Assembly “In the absenc e of a stable family environment, Bascome found himself lured into a life on the
streets; fighting, stealing and doing drugs.
“A quick -tempered and disruptive pupil, Bascome was kicked out of Spice Valley Middle School and CedarBridge Academy because of hi s poor behaviour, although he did eventually earn his General
Education Diploma from The Education Centre [Tech].
“It was not until he turned to boxing at the age
of 14 that he slowly started to divert his energy from
the streets to the ring. ”
Mr. Speaker , this speaks to finding your purpose. His purpose, after he was introduced to boxing,
he saw that he could use boxing as his way to be a
positive role model or to have a more positive life. And that speaks to a lot of young people. If you are not
given the opportunity, whether it is academic or
hands -on, you do not know what your purpose is in
life. You drift through life just waking up and thinking,
Wherever the wind blows today, that is where I am
going to go.
So, Mr. Speaker , as stated (and I would like to
refer to the 2017 Throne Speech) on page 10 of the
Throne Speech:
“Reforming and improving our public educ ation system will yield better outcomes in the future. Poor educational attainment and the lack of economic opportunities are the main contributing factors to ant isocial behaviour and violence.”
This speaks, Mr. Speaker , to the case of Nikki
Bascome, but [there are] many other cases in Berm uda like that. School was not his forte. He got caught up in some negative vibes in life. But he got the exp osure to something good that he used to his benefit.
And if we can do that with our whole school . . . with
all the young people coming up, you can imagine the
positive effect that this is going to have on Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker , I have a story in my canvassing.
I canvassed a house. A young teacher in our public
school system told me this story. She teaches, I believe, at Clearwater. And at Clearwater they were tes ting the Pulse programme. In it she told this story. In
M1 they took all the boys, they split them up and they
put them on projects. At the end of the project one little boy came up, he got a good grade (I believe it
was an “A”) and the teacher gave him a little certif icate. Instead of going back to his seat, he walked out
of the class. He ran away for a few minutes. He came
back. At the end of the class the teacher asked him why he left the room. He said, Because he had never
gotten an “A” before in his life and ran outside to cry.
He did not want to cry in front of the other boys; it
made him feel les s of a man.
But the fact that he got an “A” for the first time
in his life, he was able to go home, tell his parents about it, and it made him feel good. Again, imagine that impact if we can do that will all of our kids.
Again, Mr. Speaker , I would like to refer to the
2017 Throne Speech, page 9: “With the summer suc-cess of the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts
and Mathematics (S.T.E.A.M.) Academy, the Government will concentrate on the development of
S.T.E.A.M. in our primary schools.”
Again, Mr. S peaker , this speaks exactly to the
story that I just gave. That effect on one kid . . . if we
implement this programme in primary and middle
school levels the effect that we will have on all of
those kids will change the direction of this generation
going forward. These kids will then know —I have potential —whether it is . . . again, a lot of young males
especially are hands -on, Mr. Speaker . So they know
that they can be successful if they want to be a m echanic. A lot of kids like to be spray artists. They c an
be a tiler, a carpenter . . . if they know that they can be
successful in that and make a living, Mr. Speaker , that
will give them a focus in life, a purpose and keep them
from getting distracted in negative things that as an
idle mind with no purpose i t is much easier to get
caught up in, Mr. Speaker .
Mr. Speaker , I say all this, but I also would like
to give my own experience. I stand here today as a
Member of Parliament, but in my younger days —

[Laughter]

In my younger days, Mr.
Speaker , I did not have clue of what I wanted to do.
But I knew that I wanted to sit up in this House on this
Hill. I knew I had a purpose; I just did not know my
path, Mr. Speaker . And like any young man growing
up in Bermuda, you do get distracted, you get caught up, you go with your friends. And I must admit I was in
the wilderness for a while, Mr. Speaker .

But I had one exp erience that
did change my life and showed me the path that I
wanted to be on.
Back in 2010, Mr. Speaker , I worked with my
uncle, former MP Terry Lister, when he was running to
be the Leader of the PLP party on a platform. And he
chose me to work alongside him and another party
member on the issue of gang violence in Bermuda.
And as a young person, it resonated with me to see how this affects Bermuda. So, after working on it, I felt
that it was my turn, my time, now, to stand up and to
try and make a difference, Mr. Speaker .
Fast forward seven years, and here I am, Mr.
Speaker . Because I found what my purpose was. And
I stuck to it. It was a . . . seven years might not be long
to some, but it was a long, long journey, Mr. Speaker .


