March 11, 2024

Excuse me, sir. This is the Chair. Understand that. All right.
[The Honourable Minister] has allowed the Opposition to ask their questions.
Opposition Member.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you. I thank the Honourable Minister for his invitation and this change to


Bermuda House of Assembly parliamentary tradition and precedent. However, I will
need a moment to confer with honourable colleagues.
This is a new expression. And we would want to make
sure that we are fully consulted before you proceed forward. I would be happy to stand up after c onsultation to
put specific questions to [the Honourable Minister] if we
agree to go down that road. But first I require time for
consultation. Thank you.

Also, for the benefit of the listening audience, today is the last day of the Budget Debate. The Budget Debates are traditionally the Opposition’s de-bate in which they come prepared with questions. Today’s ministries to be debated will be Economy and Labour [which includes] Immigration, and Transport. The first four hours are dedicated to Economy and Labour
[which includes] Immigration; the second half of the day
of the debate is dedicated toward Transportation.

[Pause]

Member, you are on your feet. Do you
have something to address the Chair [about]?

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes. Thank you. We are still
reviewing the Standing Orders and precedent. Thank
you.
But I would like to note, Mr. Chairman, that this
is a very kind offer. Had it been made earlier ahead of time, I would have been prepared for it. Thank you.

[Inaudible interjections]
[Pause]

Would you like to give a point of clarity,
Honourable Member?

POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes, I sure would, Mr. Chairman. I am just wondering. I mean, the last time I looked, I think the Opposition chooses how many hours to debate ahead. I find it shocking that the Honourable Opposition Leader is not prepared! I would have thought
that preparations would have been made weeks ago,
especially since the Opposition decides how many
hours to talk about each Ministry. I am just . . . I am
taken aback!

Good day, Mr. Chairman.
The Opposition Leader said he is searching for
precedent. I can provide precedent in another place. On this very debate (not particularly this particular
head) a Member, Mr. Cal Smith, with a very lengthy
brief spoke for a very abbreviated period of time and
the Opposition Leader in the Senate sent me up to vet
and told me, Continue on. And I did. And there are
Members in this House who can attest to that. The
precedent has been set. There is no particular time that
the Government has to speak. It is the O pposition who
have to come prepared to carry the debate.

Honourable Member, we are going to
rise for a minute while I recess with the Speaker.

Proceedings in Committee suspended at 11:02 am

Proceedings in Committee resumed at 11:10 am

[Mr. Christopher Famous, Chairman]

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR FISCAL YEAR 2024/25

[Continuation thereof]

Hon. Jarion Richardson : Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And again, we thank the Honourable Minister for his offer, again mindful that if we would have gotten it
earlier it would have been much more appreciated. To
that end, Mr. Chairman, the ministerial brief provides
the justifi cation for these spends as outlined in the
Budget Book, or the estimates, as well as how the
money is spent and why the money is spent.
To that end, I will decline the offer so that I can
hear the brief and put questions to the Minister in the
customary fashion.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Opposition Leader.
Honourable Minister, you may proceed with
your brief.
1012 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly For the benefit of the listening audience, the
House has resumed. We are now in Committee of Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2024/25.
The Honourable Minister of Economy and Labour and [Department of] Immigration, Jason P. Hayward, shall give his brief now.
Minister, please proceed.

Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, I have moved
the following heads: 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99.
Mr. Chairman, the revenue and expenditure for
those particular heads has been set out in the Budget Book. The Budget Book has been out for weeks. And I
am appalled that the Opposition has no questions as it
pertains to the Budget Book that has been out. I am
even more concerned that the—

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Point of order. That is a misleading statement. The Honourable Minister is misleading the House.

Please proceed, Minister.

Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, when we provide
lengthy briefs and there is little opportunity for ques-tions, we are criticised. When we give full opportunity
for questions to be asked and to engage in a fulsome debate, we are criticised.
Mr. Chairman, I will proceed with reading [the
brief for] Head 44, which is the Ministry Headquarters.

HEAD 44 —ECONOMY AND LABOUR
MINISTRY HEADQUARTERS

Hon. Jason Hayward: The revenue and expenditure
are set out, so I will discuss the plans for the upcoming
year.
Mr. Chairman, in the upcoming fiscal year
2024/25 the Ministry is set up to deliver on further strategy and Throne Speech initiatives that advance this
Government’s agenda to improve the lives of the people of Bermuda with our vision at heart. Of all that the
Ministry does, our priority is to drive economic growth
and job creation. The Economic Development Strategy
will be a major driving force behind our initiatives. The
strategy aims to move beyond just increasing GDP to
maintaining high employment rates and improving the
range of well -remunerated jobs. Its five strategic priorities are as follows:
1. local and international retention and expansion;
2. business attraction and investment promotion;
3. entrepreneurship and small -business development;
4. continued execution of the Economic Recovery Plan; and
5. investing in people.
Mr. Chairman, accordingly, during this year the
Ministry will bring amendments to the Immigration and Protection Act 1956 to drive in the Economic Development Strategy. I expect to shortly bring to this Honour-able House a position paper on Retaining Bermuda’s
Workforce, which will outline proposals to retain our local workforce by
• continuing to strengthen labour protections;
• ensuring Bermudians studying abroad return
home to reside and work upon completion of
their professional development;
• investigate the extent and causes of Bermuda
emigration from the Island;
• review residency eligibility requirements; and
• encourage the retention of older Bermudians in
the workforce.
In addition, the Ministry will continue to advance its family office framework to encourage family


Bermuda House of Assembly offices to establish and maintain operations in Bermuda, create and support the demands for jobs and
professional services, and invest in companies and
property on the Island.
Family offices manage family assets such as
securities and investment funds, real estate holdings,
tax matters and estate management. They also serve
as the central hub for a family’s legacy, governance and
succession, and support the education and development of family members. The family office framework
with developing consultation with stakeholders, and I was pleased to table that framework in the House this
morning.
Further, Mr. Chairman, the Ministry is committed to driving continued improvements in all of its departments —in particular, immigration digitisation as a
priority with an active enhancement on the way. This
will be essential to eliminate backlogs and impr ove customer service. The work permit policy is being updated
and will be finalised shortly. Likewise, compliance monitoring on immigration matters is a priority where we an-ticipate measures to improve in the upcoming year. I
will speak on these matters specifically under that
head.
Mr. Chairman, I want to end my presentation
by thanking the staff of the Ministry Headquarters including the previous Permanent Secretary, Ms. Pandora Glasford, who were all instrumental in the delivery and the extensive reform and legislative agenda of my
Ministry. The Ministry of Economy and Labour has a
small but excellent team of professionals, and our achievements this past year are a testament of their
hard work.
Mr. Chairman, that ends my presentation on
Head 44, Ministry Headquarters. Mr. Chairman, I will
welcome any questions as it pertains to Head 44, Ministry Headquarters.

For the benefit of the listening audience, the Minister, the Honourable Jason P. Hayward,
has finished his brief on Head 44, Ministry Headquarters.
The Chair now recognises the Opposition
Leader.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes, thank you.
The Honourable Minister moved more than
Head 44, so I will wait until he finishes his briefs on the other heads he moved. Thank you.

Minister.

HEAD 14 —STATISTICS

Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, I will move on to
Head 14, Department of Statistics, and that can be
found on pages B -179 through B -182, and page C -13
of the Budget Book. Mr. Chairman, the revenue and expenditure
are clearly set out in the Budget Book, so I will discuss the plans for the upcoming year. The department will
conduct the necessary surveys and collect administrative data to produce the following core publications in the upcoming fiscal year 2024/25:
• monthly, the Retail Sales Index and Consumer
Price Index;
• quarterly, the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position and Gross Domestic Product by Expenditure;
• semi -annually, Labour Force Survey;
• annually,
o The Bermuda Digest of Statistics
o Bermuda Job Market
o Employment briefs
o Employment survey tabulations
o Annual Gross Domestic Product
o Information, Communication and Technology Profile
o Environmental Statistics Compen-dium; and
o Tourism Satellite Account Report.
Additionally, we will engage in the ad hoc Household Income and Expenditure Survey.
Mr. Chairman, the department is committed to
leveraging technology to automate processes to im-prove the quality and timeliness of reporting. We expect
to bring our publications up to date by the second quar-ter of fiscal year 2024/25. Mr. Chairman, the department conducts ad hoc surveys, provides survey samples and undertakes in- depth research and analysis of
data. In addition, the department provides fiscal advice
and professional consultancy in the collection, processing and analysis of data for government departments.
Mr. Chairman, the department will engage in
activities such as processing and providing trade statistics, fulfilling statistical data requests from local and
international organisations, and making presentations
to internal and external stakeholders.
Mr. Chairman, let me take this opportunity to
acknowledge and thank the hard- working staff of the
Department of Statistics, led by the Director, Melinda Williams, and her support staff for their continued commitment.
Mr. Chairman, that ends my presentation for
Head 14, Department of Statistics, and I welcome any questions from the Opposition Leader.

Minister, please proceed with your
heads.
1014 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly HEAD 27 —DEPARTM ENT OF IMMIGRATION

Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, my next head is
Head 27, Immigration.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Jason Hayward: During fiscal year 2024/25, the
department will
• enhance the payment gateway for fees;
• improve all immigration processes to be more
effective and efficient so as to eliminate the
backlog of applications. Should it occur again,
it will immediately be managed;
• enhance the Compliance section so that they
can carry out duties in accordance with the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956;
• implement a digitisation system that automates
the application process for all applications
which are submitted to the department. A request for information will be published shortly
with the expectation that the new system will be brought online in phases within the 2024/25
budget year, beginning with work permit appli-cations.
Mr. Chairman, in conclusion I would like to
thank the dedicated members of staff at the department of Immigration. I would like to thank the Immigration team under the leadership of Dr. Danette Ming, Chief
Immigration Officer; and Ms. Marita Grimes, Assist ant
Immigration Officer; together with Ms. Lauren Sadler -
Best of the Attorney General’s Chambers; the Information and Digital Technology Department, led by Mr.
Daron Raynor; and the Immigration Appeals Tribunal, headed by Mr. Charles Richardson. Finally, I would
also like to thank Ms. Tionea Effs, Ms. Kelly Perinchief -
Burgess, Ms. Nekia Richardson, Ms. Ashleigh Lambert
and their respective teams, as well as the Collector of
Customs, Ms. Lucinda Pearman and her airport team
for administering the airport border control on behalf of
Immigration.
Mr. Chairman, that ends my presentation for
Head 27, the Department of Immigration. And I welcome the Opposition Leader to ask any questions on
that head.

Minister, you may proceed.

HEAD 60 —DEPARTMENT OF WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, the next head is
Head 60, which is the Department of Workforce Development found on pages B -188 through B -193, and
page C -19 of the Budget Book.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, as we look forward to the upcoming fiscal year and beyond, the Work-force Development Department’s objectives for the fiscal period 2024/25 can be found on page B -188 and
read as follows:
• Provide Support for the newly formed National
Certification and Apprenticeship Board.
• Expand Apprenticeship Training Programmes
to include high demand occupations.
• Create Occupational profiles and career pathways for current and future tech careers.
• Increase engagement and communication with
Bermuda’s Youth.
• Execution of Personal Employment Plans.
In the upcoming 2024/25 fiscal period, the Department of Workforce Development is poised to implement a strategy to bolster its impact on Workforce Development. The plans include an enhancement of summer employment programmes [which are] providing valuable work experience for aspiring individuals entering the job market. Additionally, a proactive stakeholder engagement initiative will be launched specifically targeting clients with personal employment plans to refine
and elevate their workplace skills. The department is
committed to expanding apprentice opportunities fos-tering skills development in designated trades and
streamlining processes for national certification.
A renewed partnership with the ILO [International Labour Organization] is on the horizon, focusing
on expanding opportunities with the blue and green economies. Furthermore, the department is exploring
innovative micro -courses designed to offer efficient and
targeted career certification pathways in various trades,
ensuring a nimble response to the evolving needs of
the workforce in Bermuda. These initiatives will collectively reflect our commitment to nurturing a skilled,
adaptable and future- ready workfor ce.
Mr. Chairman, that ends my presentation on
Head 60, Department of Workforce Development. And I welcome the Opposition Leader to ask any questions
on that head.

For the benefit of the listening audience and Honourable Members, we are now in Committee of Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2024/25. Honourable Minister Jason P. Hayward is giving his presentation on the heads under his Ministry.
Today is the last day of the Budget Debate. The first half of the Budget Debate is dedicated to the Ministry of Economy and Labour. The second half of the Budget
Debate is dedicated toward Transport.
Minister, you may proceed.

Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, first I want to
start off by thanking the team within the Economic Development Department [EDD] for all of their hard work.
The Economic Development Department has a number of business units which are outlined in the Budget
Book, and they ar e responsible for driving the economic development initiatives of the Ministry of Economy and Labour and the Government.
The mandate of EDD is To advance the sustainable growth, development and diversification of Bermuda’s economy. It does so by
• facilitating, creating and implementing policies
to support the Bermuda Economic Development Strategy 2023 –2027;
• in collaboration with stakeholders, positioning
Bermuda as an ideal test market for innovative
product and industry development;
• analysing innovative developments and trends through research and stakeholder engagement;
• identifying the jurisdiction’s market fit, clearly
communicating its message and driving opportunities that lead to economic activity;
• processing various land licences and Incentives for Job Makers applications in a timely,
efficient and professional manner;
• facilitating opportunities for technology education, mentoring and training, and supporting eentrepreneurship; and
• helping create a more attractive regulatory environment for business and enhanced communications between the Government of Ber-muda and the private sector.
Under programme 9404, Research and Legislative Support; under programme, 9403, Analysis and Policy Support; under programme 9405, Concierge and
Engagement Services. Mr. Chairman, the department is also responsible for two significant grants, those being grants provided through the Economic Development Corporation,
which can be found on page C -19 of the Budget Book;
and grants provided through the Bermuda Business
Development Agency.
Mr. Chairman, the BEDC’s [Bermuda Economic Development Corporation’s] plans for the up-coming year: The BEDC plans to focus on critical projects and initiatives in 2024/25 in support of the Economic Development Strategy to provide further benefit and posit ive impact economically in Bermuda. The
BEDC has undergone significant changes in the last
few years, providing business development services to
Bermuda’s entrepreneurs and economic development
services to specific geographic locations. As such, it requires a robust and innovative strategic plan to guide its activities and the next phase of evolution over the
coming years.
The BEDC has come to the end of its current
strategic plan and will be engaging an appropriately
qualified consultancy to assist in developing its new
strategic plan. Entrepreneurship is among the most important drivers of job creation and economic growth. It
is critical for developing a vibrant formal small - and medium -sized business sector. A proactive role for any
Government is supporting entrepreneurship in a sys-tematic approach.
In 2023, the Government of Bermuda released
the Economic Development Strategy to build a diverse and sustainable economy that will enhance the quality
of life for Bermuda’s residents. One of the five strategic
priorities in this effort is entrepreneurship and small -
business development. The BEDC will engage a consultant to assist in developing Bermuda’s first National
Entrepreneurship Strategy.
Work has concluded on the research of the legislative framework to underpin the development of a cooperative legislative policy document which is now being revised and updated after being vetted twice by key
industry stakeholders and the International Lab our Organization. The next phase is now to move policy to
legislation. The BEDC has partnered with Ignite Bermuda to develop programmes and products to address
the additional support, skills -based training and mindset development needed around financial li teracy. This
joint effort aims to develop the necessary support without duplicating existing solutions. The outcomes will
provide an outline of a step -by-step guidance to grow
the percentage of financially literate entrepreneurial
leaders so that they can take full advantage of the products available to them through the BEDC and Ignite
Bermuda.
The overarching goal of the Commercial Kitchens Programme [CKP] is to provide interested entrepreneurs with an affordable, quality work environment
to support their business start -up or expansion and at
the same time provide commercial kitchen owners with
facility income that they would otherwise not receive.
1016 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Since the programme’s launch in 2022, BEDC has
been successful in matching foodpreneurs with available commercial kitchens, and in renting and subleasing
commercial kitchens it has invested in. Despite this, demand greatly outstrips supply of available and suitable
kitchens. As such, BEDC has partnered with the Bermuda College to expand available kitchens by investing
in and building two commercial kitchens to support up
to eight foodpreneurs. It is anticipated that these kitchens will come online in 2024/25.
This concludes my presentation of the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation.

Bermuda Business Development Agency
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, the other organisation that receives a grant from the Bermuda Government is the Business Development Agency. The Business Development Agency is critical to the economic
growth and development of Bermuda. Mr. Chairman, in
2023/24 the Bermuda pursued targeted business de-velopment opportunities around the world across five
key industries strategically aligned with the Economic
Recovery Plan to create economic growth, increase inward investment and create jobs.
The five key industries are (1) risk and insurance; (2) services of high net worth including the economic investment residential certificate; (3) client resolutions and asset management; (4) technology; and
(5) infrastructure. In various ways these indust ries directly related to economic growth locally. They support economic diversification by creating jobs; they support
expanding Bermuda’s population by boosting the working population; and they often support sustainable green recovery policies and/or regulatory frameworks
for technology innovation as outlined in the Economic Recovery Plan.
Mr. Chairman, to ensure the BDA delivers on
its core mission, it continues to enhance and review its operational systems and frameworks. As a result of
this, which was championed by the BDA Board of eight
volunteer directors and endorsed by the Ministry of
Economy and Labour, the Speech from the Throne announced that the BDA has begun a strategy to begin becoming a best -in-class investment promotion
agency.
Mr. Chairman, the BDA has also been busy organising signature on Island events. And they are highlighting Bermuda’s competitive strengths, and in doing
so held three signature events: the second Annual Ber-muda Risk Summit, the second Annual Bermuda Climate Summit and the fifth Annual Bermuda Tax Summit. The immediate economic impact of these events,
including lodging, transportation, food and beverage,
retail and recreation, was estimated at $3.2 million and
supported 686 local jobs. Far more significant ar e the
long-term economic benefits of the business deals written at and around the events. In addition to BDA’s own signature events, it
supported numerous in- person on Island conferences
relevant to five key industries. [The conferences were
as follows:] Legal Week; Global Elite Private Client Exchange Bermuda; Transcontinental Trusts Interna-tional Forum Bermuda; the World Federation of Exchanges Annual Meeting; Bermuda International LongTerm Insurance and Reinsurance conference; Bermuda Captives Conference; ILS Convergence and Insurance Risk Capital Bermuda conference; and STEP
Bermuda Conference.
Mr. Chairman, in the current period, the BDA
will be transitioning to an investment promotion agency.
There has never been as much global competition for
the estimated $727 billion in foreign direct investment
flowing worldwide. Thousands of investment promotion
agencies represent every country, region and city in the world, all fighting for the same slice of the global economic pie. As a result of this fi erce competition, the
BDA looks forward to refocusing its priorities and growing from strength to strength as a best -in-practice IPA
[investment promotion agency] in 2024 to deliver even more for our valued stakeholders in Bermuda.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 11- strong BDA team who have
worked tirelessly to assist with breathing life back into our economy evidenced by an estimated 2.3 per cent
growth in GDP year over year after adjustment for inflation. Mr. Chairman, I would also like to thank the
team at the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation for the work that they have undertaken.
Mr. Chairman, that ends my presentation for
Head 94, Economic Development Department. And if the Opposition Leader has any questions ready to go,
he can present them at this time.

Minister, I believe you have one more
head.

HEAD 99 —DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR

Hon. Jason Hayward: Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman.
I am pleased to present the budget for Head
99, Headquarters of the Ministry of Economy and Labour [sic] found on pages B -198 through B -200, and
page C -13. And that should be the Department of Labour, Mr. Chairman.


Bermuda House of Assembly The mandate of the Department of Labour is
To provide services to support and foster positive employment relations and harmonious industrial relations
within Bermuda in alignment with international best
practices. Mr. Chairman, the department has a current
establishment of 10 full -time equivalents [FTEs], which
consist of the Director of Labour, a Labour Relations
Manager, Office Manager, three Labour Relations Officers, three Labour Inspectors and a Tribunal Admin istrative Assistant.
The department continues to offer seminars,
workshops and presentations to employers, workers
groups and individuals in an effort to broaden the understanding of good employment practices and harmonious industrial relations. Additionally, with the enhancement of the minimum hourly wage rate and the
amendments to the Employment Act 2000 regarding the protection of employee tips and other gratuities
which [took] effect on the 1
st of March 2024, the department will expand its campaign to educate the public on
any new and revised legislation with the specific aim of
reducing employment - and labour -related complaints,
ensuring that parties feel supported and enhancing
workers’ rights.
The department will continue to liaise with and
provide support to the Wage Commission in its pursuit
to recommend a living wage for the people of Bermuda.
Additionally, the department will continue to evaluate
the effects that the recent legislative amendments are
having on the working population and keep abreast of
international best practices to ensure that the relevant national legislation is up to date and keeps the advancement and protection of employee rights at the focus. The department will contin ue its close relationship
with stakeholders, employer groups, the unions and relevant government departments to ensure continued
collaboration for the enhancement of amicable industrial relations among employees, employers and their
respective representati ves.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the
Acting Director, the staff, the Department of Labour and
the members of the Employment and Labour Relations
Tribunal. I thank them for providing excellent service to
the people of Bermuda for continuing t o deliver in accordance with their mandate on the less -than- ideal circumstances at times, and for their commitment to ensuring that the employment and labour legislation that
is a fundamental component of our society is maintained. Their professionalism and dedication have been
unwavering and very much appreciated.
Mr. Chairman, this now concludes my budget
presentation for Head 99, the Department of Labour.
Mr. Chairman, in summary closing, the Ministry
of Economy and Labour, on an annual basis without
any statutory responsibility, puts out an annual report
which highlights all of the work that each and every de-partment underneath the Ministry of Economy and Labour actually executes within the fiscal period. I would
like to thank the staff of the Ministry of Economy and Labour, the staff of all of the departments under the Department of Economy and Labour and the staff within the quangos, who do an excellent job in executing on
the Ministry’s mandate, but [also] the mandate of the Minister, which is to ensure that there is economic
growth, economic development and the expansion of
jobs.
When we start to talk about performance
measures, if this Ministry is responsible for economic
growth, economic development and the expansion of
jobs, we can certainly tick those boxes. We have seen economic growth, we have seen economic development and we continue to see the expansion of jobs.
Those are the outcomes that matter to the country.
Those are the outcomes that ensure that we have a
sustainable economy for the future. Those are the outcomes that mean our money is actually well spent, Mr. Chairman. And as a result of that, I want to thank each
and every one who has contributed to the success of
the economic growth, economic development and the
expansion of jobs in Bermuda.
Thank you. And I will now hand it over to the
Opposition Leader to ask his questions.

One minute, Opposition Leader.
For the benefit of the listening audience, Minister Jason P. Hayward of Economy and Labour (and [the
Department of] Immigration) has concluded his heads. And he has given thanks to those civil servants who
have worked so hard to do the best for Bermuda.
The debate will now be turned over to questions from the Opposition Leader.
Please proceed, Opposition Leader.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I
thank the Honourable Minister for his briefings on
Heads 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99.
Mr. Chairman, how much time do we have, for
the record? How much time do I have left in the debate?

For the benefit of the listening audience, this debate began at 10:55 am. We had a five -
minute break. So your maths, Berkeley maths, tells me
that that is almost three hours.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you. Thank you very
much, Mr. Chairman. And I again thank the Honourable Minister.
I will start on Head 44, specifically on page B -
178 relating to the Performance Measures. Mr. Chair-man, we note that the Labour Relations section has indeed fallen away, leaving two performance measures,
one for business unit 54060, Administration, and on e
for business unit 54210, Immigration Appeals Tribunal.
My question relates to the activities that we are anticipating under the heads this year and specifically for
business unit 54060, Administration. We are discontinuing the performance measurement of accomplishing
the Throne Speech initiatives. So before, we had an
1018 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly original forecast of accomplishing five Throne Speech
initiatives. And it was revised in 2023/24 to, again, five.
Our target outcome for this administrative department
to accomplish Throne Speech initiatives has been discontinued, so it is no longer there. It is a zero.
My question therefore to the Honourable Minister is, we are seeing a 40 per cent increase in funding
to business unit 54060 despite their losing one of three performance measures and activities. That 40 per cent
increase of course can be outlined on page B -176 under the General Summary wherein we are seeing an
increase, an original estimate in 2023/24 of $847,000,
which was revised. That is, one was spending
$886,000. There is an additional $329,000, which is
39 per cent (rounded up to 40). So we have an estimated spend for this fiscal period coming up in 2024/25 of $1,176,000. So, again, an increase of 40 per cent in
funding, but, in fact, a decrease of a third of our performance activities.
I would like the Honourable Minister to speak
on what this specific business unit will be undertaking
this fiscal year. What will the additional spending be allocated toward? Thank you.

[Pause]

Okay. Thank you, Minister.
For the benefit of the listening audience, once
again I want to give some time clarity. This debate offi-cially started at 10:55 am. We had a five- minute break
to get some clarity and direction from the Speaker. That means we are going to go until 12:30 and break for
lunch. We will come back at two o’clock, and this debate would have two and a half more hours after that.
So for clarity, this debate officially ends at 4:30 pm.
Opposition Leader, you may proceed.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My next question relates to . . . let us see.
Okay. Again, going back to business unit 54060, Ad-ministration, what we have is an interesting increase
under Subjective Analysis of Current Account Esti-mates on page B -177, specifically the line item Advertising and Promotion. Now, this is interesting because
it is an increase of —and listen to this percentage; I
found this percentage quite interesting. The percentage
is 1,614. That is, 1,614 per cent increase in funding for
Advertising and Promotion relating t o Head 44, Ministry
of Economy and Labour HQ. And again this is under the Subjective Analysis of Current Account Expenditure. So, Advertising and Promotion under this head
in 2022/23 actual was actually zero funds were spent.
When we go into 2023/24 it was requested and approved by this Honourable House that $7,000 be spent
in that Ministry under that department for advertising and promotion. Now, $5,000 of that was actually spent,
that being under the revised for 2023/24 again under
page B -177. And then we go into this year’s request, or
this year’s estimate, for 2024/25 of $120,000 being spent on advertising and promotion. This is an increase
of $113,000, or again an increase of 1,614 per cent.
Now, what makes this specific number so interesting, Mr. Chairman, is that we are seeing across the board a decrease in Advertising and Promotion. So
mindful, for example, under Head 14, Department of
Statistics, going into the Household Expenditure Survey and census year, under page B -180, we are seeing
Advertising and Promotion under Head 14, Department
of Statistics, who arguably will need quite a lot of funding for this work this year, going from 2023/24 they had
$12,000 and they only spent $7,000 of t hat. But this
year under 2024/25, again on page B -180, the Department of Statistics, again conducting Household Expenditure Survey and a number of other projects, is
down to zero for Advertising and Promotion. So in fact
they have been totally defunded for Advertising and
Promotion.
So, when you see this massive increase in the
HQ, but you see the defunding across the Ministry, the
question comes, Why are we doing it this way, given
that year on year it has always been possible for the
individual heads and/or departments to undertake the
line items under the Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates?
Another great example of this line item in the
Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates includes things like salaries, wages, training, communications, advertising and promotion, professional services, rentals, repair maintenance, energy, these sorts
of things. So it was interesting to see one of those line
items defunded to the point of zero, but again an increase of 1,614 per cent going into the head. So one of
the key questions here will be, Is this in fact a transfer? So earlier I asked, Why wo uld the increase take place?
And it may appear to be a transfer that is moving funds
around departments. So it will be interesting to hear
what the Minister has to say to that question. It would
be certainly great.
Also, staying with Head 44 under Performance
Measures, again, Mr. Chairman, on page B -178, I note
under business unit 54210, Immigration Appeals Tribunal. We spoke a little earlier about the continuity or a
number of performance measures and activities be ing
discontinued in this year’s Budget Book, Mr. Chairman.
And under this business unit we see two of four performance measures in fact being discontinued. So my
question would be, Why would we discontinue two of
these four whilst maintaining the exact sam e amount of
funding?


Bermuda House of Assembly And you will note, Mr. Chairman, that under this
head and business unit 54210, Immigration Appeals
Tribunal, $25,000 had been allocated last year, and
that had been spent. And this year, 2024/25, the estimate is $25,000. So we are maintaining the exact amount of funding, but we have what appears to be a
reduction in the amount of performance expectations
for this unit, which is Immigration Appeals Tribunal.
So I would [ask] the Minister to explain why we
are reducing the amount of work, apparently, they will
be doing in the Budget Book, but maintaining the same level of funding. (That is that one.)
Mr. Chairman, my next question relates to the
Labour Relations section, which has been transferred from Head 44 and has become . . . so it has been transferred from being a business unit under Head 44. So the business unit is 54200 titled Labour Relations sec-tion. And it has been transferred to Head 99, Department of Labour, retaining its business unit designation
of 54200. Now, I looked over some of the previous debates. And it had come up in another place that the Im-migration Appeals Tribunal had in fact not been meeting for a few years. And that was raised during the
Budget Debate in the other place. And it had actually
come to light that —

Hon. Jason Hayward: Point of order.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Mm-hmm.

