March 2, 2016

—point or their point of objection.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Mr. Chairman, just the fact
that Immigration policy speaks to people coming in
and out of this country, Immigration policy is a tool of
social engineering, regardless of what Government is
in power. That is a fact.
So for some reason the Leader of the Oppos ition gets up and says, Well, it’s good to have this cen-sus because we know there’s more engineering afoot.
It is not engineering to enure that Bermudians return
and repopulate the country into high- paying jobs or
Bermudians return to be entrepreneurs. In fact, the
complete opposite is the trend that we see—the complete opposite.
And if that was not a fact, then you would not
see these acts of civil disobedience starting to take root in this country; not just acts of civil disobedience
by 30 people standing beside the road. It is a miscalculation by the One Bermuda Alliance Gover nment if
they think that the feelings of the people of this country, in terms of being potentially marginalised, is something that they will just take lying down, knowing
that Bermudians naturally are passive. Trust me, continue to press that button and soon you are going to
run out of luck.
So I will get back to the Budget Debate in
terms of the census and why it is so essential for us to
have up- to-date data because every single month
there are more persons becoming Bermudians, and
not by birth— every mont h. And as far as I am concerned, it is very important to have this data because
we know for certain what the motive is of the One
Bermuda Alliance, in spite of the Minister jumping on
his feet and saying, I will continue to point of order.
Minister, the people of the country, like me, we do not believe you.
Do you know why? Because we do not trust
you. Do you know why? Because your actions pr ecede you. It is not what you say; it is what you have
done and what you continue to do. I am not telling you to say who, Minister. In the confines, in the conclave
of these Chambers, we can feel a little ego all we like.
But when you have to walk outside these Chambers
and face the people that apparently you said you serve, and at the same time are advocating policies
that marginalise these very same people, I bet you will
not be saying Ooh then. I bet you will not find any ego then. See, one thing about the One Bermuda Alliance, in these Chambers you have big bark, but no bite.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Yeah, that is how I have to
describe it, you know. And the more the Honourable Minister of Economic Development . . . you are the
absolute last person at this point to want to go back
and forth with me on this matter. It is best that you
stay rig ht in your cubbyhole —

Just speak to the Chair, you will be all
right.
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: —stay sitting right there and
do what you have been doing all this time. Because
one thing about the Minister of Home Affairs, he does
not act alone and he does not think in a silo, and one
thing about this top- down One Bermuda Alliance/old
UBP is that you have people who call the shots, who
determine the destiny, not just of their special little interest group, but they attempt to determine the destiny of every single person in this country.
Now, I will take my seat if the Honourable
Minister of Economic Development would care to let
us know who the string puller is in the One Bermuda
Alliance that is pushing these policies to marginalise my people. Is it you?

Dr. the Hon. E. Grant Gibbons: Point of order.

Point of order. I take your point of
order, Minister.

POINT OF ORDER
[Imputing improper motives]
Dr. the Hon. E. Grant Gibbons: Mr. Chairman, the
Honourable Member continues to [im pute] improper
motives. He is fully aware of how Cabinet functions and who leads Cabinet, the first among equals. I do
not think he needs a lecture from me on this. But in
case he does, he should be aware of it.

Continue on.
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: But, Mr. Chairman, as you
have seen over the last two weeks, there is a big
question mark as to who actually chairs Cabinet.
Now, the public would not know that, but
those of us who sit up here, we certainly know it. We certainly know it.

964 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly [Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: And the Minister asks, Well,
how would we know it?
Oh, we know. Oh, we know. Okay?
Again, this social engineering, this attempt to
marginalise, this attempt to marginalise Bermudians via an Immigration policy that says that Bermudians
come third and fourth in their own country, is abs olutely the reason why we need an up- to-date census.
And we look forward to as many persons participating and cooperating with those who will be working to
gather that information.
But make no mistake. We know exactly why
we need the information in these times, in spite of
what the Ministers opposite might claim. Again, we do
not believe you; we do not trust you.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to now move on to
page B -44, Administration, under the Department of
Statistics. It is a simple matter but I would just like some clarity. It says that the website was d isconti nued, yet the next measure states that for this upcoming fiscal year, like last, there will be some information
posted on the website. And I was wondering, if it is
discontinued then why would information still be
posted? Unless me and my non- techy ways just do
not understand what is or why it is being presented to
us.
That concludes Head 14, Department of St atistics. I would like to quickly move to Head 26. Again,
a simple question as found on page B -46, and you will
note that the Wages in the Curr ent Account Estimates
are $90,000 higher than what they were last year. So
there is a $90,000 increase but there is no increase or
movement in the employee numbers. And we know
that Wages indicate blue- collar workers and not civil
servants. I would like for someone to give us clarity as
to what that $90,000 increase, under Head 26, page
B-46, what it represents and what it is about.
Lastly, Mr. Chairman, I would like to move on
to Head 80, Office of Project Management and Pr ocurement, found on page B -60. I t is something b ecause last year, Mr. Chairman, we led off in this
Budget Debate and we focused, first up, on the Cab inet Office and we gave particular focus to this Office of Project Management. Because if you look at the mandate of this office, this is s upposed to be a saf eguard, in addition to Internal Audit and in addition to a
few other departments, this is to be a safeguard to
ensure that there are clean hands and pure hearts in
Government before it gets to the Public Accounts
Committee, before it even gets out of Cabinet. These are the stopgaps —

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Yeah, before it gets to a
Commission of Inquiry. This is the office that is supposed to make sure that everyone gets a fair shake, a fair opportunity, and there are not persons dipping
their hands in the cookie jar.
Last year we spoke of how it seemed like that
department, politically, had been created into a eunuch. That is what it seemed like: (1) because we
looked at the performance measures; (2) we looked at
the behaviour of the One Bermuda Alliance Gover nment; and (3) we now see things coming out of the
Public Accounts Committee relative to the airport development, which kind of reinforce our concerns a
year ago that this department might be a department on paper, but it seems like it does not have any teeth,
or they are just being generally ignored.
But this is the part of the Cabinet Office that
raises the most red flags. See, if we do not get this
right this is what leads to Commissions of Inquiry. And
so we look at the performance measures. You will
notice that there are no performance measures, Mr.
Chairman, for the revised figures of the preceding fi scal year —none. The fiscal year 2014/15, those performance measures were well below standards, well
below the expectations that taxpayers should feel that
they should receive in terms of good service, transparency, and accountability. The performance measures spoke for themselves.
Now if this Government is about transparency
and accountability, then please do tell us today how or
where the taxpayers of this country are supposed to measure whether or not that department is being effective. There are no performance measures for this
last fiscal year. So we do not know what they have
been doing and whether or not the people are getting what they deserve. And see, that is not the depar tment’s responsibility; that is the Premier’s responsibi lity. Maybe the Premier can explain why is there a gap
in the performance measures of the Office of Project
Management and Procurement. Thus today there is no reason for us to even continue having an analysis
of this Head because we have nothing to measure it by.
Now if you ask me or you ask someone who
may be an outside observer, they will question, Well,
what have you got to hi de? Or another question is,
What do you actually do in that office? And while I am
asking questions, maybe the Premier can answer this: What is the synergy between that office and all these
deals —in particular the airport —that the Accountant
General has said is breaking financial instructions?
Although the Financial Secretary says, You know,
everything’s going well. What is the link? Is there any
link between the one office under the Premier’s remit
that is supposed to ensure transparency and accountability ? Is there any link to that office and this current
airport deal? Of course there is not. I will answer the
question for the Premier. Of course there is not.
So how in God’s name can they stand up here
and actually talk about transparency and accountabi lity? How could they, in good conscience, bring a
Commission of Inquiry claiming that one of the biggest


Bermuda House of Assembly issues was a lack of accountability and a lack of following financial instructions? Yet, they proceed on
with a project that is (hello!), breaking financi al instructions? See, this is one of the reasons why I said ear-lier that we will launch a Commission of Inquiry into the Government of the OBA. We have no choice. It is
not something that we conjured up in our imagination;
this is based on your activities.
And so, again, this department . . . I do not
know what it is, $872,000 being allocated and spent
annually, towards what? There is no use the Premier
getting up and saying, Well, this is our ideals and this
is the purpose of this department, when it is ob vious
that you are not following or enhancing or empowering
that department to do their job. We do not need an office that rubber -stamps political decisions to have
these political white elephants —i.e., the airport. What
the people require is transparency. What the people
require is accountability. What the people require are
clean hands and pure hearts.
And what I can say in closing is that I we lcome this Commission of Inquiry, so that the dust may
settle. Okay? Because I know once it is all said and
done, once we start really cleaning up this country,
rest assured the Progressive Labour Party will still be
in this Chamber, but in terms of whether or not the
United Bermuda Party/One Bermuda Alliance is still here, time will tell, Mr. Chairman.
But for our part, for our part —clean hands and
pure hearts —that is the standard of the Progressive
Labour Party today and going forward. And that standard is not going to change. Again, this is something
that the current Government cannot match.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I would just like to speak on a
few areas. I would like to speak on CPU, the London
Office, the Information Commissioner’s Office, the
Commission of Inquiry, and the Statistics Office.
I will speak first about the Statistics Office. I
was not intending to speak on it, as I spoke on that
the other day, but I have been provoked by comments
made today to speak to it a little bit.
We all know that information is the key driver
for effective decisions. And so it is a welcome thing to see that we will have another census, even though a
mini- census, conducted later this year. The data derived from that census represents money well spent —
the $1.7 million allocated. It does provide us with an
opportunity to make some very important decisions
involving population, po pulation movements, and r elated matters. It therefore makes sense for the Government,
in seeking to address legislatively matters involving
population movements and projections, to ensure that
they have the best possible data for such decisions.
Because the census is a count of everyone, this will be a good opportunity for the Government to hold off
making fundamentally significant decisions involving
population matters until such time as the data can be
derived from the census. And so I would like to publicly encourage the One Bermuda Alliance Gover nment to step back from any planned initiatives that
might involve issues of migration, population, and the
various statuses that one might hope to achieve within
this little colonial outpost.
There was some comm ent earlier about pop ulation data being used to manipulate the political lan dscape, Mr. Chairman. And there was a rather animated exchange between the Opposition Leader and
various points of order raised by the Government. The
Opposition Leader spoke to what many understand to
be a reality. And I know that, Mr. Chairman, I will be
guided by your direction, but the Minister responsible for Immigration stated just a few weeks ago quite
categorically that he accepts that in the 1960s and
1970s the Immigration policy was directly used for
political purposes. That is a matter of record. So he
spoke effectively to the relevance of social and polit ical engineering in the 1960s and 1970s. What were the elements that were revealed in the 1960s and
1970s?
1. A change in law to increase the number of
people who could vote by granting those with
British connections the right to vote after a
residence of three years;
2. An encouragement of Bermudians to leave
the islands, remember? The population was
encouraged by what many peo ple see as a
great leader, Henry Tucker, saying that Bermuda was overcrowded and he would negot iate with the United States and Canada to per-suade Bermudians to go to those countries.

So we see some very explicit examples that
support the notion, embraced by the Minister responsible for Immigration, that there was clear manipul ation. The facts on the ground today bear an eerie and
uncanny resemblance to what took place in the 1960s
and 1970s. So a logical person, one who makes dec isions based on fact, would arrive at the same concl usion arrived at by the Opposition Leader that there
was clear manipulation. All you had to do was look at the story told a few months ago of a person who was
granted Bermuda status in the 1970s without even
having to apply for it. And when she asked the Mini ster responsible, Why would you give me Bermuda
status? I didn’t even apply for it. He replied, Because
we need your support.
So there you have it, Mr. Chairman. I will not
dwell on this because I know this is a Budget Debate.
966 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly But I just thought it is important to set the record
straight.
Now, let us talk a little bit about the Central
Policy Unit. I was intrigued by the Premier’s reference
to the work of the United Nations Decolonisation Committee, as is known by its abbreviated name. I
actually was an expert advisor to that Commission
from 1990 to 2005, Mr. Chairman. And every year the
Committee would invite the representatives of the
Overseas Territories to attend these deliberations at
the expense of the UN. So my first quest ion for the
Premier, Mr. Chairman, is whether or not Bermuda is
still being invited to attend these UN -sponsored activ ities, because it provides a great opportunity for Bermuda to share in its experiences with other members of non- self- governing territori es and, perhaps, we
could get some insight.
The Premier referenced Article 73 of the
United Nations Declaration. Article 73 speaks to the
relevance of self -determination. I note that the UK certainly does not take this obligation very seriously in
that regard because they have done nothing to pr omote self -determination even though they are one of
the original signatories of that Declaration. The Government has spoken about our international obligations in other areas, Mr. Chairman, so I am just wondering wh y the Government seems to be selective in
what it embraces in terms of what it sees as its international obligations.
Mr. Chairman, I am very concerned about the
London Office. We spend close to a million dollars with that facility. Yes, we have very competent people
who manage that office. But I will say today, as I have said in the past, we need to use that office in a far
more effective way. If you look at the performance
measures, all they really need to do, Mr. Chairman, is
attend meetings. We should not be paying a million
dollars a year to have three qualified individuals si mply to attend meetings organised by various UK [Go vernmental] departments. We should have a much
more advocacy function as we have in Washington.
So I make this appeal and this i s not unique to
the OBA, because it was set up by the PLP, and I said
then, why have money expended when all people are
doing effectively is attending meetings? What performance measures do you get out of attending meet-ings? What value to the taxpayer is i t by merely a ttending meetings? There are a multitude of issues, a
multitude of issues that the London Office could init iate, but they need to have the capacity and the Mini ster or the Premier giving direction to actually do so.
London is a hub for a great many things. If
you juxtapose the London Office with the office in
Washington, the office in Washington has two- thirds
of the budget, yet their work activity seems to be m anyfold that of the London Office. So it appears . . . so I
am happy to be corrected. If that is not the case, then
we should be not be having offices overseas with the
only purpose [being] to attend meetings. Right? So I would like to encourage the Government to find a
more appropriate role as an advocate for Bermuda at
this office in particular, but less so in the Washington
Office.
Mr. Chairman, I want to talk a little bit about
the Commission of Inquiry powers. You would note, Mr. Chairman, that the Commission of Inquiry Act was
amended after I proposed an amendment to grant the
Premie r the authority to establish a Commission of
Inquiry because the Governor, in his disregard for the popular will expressed for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry involving land theft, because
the Governor arrogantly dismissed that even though it
was passed by this Parliament, the request, the legi slation was amended to grant the Premier authority to
do so.
So in the first instance, I am a little bit disa ppointed —well, perhaps more than a little bit. I am di sappointed that the Premier did not firs t seek, in his
first appointment of a Commission of Inquiry, to act ually bring to fruition what is a clear desire, validated by
this Parliament, for there to be a Commission of I nquiry into the historic theft of land. That permeates the
people. The people feel that far more so than they
have felt anything else historically in this country in the
post-emancipation period, Mr. Chairman. And so I am
just wondering why the Premier would not want to first consider that.
The allocated amount of some $500,000
could have given an opportunity for so many people to
share their information, so many people who have been denied an opportunity because of crooked law-yers, crooked bankers, and crooked real estate
agents to get access to their inheritance.
So I take the Prem ier’s position is to promote
this Commission first, but will the Premier at least
consider doing what the Governor had refused to do and listen to the clear concern expressed by the people of this country and at some future point appoint a Commission of Inquiry to look at the historic theft of
land that hundreds of families have been affected by
and devastated by?
So let us get to the Commission of Inquiry that
the Premier has given authorisation for. I do not know
who the Chairman is, I do not know anything about the Chairman, but I know the local persons appointed.
I hold each and every one of those individuals in high
esteem. I know Fiona Luck, I know John Barritt, I
know Kumi Bradshaw —intelligent people, very si ncere. They will take their work responsibi lity on this
Commission very, very seriously, I have no doubt. My concern is that they have been put into a box that has
basically created a set of circumstances that do not do
justice to the issue that is really meant to be arrived at
because of the limit ed framework of this Commission
of Inquiry.
If you go back and look at the reports of the
various Auditor Generals, you will see some very sim ilar language, some very similar language about how


Bermuda House of Assembly financial instructions were disregarded, how they were
not ful ly followed and so forth. Those reports are
commonplace during the PLP era, they were commonplace during the United Bermuda Party era, and
we can see before our eyes today, Mr. Chairman, that there are commonalities in practices today.
So herein lies the c hallenge. Those repeated
comments by the Auditor General’s reports suggest a culture within the civil service, a systemic problem, a
systemic challenge, within the civil service, and you
are not going to address it by a focus on a two- year
cycle. So my question for the Honourable Premier is,
what is your objective in having this Commission of
Inquiry? Is it to have a serious examination of what
many see as a systemic problem and a systemic chal-lenge within the operational procedures within the civil
service ? Or is there a more—

Hon. Michael J. Scott: Dark.

—obvious . . . my colleague the
Shadow Attorney General says “dark.” I might say
“ominous” as my colleague here says. Is there some
other motivation that is paramount? Because it begs
the question, if there is a systemic issue, because all
you needed to do was look at all the other Auditor
General’s reports and you will see some very similar language, why would you limit the Commission of I nquiry just to those periods?
I can think of som e examples that shout out
for examination, but I will not bring it too close. Let me
just talk about something in the 1970s, Mr. Chairman.
And for the edification of members of the public who may not be aware, because history is important, what
happens in the past can well predict some of the
things that are likely to take place in the future. Who
remembers (and I forget now) that property up in
Somerset?
What is it called?

[Inaudible interjection]

A beautiful spot. Beautiful. It is
now owned by a very kind man who runs an Austr alian med ia empire from Wreck House, Bruce Gordon.
But in the 1970s that property was owned by a very wealthy American. And that American said, You know
what? Bermuda has been very good to me. I would
like to pass this 25- acre estate to the Government as a gesture of kindness to the people of Bermuda. You
know the only caveat, Mr. Chairman, was that it r emain a public park. The Government refused to accept it on the grounds that they could not afford to cut
the grass. Do you remember that?
That property was later bought by a Gover nment Minister and a businessman who held it for
about a month. It was flipped and sold to Robert Sti gwood, the recently deceased Robert Stigwood. You
know, Saturday Night Fever fame, producer of the
Bee Gees. Was that a corrupted practice ? That was
one example. I could give many more examples. I
could talk about McDonald’s as well, but I will not.
But let us just say, Mr. Chairman, if we are
serious about systemic issues in the civil service we would have a very different terms of reference for the
Commission of Inquiry. So I question whether in the difficult economic time, when we have real challenges
(which the Government refuses to meet adequately,
by the way) but where we have real challenges, the
Government would take $500,000 of hard- earned tax
money from you and I, take that money and allocate it
to two years of governance, two financial years, and
not either broaden it to get better bang for the buck or
look at something that has been far more pervasive in
terms of the people, i.e., the land theft issue.
So I would like to hear from the Premier why
he believes this is an adequate and proper expendi-ture of public funds during these very difficult times.
My last comment, Mr. Chairman, relates to
the— no, sorry, I have two left —the Inf ormation Commissioner’s Office. We all accepted with great fanfare the introduction of the Public Access to Information
legislation. We embraced the ethos behind it and we
believed that PATI . . . all of us, I think, believed that
PATI is an important —

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Just a point of order or
clarification.

I am happy to reserve those
comments for a subsequent occasion.
So, Mr. Chairman, since my remarks have
been somewhat abbreviated, I will si mply say that it is
important to look at the work of the various depar tments under the Premier’s Office. The work of the
CPU is critically important. The work of the Stats D epartment is fundamentally important. We need to fix
the challenges that I think we face with respect to the
London and Washington [offices] to make them much
more effective entities. And I am hoping that the Pr emier will be able to address some of the issues that
have been raised in a spirit of trying to ensure that
Government is more effective in dealing with the i ssues that confront the people of our country.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Scott, you have the floor.

Hon. Michael J. Scott: I am grateful, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, the Honourable Leader of the
Opposition spoke on Head 14, the Department of St atistics, drawing the attention of, certainly, the Premier (whose remit this falls under), and the country’s attention to the juxtaposition of both the Boundaries Commission that is in meeting (may I declare that I am a Boundaries Commissioner for the Progressive Labour
Party?), the juxtaposition here in 2016 of both he
Boundaries Commission and the census. The census
date is May 2020.
Good intelligence tells me, good advice tells
me, that gathering of information . . . this has been the subject of the Premier’s Ministerial Statement on the subject of the census, collection of data will begin on
Census Day. By July a body of work will have been
achieved, even if we go to the end of August and Se ptember. The point well taken by the Leader of the O pposition and by my colleague the Honourable Member, Mr. Brown, is that the Boundaries Commission relies upon good data, and the census data will have
an inextricable connect ion with enhancing a good
Boundaries Commission inquiry and a good Boundaries Commission outcome, and that it is odd that we would not collate and coordinate our affairs so that a
Boundaries Commission is not benefitting from census data. And so I stand t o endorse the observation and
to speak of what must be obvious, that the sensitive and relevant data of a census, now declared to take
place in May, is critically and shall be critically impo rtant to a Boundaries Commission’s useful, relevant,
and successf ul outcome. And I could not agree with
the Opposition Leader more, that these two constit utional functions should be better coordinated and that we should not go through a Boundaries Commission,
again, ignoring . . . as has happened in the past, not
using census data, particularly when these two exercises are occurring in the same year, taking place
right now.
So that is the only point that I think it is important to get on the record, but to bring to Mr. Premier’s attention that these are relevant, proper consider ations for the good management of this country’s two
constitutional events that are important to managing
how Bermuda functions well and proceeds into the
future.
Those were the comments that I would raise,
certainly in my current role as the Shadow Minister
and now in the role that I declared to the House at the
top of my comments.
Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I echo my colleague’s comment as a member
of the Boundaries Commission, in relation to [page] B42, the importance of accurate data. But I think it also
is a critic al, critical . . . we are in a critical period of our
history with unemployment levels at an unacceptable
level, with migration —emigration out of our country at
unacceptable levels, for a government, any gover nment, to make informed decisions and to gauge the effectiveness of programmes, you need accurate
data.
So the census is a part of it. But we must continue to ensure that we are tracking at every level, everything that can be tracked, because it allows us to
forecast, it allows us . . . if we are seei ng trends, for
example, if we are seeing Bermudians returning to
Bermuda and driving the population, if we are seeing
trends of more people requiring financial assistance—the gathering of information, accurate gathering of
information, is a critical component.
We on this side know that it is easy to fall into
the trap of throwing money at problems that you as-sume are problems. But accurate data, up- to-date
data, ensures that the money is better allocated, is
better spent, and you can track the effectiveness of it.


Bermuda House of Assembly This census is critical. And when we look at . .
. and I meant to declare my interest as well, as a
Boundaries Commissioner (as my colleague who just
took his seat). We are potentially changing the landscape of our political environment. And whether it a ffects one party or the other, whether it is detrimental
to one party or the other remains to be seen, but the
principle of the Progressive Labour Party that adjusted
the boundaries in 2002 was one man, one vote of
equal value. That principle is best preserved when we
know how many men are going to be made of equal value. And the closer we can get that number to being
accurate, the more effectively we will be able to pr eserve that value to ensure that the vote of a man in
Paget is not greater than a vote of a man in Somerset.
Madam —sorry, Mr. Chairman—the afternoon
must not be my time; I must think it is about two o’clock in the morning —with those brief remarks I take
my seat.

Thank you, Member from constit uency 33.
Do any other Mem ber wish to speak?
I will recognise the Minister Gibbons.
Minister Gibbons, you have the floor.
Dr. the Hon. E. Grant Gibbons: Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, there has been a certain
amount of discussion about both the London and the Washington Office and I would just like to make a
fairly brief contribution on both of those.
I think there was essentially a reference to the
performance indicators or performance measures on
page B -41 by the Opposition Leader who, I think, was
suggesting to some degree that it would appear that
all the London Office personnel do is attend meetings.
And I wish to ensure both this Honourable Chamber
and the community that that is far from the truth.
It is sometimes a difficult role to play because,
I think, as we h ave all seen over the last few years
there has been sort of an increasing assault on Overseas Territories and, in fact, small jurisdictions, par-ticularly those that are involved in financial services.
And I think that a lot of that assault is coming actual ly
from Europe, large governments over there that i ncreasingly are looking for tax revenues in various areas. And, of course, one of the areas they are looking
for is tax revenues that are not being paid in their particular jurisdictions because they feel that that money
is being shifted for investment or other reasons over-seas and, therefore, may be escaping tax.
Obviously, there are a number of jurisdictions,
not so much Bermuda, because I think our business is
mostly insurance and reinsurance. We do som e asset
management business, but we do not do the kind of
offshore banking that other jurisdictions do. But unfortunately we get tarred with the same brush as some of
the other smaller financial centres, and those could be Jersey, Guernsey, the Caymans, and indeed we have
even seen that some of the countries within the Eur opean Union like Ireland and to some degree the UK
itself have been accused, particularly London, have
been accused of being tax shelters or tax havens in their own right.
So it has been particularly important, I think, in
the last couple of years with this whole effort ramping up because of the OECD and the BEPS initiative
(which is the Base Erosion Profit Sharing initiative),
that we have people on the ground in the UK that can help to essentially respond to some of these inquiries,
and probably more appropriately make sure that when
the Premier is visiting or the Minister for Finance is
visiting or there need to be scheduled trips that they
can be lined up in an appropriate sort of way. So
whether it is a consultant over there working with the London Office or the London Office itself, having
somebody there on the ground with both their ear to
the ground and who can help to focus the effort, because we are pretty small, we do not have the kind of
resources that larger countries do— in fact, larger
multi- national organisations do— we need to have that
directive.
I think the London Office has done a nice job
in terms of making sure that the time of either the
Premier or the Minister of Financ e is used effectively
to deal with some of these issues. And we know what
some of them are—it is the issue, for example, of central registers, transparency, and those kinds of things.
And I think in many respects Bermuda has been way
ahead of the game in t erms of some of our compet itors because as, Mr. Chairman, you will know, for
some time the Bermuda Monetary Authority, since
1969, has been in the business of making sure we
understand who is doing business here, who the
beneficial owners are in a business , and in fact having
a registry of those particular details.
So, in some respects we are way ahead of the
curve, but that has not stopped the continual assault
by NGOs and others who lump Bermuda in with lots of
other jurisdictions who, I will say, perhaps have been
less diligent in terms of understanding who is doing
business within their particular jurisdictions, and what
business they are actually doing.
Obviously, a lot of other jurisdictions are now
raising their standards and I think that is probabl y a
very good thing. But the fact of the matter is I think Bermuda continually has to make its case that we
have, for a long time, been sort of, I will say, dow nright upright in terms of how we manage our affairs.
And in many cases, the smaller number of c ompanies
that are actually doing business in Bermuda, we know
who they are, we know more or less who is behind
them, and where that money is coming from, which is
obviously also facilitated by not only the BMA, but
NAMLC and the FIA as well. So we have lot s of things
in place.
970 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly But I guess the point I am trying to make is
that the London Office is part of this effort to make
sure that whether it be members of the EU or, indeed,
members of the UK who may have a wrong impression of Bermuda or an impression of Bermuda which
needs, shall we say, educating, they do a nice job in
terms of this communication effort. And I think it has
particularly been stepped up in the last couple of
years.
As far as the Washington Office is concerned,
again, in many respects it is a facilitation role. The lobbying, I think, is a little different in Washington b ecause the legislative process is a little bit different. I
think in some respects it parallels the EU and the UK.
But in Washington you need to have basically face- toface meetings with people that may be chairing appropriation committees or chairing the Senate Finance Committee or others to make sure that Bermuda’s
message gets out there and, as the old expression
goes, we make our friends before we need them. And
people l ike G. K. Butterfield, and other members of
Congress, have done a nice job in terms of helping us
along that line as well.
But, again, it is making sure that the appropr iate people get in front of the either senior members, or the critical members, of var ious groups within either
the Senate or the House of Representatives so that
they understand what Bermuda is trying to do and
understand some of our issues. And I think the Pr emier has commented on a number of those trips which
have taken place.
I think i t is going to be increasingly important
this year because we are already starting to see signs
that even though we may have a lame duck Congress
coming up towards the end of this year with elections,
and obviously this year as well, that there are signs
afoot with all of the emphasis on tax evasion—sorry,
avoidance, I should say —by multinational companies
(or at least it is evasion as some of the jurisdictions in
Europe are concerned), that there is an effort to try
and get something along the lines of an i nternational
tax Bill. And we can see the signs there.
So it is going to be, I think, very important for
the Minister of Finance, and certainly the Premier, to be in Washington probably later on this year to have a
clearer understanding of what may happen as a consequence of that. Because oftentimes when Bills or
legislation of this sort get put together, they look for
ways to offset it. And we have known for many, many
years that the so- called Neal Bill and others are part
of the overall equation where peo ple start to do some
horse- trading and things may get put in or not put in.
And I think it is important for us to make sure that we
are paying attention to that.
And we have, certainly the previous Gover nment did, representatives in Washington like Ken Levine who have been lobbying for the Government for
many years, understand our issues, and are pretty good at helping us to address them when the occ asion demands.
So I think, Mr. Chairman, those are I guess
some of the points that I would like to make. It i s a
delicate business. Timing is sort of everything, but I would say that both the London Office, particularly,
and the Washington Office have been important in
terms of advancing our efforts in both of those areas
where legislation and legislators are important to us.
I think it might be worth just commenting as
well that the London Office for a couple years now has also been the location for the Department of Civil
Aviation surveyors and also the Department of Mar itime Administration surveyors as well. Sometimes you
have to be closer to the aircraft or the ships that are
involved, and they have played a good role in terms of
having people over there so they are close enough if they need to be called out, they need to do an inspection, whether it be an airc raft, a crew, or indeed a vessel of some sort that they are there. And I think as we see both departments move more into a quango mode
(and the Minister of Tourism and Transport has spo-ken about that) we will probably see even more importance in having those professionals on the ground in
the UK, closer to some of the international shipping
areas over there.
So, Mr. Chairman, I think with those comments I am happy to take my seat.
Thank you.