Bermuda House of Assembly In that time, Mr. Speaker , and recently with
my candidacy being rolled out and with my successful
election here, I have seen how my role has positively
affected other young people in Bermuda. I have been
contacted on social media, messages, emails, from many young people that told me that I was an inspir ation to them, that I was standing up for our generation,
and—

[Desk thumping]

And that all ties into finding my
purpose, following through with my purpose, Mr.
Speaker , and using my purpose to positively affect
other people, Mr. Speaker .
Today I stand here as a witness to say that I
have been encouraged by other young people in my
generation that saw me stand up and n ow they want
to make a difference, Mr. Speaker . They want to join
whatever party it is —hopefully the PLP!

[Laughter]

In closing, Mr. Speaker —
because I know everyone wants to get out of here and
get home and get some dinner —I want to encourage
our Government to continue going forward with their
Throne Speech promises of introducing the
S.T.E.A.M. Academy and also to go through with r evamping the middle school system because that is
where the majority of our young, and especially black,
males fall through the cracks. They get lost because they are not as academic as that person, so they feel
like they are a failure. A lot of young men and young
women do not come from positive home environments
that reinforce to them you can do and be whatever
you want to be. So when they feel failure in school, it
is reinforced by their peers and they go home and it is
reinforced.
So, Mr. Speaker , we have to do all that we
can to make a positive environment for the young people coming up to enforce them and reinforce and
reiterate to them that you can be whatever it is that
you want to be. Give them all the opportunities educ ation-wise, training -wise, so that they can be exposed
to anything so that they can see their oppor tunities.
Mr. Speaker , when I was coming up, not too
long ago . . . I admit I played football. I loved football. I am an avid football person. When I was coming up, I must admit that I did not know of the other business or
other careers in football other than just being a player
or a manager. If I had known, I might not be sitting in this House, I might have been an agent or so . . . a
sports psychologist —

Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Or a scout.

Or a scout.
But Mr. Speaker , it is about being exposed to
the opportunities. There are a lot of kids in Bermuda
nowadays and football is what they love. There is a
very small chance of a young Bermudian making it.
Nahki Wells is a very good example of one. We can
have many more, but the opportunity, the chance right now is very limited. But if you want to be involved in
sports in a different aspect, again, you could be a
scout, like my honourable cousin Derrick Burgess
said. You could be an agent. You could be a sports
psychologist. You could be a [physiotherapist]. It is
about being exposed to the opportunities so that you
can know what you want to be.
So, again, in closing, Mr. Speaker , I want to
encourage all young people to find what your purpose
is, do all that you can to pursue your p urpose, do what
you can to make it your goal in life to use your purpose to affect those around you positively so that the
change that one person makes . . . one person makes
a change; but if we all make a change together, Mr.
Speaker , we are unstoppable.

[Desk thumping]

Thank you.

MISSION OF PLP GOVERNMENT

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker , it is now 4:40pm
and we are going to have what will be regarded as a
short day.
However, I will take to my feet to close and
just make a few comments because, as we saw earl ier today from the Ministerial Statements that were
given, and as we heard from the Honourable Member
who just took his seat who represents Warwick West,
constituency 28, this Gov ernment has a purpose. And
the purpose which we were elected to do was to tear down the Two Bermudas and build one, to provide
opportunity to those who do not have opportunity, and
to make sure that we can deliver on the promise and
ensure that all Bermudi ans can advance and live out
their purpose.
Now, Mr. Speaker , it is clear, whether it is the
doubling of the capital for the Bermuda Economic D evelopment Corporation (which will enable new entr epreneurs to have an opportunity to live out the dream of the N ew Bermuda), or whether it is providing educational opportunities at Bermuda College, or retrai ning opportunities at the Bermuda College (which this Government has found the money to do), we will not
be deterred from our mission.
Now, we will hear chirping, we will hear comments, we will see former leaders of parties who will
not speak when I am here, but will wait for me to leave
until they start to . . . or tweet. We will hear former A ttorneys General who will come and decide to lecture
regarding advice w hich they have received. We have
seen that advice. We have also seen the advice and
know and understand the fact that if you want to . . .
(how do you say?) live in a glass house, do not throw stones.
We understand our responsibility not only to
the elect orate, Mr. Speaker , but we also understand
our responsibility to the future. We will guard jealously Bermuda’s international reputation, we will do the
work that is required, and we will —as the Honourable
Member who just took his seat —make sure that every
young Bermudian can live out their purpose.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

—next Friday. Thank you, Mr. Premier .
I am going to take a liberty, if the House does
not mind, and add my congratulations to the young
man who just finished his maiden speech and say I
sat here with pride in mind, not only because he deli v-ered the speech, but today is also the anniversary of
the passing of my father who was the first Dennis. We
refer to Dennis III, so it was very timely.
Thank you, son.

[Gavel]
[At 4:44 pm, the House stood adjourned until
10:00 am, Friday, 6 October 2017.]