Do you have a point of order, Minister?

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. Jason Hayward: Yes. I think the Honourable
[Member] is inadvertently misleading the House as it pertains to the Immigration Appeals Tribunal. The Immigration Appeals Tribunal meets on an ad hoc basis
as it pertains to appeals that have been submitted. If
there are no appeals for the Immigration Appeals Tribunal to adjudicate, then that board does not regularly
meet. So it is not fair to say that the board has not been
meeting. The board has not had appeals to consider to adjudicate. And that is a result of the lack of me etings.
In order to provide clarity as to why that unit is
still being funded as well, I should share, Mr. Chairman, that they only get paid as they meet. So if there is no
meeting, then they do not get paid. And we cannot anticipate how many matters will go in f ront of the Immigration Appeals Tribunal on an annual basis as a result,
notwithstanding we have taken out the Performance
Measures. That is why we have maintained the funding. But I do not want the general public or anybody
else to believe that that board sits dormant.

Thank you, Honourable Minister.
Opposition Leader, you may proceed.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes. Thank you.
I think I have to push back or at least get some
clarity from the Minister because we do have a Hansard
[report for] 19 March 2021, that is Hansard [page] 1051,
and Hansard [page] 733 of 11 March 2022, that said multiple appeals were in the backlog. And at that time,
again under business unit 54210 —

Hon. Jason Hayward: Point of order.

Minister, proceed with your point of order.

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]
Hon. Jason Hayward: We are now in fiscal period . . .
moving into fiscal period 2024/25. And the Member is
referring to Hansards from 2022. I would think the better question would be for him to ascertain what levels
of appeals are outstanding so that he can be provided
with clarity. There is no huge backlog of appeals. And
it would be incorrect to put that notion out there in the
public that that is the case.

Thank you, Minister.
Opposition Leader, you may proceed.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes. Thank you.
Moving on with that question, and this relates
to the 2023/24 and 2024/25 years, again $25,000 is be-ing anticipated. It would be great to get some clarification, because it was raised in the debate in the other place in the 2023/24 year that appeals may be published (and this was reflected in the Hansards as well),
understanding from our records which indicate that decisions of the tribunal have not been published since
2015, though the 2016 and 2017 records of those appeals in tribunals are now ready to be published, or certainly they were in 2023/24. So one of my questions to
the Honourable Minister would be, When do we anticipate publishing on the proper website the appeals from
2016 and 2017, as well as any appeals from that time—
that is, 2017 up until 2023 (I believe would be available)?
And again, because we did have that incredible
backlog, which has, according to the Minister, been cleared and—

Hon. Jason Hayward: Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

You have a point of order, Minister?

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. Jason Hayward: I question the relevance of that
to the funding of the tribunal. If the Member can tie that
in to how that is applicable to the fiscal allocation that
1020 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly they have received in this upcoming period that would
be greatly appreciated.

Well, Minister, let me just take some
liberty and say that this is the Opposition’s debate. So
they have the liberty for a little bit of preamble. I am
assuming that this is what the Opposition Leader was
doing.
[Laughter and inaudible interjections]

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes. I thank the Minister.
I would note under Head 44, Ministry of Economy and Labour HQ under page B -178 that Performance Measures are outlined. So what I am speaking
to is a performance measure that is in fact an expectation as outlined and, by the way, discussed in previous Hansards. But we are not seeing it here again under
Performance Measures on page B -178. So given that
there is an expenditure of some $25,000 and there is a
performance that we are missing, then my question to the Minister would be, When do we anticipate that p erformance being fulfilled?
Moving on, Mr. Chairman. My question would
also relate to the $25,000 obviously being allocated to this. If the Honourable Minister would be able to speak
to how long . . . Obviously the Budget Book reflects the
2022 to 2025 (sort of) fiscal periods. And during that
time in 2022/23, on page B -176 it shows under General
Summary that the Immigration Appeals Tribunal did not
spend any money. This would seem to indicate that they had in fact therefore not met. So during that time
period, it has been said in another place that the Minister has been taking the decisions of the Immigration Appeals Tribunal.
My question would therefore be —
Hon. Jason Hayward: Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you for your point of order.
Opposition Leader, you now have the floor
again.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you.
I do appreciate that because it was said in another place in response to questions from one of the
Members to a Government Member that Minister Hayward handles all appeals at this time. So it is good that
he clarified that that person was incorrect when they
said that.

Hon. Jason Hayward: Point of order.

Proceed, Minister.

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. Jason Hayward: I think the individual is inadvertently misleading the House now.
Underneath the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act there are a number of appeals —some appeals which the Minister has authority to adjudicate,
and there are others which go to the Immigration Appeals Tribunal that the Minister does not have authority
to adjudicate. Those which I have the authority to adjudicate, I provide the decisions on those particular ap-peals. Those which I do not have the authority to adjudicate go to the respective body.

Thank you for the excellent clarification, Minister.
Opposition Leader, you now have the floor
again.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes. Thank you. And I thank
the Honourable Minister for that clarification.
So, moving on with the Immigration Appeals
Tribunal, the tribunal now being active, we have seen
that comment in the other place that the Honourable
Minister has recently appointed a new board. It will then
assist the Minister with special projects, et ce tera. And
I checked the website, and there is a list of names. And
the PATI request has been updated as of December
2023.
So given the tribunal is now active, my question
to the Minister is, Why go from $122,000 for that tribunal to $25,000 for this now new active tribunal? And my
further question is, When will this new tribunal start
meeting?

Hon. Jason Hayward: Point of order.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Mm-hmm.

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, I think that the
Member is inadvertently misleading the House. The Member is referring to the Immigration Board, which is
different from the Immigration Appeals Tribunal.


Bermuda House of Assembly Those are two separate entities. The funding
which he has spoken about is not the funding allocation
for the Immigration Appeals Tribunal, but actually the
funding allocation for the Immigration Board, which is
found underneath the head for the Department of Immigration. There are two separate boards. One is an
advisory board which is the Immigration Board, and the
other is the Immigration Appeals Tribunal which has
statutory responsibility for adjudicating matters which is
outlined under the Immigration and Protection Act for
that particular board.

Thank you.
I might give a slight bit of advice, Opposition
Leader, just for the listening audience so they are following, give the line items so there is no conflation.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you. Thank you.
But I do push back on the Honourable Minister’s point because this source material was taken from a debate that was dealing with the Immigration Appeals Tribunal. So with that being said, I am happy to move
on. But what I would like to say is when . . . Well, I will
skip that one.
I tell you what. I move on to one that is actually
quite interesting for me, Mr. Chairman. Again on busi-ness unit 54200, moving back to Labour Relations . . .
this is where I encourage everyone to read the Government’s Budget because it actually can be quite difficult
to wrap your head around some of this. Now, this business unit has shifted to Head 99, which removes $1,176,000 from Head 44. This is clearly seen on page
B-176, again under Labour Relations business unit
54200. This gives the Ministry in its summation a difference or a drop of 41 per cent in expenditure.
But, Mr. Chairman, if you go to page B -199 under the new Head 99, we actually see that this unit that
has been moved over and transitioned into a whole department has now become . . . the funding is now
$1,272,000. So it is actually a net increase of $96, 000.
So it is just an interesting point that you can see how
these numbers work. So I have a question relating to
this.
So to the Honourable Minister, on page B -175
of the Budget Book, and if you are looking it is the sum-mations relating or the aggregates relating to total expenditure and revenue for the Ministry. And you will see
under Head 44, Ministry of Economy and Labour Headquarters, that it is a decrease. It shows a decrease of
41 per cent, or a drop in expenditure of 41 per cent for
that head. But there is not a matching book entry that
is an increase to Head 99, Department of Labour,
$1,272,000.
In other words, we should be seeing, at least if
I remember Mrs. Parsons’s Bermuda College lesson,
right? There should be a reflection of not zero per cent. If you lose 41 per cent here and you move that money over to another head, then there should be a commensurate increase in that head. So instead it says zero per
cent instead of 100 per cent increase.
So to that end, my question to the Minister —

Hon. Jason Hayward: Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

Proceed, Minister.

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. Jason Hayward: With no offence to the great
Mrs. Parsons of Bermuda College, 100 per cent increase of zero is what?

[Inaudible interjections and laughter]

Hon. Jason Hayward: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am always interested in how we have this sort
of interesting banter around here.

It is called interlopers.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Interlopers.

[Laughter]

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes. I am glad that we do
not run businesses this way.
[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Jarion Richardson: No thank you, Mr. De Silva.
In 2023/24, obviously the Department of Labour did not exist. And then in 2024/25, we are seeing
again this $1,272,000. Just to point out that when you
see a transfer, it is actually quite deceptive and you really, really have to look at this Budget Book.
So with that being said, Mr. Chairman, I will by
your leave move on to questions for Head 14.

Please proceed, Opposition Leader.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Now, during the Honourable Minister’s invitation to accept questions prior to his briefing, I had declined them based on the briefing providing certain justifications on how and why the funds are being spent. I
would be interested to hear . . . the Honour able Minister
in last year’s budget briefing for Head 14 outlined . . .
so for example under General Summary, which is on
pages B -179 and B -180. This deals with, by the way,
fluctuations in expenditure. So there are a lot of num-bers on these pages obviousl y, and there are various
1022 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly business units that say how much money has been requested or allocated and fluctuations in that compared to the previous year.
I was looking for how and why those fluctuations had taken place. So my first question to the Min-ister is could he outline the how and why of the fluctuation including the how and why of the actual estimate
request? (And I will just mark that. I will mark those.)
Also last year the Minister put forth a number
of explanations relating to the spends that we see in the 2023/24 revised, that is, again, in the Budget Book un-der Head 14, Department of Statistics on page B -179.
And again the ministerial brief provided what those spends were for, specifically under headings Major Achievements, Capital Expenditure, Manpower and Performance. So before I leap into the questions relat-ing to Head 14 specific to the Budget Book, I was won-dering if the Minister could speak to, aga in, the how and
why under the General Summary, that being alloca-tions of funding including fluctuations, and then the ma-jor achievements, capital expenditure, manpower and performance.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, I invite the Opposition Leader to continue with his questions.

Opposition Leader, you have been
given the floor to continue your questions.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you very much.
So with that being said, I will continue on Head
14, mindful of those questions that I asked (thank you very much). So we have under . . . by the way, this
question picks up from a debate that the Minister and I
engaged in in [during the] 2023/24 Budget D ebate under Department Objectives, specifically on page B -179.
It reads that one of the Department Objectives is “Ensure the collection, compilation and production of sta-tistical outputs are based on the most current international statistical methodologies, standards and best
practices, by using data quality frameworks by March 2025.”
Now, the date is what drew my attention because in
1Hansard on page 756, I had asked the Minister about the specifications for that international
standard. That is, Which standard is it? How far do we
have to achieve compliance?, those sorts of things. And the Minister helpfully pointed out that “international organisations continuously revise the methodology on how statistics should be calculated. And so, for exam-ple, the System of National Accounts —if you were to
google it, you would see that if you looked at the man-uals, they revise the manuals every so often.”
So it was a point of curiosity as to why this year
the department added March [20]25 as a deadline to achieve compliance with a standard that the Minister

1 Official Hansard Report 11 March 2022 said fluctuates so much that you do not put a deadline to it. So that is one question.
I am just marking these off, by the way, so I
know to follow up with them again, Mr. Chairman. Sorry for the delay.

For the benefit of the listening audience and Honourable Members, we are in debate. This
debate is four hours long, and it started at 10:55 with a break at 11:00. We are going to be going to lunch at 12:30, which is in another 15 minutes.
Please proceed, Honourable Opposition
Leader.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you very much, Mr.
Chairman.
Moving on into the General Summary again for
Head 14, Department of Statistics, we are on page B -
179 under General Summary. My question relates to business unit 24055, Census and Survey Res. [Resi-dential] unit. This question relates to originally esti-mate d to spend $555,000. So looking at the column
headed 2023/24 original, the Minister had asked for
(and obviously the House approved) an expenditure of
$555,000. But only $341,000 had in fact been spent. So my question to the Minister is, Would he please ex-plain why only that much was spent, especially given that we are going to allocate another $555,000 in this fiscal year, Mr. Chairman? And we obviously did not
spend it last time. I definitely want to know if this has
anything to do with the delay in the conduct of the cen-sus.
Obviously, Mr. Chairman, it goes without question that the census is crucial —

Hon. Jason Hayward: Point of order.

Proceed, Honourable Opposition
Leader.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes. Thank you.
So this is a great question because it relates
specifically to the performances that we are anticipating here. The census, when are we anticipating the com-pletion of the census? That is a great one.



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Opposition Leader, I invite you to continue your questions. We have 10 minutes until lunch.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Sure. Okay. Perfect.
I also note under business unit 24065, Household Expenditure Survey, again still on page B -179, Mr.
Chairman, requesting clarification here, I see in 2023 (the column headed 2023) that being the last fiscal period, that zero dollars were requested or allocated for
Household Expenditure Survey for that business unit,
although eventually some $185,000 were spent. So my question to the Minister is, What was that spent on?
And then secondly, I note that this year the request is for $148,000. And again given that there was no original request in the last fiscal period, but there
was in fact money spent (again $185,000), then there
is a request this year of $148,000. If the Mi nister could
explain that fluctuation in funding and what that allocation was already spent on and what he is anticipating
the spend to be made for the $148,000 for this fiscal
period.
Mr. Chairman, under Subject Analysis, moving
on to page B -180 under Head 14, Department of Statistics, we see that Professional Services has increased 33 per cent —that is, last fiscal period it was $184,000
and this year it is requested to be $245,000, an increase of $61,000, or 33 per cent increase. Professional Services obviously includes quite a lot of differ-ent things, so I would [ask] the Minister to explain that
increase.
Moving on, Mr. Chairman. Again under Head
14, Department of Statistics under page B -180 under
Employee Numbers, full -time equivalents, business
unit 24025, Core Annual Surveys drop from seven full -
time equivalents [FTEs] in 2022/23, and then it remains
seven in the last fiscal year. That was revised to five.
So obviously a few people have left. And then it shows
that we are anticipating in this fiscal period that number
to drop again to four staff members. So in the space of
two years we are going from sev en to four full -time
equivalents.
Given the crucial role that this function provides, which the Minister has spoken to before in previ-ous budgets more fully, I am wondering why this de-partment seems to be bleeding staff. And will the department be able to keep up with its very numerous activities that we see in last year’s Hansard reflecting the
Budget Debate? It must be, I would say, 10 surveys that
they were doing annually. So I would be interested to
hear if this department is capable of keeping up, given that they are (my words) bleedi ng staff.

Your words or your inferring? You are
inferring?

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Probably both.

[Laughter]
Hon. Jarion Richardson: But I definitely . . . losing
staff . . . I will . . . I will not . . . I will —
Hon. Jason Hayward: Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes, not inflammatory language. Thank you.

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, the Member is
deliberately misleading the House. Because the
Budget Book points out that the estimated FTEs in
2024/25 will be 22. That exceeds the FTEs in 2023/24
and 2022/23. So these FTEs are actually increasing rather than decreasing. I do not how we can consider that
to be bleeding staff. That is an inflammatory and misleading statement and should be withdrawn.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: I could not agree more with
the Minister. It would be inflammatory and misleading if I was in fact referring to the aggregate. But I was only
referring to the Core Annual Surveys’ FTEs under business unit 24025.
(Okay. Let us see.)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Honourable Minister for the clarification.
Performance measures, oh yes. Moving on in
Head 14, Department of Statistics, specifically on page B-181 under Performance Measures. I am looking at
business unit 24015, Administration. And “100% of staff will engage in targeted external and internal trai ning
and development . . .” Oh, here we go. The very last
performance measurement. (Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am sorry. My notes . . . )
I have a performance measure here. There is
a target outcome in this fiscal period of 100 per cent.
And the performance measure is, “100% of staff will engage in targeted external and internal training and development by December 2024.” My question is, Is that
a typo? Or if the Honourable Minister could just explain.
Because obviously this target outcome is related to the
upcoming fiscal period, and December 2024 has already left. So, I am thinking they already accomplished this.

Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman.

Yes.
Hon. Jason Hayward: It says, “100% of staff will engage in targeted external and internal training and de-velopment by December 2024.” If I am correct, we are
now in March of 2024, which means that December of
2024 is actually in the future and not a past date.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you. I thank the Honourable Minister for my misreading.
1024 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Misreading?

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes.
[Laughter]

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Business unit 24020, Core
Statistics and Publications under Performance
Measures. Two of three performance measures are
discontinued again. (Let me find myself in the [Budget]
Book.) And the remaining sounds like something that should happen anyway. I wil l read it out here. It says,
“100%” (so the target outcome of this target outcome
for this upcoming fiscal period is that) “100% of all outputs will undergo a formal review to ensure that the collection, compilation and production are based on the
most cur rent international statistical methodologies.”
Mr. Chairman, that sounds like something that should
happen anyway. So I was kind of surprised to see that
outlined in the Budget Book, which in part justifies its
certain expenditure.
With that being said, my question to the Honourable Minister is, Given that we are losing two out of
three of the performance expectations and measurements, and then the other one says we are going to review things professionally and very well, I thought the
Honourable Minister could just expand upon the workflow and the activities we can anticipate in this upcom-ing fiscal period for the business unit that is called Core
Statistics and Publications.
I also have a similar question relating to business unit 24025, Core Annual Surveys. Again, we are
seeing a discontinuation across four of the performance measures, these being the things the depart-ment will do in the upcoming fiscal period, which in part
justifies the expenditure. I am very mindful, Mr. Chair-man, that our expenditure that we are looking at for this year is $2.5 million for the Department of Statistics. For
this business unit, under Core Annual Surveys, which
we spoke about before a little bit there, we spoke about
their losing staff, Mr. Chairman.
This is in the business unit 24025, Core Annual
Surveys, and they have an allocation of some $1.8 mil-lion . . . oh, sorry. Excuse me, $366,000. (I apologise. I
was looking at a summation number.) So $366,000 and
they are losing four out of their five performance
measures. And the last one remaining is Target response rates for major statistical surveys, that being
80 per cent under Labour Force Surveys, Economic
Activity Survey, Balance of Payments, Household Income and Expenditure Survey.
So an interesting one for the Minister to speak
to because again losing a large number of staff, still we have that $366,000 being allocated. But under the Performance Measures, I am not quite sure—

Hon. Jason Hayward: Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

Minister, you have the floor. POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. Jason Hayward: I must stress this. The Department of Statistics is not losing any staff. It is the same
employees who have been reallocated to different
budget centres. That is simply what is happening. And
the Honourable Member can clearly see that outlined
in the [Bud get] Book because I explained that the staff
were the full -time equivalents for Statistics. Statistics is
increasing. He is continuously hammering home this point in terms of the department losing staff or staff being bleeded [sic] . When the [Budget] Book actually reflects —

Bled, bled, bled. Not bleeded —bled.
That is the word. You used bleeded.
[Laughter]
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, so I just want to
make it abundantly clear that it is a continuous mislead-ing of the House. And we refer to our reduction of staff
in Statistics.
Just looking at the time, I believe we are on the
eve of lunch.

So thank you for that clarity, Minister.
In that line item, can you point out that line item
so the Opposition Leader no longer goes down that incorrect road?

Hon. Jason Hayward: So under Head 14, Department
of Statistics, page B -180 in the Budget Book that was
presented to every Member of Parliament, the one that the Honourable Michael Dunkley is —

Good afternoon, Members. Good afternoon, Members.
For the benefit of the listening audience, we are
now resuming the Budget Debate. We are now in Com-mittee of Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2024/25. Heads 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99 out of the
Ministry of Economy and Labour [and Immigration] are being debated. For crystal clarity, this debate commenced at 10:55.
The Honourable Minister Jason P. Hayward
was very magnanimous and allowed the Opposition
quite some time to preamble and ask their questions.
They were not quite ready at the time. We had—

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Point of order. We have
ruled on this, Mr. Chairman. We were prepared. We simply requested . . . Mr. Chairman, that is a misleading statement.

At 11:00 am we commenced in earnest. That means that this debate will conclude at 4:30 pm.
Minister, I now ask you to resume answering
the questions.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Chairman, just a point
of clarity. In the Health debate when we had a couple
of minutes that elapsed, they were not taken into consideration. So I am just making that point.

Okay. The Honourable Member needs
a reminder. We commenced at 10:55. There was a
break. We started the clock back over at eleven o’clock.
We broke for lunch at 12:30. That means two and ahalf
hours after that is 4:30.
Did you have a point, Member? Okay.
Minister, may you return to answering the
questions of the Opposition Leader.

Hon. Jason Hayward: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon to the members of the public.
There were quite a few questions asked before
the lunch hour. The first one pertains to the increase in
activities on the business unit 54060, which were Performance Measures underneath the Economy and Labour Ministry’s head. This pertains to business uni t
54060, which is Administration. It was highlighted that
the budgeted amount for that number increased by
$329,000 compared to the previous fiscal year. That is absolutely correct. The funds utilised in that increase
will be for the marketing and promotion, travel to key
conferences and events for the promotion of Bermuda
as a jurisdiction, and for other fees related to the Eco-nomic Development Strategy.
Mr. Chairman, in the last fiscal period Bermuda
did not have an Economic Development Strategy. That
Economic Development Strategy was produced. It sets
out the key initiatives and action items that the Ministry
of Economy and Labour and the other economic development organisations will undertake over the next four years. In order for us to have effective execution of the
items underneath the Economic Development Strategy, it is important that we prioritise and fund those particular initiatives. All in the public have agreed that that
strategy is critical to the sustainability of economic
growth and economic development moving forward. As a result, it was important for us to ensure that we have
the adequate budget allocations for that.
1026 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The budget allocation in particular for advertising and promotion seems a little bit high for the Ministry
for the reasons that the Ministry is spearheading all initiatives whether they come under BDA, BEDC or EDD.
And as a result, we typically are workin g together on
projects for the execution of a number of items. Centralising the funds makes it a lot easier to disburse
those particular funds on projects when needed. So
there are a number of initiatives underneath the five
strategic priorities of the Economic Development Strategy that we need to execute on. And those funds pro-vide us with the resources to effectively deliver on the
items that we set out in that particular strategy.
That strategy is important for a number of reasons. I put out a paper as it pertains to Bermuda’s ageing population and our need to increase our working
population. In order for us to increase our working pop-ulation, we first need greater levels of economic activity, which would then expand business development
and job growth. Once we have that job growth, then we
can actually fill those [positions] with able- bodied Bermudians who find themselves locked out of the job market, and then by bringing in guest workers. And that is
how we are going to increase our lot of workers within
the population. So that money has been allocated for those particular activities.
When we talk about the performance of the Immigration Appeals Tribunal, as a matter of intervention this morning, Mr. Chairman, I did highlight the difference between the Immigration Appeals Tribunal and
the authority which is vested in the Minister to adjudi-cate matters. I also highlight that there is a substantial
difference between the Immigration Board and the Immigration Appeals Tribunal. The Immigration Board will be found under the Head 27, which is [the Department
of] Immigration, while the Immigration Appeals Tribunal is underneath the Ministry.
I also clarified in terms of there not being a
backlog. And the Opposition Leader indicated that it was this perceived backlog based off of some dialogue
that took place in another place. But I am the substantive Minister, and I am indicating that there i s no backlog that pertains to appeals going to the Immigration Appeals Tribunal. So I hope the other place uses my comments today as the official record as to what
stands.
And just to be abundantly clear, there were
three matters that were placed in front of the Immigra-tion Appeals Tribunal. One matter was closed out, and
two matters remain open because of the applicants’ be-ing nonresponsive, not the board. So this is the persons
who would have filed a complaint, but the applicants
not being able to progress through the adjudication procedures.
It is also important to understand in terms of
the funds allocated, we do not know how many appeals
we will get in any fiscal period. So we continue to
budget $25,000 to account for any occurrences or any
number of appeals that may take place. What we do not want is justice denied or natural justice being impeded because we do not have the resources to have
an efficient and effective board. And as a result of that,
you will see that, yes, it is correct that only $1,400 [sic]
was spent in 2023/24, and zero funds were spent in
2022/23. And that is just because the volume of appeals actually declined, or in that one particular year
there were no appeals to be considered. Or there were
no matters that had progressed to adjudication.
[There] was another set of questions pertaining
to the transfer of the Labour Relations section into a department. And I think what the Opposition Leader
was trying to get to is that there should be a like- for-like
entry. So if that section just simply moved to a department, then we should see just over $800,000 reflected.
What the Member is not fully appreciating is that when
one section moves into a department, then there is dif-ferentiation in hierarchy which means there are additional positions. Underneath the Ministry, there will be
no Director of Labour. When it goes to a department,
then you must have a director responsible for that department. That is increased funding that has to go into
that particular line item.
Additionally, in order for us to appropriately accommodate the increase in staff, it means that we need
to find alternative locations. Right now the Labour Relations section sits underneath the Department of Workforce Development. That does not bode well for
their expansion plans. And as a result, they need to
look for alternative office space arrangements which
obviously costs funding to do so. So there is no lavish
spending or increased funds to transfer our Labour Relations Department to the Department of Labour. What you actually find is that this would allow the department
to effectively execute on the items which it sets out to
do as a matter of priority.
And I want to remind Members and the listening public that this department is responsible for ensuring that our labour code is adhered to and that our minimum wage legislation be passed in terms of gratuities,
tips and service charges. It is responsible f or ensuring
that we have harmonious labour relations and that this
is processed in an efficient and effective way. The department is also responsible for being proactive in
terms of looking at our labour policies and ensuring that we keep up with internati onal standards and then also
providing both employees and employers with advice.
So when you look at the 10 full -time equivalents, which consist of the Director of Labour, a Labour Relations Manager, Office Manager, (I said) three Labour Relations Officers, three Inspectors and a Tribunal
Administrative Assistant, I believe that when you look
at the allocation of funds, you will see that the majority of funds are for salaries. And then you have those items
which are administrative that I discussed. But the department has been extremely active as it pertains to its
Labour Relations Offi cers doing investigations. We
have had 18 or so investigations regarding wrongful


Bermuda House of Assembly termination; 12 regarding outstanding wages; 17 regarding constructive dismissal, layoffs, vacation pay redundancy, union certification and collective bargaining.
And the tribunal is also active in this matter in
terms of adjudicating and trying to bring resolution in our labour relations landscape. So they have had a
number of rulings. Eleven rulings have been in favour
of the complainant, or the unions; four rulings in favour
of the respondents; three are awaiting decisions; and
six were resolved by consensus of the parties without
the need for substantive hearings.
And that is the beauty of our Labour Relations
or the Department of Labour. The beauty of our Department of Labour is that it allows for us to bring parties
together and bring resolution to disputes without their
going through a lengthy tribunal process. P art and parcel of the role and function of the officers within the Department of Labour is mediation and conciliation. And
that is what those officers attempt to do prior to any
matter going to a tribunal. And you can see the success
of that when you see t hat issues are being resolved
with consent. And that is when I am talking about having a more harmonious labour relations environment
than the work that is actually being done by that particular staff.
So that is why those particular funding allocations are listed as an increase, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, in addition to that, there were
questions in terms of performance measures. And I just
want to highlight that Statistics on page B -181, Performance Measure, 100 per cent of staff will engage in targeted external and internal training and development
by [December] 2024. That is actually correct. Each employee within the department . . . each employee within
the department has forward job plans. During their performance appraisal and during their forward job plans, each officer sets out training and development objectives. And it is for those employees to complete those
training and development objectives in a fiscal period.
This is the way in which we allow staff to sharpen their
sword on an annual basis so that they remain effective
in their duties.
[The Department of] Statistics Professional
Services increased by 33 per cent. And I was asked to
explain the increase. This is partly due to increased
funding for consultants and transferring money from
overtime in order to account for resource requirements
at the conclusion of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey. And it is important to note . . . the
Member asked about additional funds allocated to the
Household Income and Expenditure Survey. And this is
actually correct when the Member sees that funds were
allocated last year as it pertains to the actuals being
spent, but not in the budget.
So, being the Minister of Economy and Labour,
I would have taken on that responsibility midstream as it pertains to after the budget process was done. We
would have recognised that the Household Income and
Expenditure Survey was fundamentally important. And I ensured that I went and took a paper to Cabinet to get
a supplementary so that we can get funding for the
Household Income and Expenditure Survey. And that
is why the actuals were actually greater than the budgeted amount. Because you need funds for pr eparation.
You also need funds for the execution of the survey.
And that is why additional funding has been allocated
underneath that particular line item, for the execution of
the Household Income and Expenditure Survey. That
survey will run up until December 2024, which is in our
future.