Yes, I just have one basic
question for the Premier and that to do, again, with the
Department of Statistics, Head 14.
In general my questi on is with the information
that is accrued, the statistical information. I just wo nder whether or not . . . what efforts are being done
within that department to ensure that when we look at
the demographics, especially of our workforce, what
can we do as a Government to put into play a unit that
ensures that when we are looking at the international
sector and even within our local businesses, that we
try and encourage members, our citizens, to try and
look for work within that area, something to at least tr y
and combat on one end those who find themselves in the situation of unemployment.
So I am just wondering whether or not we do
have a department within this Statistics Department
that at least tries to ensure that something like that is
happening.
Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Whip.
Does any other Member wish to speak?


Bermuda House of Assembly No other Member.
Mr. Premier, would you like to wrap up on
your Head?

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Just starting out where the honourable colleague ended off in regard to opportunities for individuals who are looking for work and employment.
The Department of Statistics is not the place for that.
That is not their mandate. But I can assure you that through the Department of Workforce Development
there are programmes that we can address and I believe that is down for debate.
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: No. Statistics is really to
collect, analyse and disseminate the information.
Mr. Chairman, just to try to answer some of
the questions in the time that I have left here. In r egard to MP Walton Brown, who has left the Chamber
now, Bermuda is still being invited to UN -sponsored
activities but, obviously, we choose depending on the
relevance to the issues that we might have and the
importance of issues that we might have and attend
accordingly.
I was pleased to see that my honourable colleague, Minister Gibbons, talked a bit about the Lo ndon Office and the DC Office. While I appreciate the
Honourable, MP Walton Brown, wanting to make sure
that we were getting good value for money out of the
London Office, where his criticism was, I think that it
was just . . . the approach was just a little bit inappr opriate and simplistic when he simply said we are attending meetings. Obviously, fr om the brief it shows I
laid out very clearly that the work they do is much,
much more in depth than that. And also I think it is
really doing a disservice when you say to anyone,
Well, you just attended a meeting, because obviously
you just do not go to s how up at a meeting, sit in a
chair and listen. You are attending because your input
is important and you have something to contribute.
I have to say that Kimberley Durrant and the
small team in the London Office do a tremendous job
at the work they do. An d what I think we need to recognise is how diverse their responsibilities are. Mini ster Gibbons referred briefly to some of the challenges
that we have as far as corporate governance, benef icial ownership, [and] the focus on taxes throughout
the world. The y deal with a lot of that work, which I
mentioned in my brief. They also work closely will all branches of the UK Government to make sure that we stay in touch with what is going on there and they follow through in the JMC Communiqué, they are wor king in E urope with the European Union in a number of
different areas —their work is wide, varied, and they
bring a great skill set to the table, but that skill set is
really amplified, Mr. Chairman, in the work that they
do in feeding back information to the Cabinet Office, to the Ministry of Finance, to the Ministry of Economic
Development, or Tourism, whatever ministry it might
be. So the back -and-forth exchange is very important.
They do a good job. I think we are well served by the London Office.
In connection w ith the DC Office, output
measures, Mr. Chairman, there was a question asked,
the DC Office, up until November last year, had a paid
political consultant on board. That contract ended at
the end of November and that position has now been
transitioned into the Washington Office as a Director and it remains vacant at the present time.
And there was a comment made about the
events that we attend through the DC Office. I think it is important to understand that when you attend these
events, functions, you cert ainly advocate on behalf of
Bermuda, and there is a lot of work that has to take
place in that regard.
Mr. Chairman, moving on to some of the other
questions, the Honourable Opposition Leader asked
about political consultants [expense] under the Mini stry C abinet Headquarters of $1,398,000. There are
seven consultants:
• Benedict Associates for $210,000. That is the
EIP Programme throughout the civil service.
That programme is on, I believe, a yearly or
biyearly contract, which when it expires is put
out to tender. It is a very important pr ogramme for any Government employee to
take advantage of;
• CARICOM expense of $185,000 which is under the Cabinet Office;
• PATI consultant of $142,000;
• As mentioned by Minister Gibbons, Ken Le-vine, US consultant, specifically operates out
of Washington, DC, of $95,000. Mr. Levine
has provided service to a number of administrations;
• Mr. Don Grearson, who works with me in speech writing, $106,000;
• The Commission of Inquiry of $480,000;
• The Government Negotiating Team of $180,000.

Now, I believe the Opposition Leader asked—
and I will provide you the list, if you want to look at it. I believe the Opposition Leader asked a question about
the Negotiating Team and the need for that from, I would say, the private sector —my words. Previously,
the Opposition Leader is correct, the Negotiating Team was from within the civil service, but there have been conversations about a potential conflict by public
officers negotiating on their behalf. It could be a conflict for or it could be a conflic t against them. In addition, while our public officers are well -qualified and
experienced people, they do not negotiate on a regu-lar basis, so we thought it was appropriate to make sure that we get some individuals who are more seasoned in negotiation, wou ld not be in a position of
972 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly conflict to negotiate in that regard, and so that is what
we have done.
In regard to the Commission of Inquiry, I think
the Honourable Opposition Leader mentioned in his
comments a bit of an overview of compensation. Mr. Chairman, I can inform you that in a short time I will
be bringing a Bill to this House, because currently
members of a Commission of Inquiry under that 1935
Act are still paid according to government boards and
committees, which I think is $50 or it might be $100 a
meeting. There are very few committees under Go vernment who fall outside of that remit. There are a couple that I am aware of and one of them, I think
every member of this House is aware of, is the
Boundaries Commission. Their fees fall outside of that.
So I will be bringing a Bill to this House to a llow those members to be compensated in an appr opriate way. And at that time I will provide the fees that
we have set up. But, basically, I think you can look at
it in probably four tranches —fee for the Chai rman, fee
for the commissioners, fee for any premises we might
use, and that would include support staff and, in r egard to a commission, fees for advice that the commissioners might have to get from counsel. But when
the Bill comes, I am happy to provide all of that information.
And I know the Opposition Leader has been
on record before saying that they support the Com-mission and, hopefully, the Commission is provided
appropriate money. So I believe I can give some explanation to that when that Bill comes.
I believe very strongly that I feel proper process has been followed. I accept the Opposition Leader’s comments that a time frame of six months is
more appropriate. In my initial announcement, I a lluded to three months. But I have no problem in going
back and looking at what is appropriate for this Commission. And even now that the Commission is formed, the Chairman might come back and say they
need more time or less time to do what they have to
do. So we will be guided by what the Chairman wants
to do.
And let me also state, you know, I know the
Opposition Leader was trying to be a bit political in some of the comments he made, and I have no prob-lem with that, but if the Opposition forms the next
Government, they can form any Commission of I nquiry they want to look at any affairs they want and
this Government will not, in any way, flinch if a Commission is formed to look at the work of this Gover nment. We stand by our record and we are happy to
have that record put out in the sunshine of public scr utiny, Mr. Chairman. That is for the record.
Mr. Chairman, I believe there were questions
asked about —oh, on page B -60 on performance
measures on OPMP [Office of Project Management
and Procurement] —a good point there. If you go to
the page there are five columns —four columns of measures and one of explanation. The revised for ecast for 2015/16, it perhaps should have been stated
clearly, the original forecast for 2015/16 is the revised
forecast, so there is no change. So we will make that
clearer in the next go round.
In regard to the OPMP, I take a difference of
opinion than the Opposition Leader. I believe that as
we work through the airport redevelopment process, it
has been made clear that we have followed financial
instructions, we have been open and transparent
about that and we will continue to do that going forward.
A couple of points . . . changing to Head 26 on
B-46. The question was raised by the Opposition
Leader, I believe, of why have Wages increased by
$90,000 with no increase in employee numbers. Good
question. The increase of $90,000 was previously a llocated to Salaries, and those were for bursary st udents, which now have been classified in the Wages
section.
In regard to ( jumping back to Statistics ) the
measurement of the number of hits on the website
has been discontinued. However, I am not sure who
asked this question, about statistical publications, they
have been temporarily discontinued because there is
a problem with the website. And that is all that cha llenge is.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Mi chael H. Dunkley: Just temporarily, yes. The
website was not working right. They are looking at it.
I believe the Opposition Leader has a couple
more questions I will be happy to answer as time is
drawing down.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: And thank you—

The C hairman: Thank you for your comments, Mini ster.
Leader of the Opposition, you have the floor.
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am obliged to the Premier for giving me an
opportunity to ask one or two questions based on the
responses that the Premier just provided us.
Could the Premier explain briefly what he
means in terms of $180,000- odd being allocated to
CARICOM under Professional Services in the Cabinet
Office? And also could he explain to us who are these
private sector negotiators that have come to assist, as he just articulated that sometimes the civil service, for
whatever reason, are not able to do it? Can you let us
know who these negotiators are? Are they a firm? Do
they represent the firm or are they just individuals?
And agai n, I will look forward to your answer on the
$180,000 to CARICOM.

Thank you, Leader of the Opposition.


Bermuda House of Assembly Premier, you have the floor again.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
The Government Negotiating Team are independent contractors. I am happy to talk to the Ho nourable Member off the record in regard to that.
The CARICOM fee is $185,000. I can provide
a more detailed breakdown after this debate. I do not
have it here with me now. That is the fee I have been
told for C ARICOM services.

Thank you, Premier.
Leader of the Opposition?
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Thank you, Mr. Chairman and
thank you, Premier.
I would like to know, specifically, in terms of
those CARICOM fees, we do understand that Ber-muda is an as sociate member of CARICOM, so we
are obligated to provide some degree of funding. Now,
I would like to know whether or not that $180,000 b asically represents the fees that are obligations to us by being associate members, or does it include an ind ividual w ho, per chance, might be representing the
Government of Bermuda in the CARICOM region in addition to the fees that we are obligated to pay?

Thank you for your comments,
Leader of the Opposition.
Premier, you have the floor.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, thank you for that
clarification. Those are fees that are paid quarterly.
There are no Government appointed officials to
CARICOM getting any fees. Those are the quarterly
fees to CARICOM . . . yes, yes.
Okay, I think I covered all the quest ions there.
Mr. Chairman, one thing, I will finish up on two
points. I want to congratulate everyone within the
Cabinet Department for their diligence over the past
year certainly in light of the fact that these are tough
times and there have been budget cuts. If you look at
the budget for the Cabinet Office, they have been on
budget and that is no mean feat with as busy as the
office is and the numerous responsibilities they have to do. So I want to thank all of the leads of the departments for their sound oversight and their direction,
it is certainly most appreciated and it sets a good example throughout the rest of the Government.
One last comment that I will make— You have a question? One last question.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Okay.

Hon. Michael H. Du nkley: I am happy to work with
the Opposition Leader.

Premier, the Opposition Leader has
another question for you.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
and thank you to the Premier for yielding.
One last question: When we are tal king about
the Office of Project Management and Procurement,
the Premier mentioned a code of practice. Will the
Premier give an indication when he would table that
code of practice in Parliament?

Thank you for your comments,
Leader of the Op position.
Premier, you have the floor.
There are about nine minutes left.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I was just referring to the exact part of my
brief to make sure that I was accurate in what I said. And I said at that time in t he brief that the regulations
that are contained in the code will be tabled during
this next Parliamentary session. And once that code is approved by Cabinet, it will certainly also be posted
on the OPMP website for both the public and the pu blic sector to read it at.
Any further questions?

Thank you for your question.
Premier, you have the floor.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Most definitely. Most def initely.
And another thing that I will remark as we
want to talk about good governance, in spite of some
of the comments that are put out from time to time by the Opposition, that this Government is doing all that
we can to be open and transparent .
And I will take this opportunity to draw to
Members’ attention that we have instituted a new Mi nisterial Code of Conduct, which is the first review of
that, I think, since the Ministerial Code of Conduct was put in play probably in the late 1990s. I know under
the former Government there was a review of the
Code, but it was never instituted. But there is a new
Ministerial Code of Conduct, which has been put in
play, and it is a bit more comprehensive and it r equires that all Members of Cabinet actually si gn their
agreement to the Code, which is something that was never done in the past.
974 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly I guess the appropriate place to sign off (as
time is almost done on a productive debate), is I, Mr.
Chairman, as you and the Chairman who sat in the
seat before the lunch break, would appreciate . . . I
spent an extensive period of time talking about public sector reform. And I will make sure that those comments —the full brief —are put up on the website and
published so people can read them because there is a
lot of work that is being taken place with the five wor king groups that I mentioned in my brief: the Public Bodies Reform Working Group, the Human R esources Working Group, the Pension and Benefit
Working Group, and Asset Rationalisation and Digitalisation; and Services Working Group.
And I am disappointed that we did not have
more of a back and forth between the Members of this
House about public service reform, because just under a week ago, the Opposition mentioned it in their
Reply to the Budget. And I want the peopl e of Bermuda to be assured that with the support of everyone
within Cabinet there is significant work taking place, and we will continue to talk about the work that is taking place because that is the question that SAGE put
out there, that is the question that the public put out
there. And as we sit here over the next couple of
weeks and debate the Budget —how money is spent
and how people put money into Government coffers —
we need to do everything that we can to make sure that that money is used effectively, efficiently, and we
are accountable to do the people’s business.

Premier, do you yield?
Leader of the Opposition, you have the floor.
Five minutes left.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Thank you, Mr. Chairman and
thank you, Premier, once again for y ielding.
I just listened to the Premier’s comments and
to my pleasant surprise the Premier announced that
his Cabinet will be introducing an updated, upgraded
Ministerial Code of Conduct. And to that I would say,
Good work, and we look forward to seeing a copy of
this updated Ministerial Code of Conduct.
But, Mr. Chairman, but —and it is a big but —
the question is, even with an upgraded Ministerial
Code of Conduct what assurances do we in this House, and what assurances do the people of this
country, have f rom the One Bermuda Alliance Go vernment that they would abide by this updated Mini sterial Code? Because, Mr. Chairman, we all reme mber it was not too long ago when the current One
Bermuda Alliance Government, some of their Mini sters, had great difficulty f ollowing the existing Minist erial Code. In fact, one Learned Minister, the former
Attorney General, actually denied that a Ministerial
Code exists. I remember and it is in the Hansard. I did not say the Learned Member the Minister of Tourism
and Transport, I said the learned former Attorney
General. He stood up in this Chamber and said it did not exist, after jumping off that Gulfstream 200. And
you know what that led to.

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Point of order, Mr.
Chairman.

Thank you for your comments.
Leader of the Opposition, you have the floor.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: I stand to be corrected, and I
know my memory is not the sharpest knife, but I r emember t hat it was one particular . . . it was one particular Minister who fought tooth and nail to deny.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: I gave way for a question.
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: No, my question is (because
you said you gave way for a question), how can we trust you to implement an upgraded Ministerial Code
of Conduct when a lot, plenty of your Ministers up
until this point have had grave difficulty acknowledging
the existence of one or following the one that is in existence? It does not make sense.
It is a fai r question because we can have all
the rules we like, we can say that we want good governance all we like, we can say we want transparency,
we want accountability and it should start at the top. Again, it comes back to the evidence of things seen.
So I hear what the Premier is saying, but I would like
to know, in his mind, what type of assurances can he
can provide to the people of this country that we will
not see a repeat of the past?

Thank you for your comments.
Premier, you have just over a minute to reply.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Chairman, I am going
to keep this debate at a high level and I am not going
to descend down into the gutter with that Honourable Member.
As perhaps the Honourable Opposition
Leader was not paying attention when I spoke, I said very clearly that the Ministerial Code of Conduct had
been instituted and signed and it is on the Cabinet
Office website for everyone to see.
And I will say, Mr. Chairman, that when you
point fingers across, one finger is pointed acr oss and


Bermuda House of Assembly three are pointing back. That is all I will say about
former Ministers and their code of conduct.
We are about openness and transparency
and accountability, and we put more standards in
place in the past couple of years than any Gover nment has done in the history of Bermuda, and we will
continue to do that. We will continue to move forward
and we will continue to make the civil service and
those who serve at the Ministerial level more accountable for the work they do.
So, having said that, Mr. Chair man, I move
that Heads 9, 14, 26 and 80 as well as the rest of the Heads in the Cabinet Office are approved. And that
will be Heads 43 —ITO; 51 —DCI; 84 —E-Government;
96— Sustainable Development.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[Gavel]

And we now will move onto the debate on the Ministry of Tourism Development and
Transport, Heads . . . well I will let the Minister of
Transport announce the Heads.
Minister Crockwell, you have the floor.

MINISTRY OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AND
TRANSPORT

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you, Mr. Chai rman.

[Crosstalk]

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Mr. Chairman, I will be
looking to deal with the Ministry of Tourism Develop-ment and Transport, particularly the Ministry of Trans-port component. And we will be looking at Heads 30,
31, 34, 35, 57 and 73.
With your indulgence I would like to move
those Heads, Mr. Chairman.

Go right ahead, Minister. Move
ahead.
Shadow Minister, are you in agreement with
those h eads?
Go ahead, Minister.

HEAD 48 —MINISTRY HEADQUARTERS
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you, Mr. Chai rman.
Mr. Chairman, the function of the Ministry of
Tourism Development and Transport Headquarters is
to ensure safe and efficient operation of the depar tments and special operations units within the Ministry.
Headquarters also ensures that policies of the Bermuda Government relating to the Ministry are e nacted. In addition, it helps ensure the cooperation of
other Government ministries which are impacted by
Ministry of Tourism Development and Transport initi atives and activities.
The Ministry of Tourism Development and
Transport Headquarters oversees and coordinates the
activities of the following departments, which can be
found in the Budget Book on page B-164:
• Head 30— Marine and Ports Services;
• Head 31— Airport Operations;
• Head 34—Transport Control;
• Head 35— Public Transportation;
• Head 57— Civil Aviation; and
• Head 73— Maritime Administration

The Ministry of Tourism Development and
Transport Headquarters can be found on pages B -164
to B-166 of the Budget Book and is divided into three
cost centres as follows:

58000— Administration

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Administration, which is
on [pages] B -165. The original allocation for 2015/16
is $23.102 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is
$24.412 million, a variance of $1.31 million. Full -time
equivalents in this particular department are four.
The Administration Team is primarily responsible for the day -to-day administrative activities within
the Ministry’s headquarters which include the coordination of the various services provided within the Mi nistry. In 2016/17, the Administration section will oversee annual operating grants to the Bermuda Tourism
Authority of $22.7 million and the Government Golf Courses of $950,000 (located on page C -18 of the
Budget Book), which together comprises 97 per cent
of the Ministry Headquarters’ total budget.

58010—Transportation Planning Team

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $175,000. The estimate for 2016/17 is
$149,000. The variance is a $26,000 decrease. Full -
time equivalent is one.
Mr. Chairman, the role of the Transportation
Planning Team (TPT) is to provide research and su pport to the Ministry, various Government departments,
on-Island stakehol ders, and cruise ship partners to
ensure the efficient integration of all transportation
services in Bermuda.
976 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, you may be aware of the most
recent report on the 2014 visitor survey of cruise ship
passenger spending that was determined from the
Bermuda Tourism Authority’s Exit Survey. For the purposes of this Budget Debate, I wish to clarify what the cruise ship passenger spending was in 2014 and
compare this spending to 2015. In 2014, Bermuda
received 130 cruise ship calls bringing a total of
356,325 visitors to our shores with cruise ship passengers spending $35.9 million, or an average $101 per person in 2014.
Mr. Chairman, during the 2015 cruise ship
season, there were six additional cruise ship calls
scheduled, but due to inclement weather, a total of
132 calls were made that brought 370,756 visitors to Bermuda and spending went up to $48.25 million, this
represents a per passenger spending of $130 in 2015
or a 36 per cent increase of $12.75 million over 2014
into Bermuda’s economy.
Mr. Chair man, with the scheduled increase of
13 additional cruise ship calls in 2016 this will result in a total of 149 calls with an anticipated number of
410,645 visitors over the course of the cruise ship
season. This represents an increase of 39,889 thousand cr uise ship visitors over 2015.
Mr. Chairman, to recap, in the last three
years, Bermuda will have increased the number of
cruise ship calls from 130 to 149 and increased the
number of annual cruise ship visitors from 356,325 to
an estimated number of 410,64 5 visitors in 2016. This
represents an increase of 19 calls, 54,320 visitors or a
15 per cent increase, and we anticipate a further rise
in per person spending in 2016 based on these higher
projections.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to advise this Honourable House that with the 2016 cruise ship season
upon us, we look forward to welcoming seven inaugu-ral cruise ships to our shores this season including
Royal Caribbean International’s Quantum -class vessel
the Anthem of the Seas , which is scheduled to arrive
on May 7
th and will make 21 visits from Cape Liberty,
New Jersey. Honourable Members may be aware of
the recently completed North Channel upgrade which
will greatly improve the navigability of the North
Channel and was also required to accommodate the next c lass of larger cruise ships like the Quantum
class and other cruise ships with similar principle dimensions. We also look forward to welcoming for the
first time the following ships that include the Carnival
Sunshine; Carnival Victory ; Carnival Vista ; V.Sh ips
Sirena ; Prestige Cruise Holdings Seven Seas E xplorer; and Viking Cruises Viking Star .
Mr. Chairman, in addition, RCI’s Grandeur of
the Seas will return to Bermuda in 2016 with 17 calls
from Baltimore; Norwegian Breakaway will return with
26 calls from New York City; the Norwegian Dawn
with 15 calls from Boston; and the Celebrity Summit
will also return with 19 calls from Cape Liberty, New
Jersey. Mr. Chairman, Bermuda remains very fort unate to have long affiliated partnerships with other
notable cruise lines who make occasional calls to
Bermuda, and in 2016 there will be no exception. In
addition to the inaugural visits, we look forward to welcoming back Crystal Cruises, Fred Olson Line,
Holland America Line, MSC Cruises, Oceania
Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Princess
Cruises, and AIDA Cruises. The complete cruise ship
schedule for 2016 is available on- line at www.gov.bm
under Marine and Ports.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry along with the
Bermuda Tourism Authority continues to develop a
positive relati onship with premium/luxury cruise lines
in attracting their brands to come to our shores. There
has been much activity surrounding the 2017 Amer-ica’s Cup and the projected further increase in cruise
ship passengers in 2017 that remains a top priority,
along with providing the Town of St. George’s regular
scheduled calls during the cruise seasons. The Mini stry is currently working very closely with the Corpor ation of St. George’s and other local stakeholders and
also our cruise industry partners to evaluate the o ptions available to ensure that the Town of St. George’s
can one day again be the beneficiary of a dedicated
cruise ship. The options include the feasibility of wi dening Town Cut or creating an alternative new cruise
berth and terminal. This project r emains a high priority
and our ministry will keep the public abreast of the progress and at the appropriate time will organise
meetings for the general public to share the proposals
and garner their feedback.
Mr. Chairman, each cruise ship passenger arriving in Bermuda pays a passenger tax to Gover nment and all passengers on cruise ships not berthed
in Hamilton or St. George’s, pay a cabin tax and this
revenue is projected to be $24.2 million in 2016 which
is up from $22 million in 2015. While cruise ship visitors make purchases in local retail establishments and purchase shore excursions in support of our taxi, minibus, and water sport sectors, they also extensively use our public transport system, resulting in
increased revenues. The secondary impact of t he
cruise segment on our economy is significant, with many tour operators relying on cruise visitors for their
livelihood. In total, the cruise ship segment is pr ojected to make a financial contribution in excess of
$92 million in 2016.
Mr. Chairman, much of the effort will be in
providing quality transportation services for our vis itors, including scheduled ferry and bus services,
sightseeing bus service, taxi and minibus tours. In
2016 we remain reliant on the taxis and minibuses to
provide transportation services between the Royal
Naval Dockyard and the south shore beaches. This
creates employment opportunities for Bermudians who choose to enter the transportation sector and
provides relief for the public transport system.


Bermuda House of Assembly The West End Development Corpor ation will
assume full responsibility for monitoring traffic at
Dockyard, and the Transport Control Department will
allocate traffic officers to Horseshoe Bay Beach to
manage the anticipated increase in private sector ser-vices to Bermuda’s most popular att raction and ensure that our visitors are moved more efficiently.
In order to provide lift from Dockyard to St.
George’s, the Department of Marine and Ports will
once again lease the Millennium from Rhode Island
Fast Ferry. Leasing a vessel will enable us t o enhance
ferry service for our commuters and visitors travelling
from Dockyard to Hamilton, while reducing the “stress”
placed on the existing fleet.
Working with the Ministry of Finance we have
proposed increasing the rate of the transportation
fares eff ective the 1 April 2016. This will help reduce
the subsidy to provide public transport while encour-aging more of our visitors to use private transportation
options such as taxis and minibuses. It is the Ministry
of Tourism Development and Transport’s vision to bring about more opportunities for transportation pr oviders and try to close the gap in the public and pr ivate fare structures. In 2016, we intend for public
fares from Dockyard to the south shore beaches to be
on par with private sector transportatio n options rather
than remaining as a discounted fare.
Mr. Chairman, the Transport Planning Team’s
budget will decrease by $26,000 to $149,000 in
2016/17 and this reduction is due to less services b eing required by local consultants and contractors.

