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Ben Smith, MP

Ben Smith, MP

738
Speeches
138,286
Words Spoken
67
Sittings Active
6 Dec 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
42 words
The part that is — [Inaudible interjections] 252 6 December 2024 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly An Hon. Member: Out of order, Mr. Speaker. Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Speaker, a point of order, please. A point of order, please.
6 Dec 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
884 words
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think we can all agree that we want to have a safer community. I said it before that we have some parents who have had to make a choice to migrate out of our country in order to protect their sons. That is not a decision that happens lightl y. The fact that …
6 Dec 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
188 words
So, Mr. Speaker, I am going to say it again because it is pretty simple for every national sport governing body to enforce that. Because it is your decision to be able to enforce that testing. The reason why it is important is because that level, once agai n, is the role model. That level is the group that the …
6 Dec 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
41 words
And everybody here has an opinion. And guess what? The difference is every time some-body says something, and we behave that way without . . . They will all have an opportunity to get up and challenge what I am saying.
6 Dec 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
7 words
But the issue is — [Inaudible interjections]
6 Dec 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly
152 words
We have to do better. We have to expect more of each other in our community, in this House of Assembly. This document with all of these murders in it and the violence that is happening in our community and the fact that the families are breaking down, everything in here is an indictment of every person in this community. …
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
315 words
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, firstly I would like to thank the Honourable Health Minister for that informative state-ment that she just made. That contribution I think will be helpful to anybody who had the opportunity to hear it. That is the kind of contribution that I t hink is important for our community. She laid out some of …
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
13 words
But, Mr. Speaker, as we are looking at— [Inaudible interjections and laughter ]
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
597 words
As we are looking at the Throne Speech, I note that there is a discussion on having an Education Authority, which obviously is something that the Opposition is supportive of. It is an initiative that was put forward by the One Bermuda Alliance but the important word that is missing is “independent” Education Authority. Mr. Speaker, the reason why I …
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
26 words
But, Madam Acting Speaker, that political interference said, I found a programme outside of Bermuda that looks like a fix. And then they brought it here.
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
5 words
The Government at the time.
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
22 words
Why do I have to say who? I know I wasn’t in the Government because I am going to tell you now.
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
311 words
The context was, I said, over 30 years ago when that bad decision was made to destroy the education system in Bermuda. And I am going to tell you that as a freshman at Springfield College, I sat in a class for early educa-tion and the professor stood up and said, One of the biggest problems with this particular system …
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
9 words
Madam Acting Chairman [sic], so I am not saying—
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
213 words
—that everybody is failing. And we have to be very careful because we are talking about young people. All this time I have actually been talking about the damage that was done before and why we have to make sure that we are doing the right things now. And back then there needed to be an audit to make sure …
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
77 words
My point does not change because as you are going through the process an audit of what is happening and why it is happening needs to continue to happen. And I do not mean an audit that happens in a room and no one knows what that was, what the re-sults are. It has to be transparent. You have to …
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
1,325 words
What I was referring to is the evaluation, not what was happening at those town hall meet-ings. But as I move forward, the issue, and this one I will be very specific with, Madam Acting Speaker. Teachers take on that role as a teacher not because they look into the future and think they are going to be a millionaire …
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
27 words
Because the second child now means you are at $40,000 . . . and most people in our country will never be able to give up $40,000.
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
153 words
Thank you, Madam Acting Speaker. And I am so glad that the Minister just made that statement. Because the truth is what has happened is multiple students have actually moved overseas, so the reason that the private number is static is because they are taking students from the public sector. So I am going to ask the Minister of Education …
15 Nov 2024 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
5 words
Thank you, Madam Acting Speaker.