[Laughter]

Hon. Jason Hayward: The data will be collated and
hopefully finalised by the end of the fiscal period 2025/26.
The Member also asked, When will the next
census be? The next census day will be the 20
th of May
2026. So, while it is a line item which speaks to census
research and surveys, Mr. Chairman, core census activities would not take place until at least 18 months from now. And then in next year’s budget you will see
funds associated with the prepar ation of census for the
effective execution of a census. But like I articulated
earlier, the census is done every decade rather than
annually or biannually. So you wi ll see bumps as it pertains to the funding that will be associated with that particular line item.
There was a question in terms of when we look
at statistics and we start to talk about 80 per cent targets for survey completion. It is important to note that
in any survey you have a number of respondents who
simply do not respond. That is the high level of survey
work that is actually done, because you have to find
methodologies to impute values. And that is what a statistic is, the ability to launch a survey, but then ensure
that you have numbers in place that represent our entire population.
For example, we have a retail sales index, but
the retail sales index does not cover every retail establishment in Bermuda. The same thing goes with our annual GDP, and this is worldwide where you have a survey which is conducted. You may get 80 per cent of the
market by making sure that you capture the big players.
But then you have to impute the performance of those
smaller firms. And that is according to methodology and
well defined in the meta- data for each survey that is actually set out.
I know there was a question pertaining to data
quality assessment framework for national accounts
completed. And so we just simply put a timeframe in
there. This remains ongoing in terms of what I articulated in the past, Jarion. But we did (I am sorry, H onourable Member) actually put a date there. Because there are still targets that we should be meeting on an annual basis. And what I did not want is just that this
remain as an ongoing item, but then there are not targets that you are reaching on an annual basis. So this
1028 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ensures that we are moving the goalposts as it pertains
to the development on an annual basis to ensure that
we stay in line with international best practices.
There was a question between removal and
changes of performance measures. By no means are the performance measures that are set out in the
Budget Book simply the performance of each and every
department. They are also indicators, as I stressed in
the past . So the performance measures for the Ministry
of Economy and Labour are whether or not we have economic growth, economic development and the ex-pansion of jobs. And I highlighted earlier, Mr. Chairman, that we have achieved economic growth. We are
achieving economic development. And we are achieving job growth and expansion. So those are the main
performance matters while we stay on target with meeting measures within the Budget Book.
It is important that we had to do a reassessment of some of the measures to see if it made particular sense. For example, to say that we are going to
execute on five Throne Speech initiatives in a calendar year when five Throne Speech initiatives may not be
set in that particular period. It means that you have a
misalignment between your targets and the initiatives
that are actually set for the Ministry. We have found that we have executed on Throne Speech initiatives for multiple years in one year. But it would not be reflective that
we executed on seven, but we only had five targeted.
So it is important that these serve as indicators
and not hard measures. But I do think that there should
be areas of accountability, and I believe that this Minis-try in particular has been extremely forthright with information. The number of papers that I have actually tabled in this House of Assembly, the annual reports that
are actually put out in this House of Assembly . . . I think
we do a yeoman’s job as it pertains to keeping every-body in this House informed as it pertains to the work of the Ministr y of Economy and Labour.
I think that covers the substantial questions
that were asked in this morning’s session, Mr. Chairman. And I will turn the floor back over to yourself.

Thank you, Honourable Minister.
Honourable Opposition Leader, are you ready?
Hon. Jarion Richardson: I am. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I thank the Honourable Minister for over the
lunch break going and getting those answers. I do have
a couple of supplementals to those answers for the
avoidance of doubt.
And I will start with the last one the Honourable
Minister went with, given the performance measures
relating to the Ministry of Economy and Labour. He
mentioned how GDP and job growth were performance
measures. And I just wanted to put on the record that
this year I did the Finance Ministry’s debate, and those
measures are on that one as well. So I would definitely
recommend that the two groups working toward the
same outcome, yes, at a very high level, but devolving those two groups or sets of measurables to differing
objectives to ensure that duplication does not take
place. That is just a point on that one.
On advertising and promotion, the Honourable
Minister pointed out . . . this is under Head 44, Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates, Advertising
and Promotions. The Honourable Minister explained
how this is being centralised to make it easier to disburse funds when needed. My question to the Honour-able Minister is, Is this permissible within the Financial
Instructions and the Constitution as it relates to the use of the Consolidated Fund? The only reason is because
I could see how that centrali sation would work under
Head 44—

Hon. Jason Hayward: Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

Minister, you have a point of order?

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading and Imputing improper motives]
Hon. Jason Hayward: Yes, certainly. I think the Member is misleading the House or inadvertently misleading the House or imputing improper motives; all three are
applicable on this particular one.
Everything that is done is done according to financial instructions. There should be no inference that what we are doing is anything different. For example,
today I tabled a Family Office paper. We need to promote family offices, Bermuda as a jurisdiction for family
offices. You would note that both EDD and the BDA have working groups that have worked on the family office framework. The Ministry is also leading the initiative publicly to get the document produced, correspondence. And you can see this document is printed
“Ministry of Economy and Labour.”
So that is an initiative that we are all working
on. But when it comes to the promotion of the family
offices, the Ministry of Economy and Labour will retain
funds to do its own promotion of family offices. And then
also you know that the BDA typically put out pamphlets
and things of that nature, and small cards for conference with QR codes. And they do their own level of advertising and webinars. This is not duplication of effort. But this is where [with] one initiative, each department
having its own mar keting and promotion funds, we can
all utilise our resources collectively to push out those
particular initiatives. This is not us just paying for items that other people are executing on.

Thank you, Minister.
Opposition Leader, would you like to resume?

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes. I thank the Minister for
the clarification. I certainly was not intentionally imply-ing any nefarious activity. It was only that there were
differing constitutional arrangements for the entities


Bermuda House of Assembly that he mentioned. And I went, Is it the same? That is
all. I had no intention of imputing improper motive.
So with that being said, it is entered on record.
Thank you, Honourable Minister. I appreciate that.
And the last supplemental or follow -up question was on mediation and conciliation efforts under the
Labour section transferred into Head 99. [The Honourable Minister] mentioned that it allows for us to bring
parties together to get resolution without a tr ibunal process. Definitely a great thing. We definitely want to make sure that we do not use legal resources when we do not have to. And having done mediation training
when I was in the Bermuda Police Service, I was wondering if the Labour team had either had the training or
would be getting the training in the next fiscal year. Thank you. That is all it was.

You may proceed, Minister.

Hon. Jason Hayward: Most certainly. The team goes
on ongoing training. And whenever training is available in a competency area that is in alignment with the area of core responsibilities of a particular department, we
typically take on that training. The ILO [International Labour Organization] does a good job as it pertains to providing localised and free training through virtual mediums, and also through its ITC (International Training
Centre). And the Department of Workforce Develop-ment and the Labour Relations section cont inues to
carry out that training. Where there are additional skills sets which are identified, I believe that right now . . .
where there are additional skills sets that are identified,
I believe that we always have forward discussions
whether or not we can increase the competencies of
the staff in those particular areas.

So training is an ongoing thing. And as I said,
they are built into the performance measures of the
staff as it pertains to their forward job plans. And then
when we discuss the performance appraisals, we discuss how they have executed on those training an d development items which have been set out in their respective documents.

Thank you.
Opposition Leader.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Honourable Minister.
Moving on to Head 27, Immigration, starting on
page B -183. My line of questioning starts with . . . if the
Honourable Minister could . . . in last year’s ministerial brief he outlined some information that would be helpful. And I would like him to bring that information up
again. First of all, there are fluctuations in department
funding, both across General Summary, Subjective
Analysis of Current Account Expenditures, and Revenue Summary. I would like some explanation for why
we are seeing fluctuations in those areas. And also,
major achievements were in last year’s brief. Oh, sorry,
Key Accomplishment in Previous Spending is the area.
So fluctuations in department funding and Key Accomplishments in Previous Spending are the two areas that I would like covered.
Moving on to the Budget Book itself, under
General Summary, business unit 37030, Compliance. There are some $41,000 added to that which is under
General Summary, moving from $2.3 million to $2.3
million in the estimate for 2024/25. But there are some $41,000 added there into Compliance. I raise that because there are further questions relating to revenue
summary, specifically revenue source 8881, Penalties,
on page B -184.
It is quite clear that the original for 2023 was
$18,000. It was revised, or the actual was $17,000. This
is money being received, Mr. Chairman. And then we
are estimating $19,000. I do intend to speak to financial
penalties as a mechanism of supervision g oing forward, as that is an area that I do work in. And I wanted
to question the Minister relating to the severity and volume of penalties and offences being detected and how
these penalties have been applied. How many people,
for example, have been penali sed?
Under the Regulatory Acts for Financial Services Regulation, we actually wind up using financial penalties as a key way of ensuring that people . . . that
although one person may commit an offence, that it is
made quite clear to the general public that you cannot
keep doing that. So to that end, I always recommend
the Regulatory Acts when I see areas of penalties like
this. Also increasing in area of revenue. So to that end,
I just wanted to explain the $41,000, especially since
we are not seeing an increase in penalties.
Okay. Thank you for that.

Honourable Member.
Minister, are you giving a point of order?

Hon. Jason Hayward: No. I want to give a point of information as it pertains to . . . before he moves on to
his next item, he did indicate about major achievements. I am prepared to speak to those major achievements if he will permit me.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes, please. Thank you.

Proceed, Minister.
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Chairman, this is . . .

[Pause]
1030 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Minister, may you hold for a minute as
we are going to have a slight change in chairs.
For the benefit of the listening audience and
Honourable Members, we are now in Committee of
Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2024/25. The
Honourable Minister Jason P. Hayward of Economy
and Labour has given his briefs on Heads, 44, 14, 27,
60, 94 and 99.
And just as a closing remark, I would like to say
that in this debate it has been very invigorating. And the
Opposition has given preamble, post -ambles and good
questions. And it is good for the people of Bermuda.
I will now turn [the Chair] over to the Honourable Member from constituency 3, St. David’s, Honourable [Member] Lovitta Foggo.
[Ms. Lovitta F. Foggo, Chairman]

Good afternoon to the House and
Members, people of the public.
And Minister, when you are ready to continue,
as my honourable colleague just recited all of the heads
that you are speaking to, you may.

Hon. Jason Hayward: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Madam Chairman, I am just going to address
back and regress a bit as it pertains to the training for the Labour Relations Department. I also want to state
that they have received international alternative dispute
resolution training, which covers areas of mediation
and conciliation in their daily functions. And I am
pleased that the staff has undertaken that particular
training.
When it pertains to some of the major items
within Immigration that have changed, Madam Chair-man, you would note that we have put in place the Pro-hibition of Entry Order. Honourable Member, that is a
very important order that we have put in place to protect
our borders. You would know that in 2014 when there
was a policy change as it pertains to Bermuda’s moving
away from having a Bermuda visa and relying on the
embassies and agencies and consulates of other countries to vet the visitors and residents who actually come
to Bermuda, we needed to ensure that moving forward
everybody is abundantly clear on which countries are
on that list and which are off of that list. It protects us
from many types of legal challenge. But it provides clarity to the population . And I think that, for persons travelling to Bermuda and persons who wish to work in Bermuda and employers, that clarity is greatly appreciated.
We have a number of scenarios. For example,
before we put the order in place, Russian nationals were actually allowed to transit through the UK and to
Bermuda. And we allowed that just as with nationals
from other countries. But on the onset of the war, r ules
changed. And that transit provision was taken off of the
record not at the onset of the war, but after the war had commenced and sanctions had actually been put in place.
It ultimately means now that you would have
had a policy in place that allows somebody to come in.
But now when you are trying to get that person back home, it is very difficult. We see the same with persons
who allowed their visas to expire. You have per sons
who land in Bermuda, allowed their passports and their
visas to expire. And then you have difficulty with redomiciling those individuals. It is easier to control that at our
borders on the way in. That is why this order is funda-mentally important. When I talk about protecting our
borders, you have people who land on Bermuda soil to
simply claim asylum. Bermuda cannot handle the volume of individuals who may land on our shores to claim
asylum. We do not have the civil framework in place to
support that or accommodate that.
So it is important that we have those measures
in place. And we will continue to update our policy as
often as we possibly can. We made changes within the
last two weeks to reflect the UK’s list because the UK
had actually made some additional changes. I mean,
that is fundamentally important, but that is the work that
we do. While it seems easy to come here and put an
order in front of the House, it is a complicated item because you are dealing with human beings and their
lives. And you are dealing with people who may have entered the territory under one auspices, or are currently working under one auspices or a work permit that
was issued under one auspices, and that then has
changed.
So we have to be mindful. And we also have to
be mindful that travel is no longer just with gateway countries. Private plane travel and charters create another nuance to our particular border compliance. So I
just want to be abundantly clear that this is a policy that
we put in place, and that is something which is important for our country.
We have been doing extremely hard work to
restore our BMU codes. And restorations of our BMU
codes are important. It is important because when persons are travelling on the Bermuda passport and they
are trying to transit through the US to come back home,
oftentimes if that particular border agency or that officer
is not familiar with the exceptions for Bermuda and that passport is flagged as a British passport incorrectly and
not a Bermuda passport, then that person is requested
additional documentation. A nd myself as the Minister, I
have to keep my phone on every night because somebody may be stuck in some region of the world and they
are trying to get home or they may not have enough
funds. And they are looking for immediate intervention.
And my number is the number that is floated into the
universe to provide that immediate assistance.
And I do not mind doing it! I do not mind helping
our citizens. So I have put out in advance the guidance.
But this has provided a catalyst to us ensuring that we
sort out this problem. And I am pleased to state that full
implementation of the new BMU cod e is slated —and I


Bermuda House of Assembly want to say slated because there are moving pieces toward this, some which we control and some that we do
not. So the conversations that we are having in our
working group right now, it is slated that that change
will be completed by the 31st of March 2024. Once I get
confirmation of the dates, I will put it out in the public
domain and issue a full press statement, press release.
If the House is in [session], I will make sure I table that
information in the House. If the House is not in, I wi ll
make sure t hat we use all media so that the House currently knows.
What I do not want is to create a passport
frenzy where people put in their passports and then . . .
We want to articulate the process so that people who have submitted passports now who may return with the
GBR code and they say, I want a BMU code. We have
to address how that is done, and we want to do it in an organised way. So that will be part of the communications moving forward. And hopefully that can be communications that are shared by both sides of the House
as it pertains to their constituents and individuals whom
we represent as it pertains to providing those persons
with surety.
But that has been a long journey. We had allocated funding for the restoration. We have engaged in working groups, and we are seeing light at the end of
the tunnel. I know that if March 31 comes and goes and
there is still no BMU code, somebody will hold me accountable for my words. And that is why I am cautious
in terms of saying that this is the aim based off of the
dialogue that we are currently having. But certain things are in our control, and certain things are outside of our
control.
The restrictive period of residence or allowed
length of stay was a major change that we had. And
that was the 180 days per calendar year. What we have
found is that we had persons working illegally in Ber-muda and utilising a provision where they come for 180
days, leave for a day, return and they continue to work underneath the radar. This opens us up for greater levels of abuse by the misinterpretation of that particular
clause in our Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act.
I do not think when that claus e was originally debated
that it was intended that somebody can come for 180
days, leave for 24 hours and return for another 180
days. Because that would negate somebody just going
and applying for residency.
And we vet the people who can actually apply
for residency, but we do not vet people who can utilise
the provision of coming for 180 days, leaving for a day and [returning]. We also unfortunately, Madam Chairman, and I do not really like to speak about th is one. It
is that children are caught in this particular process. So
persons who typically do not make enough funds to
qualify for a dependent child are having dependent children coming under those auspices of coming for 180 days, leaving for a day and returning. And those individuals are also entering our school systems as well,
as a non- resident. But based off of the way in which the Education Act is actually drafted, they have to take consideration of all children notwithstanding that child’s
particular status.
But it is a protection. What we do not want is
persons coming and living in Bermuda or children in precarious situations. So if a family demonstrates that
they have the financial means to support a child, then
we will welcome the child onto our shores. But certainly
where there is no demonstration of means, especially
when you have a parent who works all sorts of shifts as
a cleaner, then you must ask yourself, Well, who is watching the child when that parent is gone? And if the
answer is, Well, maybe anot her co- worker, because
the person typically will not have family here, I do not think that is good enough. And I think that is a position
that we would not want our young children to be in.
So, Madam Chairman, this highlights the complexities around why we put laws in place. Oftentimes
we come and debate the laws, but then there is a human side to these changes that we actually make. It is
real things that we actually are trying to prevent f rom
taking place as it pertains to that. And I am pleased that
we put that in place. We have caught a number of actors who have tried to re- enter Bermuda and use the
180 days, go away and come back. And they have
been told, No, your time is up or whatever it may be.
And I am satisfied with that. I am satisfied that if that
individual wants to stay in Bermuda longer than 180
days, they can simply apply through the proper mechanisms for residency.
I do not know any other country in the world
where you can just float and skate around the laws, the
immigration rules. And I do not think that Bermuda should become a domicile where one could craftily navigate around these specific routes that we have put in
place for persons to remain on our Island.
Madam Chairman, we have also been working
extremely hard to implement a new work permit policy.
And when the final review of a revised work permit pol-icy clarifies some of the challenges that we are having
with the current policy, limits some of the confusion or
abuses that we actually see, puts additional protections
in place for both work permit holders and employees, meaning local employees who are impacted by sometimes nefarious behaviour of employers who try to utilise the work permit policy to secure the labour that they
want rather than the suitable, qualified labour that may be on Island already. So notwithstanding you have employers who prefer guest workers over Bermudians in
some employment situations and the employer is never
called out, it is always the Department of Immigration.
People expect that Immigration is going to sort out the
behaviour of every employer who may not be operating
according to the standards that we have set out there.
So part of this is looking at some of the challenges that we have experienced, looking at some of
the nuances in terms of situations, trying to reduce the
number of what I would consider to be appeals or discretionary matters that come before the Minister and
1032 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly clearly set out and define what are the standards that
we expect moving forward for clarity. The challenge
with a work permit policy is that when you have a policy
such as that, you cannot make a wholesale change of
large magnitude because what it does is disrupt the entire way in which we bring persons into the Island. But
you can refine it. And that is what we are doing, working
hard to refine the areas within the work permit policy.
The last work permit policy iteration was 2015,
and so this is nine years later. You will see a revised
issued work permit policy that I believe that both em-ployees, employers and the Bermudian public will be
satisfied with. There are key things in terms of ensuring
that the English language requirement is reinserted into
the work permit policy. That is important. But not just
important that we insert that in, but important that we
also have a mechanism for testing individuals set up so that when complaints are made or whatever, maybe
when a person may land at Immigration and they cannot answer basic landing questions as it pertains to,
Where will you live? Where would you work? That you
go straight to taking a test before you engage in employment.
And the test is not creating a barrier. But the
test is ensuring that you are able to provide goods and
services in an effective way to the public of Bermuda,
interact with your fellow colleagues. There is nothing
worse than having a Bermudian trying to s tart a job and
the entire work crew speaks a different language. That
is incivility in some cases, but then bullying and harassments. Cliques are formed. Bermudians are again feel-ing like outliers. And this is the challenge that I hear
when I hear some you ng landscapers. Imagine you and
your colleagues are sitting outside of a grocery store or
having coffee and tea. Somebody —three people say a
few things. You are not sure what they say. You go into the grocery shop, come back out, and the work truck is gone . And nobody has adequately communicated with
you because they are all speaking one language. This is the stuff that goes on, I mean, we need to ensure that
we catch in our work permit policy.
Some things we cannot catch within our work
permit policy. That is individuals landing with no fixed
abode! Employers are bringing in individuals, they have no fixed abode. And then they are staying anywhere
and everywhere. It cannot be right! It cannot b e right
that you sell somebody a dream. They pack up and
move from their home country, land in Bermuda and
then you have them in some squalid conditions. So
these are the things in terms of going [forward] that we have to look out for. Abuses of employees as well, people are coming and they are being abused in terms of
not knowing their rights and privileges and being taken
advantage of. I could talk about a whole lot of positive
aspects, but I am trying to reiterate why we need a
sound policy in place. Why we need a Department of
Immigration for the protection of Bermudians.
Many times a decision from an employer’s
standpoint is already predetermined as it pertains to whom they want. And that person’s r ésumé, whom they
want, is not even in line with the requirements which are set out in the ad. And the Department of Immigration catches this and says, No, you can’t have that individual. Notwithstanding what other story you give,
you either re- advertise with changed requirements, or
you will not land that individual. That is just the bottom line. You cannot create a disadvantage for Bermudians.
It is the same thing when we started looking at
cleaners. You have Bermudians who have been housekeepers almost for 20 years and then cannot land a
cleaning job because they are not deemed to be qualified as a cleaner. I mean, transferable skills and competencies are what need to be looked at. But you have
somebody who comes from another jurisdiction who does not have 20 years of employment service. You may look at their r ésumé and they have three years
working for somebody in some city that you cannot
identify; you cannot google the establishment, right?
And we are being asked to accept that person’s recom-mendations. But the Bermudian who has demonstrated
that they have 15 years of service in the hotel cleaning
restaurants is [being told] that they do not have enough
residential and commercial cleaning experience.
So these are the things that we are looking at.
And this is why the work permit policy is important. Overall, what we will do is we want to enhance the way
in which fees are actually paid, Madam Chairman, and
ensure that we have better payment gateways. I spoke
about reducing the backlog by using automation and
digitisation, and that is something that we are working
to execute on. A lot of work has been done in that space, but we are now going to do a formal RFI [request for information] so that we can get the most competent people in place so that we do not get it wrong.
And those are just some of the highlights of
work the Immigration Department has executed on. We
have strengthened our Compliance area. And once I
get more data from the staff, I will certainly share that
and answer that particular question that the Honourable Member actually had.
When we look at the increase in the funding,
the $41,000 increase in funding for Compliance, that is
primarily for staff increase. We know that persons have cost of living increases, which was the . . . but then
there are other additional costs. You can appreciate
Compliance staff have additional costs of overtime.
When a plane is scheduled to land at a certain point in time, primarily that Miami flight, and that Miami flight
then has to come in later, then you need staff to be
there to process that particular flight. The other week
we had a diversion that came to Bermuda, a medical
emergency. And the person had to be taken off that
particular flight. That was unscheduled, Madam Chairman. But there are the things in terms of increased
budget allocation; you recognise that over time as it pertains to Compliance.


Bermuda House of Assembly If you tell me that somebody is working a night
job illegally and I have officers scheduled from nine to
five, and my Compliance team in the City of Hamilton
are nine to five, then I need officers to go out there and
check it out at nighttime. That is overtime. Another overtime that is mandatory for the job is when we deport people. There are requirements. Sometimes the
jurisdictions that you are deporting individuals to, they
set out the requirements as it pertains to the number of
support staff that are required to escort that individual —
“X” number of police officers, “X” number of immigration
officers. And even if you stop to refuel in a jurisdiction,
that jurisdiction may have different requirements as it
pertains to the staff that is required in that particular
area.
And that is extremely important because those
are things that we cannot control. But those are com-pliance functions that the public expect us to carry out.
And I want to let the public know in terms of compliance—nobody needs to blow up my phone when a non -
Bermudian work permit holder gets in trouble with our
law. We track it, we monitor it, and once if they are
charged and incarcerated, before they set foot back on
our shores there is a deportation order. And you can
bet your boots that person is on the next flight. And I want to reassure the public that we do not take that
lightly. Our Compliance function in Immigration, we do
not take it lightly. And we will enhance it.
We had a management service report review
our entire departmental framework within Immigration, also looking at the Compliance area. And we will get additional staff for Compliance. I thank the staff who actually make complaints because that is most times how
we are actually catching people who are running afoul
of our laws and policies. And it is that Compliance team
who are doing the work and they have been listening. So again I want to thank Dr. Ming. I want to thank the Compliance Manager and her team for all of the hard
work that they do. But all of the staff at the Department of Immigration because the processing of applications
has not been easy based off of volumes. And we have
a dedicated staff who have to deal with fluctuations.
The way I look at Immigration is you have
peaks and valleys. On a peak you may not have any backlog. In a valley you may have some backlog and it
is just working to smooth that out so you minimise the
level of backlogs that you have. But I have looked at a
lot of departments in other territories, and this is natural
in terms of backlogs of applications and the processing.
But what is also important is that you are looking at the future. You are looking at change. And that is what we
are looking at. We are looking at how we want to operate in the future. We are looking at how we want to
change our processes to create the efficiency and effectiveness that actually the public demands from us.
And we have had some struggles with processing passports in the past, to which I have apolo-gised to this Honourable House. And I have apologised
to members of the public that we need to do a better job. And we will continue to put our best foot forward in
terms of improving the processes.
The Honourable Member talked about penalties. I think that is important to note, that there is penalisation. The majority of the penalties, Honourable Mem-ber, are civil penalties. So you have penalties for
breaches of the work permit policy. That will be the
highest level of penalties. Where you have an individual
who has run afoul of our policies, most times that person is not penalised from a personal civil perspective,
and we just move forward with deporting that individual. But companies who may have persons working outside
of their work permit or even being found to have persons working illegally, those are where the majority of
the civil penalties would actually take place.
So I want to reassure the public that based off
of the revenue that we expect, which is extremely con-servative but in alignment with what we have collected
in the past, we do actually penalise companies. We
have some pending investigations. And I know that
there will be an uptick in terms of civil penalties in the
next fiscal period. So I can reassure the Honourable
Member who asked about the increase that because of
the strengthening of our compliance function, you will
see a corresponding increase in the revenue received
for civil penalties.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you, Minister.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to Heads 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99?
I recognise the Opposition Leader. You may
ask your questions.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I would draw our attention to page C -13 dealing
with integration, the Digitisation Projects, specifically
business unit 76869. This is one where we have spoken about before, and the Honourable Minister —
Hon. Jason Hayward: Madam Chairman, if the Honourable Member just can repeat that number so that I can be sure that I am in alignment.

It’s page C -13, line item 76869, Digitisation Projects.
You may continue.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
My question relates to the Digitisation Project.
We have been discussing this now year on year for a while. And the Honourable Minister spoke to going to
an RFI. So my question will connect to that. I ask for a
little bit more information. We are well awar e it was a
multi -phase project. We had some updates from the
Minister in December 2021, February 2022 and March
1034 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly 2023. And the Honourable Minister in one of the updates even went so far as to make it quite clear that the
outputs of that process did not satisfy his requirements
or some language like that. I invite him to reiterate what
it was that failed about the project that he had to push it back.

Please do not make it a lot of detail,
because it is better that you ask the questions and allow the Minister to answer. Because we are not in the Economic Debate. We are here to deal with the matters line by line. And I do understand that you do have to give
context, but I would suggest that you do not make it
overly long. Okay?

Hon. Jarion Richardson: I will endeavour to comply
with your instructions, Madam Chairman.

Okay.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: So bringing our attention to
page C -13, Revised Estimate column again for 76869,
Digitisation Project, has an amount of $356,000 which
if I recall was in line with the Minister’s statements
made as it relates to this project in the past. On a going-forwar d under column estimate 2024/25, the upcoming
fiscal year, we see that we are allocating another $150,000.
Would the Honourable Minister please describe the value for money that was received, espe-cially if any value can be carried over from the previous project? That is for the already -spent $356,000. Please
would the Honourable Minister describe what is in-tended to be accomplished under the new $150,000 allocation? And then obviously, how does this connect to the RFI which he had mentioned, which was in answer
to one of my earlier questions?

Oh, no. This is your debate. And if you
have questions and you are hoping that the Minister
can answer most of your questions . . . In fact, he may
have answered some before you even asked them.
You might want to put most of your questions forward
to him so that when he takes to his feet, he can answer all of your questions. You don’t want necessarily the clock to run out.
So my advice is that you ask all of your questions. If you do not have any further questions at this
time, then of course take your seat and the Minister will endeavour to answer the questions that you have. And
if other Members do not have questions that they wish
to put forward as well.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes, Madam Chairman. I
will definitely take your advice insofar as managing the
course of the Opposition’s line of questions. And —

Maybe Government Members who
have questions, too. So that is why I am just trying to suggest you ask your questions.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Absolutely. It has been quite
a civil debate, so they can just pop up and ask.
What I would say is my preference would be to
ask a question and sit down and have it answered. But
I am very mindful that this might not provide for us to
get all the information we need. So with that being said,
I will manage with a few questions and then sit down.
And thank you.

Once you have asked your questions,
of course you take your seat.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you.