58020—Regulatory and Policy/Hotel Administr ation

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Moving on now to 58020,
Regulatory and Policy/Hotel Administration, still on [page] B-165. The original allocation for 2015/16 was
$0.233 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is $0.237 million, a variance which is a $44,000 increase. The
full-time equivalents are three.
Mr. Chairman, the Regulatory and Policy/Hotel Administration section operates separate
and apart from the Bermuda Tourism Authority and is
managed by the Ministry of Tourism D evelopment and
Transport Headquarters.
This section is responsible for the hotel licensing and inspection process which includes a team that works within regulatory guidelines to ensure that all
licensed hotel properties maintain the appropriate
standards. It is also charged with overseeing the hotel
concessions process from the application stage of a
new hotel development and/or major renovation to the
issuance of “opening date certificates” which certify
that the planned redevelopment is complete and that
relief provided by each order can commence. Regul ation and Policy also oversee the Timesharing admini-stration and the hotel bed and unit inventory tracking. Mr. Chairman, the Ministry established an inhouse hotel development process that includes cross -
ministry involvement whereby hotel developers chan-nel their activities through the Ministry of Tourism D evelopment and Transport and we consult directly with
all relevant ministries at the Economic Development
Committee level as well as work closely with t he Bermuda Tourism Authority’s Investment Section to identify potential hotel development and bring new investors to Bermuda. Our primary goal is to increase hotel
room inventory and attract world- class hotel brands.
Mr. Chairman, we continue to see an upturn in
hotel development concession applications and we
are encouraged by the hotel developers that are still
progressing with their projects, and the fact that Bermuda remains attractive to prospective developers.
Mr. Chairman, you may be aware that just today we
announced the signing of the Ground Leases with the
Desarrollos Hotelco Group, which signals the next
stage in this very important development project.
There are many projects already in channel,
as just cited, the St. George’s Development Site, the
Hamilton Princess Beach Club and new Staff Facil ities, Pink Beach Hotel, Morgan’s Point, Coral Beach
and Tennis Club, Fairmont Southampton, and a few
more on the horizon including the Ariel Sands, Surf
Side Redevelopment, and the Elbow Beach Hotel. So a great deal of work is being done in relation to i mproving our hotel product.
Mr. Chairman, there are other areas of r esponsibility, oversight and policy direction provided by the Regulation and Policy Section of the Ministry of Tourism Development and Tr ansport. These areas
include, but are not limited to, the day -to-day ma nagement and issuing of lottery permits for raffle tickets
and business promotions under the Lotteries Act 1944
since May 2014. It is our Ministry’s intent to evaluate
the efficacy of a malgamating the Lotteries Act into the
Casino Gaming Act, which is under the purview of the
Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission, at some point
in the near future. This section is also responsible for
the administration and issuing of cruise ship casino
licenc es [and the] review and support [of] Department
of Planning applications related to tourism related products and/or developments situated on tourism zoned land. The Regulation and Policy Section is also
actively involved in the Vacation Rental Property
scheme and other tourism -related ministry initiatives.
Our Ministry looks forward to providing more inform ation on these initiatives to this Honourable House in
the upcoming months.
The total budget for the Ministry Headquarters, Head 48, for the fiscal year 2016/17 is $24.798
million, an increase of $1.288 million from the 2015/16
original estimates.
Salaries and Wages for the eight full -time
equivalents account for $807,000, which represents 3 per cent of Headquarters’ budget. The annual grants
to the Bermuda Tourism Authority of $22.7 million and
978 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly the Government Golf Courses of $950,000 represent
92 per cent and 4 per cent respectively of Headquarters’ budget. Professional Services account for
$148,000, and Travel Expenses $110,000; each
equating to less than 1 per cent of the total 2016/17
Budget.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concludes my
brief on Ministry Headquarters, Head 48.

HEAD 30 —DEPARTMENT OF MARINE & PORT
SERVICES

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Mr. Chairman, the D epartment of Marine and Port Services is one of the
most critical arms of the Government of Bermuda. It
facilitates the movement of shipping commerce in and
out of Bermuda’s ports. This is undertaken through
the provision of marked navigational channels, prov ision of pilot and tug services, and coordination of
channel and port infrastructure development work to ensure that the needs of the cruise and cargo ships are maintained. This is done in collaboration with the
Ministry of Public Works when and where required.
The department is also respons ible for the
coordination of international search and rescue oper ations in this area of the Atlantic, and oversees seaport
security compliance in accordance with international standards designed to counter the spread of terrorism
and the illegal trafficking of narcotics and humans.
Last year the department responded to over 400
search and rescue cases both locally and internatio nally for both ships and aircraft.
Mr. Chairman, the department also manages
the allocation of mooring positions to local boats as
well as undertaking the annual registration of private
vessels. Additionally, more detailed safety inspections
and the licensing of commercial passenger carrying
vessels or island boats also occurs annually. It is to be
noted that there has been an increas e in the number
of vessels requiring inspections and also the amount of individuals requiring engine driver and pilot’s certif ication. This we believe is as a result of the America’s
Cup activities. The final, perhaps more high profile element of the depar tment’s activities is the operation
of the Sea Express Ferry Service that directly complements public transport services through the eff icient, mass carriage of local commuters and visitors
Island- wide.
Mr. Chairman, in keeping with the depar tment’s long- standing mandate on Bermudianisation
through succession planning, individuals have been
identified with professional development plans in place to aid their development as ideal replacements
for existing contracted expatriate employees at the
end of their contracted term.
The operating budget for the Department of
Marine and Ports Services for 2016/17 is $19,900,000 against estimated revenue of $5,551,000. Mr. Chairman, the breakdown of estimates, as
found on pages B -167 to B -171 of the Budget Book, is
set out under three programmes as follows:

Programme 3006—West End (Dockyard)

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: This programme operates
in direct support of international shipping calling at
Bermuda through:
• The provision of tug services assisting cruise ship and car go ship berthing and unberthing
operations;
• Through the maintenance of marked chan-nels, lighthouses and other marine aids to
navigation;
• Through the operation of a tender service to
cruise vessels and also supports the ferry
service in order to reduce oper ational costs;
and
• Through the operation of a marine slipway and maintenance facility support services for
the department’s vessels.

Cost Centre 3006/40040— Navigational Aids
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Original allocation for
2015/16 was $0.706 million. The estimate for 2016/17
is $0.671 million, a decrease of $0.035 million. Full -
time equivalents are nine and anticipated revenue is
$0.519 million.
The Aids to Navigation Section maintains
some 200 channel markers, the Island’s two lighthouses, as well as of fshore beacons and small boat
markers to the international standards. The section
also oversees the operation of a line boat that is used to assist ships berthing at Dockyard, small boat wreck
removal around the Island, minor dredging work, and marine oil pollution response when required.
Mr. Chairman, in 2015, this section completed
the upgrade to the Crescent Beacon in the North Channel which has a weather station in operation for use of the larger cruise vessels that are entering our
waters, giving them the most up- to-date information of
the weather at this critical turning point of the North
Channel for safe navigation.
Meanwhile, the department will continue to r etire older steel buoys in the Dundonald Channel and
the branch off towards Two Rock Passage , using a
new SB -1800 maintenance free polyethylene plastic
buoy designed for more protected harbour approaches. The department has worked very closely
with the Ministry of Public Works with the improv ements to the North Channel which will allow the larger
cruise ships to start visiting Bermuda in May of this year. Revenue to pay for this service is generated by
ships paying port dues and light tolls and a lighthouse
entrance fee which are estimated at $519,000 for
2016/17. However, due to a planned increas e in the
fee schedule for seaborne services, we anticipate co lBermuda House of Assembly lecting revenues of approximately $553,000. Ther efore, some 73 per cent of the cost to provide this service is therefore directly recovered.

Cost Centre 3006/40140— Tug Service

Hon. Shawn G. Cr ockwell: Still on [page] B-167, the
original allocation for 2015/16 was $1.471 million. The
estimate for 2016/17 is $1.348 million, a decrease of
$123,000, [with] 18 full -time equivalents. Expected
revenue is $1.09 million.
Mr. Chairman, the tug service provides bert hing and unberthing ship assistance to international
shipping calling at our various ports. The threat of an
accident resulting in damage to a ship and/or our port infrastructure and the potential for marine pollution
requires that at least one tug standby when ships are
manoeuvring in port. Our tugs also provide an of fshore towing and salvage rescue capability which r emains important given Bermuda’s isolated geographic
position in the Atlantic and the potential threat from passing vessels potentially grounding on our environmentally sensitive outer reef.
Mr. Chairman, the department maintains three
harbour tugs with the sister tugs, Powerful and Faithful, having a bollard pull of 40 tons as well as firefighting, oil dispersant and oil recovery capabilities,
while the third tug, Edward M. Stowe, has a lower 32
ton bollard pull and generally serves as a relief tug
when one of the larger tugs is undergoing maint enance. The future of the tug fleet remains under r eview given the age of the individual vessels and potential increases in maintenance costs all balanced against the capital investment in new tugs. An add itional consideration has also been the relatively low
bollard pull of all of our tugs compared with the size of
the larger cruise ships no w calling at Bermuda in order to safeguard their berthing and unberthing in extreme wind conditions.
Mr. Chairman, with the continuing increase in
the size of ships calling and visiting Bermuda, two
modern tractor tugs with a minimum bollard pull of 70
tons will be required to assist our pilots in the safe
manoeuvring of ships visiting Bermuda, especially in
inclement weather. Various options are currently being explored so as to provide the best possible sol ution to this urgent requirement.

Cost Centre 3 006/40210— Tender Service

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $0.38 million. The estimate for 2016/17 remains the same. [There are] four full -time equiv alents and the anticipated revenue is $45,000.
Mr. Chairman, the tender Ber mudian is pr imarily used to supplement our regular ferry service during our peak tourism and cruise ship season ru nning from April through November. The tender also occasionally transports passengers to and from shore when cruise ships are at anchor in the Great Sound or
Grassy Bay. Ongoing maintenance costs are increas-ing due to the age of this vessel. However, considering the passenger lift capacity of 750 persons against
the fuel burnt, this vessel is still economically viable to operate. She will also be critical in providing passenger lift for the America’s Cup 2017.
The tender is also available for hire to the
general public and is popular for weekend and ev ening summer cruises given her 650 recreational passenger carrying capacity.

Cost Centre 3006/4 0260— Dockyard Maintenance

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Original allocation for
2015/16 was $2.9 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is
$2.8 million, a decrease of $63,000. Full -time equiv alents are 25, and anticipated revenue is $19,000.
The Dockyard Maintenance section provides
mechanical and engineering support to the depar tment’s vessels. The marine cradle at Dockyard is now the only slipway of that size remaining in Bermuda making it critical to the department’s needs but also a
resource for the largest pri vate vessels operated l ocally that might need to use the cradle for emergency
repairs or scheduled maintenance. Last year we assisted two local vessels to undergo much- needed r epairs at no cost to the public purse but instead gener-ating revenue without dis rupting the department’s
planned operations.
A cause of concern from a tourism image and
basic health and safety standpoint is the proximity of the department’s heavy maintenance work in close
proximity to pedestrian and retail activities. The department’s heavy maintenance is being interrupted
under certain wind conditions resulting in work having
to be done outside of normal working hours and on
weekends. With the South Basin reclamation project
being well underway to facilitate th e America’s Cup
Village 2017, we expect that this problem will be
solved if the maintenance activities of the department
are relocated to an area within the South Basin development that has already been identified.

Programme 3007—Central (Hamilton Office)
Cost Centre 40090 —Ferry Service

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 is $7.9 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is
$8.4 million, a $502,000 increase. Full -time equiv alents are 72. Expected revenue is $1.54 million.
Mr. Chairman, the Sea Express ferry ser vice
represents a comfortable and efficient means of public
transport supporting the local commuter and visitor
markets. The department continues to operate six
high-speed catamaran ferries and three harbour ferries with additional ferry lift between Docky ard and
Hamilton also being provided by the previously mentioned tender, Bermudian. Ferry capacity was further
980 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly bolstered in 2013 by the hire of the 400 passenger
ferry Millennium and this initiative was continued into
2015 to assure that cruise ship passenger lift between
Dockyard and St. George’s was assured in order to
support businesses in St. George’s.
Meanwhile, scheduled services between the
West End and Hamilton will occur in much the same
way in 2016 with minor adjustments being undertaken
to optim ise ferry departures in line with cruise visitor
and local commuter demands. Public transportation is highly subsidised, but wherever possible all efforts are being made to control costs with an emphasis on
overtime reduction and fuel efficiency. As we speak,
passenger load studies are being undertaken with the
view to utilising the Paget/Warwick class harbour fer-ries to run the Blue West End Route on winter weekends as opposed to the fast catamarans subject to
approval. This will result in vast savings as we will
now be burning 24 gallons of fuel per hour as o pposed to 110 gallons.
Mr. Chairman, it needs to be stated that to
operate within budget a compromise in ferry service
levels may be required if ridership levels do not i mprove and flexibility in fleet operating methods and
crewing will need to occur. Examples of this include a change of work practice involving pilots, crews and
mechanical support staff all working a seven day per week roster given the demands imposed on us by
cruise ship itineraries an d tourist volumes on- Island at
any given time, at least during the cruise ship season—especially during the cruise ship season. In a ddition, a reduction in crew from three to two persons
on the Paget/Warwick ferry route is imperative to i mmediate cost savi ngs and without such smaller cost
saving initiatives occurring, more aggressive changes
in other areas may be required. These negotiations
are still ongoing.
The cost of operating this service is estimated
at $8.4 million, with anticipated revenue of $1.7 mi llion. It should be noted that the nature of the bus and
ferry ticket, token and pass fare collection system r esults in most ferry revenue being collected by the D epartment of Public Transportation as opposed to the
Department of Marine and Ports.

Cost Centre 40150 —Boat and Mooring Registr ation

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $0.265 million. The estimate for 2016/17
is $0.265 million. The full -time equivalents are three.
Anticipated revenue is $1.42 million.
Mr. Chairman, the Boat and Mooring Registr ation Section is staffed by two full -time officers and one
temporary clerk. These three people are responsible
for the annual licensing of all private boats, comme rcial tour boats and moorings in Bermuda. As mentioned before, there has been an upturn in the amount
of vessels requiring certification as a result of the an-ticipated business for the America’s Cup of 2017. This
includes the physical inspection of all passenger -
carrying island boats against an industry Code of
Pract ice to ensure that they are fit for passenger carriage. There are approximately 8,500 private boats;
5,000 moorings; and 270 commercial, rental and charter boats to be processed each year. Additional duties
for this section include incident investigation a nd
mooring dispute resolution, inspections of foreshore
encroachments, management of small boat channels
and the processing of applications for commercial op-erators, as well as moorings, pylons and floating dock
applications. Responsibility for small boat wreck r emoval also falls under this section; however, until
there is an allocated budget for this undertaking, the
section will continue to struggle to deal with this gro wing and pervasive problem.
The department’s website continues to be well
received and is still providing a convenient and eff icient method of payment for boat and mooring regi stration. This is evidenced by a noticeable increase in
users.
Mr. Chairman, even though we proposed a dvancing the department’s mooring management plan
with the imple mentation of a mooring licence fee, assessed by the length of the vessel for which a given
mooring is designed, we still believe this is a much
more equitable method of calculating mooring fees but we realise it will require greater oversight and management than we are currently staffed to provide.
Mr. Chairman, with only two full -time staff
overseeing 5,000 moorings and over 250 charter and
rental vessels, the section is understaffed and unable
to advance with these and other initiatives. However,
this wil l be addressed upon the approval of the r evised organisational chart for the Department of Marine and Port Services. The number of charter vessels
is expected to double and even triple in the lead- up to
the America’s Cup 2017.

Cost Centre 40220 —Administra tion

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Still on page B -167, the
original allocation for 2015/16 was $2.1 million. The
estimate for 2016/17 remains the same. Full -time
equivalents are eight. Anticipated revenue is $22,000.
This programme relates to the administrati ve
duties and personnel functions of the entire depar tment. Their responsibilities include:
• Staff human resources oversight;
• Department accounting services;
• Administration support relating to shipping
and ferry public transport policy execution;
• Examinatio n of local pilots and island boats
operators;
• Inspection and licensing of private boats and
commercial charter boats;
• Regulating resort diving (SCUBA) operations;
• Allocation and registration of all moorings;


Bermuda House of Assembly • Investigation of marine accidents; and
• Drafting of marine legislation.

Programme 3008— East End (Fort George)
Cost Centre 40100 —Maritime Safety and Security

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $2.1 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is $2 million, a decrease of $103,000. Ful l-time equiv alents are 10.
Mr. Chairman, services provided by this section relate to maritime safety and security obligations
under the United Nations Safety of Life at Sea (S OLAS) Convention. Such functions are centrally coord inated from the Bermuda Mari time Operations Centre
located at Fort George which operates in direct sup-port of various Government agencies with local and
overseas marine interests including the Bermuda P olice Service, HM Customs, the Bermuda Regiment,
the Department of Environmental P rotection, Maritime
Administration, Airport Operations, and Civil Aviation.
The Maritime Operations Centre operates
around the clock with a total staff nine. This facility
provides the functions of a Rescue Coordination Cen-tre, a Coast Radio Station (known to mariners as
Bermuda Radio) as well as providing Vessel Traffic
Radar Surveillance and the Registry of Satellite Di stress Beacons which are fitted on Bermuda registered
ships and aircraft operating worldwide.
All vessels calling at Bermuda are scrutinis ed
prior to entry into port and detailed information about
visiting ships and yachts as well as their voyage hi story is collected for reasons of safety and international
seaport security combined with local border security
concerns.
Mr. Chairman, Bermuda has an aggressive
programme of coastal monitoring that, despite a lack
of costly vessel and aircraft patrol capabilities, has led
to many successes in collaboration with the Bermuda
Police Service and HM Customs and the Government continues to invest in mar itime safety and security
measures in line with recommendations contained within the National Security Review.
Cruise and cargo dock seaport security
measures are also the responsibility of this section and the designation of Restricted Areas around such port facilities requires a mix of physical security
equipment and contractual oversight of private sec urity personnel in order to fulfil international port sec urity obligations.
Specialist technical support of coastal survei llance radar equipment, X -ray bag gage screening
equipment, metal detectors and CCTV equipment
covering port areas is all undertaken in- house by
highly trained personnel within this section.
Mr. Chairman, in a small country such as
Bermuda, specialist capabilities must always be shared in the public interest and nowhere is this better
demonstrated than with the collaborative approach taken with the Island’s marine search and rescue r esponse operations. While the Rescue Coordination Centre is central to any local or international response
effort, an interagency collaboration using all available
marine search and rescue units within Government
departments is required when a distress case occurs
and time is short to affect a successful rescue.

Cost Centre 40180 —Pilotage Services and Of fshore S earch and Rescue

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $1.81 million. The estimate for 2016/17 remains the same. Full -time equivalents are 18.
This service provides pilot services to international shipping calling at Bermuda thereby ensuring
that visiting ships are able to safely navigate Ber-muda’s narrow channels into port. The service also
facilitates offshore cargo and crew transfers in cases
where a ship that diverts to Bermuda is too deep to
enter port. Such offshore transf ers are particularly
challenging when an injured or sick person must be
stretchered off a ship under emergency circumstances
and in bad weather.
Mr. Chairman, Bermuda undertakes respons ibility for marine search and rescue response out to a
distance of 30 m iles from shore. The pilot service vessels St. David and St. George are the backbone of
this service together with their three- man boat crews.
Rigorous crew training must be undertaken to ensure
that crews are able to safely operate offshore and
normally i n poor weather conditions.
Mr. Chairman, projects for 2016 include the
following:
• Continued assistance to the Ministry of Public
Works in relation to the ongoing channel
modification options to accommodate larger
cruise ships such as the Anthem of The Seas
with the dredging and re- alignment of the
North Channel that was undertaken. A final
simulation study will be carried out in Balt imore, USA, on 6
th March 2016, for the new
buoy placement due to the re- alignment of the
channel.
• Continued progression of the night pilotage
initiative to potentially allow cargo ships to enter and depart port at night is ongoing.

Mr. Chairman, while no channel modification
work was required to accommodate the Breakaway ,
certain risks during periods of high crosswinds during
transits of the North Channel do remain for many of
the largest ships already calling at our shores. The
benefits from wider, deeper channels will definitively
mitigate the threat of manoeuvring errors resulting in
grounding that might possibly cause ship d amage and
potential widespread environmental impacts from pollution. Such channel work will also open the door to a night pilotage option for various classes of smaller
982 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly cargo ship and possibly even cruise ships that are
presently limited to arriving and departing via the
channels during daylight hours only.

[Mrs. Suzann Roberts -Holshouser, Chairman]
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you, Madam
Chairman, and welcome.
That concludes the brief for the Department of
Marine and Port Services.

HEAD 31 —DEPARTMENT OF AIRPORT OPER ATIONS

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Moving now to Head 31,
Department of Airport Operations.
Madam Chairman, the L. F. Wade International Airport has continued with improvements to
various areas of the terminal facility, its aerodrome
and airf ield infrastructure, its surveillance radar and
other navigational aid systems. These ongoing i mprovements are necessary in order to maintain Bermuda’s compliance with local and international avi ation regulatory requirements as well as providing the
highes t level of safety and security for the travelling
public.
Madam Chairman, in August 2015, the Can adian Commercial Corporation (CCC), a Crown company of the Canadian Government, and the Gover nment of Bermuda signed a binding Airport Development Agreement (A DA) that seeks to build upon the
airport’s initial master planning process and deliver a
world class, signature airport terminal building through a Public Private Partner initiative, known as P3.
The ADA shall guide the content and settl ement of definitive and final transaction agreements for
the project, each of which shall contain additional terms and conditions that are generally consistent with
and comparable to, similar airport concession transactions and other capital infrastructure projects.
Madam Chairman, the success of the airport
redevelopment project will be driven by the immediate and legacy impacts on air services that both the 2017 America’s Cup and the completion of several new h otel development projects are expected to bring to frui-tion. In the interim, however, the airport continues to safeguard the Island’s scheduled air services despite
challenges. Whilst the tourism sector shows signs of
encouragement, the overall total number of air passengers has softened year over year in part, as a r esult of the declining number of Bermudian residents, particularly in our visitors, friends and family. This r educed demand has led to airlines having to adjust its
winter schedules in order to ensure the year -round
financial viability of its air services t o Bermuda. Ho wever, despite the reduced winter schedules by some
airlines, the airport has been successful in ensuring
the return of the United Airlines service out of Newark and the introduction of a second daily flight out of New
York’s JFK Airport for t he winter of 2016.
I would like to commend the BTA and the
General Manager of the Department of Airport Oper ations and, of course, my Permanent Secretary (who is
here) for the hard work in securing those services.

Operation and Maintenance and Airside Se rvice

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Madam Chairman, in D ecember 2013, the DAO entered into an agreement
with Boeing Digital Aviation, a business division of
aviation giants, Boeing, to study the management and
further modernisation of Bermuda’s airspace. The
study, completed in August 2014, outlined a multi -year
plan that would see Bermuda collaborating with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to become a certified Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP).
This certification would allow Bermuda to expand its
area of airspace for air traffic control management
services from its present five- mile radius, out to 50
miles and potentially even out further at a later stage.
Madam Chairman, an important part of this
study identified opportunities to accelerat e the already
advanced Bermuda airspace and air traffic management system by developing Performance Based Nav igation (PBN) procedures for arriving and departing air traffic into the long range en route air traffic environ-ment. At this time, Bermuda and the FAA are working
closely to bring these new procedures into existence
with hopes of completing design and coordination in
the coming year.
The great benefit of these PBN arrivals and
departures procedures is that modern private aircraft and commercial airl ines will get to realise greater eff iciencies and improved operational safety. Additionally,
and of equal importance, the implementation of PBN
would allow Bermuda to strategically provide spacebased or satellite navigation position updates as an additional contingency plan if ground- based navigational facilities were found to be unavailable for any
reason. As noted in the Boeing report, many advanced types of commercial and private aircraft flying
to Bermuda will be able to optimise their in- flight nav igational performance capabilities when traversing
through Bermuda’s airspace.
Madam Chairman, financial year 2016/17 will
see the continuation of Phase II of the Visual Slope Segment Penetration (VSSP) project which calls for
the installation of additional a irfield lighting; the co mpletion of Geotechnical and Environmental Impact
Reviews; safety enhancements to the Aerodrome; and
the installation of Approach Lighting Barrettes on
Runway 30 at the Clearwater end of the airfield. The
public shall recall that in December 2013, the airport
completed the first phase of the VSSP capital i mprovement project in order to comply with new Inter-national Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations
that require arriving aircraft to increase their descent


Bermuda House of Assembly angle when on fi nal approach over Ferry Reach, in
order to ensure that the approach path is free of
newly -defined, land- based obstacles. To accomm odate the new approach angle; the runway threshold, lighting systems and runway markings had to be r epositioned; runway centre line lighting was installed;
instrument approach procedures were amended; and
precision approach path indicator lights were recal ibrated.
Madam Chairman, according to international
weather minimal criteria set by ICAO and the FAA,
completion of the first phase of the VSSP project now
ensures that the L. F. Wade International Airport is
equipped with the necessary lighting and navigational
aid equipment essential for a full Category 1 A pproach. Prior to the completion of the upgrades, our
navigational aids and minimal lighting capability di ctated that an arriving aircraft would have to circle until visibility on the approach improved to at least 1,200
metres. With the new runway centre line lighting, ai rcraft can now safely land at our airport with visibilit y as
low as 800 metres, which represents the type of conditions one could expect during a heavy downpour, as
an example.
Madam Chairman, in 2015, the airport undertook jointly with the FAA, the restoration of the VHF Omni -directional Radio (VOR) system at a cost of
nearly $1 million, 25 per cent of which the DAO will be
responsible for as a part of its cost -sharing agreement
with the FAA. The VOR is a ground- based navigational facility used by aircraft to provide navigational
and positioning information whi lst in -flight, based on
radio signals being transmitted to the aircraft. This
navigational facility is one of several capabilities avai lable for aircraft to make visual reference to the i ntended runway for landing during adverse weather or
periods of low v isibility. It was constructed in 1986 on
the southern shoreline of the airfield and has since
been besieged by the corrosive effects of the salty
marine air and, as such, is in need of repair. The construction phase commenced in January 2016 and is
expected to be completed and fully operational by July
2016, following a complete airborne evaluation of si gnal requirements.
Madam Chairman, the airport continues to
partner with the FAA in order to further integrate state-of-the-art global satellite- based techn ology as part of
the next generation programme entitled NextGen—a
comprehensive initiative designed by the FAA to update its highly complex air traffic control system. This
programme will enhance safety and improve fuel eff iciency; reduce environmental impact noise and emi ssions; and expand operational efficiency and the rate
of flight arrivals and departures. These deliverables
will be met through the introduction of PBN enhanc ements, as already discussed, and with the introduction
of new surveillance tech nology in support of air traffic
control.
Airport Security and Flight Safety

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Madam Chairman, the
Government continues to take its responsibility ser iously in ensuring the safety and security of airport agencies and the travelling public. As such, the regulatory criteria for maintaining the integrity of the sec urity gates, fence line, airport baggage and passenger screening processes; and the coastal boundaries; are
continually being met or improved upon through the
training of our service provider personnel. Revised
documents this year included a new Airport Security
Programme (ASP) and revised Standard Operation
Procedures (SOP) for passenger and baggage
screening. Both have been approved for use by the
Air Safety Support Internat ional (ASSI), our UK reg ulator for aviation security.
Madam Chairman, as world events have
shown, the safety and security of aircraft and passengers continues to be of paramount importance to I nternational Aviation and Airport Security Regulators. In
April 2015, ASSI conducted an inspection and audit of
the L. F. Wade International Airport. In response to
the findings outlined in the report, the DAO impl emented further access control points in order to successfully establish a redefined Security Restricted
Area (SRA).
Finally, an Emergency Disaster Exercise was
conducted in December 2015 to test Bermuda’s state
of readiness and response capacity in case of an
aviation disaster. Several agencies participated in this
widely collaborative exercise, including persons from
the King Edward Memorial Hospital, the Bermuda Fire
and Rescue Service, Police, and the Bermuda Red
Cross. Additionally, the exercise was viewed by a r ecord number of International Observers from Austr alia, Canada, the United States and the UK. The DAO,
with assistance from the Police Service, is presently compiling the findings of the exercise for various agencies to act on in order to improve upon Bermuda’s overall emergency response capabilities.

Terminal Building and Properties

Hon. Shawn G . Crockwell: Madam Chairman, despite economic challenges, the DAO continues to find creative ways to engage the private sector in investing
in the overall improvement of the L. F. Wade International Airport terminal facility. Most recently, the DAO
entered into a contract with “Look Bermuda” to curate
and install art inside the terminal building at no cost to
the Government. To date, two curated art exhibitions
have been mounted in the airport art gallery. Additionally the “Airport Art” project calls for the installation of
large scale art installations throughout the terminal in
order to help enhance the travellers’ experience and
their first and last impressions of the Island. The pho-tography highlights Bermuda’s natural and cultural
assets by showcasing t he biodiversity of the Nonsuch
984 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Island Nature Reserve and its surrounding waters.
The Nonsuch Island sponsored art installation has
received much commendation and has instantly
brightened up public areas within the terminal buil dings.
Madam Chairman, the DA O has made avai lable to the airlines and departing passengers, six
common use kiosks that will enable self -check in for
our travellers. Additionally, the kiosks will enable self -
bag tagging for those travelling on the six airline carr iers that currently subscribe to the service.

Department of Airport Operations
Financial Summary

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Madam Chairman, the
Department of Airport Operations has been allocated
an Operating and Maintenance (O&M) budget of
$19,959,000 under the Medium Term Expenditure
Plan for the Fiscal Year 2016/17. An additional
$1,000,000 has been allocated for the minimum rev enue guarantee with our airline partners. The budget
overall has increased by approximately $628,000
compared to the original allocation of 2015/16.
The change highlighted above is spread over
the following programmes:

Cost Centre 3101/41010— Baggage Handling

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: This is on B -172 to B -
175. The original allocation for 2015/16 was $0.263
million. That remains the same for 2016/17. Fulltime
equivalents are five.
The cost centre has remained unchanged.
This programme is responsible for baggage handling.
The costs associated with this cost centre are primarily wages of the skycaps baggage services to our arriving and departing passengers .

Cost Centre 40140 —Safety and Quality

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $530,000. The estimate for 2016/17 is now $522,000, an $8,000 decrease. Full -time equiv alents are eight.
The costs associated with this cost centre represent the salaries of the Safety and Quality Manager
and the five Airport Duty Officers.

Cost Centre 41050 —Air Terminal

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $2.09 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is $3.1 million, an increas e of $1 million. Full -time
equivalents are eight.
This increase is to fund the implementation of
passenger security computer hardware and software.
Speedy self -service such as printing boarding passes
at home and utilising mobile devices is now common-place with frequent flyers and is an essential feature
of customer service at airports. The Passenger Sec urity application will deliver these passenger verific ations by using real -time information presented in the
existing common use platform. An additional $1 mi llion has been allocated to provide funding for Mini-mum Revenue Guarantees with airlines.
Programme. Air Terminal Operations i nvolves management of all aspects of the air terminal and its outlying buildings. These facets include: rental
management and other revenue generating opportun ities, and salaries for traffic officers and terminals
management.
Madam Chairman, the following three cost
centres —Air Traffic Control; Meteorology, and Ground
Electronics; and part of Maintenance and Engineering
cost repr esents Air Operations and Infrastructure
maintenance that are under contract with a Service
Provider.

Cost Centre 41060 —Air Traffic Control

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $838,000. The 2016/17 estimate is $1.014 million, an increase of $176,000.
This cost centre provides for the Air Oper ations and Infrastructure Maintenance Service Contract
and has no DAO full -time employees. The increase in
budget is distribution amongst the four cost centres
that account for this servic e.
Air Traffic Control directs the flow of aircraft
on the ground and within the Bermuda airspace.

Cost Centre 41070 —Meteorology

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $1.85 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is $2.4 million, an increase of $55,000.
This cost centre provides for the Air Oper ations and Infrastructure Service Contract and has no DAO full- time employees. The increase in vote budget
is due to a redistribution of budget amongst the four
cost centres that account for this service.
Meteorology provides weather services, as
you will know, Madam Chairman, via the Bermuda Weather Service for the airport, the Emergency
Measures Organisation and the Island at large.

Cost Centre 41090 —Ground Electronic Services

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $1.075 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is $1.1 million, a $30,000 increase.
This cost centre provides for the Air Oper ations and Infrastructure Maintenance Service Contract and has no DAO full -time empl oyees. The cost centre
also provides ground electronic services support and
maintains airport equipment from airfield navigational
aids to parking machines. The increase is due to a

B ermuda House of Assembly small increase in budget amongst the four cost centres that account for th is service.
Cost Centre 41160 —Airside Operations
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $476,000. The estimate for 2016/17 is $409,000, a $67,000 decrease. Full- time equivalents
are two.
Airside operations ensure compliance with i nternational airport regulations pertaining to the aprons,
runway, taxiways, airfield lighting, navigational aid equipment, minimum obstacle clearance and air traffic
control. This decreased allocation is due to the reduction in spending with overseas consultants.
Cost Centre 41210 —Security
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $4.8 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is
the same. Full -time equivalents are two.
This programme ensures the safety and sec urity of the airport, its passengers and staff along with
baggage and passenger screening.
Cost Centre 41150 —Maintenance and Engineering
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Still on pages B -172 to B -
175, the original allocation for 2015/16 was $3.3 mi llion. The estimate for 2016/17 is $2.2 million, a de-crease of $1.1 million. Full -time equivalents are 12.
Madam Chairman, this cost centre provides
for [the] Air Operations and Infrastructure Maint enance service contract and also the airport terminal’s maintenance and employees. It is anticipated that with
an incoming new Service Provider, Air Operations and Infrastructure service contract cost will reduce and
any saving realised will offset any unforeseen overspend in budget.
Maintenance and Engineering also manage
and support the airport runways , taxiways and aprons;
the terminal building facilities including plumbing, electrical, and mechanical services.
Cost Centre 41190 —Finance and Administration
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original 2015/16
budget was $4.07 million. That remains the same for 2016/17. Full -time equivalents are seven.
This programme, the Finance and Administr ation provides budgeting preparation and implement ation; financial recording and control of expenditure;
billings and revenue collection of $18 million in aer onautical and non-aeronautical revenue; and human
resource and administrative support services for the Department of Airport Operations.
Madam Chairman, this concludes my remarks
on the Department of Airport Operations. HEAD 34 —TRANSPORT AND CONTROL DEPARTMENT
Hon. S hawn G. Crockwell: Madam Chairman, the
Transport Control Department (TCD), administers the operation of all vehicles on the roads of Bermuda. The department monitors and regulates the size, functionality, physical condition and quantity of all vehicles by
carrying out the following activities:
1.Overseeing the management of the VehicleSafety and Emissions Inspection Programme;
2.Administering the registration and licensing ofall vehicles;
3.Executing the examination, registration and li-censing of all drivers;
4.Regulating traffic by monitoring drivers and
vehicles; and
5.Implementing road safety programmes.
Periodically, the department inspects public
garages, filling stations and cycle liveries to ensure compliance with permits. TCD issues special permits, such as: one day permits, which allow one to drive an unlicensed motor vehicle upon application for the
same; and Sunday permits for commercial vehicles.
Madam Chairman, our Ministry is well aware
that significant portions of the Motor Car Act are
somewhat dated; therefore, the department will continue with their review of the Motor Car Act 1951 in an effort to move us closer to meeting the needs of the
twenty -first century road user. Some of the other
planned projects and initiatives that involve TCD for
the financial year were highlighted in the Throne Speech and they include:
•Centralise Dispatching for the Taxi Industry.
TCD will work closely with the local dispatc hing co mpanies and key stakeholders to create a centralised dispatching system that will uti lise mo dern technology.
We consider central dispatching utilising an integrated
system as an important element in support of the rev italisation of the tourism industry. Some of the benefits
include: improved response time to request for service; the ability to ut ilise mo dern mobile devices to
book and confirm ser vice; and provide a platform to
expand the range of services and payment methods.
•Update the National Transportation Plan.
Madam Chairman, the National Transport ation Plan is
over 10 years old with many of the recommendations
having already been i mplemented and some reco mmendations r emaining outstanding. The review will be
undertaken to determine the usefulness and a ppropr iateness of the outstanding recommendations for i mplementation, and to assess and determine the success of the policies and in itiatives that have been i mplemented with rec ommendations for improvement.
Financial Summary
986 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda House of Assembly Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Madam Chairman, the
Transport Control Department has been allocated a
total expenditure budget of $5.35 million for the 2016/17 financial year. This is an increase of $148,000 from 2015/16. Salaries and wages totalling $2.41 million make up 45 per cent of the total depar tment budget, which was a decrease of $50,000. It is
anticipated that in 2016/17, the department will collect
$28 million in revenue. This is an increase of $817,000. It should be noted that this amount does not include revenues generated by the department through traffic violation notices which are collected by and managed through the courts.
The estimate of expenditures is shown on
page B -179.
Cost Centre 44000 —Examination
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $0.63 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is $0.55 million; a decrease of $77,000 million . . . looks like. I will take a look at that. Full -time equiv alents are seven.
Madam Chairman, the functions of the E xamination Section are carried out by seven staff members: Manager of Technical Services, one Acting Senior Examiner, four Examiners and one Trucks
Clerk. Due to the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Plan (VERIP), the Senior Examiner post and one Ex-aminer post are frozen for two years and one year,
respectively.
The Examination team is responsible for auditing and oversight of the vehicle safety and emissions inspection programme as well as administering
all driving and riding tests to certify that applicants can competently operate vehicles on Bermuda’s roads.
The examiners are also responsible for writing- off pr ivate cars prior to their disposal. This assists the d epartment in maintaining the accuracy of the motor v ehicle register.
Cost Centre 44040 —Registration
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $0.8 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is
$0.76 million, a $44,000 decrease. Full -time equiv alents are 13.
Madam Chairman, the Registrations Section
is responsible for: registering and licensing all veh icles; licensing all persons who operate vehicles; col-lecting revenue for all transactions conducted within the department; and maintaining the motor vehicle
register.
The functions of the Registrations Section
have historically been performed by fifteen staff me mbers, including: one Manager, one Registrations Off icer, one Assistant Registrations Officer, and twelve Clerks. Due to attrition and early retirements the work
of this section is now performed by twelve employees with three Registration Clerks continuing to be seconded to the Administration Section to assist in fulfil ling duties and responsibilities within this section.
Cost Centre 44090 —Road Safety
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 is $0.148 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is
the same, $148,000. Full -time equivalents are one.
The Road Safety Council grant will remain at
$10,500.
Madam Chairman, the goal of the Road
Safety Programme is to promote road safety awar eness through education, training and public events. With the current grant allocation to the Road Safety Council, the Council will continue its awareness pr ogramme but on a smaller scale, taking advantage of
publicity opportunities and any initiative that does not require financial resources. Financial resources will be
allocated to the Bermuda Day media campaign, the
Cup Match campaign, and the Christmas and New Year’s campaign. The remainder of the budget will be utilised throughout the year for necessary and imm ediate promotions, when required. The council will also
work very closely with the business community to s olicit their support and sponsorship with the awareness
and educat ional campaigns throughout the year.
I would like to note, Madam Chairman, that I
have appointed a new chairperson for the Road Safety Council, Mrs. Erica Rance Mill, who is a very
highly energised individual and insurance executive
who has a passion for road safety matters. I worked with her for many years in politics and she quite often calls me in relation to road safety matters. She sat on our Working Group and made a good contribution and I am very pleased that she has accepted the very di fficult task of Chairing the Road Safety Council. She is
replacing the outgoing Chairman Dr. Carlton Croc kwell, who is my cousin, and has been on the Council for five years. Let me state that I did not appoint him, but I think that he was a good appointment, Madam
Chairman, and he has given a good service. And I
wish him well.
Madam Chairman, the Road Safety Council
also advises the Minister on transport matters pertai ning to road safety and devises strategies and pr ogrammes to address prominent problems. Reporting directly to the Minister of Transport, the Council also
coordinates the Project Ride Programme.
The functions of the road safety programmes
are administered through the Road Safety Officer.
And Madam Chairman, I want to just highlight
because the Honourable Shadow Minister for Trans-port last week on another debate was quite critical of
the budgetary allocation in relation to Road Safety and went down to the granular level of saying how much this Government cares about our road safety. I raise this because, as you will know Madam Chairman, we suffered our second road fatality this week. And this

Ber muda House of Assembly one hit home because the young man is a very close
friend of the family. He is my niece’s first cousin. His
aunt was married to my brother and as a result of that union the families were very, very close.
So when I learned of the passing, it was extremely hard and difficult news. A very lovely young man—Ezra —and Honourable Members may know
that he was a skilled motocross rider, competing quite a bit. In fact, that whole f amily . . . the uncle, Reggie
Matthie, is an accomplished motocross rider.
You know, no matter how good you are on a
bike, particularly on Bermuda’s roads, one mistake, one miscalculation, if you are going at high speeds,
Madam Chairman, it could be tragic. And the last time
I saw him was at my niece’s wedding last year. He was one of five boys and all the boys were very gr egarious, they are a lot of fun. They were out on the dance floor dancing with their grandmother and ha ving a good old time. And I would say to myself at
home when we talk about road safety and road fatal ities and budgets and all of that, had I been mindful
enough to say to all of the young people that were
there, Take your time. Do not speed. It is not worth
it—then, who knows what that comment could have
resulted in.
I have a son who likes speed, Madam Chai rman, and who I am often telling to slow down.
It is not about money. If you look at the bud gets we have allocated over the years, particularly the
last 15 years, I find it very interesting the highest
budget we spent was in 2009 and it was $157,000.
But in that year —2009— we had 13 road fatalities. The
next year we spent $148,000 and we had 13 road f atalities. You go down to 2014 . . . sorry, if you go way back to 2002, we spent $63,000 and we only had two road fatalities —the least we have ever had. But the
very next year we spent less —$53,000— and we had
10 road fatalities.
The numbers, if you take them at aggregate,
round up to about 12 a year. But there is no rhyme or rhythm to why t hey fluctuate the way that they do. In
2013 we spent $73,000 and there were 16 road fatal ities. And last year we only spent $11,000 and we had 6—10 less —but substantially less in terms of the
spend.
So yes, we have to spend on educating our
road users and we have to support the police because
I believe that the Police Service has a very compr ehensive road safety strategy which they launched last
year. And I think that has played a significant role in some of the reductions that we have seen, not just in road fatalities, but in overall collisions. But there are way too many still. And we support the police in their
efforts.
But I want to say that it is not about money, it
is about us. Every politician has a role to play in keeping the message at the forefront about using care and
attention on our roads. Our teachers have a role to play, our church leaders have a role to play, family, friends —we all have a role to play. And so I would just
encourage everyone to consistently remind our young
people and everyone on our roads, It is not worth it,
you will get there, take your time. And I think that if we
can all continue to do that we should see some i mprovement.
But let me say that despite the budget, the
new chairperson has made a commitment to raise private funds to help support some of the marketing initiatives that her Council will be pursuing.
Cost Centre 44110 —Traffic Control
Ho
n. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $0.529 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is $0.593 million, a $64,000 increase. Full -time
equiv alents are nine.
Madam Chairman, the Traffic Control Section
is responsible for the management and enforcement of traffic; issuing permits for the movement of oversized containers, heavy loads, and unlicensed vehicles; and approving casual Sunday permits. The traffic officers also work closely with the Bermuda Police Service as a support unit in traffic enforcement.
There are nine positions in the Traffic Section:
one Senior Traffic Officer and eight Traffic Enforc ement Officers. One of the Traffic Enforcement Officers has been seconded to fulfil the role of a Special Inves-tigations Officer within the Administration and the Se nior Traffic Officer post and one Traffic Enforcement Officer post are currently vacant. The reduction in
staffing levels has adversely affected revenue opportunities as the department’s resources available for
issuing summonses for both moving and parking of-fences remains down by two officers. Therefore, the department will be seeking approval to recruit to fil l
these important positions. In particular, the Senior
Traffic Officer is the key officer responsible for impl ementing the directives and decisions of the Public
Service Vehicles Licensing Board, which includes any and all matters pertaining to public service vehicles —
purchasing, transferring, licensing, et cetera.
The TCD Traffic Enforcement Officers are deployed on street patrols. They also monitor the Elec-tronic Vehicle Registration System to ensure all vehi-cles operating on Bermuda’s roads are duly insured and licensed. They are responsible for ticketing aban-doned vehicles and moving abandoned cycles and
other vehicles from public lands.
To ensure that visitors receive a first -class
transportation experience, Traffic Enforcement Off icers are also respons ible for maintaining the orderly
flow of public service vehicles at Bermuda’s ports of
entry.
The Officers of the Transport Section also
work closely with the Public Service Vehicle Licensing Board and the Trucks Advisory Committee to monitor and enforce the use of Public Service and Commer-cial Vehicles, respectively. These bodies deliberate on the issuance of associated permits to those persons
988 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly operating vehicles, such as, trucks, community service vehicles, taxis, limousines and tractor trailers.

Cost Ce ntre 44210 —Administration

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $3.094 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is $3.299 million, a variance of $0.205 million, which is
an increase. The full -time equivalents are nine.
Madam Chairman, the Administration Section
is responsible for the overall operation and administr ation of the Transport Control Department. There are
nine positions in the Administration Section, which
are: the Director, the Administration Services Manager, the Director’s Assistant, the Accounts Admini strative Officer, the Accounts Clerk, a Secr etary/Receptionist, a Switchboard Operator, a Cus-tomer Service Representative, and a Receptionist
Clerk. The three posts that are filled with secondees
from the Registration Section are: the Accounts Clerk,
the Secretary/Receptionist, and the Switchboard O perator.
Many of the costs associated with the functioning of the department, such as: staff training costs, supplies, support services, communication charges,
repair and maintenanc e, the management of the
safety and emissions program utilities, and office supplies are consolidated under the Administration cost
centre.
Madam Chairman, 41 per cent or $2.2 million
account for professional services including: the man-agement of the safety and emissions programme as
well as IT support for the eTCD, the Driver and Vehi-cle Registration System (DVRS), the Appointment
Management System (AMS) and the Electronic Veh icle Registration System (EVR). All of which are critical
to ensuring smooth operations and excellent customer
service.
Madam Chairman, over the last six years the
Transport Control Department was recognised for i mproved customer service; especially, short transaction
times of five to 10 minutes. Budgetary cuts in the last
three years have resulted in longer waits for licensing
and registration transactions and some delays in
processing commercial and public service vehicle a pplications. Despite these challenges, TCD will be ma king every effort to maintain satisfactory service levels.
Despite the shortages and challenges, the
staff members of the Transport Control Department
apply a valiant effort to customer service and for that I
would like to take this opportunity to express my si ncere appreciation to all of them.
If you would come down there, Madam
Chairman, when it is time for trucks to be licensed . . .
and normally every month there are various times
when you have deadlines, whether it is cycles or other vehicles, you can find lines that are there, the volume
of people that are c oming through, people obviously
want to get things done in an expeditious way. I would like to say that the staff go about their business in a
very professional way, and I want to extend my grat itude to them.
Now that concludes the brief for the Transport
Control Department.

HEAD 35 —DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSP ORATION

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Madam Chairman, the
Department of Public Transportation (DPT) provides
an Island- wide bus operation that includes scheduled
school bus, charter, and sightseeing servi ces. Unlike
most jurisdictions, DPT provides these services along with the delivery of specialised shuttles and superv isory services which have been a niche that many event planners have come to rely on.
This wide range of services is currently being
provi ded with a fleet of 111 buses that has a weighted
average age of 10.2 years. Whilst this is an increase
from last year’s age of 9.3, and the department has
four new buses on order which would bring the weighted average age down to 9.86. In addition, the
bus replacement plan includes the purchase of seven
new buses that will assist in providing additional services during the America’s Cup in June 2017. At the
conclusion of the America’s Cup, the new buses will
become replacement buses, benefitting the depar tment in lowering the weighted average age of the
fleet. The purchase of the recent buses sparked much
interest as they were more energy efficient, comfor table and aesthetically pleasing as well as the fact that
they were all equipped with cameras for safet y purposes.
The estimates of expenditure can be found on
pages B -183 to B -187.

45000— Auxiliary Bus Services

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $0.19 million. The estimate for 2016/17
is $0.138 million, a $52,000 decrease. Fu ll-time
equivalents are two.
The budget allocated is for the funding of two
employees. The budget and full -time equivalents have
decreased by one employee as a result of the Volu ntary Early Retirement Incentive Plan (VERIP) retir ement.

45010—Bus Operation s

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $9.5 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is $9.7 million, a variance of a $21,000 increase. The
full-time equivalents are 163.
Bus Operations is the core of the Department
of Public Transpor tation’s enterprise which employs
163 staff. In providing the manpower for scheduled
and unscheduled operations, sightseeing and charter


Bermuda House of Assembly services, and special events transportation, this section has a more diverse portfolio than most providers
of its kind.
The 2015/16 budget and allocated manpower
were inadequate to fund the required operations and staff levels necessary to satisfy the current schedule,
the grey schedule and other events, resulting in a pr ojected cost overrun for the year. With the introduc tion
of a new schedule along with the marginal increase in staff and resources, we expect the cost of providing
these services to be within the allocated budget.
Madam Chairman, there should have been
raucous stomping of the feet after that comment. I am
not sure how many Honourable Members are paying
attention, but as you would know, we have . . . I said
that with the introduction of a new schedule along with
the marginal increase in staff and resources we expect the cost of providing these services to be within
the budget. And I am referring to the fact that this
Government —and when I say “Government” I mean
successive Governments, the Government of Bermuda—has been in negotiations for over 10 years to
get to a new bus schedule.
And I am very pleased to sa y, with the coo peration and hard work of the Ministry, the Permanent Secretary Mr. Francis Richardson, and the Bermuda
Industrial Union, we have been able to come up with a schedule—a new schedule —that all parties are happy
with. And so after many years of trying, we are very
proud that we have gotten there and hopefully this will
benefit our finances going forward.
[Desk thumping]
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you, Honourable
Members.
I woke them up, Madam Chairman.

Cost Centre 45090 —Repair Services
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $4.6 million. That amount remains the
same for this year. The full -time equivalents are 43.
While the budget has remained the same in
2016/17, there are adjustments within this cost centre to facilitate a necessary increased funding for fuel in
order to meet the service level of the fleet with offsetting cost attributed to a decrease in employee costs
and repairs and maintenance of equipment.
Madam Chairman, the Repair Services Section is responsible for the maintenance and repair of
the department’s buses and vehicles. This section is also responsible for the fuelling of other Government
vehicles, the cleaning of the buses and for carrying
out a preventative maintenance programme. The pr eventa tive maintenance programme is an integral part
of this section as this programme is responsible for ensuring that the out -of-service vehicles are kept to a
minimum. The fleet for which they are responsible totals 111 buses and approximately 10 auxiliary veh icles. The average age of the buses in the fleet is 10.2
years, significantly higher than the ideal of less than
seven years.
Madam Chairman, during 2015 the depar tment had the assistance of a technician from MAN who has assisted them greatly. While on- Island the
technician willingly passed on valuable knowledge to
our DPT staff. During this year, DPT will continue
sponsoring the technical development of three Bermudians via a cooperative arrangement with the N ational Training Board.
It has been a formidable task to attract cand idates that possess the required qualifications and ex-perience for the positions of Assistant Director [of]
Maintenance and Maintenance Manager. Cons equently, we have hired a local consultant who was the
previous Maintenance Manager to assist in the i nterim. As a result, the maintenance schedule has
been implemented as well as iMaint software purchased. Staff members are receiving training and this
will assist greatly in the maintenance and manage-ment of the bus fleet.
Madam Chairman, this section also has r esponsibility for minor repairs to DPT facilities which are currently in need of substantial repair and refurbishment after damages sustained in the hurricanes that devastated the Island in October 2014. With Pub-lic Works leading th e charge, this repair work is almost complete.

Cost Centre 45115 —Inventory Management

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $1.1 million. The estimate for 2016/17 is
$1.9 million, a variance of $0.82 million increase. The
full-time equivalents are three.
The increase in budget is attributable to an
increased in the Purchase of Inventory budget. The
Store Manager position remains frozen.
Madam Chairman, the Stores/Spare Parts
Section’s main responsibility is to supply the Maint enance section with tires, consumables and service
parts on a timely basis to repair and maintain the bus
fleet. The increased Purchase of Inventory budget will facilitate a more robust Preventative Maintenance
programme and more timely repairs and maintenance
of the fleet.

Cost Centre 45120 —Administration Section
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $1.9 million. The estimate for 2016/17 remains the same, $1.9 million. The full -time equiv alents are three.
The Administration Section is responsible for
the overall administration of the department and the
Administration Section budget covers utilities such as
electricity and communications inclusive of telephone
990 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly and Internet charges. Fleet insurance, GPS fleet
management, local tr aining, print production costs,
fare media, security, cleaning services, consultant and
contractor costs, and general office supplies are ca ptured under this section.

Cost Centre 45200 —Management Support Section

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $0.724 million. The estimate for
[2016/17] is $0.803 million, a $79,000 increase. The full-time equivalents are 12.
The Management Support section provides
support services to the Director, Assistant Director and other management level staff. In addition, the section provides services including human r esources/personnel, payroll, accounts payable, ac-counts receivable, banking, cashiering, revenue collection and recording, and other support services. The
increase in budget is attribut able to personnel
changes including funding of the Assistant Office
Manager post.
Revenue for 2016/17, page B -184, is est imated to be $8.8 million. DPT will continue to sell a dvertising on the back windows of the buses as an opportunity to expand revenues.
The overall Department of Transportation expenditure budget for 2016/17 is $19.2 million, an i ncrease of 6.4 per cent from 2015/16.
Capital Replacement: Buses. This can be
found on page C -11.
Madam Chairman, in fiscal year 2016/17, DPT
has been allocated $2.5 million in capital funding to
purchase replacement buses. With the amount allo tted, and considering the current EU/USD exchange
rate, we are hoping to purchase approximately seven
buses which will reduce the weighted age of the overall bus fleet. DPT is also working with the Office of
Project Management and Procurement to assist with
the process of purchasing new buses as the present
MAN buses, currently in the fleet, may not be avai lable in the future due to the limitations of available
chassis that c omply with the current specifications.
Discussions are also taking place with local distributors.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. That concludes
my remarks on the Department of Public Transport ation.

Preamble to Presentations for the Department of
Civil Aviation and Maritime Administration

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Madam Chairman, during
the Minister of Finance’s budget presentation, it was
stated that the Departments of Maritime Administr ation (DMA) and Civil Aviation (DCA) will be transitioning from government departments to Authorities or
quangos. Therefore, it will be beneficial to provide the
rationale for this decision as a preamble to my presen-tation of the budget and programmes for these two
departments.
Madam Chairman, if analysing DMA and DCA
from a public policy perspective, it is evident both do
not deliver services or programmes, such as health care, to the wider public. The recipients of their services are in international jurisdictions. Their mandate
is to administer the Bermuda Shipping and Aircraft
registries which generate revenue for government,
thus providing financial resources to deliver public
services or programmes. Understanding the public policy position also provides insight into the root
cause of the operating challenges both department s
experience when forced to work within a government
structure that provides limited support for their bus iness model, which I may add is very competitive.
The frustration is equally experienced by supporting government departments, such as the D epartment of Human Resources, as they are challenged in providing the level of support the depar tments require to remain competitive. Public policy, like legislation and regulation, is another critical point that requires due diligence when considering a new operating model for a government department.
Madam Chairman, with Cabinet approval,
over the past 10 months, the Management Consulting Section (MCS), within the Cabinet Office, has been
working with the Ministry of Tourism Development and Transport (MTD&T), and with the DMA and DCA D irectors to develop a more efficient operating model for
each department. Evidence shows that the current
operating model is inefficient both for the government and for those respective departments. Inefficiencies
such as restrictive government processes which are
not beneficial to the nature of their business, and li mited ability to attract and recruit highly technical r esources in a reasonable time frame with competitive
market remuneration, are only two examples, but i mportant ones.
Additionally, the current model constrains both
departments ability to meet their statutory obligations,
international compliances and to compete globally.
Finally, outward facing departments such as DMA and
DCA, require highly efficient processes and pr ocedures equivalent to a private sector business env ironment to be competitive, meet industry standards, and provide excellent client service.
Madam Chairman, Cabinet approval provided
the Ministry of Tourism Development and Transport the authority to adv ance the transitioning of the D epartment of Maritime Administration (DMA) to that of a
Bermuda Shipping Authority and the Department of
Civil Aviation (DCA) to that of a Bermuda Civil Avi ation Authority; and Cabinet also authorised the Mini ster of Tourism Development and Transport to proceed with the formation of a transition team.
The DMA/DCA Transition Steering Commi ttee, known as the Transition Team, has been in effect since 1 April, 2015. Over the course of fiscal year


Bermuda House of Assembly 2015/16, planning and conversion efforts have been
performed with the intent to transition both DMA and
DCA to independent Authorities in the 2016/17 Financial Year. Accomplishments to date include the development of financial models for each Authority, a go vernance framework established, consultations with
staff and the Bermuda Public Service Union, the development of a Draft Employee Transition Handbook
and the identification of a shared service model. The
next step is to commence the development of the
enabling legislation to enable the establishment of the
Bermuda Shipping Authority and the Bermuda Civil
Aviation Authority, which is well under way.
Madam Chairman, the research and development process of a new operating model for the departments took into consideration best practices in
models from other jurisdictions, the SAGE Commi ssion’s recommendations, United Kingdom legislation and regulations, public policy, as well as other var iables such as governance, financial sustainability,
operations, organisation structure, staffing, Gover nment oversight and revenue for the Consolidated
Fund. The research concluded that the best model for
the Bermuda Government to consider for DMA and
DCA is a quasi -autonomous model or Authority
Model. This Model is funded by services provided and
not contro lled directly by central Government and its
systems.
Madam Chairman, there has been consult ation with local and international stakeholders of both
DMA and DCA advising the stakeholders of the Mini stry of Tourism Development and Transport plan to
transition the departments to semi -autonomous A uthorities. The stakeholders include the Governor, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Maritime
Coastguard Agency (MCA), Air Safety Support International (ASSI), regulatory agencies, shipowners, ai rcraft owners, leas ing companies and local law firms.
Stakeholder feedback has been extremely
positive and there is a collective view that the new
Authorities utilising the strategic relationships with existing stakeholders and other rifle shot entities on a
global basis has the potential to provide the gover nment with significant revenues over time without any
cost to pay. In addition, it has the potential to parlay
the success of the registries into a vibrant local global shipping and aircraft industry by encouraging and i ncentivising owners to have a physical presence on the
Island.
Madam Chairman, I will now present the D epartment of Civil Aviation budget, which is Head 57.