[Inaudible interjections and laughter]

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you.
So that relates to Capital Acquisitions under
Immigration business unit 76869, Digitisation Projects.
And the Honourable Minister spoke to, moving
back to Head 27 under Performance Measures, though not cited here, it is something that was brought up in
his brief last year, and he did mention it in one of the
answers provided earlier which relates to the pr ojects
that are being undertaken to address our ageing demographics report. The Minister mentioned it in passing. And to that end, mindful that we have 8,000 people
to bring into Bermuda, he mentioned it in passing. If he could expand on that a little bit more.
Also in last year’s brief he mentioned the Immigration Reform Project. And so my question would be, What is the status update on the Immigration Reform Project?
Those questions moving on, or moving further
up into Head 27, Revenue Summary. That is on page
B-184 specifically under Revenue Source, programme
8301, Status and Naturalisation, where we are seeing
a 63 per cent increase, that being an increase from
some $952,000. So the original estimate in 2023/24
was $1,502,000. And we are anticipating the revenue under that to come up to $2,454,000, again an increase
of some $952,000, or 63 per cent. So I was wondering


Bermuda House of Assembly if the Minister could explain why we are anticipating
such an increase. Nationality, especially since last year
he had mentioned under nationality revenue and volume that it had increased 90 per cent. So the Minister
at that time was anticipating a plateau . It looks like that
might not have happened, that plateau. So if you could
just explain, that is, Revenue Source 8301 on Status
and Naturalisation—Other.
Also I have a question relating to the Work from
Bermuda permit status, although . . . there it is. I believe
that is Revenue Source 8285 [Work Permits —Work &
Reside], although I stand to be corrected, namely, it has
come to our attention that . . . obviously it is a one -year
residency and there are some controls around that. But
if the Minister could speak to, how does that person
then shift to a different type of residency if they continue
to want to stay in Bermuda? The reason is because I note that the Work & Reside under Revenue 8285, still
on page B -184, is moving up. We are expecting
$402,000, an increase of $19,000, or 5per cent. So it seems the programme is a success and it is going on and on. It is increasing slowly upward. So if the Minister
could speak to Work & Reside, or the Work from Bermuda policy.
Under Subjective Analysis on page B -184, I
note that under Repair and Maintenance that that budget has increased by 15 per cent, moving from an
original $885,000 to $1,017,000. Could the Honourable
Minister speak to why we are seeing an increase in Repair and Maintenance? This is a curious one because I
am very curious as to what is being repaired and what
is being maintained. Further, the Minister under this exact line item, we saw that in 2023, or the last fiscal period, it was originally estimated to cos t us $885,000. It
turns out, however, to have cost $928,000. Could the
Honourable Minister explain the increase from the esti-mate to the revised?
And that will give me . . . Oh, and I have a
question relating to page B -183 relating to business
unit 37000, Status and Naturalisation. Two years ago
or two fiscal periods ago it was $33,000 allocated to
that business unit. And over the last fiscal period and
this fiscal period, or the one upcoming, we see zero money allocated. And yet we have a corresponding, or at least similarly named, revenue source. So I am wondering, how is one area not funded to cost, but somehow it is bringing in revenue? If the Mi nister can just
spell that out for me, I would greatly appreciate that.
And then I will ask any questions, supplementals, based on Immigration (under Head 27) from his
answers. Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you, Member.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to Heads 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99?
There being no other Members —
Minister, please.

Hon. Jason Hayward: Thank you, Madam Chairman. Madam Chairman, the first question was asked
in terms of digitisation. The funding that was reflected
in the [Budget] Book is correct, that we intend on allocating $150,000 in the next year. I indicated that we
were going to do an RFI. And the RFI will let us know whether or not we have sufficient funding or we will
need additional funding to execute on the deliverables
of the particular project.
What we found in the last project was, notwithstanding we had invested resources to ensure that we
have a digitised system and we looked at the function-ality of that particular system, it did not meet the satisfaction of stakeholders, nor did it meet the satisfaction
of myself. We put it out to industry for industry to utilise
that process. And what we did was we converted a paper process to an electronic process. But it did not necessarily cut out the steps. So it was not real automation built into the pr ocess. So kind of, you are typing numbers from a paper, putting it into a system and then you
have to revert back to paper. And we did not get the
end result that we desired.
When we talk about lessons learnt as it pertains to our expectations, we now have had a system
that we have been able to run. We know what we are
looking for. We know what we are not looking for. And
we are clear on that being set moving forward.
Sometimes when you are trying to innovate
and do things new, you run into these challenges in terms of the first iteration of what you put out there is
not what will meet what I would consider to be the published litmus test. And it would have been easy for me
to take a win and say, Now we have a digitised system!
and then say, Look! I promised digitisation; I got it. Tick the box. But I do not think that this gives the public any
justice, [nor does it do me] any justice to take a false
win. So yes, this is something that we need to get right.
We will invest in getting it right, and we will continue to
put our best foot forward to ensure that it is right.
When it pertains to the Honourable Member’s
comment as it pertains to we need to bring in 8,000
more people, that has never been articulated from this
Government. What has been articulated is we need to
increase the workforce by 8,000, which is a combination of local workers entering the workforce, able- bodied local workers entering the workforce and a combination of guest workers. It is always this thing of, We
need to bring in, bring in more people. And I am going
to have conversations on the doorstep, people [equate] that to being displaced.
And I want to make it clear to Bermudians that
our Economic Development Strategy sets out that we are investing in our local population. We are ensuring
that we increase social and labour protections for our
local population so that they are empowered to t ake advantage of opportunities within the workforce. That is what we have done with our Youth Employment Strategy. Our youth unemployment was at 33 per cent. We
said that that was too high. We have embarked on a
Youth Employment Strategy. No, I cannot give all of the
1036 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly credit for the fall in youth unemployment to the strategy,
but we actually had a concerted effort. And if you look
at the results now, our youth unemployment was last
registered at 11 per cent.
That is where we made a concerted effort to
ensure that Bermudians who were locked outside of the
world of work actually have a bridge into the world of
work. And we will continue to do that with the training
and development scholarships and the training programmes that we have put on. So I do not want the
public to leave here and say, We just need to bring in, bring in people. No. Part of this is having able- bodied
persons within our country being productive in our
world of work as well. And I just wanted to put that out
for clarification.
Now, the line item is Status and Naturalisation.
And then one will trigger, They must be granting status because the status and naturalisation revenue is going
up. But it is naturalisation which would actually increase. And there is a natural process between, you
know we created two new avenues, [sections] 31ZA and 31ZB [of the Bermuda Immigration and Protection
Act 1956] for permanent residency. Those are parents
of Bermudian children and non- Bermudian parents of
Bermudian children; and the other would be persons
who have resided here for over 20 years, having issued
now over 200 certificates.
The next step for those individuals underneath
the UK legislation, which we just do the administration
for, but those applications go to Government House under the UK Nationality Act. They are allowed to then apply for BOTC [British Overseas Territory Citi zenship]
and become naturalised. And as a result of that, you would see a natural increase in that particular line item based off of the increase in PRCs [permanent residency certificates] that were actually given out.
We also see an increase in the line item for
those items responding to PRCs as well because I have
made it abundantly clear we seek to make further
changes to permanent residency. I will be putting out a
position paper shortly which indicates the Government’s appetite for changes in that particular space for
consultation in short order. It is important that we do so
because we are going to have huge challenges with our labour force based off of our ageing population. This is
a challenge that a lot of develo ped countries have been
confronted with.
But if you fail to act, you will fail. And I know it
is not going to be popular in all quarters of Bermudian
society, but it is for me to explain that I will run the risk of losing some of my (I do not know) political popularity
for doing what I . . . or the party is doing what they believe is in the best interest of the country. No, we are
not granting status. But we would want to make Bermuda a choice jurisdiction for employees who have an
option to reside anywhere in the world based off of their skill se t. You have some employees who have a skill
set which means that they will be in demand throughout
this world. And we need to begin to close some of the competitive differences between Bermuda and other jurisdictions that they are looking to go to. And hopefully
we can have a mature conversation around that and
that does not get highly politicised.
I am expecting it will because that is just the
nature of what we have to deal with. But failure to do so
means we are grappling with a challenge, with a solution that may be forced on us rather than a solution that
is deliberate. And I will say that because if you look at
Japan, Japan has had an ageing population for some
time. Japan has been even more conservative than Bermuda as it pertains to their immigration policy. But
what you have seen now is Japan becoming more liberal in their immigration policy because they realise that
they need expatriate and guest workers in their workforce as well.
I talked to colleagues in the Caribbean and one
colleague in particular from Barbados. And I asked
them about their challenges. And they said they are going to have the same challenges. And social security
and health care costs are challenges, and the labour
shortage is a challenge. But they said that the way in
which they will benefit is that with the CARICOM free
movement of individuals, Barbados will actually be a
net nation in terms of a nation that is more attractive to
Caribbean nationals. So that is how they are sorting out
their problem. So they do not have to make tweaks as it pertains to permanent residency and things of that
nature. They would have a natural increase in residency as Barbados is being a magnet in the region for
other Caribbean nati onals.
So different countries are grappling with different strategies. And I will put ours in front of the popula-tion and clearly explain what we need to do in that area.
But if we revert back to the Economic Development
Strategy, number one is ensuring that we e mpower our
local population to take advantage of opportunities, and
then welcome our guest workers.
One thing will remain constant. We will always
have more jobs in Bermuda than able- bodied Bermudians able to fill those jobs. And when I speak to people who feel as though only foreigners are working, I continue to dispel that by just putting out the numbers. The
vast majority of workers in Bermuda are Bermudian. A
full 70 per cent of our workforce is actually Bermudian.
There are 5 per cent who are spouses of Bermudians,
and the other categories make up the rest. And I think
that should be clear to members of our public.
Even when we started looking at sectoral
breakdowns, tourism being a top employer of Bermudi-ans, wholesale and retail being a top employer of Bermudians, international business now being a top employer of Bermudians and obviously the Bermuda Government bei ng a top employer of Bermudians as well.
And that is where we find out . . . when you start talking
about the vast majority and where Bermudians are
working, that is where they are working.


Bermuda House of Assembly Unfortunately, our financial services industry
was a large employer, but our banks have continuously, systematically shed jobs year after year. And
that is a result of efficiency and innovation and global
expansion of our local banks, which allows them to lev-erage resources from other areas as well.
Some trends we are not going to be able to
stop. But then there are promise and shoots as it per-tains to greater levels of development and building
back up our hospitality offerings. When our hospitality
offerings build up, they become economic hubs and you start to see greater levels of economic activity in
other areas of our economy as well. So there is opportunity and promise if Bermudians can see a little bit forward.
But I would say that the increase in the number
of workers year over year has been excellent trends in the right direction. Are we to where we need to be? No,
certainly not. And I have set out the marker as to what
we need to achieve. The next census will give us a better opportunity of how we reset that old age dependency ratio to determine what is the actual number that
we require. But our targets that we set out as it pertains
to the 8,400 (actually) stands. And we will continue to
close that gap as best as we possibly can. But some of
it requires political solution, and you will see reflected
in this [Budget] Book where one of the solutions is
changing the rules around permanent residency certifi-cates.
The Member asked a question regarding Work
& Reside. That Work & Reside that you see in there is not the one year “Work from [Bermuda]” certificates.
Those one year Work from [Bermuda] certificates are
extremely cheap. They are like $263 for a certificate.
So they do not generate significant amounts of revenue.
The more important question is whether or not
persons can transition. They can transition into residing
in Bermuda on an annual basis according to our laws
for greater periods of time if they have the sufficient income. We are not allowing persons to trans ition into
employment opportunities because one aspect of both
policies is that the persons did not intend to work in Bermuda. Where we do see flexibility around that is where persons are invested in opening up companies and
then that person becomes the CE O of that company.
Then it would be a natural sense to say, Okay, that person is not eroding our employment opportunities from
a Bermudian; that person is actually creating an enterprise which will create greater levels of job opportuni-ties. And this is where we see the transition.
But what I have found is that Bermuda sells itself. Once persons come here, they live, work and re-side. They determine that, You know what? This is a
place that I would like to stay. This is a place that I would like to raise my family, especially persons who
have families in our school system, whether they are
public or private. Most times we beat ourselves up, but when we look at benchmarks from some of the jurisdic-tions that they come from sometimes, they are pleased
with the outcomes of our school system and the overall
family environment that Bermuda actually has.
Bermuda is actually a safe, secure environment. Bermuda is clean, notwithstanding some of the
chirping that I hear on the other side. But when you look
comparatively, Bermuda is the Gem of the Atlantic . It
will remain the Gem of the Atlantic underneath this Administration. And I am pleased with the feedback that I
get from Members.
Now, where we have to work on is business efficiency and some of the costs associated with businesses. They cannot believe some of the legal fees that
they have to pay just to do simple setting up of things.
That is when the empire creates a cash avenue for itself, and then we have been trying to dismantle that for some time. But we are kind of stuck with it because
there is no real justification when you compare jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The cost of legal fees to have a company licensed and incorporated in Bermuda, I mean,
there is no justification as to why we pay some of those
particular costs. And that is some of the feedback we
are getting, and those are some of the ways in which
we are trying to close the gap.
You saw me present this morning where we
are trying to entice family offices to come here. And part of that is, well, Why Bermuda if it is going to be more
costly for us? And that is why we wrote out the solution
and said, Oh, no. We’re looking to change the legislation in a number of areas to make doing business in
Bermuda a bit easier. For not just the family offices, but
all companies that come out of that legislation will ben-efit from those changes that we will make, notwithstanding that falls underneat h our family office framework.
Repair and maintenance. I know when people
think of repair and maintenance, automatically they
think facilities. But this is infrastructure in terms of electronic infrastructure, software and things of that nature.
So you know that Immigration has a number of systems, some old, some new. But they are all integrated
at some point, and they have to talk to each other and
it is ongoing maintenance. Sometimes just the contract
of that system requires a maintenance component of that particular contract that needs to be adequately
budgeted for.
But then as these systems age, what you also
find is that you may pay for maintenance, and then
something happens and you need to put in a ticket.
Then it is an additional cost for that as well. It is like
some way these companies create these mechanisms
so that they are ongoing- ly needed. So I think that is
appropriate.
But the other area in terms of compliance having $33,000 allocated underneath that particular cost
centre, and now we are moving to zero, you would note
that that $33,000 could not hire a staff member. And so
1038 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly that is not material funds. All we did was put the appropriate funding under the appropriate cost centre. And
there had been some previous consolidation of the department in that particular way.
I think that covers the questions that were
asked by the Honourable Member. And I await further
questions from Members of the House of Assembly.

I recognise the Opposition Leader.
Member, you have the floor.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I would like the Honourable Minister to speak
to the immigration reform in totality. He has spoken to parts of it. But he did mention last year the goal of immigration reform was to ensure that the big picture is
one that benefits all Bermudians. So I am wondering,
Is the immigration reform everything he has spoken of
thus far? Or is there a higher level to which he can
speak to it? Or are we done on immigration reform?
Thank you.

[Inaudible interjections]

Excuse me, Member. Thank you. I
think you sort of posed that question before. And I think the Minister in his answer spoke to immigration being so dynamic that policies and laws are constantly being
revised to accommodate the society within which we live. So I am not sure what else you are hoping he will
be able to put in that answer. I am not going to try and
preclude any answer that he may have.
Minister, I recognise you.

Hon. Jason Hayward: There is no one cost centre for
immigration reform. And so it kind of talks about opera-tional plans rather than how the budget allocation is ac-tually set out. So I think it was appropriate for you to
give that intervention just now, Madam Chairman.

[Inaudible interjection]

No, he is being accurate now.

Hon. Jason Hayward: But I would speak to immigration reform. And how I outlined it is that there are a
number of items that fall underneath immigration reform. Number one would be to strengthen our compliance function. I have gone into great details as it per-tains to work that we have done in terms of compliance,
some of the laws that we have changed to aid our com-pliance, the change in the work permit policy, the re-staffing of our compliance function. So as it pertains to
reform of compliance, then we can tick that area.
As it pertains to [reforms], one of our reforms is
automation and digitisation. We are working to utilise technology and greater utilise AI, as well as digitising
some of our processes and the way in which payments
are made. So that talks to automation and digitisation.
So we are progressing in that particular area.
The other area of immigration reform was ensuring that immigration works to unlock greater levels of economic activity and things of that nature. And this
is where that ties into those areas of the Economic Development Strategy that we have set out regard ing permanent residency. But not only that, [but] how do we make it easier for non- Bermudians who are here to invest economically in the country? And you have seen
some changes that we have made in terms of laws to
increase and improve residential schemes within the
wider City of Hamilton, which gives greater access to
the housing supply that persons can acquire, being a
restricted person in Bermuda.
So there are a number of items. And I think that
if we look at this from a systematic standpoint, you see
that all of those areas of reform are touched on.
The last area of reform was a wholesale review
of the legislation. Now, we attempted to do a wholesale review of the legislation, but we went backwards to
come forward, meaning there was a lot of work that was
done and reports that were given and suggesti ons that
were made by joint committees in the past. And so we
first reviewed that. What I have now tasked the Immigration Board, chaired by the Honourable Scott Pear-man to do . . . I mean Scott Simmons. Apologies.

[Inaudible interjections and laughter]

Hon. Jason Hayward: —Scott Simmons to do is focus
on how we can move forward in a systematic way to review that legislation. I have also contacted the Attorney General’s department and asked the chairman to
note if other resources have to be allocated to get the
legal suppor t that is required to support the board in its
operations. So I am not asking the board to do heavy lifting. But the broad map of the strategy and where re-source interventions are required, then they report back
to the board as the body for the proposed ch anges. The
board mulls over those changes and makes recommendations.
So that is how we are moving forward with
wholesale immigration reform. And it falls under this guidance of where we currently are as a country and
where we are trying to go from a workforce standpoint,
where we are trying to go from a natural justice and
fairness standpoint and where we are trying to go as it
pertains to best practices as well. And they will do jurisdictional reviews to see how some of these matters are
handled.


Bermuda House of Assembly For example, you see a number of jurisdictions, they list the status, a key portion of legislation.
Other immigration legislation and just have a clean status legislation. We do have that as it pertains to Bermudian registration. So we have this thing of status under-neath one Act but then being registered as a Bermudian under another Act. That creates a little nuance that
is a little bit difficult for me to explain to the average
member of the public. But a recommendation would naturally be consolidation of those two pieces under
one framework. That is just one of our items that, you know, if you ask practically what we would be looking
at, it is something like that.
There are ways in which the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act lists that you can get status
that there is no person on earth who exists who would be able to get status under that piece of legislation based off time periods passed and things of that nature.
That list needs to be either removed from our legislation
. . . So it is also about cleaning up as well. This is not
about creating channels where they do not exist. And if we do create a new channel, if we do determine that, okay, at some point in time we will open up status to
another person, that will be something for the Government and, wider, the Progressive Labour Party to de-cide and give a mandate to the Government as it per-tains to this as to what is actually desired.
Right now there is no political mandate for status. Notwithstanding, a report can come back that recommends certain areas. Moving forward with those areas of recommendation would be a political matter. And so we are kind of hands -on so we do not stifle what the
recommendations may be coming from the board or the experts who are working to review that particular legis-lation.
I hope that gives a full, comprehensive overview of how we are progressing immigration reform. I know persons would like to see it all in one pretty pack-age wrapped in a bow, but that is not the way of the world.

Thank you, Minister.
The Minister is taking his seat.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to Heads 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99?
I recognise the Opposition Leader.
Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Yes. Thank you, Madam
Chairman. And I thank the Honourable Minister for his clarification and explanation on a number of points.
I am going to move on for myself to Head 60,
Madam Chairman, for the Department of Workforce Development. Specifically questions . . . if you like, I
can read out all of the business units and revenues.


2 Official Hansard Report 8 March 2023 The Chairman: We would prefer you to read out the
question with the business unit so the Minister is clear what your question is based on.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Okay, Madam Chairman.
So there is under pages B- 189 through B- 191
the original 2023/24 column and [2023/24] revised, which sets out the values or quantification of every cost centre, or business unit revenue centre. What I am try-ing to do is in the ministerial brief, there is a portion where major achievements are outlined for those busi-ness units. So my first question to the Minister is, Would
he outline the major achievements for not only Head 60
. . . well, he can do it for Head 60. He does not have to
do it for every cost centre, but there are a number of cost centres, or business units, here. So I would like to get the major achievements for Head 60, Workforce Development.
And also, there are fluctuations in department
funding which would otherwise have come under the ministerial brief. And this is under, for example, the General Summary where we see the 2023/24 original estimate for (let us just pick one) 70000, the Administration business unit being at $817,000. And it moves by
2 per cent to $837,000. Before, we would get an explanation for why these fluctuations or changes are hap-pening. So I would like to ask the Minister to speak to those changes.
So with that on the record, mindful that might
take a second, I can move into specific questions, which would be . . .
[Pause]
Hon. Jarion Richardson: I note specifically under
page B -188 under Department Objectives that the department objectives from last year have changed. And I suspect it has to do with the previous objectives being based on certain performances. And the department may have achieved those performances. So that goes
back to my question for the Minister . . . could he outline
the major achievements for Head 60? The objectives
from last year, for example, under
2Hansard [page]
870, [are as follows]:
• “to implement the Youth Employment Strategy;
• “continue to execute Phase 3 of the National Re-employment Strategy;
• “strengthen partnerships that facilitate industry
training, development programmes and initiatives;
• “to expand Apprenticeship Training Programmes . . . ; and
• “provide support to the newly formed National Workforce Development Advisory Board” . . .
So what we have here is a little overlap between last year, but the year the department seems to
have been realigned to accomplish new objectives.
1040 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly So pretty big questions: Can the Minister
please describe this new alignment or at least the new
objectives? Can he please describe the major accomplishments under Head 60, as well as the fluctuations
in department funding? Thank you.

Thank you, Member.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to the heads under the Ministry of Economy and
Labour?
There being none —
Minister, I recognise you.
Hon. Jason Hayward: Madam Chairman, programme
6001, which is General Administration, is responsible for the overall management and administration of the
Department of Workforce Development. Business unit 70000, Administration, has met their 2023/24 performance measures of three business days for the response of general inquiries, in keeping in line with the
financial instructions and fiscal responsibility for the de-partment.
Programme 6003, Career Development, comprises Career Development Administration, pro-gramme 7030. This programme is responsible for de-veloping personal employment plans and case management as a result of client assessments, core soft
skills training and em ployment readiness training.
In the 2023/24 performance measures, the input of client and coordination of personal employment plans will meet their targets of two business days and five business days, respectively. There was an adjustment for the number of persons assessed from 350 t o
100, and participants in employability training from 500
to 100. These adjustments reflect a decline in clients
seeking services from the department since the end of the pandemic.
That is important to note, that we had employability skills at 350 persons and other assessments at 500 persons, employability skills. And we have now
gone from 850 individuals to 200 in terms of our target
audience. The result of that is that persons have been
able to find employment since the pandemic; and as a result, the demand on the Department of Workforce Development has been decreased. That is a plus for
this Government. That is a plus for Bermuda. That is a
plus for the people who had been seeking employment
and had the ability to find employment.
The Career Development team has worked diligently to ensure participation in youth employment programmes and is on track to meet the 2023/24 revised
target of 300 persons participating in those programmes. And that is also important. This means,
Madam Chairman, that 300 young persons underneath
the age of 26 are participating in programmes developed and supported by the Department of Workforce Development to ensure that they are prepared for our
world of work. One asks, What are we doing for our young
persons? Is the Government investing in our young
persons? What is the Government doing to support our
young people? Well, this statistic demonstrates that
there is support for our young people. This statistic
demonstrates that there is investment in our young
people. And this statistic demonstrates that the Government does care about our young persons.
Currently, there are 27,791 persons registered
as users on the Job Board. With the demographic
breakdown, 55 per cent are females and 45 per cent
are males. There are also 3,264 employers registered
on the Bermuda Job Board.
Programme 6004, Training, provides administrative support to the national certification and oversight
of the National Certification and Apprenticeship Board
activities such as the apprenticeship programmes, the distribution of scholarship funding for local and overseas students, professional designation training programmes and national certification of designated
trades. The training programme has much success in
implementing training programmes and advancing national certification. That is work that I beli eve you as the
Minister started in earnest, and I have continued with ensuring that we have diligent work, Madam Chairman,
as it pertains to the National Certification and Apprenticeship Board.
The National Certification and Apprenticeship
Board, being something new, will focus primarily on
skills trades. The National Training Board will no longer
be a board that is responsible for covering all occupational categories within our society. It needs a defined
focus. We have realigned that focus. And I am also
pleased to report that the Honourable Member who sits
in this House, Zane De Silva, has agreed to chair that
particular board. And that is pleasing because we now
have a person who actually cares about the development and has been in this industry for some time as it
pertains to understanding the nuances, really working
to advocate on behalf of members in that particular
space. Hopefully he is able to build an appropriate
team, get the occupational advisory committees back
functioning the way they should be.
And hopefully we will see greater levels of promotion of skilled trades, greater levels of promotion for apprenticeships, greater levels of promotion and execution of certifications in Bermuda. That is another area
that we need to close the loop on as it pertains to certifications. We have legislation that speaks to every tradesperson in designated occupations to be certified.
But yet, because we do not have a mechanism of
cross- jurisdictional reviews in place, we continue to
have persons who land on our shores without being ap-propriately assessed.
But notwithstanding that, once they get into
employment, we then reach out to employers and say
that we have minimum standards in Bermuda. And that
person, unless they can prove that they have an equivalence, has to obtain that minimal standard. And we