HEAD 57 —DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AVIATION

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Madam Chairman, the
Department of C ivil Aviation continues to maintain and
develop the Bermuda Register of Aircraft. The department is also responsible for the development of
policy and regulation of civil aviation activities in Ber-muda. This includes all matters relating to the licensing, certification and regulation of aircraft, flight crews
and aerodromes, together with all air navigation services aspects and the regulatory oversight of the L. F.
Wade International Airport. The department further advises the Government on matters relating to the
economic regulation of air transport and air services
development. In this activity, the department works
closely with the UK Department for Transport.
Madam Chairman, the Bermuda Register of
Aircraft continues to enjoy a high reputation interna-tionally as a safe, well -regulated register. Approx imately 762 aircraft are now registered (down from 773
last year and up from 703 the year before). The majority of these aircraft are operated by Russian airlines
and with the Russian economy in a downturn we have
seen a slowdown in growth over the last year in this
sector. Registrations in the private category aircraft
have stabilised over the last year. However, with a
continued increase in competition with other jurisdi ctions, we must remain nimble and vigi lant. Whilst
Bermuda’s excellent credibility and high standards of
regulation are highly regarded in the offshore aircraft
registry industry, we must continue to invest in and
support the department to maintain these along with
the vital revenue stream.
Companies or private individuals seeking to
register their aircraft have many registers worldwide to choose from and we are mindful of this competition.
We are confident that there are a variety of benefits
which point to Bermuda as the jurisdiction of choic e
for the registration and financing of aircraft, including
the following:
• Tax advantages for incorporating in Bermuda;
• Highly respected legal system which permits a right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council;
• The ability for international companies to deal
in various currencies;
• High standards of regulatory oversight;
• Preservation of high residual values for ai rcraft registered in Bermuda;
• Highly qualified and commercially -minded
personnel;
• Acceptance of internationally recognised ai rworthiness and operational standards of other
jurisdictions;
• VP-B and VQ -B, are low profile registration
marks, representing the designated letters for
Bermuda registered aircraft;
• The full range of supporting professional adv isors that Bermuda offers such as legal, ac-counting, managerial and operational r equirements associated with aircraft registr ation and financing; and
• Register of Aircraft Mortgages and Aircraft
Engine Mortgages available to facilitate the
registration of security interests of these m obile assets.
992 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly
Madam Chairman, the department’s specific
responsibilities include the following:
Aviation Safety: This encompasses the ai rworthiness and operational safety of aircraft registered
in Bermuda, including the licensing of flight crews and
aircraf t engineers and the certification of the aircraft.
The department further licenses Bermuda’s Air Traffic
Controllers and regularly undertakes safety audits of
the Department of Airport Operations for compliance
with international standards at the L. F. Wade Interna-tional Airport. The areas audited include Air Traffic
Control, Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Services,
Meteorology and Ground Electronics. Inspections are
also carried out on airlines operating to Bermuda to ensure compliance with safety standards including the
carriage of dangerous goods. The DCA is also r esponsible, under the Governor's delegation, for ensur-ing that search and rescue services are provided. This
requires periodic assessments of the Bermuda Mar itime Operations Rescue Control Centre.
Systems and processes continue to be r eviewed and updated or revised to make the depar tment more effective and user -friendly whilst enhancing efficiency.
Aviation Security: Madam Chairman, The
UK Department for Transport (DfT) transferred the
respons ibility for aviation security oversight in the
Overseas Territories to Air Safety Support Interna-tional (ASSI) effective 1 April 2015.
Madam Chairman, the Current Account Est imates can be found on pages B -188 to B -190. As
previously stated, it is the intention of the Gover nment, to have the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority
established and functioning during this financial year.
Therefore, during the preparation of this 2016/17
Budget due consideration has been given to the i mpending establishment of the Aut hority. Accordingly,
this budget has been prepared taking into account the
new business and financial model of the Authority so
that the necessary funding could be considered for the
new Authority, to commence its operations and to be
able to continue its operations and to build up a r eserve, and a sufficient cash flow.
It is the intention of the Government to provide
the new Authority the necessary funding to cover the start-up expenses and six months operational budget
to enable a smooth transition from DCA to the new
Authority. Government will provide this initial funding
as an interest free loan to be paid at regular intervals
as stated in the Financial Model that has the approval
of the Cabinet. Therefore, you will note there is no estimated expenditur e for the department. In addition
to the loan repayment, the financial model also pr ovide for regular contributions to be made to the Gov-ernment’s Consolidated Fund starting from year one.
The financial forecast indicates that the loan
payment will be com pleted by the end of year five of
the BSA operations and from there onwards the total net income will be paid into the Government’s Consolidated Fund.
Madam Chairman, the revenue budget for the
Department of Civil Aviation for the Financial Year
2016/17 es timates are $17 million. The revenue
represents the net income to be transferred to the
Consolidated Fund from the department resulting from
operations.
The department’s budget is set out under four
cost centres, Airworthiness, Policy and Administration,
Operations and Registrations.

Cost Centre 67000 —Airworthiness

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $5.1 million. In 2016/17, as stated earlier, there is no allocation due to the transition. We expect revenue of $17 million.
Madam Chairman, the Airworthiness cost centre includes all regulatory functions related to the i nspection of private and commercial transport oper ations, Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Licences, Aircraft Maintenance Organisations and Continuing Airworthiness Maintenance Organisations for compliance with
safety standards. This section is also responsible for
assessing foreign National Aviation Authorities in
whose states and under whose control, Bermuda registered aircraft operate.
The revenue represents the amount of rev enue from operations to be contributed to the Consol idated Fund during 2016/17 as an Authority.

Cost Centre 67010 —Policy Administration

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: In 2015/16 it was $2.69
million, again, no allocation for this financial year due
to the transition.
Mr. Speaker, this cost centre, Policy and A dministration, relates to the administrative duties of the department which includes finance and accounting,
office management and all the services to keep the
department functioning.

Cost Ce ntre 67020 —Operations

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: One million dollars in
2015/16, transitioning there will be no estimate for this year.
This cost centre regulates and inspects pr ivate and commercial transport operations, including
flight crews, for complian ce with safety standards,
conducts assessments of foreign National Aviation
Authorities in whose states and under whose control,
Bermuda registered aircraft operate; regulates and
conducts oversight of the L. F. Wade International
Airport for compliance wi th international standards of
safety.

Cost Centre 67030 —Registrations


Bermuda House of Assembly
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation for
2015/16 was $189,000. Nothing due to the transition.
Madam Chairman, this cost centre, Registr ations, relates to administration and management of
the Bermuda Aircraft Register, promoting the conti nued growth and establishing new markets for the Ai rcraft Register. Also included is the administration and
promotion of the Bermuda Register of Aircraft and
Aircraft Engine mortgages.
Madam Chairman, in summary, the Depar tment of Civil Aviation is considered an outward facing department within the Government of Bermuda’s
structure. Its clients are external to Government and it
must comply with international regulations, conven-tions and standards, in order to offer aircraft registr ation and related business services. The department continues to strive for the highest standards of safety
regulatory oversight. Resource restrictions, especially
financial, are challenging to this department given t he
need for it to operate in a rigid international regulatory
environment with standards and conventions that
must be complied with.
The change to an Authority during 2016 will
enable the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority to func-tion as a business entity which will ensure efficiencies
and enable the Authority to operate as a strong global competitor. This will in turn improve customer service
and increase revenue for the Government.
Continued resource expansion is critical for
the department in order to maintain safety, meet the objectives of the business plan, remain competitive
with other jurisdictions and, most importantly, sustain compliance with the International Civil Aviation O rganisation standards and recommended practices.
In order to ensure appropri ate safety regul atory oversight is being conducted in accordance with international regulations, and maintain this vital rev enue stream to Bermuda, the Ministry will continue to support the Department of Civil Aviation as an Authority.
Madam Chairman, this concludes my remarks
on the Department of Civil Aviation.

HEAD 73 —DEPARTMENT OF MARITIME ADMINISTRATION

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Madam Chairman, the
budget for Head 73, can be found on pages B -191 to
B-193 of the Budget Book.
Madam Chairman, the Depart ment of Mar itime Administration (DMA) is committed to providing
the highest safety and quality standards for its Regi stry of Shipping. The department’s mandate is to ensure there is effective control over administrative,
technical and social standards of s eafarers for ships
on the register, in accordance with Bermuda's international obligations.
The remit of the DMA are as follows: • Registration of ships;
• Safety of life at sea;
• Prevention and control of marine pollution;
• Maritime security;
• Standards of seaf arers;
• Seafarers documentation;
• Providing expert advice to maritime industry.

While some of the local shipping related functions are delegated to other national authorities in
Bermuda, DMA remains responsible for the safety, pollution prevention, standards of seafarers and mar itime security relating to foreign vessels arriving in Bermuda waters, under the relevant International Maritime Conventions to which Bermuda is a signatory.
With coming into force of the recently intr oduced IMO Maritime Code in 2016, entitled; IMO I nstruments Implementation Code which is also known
as the “Triple I Code” or (III Code), DMA is additionally
responsible for assisting and ensuring that Bermuda
complies with the requirements of the said III Code, as
a “flag State,” a “port State” and a “coastal State” as
defined in the United Nations Convention on the Law
of the Sea, 1982 (UNCLOS 1982).
Madam Chairman, Bermuda’s Shipping Registry has been in existence for nearly 300 years ser ving Bermuda shipowners and eligible overseas shi-powners. It is a leading International Shipping Regi ster, and a British Red Ensign Group (REG) Category
One (Cat 1) Shipping Registry which can register
ships of any tonnage, size or type with no restrictions
on the age of the vessels. Bermuda registered s hips
fly the British Red Ensign, and comply with the prov isions of the relevant international maritime conventions and treaties.
The Bermuda Shipping Registry is intern ationally recognised as a modern, reputable, quality and user -friendly shipping register. Currently, Bermuda Registry comprise of ships of all types, that i nclude state- of-the-art large passenger ships, gas
tankers, oil tankers, chemical tankers, bulk carriers,
container ships, large offshore support vessels, of fshore accommodation platforms , oil drilling vessels,
Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels
(FPSOs), and private and commercial yachts. The
Department of Maritime Administration administers
this large sophisticated fleet of ships through its hea dquarters in Hamilton, and i ts satellite office established in London and a network of Bermuda appointed marine surveyors, auditors and inspectors strateg ically located at important ports around the world.
Overview of Expenditure can be found on
pages B -186 to B -188.
Madam Chairman, during the preparation of
this 2016/17 Budget, due consideration has been given to the impending establishment of DMA as an Authority and accordingly this budget has been pr epared taking into account the new business and finan994 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly cial model of the Authority so that the necessary fun ding could be considered for the new Authority, to
commence its operations and to be able to continue
its operations and to build up a reserve, and a suff icient cash flow. It is the intention of the Government to
provide the new Auth ority the necessary funding to
cover the start -up expenses and six months oper ational budget to enable a smooth transition from DMA to new Authority. Government will provide this initial
funding as an interest free loan to be paid at regular
intervals as s tated in the Financial Model that has the
approval of Cabinet. Therefore, you will note there is
no estimated expenditure for the department.
In addition to the loan repayment the financial
model also provides for regular contributions to be
made to the G overnment’s Consolidated Fund starting
from the year of inception. The financial forecast indi-cates that the loan payment will be completed by the
end of year five of the Authority’s operations and from
there onwards the total net income will be paid into
the Government’s Consolidated Fund.

Cost Centre 83000 —Registration of Ships

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: The original allocation in
2015/16 was $2.4 million. As stated there will be no allocation for this year. The full -time equivalents are
18. Revenue is ex pected to be $500,000.
Madam Chairman, the registration of ships is
the central function of the Department of Maritime
Administration. The Registration division is managed
by the Registrar of Shipping assisted by two Assistant
Registrars and other members of the team. In order to facilitate ship registration in global time, with no time
boundaries, the registration service is made available
to our national and international customers over 360
days of the year, on a 24- hour basis.
While ship registration ser vice facilitates Bermuda shipowners to register their ships under their
national flag, it also earns substantial revenue to Bermuda in many ways. Every ship registered in Bermuda is owned by a company registered in Bermuda,
or there is a registered local entity representing that ship in Bermuda. Registrar of Companies, local law
firms and banks provide the legal, corporate, financial
and administrative support for registration of compa-nies, ships and mortgages for which substantial fees
are charged, and tax es are paid.
A number of ship- owning or managing companies operate their ships from Bermuda employing a
number local Bermudians.
Madam Chairman, by registration, a ship acquires the Nationality of a State and becomes entitled
to fly the flag of that Stat e. This concept is enshrined
in the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention 1982
(UNCLOS 1982). Bermuda is a Party to this Conve ntion through the United Kingdom (UK). When a ship is
registered in Bermuda it acquires the Bermudian nationality and she comes under the jurisdiction of Ber-muda. The ship will be required to comply with the
Bermuda maritime rules and regulations relating to
maritime safety, pollution prevention, maritime sec urity, seafarer’s standards, crimes at sea, private law provisions, et cetera.
Once the ship is de- registered from the Bermuda Shipping Register, it loses the Bermudian nationality, and Bermuda’s responsibilities for that ship
cease from that instant. It is also important to note that
Bermuda Administration can reject any ship from re gistering in Bermuda if it is deemed unsuitable. Sim ilarly, a ship on the register may be removed, if it is deemed unsuitable or unsafe to remain in the Regi ster.
Madam Chairman, in International Maritime
Conventions the term “administration” is defined as
“the Government of the State whose flag the ship is entitled to fly.” In Bermuda, at present, the Depar tment of Maritime Administration (DMA) is the entity
empowered under the provisions of the Merchant
Shipping Act 2002, to discharge the responsi bilities of
the Bermuda Government as the “flag State” for the
Bermuda registered ships. After the transition of DMA
to the new Authority, it will operate under the same
Merchant Shipping Act 2002, which will be amended
to include the changes relating to t he establishment of
the new Bermuda Shipping Authority. Notwithstanding the changes made to the structure of the Maritime Administration, the “general responsibility” for the operation of the Authority will continue to be vested in
the Minister responsible for shipping in Bermuda.
The Authority will continue to discharge its
flag State functions and will ensure that ships which
are registered under the Bermuda flag, meet the rel evant requirements of the Bermuda national maritime laws, and the International Maritime Conventions
which are extended to Bermuda by the United King-dom. The compliance with the required statutory standards is verified by appropriately qualified and exper ienced Bermuda marine surveyors, by conducting
technical surveys and inspections on ships, and audi ting the operational and safety management systems
maintained by the shipowners and managers who operate these ships. By this statutory auditing process,
the Administration ensures that not only the ships, but also the owners and managers have the know -how,
the technical and financial resources, and appropr iately qualified, experienced personnel in their man-agement, to enable operation of their ships to relevant
international safety standards. The ship Survey and
Inspection division of the Authority will consist of the
Chief Marine Surveyor and four marine surveyors and
three Technical Officers resident in Bermuda, and four
Marine Surveyors working from the UK and a number
of ad hoc consultant surveyors engaged as and when
necessary. All costs involved with these survey and audit functions are recovered from the shipowners in full.



Bermuda House of Assembly Revenue

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Revenue can be found
on page B -188. Madam Chairman, the revenue is pr ojected at $5,200,000, consisting of: Shipping registr ation fees of $186,000; service fees of $1,401,000; annual tonnage fees of $2,603,000; and survey fees of $1,500,000. The revenue projections are based
largely on current trends.
Madam Chairman, the revenue collected is
based on the Merchant Shipping (Fees) Regulations 2012. These fees are comparable to fees charged by
most of the other international registers. DMA conducts regular analysis to monitor the trends in the fee
structure in the market place to keep up to date with the changes. It is the intention of the new Authority to
revise the fee structure taking into account the evol ving changes to the shipping market with the resurgence of the world economy.
Madam Chairman, last year I reported that
DMA took the initiative to open a satellite office in the
UK and to employ four marine surveyors to operate
from the UK. I am happy to inform you that the DMA’s satellite office is functioning very satisfactorily to the
benefit of our clients, mainly in the United Kingdom
and Europe, and now is expanding to the Midd le and
Far East. With this initiative DMA has been able to
reduce the cost of our services to the shipowners
substantially by eliminating the airfares and travel time
cost which we charge to the shipowner. Today, in a
very competitive market, any cost savi ngs will assist in
reducing the operational costs to the DMA, and a
great benefit to shipowners in saving time and money, that will eventually make our shipping registry more
attractive to shipowners and operators.
Madam Chairman, shipping is an internatio nal
service industry and its economic and financial cond itions are dependent upon the performance of the pr imary industries and the vagaries of the global ec onomic conditions. After years of stagnation, positive signs of recovery are noted and the order bo oks of the
shipyards for new ship constructions are full. DMA has
been fortunate enough to gain some benefits of the global economic recovery, in that 24 brand- new large
tankers and bulk carriers totalling to a gross tonnage of 585,000 joined the Registry. There are six more
new gas carriers and four bulk carriers to be delivered
during the next six to eight months. In order to facil itate the registration of these ships, a number of new
companies were also registered in Bermuda providing
additional revenue to Government’s coffers.
Madam Chairman, the mandate for Bermuda
to operate an International Shipping Register is
granted by the UK as the signatory to the International
Maritime Conventions to which Bermuda has become
a “Party” through the United Kingdom. Ships engaged
in international voyages are required to maintain
safety, pollution prevention, maritime security, and
seafarer’s working and living conditions on ships as stipulated in the international conventions developed
by the International Maritime O rganisation (IMO) and
International Labour Organisation (ILO). In order to
maintain the required standards, the maritime administration must undertake regular technical surveys, audits, and safety inspections on ships on the register,
and issue statutory c ertificates. Equally, in order to
maintain the quality and standards, it is also the r esponsibility of the DMA surveyors to impose sanctions if deemed necessary, on Bermuda ships, shipowners,
and managers who fail to comply with the Bermuda laws and regulations.
DMA has in its Bermuda Office a team of appropriately qualified and dedicated ship surveyors comprising of: one Chief Surveyor, one Engineer Surveyor, one Nautical Surveyor, and two Naval Architect
Surveyors. This technical team is supported by the Registrar of Shipping, ISO Quality Manager, an Assi stant Registrar, three Technical Officers, two Clerical
Officers, and a Receptionist. A notable feature of the
DMA operations is that the technical officers and cler ical officers are cross -trained to be able multitask so
that the delivery of services is optimised to our cus-tomers.
Madam Chairman, Bermuda is a Category 1,
member of the British Red Ensign Group (REG) of
Shipping Registers comprising UK, Isle of Man, G ibraltar, the Cayman Islands, and the Brit ish Virgin I slands.
In order to understand clearly how the British
Shipping Registry works, it is necessary to clarify the
relationship of an OT register with the UK Gover nment. Shipping registries of the UK Overseas Territ ories and Crown Dependencies operate under the Mer-chant Shipping (Categorisation of Registries of Rel evant British Possessions) Order 2003, as amended in
2008. This Order is implemented by the UK Maritime
and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in consultation with
the UK Department for Transport.
Under this Order, the UK Secretary of State
has oversight of the Overseas Territory shipping regi sters. The Governor of the Territory acts on behalf of the Secretary of State UK, through the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO) for the oversight of the
Shipping Register. In order to meet its responsibility,
the Department for Transport (DfT) carries out monitoring visits to Overseas Territories’ shipping registries
at four yearly intervals on behalf of the Secretary of
State.
Madam Chairman, the Isle of Man, Bermuda
and the Cayman Islands have similar tonnage and ship types, but Bermuda has the lion’s share of passenger ships and gas tankers. As opposed to cargo
ships, passenger ships must be surveyed annually
and these surveys must be conducted by Bermuda
Administration surveyors and cannot be delegated to
classification societies. Therefore, it is important that Bermuda Administration has in its employment a suff icient number of appropriately qualified headquarters
996 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly surveyors to meet the survey requirements of the
whole Bermuda fleet.
Madam Chairman, as you may be aware,
Bermuda Maritime Administration was under the focus
of the UK Government since 2012 after its Monitoring Visit. During that monitoring visit, serious deficiencies
relating to the required t echnical resources, especially
the Surveyor requirements and lack of important mar itime legislation, were identified, and this resulted in the UK Government imposing sanctions on the Regi ster from further expansion and growth. A comprehensive stabilisation programme was put in place to a ddress the above concerns that included recruitment of
a Chief Surveyor, six Marine Surveyors, additional
support staff, and a review of the shipping legislation. On satisfactory completion of stabilisation in 2014, the
MCA conducted a further verification and the sanctions, I am pleased to report and as you know, were lifted. However, it must be stressed the Bermuda registry suffered two years of “zero growth” and lost a
number of potential clients due to above sanctions being imposed (those sanctions in 2012).
Madam Chairman, the registry currently has
166 ships on its books. There are 28 passenger ships;
54 gas tankers; 16 oil tankers; 21 chemical tankers;
12 bulk carriers; 14 container ships; and another 21
other types of ships. The gross tonnage of the com-bined fleet is approximately 12 million, with a net to nnage of just under 6 million. The number of yachts on the register is 231 that comprise of 11 large commercial yachts and 220 pleasure yachts. These have a
gross tonnage of 58,000, and a net tonnage of
19,000.
Madam Chairman, during early 2015/16 the
global economy was still stagnant; however, towards
the end of the year, signs of recovery were apparent,
but being a service industry the real effect of the r ecovery on s hipping will lag behind the primary industries. There are encouraging signs that the shipbuil ding industry is gearing up for producing more ships.
However, the current downturn in the price of crude oil
combined with the lifting of trade sanctions on the R epublic of Iran that will result in more oil coming into the
market, will confuse the demand for oil tankers, at
least in the short term. Therefore, any forecast for the
future tanker market will need to be conservative. However, Bermuda will benefit from the new constructions for which the owners have already made firm
arrangements for registration with Bermuda. On the
other hand, Bermuda lost eight bulk carriers which
had reached the end of their economic life and were
sold by the owners for scrapping.
Due to the refugee crisis in Europe, the mar itime security and surveillance on board ships have
been tightened, and all crew members are now r equired to carry Seaman’s Identification Cards (IDC)
and Seaman’s Discharge Books (SDB). DMA has put
in place appropriate measures to cope- up with the
demand for these documents, and up to now over 3,000 Seaman’s Identification Cards and 2,000 Seaman’s Discharge Books have been issued. Substantial revenue is earned by the DMA in issuing these
documents.
Madam Chairman, you will be pleased to
know I am coming to a close shortly. I am most pleased.
Madam Chairman, as I bring my presentation
to a close I wish to highlight the following major achievements:
1. Further stabilisation of the DMA’s perfor mance following the lifting of sanctions by the UK A uthorities.
2. With the recruitment of the required number of
surveyors and technical staff and providing the neces-sary training, DMA was successful in “insourcing” a
substantial number of statutory surveys and inspec-tions which had been previously “outsourced” to classification societies and contract surveyors. This str ategic measure has helped DMA to earn substantial revenues that was previously earned by the contractors to whom these surveys had been outsourced. Also, this strategy w ill strengthen the DMA’s position
and reputation as a credible and dependable Administration among the shipping community.
3. The DMA’s satellite office in UK has extended
its services beyond the UK and European waters to
the Middle East and Far East areas in a modest way,
and this is being further developed to include other
areas in the future.
4. Bermuda hosted the 2015 Red Ensign Group
Conference which was attended by the members of
the Shipping Registries of the UK, Overseas Territ ories, and Crown Dependencies. The plenary sessions were co- chaired by the MCA and the DMA. In addition
to Red Ensign Group member representatives, some
of the sessions were opened to other Government
departments and industry partners to get an opport unity to understand the REG shipping policy -making
process. The conference was declared a great suc-cess where all important matters were deliberated and
policies were made.
5. DMA attended the bi -annual shipping
conference, “London Shipping Week,” in September
2015. This is one of the bigges t shipping conferences
in the world where all interested parties from the
shipping industry, shipowners, shipbuilders, bankers,
maritime lawyers, registry officials, et cetera, get an
opportunity to meet and have discussions on maritime
issues. The RED Ens ign Group collectively held a
reception for the shipowners and shipping industry
representative in London. The London Office of the
Bermuda Government was the leading organiser of
the reception, on behalf of the DMA, and I had the
opportunity to attend the conference and meet with
the leading players of the shipping industry, as well as the Minister of Shipping UK who was very appreciative of the efforts taken by the REG members
to promote the British shipping registries. DMA also


Bermuda House of Assembly attended the Cannes Yachti ng Festival 2015, along
with representatives from Gibraltar, Isle of Man, and
Jersey.
6. With the assistance of the Attorney General's
Chambers the DMA was able to have enacted certain important merchant shipping legislation relating to
marine pollution and l oad lines that had remained
outstanding for a long period.

PLANS FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Madam Chairman, It is
expected that most of the time end efforts of the new Authority during the 2016/17 year will be spent on:
1. Stabilising th e new Authority, strengthening
existing and building new relationships in preparation
for future growth;
2. Continue to implement the ISO 9002:2008
Quality Management System as the operational standard for the BSA;
3. Liaise with the Bermuda Business
Development Agency and the industry partners to
promote the Shipping Registry;
4. Continue with the programme for the
implementation of the IMO III Code requirements in
liaison with other stakeholders in preparation for the
mandatory IMO audit concerning the performance of
the Bermuda Administration as a “flag State,” “coastal
State,” and a “port State.”

Madam Chairman, this concludes my
presentation on the Department of Maritime
Administration , Head 73, and it concludes my
presentation on all of the debated Heads toda y.
I would like to take this opportunity, Madam
Chairman, to acknowledge and thank the Department Heads. I believe all of them are present today. Marine
and Ports, Mr. Richard Russell; Airport Operations, Mr.
Aaron Adderley; TCD, Mr. Charles Brown; the DP T, Mr.
Stephen Outerbridge; DMA, Captain Pat [ Nawaratne],
and the DCA, Mr. Thomas Dunston. I would also like to
acknowledge the presence of the Junior Minister,
Senator Vic Ball; and my Permanent Secretary, Mr.
Francis Richardson.
Thank you.

Yes, I have made a request
that we sort of debate everything Head by Head, and
with that it would take a little bit of extra time.
What I was going to do was touch on several
different topics, such as boating licensing,
modernisation of bus ridership, Bluetooth legislation;
the ability to pay for your car licensing ahead of time;
the ability to pay fines and taxes when relicensing your vehicle; h aving a car licence vehicle decrease as the
age of cars increase, and also I wanted to talk about the Government’s plan to implement rental cars. But
given the time and with this new format that I would like
to try . . . I actually just wanted to focus mor e so on the
airport redevelopment and road safety. If we do have time after that, I will probably go into those additional
topics. I just wanted to make sure that that was okay.

I will start with Head 31,
which will be Airport Oper ations.
The first thing that I want to talk about would
be the reduction and elimination of the departure tax
for (1) in the interest of attracting more business to the
Island because as you know that we have increased the departure tax by 80 per cent. T his Government
increased the departure tax from $43.25 to $78.25
and, Madam Chairman, as you will probably be
aware, there have been airline representatives that have said time and time again that the airlines as a
whole—

998 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report
Ber muda House of Assembly The Chairman: Member, as we go along, not only are
we dealing with the Head —you just mentioned Head
31— if you can help me out with the line that you are
on.
Mr
. W. Lawrence Scott: Okay, no problem. Right now
what I will be doing with Head 31, which is Airport O perations. I am going to be talking about Airside Oper ations, which would be 41160.
Th
e Chairman: Thank you.
Mr
. W. Lawrence Scott: Airside Operations being ai rcraft (what we are doing is talking about) . . . actually,
Madam Chairman, I think it might be a little more a dvantageous and a little more direct and succinct if I was
to actually (and I will take your guidance on this) to go
to Head 38, line item 8051, on page B -105 and that is
Airport Departure Tax. So just so you see the correl ation, Madam Chairman. That is what I am tal king
about —
Th
e Chairman: That will help.
Mr
. W. Lawrence Scott: Okay.
—for us to talk about getting rid of the airport
departure tax on B -105, line item 8051.
The airlines had representatives go out and
talk at different international conferences about how
they are no longer looking at expanding or introducing
service into jurisdictions that have a high tax barrier or
a high departure tax.
They have also . . . and I will go back. The reason that we have a departure tax (which, as I said be-fore, was increased from $43.25 to $78.25) . . . now a part of that has to do with the new airport redevelopment which I will get into a little bit later. What also
happens is that it is not just this $78 that the airlines are looking at. On top of the $78 the airlines could see in
the Caribbean region (which is what we fall under-neath) is that they could get easily hit with an additional
$150 in taxes which they would have to put on top of
the ticket. So now that is revenue that they are losing out on and for us that makes us less competitive in the global market or the tourism industry.
What I am suggesting is that we take what the
airline representatives and the airlines as a whole have
been saying for a little while now, which is, instead of
giving away revenue guarantees, to look at actually the way that we structure our departure tax. Once again, the reason that this is becoming so important is that within the next year or so, within 2016 and most likely definitely by 2017, Cuba is going to come online, and
when they come online they will be coming online with
approximately 110 flights a day.
Now, for us —
Th
e Chairman: Member, I am just — Mr. W. Lawrence Scott: I am just giving some bac kground to the departure tax.

Yes, no problem, but in order
for the question to be taken in proper context, I have to
give some background.
In order to make us competitive, Cuba is coming online with 110 flights a day. We do 10 flights a day.
So the airlines would be very pressed to allocate
equipment, time and routing to Cuba versus to Bermuda, so we have to be very competitive.
What our other competition to the south are
starting to do is look at ways of lowering their departure tax in order to make sure that they are as attractive as possible to all the airlines to bring their tourists in.
I am aware that we are actually giving approximately . . . [in] 2014, the numbers that I get are that we gave approximately $2.7 million in revenue
guarantees out and, once again, just to declare my
interests, in my other life I do work with an airline. So I
understa nd the importance of revenue guarantees
and the sensitivity of that nature. I am just giving out
the general numbers, but also the numbers that have come to me, or that I have realised is that in 2015, we are looking at giving away close to $4 million in r evenue guarantees to the airlines.
The way that I look at actually helping to r educe that, Madam Chairman—
POINT OF ORDER
Ho
n. Shawn G. Crockwell: Point of order, Madam
Chairman.
Th
e Chairman: Your point of order?
Ho
n. Shawn G. Crockwell: I believe I heard the
Honourable Member say that he understands that we would be paying $4 million in MRGs, and if that is what he said that is incorrect. This year it will be close to $2.5 million.
Th
e Chairman: Thank you.
Mr
. W. Lawrence Scott: Okay, Madam Chairman, I
will defer to the Minister as he would have the actual numbers.
What I am proposing is that instead of us
charging the $78.25 in departure tax to these airlines
what we would do is actually, and, just once again—
Th
e Chairman: But Member, I just want to . . . I hate
to be interrupting you and taking away your time, but
Head 38, the Office of the Tax Commissioner, is not up for debate today. So while you touched lightly, and


Bermuda House of Assembly I allowed you to do that because you are trying to explain where you are goi ng, it is under a different Head
and we have to stick to the Heads that we have
scheduled—that you have scheduled for debate t oday.

Okay, that is fine. Then what
I will do is I will go back to the Head 31 and I will, once
again, I w ill do it under Airside Operations, which is
[cost centre] 41160, because aircraft come on the ai rside.
Going back to that, the fees that the airlines
pay, what I would actually do is look at $50 out of the
$78.25 . . . $50 of that is the government passenger
tax and then the $16 is the airport terminal improv ement fee. What I am proposing and what I think we
should be doing is instead of charging this tax in full
and then paying revenue guarantees later, maybe
what we should do is reduce the departure tax on a
seasonal passenger load basis. That means that at
the peak of our peak season . . . $78 is $78. But dur-ing the peak of our off season we would be charging a
fraction of that, [which] I would estimate [at] $28.25.
That would allow you to still cover t he expenses of
your aviation security fees which would be 8105, on
page B -174, as well as other airport fees.
In doing that what we would be doing is allo wing the airlines to save approximately $6.2 million a year. How I get that is by taking the $28.25 m ultiplied
by 220,000, which is the average number of visitors
that we are expecting, and we would get $6.2 million.
So in allowing the airlines to save that much money,
we would not be liable for paying that revenue guara ntee. They would be able to use that money elsewhere
either in reducing the ticket cost or marketing Bermuda elsewhere. Therefore, once again, we become
very competitive especially in a market that is about to
become extremely and uber -competitive with the i ntroduction of other jurisdictions.
In speaking of the airport service charge or
the airport development fee— which I am still talking
about 8105, I will talk about that under 8105, which would be Aviation Security Fees. But part of that I would talk about
ICAO policies . ICAO policies, Madam
Chairman, would come under Head 57, Civil Aviation
which would be page B -188, and you can probably
talk about . . . yes, I will leave it right there for now.
What I want to do is talk about the ICAO policy.
The policy that I am talking about would be
policy Section II [paragraph] (2)(ii) if you will allow me
to read what it says just for those that are not familiar.
It says, “In general, aircraft operators and
other airport users , including end- users, should not be
charged for facilities and services they do not use . . .”
Now, this $16 fee is for airport redevelopment and an
airport that has been built or a facility that has not
been built yet, so we are not using it. But yet we are charging the airlines this fee to use it which goes
against the ICAO policy on airport charges. That is something that I will say troubles me
because I would just like the Minister to —and I will
just put it in a question —if the Minister could help me
understand how this is justified.
Also, I would like to stay on ICAO policy, Section II [paragraph](2)(iii), [it reads]: “Only the cost of those facilities and services in general use by intern ational air services should be included.” That goes,
once aga in, to support us not charging airlines [this
fee] which gets passed on to the passenger, that add itional $16.
Now, I will also like to —and this is one that I
would really like to get some real clarification on. I am
going to go and sort of deep dive on s ubsection (vii) —
[Inaudible interjection]

Actually under Head 57, Civil
Aviation, because this is about administration and
ICAO policy and how to justify. And this would go to
what the Minister was talking about with CCC and A econ because we do know that these fees have to be
within the policies, and that would come under Civil Aviation [subsection (viii)]. “Airports may produce sufficient revenues to exceed all direct and indirect operating costs (including general administration, etc.) and
so provide for a reasonable return on assets at a sufficient level to secure efficient financing in capital markets for the purpose of investing in new or expanded
airport infrastructure and, where relevant, to remunerate adequately holders of airport equity.”
I raise that because, once again, that $16 that
is being put on for CCC and Aecon airport redevelo pment it tends to . . . This says that the money that is
generated by an airport must go back into the airport
infrastructure. But now, if we have CCC and Aecon
here, what that means is that that money that is ge nerated by an airport does not go back into the airport.
It goes into the profit margin of another company —
CCC and Aecon.
How is it justified to have this airport redeve lopment deal when we have international policies that
state otherwise? This goes against —

What I am suggesting is that
this $250 million air port deal, which is going to cost
the country money in lack of revenues, which I could
say the revenue source . . . it would mean that all these landing fees which are 8209, 8205, 8201, 8229 .
. . I am on page B -174. I am just listing off the number
of fees that would go to Aecon and CCC that we
would not be getting. Therefore, how does the Gov-ernment justify all of this when, (1) it takes money out
of our economy; and (2) it goes against the ICAO pol i1000 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly cies on airport charges. I will leave that question for
the Minister.
What I will do is give the Minister . . . just b ecause I know I was going all over the place. What my
first question, on page B -103 . . . sorry. That would be
going back to the airport departure tax and I will just —

Okay, no problem.
Well, can I just ask the Minister if given numbers that were . . . and I will look at . . .The Minister
spoke about air arrivals. So what I will do is put that under Airport Operations, Air Traffic Control.
Is the Minister understanding or predicting
that we are going to see a 5 per cent decrease in air
arrivals? The second question would be, Can he help
me understand if and/or how his administration has
addressed the ICAO policy . . . I am trying not to say a
breach of policy —the issues that arise. Can he help
me understand how they justi fy that they are under
and following the ICAO policy? Can he explain how . . . yes, I will leave that one there and then I will follow -
up with another question.
I would like if the Minister would let me know if
he would or would not agree that having departure
fees reduced and increased on a seasonal flight acti vity would serve the country better than the way that
we are currently doing business.
Another question is in speaking about the ai rport. I am just trying to find them . . . under Airport
Operations we are talking about . . . and I do not see a line item, but I am on page B -173, and it talks about
salaries and wages which would be talking about the personnel working at the airport. If this deal was to go
through (with Aecon and CCC) what protections have
been put in place for the employees in regard to their
seniority as civil servants and/or the benefits that are
attached to their tenure?
My other question would be, What protections
have been put in place to stop project code from
shedding Bermudi an jobs under the guise of restructuring if and after this deal goes through?
Also, there is another question which would
probably be more of a follow -up, but the next question
I have would be on page C -4, under Capital Development. And I think he did touch on it, but I am not 100 per cent sure. Maybe he can just refresh my
memory. On page C -4, under Capital Development,
why has there seemingly been $13 million allocated
for airport redevelopment, or is it by the codes that are
in there it would be new ver sus replacement items and replacing items of similar quality or standard. So if
we are about to seemingly —

Thank you. Yes.
So if we are about to embark on an airport r edevelopment project, and it is not supposed to cost
the taxpayer any money, why are we actually spending $13 million to do what seemingly will be done if
this deal goes through? Does that mean that the Mi nister is not expecting the deal to go through?
What I will do is I will let the Minister —

Thank you very much, Member.
The Chair recognises the Minister.
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
I will start with the final question asked first.
You would note on line item 75329 that althoug h there
is a total of $13 million, in 2015/16, $2.5 million of that
was spent, and it is projected that in 2016/17, $4.3
million will be spent. These are funds to pay for the
expert and consultant services that we are receiving
throughout the various phases of this negotiation. The
Honourable Member will know that we have retained
various expertise and that comes at a cost. This money is set aside for those costs.
In relation to protections for the employees
who will be moving over to the new entity, the A uthority-type organisation, we have made it abundantly
clear to the staff that it is desired that they all make
that transition. Aecon has been very clear that they
and CCC really recognise the hard work under difficult
circumstances that the staff have be en doing there.
They value their ability and they have already stated that they want them to come over. Obviously, that will
be a decision for each member in terms of protection thereafter. All employees have protection under the
law in relation to the Employment Act and that would,
of course, apply.
In relation to the question or the statement
that we are not in compliance with ICAO in terms of
being able to levy these charges, I do not agree with the Shadow Minister. I appreciate he has expertise in
this area, but a very careful study was done on all of
the things that we are doing by those who are running
the airport. As I just mentioned a little earlier, we have
retained the services of various consultants and experts in this area. This is very common practise in j urisdictions that fall under ICAO that are building new
airports which the airlines would benefit from to be
able to charge additional departure fees to fund that
project.
Again, as the Minister of Tourism, do I like to
see fees going up? No, but as the Minister of Tourism
do I want to see the new airport? Yes. It will certainly
be, I believe, an enhanced amenity for our tourists


Bermuda House of Assembly and our locals alike. The airport is in a state of disr epair and it is amazing that all of a sudden now Members on t he other side seem to think that it is in good
shape. There was a reason why the former admini-stration spent millions of dollars on plans to construct a new airport that was going to cost twice as much as
what we are proposing. I think we all can say that we
need a new airport. This is the way that we are going
to go about it.
It has to be paid for and so . . . but, again, a
very diligent analysis was done on this and it was d etermined that we will not be uncompetitive as it relates
to our major competitiv e jurisdictions, and we have to
keep doing our job to make Bermuda more desirable
for our visitors.
I do not quite understand the Shadow Mini ster’s comment in relation to am I expecting a 5 per
cent decrease in air arrivals. I do not know why he
would say that, but the answer is absolutely not.

Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
Just to help the Minister understand my last
question [about] the 5 per cent decrease in air arrivals,
[I say that] because they are looking at a loss in departure tax revenue by 5 per cent. So that means that
there will be 5 per cent fewer people coming into the
Island.
The Minister did speak on my expertise in the
aviation industry, and my understanding from contacts
that I have in the aviation industry is that ICAO has not
given the okay. They have spoken to CCC and Aecon,
but they have not given the okay for this agreement to
go through when it comes to the $16 as wel l as just the
revenues not going back into the airport which would be under that ICAO document which I talked about earlier. That is why I bring it up.
And just for clarification on this side, we do not
feel as though the airport is in good shape. I have firsthand knowledge that it is not in good shape. But right now and the way that this project is being executed is
not the correct way, and it is not in the best interest of the country right now as it is. We would probably prefer
to see the money or reve nues from the airport go back
into the airport. We would like to see, if we are going to
go with this route, maybe a Swiss challenge could be a
possibility if we were going to go with the airport.
My understanding is that regardless of whether
we build a new airport or not, Aecon is going to be running this airport anyway which has . . . well, once again,
Madam Chair, I am going by your facial expressions, I
will go back.
The thing is that ICAO is not in agreement. We
believe that the best way forward wit h the airport would
be to create the Airport Authority first and have the Ai r-port Authority then work with the Bermuda Tourism A uthority and run the numbers, crunch the numbers, and
say, Okay, we need this number of air arrivals in order
to really be able to justify or cover the cost of doing the
airport. Then once we get there, we start moving forward to where we are now. I think we are putting the
cart before the horse and potentially losing a lot of
revenue for this country in addition to being outside of
ICAO best practises, as identified in their document.
What I will do is I will go off of the . . . I might
come back to Head 31. But just in the interest of time, I would like to touch on another very important subject,
what I feel is important, and I k now that the Minister
feels as though this next Head would be very important as well because he did take some time to discuss
. . . I will wait if the Minister can answer the questions.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Yes, I just wanted a point
of clarification.

The Chair recognises the Minister.

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Yes, thank you.
Before the Honourable Member moves on, I
just want to draw his attention back to page B -105 in
relation to the Honourable Member’s observat ion that
the airport departure tax was going to be decreased,
and that is how it is showing in the book. However, if
you look at the numbers $17,873,000, it is actually
going up to $18,945,000. So where there are brackets there should not have been bracket s. It is a 5 per cent
increase which sounds more appropriate.

Okay, it is [page] C-4 (thank you
very much) under the 75329, Airport Redevelopment,
$13 million, total allocated funding.
The Honourable Minister said in his answer
before that there were various commitments. Would
the Honourable Minister be kind enough to tell us who
these various commitments are to? Specifically, what
was the $2.5 m illion spent on in this current fiscal year
and what is expected to be spent on in the future?
Why is it that we have a $13 million total allocated
1002 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly funding for an airport project which was supposed to
cost the taxpayers nothing?

Thank you, Member.
Minister?
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you.
The information I have, breaking down the
$4.3 million that is stated here, is to CIBC, $750,000
for financial advisory services; to KPMG, $700,000 for
project management; to HNTB, [Architecture] $1 m illion for design, engineering and construction, techn ical advisory services; to Leigh Fisher, $560,000 for
operations and traffic forecast advisory; to Bennett
Jones, $900,000 for legal and regulatory advisory work, plus reimbursable expenses at $391,000. That
is the breakdown of the $4.3 million.

Thank you very much.
I appreciate the Minister’s characterisation as
he has given a thorough breakdown of the $4.3 mi llion.
The first question I will ask is, Could the Mini ster provide any more detail in regar d to these rei mbursable expenses? If they are not going to these
vendors then to whom are these vendor [expenses]
going to? I mean $391,000 is a significant amount of
change. It is not like we are talking about $30,000 or
$20,000 or $10,000. It is $391,000, so it would be good if we could get an idea of what this $391,000
was paying for.
I was hoping the Minister could also answer
the question given that there is a total allocated funding of $13 million. We have heard the Government in
the past criticise t he Progressive Labour Party for
spending $10 million on consultants for the hospital project. Well, I have just seen a list of about $4 million
being spent on consultants for a project without the
tenders. I am hoping the Minister can tell me why is
there a $13 million line item when the people of this
country have been basically told that this is not going
to cost them anything and the users of the airport are
going to pay for this project.

Thank you, Member.
The Chair recognises the Minister.
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you.
Again, the $391,000, as I said earlier, is ass ociated costs to do business with all of them. So
whether it is travel, et cetera. I can get a breakdown of
what is projected for each, but that number reflected
expendab les in relation to all of the consultants that
the Government is utilising. Again, you know, this is a
complex project and we have made it very clear, if we
would have gone the route that the Opposition has
criticised us for not going it would have cost us $10
million more. This is the cost of getting us to the development stage. This is the cost of obtaining and r etaining designers, project managers, and the like. No
one in Bermuda has ever built an airport before. We
have to utilise outside expertise and this is the cost of
doing business. At the end of the day, we believe that we are going to have a world- class facility that is g oing to benefit the jurisdiction very well.

Thank you. I appreciate the Mini ster for giving the breakdown for the $4.3 million est imate for 2016/17. Could he please provide the figures
for 2015/16 for the $2.5 m illion which was also asked;
I would apprec iate that.
Further, I would just like to (I guess) remind
the Minister that the Minister and his Government have told people that the people who use the airport
will be paying for this facility and not the taxpayers.
But it is clear that the taxpayers are going to be pa ying something. So when the Minister has a chance to
respond, if he could expound on what is the rest of the
$13 million going for. We have the TAF. We have two
numbers here. Those only add up to, I would say,
$6.8 million. Where is the rest of the money going to,
the rest of that $13 million which has been allocated
for the airport which we are not paying for?

Yes, I am actually going to
talk about [page] B-1 74. One thing that I wanted to
know . . . and I mentioned earlier that it seems as
though there are contracts that have been stalled,
[contracts] by people that want to invest money into
this country that have already spent tens of millions
and want to invest hundreds of millions of dollars.
I notice that there is a decrease in the fixed
base operator, which would be 8815. Would the Mini ster attribute this decrease to the fact that the contracts
have stalled due to the fact that they need to get a pproval from CCC and Aecon even though they do not have any real jurisdiction over our airport right now.

Thank you, Member.
The Chair recognises the Minister.
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you. I recall the
Honourable Member making reference some time ago
to a particular —I think Cedar Aviation—and he alluded to the fact that the contract stalled. That is not
the case. I do not know if the Honourable Member is
focusing on that particular example. Cedar Aviation purchased an existing business that was working at the airport and operating out of the airport and ther efore they obtained the balance of that company’s
lease with the Government. They were desirous of extending the term of the lease and since the Go vernment is committed to this project, it will not make sense to extend—particularly for 10 years —any a rrangement that could have an impact on the future
operations of the airport.
However, there is good opportunity that the
contract will be extended. But there was no contract
with the Government that got stalled. It was the purchase of an existing contract. I am just focusing on
that example because I know that you articulated that
example in the past. But clearly, as we will be going forward with a new concessionaire, the new conces-sionaire will have to be involved in these long- term
commitments.
Th
e Chairman: Thank you.
The Chair recognises the Member from constituency 24.
Mr
. W. Lawrence Scott: So the Minister is saying that
even though the contract has not been signed, that
CCC and Aecon’s interests are actually being put into
their financial, fiscal and operational plans for this air-port. Is that correct?
Th
e Chairman: Thank you.
The Chair recognises the Minister. Ho
n. Shawn G. Crockwell: Yes, despite the fact that
the Opposition does not support this project, the Go vernment fully supports it. It is the Government’s inte ntion to bring it to a reality. We are going to be working with Aecon who is going to be the concessionaire of the airport and any contracts that will touch on future
operations of the airport will need to involve the potential concessionaire. It is just prudent business. We do not want to do anything that could potentially under-mine what we are trying to create.
Th
e Chairman: Thank you.
The Chair recognises the Member from constituency 24.
Mr
. W. Lawrence Scott: When it comes to the airpor t,
what I do not understand is that the CEO of Aecon said that the deal is not a done deal, that we could
back out at any time. If we can back out at any time,
why are we trying to cement our place with this con-tract when 70 [per cent] to 75 per cent of the general
public is against it. It seems as though you have the Deloitte report which talked about gaping holes and
boxes that need to be ticked that have not been
ticked. I just do not understand why we are trying to move forward in giving away revenue of our country
when we start to see that you could see effects of it in line items already, as I was talking about line item 8815, which would then mean that if we start having
Aecon and CCC making deals —this is a business not
a Government. A Government looks out for its people.
This Honourable Member has said that the over-head —
Ho
n. Shawn G. Crockwell: Point of order. Point of
order.
Th
e Chairman: Your point of order?
POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]
Ho
n. Shawn G. Crockwell: The Honourable Member
is misleadin g the House. No one ever said on this side
or agreed that CCC is making any deals. Again, no the deal is not done, but both parties are working in
good faith to make the deal a done deal according to
the schedule. Again, CCC has no influence and A econ has no influence on how the airport is being man-aged and operated. But when you are talking about requests for long- term leases or contracts that will
have a long- term impact which may involve the oper ations of a future concessionaire, at this point it is pr udent to not enter into those long- term agreements.
Again, back to the example that we highlighted, we did not say no. Basically, we said let us move forward and if what you are proposing is am e1004 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report
Ber muda House of Assembly nable to the new concessionaire, then the new concessionaire wi ll certainly make that decision.

Just for that one, if we were
talking about a fixed-b ase operator or private jet facility, there is no competition with a c ommercial terminal.
This is s omething that works in c onjunction so, one,
why would CCC and Aecon have an issue in the first
place, unless they were looking at try ing to take it over
or find a way to create a department that did that s o
they could make more money so that they can, once
again, keep the airport for longer, or is it just that they
want to bring a Canadian outfit in there? But also the
Minister has mentioned the schedules, and this will be
my last question on the airport right now depending on
his answer, bec ause I would like to spend the next
hour focused on road safety.
When he talks about the schedules . . . and
the Minister mentioned earlier that this is a very complicated deal. And with my expertise I understand how intricate it can be. If it is such a complicated deal, if it
is such a good idea and deal for the country, why have the schedules been redacted and why can we
not look at these schedules so that we can then know
exactly the ins and outs of this deal and what we are actually getting ourselves into?
Th
e Chairman: Thank you, Member.
The Chair recognises the Minister.
Ho
n. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you. I feel like I am
in the UK House of Parliament.
First of all, this Government will proceed with
the project because we think it is in the best interest of Bermuda. There is no foreign entity making decisions for the operation and management of the airport at present.
Madam Chairman, I am sorry, I just want to
make sure I am getting this question specifically. Can he just repeat the crux of the question.
Mr
. W. Lawrence Scott: With it being such a compl icated deal and the intricacies and the real —
[Inaudible interjection]
Mr
. W. Lawrence Scott: Yes, redacted.
Ho
n. Shawn G. Crockwell: Yes, it was the schedules
that you were referring to. Again, the Minister of F inance has been very clear on this. There are co mmercial sensitivities in these types of transactions that are confidential. That is the case in most commercial transactions, but the Honourable Member would know it is very critical in relation to aviation and the like. The Minister of Finance has exercised his prudent discr e-tion to redact those areas that were deemed to be
commercially sensitive and should not be for public
consumption.
Th
e Chairman: Thank you.
The Chair recognises the Member from constituency 24.
Mr
. W. Lawrence Scott: As I said, I will keep my word
and I will leave it at that. If I have time, I will come back to the airport.
I really want to touch on road safety. My next
one is going to be Head 34, Transportation Control
Department, Road Safety, [cost centre] 44090.
Madam Chairman, you know that I gave a
speech here on Friday . . . or was it Monday?
Th
e Chairman: Let us not reflect.
Mr
. W. Lawrence Scott: I was just looking at the
date—
Th
e Chai rman: All right.
Mr
. W. Lawrence Scott: I said Monday, and it was
about road safety. Unfortunately, since then we have had a death on our roads.
Now, I am not trying to draw any correlation to
what I am about to say next. I see our road safety, or lack t hereof —I am not casting aspersions. I am just
trying to get through . . . this is something that I am very passionate about, so I am making sure that I use my words wisely. We are facing a national health cr isis when it comes to our roads. At the Minister’s inv itation I was a part of a Road Safety Summit last year.
In that summit, I made mention of the fact that I support the Minister’s intentions and then his claims to . . .
I am going to talk about road safety —
Th
e Chairman: You have to be specific —

Sorry, road safety, which
would be [cost centre] 44090. He talked about bring-ing roadside sobriety testing to this House. I sup-ported that, but I also made mention in that summit that although I support that, I do not believe that that goes far enough.
I would like to know what the Minister’s
thoughts are about roadside sobriety checkpoints, and that when it comes to roadside sobriety checkpoints we have a . . . just to give some context (and I am still talking about [cost centre] 44090, Road Safety, under Head 34) that with roadside sobriety checkpoints we
have a very dangerous culture here on this Island of
drunk -driving.
Our road safety tends to be, if you look at it —
and I gave some numbers last time I spoke and I am trying to find them right now that we had 1,400 acc idents last year, 45 per cent of them were due to alc oB ermuda House of Assembly hol and/or speed. I feel as though sobriety chec kpoints will help us, one, put it in the front of our mind
that when we go out we need to [not] drink. And I un-derstand and I applaud the Minister for his passion because I have heard him talk about it. But once again I would like to see it in fruition. Where are the roadside sobriety checkpoints, or at least where is the
roadside sobriety testing legislation that he did me ntion was going to be coming?
When it comes to that, I know that part of the
issue was our Bermuda Constitution, actually section
11 to be exact, when it talks about freedom of move-ment. But our Constitution also talks to supporting (if
you look at it) roadside sobriety checkpoints, because
it does say that you cannot restrict someone’s free-dom of movement unless it is in the interest of na-tional security or national health. This is, I think, both national security and national health which is a na-tional health crisis. I would like for us to see that we
have sobriety checkpoints come sooner rather than later.
Also, while I am on checkpoints, that would
bring me into the road policing strategy. Once again that would be under Road Safety, [cost centre] 44090,
Head 34, page B -179. Part of that is that we are looking at what I would like to see and what I would like to
get the Minister’s feedback on the implementation or the introduction of fixed penalties. Just to put things in context; you know, in previous legislation we i ncreased penalties under the youth licensing act (I
think that is the name of it). But under the youth l icens ing act we increased the penalty or put the pe nalty at $300 for holders of a youth licence who are
towing passengers. That is just an example.
But yet, on the other hand, if you were to run
a red light or a stop sign, which I feel is actually more
dangerous, you are only going to pay $50. Or som ebody who just decides to come off the plane, hop in a
car with no Bermuda licence, or no licence whats oever, and gets caught by police, that is $100. So for me I would like to get the Minister’s reaction, the Minister’s feedback for putting in fixed penalties to where
we just make any moving or non- moving violation or
at least, given the examples that I have given, make that $300 penalty automatic, right off the bat.
What the police have seen is that in conjunction with other variables if you were to set a penalty at
$300 that is a deterrent. That causes people to think
twice before they do— and just like using the youth
licence that that 16- or 17- year-old most likely would
not be the one paying the $300. It would be the parents. So the parents are going to be on them, Make
sure you do not do this; make sure you do not do that.
Now going back to youth licensing and going
back to Road Safety. Sorry for sort of jumping all over the place, but I am still with [cost centre] 44090, with sobriety checkpoints. I mentioned one of the stum-bling blocks was an interpretation, and I defer to the legal m ind which the Minister has as a learned Mem-ber, the section 11 in the Constitution. But also I
would like to get his feedback on if we were to create
legislation in the Road Traffic Act that allowed for [section] 315F [of the Criminal Code] to be used as
justification for the sobriety checkpoints.
As I mentioned before, you are three times
more likely to die on our roads than in gang crime
here in Bermuda. The UK has been very successful in
changing the drink -driving culture and we need to do
the same here. When it comes to that, once again, I will repeat the facts because repetition is a form of indoctrination. We had 1,400 accidents last year; 45 per cent of them were due to alcohol and/or speeding.
In bringing up speed, my question is that I
would like to get the Minister’s feedback on speed
cameras. I know that he brought it up previously, but I
would like to know the progress of getting speed cam-eras, where we are with the speed cameras, and can
the 187 cameras that have been put up around the
Island, can they be outfitted or retrofitted to act as
speed cameras as well?