Bermuda House of Assembly see that in our programmes that we have actually put
out.
There was an adjustment to the number of persons awarded certifications from 300 to 125. However,
the number of persons sponsored for industry and training courses increased from 200 to 232.
Madam Chairman, I draw your attention to the
new Performance Measures for the Department of Workforce Development found on pages B -192 and B -
193, which was mentioned by the Honourable Member from the Opposition. The team at the department had undertaken a review of its performance measures, recognising the need for alignment with current workforce
demands. The team examined the existing performance measures to ensure they meet the criteria, being specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and
time-bound.
I think that is something that the Honourable
Member would actually appreciate. I think when he
speaks about performance measures this is what he
actually hammers home. He wants to see measures which are smart. He wants to see measures which are
measurable , those that are achievable, which are relevant and which are time- bound. And so when the Honourable Member rises to his feet, I am expecting that
he will express his pleasure with the revision of the performance measures —and not just having performance
measures in place for performance measures’ sake,
but something that departments actually review, do an
assessment of and then determine that they want to
move in a different direction.
This evaluation aimed at enhancing the position of the department’s performance indicators to ac-curately reflect the diverse range of services provided and the evolving needs of the clients. The revisions process prioritised clarity and relevance, allowing for a
more insightful assessment of the department’s impact on the workforce in the upcoming 2024/25 budget year.
The Department of Workforce Development
has a number of achievements, and I will highlight
those achievements. In collaboration with the Department of Financial Assistance, the department developed personal employment programmes. I am extremely proud of that particular initiative, Madam Chair-man. That is something that we spearheaded with the
reform of our Financial Assistance. We are now not telling people, In order to remain on financial assistance,
go fill out a job application and bring it in. That is s imply
not good enough. We are now saying, We’re going to
do an assessment of where you are. We’re going to talk
to you as to where you want to go. And we’re going to
put the resources in place to close that gap.
That is a human- centred approach. The other
way was administrative. This is human- centred. This is
the Government looking to see how we can actually
empower persons who are on our financial assistance. Not all persons, but able- bodied persons, on how we
can assist those persons with closing gaps. And we just
do not help them with closing gaps from an employment standpoint; there may be social gaps that need to be
closed. There may be financial literacy gaps that need
to be closed. All of that is determined during the assessment, and then the resources are put toward that individual.
This programme will continue to refine itself
and only get better. But I believe when we look 10 –15
years down the line and we see the fruits of the effec-tive execution, you ask an individual, What empowered
you to get from where you were to where you are now?
And a critical piece of that story for some individuals is going to be the intervention from the Department of
Workforce Development, which was a policy objective
of the Progressive Labour Party Government.
Additional to that, we did run job fairs for Fairmont Southampton Princess on the 1
st and 2nd of June
in 2023, and we did support the marketing and promotion of that. Notwithstanding the large marketing and
promotion, we still did not get the uptick that we required in terms of filling all of the jobs that will be available for that particular sit e. According to the conversations that we have had, it is the company’s responsibil-ity to ensure that it exhausts the options of able, qualified [local] persons before any persons are brought in.
But what is typically being done is that sub- contractors
are being hired, and sub- contractors most likely have
their own staff. Where that sub- contractor has to beef
up staff is where we have a conversation as to the work
that the sub- contractor has done to attract locals who
may have the competency in that particular area.
We continued with the National Centre for Construction Education and Research, with basic safety training. We ran technical cleaning courses, which saw
13 participants gain nationally certified cleaning certifi-cates from the Academy of Cleaning Excellence. And
nine of those individuals received employment oppor-tunities. So that is where we see where the policies or the works and the training that we have put in place
bear fruit. But I would say there is a challenge with our
cleaning industry. The challenges we have with our
cleaning industry are that there seems to be a reluc-tance to hire Bermudians. I had mentioned that in terms
of the janitor situation. But then there is also a reluctance from us as Bermudians wanting Bermudians in the house cleaning.
While I understand the rationale, we have to
look at the greater impact. We have to begin to trust one another. And so expatriates are no better human
beings than our Bermudians. So it is hard to say that
you can have a Bermudian plumber. You can have a Bermudian electrician. You can have a Bermudian carpet installer. You can have a Bermudian painter around
your house. But for some reason you cannot have a
Bermudian clean your house. It is absurd. So that is
something that we need to look into, the paradigm
around that and the impact that it is having on persons
who are trying to obtain gainful employment in a lower -
skilled area.
1042 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly So when you even see our policy changes that
are coming out, we are going to take into consideration
work done at the lower -skilled area so that we can try
to continue to have entry -level jobs at the bottom and
jobs at the top. So this is what we are actua lly trying to
correct and have more balance in our society. But the
Department of Workforce Development will continue to
train persons in those areas to reduce the amount of
burden that employers actually have in finding suitably
qualified employees.
We ran the Professional Administrative Certification of Excellence programme, which was a 12- week
course. And there were 20 successful persons who passed that particular certification. The vast majority of
participants were women who ranged from seasoned
career professionals in administration to new persons
wanting to enter the field. And they all worked together
in cohorts and things of that nature. And it was a powerful ceremony when persons were able to give their
testimony. And they were happy that they were continuing to refine themselves so that they can provide the
excellence in their place of employment.
We also ran the Renewable Solar Energy programme, which saw five participants complete that par-ticular programme. And that was with the North Ameri-can Board of Certified Energy Practitioners. And that is
a globally recognised designation. What is important
about this is, this is our investing in not just current but
future alternative energy. It is our future. And to have
persons skilled in those particular areas is certainly
welcomed by the companies who are looking for em-ployees in that space.
We ran the Construction Asphalt Training programme, and we already know about the demand for this skill set. And hopefully when the plants get back up
and running in earnest, there will be a cadre of persons who can jump in to assist the Ministry of Works with executing those duties to ensure that we have safe
roadways.
I mentioned already about our Youth Employment Strategy. But another area of success was what
we have done in terms of Summer Internship and Summer Employment programmes. We have increased the
number of young persons who have taken part in those particular programmes, and now we are up to 180 individuals who are actually funded by the department to
obtain summer internships and summer employment.
Again, I thank the government departments who actually take on these young individuals and mentor them
and provi de the career guidance that they require and
give them a better opportunity to better understand the
employment landscape.
I also thank the private sector employers. Without them this programme would not be a success. And I do that on an ongoing basis. Notwithstanding that the
funds come from the Department of Workforce Devel-opment and all of the administrative work comes from
the department, it is still some work that needs to be
done from employers who are actually dedicating staff and resources to ensuring that the experience received
by the summer students is one that is fulfilling, one that
is enriching, one that is empowering, one that puts
them on a pathway to success.
We also had another cohort of our Graduate
Trainee programme. This is another one that I am
pleased about. And I came to this House and I gave a
Ministerial Statement on it, Madam Chairman. But the
Graduate Trainee programme, we identified that we
had pers ons who were graduating from university.
They had the educational requirements, but they did
not have the experience requirements set out in some
of the jobs that they were looking for. And it is not always entry -level jobs that we need to put our graduates
in, because they exceed— exceed the company’s requirements for entry level. But what we need to do is
find the appropriate job for these individuals. And this is what this does. It creates a natural bridge where that
person is able to go in, do an internship for 10 weeks.
And then the em ployer gets to assess the value of the
young person and determine whether or not they have availability within their place of employment to retain
those individuals.
But we often hear of our young people going
away, coming back and not finding jobs. It is a matter
of what I would say, for the most part . There are some
occasions where people continue to struggle. But for
the most part, it is a matter of timing. Our statistics will
reflect that persons who have degrees are less likely to
be unemployed. Our statistics will reflect that persons
who actually have degrees are the better remunerated
persons within our society, with a few exceptions. So we cannot [overstate] the importance of education, and I do not want persons to believe that, I’m going to get
my degree, and it doesn’t matter because I come back
home and I don’t find anything. Sometimes it is a matter
of timing between their obtaining a degree and an opportunity existing.
But what we also do is we provide emotional
intelligence training. We provide the soft skills that are
necessary so that they can remain employed in the
workplace and conduct themselves accordingly with a
certain ethic. Additional to that, we now are moved to
provide persons with professional head shots so when they can update their social media, they do not have the party scene. Because employers do look at their
social media. But then understanding about their own
personal brand, that you cannot be one person on the
weekend and another person who plays at employ-ment.
Now, everybody has freedom; do not get me
wrong. But you do not want to be judged when you are
trying to get in the door or a stigma be attached to you
when you are trying to present the best version of yourself. We already know that everybody has a complete
version of themselves. But we are trying to encourage
our young people to present the best version of themselves. I read an application the other day. And one of
the responses was that the person did not come in to


Bermuda House of Assembly the [interview] dressed appropriately. I will not tell you
the job that they went in for. But even that interviewer
was expecting a different dress from the person who
walked in and held it against them because they actually wrote that. That has nothing to do with the person’s
competency or experience. But we know that these
barriers exist.
The other thing that I have learnt, and I have
primarily learnt it from being in this particular role,
Madam Chairman, is networking matters in Bermuda.
Networking provides access to employment opportuni-ties. There are people who do not have degrees or educational experience, but they are in the right circles
and they are presented with opportunities. Now, it is
that person’s work, and sometimes it is relationships,
that keeps them in that employment setting. But for the
most part if you are a member from a certain community in Bermuda, you have no natural network in the
places where you may seek employment. And as a result, you are locked out of those opportunities. While
persons who are friends of children and all of that, are within the houses, and people’s parents make things
available for them.
And it is hard for some of our young people
who come from a different social network than some
other individuals to find employment in Bermuda. And
that even goes down to summer internships. And that
is why I am clear that, no, I am not opening up internships to non- Bermudians. Because our persons, our
young people who do not have that experience need that opportunity to get in that place of employment and show their actual value. They need a bridge because
they do not have that natural network. And that is what
we are trying to do within the Department of Workforce
Development.
Madam Chairman, I cannot thank enough the
director and the staff of the Department of Workforce Development for all the work that they do. When I push
them and I say I need to see more, they are pushing
out more. They are investing in the development of
themselves. They are investing in the development of
our young people. They are investing in the development of their tools which would aid not just young people but all job seekers. And there has been some stigma around the Department of Workforce Development, I don’t want to go there for a job, or whatever it
may be. But you will be surprised as to who is actually
utilising those services. You now have professionals
who take their lunchtime courses as a refresher for
some of the stuff that they have already acquired in their workplace continuum. And so again, I just want to
thank the department.
I think that covers the performance measures
and the achievements that the Honourable Member requested.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you, Minister. Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to Heads 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99?
And before I recognise the Member who has
taken to the floor, I just want to inform the House that
we have 30 minutes remaining in this debate.
Member, I recognise you. You may speak.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Yes.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: I do have some questions
under this Head and supplementary to the Minister’s
brief. But I need to hop to one that is quite crucial in the
remaining heads, and we want to make sure we get that
dealt with.
Save this point, the Honourable Minister is absolutely correct that I cannot state with more vigour and
encouragement the performance measures being
properly outlined, documented, being measurable,
achievable, time- based. This is the kind of material that
makes sure the job of, certainly, mine anyway in the
House, gets done. This is how it works. It looks fantastic. It reminds me of the Office of the Tax Commissioner. And I hope that this momentum spreads across
all the various departments, that we do not l ook at
things that are outdated or just clearly do not match what we are supposed to be doing. So, a fantastic job
and I thank the Department of Workforce Development
for that work.
The part I wanted to jump into is a bit contentious. And I know the Honourable Minister has spoken to it before. And this is under Head 94, Economic Development. This one the Minister and I have been talking about back and forth for, well, since I got the job,
really. And last year, he spoke of the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation based on my question. I am looking at page C -19, relating to Head 94,
and this is the BEDC Operational Grant, business unit
7000 on the bottom two- thirds of the page.
To this end, we see the BEDC getting $2.2 million in 2022, $2.2 million in the original estimate for
2023 —this fiscal period, and, again, $2.2 [million] in
2022. And unfortunately, we are again without an annual report or audited financial statements. I would be
remiss to not bring this up every year and to insist that
these are crucial to receiving sums from any government or any taxpayer money but especially $2.2 million. The work of the BEDC is crucial to Bermuda, and the
Minister has made that point a n umber of times. I could
not agree more. But at this point, we do have to have
the unpleasant conversation which is, where are their
audited financial statements? Where are their annual
reports as are supposed to be generated under section
18 of the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation Act? And section 19 requires the Minister to lay those in the House. So what are we going to do about
those? Where are we at?
1044 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Are there any other Members who wish
to speak to the heads under the Ministry of Economy
and Labour?
Recognising that there are no other Members,
Minister, do you wish to answer the Member’s ques-tion?

Hon. Jason Hayward: The [Shadow] Minister is correct. We have an obligation to provide those reports in
a timely manner. I know from time to time there are a
number of reasons why reports do not come to this House in a timely manner. I know that for the National
Training Boar d I laid reports from 2019 to 2023. This
one is a little more important because it has financials
attached to it, while those other ones do not. I am waiting on the technical officers just to provide me with clarification as to the stat us of the reports as set out in the
Act. And once I receive those, I will be happy to relay
that to the Honourable Member and members of the
public.
I do not skirt around accountability, and if the
Act says that we should have reports produced, it is my aim to ensure that they come to this House in a timely
manner, understanding that there may be challenges
that prevent me from doing so.

Thank you, Minister.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to Heads 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99?
I recognise the Member.
Opposition Leader, you have the floor.
Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Chairman, for allowing me to jump around on that one and
Honourable Minster for taking that question and making
that commitment.
I am going back to Head 60 now, so a gentle
glide path. Head 60, Workforce Development, page B -
189, specifically on programme 6003, Career Develop-ment. The Honourable Minister pointed out that [the
number of] clients seeking services has declined since
the end of the pandemic. I believe the numbers he said
were from 800 to 200. That demand has decreased. And I invite him to speak to that as it relates to this question, because what we are seeing under programme 6003, under Career Development, there were
previously two business units. And one is obviously defunded, and it looks like the funding has gone into the
other. But under that total programme head, under
2022 actual —that being last fiscal period—that would
be $1.3 million. And then under this fiscal period, there
was $1.4 million. And then going into the next fiscal period, the department is requesting $1.6 million. So we
are looking at $150,000– $200,000 increases every
year. But the Minister had pointed out that the need for services is diminishing, a nd yet we are spending more.
So there are two questions there. Why are we
spending more if service requests are going down?
And if the Minister could speak to this line item 6003, Career Development, could he speak to the original
2023 which we have at $1,478,000, but the actual revised estimate is $1,634,000? So, two questions there:
Why is it going up if the service requests are going
down? And why the increase in this fiscal peri od?
I can keep asking questions.

Okay.

Hon. Jason Hayward: While I stated that there is a decline in demand for services in one area for able- bodied
adults, I did state that we are focusing on the economic
development strategy priorities, in particular the Youth
Employment Strategy. And you can see now how we
are allocating funds. And it is important to note that the
demand for the population has gone down, but we are reinvesting more funds. And I articulated how, number
one, we have increased summer internship and summer employment programmes and number two, how
we are expanding graduate training programmes and
those career development programmes that are fo-cused on our youth.
So this is a reflection of where the Government
actually puts its money where its mouth is, where there
is direct alignment in terms of where we have increased
funding in certain areas, which are particularly designed to ensure that our young people have greater
access to opportunity, get the experience they need and get acquainted with the world of work in a formal
way. There could be some other areas that I will wait
for responses. But the main area would be reflected. I
would note that, no, we did not budget for the increase
in the summer employment and summer internship programmes, but we spent money in that particular area,
and that is why the revised reflects it. And that is important. We increased opportunities for our young people (even though we did not define them) because we
determined that it was a priority.
And you can see in this Budget Book where the
numbers are aligned. And we were still able to execute
on a number of other items while increasing opportunity
for our young persons. That cannot be underappreciated. And I know that the young people who were actually able to take advantage of our Graduate Trainee Programme, our Summer Employment Programme
and our Summer Internship Programme appreciate
that.
But I want to say another thing. We did not just
increase the number of persons. We increased the delivery of the programme in terms of providing those additional wraparound services that the young persons
required, the employability skills and all of that as well.
So now we have a more comprehensive programme.


Bermuda House of Assembly We have more young persons. And I am happy to stand
behind the reallocation of those numbers.

You took to your feet before I could
even finish.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Well, the Honourable Minister went straight to my next question which was under that same head but on page C -19, for the schedule
dealing with grants and contributions, speaking to the
increased funding in the Summer Student Programme,
which is listed on t his page as 7098. And insofar as . . .
let me just spell this out a little bit.
The Department of Workforce Development
has some five grants and contributions here for scholarships, apprenticeship scheme, sponsorship —trainees, national certification training and Summer Student
Programme. So the question . . . page C -19, it will be
on all of them.
My question under Workforce Development is,
of the five programmes, four have received reduced
funding —that being scholarships, apprenticeships,
sponsorships and national certification —where the
Summer Student Programme is going up. Would the
Honourable Mi nister be able to speak to the decrease
in the grants and contributions?

Are there any other Members who wish
to speak to the heads under the Ministry of Economy
and Labour?
There being none, Minister, would you like to
answer the questions?
Hon. Jason Hayward: Yes. As it pertains to the BEDC,
the OAG [Office of the Auditor General], in January
2023, commenced the audits of the 2018/19 and that fiscal year as being audited. They paused to deal with
other Government consolidated funds. And now they
have picked bac k up. But this is a challenge that we
have identified in a number of areas as it pertains to
quangos. There just has not been prioritisation, and as
a result, we have changed legislation to remove OAG from being the primary group that c ould audit documents and have moved to the private sector. That may
be something we may have to look at for this quango
as well. But certainly, there are financial statements on
an annual basis which are produced. They currently remain unaudited. And those are some of the challenges
with utilising the internal resources that we have to ensure that they are audited. Again, the overall numbers may speak to client
declines and so this does not speak to the demand.
Where there is demand, we ensure under Workforce
Development that we actually fund. So, this may not be
a matter of . . . this is not a reduction of overall scholarships. And even if you look at the scholarships, we are
talking about an actual that was $432,000, the original
estimate which was $430,000, a revised estimate of
$430,000 and an estimate of $400,000.
So what you will see, right, is that each Ministry
has a balanced budget which produces a budget ceil-ing. And as a result, to make it work, you have to reallocate funds within the department, and that could be
just a shave coming out of here so we could put towards other areas in which we do that. And we typically
do this through virements. We could have held the
numbers the same, but that does not mean that we will service less individuals or there is less funding available for individuals. And I just want everyone to be mindful of that. Because the way in which this is done here
is we give money for scholarships and things of that
nature that go directly to institutions.
That does not mean that we cannot place more
funds when we have more funds in another cost centre
that we do not pay for the training and development that
people actually require. The budget kind of just keeps
up with the parameters. And every year is not the same
as it pertains to the funding needs of individuals. And
so I just wanted to be mindful of that.
The other thing is that what I do know is that
where one group was responsible for funding, what the department did internally was a level of consultation.
So the efficiency that is created creates efficiency in terms of the numbers, but there is no disruption in terms
of volume or service delivery. And I am abundantly
clear on that because I am not a Minster to cut funding
on these particular areas.
So I will say categorically now, there will be no
reduction as it pertains to the service we provide, as it
pertains to scholarship and things of that nature underneath this particular Ministry. And, like, we fund funding
for our young people. Why would I turn back around
and not do the exact same thing year after year? I know
how important it is. And I know that sometimes we are
the only option that people have. We are the only option for scholarship funding where they may not get scholarships elsewhere. We are the only option for additional
training. If that cannot go to . . . We can reduce funding
on local scholarships as well because we allow them to
absorb the Bermuda College funding that the Ministry
of Education provides for financial assistance first before they come to us.
So, notwithstanding the fact that we have funds
in this particular area that are not always utilised and
we reallocate that to other areas within the department.
This is where the department remains extremely agile
to meet the objectives. But no stone gets unturned
when we are trying to find resources to ensure that we
empower our people.
1046 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly I know how important workforce development
is to economic development. I know that we cannot
have a sustainable economy without a sustainable
workforce. I know that in order for some persons in our
community who come from certain social economic backgrounds to get ahead, this intervention is absolutely required. And we will continue to ensure that we
empower individuals. We will continue to ensure that
we fund individuals.
We have another cohort of individuals who are
at the [Prison] Farm, and in order for them to get parole, they need employment. But if the Corrections Department is not providing that support, then it falls on Workforce Development. So, Madam Chairman, I can assure you that the efficiencies are reflected in the numbers but there are no reductions in actual output as it
pertains to funds that persons will receive coming out of the Department of Workforce Development.

Thank you, Minister.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to Heads 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99?
I recognise the Opposition Leader. And
Leader, before you speak, I just want to say that there
are about 11 minutes remaining.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
These questions relate to Head 94, Economic
Development, and are pretty straightforward ones.
Starting on page B -195, we are about to wander into
my favourite area of performance measures again. We
are looking at Concierge Services under General Summary, page B -195, programme 9405, Concierge and
Engagement, specifically business unit 104120, Concierge Services. It was defunded this fiscal period and has not requested any further funding. But I would just note to the Honourable Minister that under performance measures on page B -197, there is still some, I
am guessing, work to be done where it is talking about
work permit applications. So, this is where the compliments go out to those who have worked incredibly hard
on their performance measures because I am not entirely sure how that defunding works, but they still have
work to do, and I do not believe I saw any full -time
equivalent numbers there. Oh. There it is under Administration. But I just wanted to bring that to the Minister’s
attention. He can speak t o it if he likes, but I just wanted
to point out that there is a —

Yes.

Hon. Jason Hayward: I have received a report that the
annual reports from 2014/15 through to 2022/23 all
have been prepared and lie with the board in preparation to be audited.
The other thing I have been informed of is that
the quarterly financial statements of the BEDC is online at their website and they are up to date up into the second quarter of 2023/24 as well. And so there is public
reporting of the funds that have actuall y been spent. All
the financial statements have been compiled and are currently with the Board awaiting audit.

Okay, Minister.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to the respective heads under Economy and Labour?
I recognise the Opposition Leader.

Hon. Jarion Richardson Thank you so much, Madam
Chairman.
I have a question relating to Head 94 on page
C-5, looking at business unit 75281, Shoreside Facilities. This has obviously been in the Economic Recovery Plan. And there have been a number of statements
both publicly and by the Minister relating to shores ide
facilities. So, my question is . . . this report indicates
that $124,000 has been spent and that there is $1.5
million allocated. If the Honourable Minister can just
clarify what has the $124,000 been spent on so far and
the $1.5 million. If he could s peak to that.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

I recognise the Minister in response.

Hon. Jason Hayward: The Honourable Member will
recall that I did make a public statement as it pertains
to the shoreside fishing facilities. The work that was executed by the Bermuda Economic Development Cor-poration was a feasibility report. That feasibility report
was then externally vetted by . . . what are they called?
. . . Professional service agencies? You know, one of
the “Big Four.”

Yes.
Hon. Jason Hayward: And that does not come free.
So the funds you see allocated are the funds associated with the feasibility study produced. You would then


Bermuda House of Assembly know that there was a recommendation that I indicated
was made that this matter now move over to the BOPP
(Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme) and fall underneath that. So there is alignment between that facility and the items which are set out in that par ticular
plan. The BOPP Steering Committee and the BOPP
team will determine whether or not they move forward
with the shoreside fishing facility, notwithstanding that
there was grant funding provided for the execution of
that.

Thank you, Minister.
Are there any other Members . . . There are
five minutes remaining for the debate under this Minis-try. Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to the respective heads? I recognise the Opposition Leader.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you. And I thank the
Honourable Minister for that.
I would ask . . . still under Head 94, taking us
over to page C -28, under Head 94, Economic Development. This is dealing with department accommodation
rentals. And I note that Economic Development has requested some $71,000 for, presumably, office space.
But before, in this fiscal period, they had none. So if the
Honourable Minister could speak to why they did not have any and then why they now need $71,500 for accommodation rental.
Thank you.

Minister.

Hon. Jason Hayward: Yes. It is estimated the Economic Development Department is looking for a new
home. So the assumption is that the move will require
additional funding outside of what was allocated for in
the previous budget period. I think that is the explanation that und erpins why there is currently a line item of
$71,500 in the Budget Book.

Thank you, Minister. Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to the heads under the Ministry of Economy and
Labour?
I recognise the Opposition Leader. You have
the floor.

Hon. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Moving over to Head 99 on page B -198, dealing now with the Department of Labour whose mission
statement is to provide services to support and foster positive employment relations and harmonious industrial relations within Bermuda in alignment with international best practices. We have discussed this at some
length as it relates to the labour relation section. And I
have asked, or rather, the Minister has already answered a number of those questions, so I will just leap right into very, very specific questi ons. And starting with
the Performance Measures for the newly formed department. As previously formatted, it was business unit
54200, Labour Relations Section.
How much time do I have now?

Are there any other Members who wish
to speak?
There being none, Minister, you have the floor.
Hon. Jason Hayward: Madam Chairman, it is a shame
that the Opposition Leader did not get to finish his questions when I tried to put a mechanism in place where
he could ask all his questions so he would not find himself in the position he finds himself in today.
1048 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly [Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Jason Hayward: But he chose not to move forward in a more efficient and effective way, and we are unable to complete this debate. That is extremely un-fortunate, Madam Chairman.
With that said, Madam Chairman, I move
Heads 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99 be approved as printed.

Members, it has been moved that Heads 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99 be approved as
printed.
Are there any objections?
There being no objectives, it is agreed to.
Thank you.

[Motion carried: The Ministry of Economy and Labour
Heads 44, 14, 27, 60, 94 and 99 were approved and
stand part of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2024/25.]

[Pause]

[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chairman]

Good afternoon, Members.
We are continuing the Budget Debate on the
Ministry of Transport Heads 48, 30, 34 and 35. This debate will be led by the Minister of Transport, the Honourable Minister Wayne Furbert.
Minister Furbert, you have the floor.

MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I thought the Honourable Member did a great
job just now. And the suggestion earlier that he made to the Honourable Members on that side was a good
idea.

Yes, it was.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I will be glad, if the Honoura-ble Member Susan Jackson wants to do that . . . I will
be glad to take that up also.
However . . . speech. The Honourable Member
does not want to go in that direction, so I will move the followings Heads: Head 48, Ministry of Transport Headquarters; Head 30, Marina and Ports; Head 34,
Transport Control Department; and Head 35; Public
Transportation be now taken under consideration.

Yes. Just one second.
This is a four -hour debate. And we are starting
at 4:30 and are due to finish at 8:30. We can finish ear-lier. There is no problem to the Members.
[Laughter] HEAD 48 —MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT
HEADQUARTERS

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: We will do our best to finish
at 5 pm. I believe the Honourable Member Mrs. Jack-son wants to go to dinner, so we will move ahead as
swiftly as possible.

All right. Continue, Minister.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, I stand before
you today to emphasise the paramount importance of
the Ministry of Transport in Bermuda, a vital institution
responsible for ensuring the efficient and safe transportation of people and goods across our beautiful Island.
Transportation serves as the lifeblood of any thriving
community, connecting individuals, businesses and communities alike. Whether it is commuting to work,
transporting goods to markets or simply enjoying leisure activities, reliable transportation infrastructure is
indispensable to our daily lives.
The mission of the Ministry of Transport is
clear: To transport people and goods efficiently and
safely. Efficiency ensures that our resources are utilised effectively, minimising wastage and maximising productivity. Safety, on the other hand, is nonnegotia-ble. It is a cornerstone upon which all transportation
systems must be built, ensuring the well -being of our
citizens and businesses alike. However, fulfilling the
mission comes at a cost.
The Ministry of Transport operates with an expenditure of $68,246,000 and a capital expenditure of
$15,410,000. This investment, Mr. Chairman, is necessary to maintain and improve our transportation infrastructure, ports and public transit system. It is an investment in our future ensuring that Bermuda remains con-nected and accessible for generations to come.
While the expenditure may seem significant, it
is crucial to recognise that the Ministry also generates
revenue amounting to $42,048,000. This revenue is derived from various sources including transportation
fees, licensing, passes and, yes, advertisement. Mr.
Chairman, Parliament should also be aware that trans-portation generates approximately $26 million in pas-senger taxes, which goes to the Consolidated Fund
which sits under Finance. In addition, it generates a further $7.7 million in visitor fees which goes to the Bermuda Tourism Authority; $12 million in infrastructure
fee which goes to Finance, and $10.2 million which
goes for Port expense. Mr. Chairman, overall, the Ministry generates not just $42 million but just under $100
million in revenue.
The Ministry is committed to fiscal responsibility, ensuring that our transportation systems are sustainable and self -sufficient. In conclusion, the Ministry
of Transport plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of Bermuda. By investing in efficient and safe transporta-tion infrastructure, we not only enhance connectivity


Bermuda House of Assembly and mobility but also foster economic growth and social
development.
Mr. Chairman, the departments which come
under the Ministry remit include the following:
• Ministry of Transport Headquarters —Head 48;
• Department of Marine & Ports Services —Head
30;
• Transport Control Department —Head 34; and
• Department of Public Transportation —Head
35.
In addition, the Ministry of Transport maintains
oversight of three authorities, namely the following:
• Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority;
• Bermuda Shipping and Maritime Authority; and
• Bermuda Airport Authority.
The budget appropriation for the entire Ministry, as I mentioned earlier, is $68,246,000, and I men-tioned earlier, the revenue was $42,048,000.

Ministry Headquarters —Head 48
Cost Centre 58000

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, it is the Ministry Headquarters which is responsible for transportation
matters within Bermuda. As I mentioned earlier, the
mission for the Ministry of Transport Headquarters is:
Transporting people and goods efficiently and safely .
That is found on page B -202.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry of Transport Headquarters, Head 48, includes two Business Units: an Ad-ministration Section and a Transportation Planning
Team, which is found on pages B -201 and B -204 of the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2024 /25.