Okay, sorry. I defer to you,
then. I will move on from speed cameras and go to graduat ed licensing.
Graduated licensing would come under Head
34, page B -181, and I would probably say under 4404,
Examination and Registration.
With the graduated licensing, I would like to
look at youth licensing legislation. This is something that I also mentioned at the Road Safety Summit. At the Road Safety Summit I was looking at —and I pr oposed that we were to allow for 16- year-olds to have a
driver’s permit and in doing so that driver’s permit would be in conjunction with—so let us say I had a 16-year-old daughter, she would actually be able to drive
with a learner’s permit but having a licensed, qualified
driver the age of 25 or older, and there were medical
reasons why we picked 25. That is when the brain is fully developed and when you lose that invincibility part of youth. So 25 years or older, only during da ylight hours, and you cannot have any passengers whatsoever. That would allow for the 16- year-old to
have two years of driving experience prior to be given the ability at 18 to drive on their own.
I would like to also transition that over our
young riders, and at age 15 we would actually have them enrol in Project Ride. To make Project Ride mandatory, to make Project Ride more robust, and
when I mean more robust it would be increasing the
budget for Project Ride, it would be having real road time, and I am going by the UK model where they have . . . so the student has a rider as well. So the instructor would be riding on the road with the student on a separate bike.
1006 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda House of Assembly We have the little helmet communication and
then you would have classroom work as well. So basically from 15 -years -old to 15 and a half, you would
be basically, for those six months, you would be in the classroom. Then after that is when you get introduced to riding in the TCD parking lot, but also when he talks about riding in TCD parking lot we have dedicated
instructors just to go through with the laundry list, just
once again, has to increase the budget, real road time, have an instructor that has the riding helmet, once again, have mandatory classroom work, dedi-cated instructors because our 16- and 17- year-olds
are currently the highest hospitalised age group, and
that is from RTAs —road traffic accidents.
Our 18- to 25- year-olds have the highest f atalities. Out of the fatalities, 81 per cent of them are
Bermudians. How we combat this national health cr isis is by actually having the graduated licensing pr ogramme in conjunction with roadside sobriety chec kpoints. I actually have a . . . well, one of my questions is, Can the Minister explain what has come out of the Road Safety Summit?

I defer to you, Madam
Chairman, but with the youth licensing programme
what I will do is just go through the questions that I
have. Well, once again, I was going to say what came out of the Road Safety Summit. I cannot do that.
What is the progress and why has there
seemingly been no progress in the implementation of
roadside sobriety checkpoints or even roadside sobr iety testing?
Has the Minister’s administration looked into
implementing legislation that would allow [section] 315F [of the Criminal Code] to be a tool for the police to use to create sobriety checkpoints?
Has the Minister looked at the benefits of i mplementing fixed penalties? I will just pause because I see him actually taking notes of the questions.
That last question I will just repeat was, Has
the Minister looked at the benefits of implementing fixed penalties? That is going back to making things —
moving and non- moving violations $300 per —and
when it goes to speeding it would be—speeding would be based on the vehicle. So if we did the speed cam-eras, it would be based on the vehicle not the person so therefore due process is still upheld.
Is the Minister aware— and this is one that I
would really like the answer to—is the Minister aware that the law as it currently stands, there is no cons equence for underage drink -driving or riding as long as
the youth is not over the legal limit of alcohol. That is amazing. The Chairman: Member —

Thank you.
I am once again going back to [section] 315F
[of the Criminal Code]. I think I have touched on that
one. Does the Minister see the benefits of having a graduated licensing programme? Can the Minister see the need for a more robust Project Ride programme which means an increased budget, inclusive of clas sroom and fundamentals, real road time, dedicated
instructors?
Would the Minister not agree that the budget
for Project Ride needs to be increased? What are the
Minister’s thoughts on making Project Ride manda-tory?

B ermuda House of Assembly Those would be my questions and I can r epeat any one if he would like.
Th
e Chairman: Thank you, Member.
The Chair recognises the Minister.
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
A simple answer to the plethora of questions
would be, yes. We would love to have an increase in
budget. We would love to have all of the ideas that came out of that Road Safety Summit, which I of course attended as we hosted it, come to fruition. But
a lot of them are cost prohibitive currently under our
budgetary restraints. That is why the new chairperson of the Road Safety Council has made a commitment
to try and raise private funds for some of these pr ogrammes.
Again, as I said earlier, looking at the budgets
over the last 15 years, it does not matter what the budget is. We can look at the least amount that has been spent in the past 15 years which was the past
financial year which is approximately $11,000. That is one of the lowest road fatalities years we have ever
had— we had six. I believe the reason why it went
from 16 when we were spending $50,000 . . . I believe
this is on the Road Safety Council in particular, the grant, going from $50,000 to $11,000.
In 2014, we saw 16 road fatalities. But when
we spent $40,000 less, we see a decrease to six. I
believe that is because of the robust policing, the road
safety strategy by the police service. Hopefully the message is getting out there, but unfortunately, look, you know, as the Minister for Transport, the phone calls that I dread the most are calls that there has been a serious accident and of course when it results
in a road fatality. This week hearing someone very
close to my family succumbing to that fate . . . it is very difficult. It is a part of my job that I do not enjoy at all as I am sure Honourable Members could apprec iate.
It is not money that is going to fix the problem.
This is a problem that is going to require community buy-in, community involvement. Everybody —
politicians, teachers, clergy, family —we all have to
consistently articulate the message that we all have to take care and attention while we are on the roads.
Speeding and driving under impairment are
the two main causes for serious accidents and road fatalities. We have made a commitment as a Gover nment to introduce the roadside sobriety testing. We are working with the Attorney General’s chambers. As a Government, particularly in these types of matters,
we can put forward policy decisions or we can even
pass laws in this House, but before we get to that point, we need to make sure that there is sufficient buy-in by the entity that is going to enforce those laws .
There are some technical differences on how
this should be implemented from the police and from the Government, and we are working through that
process right now. We hope to have that resolved this
year so that we can equip the police to be able to have roadside sobriety [testing] right there on the side
of the road. At present, if the police suspect someone of driving under the influence, they have to be ar-rested; they have to be taken to the police station and
then tested. We want to eliminate that requirement
because there are things like the [blood] alcohol count can decrease in that period of time and the like. It is cost prohibitive as well, and the time of the policemen . . . we want to be able to test right there on the side of the road.
As far a s checkpoints are concerned, random
checking, this is something that has already been ex-plored in Bermuda. There are some constitutional i ssues with that. I heard you raise [section] 315F —I am
assuming you are taking that out of the Act?

Just for clarification, [section] 315F is when we had that rash of gang violence,
[section] 315F was brought out and it actually, if you
look at the numbers, after [section] 315F was impl emented, the number of gang violence or gang situations decreas ed significantly. Maybe if we did the
same thing for —what we did for gangs if we did it for
street safety or road safety we could see the same
result.
Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Okay, thank you. That is
[section] 315F of the Criminal Code that you are referring to.
I think we are looking at a variety of ways to
deal with this. We believe that having advertised roadside sobriety checkpoints, particularly when there are major events going on, letting the people know
that there are going to be checks at this point, because at the end of the day, I can tell you that the p olice do not want to catch road users who are under the influence. They want to get out in front of it and pr event individuals from using alcohol and then taking to
the roads. The intention is to advertise that we are
going to have roadside checks once we get this issue resolved between the police, and then that will be a deterrent and then, if indeed individuals are caught, they will be punished accordingly.
Right now it is a $1,200 fine and of course you
get taken off the road. But it is astonishing that despite the fine, despite the loss of a licence, despite the risk, I still find it astonishing how in our community it is a culture where people think that it is okay to go out and drink and then utilise our roads. We have sufficient (I believe) alternatives out there— Bermuda is not that
large of a place where people cannot find a way home. A very simple remedy is if you are going to go out, make sure that you have a designated driver with you. It could save your life, it could save someone
else’s life.
1008 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly In term of fixed penalties across the board, in
relation to the offences the Honourable Member
raised, that is a matter that we can certainly consider
with consultation with legislative affair s. I know that
the Attorney General has been working to upgrade
our legal system. Right now there are a lot of aspects,
particularly at the Magistrates Court level that need to
be addressed, and he has been doing that accor dingly. So that is something we c an look at.
In terms of speed cameras, it is something
that the Government is looking at. I can say that it
does not have the full support for a variety of reasons
from the police in terms of its effectiveness, but it is an
area that we are considering and we are looking at to
see if it is something that could be beneficial.
Again, the amount of recommendations that
the Honourable Member has raised I think many of them have merit. I will certainly encourage the Honourable Member to reach out or ask the ne w chairman
of the Road Safety Council to reach out to the Ho nourable Member and maybe you can get together and
discuss some of these ideas. As I said earlier in my
brief, the Road Safety Council —part of their remit is to
advise Government on policies it thinks could be
beneficial in this area.

So Minister, I do not know if
you spoke about the fixed penalties. If we were to i mplement fixed penalties, we would have people who
run red lights, people who run stop signs go from pa ying $5 0 and $100 to paying $300 which, one, would
be an increase in revenue . . . and I am not looking at it from a revenue point of view, but since this is the Budget Debate there would be an increase in rev enue, but also because the fact that . . . I mean, we
have had the police budget cut which means that
most likely when it comes to the road policing strategy
we are going to have less warm bodies and less off icers to be able to actually execute the road policing strategy. So maybe we need to find other ways s uch
as fixed penalties.
Then also something that I would really like to
put forward now and that we could fix, and I think it is something that, legislatively, there is no consequence
for an underage drink -drive or drink -riding person as
long as that yout h is not over the legal limit. Can you
please undertake . . . that is the way the law is written
now. If a 15- year-old gets caught riding and has less
than . . . caught riding, one, that is just a $100 fine
without a licence. Then if they have been drinking,
legally there is no consequence because they are not
over the legal limit —if they are not over the legal limit.
If they are over the legal limit, then it becomes a DUI.
But if they are under the legal limit, there is no cons equence.
Hon. Shawn G. Crock well: Thank you, Honourable
Member. Certainly, it is something we can look at but
clearly the law has a limit in terms of individuals who utilise our roads and have been drinking in excess of
that limit. That is where the legal breach comes in that
respect . There is another aspect of the law where m inors should not be served alcohol in various estab-lishments, if that is where the individual consumed the alcohol. If it was in a private place, I do not know what
you can do. I understand the Honourable Member’ s
concern but in the scenario he articulated there was
only one breach, and that was driving without a l icence.
In terms of the fixed penalties, again, I will say
that I do not disagree with the Honourable Member
that there are some penalties which are ar chaic which
clearly do not represent the gravity of the offence—
running a red light could cause a very serious acc ident. For that penalty to still be (I think) at $50 we may need to look at that. I think these are areas that the Honourable Member is bringi ng to the floor sort of extemporaneously, but these are areas that we can di scuss with the Minister for Legislative Affairs and see
how we can modernise our penalties in that regard.

When it comes to the graduated licensing programm e, giving our youth more time
and more experience and more training before going
out on their own on the roads, can this be something
that your administration looks at? Can this be som ething that your administration . . . and I understand
that it comes do wn to the dollars and cents. I do understand that. But if there is something that the Mini ster and his administration could do to look at bringing a more robust Project Ride programme to fruition, I believe that this would help reduce those numbers, it
would help reduce these 16- and 17- year-olds from
being the highest hospitalised age group. I think it would go a long way in helping to reduce or stop our
18- to 25- year-olds from being the highest fatality age
group.
But also if we can look at deploying t he police
and their resources on our roads at the times that the statistics show are high or the frequent fatality times,
which are between 10:00 pm and 3:00 am, if we could
look and make sure that the police are guided by the
statistics and not just through tradition or (I am not
quite sure how they do it) but it just seems as though during the 10:00 pm to 3;00 am, you do not see as
many police, and I am not knocking the police. They
are doing a wonderful job doing the road policing
strategy. I think that, as the Minister said, the lower
numbers that we have seen is a result of the police doing their job. I just think that we need to make sure that the police have every tool and every resource
available to them in order to make sure that they can
do the bes t job of keeping us safe.
I would also like to say that I do agree that
safety is everybody’s responsibility so therefore, how
do we get a national programme put together in order to get everybody behind road safety?



Bermuda House of Assembly [Mr. Rolfe Commissiong, Chairman]

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Yes, Mr. Chairman,
again, I think that many of the suggestions put forward
are not new. Again, suggestions that emanated out of the working group that we had last year. The Honourable Member asked what happened with that. What
the w orking group ascertained is that many of these
issues are very analogous to what police are doing
right now in terms of how we are able to address this.
At the end of the day, it is about enforcement,
but even so, many of us are old enough to remember when there were speed cameras —not cameras, but
the radar gun all across the Island. When we had our
largest . . . the bike unit of the police was very robust and on any given day. Particularly any given Sunday,
you could find them all over the Island. Yet, yo u will
still have the level of fatalities that we have today.
I have been told that the amount of overall
collisions was less then, and we do focus on fatalities
more than anything else because they are the most emotive component of this situation. We have seen an
increase over the years of serious collisions and so
we have an individual who gets into an accident, sustains serious head injuries, but survives, that becomes
a significant cost to the taxpayer as it relates to the
health insurance that that i ndividual will incur over his
or her time of recuperation. Maybe they would need to
have special medical care for the duration of their
lives.
There are not just road fatalities. Collisions
have a major impact. We wonder why we have high insurance rates and the like. All of these things play a
role. That is why I think, again, the chairperson wants
to go to the insurance companies and see what type
of support we can get from them and in helping our
initiatives because it will benefit. It will benefit thei r
industry, they will represent it at the working group,
and it will benefit the Island as a whole if we can get
people to pay attention. What do you do?
I do not say this to be insensitive at all. I am
trying to think of exactly when, but when I got a cal l in
the last couple of months that my son had been in an accident in the morning and as soon as my father
said, Shawn, Tino was in an accident . You know, the
heart stops. But he said, He’s okay. He was not
speeding. He was riding. It was a rainy morning a nd
the truck in front of him had to slam brakes to allow
another vehicle to turn (I cannot remember the name
of the road—just before the Paget stop lights). To the
credit of the driver of the truck, he admitted that he
slammed brakes suddenly, although the law is very
clear that if you hit the person from behind you are still
responsible.
My son slammed brakes as well and the bike
slid and he hit his chin on the back of the truck. The
only thing that happened out of that was that he lost a
couple of teeth, which I have been paying to replace.
But imagine if you were going at high speeds. Imagine if the vehicle you are colliding with is also going at a
significant speed. Especially on our roads, that is why
we see the types of serious accidents resulting in serious injuries and unfortunately in road fatalities. But what do you do?
Even during the holiday period . . . again, I
was driving my car on South Shore. A bike overtook
me (and I was driving maybe between 40 and 50) and
this bike passed me with no probl em. I mean, he overtook me with such ease he must have been going be-tween 60 and 70, and then he overtook a water truck on a corner. A bus came around the corner and that
gentleman on that bike just made it in between the
bus and the water truck. I was in my car and I was saying to myself, How much police enforcement . . . I
mean, that is something. And that gentleman was not
a young man. This was an older gentleman. I could tell when he was crossing me and the majority of coll isions are between the middle aged. It is not our young
people.
No amount . . . he knew better, okay? He
knew he was speeding. He knew full well that he
should not be overtaking a water truck on a corner.
But he did it. Had he lost his life we would not be
standing up saying we need t o do more on road safety
when that individual needed to be more responsible.
That is the issue when it comes to road
safety. It is personal responsibility. When every individual gets in a car or gets on their bike, they have to
understand their duty to th emselves and to other road
users. Take your time! There is a speed limit for a
reason. We have due care laws for a reason. Do not overtake unnecessarily. All of those things come into
play. I have said for years that road fatalities are the
most avoidable. Most of the time they are the most
avoidable.
If individuals are paying attention . . . when I
am on the road and for some reason . . . I have said this before. When I was a teenager, I do not know what it was, but from the time I got my bike . . . and I
know that when I was younger I had friends who lost
their lives on bikes and that could have been the reason why. But whenever I got on my bike I said to m yself, I am not going to allow riding this bike to cause
me to have serious physical injury or lose my life. I
have control of that .
But in addition to that, as the Opposition
Leader interpolated, I am not only attentive for myself, I am attentive for other people. So I am looking
around as I am driving because somebody else who is
being inattentive can harm me.
That is why I am not a big fan of bikes because somebody else can be at fault and you are the
one that has to suffer the long- term injuries. It is one
of those things where I do not know why it has not
sunk into our minds that our roads are dang erous b ecause they are windy and they are narrow. Despite
our limited speed we ride on risky roads. Our road
users need to take care and caution every time they
1010 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly go on the roads, and I think that if people apply that
personal responsibility, we will see thi s problem to
continue to abate.
I would encourage the Shadow Minister . . . I
appreciate his passion on it. I understand it, and I will
definitely coordinate meetings with the Honourable
Member, the new chairperson, and myself so that we
can continue to w rap our minds around it.
Unfortunately, we do not have all the budget
[resources] to throw at it, so we have to be creative
and innovative to try and continue to get the message out.

Minister, now you have
touched on a lot of things that I do agree with, and
one thing that I heard you talk about was that our
roads are dangerous, our roads are windy. I believe
that the reason why there are not more fatalities, more
accidents, is because of the fact that most people that
are in the car have gone through and taken the TCD
testing and proven that they can operate a car in our country and on our roads safely and efficiently.
But now, I am hearing, it is coming across my
Shadow Ministry desk that the Minister’s administr ation is looking a t the implementation of rental cars. I
just want to know how we are going to have people . . . if it is working how I understand it to be, and I defer to the Minister and I will leave him ample time to explain, but how is it that if we were to rent cars here
that that would not decrease our road safety?
We would now be sharing our roads with people who do not know how to properly drive on a road that is 16 feet wide from sidewalk to sidewalk —8 feet
is what you get. And in a car that is 175 inches long,
72 inches wide at its widest point versus these cars
that they are used to travelling at high speeds. And I
am talking about visitors. And this is the impression
that I have, that we are going to have tourists coming
in and they are going to be able to rent a car from
Hertz here in Bermuda and drive around the country not knowing where they are going One, we drive on
the correct side of the road. I say the correct side versus the right side of the road in the States. Therefore, everything is going to be opposi te.
They do not necessarily know our street signs
or our directions signs. I would like to know how the Minister is going to look at the implementation of
rental cars just after we have talked about and
stressed that road safety is everybody’s responsibil ity,
and that even in the example that you gave, the truck driver knew that he had slammed on brakes but it was
a one- off deal, or the gentleman that passed you and
tried to pass the water truck on the wrong side of the
road around a corner. We as Bermudian drivers sort
of tend to expect that.
I am not trying to justify the way we drive or
ride. I am not trying to do that. But we tend to expect that versus a tourist, a visitor who does not know our roads, does not know our road culture, being given
the abi lity to drive a car.

I stand corrected. We have about 25
minutes left. So you will want to handle yourselves
accordingly to get to your objectives.

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you, Mr. Chai rman.
First of all, as Honourable Members in this
House will know that there are individuals in our
community —particularly in the tourism sector —that
have articulated that having the availability of rental
cars in Bermuda will be an enhancement to the experience of our tourists. We are probably one of the
only jurisdictions that do not provide this type of amen ity to our guests, and the Government is looking
at it. We are looking at it from a holistic perspective.
We are looking at a variety of different types
of vehicles —electric vehicles, quadricycles, things like
that, which would be far safer on our roads than just having some high- speed car. I think that there is a
way to try and create a balance, but we have not
made a decision on that as of yet.
In terms of people being able to come here
and drive, the Honourable Member will be aware that
we enjoy the right to go to the United States and rent
a car there and drive. And that is a right that has been
afforded to us. It is a privilege. But it is a privilege that has been afforded to us by the United States.
Normally those privileges are expected to be
reciprocated. I can tell you that the US Consul has
already articulated to us that they do not like the fact that their citizens cannot come here with a valid
driver’s licence and be able to enjoy the same priv ilege that we as Bermudians can do when we travel to
their country. They drive on a different side of the r oad
than we do. Their rules are different from ours, yet we feel competent enough. I think that it is more difficult going to a jurisdiction where the speeds are faster
than it is to go to a jurisdiction where the speeds are
slower. But we go and we are able to acclimate using
our licence and our licence is accepted in these juri sdictions.
So I just flag that. Certainly, the concerns that
the Honourable Member has raised are concerns that
the Government are working through on this issue.

Is there any other Member that cares
to address this —these Heads?
The Chair now recognises the Shadow Mini ster, Mr. Lawrence Scott.



Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. W. Lawrence Scott: Well, the fact that we have a
couple of more minutes means that I can actually go
back to the airport. When I go back to the airport, I am
going back to the schedules. We talked about the schedules and how the Minister said that [because of] competition we needed to actually have the schedules
redacted.
POINT OF ORDER

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Point of order, Mr.
Chairman.
I did not say through competition. I said there
are certain commercial terms and certain commercial sensitivities that we are not able to disclose. So that is
the reason why certain portions of the agreement
were redacted.
I just want to say that we have all of these
wonderful heads of multiple departments, Mr. Chai rman, so the Honourable Member could ask questions
on something else rather than the airport.
[Inaudible interjections]

Okay. I am sorry that I am
showing favouritism to the airport, but one thing that I
would like to know is that we have talked about it b eing a done deal. Do you know what I will do? Answer this question and then I can go on to Marine and
Ports.
Can you let us know what the approximate
amount [would be]? Steve Nackan said that it is not a done deal and we will just have to pay. What would be
the price that we would have to pay in order to get out
of this contract —with CCC and Aecon?

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: I cannot recall. The F inance Minister provided a figure some months ago as
to what it was at that time. Obviously, the longer we
stay in negotiations the more the penalty would be.
But the Finance Minister has a greater knowledge of
that than I do, so I would have to get back to the Honourable Member.

The Chair now recognises the Mini ster of Finance, Mr. Bob Richards.
Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: Thank you, Mr. Chai rman.
There is no definitive answer to that question
because it relates to the amount of money that CCC
and Aecon have spent in developing the project. If we took that figure three months ago, a month ago, it
would be different from now.
Basically, what the agreement calls for is that
expenses in developing t he project, if the project under particular circumstances is cancelled, then the
amount of money that they have spent developing the project will actually . . . the work that has been done
will be the property of Bermuda. That is an important
thing to note. The work that has been done will be the
property of Bermuda—it is, in fact, the property of
Bermuda—so that if, for whatever reason, the Go vernment decides to cancel the project the work that
has been done to develop it so far will belong to Bermuda, and therefore, rightfully, we can expect that
Bermuda will have to pay for it. But that is an ongoing thing every day, every week, and that is why it would
not be prudent or even sensible to give a dollar figure.

Mr. Chairman, what I will do
is . . . the Minister of Transport has already acknow ledged that I have expertise and knowledge of the i ndustry. I can extrapolate from other transactions sim ilar to the project that they are looking at doing. We are along the same timeline. Normally it is approximately
$5 [million] to $6 million given over the course of this
year.
Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: Point of order.

1012 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda House of Assembly Mr. W. Lawrence Scott: But I would like to move on
to—

Your point of order?
POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]
Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: The Honourable Member
is misleading the House. He does not know of any
other project like this one. This one . . . the only other project that has been like this one is Quito, and that was like 200 times bigger than ours. So I do not care what he knows, he does not know about this. Any extrapolation will be totally speculative and therefore would be misleading the House.

The Chair recognises the Opposition
Leader. Do you have a point of order?
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Thank you, yes, I appreciate
it, Mr. Chairman. No, this is not a point of order. I would just like to continue the contribution, since the Honourable Minister thought that he would insert hi mself to this debate.
My Shadow Minister has asked a simple
question that this Government cannot answer. So,
then, when my Shadow Minister puts out a figure, he gets point -of-ordered. Is it not the responsibility of this
Government to come to the House and provide infor-mation, or are you doing a project that has no costing
attached to it? What is going on? You are holding my
Shadow Minister to account for information that you have not provided yet.
[
Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: You cannot just make up . . .
I have never heard of a project without numbers.

But you just cannot make
them up.
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: I would think that you would
have the numbers before you start. But, again, you put the cart before the horse and you are going to hold my Shadow Minister to account? I doubt it.
It does not make any sense to me. It seems
like you have not done your job properly. So we come up in here and we ask questions to hold you to ac-count and you take offence.

I am not taking offence.
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: I am not saying, Minister, that
you are personally taking offence, but clearly you are jumping out of your chair and you are point -ofordering my Shadow Minister who is asking simple questions. How much does A, B, C and D cost? He has asked these questions for how long, Mr. Chai rman? And we have yet to receive one answer.
You tell me who is responsible for this project.
Who is showing responsibility as the Government?

Opposition Leader, you have made
your point. Are you finished?
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Maybe. Maybe.
[
Laughter]
Hon. Mar c A. R. Bean: I would just like that clarity,
Mr. Chairman.
A question was asked, we did not receive a
response. My Shadow Minister sent out a figure based on his best estimate based on his experience. He is not the only one in here who has experience in air transport on this side. So we should not be taken
for fools. We know what we are talking about and that
is why we are asking simple, basic questions —that we
cannot get responses for. That is a shame. Not all this pontificating and everything that we are seeing from this side. Not once have you answered one question
transparently over this airport. Not once.

Thank you.
But there are similar projects that have been
out there— Quito is one, Bahamas is another, Cayman
is another that did not actually go through with CCC and Aecon. Antigua and Barbuda is another one, J amaica is another one, Trinidad and Barbados is another one which we brought up. So do I need to go on about how many different types of examples are out there? I
can tell you from history and from other projects that
are out there that it would cost this country approx imately $ 5 [million] to $6 million to get out of a contract
that would cost us $250 million at the very least over the course of 30 years.
I will now go onto Head 30.
[
Inaudible interjection]

The Chair recognises the Minister
Gordon- Pamplin.
POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: The Honourable
Member is misleading the House.
The Honourable Member says I am speaking
on an issue of which I know nothing. That is not correct
so the Honourable Member is misleading the House.
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: That is not correct.

When it comes to Marine and
Ports, and just to put things in context. It comes to
when you go to non- mariners. Non- mariners —
everybody is having a good old time. You have jet skis,
you have Boston Whalers, you have everybody there.
But my understanding is that there is no such thing
(and I am exaggerating to prove a point), that you do
not have a boating licence unless it is 26 or 36 feet or
longer.
Would it not make or cause us to have a safer
boating culture if we were to have a licensing pr ogramme for all watercraft? When it comes to all watercraft, if you have a jet ski you have to take a test and
you move from there. As the boat or marine vessel gets
larger and larger, the test becomes more and more
comprehensive. Therefore, by the time you get up to 26
feet, 36 feet, 46 feet, you now have a very comprehe nsive test which you have to take. I think that it would be
good for us to try and put this in place, once again, the
money and the revenue that could come from having this boating licence and having t o pay for a boating l icence could add revenue to the country while making
our water safer over the course —especially with the
America’s Cup coming up.
I will just defer to the Minister.

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Thank you.
First of all, licences are requir ed for boats of
that size that are for hire. For individuals who are ha ving their private boats, there is no licensing regime for
that.
I hear it. I ask the same questions, particularly
when you see some of the sizes of these boats and even during the America’s Cup, the World Series, pe ople are out there on the water on these boats and bas ically you can be (I believe) 16 years old and you are
able to operate a boat. I think that it has been looked at
in the past. But similar to why we have conversations quite often on road safety, it is the mischief that drives
regulation sometimes.
We have had over many years —over de cades —issues on the roads that have been a focal
point. For some reason, and I am not a great mariner, but for some reason we have not had a great deal of safety issues on the water. There seems to be this
code of honour on the water where boat users —and
this is worldwide. There seems to be this care for your
fellow mariner, there seems to be this care for the w ater. I cannot speak to it and I know that there are mar iners in the House that can probably speak to that cu lture, but there is a good culture and good behaviour on
our waters. So because we have not seen a prolifer ation of safety issues on the waters it has not been something that has been at the fore. Certainly, it is
something that we should be mindful of going forward.

So, Minister, I understand
what you are talking about. However, I fail to . . . what it
sounds like you are saying is we will not do anything
until somebody dies or somebody is hurt or we have a rash of things. I think that it is better for us to —

POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Hon. Shawn G. Crockwell: Point of clarification. I am
not saying that. The point is that some can say if it is
not broke, do not fix it. The point I am making is that
there is not a problem. However, it is always good to be
preventative.
Again, we can look at whether or not there
should be something in place because, again, a 16year-old can get out there and ride a small punt, or
whatever, and then in two weeks he could have a 30footer and still be operating it and not be required to
have a licence. I understand the crux of your question
and concern.

Yes, because the thing is that
we are talking about our roads and when I look at the
roads and started researching our road safety and p olicing strategy, I just noticed that we did not have that
for the water. With the America’s Cup coming, I do not
want America’s Cup to be marred by an unfortunate
incident. I f something happens, and if we say, Oh, this
person was out in a 30- foot boat that they bought and
was using personally, but they did not have a licence . .
. I mean, I think that an ounce of prevention is better
than a pound of cure.
Maybe if the Ministe r can have an undertaking
. . . I understand the history, but I do not want us to be unprepared. It is sort of like we have not had a plane
crash here, so let us not do any drills. Let us not have a
1014 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly plan in place because it has not happened yet. That
sounds irresponsible. I think that we should really start
looking into making sure that there is just as much
regulation on the water when it comes to licensing and
preventative water safety as much as it is for road
safety.

It has been moved that Heads, 30, 31,
34, 35, 57 and 73 be approved.
Are there any objections to that motion?
No?
So approved.

[Gavel]

[Motion carried: The Ministry of Tourism Development and Tra nsport, Heads 30, 31, 34, 35, 37 and 73 were
approved and stand part of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2016/17.]

[Pause]

Members, the Finance Minister has
moved that the Committee rise and report progress and
asks for leave to sit again. Is there any objection to that motion?
No object ions.
Agreed to.

[Gavel]

[Motion carried: The Committee of Supply agreed to
rise and report progress, and sought leave to sit
again.]

House resumed at 7:46 pm

[Hon. K. H. Randolph Horton, Speaker, in the Chair]

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

ESTIMATES OF R EVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 2016/17

Members, it is agreed that we rise and
report progress on Friday at the next meeting.
Orders Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are carried over. I
understand that the Minister of Health, Seniors and
the Environment —I recognise the Minister.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker I move that the Bill entitled the
Public Health Amendment Act be now read the second time.

Any objections to that?
Carry on please, Minister.

BILL

SECOND READING

PUBLIC HEALTH AMENDMENT ACT 2016

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Mr. Speaker, and Honourable Members of the House, the Public Health Act
Amendment Bill 2016 was tabled on the 9th of Febr uary 2016.
Mr. Speaker, this Act amends the Public
Healt h Act 1949 and is intended to:
1. Assign statutory authority to the Director of Health and other public health officers;
2. Modernise the list of reportable diseases;
3. Provide a mechanism for the list of notifiable diseases to be regularly amended and u pdated;
4. Increase the fines and penalties commens urate to modern value.
Mr. Speaker, in 2012, after review of the
management consulting section, the Department of
Health was reorganised. The post of Director of
Health was created to take operational control of the


Bermuda House of Assembly Department freeing the Chief Medical Officer to better
focus on leading and regulating health professionals
with oversight of standards of practise and health i nsurance.
Planning for the health sector —the epidemiological investigation of infectious diseas e outbreaks
was retained by the office of the Chief Medical Officer.
Mr. Speaker, changes in responsibility of the
Act from the Chief Medical Officer to Director, where
appropriate, will give the Director of Health the necessary statutory authority especi ally for business that is
carried out by the officers of the Department of Health
and where the Director is accountable.
Mr. Speaker, the Public Health Act contained
outdated titles for some public health officers; namely,
the health inspectors and chief health inspector, post
titles have not been in use for approximately 30 years. These posts have been retitled as the work is currently being performed by the Environmental Health
Offices and the Chief Environmental Health Officer.
These titles have been updated in the Act to reflect modern practise.
Mr. Speaker, the notifiable communicable di seases list contained in the Public Health Act were ou tdated because they were missing emerging diseases
such as Ebola Vi ral Disease ( EVD), Lassa Fever,
Marburg virus disease (MVD), West Nile fever, Rift
Valley fever, or other viral haemorrhagic —

[Inaudible interjection]

It is definitely a tongue
twister.
—sever acute respiratory symptoms (SARS),
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, coronavirus,
MERS cough [MERS -CoV], Chikungunya, and Zika
virus.
Mr. Speaker, new infectious diseases are
constantly emerging and a mechanism to update the
reportable communicable diseases list was needed to
empower the Minister to rapidly revise the list when
needed. The Minister will now be able to amend the list by order published in the Gazette , adding new di seases so that the public health can stay in step with
international disease trends. These provisions are
important because unless diseases are adequately reported they cannot be rapidly investigated and controlled.
Mr. Speaker, Zika virus has been included in
the list of communicable diseases following the d eclaring by the WHO making the Zika virus a public
health emergency of international concern at the be-ginning of February 2016.
Mr. Speaker, an amendment has been i ncluded to allow contact tracing to reflect epidemiologi-cal practises. These are people who have been in contact with infectious diseases and who, though not
yet ill, may be incubating a diseas e. Mr. Speaker, a further amendment requires
persons suffering from or having been exposed to i nfection to be medically cleared before returning to work in an occupation where there is a risk of spreading the disease.
Mr Speaker, the Bill provides for revisions of
fees payable and penalties imposed under the Act.
The Bill revises the penalties under the Act to provide
for substantial increases as the penalties have not
been revised for some time. The Bill removes the low
fees currently payable under the principal Act.
Mr. Speaker, I hereby introduce the Public
Health Amendment Bill 2016 to this Honourable
House on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Seniors and
Environment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
A few comments on this Bill. Thank you for
the presentation by the Honourable Minister from constituency 19.
On a point review of the Bill we see that it is
pretty much a Bill that is doing principally housekeeping and continuing the process of reorganisation of the
Health Department which started some years ago with
splitting off and reorganising som e of the duties that
were with the office of the Chief Medical Officer and
creating a Director of that agency. I believe it is a
streamlining process which has taken a few years, but
it is important that it be done and continued and we
are pleased that that is continuing so that we do have
a Health Department that can continue to address the needs of our Island’s public health, which is not only
something that is shaped locally but also by intern ational practise and guidelines set by PAHO as well as
the WHO .
We note also in the Bill as you go on, Mr.
Speaker, that there are other steps being taken to deal with how we manage persons who may be at risk
of contracting or have been inflicted with communic able diseases. That is important because as we have
seen, and the Minister made reference to this, with
over the past year alone with the occurrences with the
Zika virus, as well as the period now post Ebola [ep idemic] which happened in about three or four African
countries, there has been a push internationall y to
1016 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly update public health processes because as we know,
Mr. Speaker, though that particular epidemic came out
of Africa in about four or five African countries, it did
have impacts in other parts of the world even as far as
our area of the world in North A merica —particularly in
the United States where some persons who had co ntracted it found their way to the US and they had to be
managed in that environment, as well as persons who
were working to combat the actual epidemic had to be
managed as well.
As we saw, in some cases exaggerated reactions by some jurisdictions in the West and then there were some that perhaps could have been better in
reference to their reaction. Some tried to do overkill —
literally sort of put people into sort of levels of quarantine which were unreasonable and violated their human rights, to some jurisdictions that were not quite ready. As we see here in some of the clauses of this
Bill, there is an effort to update our own procedures
around these sort of situations. That is important b ecause the Zika virus is certainly still here. There is still
the annual situation with the flu and other things that
do occur, so just because those more dramatic inc idents have happened, Mr. Speaker, it does not mean
that once they are gone there is nothing that we have
to deal with. These issues happen all year -round and
so it is important that even as a small jurisdiction we
have the most up- to-date processes and procedures
in place to handle these situations and it be as mod-ern as possible. I do bel ieve that we have seen, as I
said, over the past year that out of the Ebola situation
there was seen a need to change how jurisdictions
deal with these sort of situations.
Certainly, this Bill does appear to be trying to
address that as well as, and as I said, there is a reorganisation component for the Department of Health
which is an ongoing process. We, certainly, on this
side are supportive of this Bill knowing that this is partially housekeeping, partially reorganisation, it is i mportant that these th ings be done on a regular basis to
ensure that we as a jurisdiction have the highest standards, the highest level of procedures in place and we
must always, irrespective of the resources that are available, make sure that we are doing our best to
follow th em.
I do have one question for the Minister. One,
what facilities do we have in place at the moment to
handle a situation where we may have a resident of
this country or somebody who comes here who perhaps has been exposed to such a disease or may
have been in a jurisdiction where there has been possible exposure; and two, has contracted a communi-cable disease and has come to our Island—so what
do we have in place from the standpoint of facilities to
be able to effectively manage, perhaps a quarantine
situation, and to monitor persons who may find themselves within our jurisdiction in this situation in a way
that will not bring unnecessary panic or concern for
our public. Do we have those facilities in place?
[Inaudible interjection]

Okay, are you confident that all
the procedures right now, irrespective of what we are
bringing to the House today, are in order and that if
met with such a situation Bermuda could handle certainly at least one or two cases that might come on
our shores? That is one question I would like for the
Minister to answer around these amendments. Other
than that, we wish to support this Bill and the work that is being done by the Public Health Department,
and we see the wonderful experts in that department
who are here today so we know that the work is being
done, so we would like to just know the answer to that
question on this matter.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Honourable Member. Is
there any other Honourable Member who would care
to speak to this matter?
There are no Members who would like to
speak. I will ask that the Minister respond.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: First of all, I would like to
assure the acting Shadow Minister today that on a
regular basis the Department of Health and the [Bermuda] Hospitals Board [Bermuda Hospitals Board]
meet regularly to deal with the different types of cases
that could come to our attention.
That means that there is a general procedure
as to how it relates to handling communicable di seases, per iod. But when something does come to our
attention in terms of a specific case then the Depar tment of Health and BHB meet and they talk about what they need to do collectively whether it would be
to just simply monitor the persons via their doctor or wheth er it means that they should be doing something
in terms of putting them in some sort of isolation. BHB
would then create an isolation facility, if it was necessary, as I say, in the case of when we would just —
hoping to protect ourselves against Ebola or s omething like that. There was also the provision that we could do something like that. But in terms of some of
the other diseases which are not quite viral or danger-ous, the BHB and the Hospital would get together.

[Inaudible interjections]

You have a question?
Hon. Dennis P. Lister: I just need a clarification. The
Minister indicated there had been created an area if
there was a quarantine r equired. Is that what you


Bermuda House of Assembly said? Or do they have an area already for quarantine
in which to quarantine people?
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: If something came up,
they have an area which has been designated, if they
would need to use it. I think if you look at clause 7,
you would see that we have strengthened that prov ision—

[Crosstalk]

Honourable Members, we are now in
Committee of whole [House] for further consideration
of the Bill entitled Public Health Amendment Act 2016 .
I call on the Minister in charge to proceed.
Minister, you have the floor.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Madam Chairman, I would
like to —this is clause by clause.
This Bill seeks to amend the Public Health Act
1949 (the “principal Act”) so as to provide for changes
in the responsibilities held by the Chief Medical Officer
(CMO) and to provide for revision of fees payable, and penalties imposed, under the Act. The Bill reduces the responsibilities of the CMO by provi ding for the Director of the Department of Health to undertake responsibilities under specified sections currently performed
by the CMO. The Bill also revises the penalties under the Act to provide for substantial increases as the
penalties have not been r evised for some time. The
Bill removes the low fees currently payable under the
principal Act.
Madam Chairman, I wish to move the clauses
in groups by topics.

Thank you. Are there any objections?
There are no objections.
Please proceed.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Clause 1 provides a cit ation for the Bill.
Clause 2 amends the principal Act in section 2
to insert a defini tion for the term “Director,” and to define the Director as the Director of the Department of
Health. The clause further amends section 2 in the
definition of “Public Health Officer” to change the designation of Chief Health Inspector to Chief Environ-mental Health Officer, and that of Health Inspector to
Environmental Health Officer.
Clause 3 amends the principal Act in sections
12(1), 77(5), 87, 89(3a), 115, 124 and 127 so as to provide for the Director of the Department of Health to
assume responsibility for the conduct of the functions
under the stated sections, currently the responsibility
of the CMO. The clause also amends section 178(1)
to include the Director as an officer, together with the
CMO and the Chief Environmental Health Officer, who may sig n documents on behalf of the Minister.
Clause 4 amends the principal Act in section
66 by revising the definition of “communicable disease of the first category” to include communicable di seases set out under Annex 2 of the International
Health Regulations 2005 issued by the World Health
Organization (WHO). The Zika virus has been i ncluded in the list of communicable diseases following
a declaration by the WHO making the Zika virus a
“Public Health Emergency of International Concern” at the commencement of the month of February this
year.

Thank you. Are there any Members
that would like to speak to clause 1 through 4?
Thank you. The Chair recognises the Member
from constituency 15, Pembroke East, Mr. W. H. R oban.
You have the floor.

1018 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Wa lter H. Roban: Thank you very much, Madam
Chairman.
I just had a question about the amendment to
clause 4. How often is this definition sort of addressed? Is this done on an annual basis or just as is needed where they add possible diseases to this list?

Thank you. Are there any other
Members?
No? Thank you. The Chair recognises the
Learned Member from constituency 36, Sandys North,
the Honourable M. J. Scott.
You have the floor.

Hon. Michael J. Scott: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
To the Minister, my question and concern is
that the portability of the Zika virus through borders of
international —including the L. F. Wade Airport —I
know that we had the requirement for persons to r eport, but what can we be assured of is in place to en-sure that potential visitors and travellers who are i nfected or exposed to Zika are reached at the earlier
stage (before they cross our border) if any —perhaps
the regime only kicks in after persons become ill having crossed our border. But is there a standard of
practise or best practise which seeks to apprehend
these carrying travellers at our borders.
Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Are there any
other Members?
Minister?
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
First of all, as it relat es to adding to the list,
that can be added as needed. So the Minister is able
to add a virus or communicable disease to the list as
needed. With respect to preparation and our borders, I
guess I could sort of remind Members back to the last
virus that everybody got excited about which was the
Ebola virus because I do not know whether you r emember at that point in time, in addition to being
aware of it, we had procedures down at the airport
with all the notices when you came in asking whether
you had had an y sort of fevers and all sorts of other
stuff, and asking if you had been in any areas where
you might have been exposed to that type of virus.
But also it asked you about a couple more as well.
In addition to that it reminded the travellers to
be in touc h with their doctors if they felt any sym ptoms, and it also reminded them not to go to the
emergency, but to stay at home and to talk to their
doctors so that we can reduce any spreading, et cetera, so what we have tended to do is rely on our consultation with PAHO and WHO in terms of best practise and then in some cases —especially in the case of
Ebola —you can remember that, most of the time,
anybody who is coming to Bermuda is coming from somewhere else— especially with the Ebola— where
they were coming from the US or the UK and so they
were already having some measure of review and
control back then. So we rely on our relationships with
our partners, and that is another way of making sure that we protect ourselves.
The other thing that we can also remember
that because we have access to the manifests, we know where these persons are coming from, so that is
another thing and I just wanted— you asked a question earlier —and I just wanted to remind you as well
that if we ever had to do an isolation, then the hospital has an ICU that they would turn around and use that.

Thank you. Are there any other
Members that would like to speak to clauses 1
through 4?
The Chair recognises the Member from constituency 36.

Hon. Michael J. Scott: A question occur red to me
now that we are in the discussion of this and it may
regard a doctor’s opinion. I recall that the Zika virus is
a virus that has been tasking and troubling women
and then their births have produced [problems] which
are troubling. Is it a virus that is also exposing men—
that men can contract?

Thank you. The Chair recognises the
Minister.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I will answer that officially,
although it has been answered unofficially.
I think that if you have seen some of the more
recent information it has been determined that the
Zika virus can be transmitted by sexual contact. So it
means that some person— whether it be the male or
female —if they hav e been bitten by the mosquito,
they then can transmit it to either party and that is something that we have to be aware of.

My question is a, perhaps,
general question. It does relate to this amendment Act
but it is just for —not only for the benefit of the House
but also the benefit of the public —as to now, with this
Director within the Department of Health, specifically,


Bermuda House of Assembly what are some of the duties that the Director has in
contrast to the Chief Medical Officer?
If the Minister can just perhaps detail that
which would also be helpful I think to the understand-ing of how this Act is going to be administrated within
the responsibilities of the Department of Health.

Are there any obj ections?
There are no objections. Please proceed.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Clause 5 amends the
principal Act by repealing and replacing section 67 to
empower the Minister, for the purpose of the protection of public health, to amend, by order published in
the Gazette, the provisions of section 66 so as to i nsert in that provision new diseases as communicable diseases or venereal diseases. Clause 6 amends the principal Act in section
69(1) by inserting a paragraph (c) to empower the Chief Medical Officer to require that a person who has
been in contact with a person suffering from a co mmunicable disease be medically examined.
Clause 7 amends the principal Act by repealing and replacing section 71 so as to provide that a
person exposed to or suffering fro m a communicable
disease shall not carry on an occupation. The prov ision further requires that such person shall not r esume work in his occupation until he has received a
certificate from a medical practitioner confirming the
following: (i) that although exposed to a communic able disease the person has not contracted the di sease; (ii) in the case where the person contracted a
communicable disease, that he has been cured from
such disease; or (iii) in the case where the person is
not cured from a communicabl e disease he contracted, that the disease has become non- infectious.

Thank y ou, Madam Chairman.
A question for the Minister: These are very
sort of methodical procedures that are being put in
place to deal with these situations and how the Public
Health authorities are going to manage persons when
these situations arise. Will there be certainly an effort to communicate to the representatives of the business
community and other organisations, how they might be supportive of the efforts of the Public Health A uthority to manage these situations as they arise? Certainly, whether the u nions and people like the E mployers’ Council and the Chamber of Commerce have
some knowledge of this sort of thing —just as has
been done around health and safety provisions —
whereas there is a responsibility on businesses to be
knowledgeable on how they mus t conduct themselves
around health and safety matters.
Will you be communicating some of the information that is around, or what we are doing today, to
those same groups so that if a situation arises with
staff who may find themselves to be ill and maybe
showing symptoms that may possibly indicate that
they have such a situation, that they know also how to
handle those situations?
Let us face it, sometimes people can be stubborn about going to work, but if there is an awareness in the community that there is a situation with a poss ible communicable disease then even an employer
can say, Listen, we know what is going on. We know
how to handle this. You go home and make sure you
do those certain things. Sometimes people need —
their work ethic may be so high t hat they may put ot hers in danger.
1020 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly That is my point in that our employers are also
knowledgeable enough so that if they come across an
employee who might show symptoms of a particular
situation they can say, Listen, go home. You will need
to contact your physician to let them know what your
symptoms are because we have been made aware
that there may be potential situation. So that employer
can know how to handle it as well —not only the pe ople who may have contracted it.

Thank you. Minister?

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Yes, and I would just like
to say to you that routine communication does take
place with the relevant stakeholders. As you can ap-preciate, just think about food handlers and places like
that—remember you have seen these messages up
there reminding people about what they should do. I think that as we go forward and as we make these
changes to different things we remind people about
what is happening and I think —remember when we
had the thing about the Avian flu and stuff like that —
so getting the message out there, and the same thing
like when you are sneezing and coughing in your
hands and stuff like that, that is done regularly and it
will continue to be done regularly.

Thank you.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Clause 8 amends the
principal Act in section 115(2)(b) to remove the r equirement for a fee to be paid to a Justice of the Peace for a declaration made by a parent who is a conscientious objector to the vaccination of their child.
Clause 9 amends the principal Act by repealing sections 68(4), 117(2) and 159(3) which require
payment of low fees. The clause further repeals sec-tion 98 whi ch restricts employment of persons suffering from venereal disease.
Clause 10 amends the principal Act in sections 18, 19, 39, 41, 55, 56, 63, 73, 76, 77, 78, 81, 82,
91, 105, 114, 126, 138, 143, 145, 159, 171, 180, 181,
and 186 to increase the fines imposed under the stated provisions to the amounts set out in column 4
of the Schedule.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.
A question on clause 8, and also perhaps a
comment as well, as I see clause 8 deals with and
amends the principal Act in the appropriate section to
remove the requirement for a fee being paid to the
Justice of the Peace for a declaration made by a parent who is a conscientious objector to the vaccination
of their child.
I think this raises a very interesting issue
about —well, I did not realise that fees had to be paid
around that in particular —but around the issue of the
conscientious objection that parents can make concerning their child having certain types of vaccinations. As I recall, Madam Chairman, certainly I r emember when I was 4 or 5 or whatever that it seems that a bunch of us were lined up in the nursery —

[Laught er]

—for whatever. I do not recall. I
do not know what the procedure was back then but it
seemed to be regimented and straightforward, and
whether a parent even had an objection does not
even seem to have [mattered] at all. I see now that
this is in here and it seems like because we are now
in a different time that there seems to be more parents
making issues —certainly there have been some situations that have occurred around certain types of vaccinations, and we know that. But I do not know how
strong this movement is in Bermuda. Certainly, I r espect the fact that parents do have that right to be concerned about the interests of their child and these vaccinations.


Bermuda House of Assembly I am also hopeful that the Ministry and the
Public Health Department are also being quite assertive on educating people and keeping the education
out there about vaccinations and about the need for
them. What we see in other jurisdictions where it has
happened where you have had the pockets of chi ldren—because of beliefs that seem to have form ulated in recent decades about vaccinations and their need, often that creates certain epidemics and pro blems for communities of children. I always try and r emember from the standpoint of history —well, reme mber Bermuda once had its own situation of a runaway
disease with yellow fever that was, historically, not
that long ago.
The reason why that was combated was because of Public Health efforts, particularly with assi stance from the US Government and our Government
which helped to deal with that situation in the early
20
th century. Now we do not have those problems and
we can go back in history —the deaths that that situ ation inflicted on Bermuda going back even further
which also in some ways tarnished our reputation as an Island. People thought this place was wallowing in
yellow fever and disease at one point. That , of course,
has been combated now and that is because of good
public health practises.
I say all that to —and certainly we are not in an
era where I remember anymore, but perhaps some of you remember, where you go the jab and that was
done and no one had any questions. Now we have
many more sort of issues with parents about what
their children get. I do hope that around this issue of the conscientious objection which is available that at
the same time that the Public Health authorities are
actually asserti ve in their education to parents b ecause some of our parents —let us face it —are not
necessarily knowledgeable about these things before
they become a parent. When they become a parent —
because the Internet, because of all types of stuff, they get misinformed about vaccinations.
There should be somebody out there giving
them facts in an assertive manner so that when parents are beginning to prepare their children to go to
school they are given the information, it is provided to
them, about the need to follow that vaccination regime
that your doctor gives to you. Anybody that is a parent
knows that local doctors have a little regime that they
follow with you and your child. You go to the doctor
where they will prescribe and administer certain vaccinations. Als o, people should know that they can get
those same vaccinations at the Public Health Depar tment for less cost if there is an affordability issue.
Perhaps some parents do not have health i nsurance and feel that because they do not have it —
maybe because the y are unemployed and they have
children—that they cannot get the vaccinations. That
is not true. They can go to the Health Department and the Health Department will assist in administering
them for the benefit of their child’s safety and health. Particular ly those who have children going into the
school environment, perhaps they have been in a
more sanitised home environment where they are not
in a lot of contact with other children or other persons.
The exposure in the school environment could create a health issue if that child is not vaccinated.
I say all this to be mindful of the conscientious
objection that is clearly outlined here but at the same time, Madam Chairman, that the department is being assertive on the education so that even if a person
may be inclined to conscientiously object, they have
all the proper information that they need if they are being bombarded by the so- called myths that are b eing put out there, at least we are doing our job to make sure they have the right information.

The Ch airman: Thank you.
Are there any other Members that would like
to speak to clauses 8 through 10?
There are no other Members. Minister?
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: First of all, I just wanted to
remind us that the immunisation schedules, what we
use now, is according to the international standards.
We give out booklets that suggest to people what type
of immunisations our children should have. But as you
indicated, we tend to be more consultative with the doctors’ offices. We tend to give out information abou t
why they should have it. The reason we do that is be-cause, as you alluded to slightly earlier, it is a fact that
you do not want one person not to have it and then be
that person that is spreads it amongst all the children
and then before you know it we have a problem.
We do try and make sure we educate people
on the reasons you should have it, make sure that it is
available to them, but if in the end there is someone
who decides that they are going to be a conscientious
objector, we do not want them hav ing to pay a fee as
a deterrent. We definitely do things differently now making sure that we work with the doctors and that people are educated on the benefits.

I thank the Minister on that. I
make my point, Minister, because I am becoming
concerned because of the economic climate that we have, there are a lot of young mothers who may not
have the benefit of health insurance and that they may
not have the opportunity to go a paediatrician or even
their own physician. You may find that our own clinic
is actually —and perhaps you can answer this question for me—that more of these young women who
have children are finding their w ay to the clinic for
their issues rather than finding their way to a physician because they do not have health insurance. The clinic
1022 2 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly itself is being quite assertive (in my view) hopefully in
making sure that they have the information. That is my
concern and I am hoping that you can give me some
feedback on that.

Thank you, Member.
The Chair recognises the Minister.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I can assure you that the
Department of Health immunises the children for free
and they are very diligent in making sure that they get the information out to the parents even from the b eginning when their children are born they make sure
that we give them the schedules to talk about when
they should come in, letting them know that they can come to the department and get it for free.

Thank you, Minister. You act ually said what I had hoped you would say so that the
public knows that they can go and get immuni sations
for free. Many people do not know that in this country—that our public health system has this capability.
In fact, the reason why we do not have people laying
in the streets with all types of other huge viruses and diseases is because of what our public health system
does all around the Island. I think it was important for
you to say that they can get it for free because I do
not think that many mothers know that. They can get
the same quality of attention and treatment as they
can get at a physician at our public health facility.
Thank you.

Thank you, Member.
Minister?

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I just want to assure the
Honourable Member that the Government does pr ovide this free to the parents —obviously there is a cost
which the Government absorbs —but on top of that, it
is funny because the acting [Shadow] Minister must
have been listening to me today because I was just
talking to my department head saying that we have to
get the message out to the public about all the good things that we do —that Government provides —that
they are not aware of.
This is one of the things —the child clinics are
on regularly and we make sure that this is a service
that is offered.

It has been moved that the Bill be
reported to the House as printed.
Are there any objections to that motion?
No objections.
Agreed to.

[Gavel]

[Motion carried: The Public Health Amendment Act
2016 was considered by a Committee of the whole
House and passed without amendment.]

[Pause]

House resumed at 8:32 pm

[Hon. K. H. Randolph Horton, Speaker, in the Chair]

REPO RT OF COMMITTEE



Bermuda House of Assembly PUBLIC HEALTH AMENDMENT ACT 2016

The second reading of the Public
Health Amendment Act 2016 has been approved, as
printed. We will move on down to—Orders No. 7 through 10 are carried over.
The Chair will recognise the Honourable
Member from constituency 6, MP Wayne Furbert.
You have the floor.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we stand here this evening —

[Inaudible interjection]

Unless you are going to withdraw
it?

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Well, that is what I was going to say. That is why I was going to stand, so I am
going to move it.
[Inaudible interjections]

The S peaker: Sorry?

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Sorry. I will move it. I will go
ahead and move it.
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, I am. It is [Order] No.
11, yes.