Expenditure Overview
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, the current
capital expenditure for the Ministry of Transport Headquarters, Head 48, is estimated to be $15,849,000.
This represents a decrease of $7,265,000, or roughly
31 per cent, over the prior year’s budget of
$23,114,000. This decrease is primarily due to the elimination of the $5 million previously budgeted for project agreement guaranteed minimum regulated revenue,
which the OBA had put in place, which represents an
estimated amount to be paid to the Bermuda Skyp ort
Corporation Limited should actual regulated revenue
fall below the predetermined threshold. The particulars
of the calculation are set out in the project agreement. This reduction underscores the growth in airlift in Bermuda.
Mr. Chairman, I will provide an overview of the
trends in airlift to Bermuda over the past five years,
highlighting the challenges faced during the pandemic
and presenting a positive trajectory for the future. I shall provide an update on the commendable progress in the
air transport sector, tracing our journey from 2018 to
the present and outlining successes that have assisted our continued growth. I look forward to the future with
the pending reopening of the Fairmont Southampton in
2025.
Mr. Chairman, in 2018, we had a substantial
seat capacity of 611,000. This success was a testa-ment to the collaborative efforts between the Ministry of
Transport, the Ministry of Tourism and industry stakeholders overall. The subsequent year, 2019, witness ed
a slight dip of 580,000 in capacity, a fluctuation that was likely influenced by global economic uncertainties.
The year 2020 marked a significant downturn
due to the global COVID -19 pandemic. Bermuda, like
many nations, faced a profound impact on its air transport sector with the numbers plummeting to an all -
time low of just over 170,000 seats available. The air travel industry —a vital component of our national infrastructure—faced unprecedented challenges leading to
grounded flights, economic strain and operational disruptions.
Mr. Chairman, despite the adversities faced in
2020, the year 2021 signalled a gradual recovery with
approximately 237,000 air seats available. This positive momentum continued into 2022, with a further increase
to 355,000 seats, which represents an impressive 50
per cent increase from the prior year. As we recently
completed 2023, the upward trajectory remained, and
the total number of air capacity reached an estimated
432,000, reflecting a 20 per cent increase from the preceding year. These escalating figures not only underscore a robust recovery for Bermuda but also serve as
a testament to our resilience and adaptability in the face
of adversity. The substantial growth in air seats availa-bility shows our ability not just to endure challenges but to emerge stronger, thriving as a destination of choice.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry of Transport in collaboration with our valuable partner stakeholders has been consistently and diligently working towards enhanced airlift services. Allow me to highlight some of
the noteworthy achievements that were made recentl y
which have assisted in our increase in seat numbers,
reflecting an astounding 150 per cent increase since
the COVID -19 impact in 2020.
Mr. Chairman, it is important that this Parliament is aware of what assisted us to increase our air
capacity in 2023. The reinstatement of JetBlue’s daily service to Boston has markedly improved our connectivity and heightened local passenger satisfaction, particularly for medical travel. The reintroduction of this
crucial ro ute not only broadens our array of travel
choices but also affirms our dedication to delivering
convenient and efficient air travel services. The introduction of BermudAir —this new link not only unlocks
exciting possibilities but also enhances the enthusiasm and accessibility of our region as a compelling travel
destination. American Airlines is resuming its daily nonstop service to Miami on November 5
th, extending its
year-round connectivity from Miami to Bermuda. This
complements the already established year -round service from JFK and Charlotte.
1050 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, as we reflect on our successes
in 2023, it is important to recognise that our journey is
far from over. In 2022 the total airline capacity for January, February, March, November and December was
113,000. In 2023 it was 133,000. Hence, we coul d applaud, colleagues. But, Mr. Chairman, we are not satisfied because for the same period in 2019 the airline
seat capacity was 195,000. Despite achieving remarkable strides in air seat capacity for 2023, our vision extends beyond mere accomplishments, encompassing
our commitment to continued growth and innovation.
Mr. Chairman, our aspirations soar higher than
ever before. We envision a Bermuda that not only attracts visitors but captivates their hearts and minds,
leaving an indelible impression that beckons them back
time and time again. To realise this vision, we must
push the boundaries of possibilities, pushing ourselves
to increase our seat capacity even further. [During] the
off-season, particularly as we hear November through
March our Island home still has beauty offering a sanctuary of tranquillity and adventure for travellers seeking
respite from their daily lives and the colder weathers of
snow and ice. Achieving this vision, Mr. Chairman, requires dedication, innovation and collaboration. As we
embark on this journey, we must draw inspiration from our past successes, fuelling our determination to reach
even greater heights. Together, let us write the next chapter of Bermuda’s tourism story —one of innovation,
growth and unparalleled hospitality. The work ahead
may be challenging but it is also exhilarating. For it is
through our collective efforts that we will shape a future where Bermuda shines brighter than ever before.
Mr. Chairman, here are some actions that the
Ministry has taken and some we are working on to fulfil
the vision. American Airlines intends to relaunch its
flight between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Bermuda with seasonal flights resuming April 2024. BermudAir has added two new routes which
includes Orlando, which will fly out March 26
th and Baltimore, on March 18th. They are also seeking permission to fly to Halifax and Toronto. Mr. Chairman, the
Halifax travel will greatly help tourists and our students
who go to school in the Halifax area. Mr. Chairman, the
Bermuda Halifax flight will r educe the flight costs for our
students and their families. Let me applaud BermudAir
for their continued growth and for their exceptional flight
service and passenger comfort.
United Airlines has committed to extend their
Newark Liberty International Airport to the Bermuda
seasonal service to 26 October 2024 and a larger air-plane with 166 seats, which is a 737 Max 8. This represents a 71 per cent increase in total days of scheduled
flights from 123 days in 2019 to 210 days planned in
2024. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to also say further discussions are being held with United Airlines on extensions for the period of November to March, which
could potentially increase capacity in the region of 66
per cent. Mr. Chairman, we will rise to the challenge,
unite in purpose, and our pursuit of excellence. Our journey has just begun. And as I said before, the best
is yet to come.
Mr. Chairman, the remaining $2,265,000 decrease was a majority split between the Bermuda Airport Authority’s operational budget, which was de-creased by $1,700,000, and the Air Service Development budget allocation, which was also decreased by
$1 million o ver the prior year. The purpose of the Air
Service Development budget is to better position Ber-muda for transformational change in the commercial
aviation industry. And this will help out overall as far as increasing our air capacity, and in doing so, aid in economic recovery and enhance the lives of Bermuda’s
residents. As stated earlier, the Air Service Development Committee will continue to work to expand current
air service to protect our key gateway cities and enter
and expand into new markets.
Mr. Chairman, throughout the fiscal year, the
Ministry will engage in a collaborative effort with its authorities to identify and implement strategies aimed at
enhancing efficiency and realising cost savings. This collaborative approach involves a concerted examination of operational processes and resources utilised to
streamline operation and achieve financial economies.
Throughout this ongoing effort, the Ministry aims to optimise its organisation performance and financial outcomes.
Mr. Chairman, the Headquarter budget includes funding for two business units mentioned previously, as well as the Current Account Operational/Expenditure Grants and Contributions as seen in the Min-istry of Transport Headquarters budget found on pages
B-201 and B -204, and Schedule 1 for Grants and Contributions found on page C -19 of the Budget Book.

Administration
Cost Centre 58000
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, the Administration section within the Ministry of Transport Headquarters, cost centre 58000, is comprised of four full -
time equivalent staff and will have a budget of
$15,708,000. As provided previously, the bulk of the allocation —93 per cent —is comprised of the Bermuda
Airport Authority’s operational grant of a smaller
amount going to Air Service Development.

Transportation Planning Team
Cost Centre 58010

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I will move on to the Transportation Planning Team, Head 48, cost centre 58010.
Mr. Chairman, the Transportation Planning
section sits within the Ministry of Transport Headquarters. Cost centre 58010 includes one full -time equivalent employee and has allocated a budget of $141,000
and can be found on page B -202 of the Budget Book.
The Transportation Planning Section oversees cruise
ship contractual, operational, regulatory and logistical


Bermuda House of Assembly matters to ensure the efficient integration of transportation services to meet expectations in Bermuda. In addition, this section spearheads various transportation
projects and policy research initiatives deemed important by the Ministry.
Cruises are one of the fastest growing sectors
of travel. And tourism worldwide was forecast to reach
106 per cent of 2019 levels in 2023 with 31.5 million
passengers sailing worldwide and approximately 35
million passengers estimated in 2024, as reported by
Cruise Lines International Association. We have just
experienced a significant achievement as the 2024
season is off to a great start. Seven cruise ships have
visited our shores in January and February with an influx of over 22,000 winter visitors so f ar compared to
9,466 passengers in 2023, with another eight cruise ships planned for March.
Mr. Chairman, you will recall when cruises did
not come to Bermuda in the off -season. They mainly
came in our regular season from April going forward. So this is a remarkable achievement for the team that works within the department. As I said, [there have
been] 22,000 winter visitors already.
Mr. Chairman, 2023 has promised to be Bermuda’s biggest cruise ship season in recent history, originally forecasted at 224 calls following the relaxation of pandemic protocols. Travellers were excited to
cruise without restrictions to Bermuda and bookings were pacing at an all -time high. Cruise lines were
happy with Bermuda’s shoulder season weather in 2021/22 and booked more calls than usual as our team and the local port agent worked hard to attract additional calls all year round.
Mr. Chairman, the 2023 season saw the return
of normal service to Bermuda with great excitement.
Bermuda welcomed 15 inaugural cruise ship visits,
each showcasing the latest advancement and technol-ogy and amenities available in the market. The impressive features of these ships underscore the reasons behind the widespread popularity of cruising.
In 2023, there was encouraging news as passenger spending surged by 46.8 per cent compared to
2022. However, I must highlight that the season was
marked by unprecedented weather conditions. Thirty -
five out of the 41 cruise ship calls had to be cancelled
due to these weather events. And I think we all can recall those weather events. Despite these challenges
though, the 2023 season concluded with a total of 183
calls, attracting an impressive 524,413 passengers to
our shores. This marked an increase of 19 calls, repre-senting a growth of 11.5 per cent and 122,756 passengers, reflecting a substantial rise of 30.5 [per cent] compared to the previous year.
Mr. Chairman, by June 23, favourable weather
conditions allowed for smooth operations and ships
were consistently arriving with full occupancy reaching 100 per cent. This trend continued with occupancy lev-els reaching sometimes 110 per cent by July. The robust numbers persisted both before and after hurricane
activity through to November.
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, 110 per cent.
Notably, the presence of larger 5,000- passenger calling ships played a crucial role, compensating for
potential revenue losses and contributing to a resilient
financial performance.
I understand that Honourable Member was
asking about 110. How can it be 110 per cent? And basically, what it is, you normally go . . . I have gone on
many cruises. You go on a cruise, and you will have a bed. They will put an extra cot in there for the chi ldren
or whatever. That makes it go up to 110 per cent.
Mr. Chairman, revenue estimates for 2023 was
$24,700,000 in passenger taxes, $10,700,000 in Transport infrastructure tax. Other cruise ship revenue
includes $7,700,000 in cruise ship visitor fees, $150
million in passenger spending, $6,900,000 in crew
spending, $10,200,000 in cruise line disbursement expenses, locally for an estimate of $210,200,000 in economic activity in Bermuda.
Mr. Chairman, I think it is important at this time
. . . maybe I will just reflect back on some numbers so
people are aware of the significant progress we have
made since 2017. (And I think everyone in the House
understands why I say 2017.)
• Total cruise calls in 2017 were 161. Total
cruise calls that will be in 2024 are 184 —14 per
cent [increase].
• The number of passengers in 2017 was 418,000. The number of passengers for 2024
will be 587,000— a 38 per cent increase.
• Passenger spending was $47.9 million in 2017
and, Mr. Chairman, will be $172.4 million in 2024 —a 265 per cent increase over 2017.
• Passenger and cabin tax was $24 million. In
2024, it will be $34 million —a 54 per cent increase.
• Transport tax in 2017 was zero. In 2024, it will
be $12 million. I am sure you can all know what
percentage increase that is.
• Cruise ship port was $8 million in 2017. It will
be $10.2 million in 2024 —a 28 per cent increase.
• Economic impact, Mr. Chairman, in 2017 was
$81 million. In 2024, we are expecting $228.7
million —a 181 per cent increase.
Mr. Chairman, securing smaller ships for St.
George’s and Hamilton remains a key objective for the Ministry. However, the challenge lies in the fact that the
identified smaller vessels tend to be luxury or expedition ships. Today’s discerning luxury travellers increasingly seek multiple ports, extended itineraries to hassle-free destinations, and immersive cultural experience.
While Bermuda is an attractive stopover, finding
1052 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly smaller ships willing to commit to a weekly transatlantic
journey has proven to be a significant or formidable task.
Once these ships ar rive, there is a distinct set
of expectations from both passengers and ship staff, particularly those who have visited Bermuda previously. Complicating matters further, our product has
undergone changes within Front Street, for instance, experiencing changes since the pre- pandemic era. Despite these challenges, the Ministry remains dedicated to enhancing cruise offerings and adapting to evolving preferences of luxury travellers .
I and the cruise individual who is in charge,
Miss Stacey Evans, will be traveling to Florida next month to the Seatrade and particularly talking to cruise
lines and trying to attract some more cruise lines to Ber-muda.
The Ministry of Transport has met with the Ministry of Tourism, Bermuda Tourism Authority, Corpora-tions of St. George and Hamilton, Bermuda Economic Development Corporation, Chamber of Commerce, and other key local stakeholders to address areas of improvement.
Suggestions have been made to better the
product experience of our cruise ship passengers in 2024 and bring life back into our ports. This, we believe, will enhance the overall experience of our cruise and
[air] visitors alike.
Mr. Chairman, Bermuda will also see nine inaugural cruise visitors in 2024 such as: March 19, Oce-ania Vista ; April 2, Ritz Carlton; April 10, Holland America; April 14, Celebrity; April 22, Island Princess ; September 14, Oceania Nautica ; October 21, Holland
America; and October 23, another Holland America Rotterdam; and September 12, Sky Princess.
Mr. Chairman, the 2024 cruise ship schedule is
available for download on the official department of Ma-rine and Ports website at www.marineandports.bm
. It is
important to know that cruise ship calls are subject to change, and the schedule is regularly updated to provide the latest information.
Mr. Chairman, I continue to be grateful for the
dedicated individuals in the transportation sector including minibus, taxi, ferry, and public bus operators and teams who work together harmoniously to ensure the smooth movement of our passengers. Their commitment is vital to creating a positive impression of Bermuda from the moment our visitors arrive. Additionally, I would like to recognise the invaluable efforts of our traffic officers at TCD. Their dedication and expertise help maintain order and efficiency further enhancing the overall transportation experience for our guests.

Manpower

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Ministry of Transport
Headquarters will employ five full -time equivalent employees under the following [cost centres]: • 58000—four persons; the ministry comptroller,
an accountant administrator officer, an executive assistant, and a policy analyst; and
• 58100—a transportation coordinator. Compensation is estimated at $549,000 or approximately 3.5 per cent of the total budget.

Bermuda Airport Authority

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, I would now
like to discuss the year ahead with respect to Bermuda Airport Authority 2024/2025. The only authority that re-ceives a grant from the Ministry of Transport is the Bermuda Airport Authority. The Bermuda Airport Authority
is nearing the end of the seventh fiscal year as a
quango under the Ministry of Transport.
The current account expenditure can be seen
in the Ministry of Transport Headquarters Subjective
Analysis of Current Account Estimates Grants and
Contributions budget line located on page B -203 and
C-19 of the Budget Book.
The Bermuda Airport Authority delivers a range
of essential air and navigation services also known as
retained government services at LF Wade International Airport, including air traffic control, air traffic engineering, Bermuda public aviation and weather, aeronautical
information services, and the authority’s facilities, our vehicle and equipment maintenance.
On behalf of the Government of Bermuda, the
Bermuda Airport Authority, as owner of LF Wade International Airport, also oversees the performance of the
airport developer and operator Bermuda Skyport Cor-poration Limited and its 30- year concession to operate,
maintain, and redevelop the LF Wade International Air-port.
Oversight of Skyport includes the monitoring of
key performance indicators such as compliance with standard airport operating procedures, international aviation regulations, building and equipment mainte-nance specifications, growth of the airport revenue
streams, and energy consumption. The Airport Author-ity regulates the airport fees charged by airport -to-airport users. These regulated revenues remain lower than projected compared to 2019 volumes due to the reduced frequency of commercial airline flights and
lower passenger volumes in [the] post -pandemic period. While the Airport Authority remains contractually
obligated under the project agreement to fund a portion
of Skyport’s revenue shortfall as determined by the
guaranteed minimum regulated revenue, it is estimated that the extra regulated revenue will exceed the guar-anteed minimum regulated revenue in 2024/25.
The Airport Authority, in coordination with the
Tourism Authority and Skyport with the Ministry of Transport , also leads Bermuda’s airport service development with a focus on rebuilding Bermuda air service. These efforts are key to maintaining air service links to our key overseas markets. And I mentioned earlier the


Bermuda House of Assembly new additional air capacity in 2023 and what we are
looking for in 2024.
Expenditure Overview. The total Ministry of
Transport operational expenditure grants [to] the Airport Authority will be $12,700,000 for 2024/25 representing a $1,700,000 decrease, or approximately 11.5
per cent less than the 2023/24 allocation. The Airport
Authority currently employs 47 full -time equivalent staff.
The mostly Bermudian professional workforce has the mandate to provide essential retained government service as direct employees of the Airport Authority thus enjoying long- term job stability under the management
of a local leadership team with a hi gh-performance culture.
The 2024/25 capital budget grant request for
the Bermuda Airport Authority totals $800,000 [and]
represents $1,000,000 decrease, or approximately a 55.5 per cent decrease, versus the prior fiscal year.
These funds will be allocated to several ongoing key
airport infrastructure- related projects including but not
limited to instru ment landing system replacement, aeronautical information services, Bermuda weather ser-vice, [and] immigration eGates for the new airport terminal building. It is anticipated that a number of these
capital projects will be completed over a time span of
two fiscal years.
I would like to thank the dedicated team at the
Ministry of Headquarters and the authorities under the Ministry for their unwavering commitment to the Ministry.
This concludes Head 48 Ministry of Transport
Headquarters.
I now move on to Head 30, Marine and Ports
Services.

HEAD 30 —MARINE AND PORTS SERVICES

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, the budget for
Head 30, the Marine and Ports Services, commonly referred to as the M & P, can be found on pages B -205
through B -209 of the “Estimates of Revenue and Expenditures for the Year 2024/25.”
As stated on page B -205 of the Budget Book,
the mission of the Department of Marine and Ports Service is The regulation and safe operation of Bermuda’s
maritime affairs including marine border security,
search and rescue, and public transportation.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, the total current expenditure for the Department of Marine and
Ports Head 30 is estimated to be $22,996,000, which
represents an increase of $942,000, or an increase of
4 per cent, over the 2023/24 budget. The increase is
required to address the Department of Marine and
Ports Services’ staff shortages as the department will
continue to fill all vacant funded positions. In addition,
it will address the rising cost of electricity, diesel fuel requirements, and the increased cost of vessel maintenance.
The Pink Harbour Ferry will continue to operate
with already added additional runs to service the public.
The Department of Marine and Ports Services expenditures are set out under the following three Business
Units and can be found on page B -205 of the Budget
Book. Programme 3006 West End (Dockyard): Navigational Aids cost centre 40040, $798,000; Tug Service
cost centre, $2,044,000; Tender Service cos t centre,
40210, $396,000; Dockyard Maintenance cost centre
40260, $3,461,000.
Programme 3007, which is Central (Hamilton
[Office]): Ferry Service cost [centre 40090], $8,293,000; Mooring and Boat Registration cost centre
40150, $302,000; Administration cost centre 40220,
$2,922,000.
Programme 3008, which is East End [(Fort
George]): Maritime Safety and Security cost centre
40100, $2,587,000; Pilotage Service and Offshore
search and rescue 40180, $2,193,000.
Revenue provided on page B -206. It is anticipated that in 2024/25 the Department of Marine and
Ports Services will generate revenue of approximately
$6,314,000 to be realised primarily through fees
charged for the provisional ferry services, tug services,
boat haulage, pilotage fees, boat mooring, and port
dues.
Capital expenditure. Capital development expenditures for the department are found on page C -5 of
the Budget Book [and] set at $2,564,000 representing
a decrease of approximately $5,067,000 over the 2023/24 revised budgetary estimate of $7,631,000. The decrease represents the decreased cost of the Marine and Ports dockyard workshop renovations funding
as the project is due to be completed during 2024/25. And I thank the Minister of Public Works, Honourable
[Minister] Burch, and his team, leading the charge.
Every effort is being made to reduce delays. A total of $1,350,000 has been appropriated for the floating dock
refit project.
Mr. Chairman , capital acquisition expenditure
for the department is found on page C -13 of the Budget
Book [and] is set out at $10,010,000. Two hundred fifty
thousand dollars have been set aside for Navigational
Aids which represents an increase of $50,000 when
compared to the budget of 2023/24. The funds will be
used for the ongoing repair and replacement of the department’s ageing ship navigation infrastructure. The bulk of the budget, which is $9,737,000, has been allocated to the purchase of two new 550- passenger ferries to address the department’s ageing fleet.
In a significant move to elevate public transportation services, the recent contract signing on February 6, 2024, with Strategic Marine for the acquisition of two
new ferry builds brings positive news for the commuters. Despite a robust procurement process with the
highest bid reaching $36 million, the Government successfully secured a contract at a notably lower cost of
1054 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly $19.5 million all while ensuring quality assurance within
the agreement. The investment in our ferry fleet stands
as the most substantial budget allocation in the
2024/25 capital plan. As an integral component of the
infrastructure capital plan, this purchase is set to re-place the ageing JL Cecil Smith and the Warbaby Fox
ferries. [It] signifies a commitment to modernise the
ferry fleet and meet the growing demand for our efficient and sustainable transportation option.
The introduction of these new vessels, each
capable of accommodating up to 550 passengers, not only represents a significant investment in maritime infrastructure but also promises to enhance the overall
commuting experience for both the residents and tourists alike.
The department’s full -time equivalents found
on B -207 of the Budget Book is 162 persons. The department’s performance measures found on B -208
through 209 of the Budget Book remain positive. It is
important the department continues meeting its perfor-mance target measures to meet the required interna-tional standards. Maintaining these levels continues to
be challenging with the rapidly ageing fleet that requires additional mai ntenance year over year. Nonetheless, the department continues to work diligently to
manage these processes and ensure that delivery of
safe and reliable service is maintained.
As mentioned in previous years, the Department of Marine and Ports Services represents one of
the most critical operational arms of the Government of
Bermuda as it facilitates the movement of vital shipping commerce in and out of Bermuda’s ports. There were
a total of 1,006 international ship movements in Bermuda waters over the reporting year. The services the department provides include the public ferry boats, pilot
boats, tug- boats, ship tender service, and Bermuda
Maritime Operations Centre. Additionally, the depart-ment is responsible for coordination of international
search and rescue operations in this region of the North
Atlantic and retains oversight of . . . oversees seaport
security, maritime border control, and compliance with international standards. During the fiscal year, the department responded to over 347 search and rescue
cases assisting both ship and aircraft locally and inter-nationally.
Output measures. The target outcome for the
Marine and Ports operations for 2024 is to continue delivering the required marine service in a timely and professional manner to ensure customer satisfaction.
Over the last few years, the Government revenue has been widely impacted, and Marine and Ports
continues to look for cost savings measures.
The assisting vessel refit replacement projects
already in progress are on time and on budget ensuring that the department’s infrastructure maintenance programmes continue to contribute to an effective, reliable, and sustainable service to our commuters and cruise
ship visitors. Major policy changes. The department will continue consulting with stakeholders to ensure that implementation of the Marine and Ports Services Act 2021
remains a smooth transition to the new legislation.
Plans for the upcoming year [will include]
• training of departmental staff to international
standards will continue to ensure the department meets its international obligation in line
with safe manning requirements ;
• continued progress with the department's succession planning to ensure highly technical
posts with the department are filled by qualified
Bermudians with the relaunch of the department’s training program me;
• continued training for tug crews of the department’s state of the art tugs ;
• continued progressing of the renovation project
of Marine and Ports’ workshop in partnership
with the Department of Works and Engineering;
• continue with the public/private partnership
program me for the removal of derelict boats ;
• oversee and manage the new ferry build project to ensure the project remains on time and on budget ; and
• the transition to the digital age by the implementation of digital fare media (which we had
mentioned in a former message to the House) .
I would like to thank the staff of Marine and
Ports Services for their excellent search- and-rescue
and piloting services as well as for delivering an efficient, consistent, and reliable ferry service.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes the brief for Department of Marine and Ports Services Head 30.
I will now move on to Head 34 the Transport
Control Department —as we all know it as TCD.

HEAD 34 —TRANSPORT CONTROL DEPARTMENT

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The budget for Head 34, the
Transport Control Department , commonly referred to
as TCD, can be found on pages B -210 through B -213
of the Budget Book .
The mission is simple: To assure the safety of
all road users.
Transport Control Department , or TCD, is responsible for the management of all motor vehicles and
road users on Bermuda’s road network. This includes
vigilant oversight and regulation of vehicle sizes, appropriateness, roadworthiness, appearance, and quantity.
The department undertakes the following activities to
ensure compliance and safety: oversees the administration of the vehicle safety and emission inspection
programme, manages the registration and licensing
processing for all vehicles, administers pr actical driving
and riding examination for individuals applying for driving licences, regulates traffic through continuous monitoring of drivers and vehicles to maintain safety standards, issues permits for the operation of commercial


Bermuda House of Assembly and public service vehicles, actively implements road
safety initiatives to enhance overall traffic safety and
awareness.
The department is responsible for conducting
inspections and issuing permits under Garages Licens-ing Act 2022, and monitoring rental minicar and cycle
liveries to ensure compliance. TCD also issues special
permits such as a one- day permit, which allows a person to use a n insured but unlicensed vehicle on public
roads used to be repaired or driven to department for
inspection, and Sunday permits for commercial vehicles.
As a result of recent legislative amendments,
the department also administers the application process and permit issuance for classic cars.

Department Overview

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: TCD is divided into five separate business units: Administration, Registrations, Examinations, Traffic Control, and Road Safety.
The Administration Section is responsible for
the overall operation and administration of the department ’s three facilities, North Street, Rockaway, and
Southside. This includes professional service for the management of the Safety and Emissions Inspection
Programme, external IT support for the eTCD online
programme, the driver and vehicle registration system, the appointment management system, and the electronic vehicle registration system.
Each of these systems are critical to ensuring
optimum customer service. Moreover, customers will
soon have the convenience of applying for permits to
operate a commercial vehicle through an online pro-gramme. We are all aware or have had challenges in
regard to the time it takes to register or get a commer-cial vehicle. So, now we will go online, and we hope to turn this around in very, very short order. This online
initiative is slated to expand the service to encompass
other requests including but not limi ted to vehicle imports or replacements.
The Registration Section is responsible for registering and licensing all vehicles issuing drivers li-censes along with identification, senior, and special person’s card[s]. This section collects the revenue generated by transactions conducted at the department .
The Examinations Section conducts all driving
and riding tests to ensure that applicants are proficient at operating a vehicle before acquiring a licence to ride
or drive on Bermuda’s roads. The examiners also in-spect the vehicles for roadworthiness and carry out
write -off procedures for private motor cars prior to their
disposal. Examiners also conduct site visits to garages
to ensure that all safety equipment is in good working
order. The department ’s examiners also assist the Bermuda Police Service with investigations into serious
and fatal collisions by conducting [a] thorough inspection of the involved vehicle. The Traffic Control Section is responsible for
enforcing road traffic and motoring laws, issuing moving violations and parking tickets, and monitoring commercial and public service vehicles. Traffic officers are
deployed on street patrols to ensure all veh icles operating on Bermuda’s roads comply with our legislation.
The Road Safety Section is managed by the
Road Safety Officer. (And the chairman sits in this Hon-ourable House, the Honourable Mr. Lister.) This section
promotes road safety awareness through education,
training, for example, Project Ride, which became man-datory in 2010, and public events such as Road Safety
Week normally held May 8
th of each year. This year’s
events are scheduled for May 7 through May 11. This
section works closely with the Bermuda Road Safety Council to advise [the] Minister of Transport on road
safety matters and motoring trends. The council also
devises and implements strategies and programmes to
address topical motoring issues, for example a road
safety initiative soon to be implemented is on- road instruction and examination for all Project Ride students.
Between 2013 and 2023, 128 people have lost
their lives on Bermuda’s roads. Therefore, the priority
of this section is to reduce collisions [and] to decrease
serious injuries and deaths on our roads. This effort in-cludes the Bermuda Police Service and the Bermuda
Road Safety Council with monthly meetings held to dis-cuss initiatives to combat poor driving and risk -taking
on public roads.
Mr. Chairman, TCD continues to implement
and maintain an effective and convenient vehicle ex-amination and registration programme that is increasingly more user friendly. In addition, the vehicle testing
equipment has recently been replaced with state- ofthe-art technol ogy. The installation phase is complete.
Training and commissioning of the equipment will begin prior to the March 31
st fiscal -year end. Customer waiting times remain between 15 and 30 minutes.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: TCD [has a] budget allocation
of $5,561,000 for 2024/25, a $355,000 or 7 per cent increase over 2023/24.
Mr. Chairman, it should be noted that approximately 67 per cent of $3,704,000 of the $5,561,000 is
allocated to salaries. Also, external professional services are allocated $473,000. [The] allotment is used
for external IT support, EVR, eTCD, the DVRS, and
AMS, all of which are critical to the department ’s daily
operation and maintaining its excellent customer service level. The remaining budget is used for general operating expenses such as utilities, repair and upkeeping of the facilities, vehicle and equ ipment, printing and
office supplies.
The estimated budget for the Administration
Section 44210 will be $2,286,000. The estimated
budget for the Registration Section is $1,028,000 for
the fiscal year. This is cost centre 44040. For this fiscal
1056 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly year, the Examination Section estimated budget of
$1,345,000 represents an increase of $87,000 or 7 per
cent. Traffic [Control], which is cost centre 44110, has
an estimated budget of $642,000. Road Safety cost
centre 44090 will have a budget of $260,000. This rep-resents a 2 per cent increase.
Revenue found on page B -211. It is anticipated
that during [the] 2024/25 budget cycle, TCD will collect $31 million. You will find that on [page] B -211,
$31,534,000 in revenue in line with the prior year’s ac-tual.
Capital Expenditure found on C -13—$194,000
has been allocated to complete the repairs and upgrades to vehicle testing equipment.
Manpower [page] B -212: 46 full -time equivalent employees.

Plans for Upcoming Year

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Transport Control Department continues to review and upgrade the Road
Traffic Act 1947, the Motor Car Act 1951, the Auxiliary Bicycles Act 1954, and their ancillary regulations. The
department continues to focus on modernising and harmonising the public service vehicle industry by consulting the owners of minibuses, taxis, limousines, and airport limousines. Ideas discussed include new dispatching technology, increasing the seating capacity for
taxis, and allowing the importation of second- hand limousines. Research is also ongoing regarding the intro-duction of fare payment by credit/debit cards and new vehicle models.
Mr. Chairman, the Island welcomed 525,000
cruise ship passengers in 2023. Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Road Safety Council will work in conjunction with
the Road Safety Officer to continue the implementation of Operation Caution, the Government’s five- year road
safety strategy that is from 2018 through2023. Operation Caution has been extended t o 2024 to cover the
time lost during the pandemic.
Mr. Chairman , this concludes the brief of the
Transport Control Department Head 34. I now will
move to Head 35, the Department of Public Transportation.

HEAD 35 —DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The budget for Head 35, the
Department of Public Transportation, is found on pages B-214 through B -217 of the Budget Book. Their mission
is Moving Bermuda with a quality public bus service.
The total current expenditure which you can
find on [page] B -214 of the Budget Book is estimated
[at] $23,840,000, which is $1,863,000, or 8 per cent higher than [the] 2023/24 budget.
The department has three business units:
Transportation, Maintenance, and Administration. The
budget breaks down as follows: • Programme 3501—Transportation
$12,437,000
• Programme 3502— Maintenance $4,625,000
o Inventory Management, cost centre
45115—$1,463,000.
• Programme 3503— Administration
o Administration, cost centre 45120 —
$4,347,000;
o Management Support, cost centre 45200—$968,000.

Transportation —Bus Operations
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, the public bus
service is in operation 365 days a year (when it is a leap year, it is more), 18 hours per day to provide Island-wide transportation across 11 bus routes. Unlike most
public transportation systems around the world, the
school bus service is coordinated during the school
year with free transportation provided year -round to
resident school students.
The current account expenditure for Bus Operations under cost centre 45010 is estimated at $12,437,000 for 2024/25. This is an increase $1,196,000, or approximately 11 per cent.

Maintenance

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The department employs a
team of professionals in repair servicing to maintain the
fleet of public buses, support vehicles, and equipment.
You can find that on cost centre 45090. The cost for that is $4,625,000 for this year coming up. This is an increase of $64,000, or 1 per cent change over the prior
year.

Inventory Management
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Inventory Management, cost
centre 45115, [is] $1,463,000 for 2024/25. This is an
increase of $69,000, or approximately 5 per cent more
than the prior year’s budget, largely due to the increase maintenance required for the rapidly ageing remaining
diesel b uses.

Administration

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Administration, cost centre
45120—$4,347,000 for 2024/25. This is an increase of $364,000, or approximately 9 per cent over [the] prior
year’s budget.

Management Support
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Management Support [is] responsible for selling and processing bus and ferry fares and providing administrative services for accounts, procurement, and human resources. The expenditure for


Bermuda House of Assembly Management Support is estimated to be $968,000 for
2024/25, an increase of $170,000 or 21 per cent.

Revenue

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: It is anticipated that in 2024
(this is found on page B -215) Revenue will generate
approximately $4,200,000 for the year. This will be generated from an anticipated surge in bus and ferry fares
after the introduction of the state- of-the-art digital fare
media system that I will elaborate on shortly.

Capital Expenditure

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Capital Expenditure [on page]
C-14, $951,000, is primarily for the introduction of the
new digital fare media system. The remaining amount is budgeted for replacement support vehicles, updating
computer equipment, and other necessary upgrades to
the facil ities, tools, and equipment.

Manpower

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Manpower: 243 individuals
working. These are called full -time equivalents. Mr.
Chairman, it should be noted that approximately 75 per
cent, or $17,948,000, of DPT's total budget, or
$23,840,000, is allocated to salaries and wages.
Here is the breakdown of the FTEs by each
section as follows:
o Bus Operation cost centre 45010, 168 full -time
equivalents;
o Repair Service, cost centre 45090 five full -time
equivalents;
o Inventory Management cost centre 45115, five
full-time equivalents;
o [Administration] cost centre 45120, has four
full-time equivalents ;
o Management Support cost [centre] 45200 has
14 full -time equivalents.

Major Policy Changes
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Here are some of the major
policy changes. It was Monday, January 2, 2024, one
day after the beginning of the year on a cool morning
when the Department of Public Transportation returned
to self -sufficiency after seven years of relying on the
assistance of minibuses. DPT reinstated an exclusive
public school bus transportation service. With contin-ued investment over the next few years, DPT fleets of
buses will be completely elect ric and assuredly sustainable to sustain a reliable serv ice for the people of Bermuda.

Plans for the Upcoming Year
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: [The] Department of Public
Transportation has realised advances in technology in recent years and plans to maintain positive momentum in tangible enhancement to the public bus service.
Public experience. The Department of Public
Transportation aspires to be the mode of transportation
choice of Bermuda residents and visitors. This year, introduction of digital fare media will create an easy and
efficient way of paying bus fare. Passengers will be encouraged to download the mobile app from the comfort
of their home or an environment to purchase fare, plan
trips, and monitor bus locales.
One of the most impactful advantages of the
app will be the ability of passengers to tap their cell
phone or bank card on a device installed on the bus
which will automatically verify that the bus fare has
been paid.
The benefits to the public will be phased in over
the course of the next eight months. Passengers using the mobile device [will be able] to monitor the location
of the next bus while waiting at the bus stop. Having
access to free Wi -Fi to monitor the next bus coming up
on the bus could very well be termed as the crowning point [of the] project with respect to the customer service. I am sure that somebody is going to ask me about
seniors.
Let me say it up front that for seniors we will
make sure that we have a simple card, like the one they
have now, and [they can] just tap and on the bus they
get. But what we are trying to do is record all significant
changes, monitor and create data for t he future. So, I
am not expecting those seniors who do not use mobile
apps to download any funds at all.
Investing in talent within the department will be
a continued focus. Training experience will be afforded chiefly to those that desire and have a capacity for advancement. And it will be the same thing for students
because they do not pay at all. The team has once
again exhibited the benefits of internal development by
daily observation and the continuing nominations for the public service excellence award.
Mr. Chairman, as I conclude the brief for the
Department of Public Transportation Head 35, I would
like to thank the management and staff of the Department of Public Transportation for their commitment to
serving the residents and visitors of Bermuda.
Mr. Chairman, I express my heartful gratitude
to the entire Ministry of Transport team for their unwavering dedication and hard work ensuring the establishment and maintenance of a secure and efficient
transport system. Additionally, I extend my thanks to all valued partners for their collaborative efforts with the
Ministry. It is through these meaningful relationships
that our collective endeavours continue for the wellbeing of the community.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my presentation
for the Ministry of Transport, and I believe we have
given sufficient time for the Opposition to ask questions
and get them down fast so we can go home early.
Thank you.

1058 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman : Thank you, Minister Furbert.
Any further speakers?
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member,
Shadow Minister for Transport, Susan Jackson. Ms. Jackson, you have the floor.

And I would like to focus, if you
do not mind, Mr. Chairman . . . I would like to start with
. . . excuse me. Well, I am going to start on page B -201
and just ask a very general question. And that is . . .
given the fact that we are spending $68,426,000 a year
on the Ministry in total —that is all of the department s—
but our revenue is at $42,048,000, I would like to ask the Minister how we might be able to balance that out a little so that we are earning our keep. And we certainly
have an opportunity here to do this.
The Ministry of Transport , at least in my opinion, is a ministry that does allow us an opportunity to
earn money. And certainly, many of our other ministries
are expenses, and very well -deserved expenses. But
this ministry has an opportunity to make further contribution to Bermuda ’s earnings, and so I would very
much like to see whether we might explore some ways
in which we might increase our revenue and be able to
make a greater contribution to the greater good.
Having said that, I would like to turn first to
page B -202. And I have some questions under the line
item Administration, which is 58000, and under the Airport Authority and the Air Service Development. It has
been in the newspaper lately that we have enga ged in
negotiation with British Airways regarding the change
of our destination airport from Gatwick to Heathrow. So
I would like to ask the Minister if he might be able to provide us with an update on how that is going, if we
might be able to get some statistic on the volume of
traffic that we had at Gatwick in order to be able to
make a comparison to how we are making out with volumes going into London Heathrow Airport.
I do not know whether there have been any
surveys to find out from a customer satisfaction per-spective whether we are finding that passengers prefer
Heathrow over Gatwick. If the Minister might also be able to give us an indication of what the benefits are
being at Heathrow versus Gatwick . . . We paid a price
to British Airways in order to switch the airports, and we
also had to offer some rebates, and multi -year rebates
at that. And so, it only enhances —

I am on page B -202 under the
line item Administration, which is Business Unit 58000
under the Airport Authority. There is an air service de-velopment committee, and they do the negotiations for
air service to Bermuda. And so, I am just asking for an
update on the British Airways service that has changed
from Gatwick to London Heathrow.
I have another couple of questions around the
British Airways agreement. We know that the British Airways direct flight from Bermuda to London and return is probably the most lucrative return flight that we have and may even be one of the more lucrative, profitable flights in the BA’s portfolio.

[Inaudible interjection]

I hear confirmation it is.
So, I am just curious if the Minister might be
able to just give me a little information or give the listening public as well a little information about the agreement that we have with BA. I do not know whether it is
a multiyear agreement. It certainly —whatever is in that
agreement —is keeping British Airways as a monopoly,
and so, I just am curious how long that agreement is
and whether we have had an opportunity to renegotiate


Bermuda House of Assembly that agreement to possibly allow for some competing
airlines to fly out of England to Bermuda.

Ms. Jackson, I am trying to follow you
to see that you are dealing with the specifics of the
Budget. And I am giving you some latitude, but I cannot
give you everything. Let’s try to stay within the Budget.
If you want to question the figures —like how muc h you
are paying to this or that, no problem with that because it would be in the Budget. And I do not want to knock
you off your thing, but I just want to state, be very spe-cific on the heads.

Thank you. Thank you very
much. I did finish that, so all those questions have been asked.
I would like to move on to page B -203 under
the Subjective Analysis Grants and Contributions which
is listed on [page] C -19. It is the cost centre 7099.
Again, it is still with the Bermuda Airport Authority. And
I would like to ask the Minister, Are we st ill paying airlines to fly to Bermuda? Are we providing . . . And I remember from last year that we are not specific in any
amounts, but just even a yes or no or a total amount
that we might be using as a negotiation for the minimum revenue guarantee that we often times do pay to different airlines to fly to Bermuda . . .
I would also like to ask whether United Airlines,
American Airlines, JetBlue, and BermudAir are getting
payments. And what is the status of insufficient airlift
from Bermuda to Canada? Now, the Minister did men-tion that Bermuda Air is looking at Halifax and Toronto,
which is fantastic, but I am curious to know whether
there is any communication with Air Canada in an effort to bolster their air lift.
Continuing on in the same vein under the Bermuda Airport Authority and the Air Service Develop-ment Committee, have we done any research at all
generally to find out where the potential visitors are?
Can we honestly, let’s say, say that all or 75 per cent of
our visitors are coming from the United States, and if
we do have that kind of data, where would they like to
go? What are the preferred destinations? And of
course, the UK and even potentially the Caribbean . . . It would be interesting to know if we h ave done any research just to find out where our potential visitors are
and where they want to go.
I have a couple of questions from the brief. Still
on Head 48, the Ministry of Transport Headquarters,
and still on Administration 58000. The Minister was giv-ing us some seat capacities over the years from 2018
through 2023. They are numbers that are becoming
more and more healthy especially after COVID -19. So
that is a wonderful thing, but I just had a question, What
is our total seat capacity? Do we know what our total
seat capacity is?

[Inaudible interjection]

How is the transport accommodating . . . I am going to save that question for a little bit later.
So, I would like to now move on, if you do not
mind, to page B -203 under Subjective Analysis. I am
just curious if the Minister might be able to give us a breakdown of the costs for Professional Services,
which has been increased by $274,000 this year and
now stands at $487,000. I am curious to know whether
we are still engaging with consultants to help us to negotiate with airlines and cruise ships or whether we
have any other professional services coming on board
to sort of quantify the increase of the $274,000.
Do you mind if take my seat at this point and
just—

Last year we did it head by
head. You were not very excited about that, so I did not know whether the Minister wanted to do that again this
year or not.
So, I would like to move on then to Head 30,
Marine and Ports . That is on page B -205. Of course, it
was publicly known . . . and I got my information off of
the Marine and Ports website under incident reports.
On October 25 last year, we did have an accident with one of our ferries. And if I may read from the site just to give context, Mr. Chairman ?

I am at Head 30 Marine and
Ports , and the line item will be Repairs and Maintenance on page B -206, Repairs and Maintenance,
which is $2,370,000. And I would just like to know sort
of what happened with the ferry —it was the ferry Georgia—and whether it was able to receive the maintenance and the body work that was necessary to bring
it back on line, what the costs involved with that [were],
and the time that the ferry was out of service.
I also have a question on page B -206, same
with ferries, line item 8187 Ferry Receipts. It is showing that this year we are expecting our ferry receipts to reduce by $250,000. And so, I am just curious why we
would think that the ferry receipts are going down so
significantly this year.
If we can switch back to page B -205, under
Moorings and Boat Regulation, that is business unit 40150. We have $302,000 budgeted, which is fine, and
I am just curious whether the abandoned boat project
falls under that line item.
[Inaudible interjection]

But we have found that a number of boats have been abandoned due to storm or neglect by owners, and so I have some questions around
that. The Minister gave the statistic that some 29 boats
have been abandoned as of January 2024. And so, I am wondering how much of the . . . Well, I am guessing
the $302,000 allocation is going to be directed toward
the abandoned boat disposal . . . well, collection and
then disposal of the boats. And how is this allowed to get so bad before something is done about it?
I would also like to ask under abandoned
boats, What impact is this having on our environment?

He did not speak to the boats,
but he did speak to the environmental impact, the need
to drain the oil out of the cars, et cetera. So I am now
asking whether there are costs associated with that kind of disposal for the boats, and if there is any cost
that comes with it.
I am just looking at my questions . . . and my
final question under abandoned vessels, I don’t know . . . I mean, certainly, the photographs are posted in the
news so we can see the abandoned boats, Mr. Chairman. But I am just wondering whether there would be
any opportunity to recycle and earn some revenue. I
don’t know if any of these boats are worthy of auction
or something to that effect. Some of the boats are in,
you know, a stage of development where they might be
able to be restored. I will move on from that, the abandoned boats.
I am still looking under General Summary, the
total amount of the spend in this area which includes
sort of the navigational aids, tug services, Dockyard
maintenance. We have had an increase of $942,000.
And in most line items —actually, every line item— there
is an increase in the budgets from very small amounts
to—

I am on page B -205 and I am
looking at the total expenditure under General Summary, the bottom- half of the page.
The Minister had mentioned that there is . . . he
mentioned that, or at least I thought I heard him say that
there was a staff shortage. And so I am curious whether
all of the positions that are unfilled will be filled.



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: That is not on the [page] B -205. There
is no General Summary on page B -205.

Yes. And you know, these
would be unfilled, so these on page B -207 there would
be the sort of total number of jobs that are available. I
do not know how many of them may not be filled and whether the increase in budget funding will assist in filling those posts.
Moving over to page B -206, under Subjective
Analysis.

Again, the Repair and Maintenance. This is for Head 30, Marine and Ports.
We are maintaining a budget. We seem to
hover around $2,370,000 for Repair and Maintenance for the boats and such, the ferries, and I guess the pilot
boats and tugboats, et cetera. As the boats age, you
know, are we increasing our maintenance or are we ex-pecting with . . . Just as an example, the new ferries
coming on board. Will we see the repair and mainte-nance go down over the years or so? But it seems like quite a substantial amount of money for repair and
maintenance. I don’t know if that is because ex tra attention needs to be given to our ageing fleet, our ageing boats that are there. Would the Minister reflect on that?

Mm-hmm. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
I am just moving on. On page B -209, under
Performance Measures, under business unit 40150, Moorings and Boat Regulations. The top one says, Removal of 500 illegal, unregistered moorings by year
end. I am wondering if the Minister might be able to give us an update on the cost associated with removal of
moorings, monitoring, identifying how they work. I remember last year there was a quite a bit of concern
about the number of moorings that were out there, unregistered, and with boats on the moorings. [I wonder]
whether there is any policy put in place either to be able to identify these moorings and enforce any fine if they
are unregistered or whether Marine and Ports will just pull up those moorings. Would the Minister be able to
give an update on that?
I am going to move on now to Head 34 which
is Transport Control Department.

We are expecting to earn
$18,673,000 for folks to re -licence their private cars.
And this year there is an increase of $1,540,000. And I
am wondering whether the Minister can explain what
that is. Are we going to have an increase in the private
car licens ing fees this year?
On page B -213, under Performance Measures,
business unit 44090, Road Safety.

I am just curious whether there
has been any data collection for the young people who are participating in the Project Ride. In particular, I am curious to know whether we would be able to cross reference those . . . if we are collecting data on the young
people who go through Project Ride and then are able
to identify by cross reference those young people who
may be in accidents, in particular serious accidents,
and be able to cross reference their participation in P roject Ride to see whether there is an opportunity for
some remediation where they come back into the programme after.
I am not sure. If we could see even the age difference, if they have participated in Project Ride and
they get into a serious accident a year or 18 months after they completed the programme whether there is
any way to provide some form of remediation where
they come back in or, of course, if they are older and
then they may have aged out. But just an opportunity to be able to track and keep an eye out on our young people and their driving habits.
And I am also curious whether the Minister
conducts or has any kind of survey for the Project Ride
students so that we can maybe find out what we could
do better and maybe what is not working well for the
young people so that everybody . . . we can sort of
reach that 100 per cent where the children really buy
into and accept the programme and the behaviour on
the roads.
1062 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly I am just going to flip back to page B -210 for a
minute, still on Head 34, Transport Control Department,
line item 44210, Administration. The Minister was saying that under that business unit is part of the Operations, yes. And he also mentioned emissions . And I am
curious whether within the examination and testing
centre if the emissions programme is still part of the vision of TCD to be able to test for that. All right? Given
the fact that we are looking to start to transition to electronic vehicles, but at the same time we will find that
over the years we will have more and more ageing gas
cars because people will probably try to hold to them
as long as they can, for various reasons. So, in the future we may find a need for emission testing. And I am
just curious whether that is a feature that is a part of the
vision of TCD to re- instate.
I also have a question on page B -211. Mr.
Chairman, you might get at me on this one.

At line item 8480, and this is
the Truck Permit Fees. I am just curious, the Minister
did mention Sunday permits and special permits and
that sort of thing. But I would like to know whether there is active enforcement when we give out the permits for
Sund ays or special permits for special occasions,
whether we are actually monitoring to make sure that
everything is running smoothly. And the reason I ask
this is that, you know, we have had incidents, certainly
reported to me over the we ekend, of very huge hauler
dumpster —

Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Yes, if we could just get an update on costs that
are associated with the maintenance of the electric
buses in particular. I don’t know, body work, any adjustments that have had to be made to the engine in order
to accommodate services here in Bermuda and adjust
to our different varying geographical road systems and such. Might we get an update there?

Thank you very much.
We have had some repairs (staying with the
same line items), and I would like to know if there were
are any costs associated with having to, you know, if
we had to bring in any mechanics in order to assist us?


Bermuda House of Assembly Maybe from the manufacturer, Golden Dragon, if we
had to incur any costs in that regard in order to get
through what I would hope would sort of be our sort of
guarantee period, warranty period.
We are still in Repair Services.

[Line item] 45090. And my final question here, still under Maintenance. Would the Minister be able to give us an indication of what may be some of the mechanical problems, or might have been
with the electric buses? You know, I am not certain . . .
I am not going to go too far, but you know, I was super
impressed being on the bus and the hydraulic system
lowers so that those who may have difficulty climbing
up, you know, it goes down nice and smoothly and comes back up.

Well, Minister, if the MP wants to get
back up—

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, I know that. But I just
want to make sure what she meant . . . okay.
We will kind of go over a few things for the Honourable Member.
You asked about the budget regarding . . . million for Expenditure, $42 million for Revenue, and asked what are we doing about matching them up. If
you recall, at the very beginning I said you have . . . $42
is what we normally put through the TCD, the Ministry of Transport. But the Ministry of Transport really makes a lot more money than that when it comes to the
cruises, passenger tax, et cetera, et cetera. It should
really come to $100 million. But som e money goes to
the Consolidated Fund under Finance or other departments, BTA, et cetera, et cetera.
Now, if you are asking me if we are going to
increase passes for our seniors —

No, I didn’t ask that.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I’m just asking if you ask me,
these are earning other revenues. So the only way to
earn other revenues is by increasing charges on individuals who are using the service now, such as passes
1064 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly or permits, et cetera, et cetera. If you ask me . . . is that
the suggestion, or are you asking me as far as to do it?
From time to time there is an increase in certain
fees. The Government decided this year not to do any
increases in those particular fees. As time goes on we may look at it a different way. But as of now we are not
increasing those fees at all.
I think you asked also about British Airways.
Mr. Chairman, we do not get involved in negotiating or
discussing in this Honourable House the agreements,
or whatever arrangements we have with airlines. We do not get involved in that.

[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I am sure the Honourable
Member is quite aware why not. I am sure when they
sent out the . . . very well, I guess this side, they did the
same thing. They did not disclose that type of information to the public. What we do have is funding which
the Government puts for developing of airline service. What goes where, where goes where, we do not disclose that information at all.
You asked a question about Gatwick and passengers. We do not track that at all. That is not our job.
You may find that the Bermuda Tourism Department, if
you go in their year report on tourism, they will say
where certain individuals are coming from, like the
United States, Canada, London, or wherever. They
track that type of information. We do not. It is there. So
it is plain for yourself to see. But we do not do that. Our purpose is to get that cruise boat in. Get that airline.
Get more cruise boats in. Get more airlines, et cetera,
et cetera.
You asked a question about Heathrow versus
Gatwick. You know, they move that . . . and there are
benefits. One benefit is that area is closer to for business. People go down . . . city. Also better connections.
But that is a decision made by British Airways. Right?
We do not negotiate with them which terminal they
should come out of, which airway they should come out
of. So we do not get involved in that at all. So there is
nothing to do with . . . there is no funding in here that
deals with that particular issue at all. All right?
And yes, we have funding for Air Service Development. And my team is well aware. We have to look
at ways of, How do we find ways to get another airline
from UK here? It goes back donkey years. I am sure
everybody in this House who has been here for a while
would understand the challenges.
We have had Dr. Brown, the former Premier
and Minister of Transport, I think he had two airlines for
a while coming out . . . particularly out of the Europe
area. But, you know, there is competition. The British
kind of hold you to the fire for a while and then after that
you kind of decide what you are going to do and they back out. We are going to continue to have some discussions with other airlines to see what they can do,
but it is challenging. Yes, and British Airways does quite well on that route. One of the best routes that they
have.
Why [were] ferry receipts down? If you looked
at the number itself, and I refer to 8187, page B -206,
the actual amount for 2022/23 was $523,000. The
amount is $1 million projectable for 2023/24. The actual
[is] roughly $700,000. And so we are accounting the
part about being conservative in their projections. And
so by looking at those two past ones, particularly the
year before, and what happened even before that, we
did not come up to 2023/24. And there could be many reasons. Because you may not be awar e that Norwegian Cruise Line has its own ferry. So when they leave
Dockyard, particularly going down to St. George’s, they
get on the Norwegian ferry operated by Bermudians,
but they actually have one ferry up there. So that helps
. . . that could have caused a reduction. And people just
not getting on the ferry, get on minibuses or taxis or
whatever, and so on. But we have been conservative
in the $800,000 because we were $700,000 before.
Now that we have some ferries they have had
some improvements in their . . . they have come back
from overseas and maintenance has done well. We may get some more in. With an increase in tourist arrival, and people . . . Well, let me tell you right now. You
are not aware of what we are working on. We are trying to enhance the experience, and the Honourable Mem-ber Renee Ming would know what we are trying to do,
enhance the experience and encourage more people
to go down to St. George’s. Because that is one of the
reasons why over the years . . . one of the reasons why
some cruise ships actually pulled out of St. George’s,
because of the experience that they had there. So, what we are working with . . . and I mentioned in my
brief. We are having meetings with BTA, Minister of
Tourism, Chamber of Commerce, BEDC, et cetera, et
cetera.
What type of experience can be improved? So
what we are doing, coming out of Dockyard it is a 45
minute ride. And so we are going to have . . . BTA has
produced a video on St. George’s. All right? So we are going to play that. And maybe a little speech before by
myself or the Mayor. Then we will also have the Proud
to be Bermudian video played. And then we are going
to have . . . we have asked the commercial retail stores
down in St. George’s to do a 30- minute clip. They had
to produce it, but we will tie into the video. So there is a
whole experience going on down at St. George’s, going down from Dockyard to St. George’s. They will know what is going to take place.
Then there are other things that are being
worked on within this team that we are working with.
More opening up of the museums, the Town Crier is
going to be on the budget to get more of that feeling of
old Bermuda, et cetera, et cetera.
So, by doing that . . . and like I said, we are
heading down to the Seatrade [Cruise Global Conference] next month so we hope . . . not hope, but we will
talk to the directors and the CEOs of the cruise line who


Bermuda House of Assembly . . . we want them to push for more travel down to St.
George’s. And I am going to tell them about the experience that we are going to be having in that place.
So that is one of the reasons why the receipts
could be projected as higher because we expect more activity in that area. Plus, normally in St. George’s we
had, I think, three days a week and we are now increasing it to five days. Right? So a lot more things are happening. By increasing the volume, of course more receipts. Likewise for Hamilton. We are doing the same
thing for Hamilton.
[Line item] 8471. This is page B -211 under
Revenue Summary for private cars. So, what accountants do is look at the prior year’s experience and also
look at what the current experience is. So you look at
the budget for $17 million, for 2023/24, the revised estimate is $18,673,000. So, based on that revised number the Ministry or the department decided to put that
number in as $18,673,000. That is why it was. Okay?
Project Ride and accidents. I remember asking
that question myself some time back. They do not track
the Project Ride. I mean, the majority of those individuals have now been on Project Ridge. Pretty well everyone has . . . not if you are, you know, not my age. Not
your age.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Maybe a few around here
have had Project Ride, but we never had Project Ride. We just got —

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Young bye. And the Deputy
Speaker, the Honourable Member Burgess also had Project Ride.
But you know we just jumped on the field, got
on our bike and just rode around the yard. All of 16 and we got on our bike and rode off. So Project Ride came
in. It was very rewarding and helpful. And it is still helpful. It really actually has worked. But you cannot stop
that individual who, you know, has overtaken you on Shelly Bay stretch in front of ten. That is not what we
teach in Project Ride. All right? I am just saying, Lord,
you will go around the corner and find somebody down.
That is not Project Ride. That is just silliness. All right?
And taking a gamble with your own personal life. Or
three people come dashing across you at a speed that
you cannot even believe.
So yes, that is not what we teach in Project
Ride. But, unfortunately, people have to take their own
consideration and their own value on their whatever . . .
I told my granddaughter you ain’t going to get a bike.
My daughter never had a bike. Now, my son did. I am
not trying to say that my boy could ride a bike better than my daughter, but he got a bike. My daughter, I
said, I’ll take you in my car. And my granddaughter I’ll
take in my car. Whatever . . . but [her] mom might change her mind and give her a bike. I don’t know. But it is some responsibility with the family and the individual. So, no there is no tracking in that regard.
Electric energy cost. So Energy, this is page B -
215, and this is under Energy. Yes, page B -215, Energy, Public Transportation. You are talking about Energy. Because Energy comes under electric and the
diesel. All right? The fuel for the other vans. Well, i t is
going down a little. But that is one of those . . . diesel
and electric. We all know that electricity went up. All
right. Electricity went up and we all, everyone in this room has felt it and that is one of the reasons why electricity now . . . PTB . . . I’m saying PTB because when I
grew up it was PTB. The Department of Transport will
be . . . it is now putting on solar [panels] on top of the
roofs, done by Works and Engineering. And they are
hopeful to even cut down further some of the energy as we go along. But as it stands right now we have put a
significant amount of new electrical charges up there.
So buses run more efficiently and that works out well
for us. But, yes, the price went up. And that has impacted our energy although we are down $100,000 and maybe next year once we get all of our solar [panels]
up hopefully that will come down even further. But we
will have to see.
Yes, we have discussions. We have actually
visited Air Canada. This is page C -19. I think you were
talking about . . . under the Bermuda Airport Authority,
7099. We actually flew up to see Air Canada and we
have discussed with them as far as increasing the number of times they fly to Bermuda. Also, larger aircrafts.
And I believe they have put larger aircrafts. You may
recall that WestJet used to fly to Bermuda from Toronto. West Air has moved more to the West Coast so
they are not flying here. So, yes, we do have discussions with them.
We have basically had meetings with every airline that currently comes to Bermuda. The most important thing I believe (this is just my personal belief in
how you do things) is that you got to build relationships.
Nothing hurts by knocking on doors and sitt ing down
and talking to individuals and trying to find a common
ground in moving forward.
So we found a common ground with JetBlue.
We found a common ground working with United. We found a common ground working with Air Canada. We
found . . . I think we got some more work . . . we met
with Delta, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We have not
met with British Airways.
I remember meeting with British Airways way
back when I was first Minister of Transport. Way back in 1994 or 1995. And I said, Your price up front . . . The
ticket price for business and first was up here. And the
price for economy was about, let’s say, halfway. I said,
We are trying to get more people on the flight. Let’s
think of a way of trying to reduce the price for . . . Because you are doing quite well in business, you are doing quite well in first [class] . And I asked them to find a
way to reduce the price for economy so we can attract
1066 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly more common individuals coming from all of Europe to
Bermuda.
They were quite happy with what they were doing and they did not care if the flights were . . . if the
back of the plane was empty. That is the impression
that I got at that time. I have not had any further discussions with them on that. And maybe one of these days
we will have a discussion with them. But we are sort of
talking to another airline to see whether they will have
the ability to come to Bermuda.
You asked where our guests are coming from.
I think you asked me that question. That again, comes
from . . . it is in the booklet produced by the Bermuda
Tourism Authority. It tells you every area that comes
out of Boston. And New York is our largest pulling
ground and then it goes to North Carolina and Miami as
well, and North Carolina and et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera. So that information is there. I don’t have it
readily available.
Let me see if I recall any other questions here.
I’m missing . . .
Traffic officers do work on summons and monitor . . . I assume they have a car so they actually look
at . . . there was tinted glass or tinted whatever and so
they do these little surprise visits and that is part of their job.
[Pause]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I answered the question
about the car licences, yes.
So, you asked about whether we have consultants who come down, the Golden Dragon contractors.
They have been here. You recall that the earlier part when we got the first electric buses, some are breaking
down because of going through our potholes, waters, pools of water. They have changed that now so that you do not hear of any electric buses breaking down like
that. So they were here actually working on that bus.
Many of the staff from DPT have actually gone overseas for training. And I am sure they will get more training as time goes on.
There is no increase in fares, as I mentioned
earlier. You asked a question if there was any cost as-sociated with bringing in mechanics at Golden Dragon
during the warranty period. There was only a minimum
cost to bring a mechanic to work on the buses, as I
mentioned earlier, on the warranty issues.
What are the costs associated with maintaining
the electric buses? The answer is the costs of maintaining electric buses, in contrast with the diesel buses,
have decreased considerably. The mechanical system
of the diesel buses are more intricate and call for more
manhours to maintain and more to finance the required
parts that keep engines and transmissions, et cetera,
going. So there is a bigger cost for the diesel. And I mentioned that there were a handful of buses that were
stalling when going through a puddle. I am sure you have asked more but I can’t remember. I would be glad to [answer] and I’ll try to t ake
them again.

[Ms. Lovitta F. Foggo, Chairman]

Page B -211, under Repair and
Maintenace.
Now does this include the equipment at TCD?
So would this replace broken generators or other
pieces of equipment that may just be a part of the operations of TCD?
And then I had another question in Public
Transportation under Revenue Summary, page B -215.
The Revenue line item is 8699, Advertising. And again,
curious about how we might be able to earn revenue.
But with the new electric buses, does that provide us
with a greater opportunity to have the back -of-bus advertising? I don’t know how much money we earn from that. Certainly this advertising budget . . . Well, we have
gone from $12,000 in 2022/23 to a projected $21,000
for 2024/25. But whether we will see the advertising on
backs of buses . . . which I know that a number of private enterprises like that idea. High visibility. And also
the advertisement gets to stay on there for a little longer
than the 30 seconds on television or on radio. And
whether we have an opportunity with these new buses
to increase advertising revenue.
I would like to move . . . I have some questions
in the C section. Let me find the page. This would be
under Capital Acquisition. On page C -5, line item
75351, Workshop Renovations. So we spent
$7,626,000 and the Minister did reflect on that expense
for the workshops. But I am just curious what the additional $1,214,000 is for. Is that continuing renovations
or was that a bit of an overrun, cost supply issues? If we might be able to just get some clarity.
[Inaudible interjection]

This is the Workshop Renovations for Marine and Ports. It is on page C -5. Item number 75351. We spent $7,626,000 and this year we are
going to spend an additional $1,214,000 and I was just
curious what that additional cost was. Is it not finished?
Or are we doing some more work on that?


Bermuda House of Assembly And if we can turn to page C -14. I have a few
questions here. The first is around the Recovery Vehicle that is slated for purchase, 76541. And this is for
public transportation, under the Public Transportation
Department. We have estimated a $300,000 invest-ment for recovery vehicle. And I am just curious if the
Minister could just say which is . . . is that going to be
for the abandoned vehicles, or is there some other purpose for the purchase of the vehicle?
[Inaudible interjection]

Okay. I am staying on page C -
14, line item 76912, the Digital Fare Media. So last year
in 2023 we invested $604,000 into the digital fare media programme, or that investment. And this year we
are expecting to pay an additional $384,000. So we are looking at close to $1 million that we are going to spend
on this digital fare media.
I would like the Minister to be able to provide
us with some background or overview on exactly what
we can expect to receive for that investment. What will
that involve? Are there going to be any additional services that we are going to have to purchase as well? Is
this $604,000 from last year and the additional
$384,000 this year, is that going to also include things
like how we are going to put GPS in buses, how we are going to get . . . I do not know how we are going to have
Internet on the moving buses, the Wi -Fi service that the
Minister mentioned.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I just want . . . a point of order.
I apologise. I got sidetracked and I missed the point
here, the heading.

And the question is, what is
included in that investment? Are we including any kind of GPS that might have to be installed? Internet? How
will we provide the Wi -Fi, if we are going to have Wi -Fi
for people on the buses? If we could maybe just get a
little more information around the digital fare media and
what that investment will look. This is a really big purchase and a big change in our public transportation
moving forward.
So, the more the public can hear about what it
is actually going to look and feel like . . . and certainly
in my research there are varying levels of how digital fare media plays out on public transportation. So I
would just like to know where we are going to start,
what investments will be made, Internet access, global positioning systems. If we are going to have debit card
payments, what kind of local companies [will] we have
to engage with in order to get the banking aligned with
the payment of the card? If the Minister might be able
to just expand on that investment, because it is a big
investment for the taxpayer.
It is a new concept for Bermuda, so I just would
not feel that we would be serving the community if we did not provide them with a good understanding of what
will be involved, maybe the various steps, introducing
digital fare media into our public transpor tation system.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Talk to the Chair Member.

1068 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I didn’t realise I would get a
chirper this early. I only said but two words.
Minister, I know that the Shadow Minister of
Transport asked a question about advertising and I just
wanted to know if we could get some further information on the advertising on the back of buses. I certainly
know that when I was Minister it was somethin g that we
did quite often. So it would be interesting to know if we
continue on pressing to get the advertising on the back
of buses and what the projected net revenue might be
estimated at if you have it. The second thing I wanted to ask, Minister, was
also on page B -201—
[Crosstalk and laughter ]
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Page B -201 with respect to
digital fare media. And I think you will probably elaborate on that when you come, but I just wanted for you
to emphasise, if you could, what sort of revenue you
expect to make once we make that change. Because I think it is . . . Certainly, again, when I was Minister, we
were looking at doing, I think it was looking at . . . actually at saving a lot of money and also making some ex-tra revenue. So I look forward to that.
Before I take my seat, two other things. Page
B-201, Head 34. I was wondering if the Minister might
advise us if he is going to consider implementing, re-instituting the Trucks Advisory Committee. He knows
that has been close the heart of someone who used to
sit on that committee. And I was wondering if he was
going to give that any thought going forward.
And to close, I am sure you do not mind,
Madam Chairman, if I give congratulations to Mr. Chris Spencer who was promoted to Director down at TCD
just recently.
Thank you.

[Desk thumping]

Thank you.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to Heads 48, 30, 34 and 35?
No other Members.
Minister, would you like to get up and answer
some of the questions?

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes. Let me just start with the
Honourable Member Zane DeSilva regarding the Trucks [Advisory] Committee. No, the Trucks Advisory Committee will not be put back.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Point of order, Madam—

[Laughter ]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I read out in my brief that the
actual process will be done automatically. So we will
not need actual . . . So they will come in and there is a five-day turnaround from that point on. So that should
kick in around 1 May. They will still be able to appeal to
the Minister for those types of things.
I believe you also asked about . . . the Honourable Member Ms. Jackson asked about the Recovery Vehicle on page C -14, [item number] 76541. That is being purchased. That is for the new buses. We do not
have one in place right now. It is broken down. So we
had to buy a new vehicle (to use the word vehicle ) to
actually be able to recover buses, et cetera, et cetera.
Digital Fare Media. I said a lot in my brief in
regard to the digital fare media. We hopefully will kick
off very soon regarding where people will get on the bus
and show, you know, whatever, like a pass. Right? And
so that will be done at the beginning until we actually
get the money all sorted out and stuff like that. And then
there will be kicked in, hopefully shortly thereafter . . .
well, a couple months after that, where we actually . . .
where you will come on a bus and it is already paid for
direct ly. So you will show your phone and I said seniors
will be doing something different.
I don’t expect my 93- year-old mother to get on
and try to download some funds on an app. It is not
going to work. So you need . . . most seniors have a
cart and so the process will be to use the . . . what are
those little things? You put the little codes in back?

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: QR codes. And so all we want
to do is record information. So the QR code would be
Susan Jackson, 85 years old . . . no it won’t say that.

[Inaudible interjections and laughter ]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, you will live that long.

[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes. And so it is just collecting
data. Because right now we don’t collect data on who gets on the bus as far as signals, et cetera, in our students.
You asked a question about advertising. Advertising! Honourable Member Zane DeSilva. Yes, so the advertising still takes place on the back of . . . you
will see them on the buses now. They are there. And
the revenue that we raise is not a lot. But those individuals who want to . . . particularly if there is a particular
event that might take place. You know, a football team
coming here or the pro golf teams here. They do that.
And other people. I have seen times when I believe the
Ministry of Health has do ne some advertising on the
back of the bus. We do not collect a lot of money but it
gives a good message. And so it works.
Worshop renovations. Yes. We are doing
workshop renovations working with the Ministry of Works up here at WEDCO. And we spent “X” amount
of dollars. You see that we are up . . . we will spend


Bermuda House of Assembly another million dollars this financial year. And so they
have to finish that work there and then from there we
head down to the area down on the main office down
here to renovate that department, the workshop down
there.
You asked a question on . . . I believe I already
answered those questions. Have I missed a question
that you asked?
[Crosstalk ]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes. All right.

Okay. So right now it is still
sort of the same behaviour where you would go and you would purchase in advance, whatever. Either you would get a card, if you are a senior or a student and
such, and then you could use that card. And we would
be able to track data. So we will start with data tracking first. So no Internet would be needed. Just get on the
bus with this new card.
But if you have a phone, will you have to purchase an app or will we . . . is there sort of an app that
goes on that will show the QR code? And so I guess my question really is, What . . . this million dollar investment, or close to a million dollar investment, although we are budgeting for it now, it may not be spent right
away because we are doing this in tiny steps, baby
steps? If the Minister might be able to answer that.
And then I have another question under Head
48, so this is a Headquarters question on page B -202.
And this comes under the business unit 58010, the Transportation Planning Team. And I have not asked
any questions about cruise ships, Madam Chairman,
but I was reading an annual report. And again, I have
kind of had this, Where can we earn money? Let’s look
for revenue. And I saw in the Gaming Commission’s
annual report that they were mentioning in there, under
casinos and lotteries, that the cruise ships are able to
have casinos and gaming while in port. So, my question
is, What is the status? And what revenue is generated, if any, for this in port amenity? And then, if there is a
licence, is there a way to increase the licence? And they mentioned in the annual report that
ships can ask for, or request, either extended hours
while they are in port, so I believe now it is sort of like
(I don’t know) from 9:00 pm until 5:00 am, or something. It is during those unsociable hours in the day.
How many of the ships are engaging with the casinos
while in port? And whether either the 12- month licence
that is provided, whether there is an opportunity to increase the fee for that and also whether there would be
any revenue that we could gener ate from extended
hours if they were to request extended hours on the
cruise ships.
I can see through the Budget Book that this is
not necessarily a revenue line item within the Transport, but it is the Planning Team under the Headquarters that would at least be aware of this and would
be in a position to negotiate any changes for the on board amenity. Thank you.

Thank you, Member.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to Heads 48, 30, 34 and 35?
There being no others, Minister, you may reply
to the Member.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Madam Chairman, there are
always opportunities on whether we should increase
fees. That is . . . you saw that the Bahamas increased
fees not too long ago. We have some of the highest
fees out there right now, as far as cruise ships. I did
mention the significant increase we have had since
2017. That is because the Government looked at it and
found a way to increase the fees.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Infrastructure tax I thought it
was done by the Honourable Member Zane DeSilva which we have benefited from over the years.
Passenger tax. We never collected the . . . they
used to call it . . . used to call it . . .

Head tax.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: They used to call it head tax.
You know, they collected a head tax because they used
to pay off the loan for building . . . not building, the
trench, the new trench, the trenching out there. We
were clever enough at the time to realise that . . . you
guys were not clever enough to work it out, but in 2017
we came in and you were still letting them collect the
head tax. But what we said to them was, We want to
increase the fees.
They said, Well, you know, we are paying off
our loan.
I said, Okay. We’ll take the loan on. The Bermuda Tourism Authority took it on and the money then went to Bermuda Tourism Authority, which is now $7
million. And the loan I think has basically been paid off
1070 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly at BTA . . . as a matter of fact, it was $6 million in 2019
so it was pretty well done. All right? So I think it was
paid off. If not, it is very close to paying off. So we have
collected a considerable amount of money from . . . and
this is a time when you look at the . . . you know, building friendships.
We are increasing the numbers of ships. We
are looking at . . . I am not going to disclose yet but we
are looking at other ships to pull into the Island. We are having discussions with them next month, which I will
say are a little larger, which means more people. So that is the way the world is going as far as ships are
concerned.
It has come through our channel (we are having a discussion now), I am not going to say, all right?
But that increases the numbers. So if we are able to do
those types of things, there is more money coming into the coffers. So it is finding a balancing act . We don’t
just don’t need it. And there are some discussions.
I don’t mind telling you. Most people are not
aware that to go from Dockyard to Horseshoe Bay, they charge $50 a head. Per head! And you know that adds
up. I’m sorry. And the guy said, You guys are charging
too low. We charge $4.50. (Or $4.00, I think it is $4.00
to take a bus.) And I said, We can make this thing work.
And so we are going to be looking at further increases in certain aspects because RCL (I shouldn’t call them)
tell us your fees are too low for the charge for going down there. Which we can get things, you know, taxis
got more, minibuses got more, et cetera, et cetera. So
we are working on a few things to make that happen.
But I can just tell you that we have done a significant improvement in revenue collection from the cruise line. And to a certain degree, you know, just work with us. You know. And we brought a balance budget.
We could have increased everything. We could have increased permits and the list goes on and on. But then you guys would have been complaining.

Yes.
[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: No, you would have been
complaining if we had increased those fees significantly. Bus fees, et cetera, et cetera. No. We are working with what we have. We believe that we can make
work. We have cut certain expenses. We have cut expenses down at BAA to mak e things work. I go down to
BAA and they had, when I looked at their cash flow for
the next two or three years, they were doing quite well.
I said, You got a positive cash flow. I want a positive
cash flow on our side. So we cut some of the grant that
was given to BAA. As time goes on, we will make sure
that they . . . I see one Member sitting in his seat there.
We will make sure that they will work. But this year, no.
No, no, it wouldn’t go down.
So it is about looking at efficiencies, looking at
how we can make the system work, looking at those increases that we want or do not want. And the Premier/Minister of Finance, as time goes on, you know, he
has talked about other things that are possible revenues in the future. Those times we will look at things.
Whether we want to make sure at the end of the day
that we find ways for Bermudians to work, live here, and
be happy like they want. So things will be done in the
future.
If you guys want to increase the fees, that is up
to you. But you know, but let us know if you do—

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: They won’t get that opportunity.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Well, no, they should tell us,
though, so people can be aware that they want to in-crease fees.

[Laughter]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Honourable Member . . .
yes. So anyway, I think that is it. Is there something else that I missed?

Thank you very much.
And certainly, to just respond to the Minister’s
assertions, it would be my intention and certainly any kind of fee increase is directed toward those who visit
our Island. In particular, those who visit our Island by
cruise ship. And so in particular, it would be interesting
to explore the idea of seasonal tickets out of Dockyard. It could even be specifically to Horseshoe Bay. And that
we could certainly compete with $50 round trip as a
cruise excursion by providing public transportation at a
lower price than $50 but much more than $4.50.
While we are still up in Dockyard speaking on
the cruise ship industry, I have some questions. This
would be page B -202, still looking at the Transportation
Planning Team, which is business unit 58010. And this has to do with the ground transportation at Dockyard. I
would like to find out, in preparation for the onslaught


Bermuda House of Assembly of hundreds, and hundreds of thousands of tourists that
will be visiting our shores and landing in Dockyard—
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Point of order, Madam Chairman.

The point I am making is,
What are we going to do to make sure that we have a system of public transportation for the cruise ship pas-sengers who disembark from their ship and being able
to have a systematic and fluid flow of the ability to be
able to pick up public transportation or to get into a public service vehicle, be it a minibus or a taxi, to just alleviate bottlenecks. We know that many cruise passengers all get off the ship at the same time. If we might get some insight on what the Transportation Planning
Team has in mind. Whether that is personnel that will be provided in the Dockyard area and maybe the very popular Horseshoe Bay, just to be able to not overwhelm our infrastructure during the height of the cruise
passenger visit. Thank you.

Thank you.
Are there any other Members who wish to ask
questions on Heads 48, 30, 34 and 35?
There being no other Members, at this point,
Minister, I invite you to . . .
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Honourable Member refers to the Transportation Planning Team. That has nothing to do with the actual moving of minibuses or taxis up at –

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: No.

Talk to the Chair, Minister.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Honourable Member, no,
no. Actually, as a matter of fact, most of them are con-trolled by WEDCO. They have a team up there that actually does that.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Well, I’m letting you know
that. It is not TCD at all. We go up there. I like going up there and shaking tourists’ hands, and saying good
morning, good afternoon and everything. But we don’t . . . we don’t . . . and we kind of help out, but we don’t
. . . there is no funding in there for that.

Thank you.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to Heads 48, 30, 34 and 35?
There being no other Members, I call on the
Minister.
Minister.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Madam Chairman, I move
that Heads 48, 30, 34 and 35 be approved as printed.
But I would also like to rise and report progress
until the next day of sitting.

Hold on. I will . . . let me get the approvals of the House first.
It has been moved that Heads 48, 30, 34 and
35 be approved.
Any objections?
There being none . . . Minister.

[Motion carried: The Ministry of Transport Heads 48,
30, 34 and 35 were approved and stand part of the Es-timates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2024 /25.]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, Madam Chairman.
I move that we rise and report progress until
the next day of sitting.

We are rising and reporting progress
until such time that the Finance Minister moves all of the other heads, and deals with the Appropriation Bill. This is something that has been agreed to in the House by the Speaker. So we will rise and report progress until Friday.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: I can appreciate that there
might be some need, but I would think that the House
would be able to understand the reason to rise and re-port since I have seen the Premier in the Chamber.

Okay. Since we are now . . . since the
heads have been moved, and we have finished this part
of the debate, it is now time for me to turn the House back over the Speaker. The Speaker can then speak to the House with his understanding that we have re-ported progress and we have sought leave to sit again.
And if the Speaker wishes to speak to why leave has
been sought to sit again (and I am assuming on Friday), he will do that. Thank you.
[Motion carried: The Committee agreed to rise and re-port progress and sought leave to sit again.]

House resumed at 7:15 pm

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

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 202 4/25

Technically, there is . . . there is a technical issue that has to be resolved first. And both parties have been consulted, with a discussion with myself in
the Chamber. I do not know if your representative has
informed you. It was not for me to inform you. But both parties have agreed that we will sit again on Friday after the matter has been resolved.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Okay, thank you, Mr.
Speaker. I understand and I assume that maybe sup-plementaries will be tabled at that time as well?

All the business will be done on Friday.
Okay?
Members, that brings us to a close of the discussion on the budget for today. We will now move on to the other items on the Order Paper. There were
some other four items on the Order Paper. And I understand Order [No.] 5 is the item that is going to be don e
this evening, the tourism.
Premier? Tourism, correct? Okay.
Members, the next item is the consideration of
Tourism Investment (Azura Bermuda) Order 2024 in
the name of the Junior Minister of Tourism, and Culture
and Sport.
DRAFT ORDER

TOURISM INVESTMENT
(AZURA BERMUDA) ORDER 2024

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the purpose of bringing this Tourism Investment (Azura Bermuda) Order 2024 before this Honourable House is to enable the grant of tax re-lief to the developers investing in the tourism product
Azura Bermuda Clearwater Development, Limited,
which is in the National economic interest of Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker , I am pleased to invite this Honourable House to take this Order under consideration. Mr. Speaker, the Clearwater Development Limited (“CDL”) is a Bermuda registered company and is presided over by John Bush III who was the executive vice
president of residential development at Tucker’s Point. Mr. Bush has extensive knowledge of hotel and resi-dential development in Bermuda including the associated marketing of these products.
Mr. Speaker , in anticipation of purchasing the
hotel property, the former Surf Side Beach Club, CDL applied for a Hotels Concession Order in February of 2016. The [ then] Minister of Tourism, with written consent of the Minister of Finance, made the Order —the
Hotels Concession Former Surf Side Beach Club Order
2016 . Mr. Speaker, this Order expired on 31 March
2023.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, the Tourism Investment Act 2017
was amended in 2019 so that it applies to specific hotel
developments presently using a Hotels Concession Order made under the Hotels Concession Act 2000 and
relevant hotel developers are able to apply for a To urism Investment Order.
Mr. Speaker , the former Surf Side Beach Club
(now Azura Bermuda) is one of those aforementioned specific hotel developments. CDL submitted an application for a Tourism Investment Order for a new hotel
to the Minister of Tourism in [October] 2023.
Mr. Speaker , Azura Bermuda consists of nine
hotel residences [which are] 60 units and is actively operating as an upper mid- to high- quality condominium
hotel. The units have been sold by way of a 999- year
lease to each end- buyer. Each buyer has signed a
management agreement in the form approved by the
Chief Immigration Officer. This management agreement provides the details by which the end- buyer permits a key of the unit to the hotel inventory for a minimum of six months each year. Mr. Speaker , in mid -2023, CDL began work on
a new amenity: an interior oceanfront restaurant. Plans
for additional amenities include a new ocean view fitness and wellness facility, an expansion of the lobby, the conversion of the gym into executive management
offices, a new resort entry and an ocean pool and
beach bar. Mr. Speaker , CDL estimates that the construction of these amenities will be completed by mid -
2024.
Mr. Speaker , CDL’s total investment for the
project costs (including acquisition, renovation, profes-sional fees, transaction costs, reserves and working
capital) is approximately $47,005,000.
Mr. Speaker , Honourable Members will note
that Azura Bermuda has been awarded the full terms of
relief allowed by the legislation.
• Full relief from customs duty for eight years
from the operative date of the Order.
• Full relief from hotel occupancy tax for 15
years from the hotel’s opening date.
• Full relief from the employer’s share of payroll
tax for 15 years from the hotel’s opening date.
• Full [exemption] from land tax for ten years
starting from the sixth anniversary of the hotel’s opening date.
• Deferral of the landholding charges.
Mr. Speaker , Honourable Members will note
that exemption from land tax is subject to the hotel confirming in year six through fifteen that 70 per cent of the
hotel staff must be Bermudian.
Further, Mr. Speaker , exemption from the employer’s share of payroll tax is subject to a management
training programme for Bermudians verified by the Department of Workforce Development is in operation at
the hotel.
Mr. Speaker , upon the completion of the new
resort amenities, the fully open and operating resort will
generate significant new hotel and resort employment. Income earning opportunities for service providers including taxis, restaurants, retailers, golf courses and,
Mr. Speaker, potential summer employment for students.
Mr. Speaker , I am pleased to commend this Order for support of this Honourable House.

Yes, and good evening, Mr.
Speaker. Thank you very much.
Not really much to add to this here other than
we are hoping that they move along quite swiftly with
the work that needs to be done. I believe the Junior
Minister said $40- plus million. So, I really don’t have
much to say to this here, other than to ask maybe two
questions. And one of those questions would be, Understanding that hotel rooms are of a priority right now
to get up and going. This has been in since October
and we are now five months in. Maybe there was a delay for some reason. Or is it customary to take five
months to get something along and to the table at this
point in time?
The other [comment] is on page 2 of the actual
[draft Order] the terms and conditions we have already set some time ago, the 70 per cent is really unrealistic
when we are trying to get our numbers up. We are nowhere near close to that. It is going to take us a decade
before we can actually see something like that happen.
So as long as the Junior Minister and Minister are keeping that 70 per cent, as something that they will work
with, I just realistically see us coming to that point.
So, with that in mind, we support this [draft Order] and wish the best for Azura and Bermuda as they get more rooms going.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
On the second question by the Shadow Minister with regard to the 70 per cent being unrealistic, I will
note that and certainly share that with the substantive Minister. I can say whilst I am waiting for some re-sponse to the first question to come in, that considerable training is being offered to Bermudians in the hos-pitality industry to try and encourage as many Bermudians as possible, Mr. Speaker, to avail themselves to
the opportunities that are not only going to be available
at Azura, but also at the S outhampton Princess and the
Bermudiana Beach Club and Ariel Sands.
I think the Shadow Minister does raise a very
good point. It is a nice problem to have with increasing
beds. And I am waiting for the replies as to whether or
1074 11 March 2024 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly not there was a delay. And if the [Shadow] Minister
would prefer, I can provide that answer just as soon as
I receive it. But with that, that is the answer to the question thus far.

MP Dunkley, you would like to speak to
this?
[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Glad I have a support base on the other side of
the Chamber.

[Laughter]

SEEKING AN EXPLANATION WHY
THE COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY
IS BEING CARRIED OVER

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, I would like to
take a few moments in this Honourable House, time to
just make a brief comment on what just took place. This
is not about your ruling to rise and report progress because I respect that. And I have been in this House too
long t o even get close to being sent to the door by the
Speaker.
But Mr. Speaker — The Speaker: Well, let me say this much. Let me say
this much: You are going to be very guarded and if I call
you, I expect you to [respect] the fact that I am calling
you back.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, sir.

And keep that in mind.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, sir, I would certainly
respect your position on that.
But Mr. Speaker, I believe this Honourable
House is owed an explanation by the Honourable Premier on how we got to this position. Because we
have had . . . I think we have had a pretty reasonable
56 hours of debate. There have been some . . . in my
opinion, there have been some good debates. There have been some debates that certainly have been back
and forth with a lot of questions answered and posed
by Shadow Ministers. So I think it has been a healthy
process. But to come to the end of the debate, a hal f
an hour before, and hear rumours that it might be carried forward, I think the people of Bermuda deserve an
explanation. Certainly I think Members of the Chamber
deserve to know what took place. There has got to be
an explanation.

Let me . . . let me . . . if you yield, I will
help you.
The reason that you are not getting an explanation tonight is because the matter is as current as it
can be. We only were aware of it when I summoned
your representative and the representative from the Government into my Chamber and we had a discussion
about it. I made a decision. I made a decision. The
Speaker made a ruling that it would be carried over until
Friday morning. And on Friday morning, we will get the
appropriate explanation as to why we go on Friday
morning to resolve it. But the matter is ex tremely current right now and it would be inappropriate to try and
put a response to that when we do not have all the facts
in hand. Okay?

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Could I ask you a question,
Mr. Speaker?

It means there is a resolution that needs
to be found to resolve what happened that caused us
to be here tonight. We do not have that resolution at
this moment.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Okay, Mr. Speaker, I can
appreciate that. And could I also assume that on Friday


Bermuda House of Assembly we will see supplementary estimates? Because this
budget period we have not seen any.

Okay.

SEEKING AN EXPLANATION WHY
THE COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY
IS BEING CARRIED OVER
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I understand the Honourable Member would
like to make a point, and I will just make it very clear. We are trying to make sure that we do all things right
and all things proper. It is that simple. The fact is that there have been 56 hours of debates, the C ommittee
has risen and reported progress. We have asked for
leave to sit again. On Friday morning we will meet, we
will report all the capital estimates, go ahead and pass
the budget in good time for the Senate to able to debate
on Monday. There is no need to make a point out of
this. I know that some persons would like to make a political point, but there is no need to do so because all things will be done in the way according to Standing
Orders. And that is all I have to say.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

And Mr. Premier, let me just . . . because
I do not want this going back and forth. The ruling that
I made was based on all the information that was provided to me. If I had assumed, taken the assumption
that we could have this resolved tonight, we would have
it resolved tonight. I made th e decision that we will
come back. And I want that clear.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: I respect that, Mr. Speaker.
And a question, a point of order to the Honourable
Premier. [Inaudible interjections]

Have a seat. Have a seat.
I could . . . you all could have come here tonight and I [could] have told you from this seat what was
happening. But I took the time to have your representative and the Government representative in my office earlier. And we walked through what was before us and
the option and the position that I was going to take. With
proper consultation, it was done. Meaning, had I not
had that consultation or had I just consulted the Government and came here and said, This is what we are
going to do, I would expect your side to get up and do
as you are doing. But I took the opportunity to have both
Opposition and Government in that room where we had
the conversation. And all parties in there realised the
sensitivity of what was before us and we agreed on the
position that I put.