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Parliament
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Ben Smith, MP

Ben Smith, MP

738
Speeches
138,286
Words Spoken
67
Sittings Active
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
63 words
And the Deputy Premier just took the words right out of my mouth. There is not enough there either. Once again, this is another opportunity for us to look at growth. How is it that we can give more support ? And I'm going to tie the two things together . Page C -23, as I have gone back to …
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
7 words
I am going to look for it.
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
6 words
Yes. So, the Bermuda Golf Association—$10,000.
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
212 words
—[constituency] 2 will definitely support that statement . But these are the connections where we could do more. So , if the Minister can give us an idea because this is something that is new to this Ministry and not something that I have had the opportunity to ask questions about previously. If he could give us an idea of …
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
43 words
—S oftball Park. The Minister did mention in the brief that there has been an increase in the usage because of bringing baseball into that particular area. I know the Minister said that he had recently retired from softball . But which —
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
152 words
Yes , he said the fences were too low. So, with that being said, c an he give us an idea of what that impact has been for baseball? Like what . . . how many of the numbers that he's seeing that growth is actually because of baseball? So, if we're able to separate those two sports because once …
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
246 words
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair man. There were some refurbishments done. The Minister mentioned that there's been an increase in the pickleball courts. Can the Minister let us know whether there has been any impact of increasing the pickleball courts, whether there's been any impact on the tennis side of what this facility was originally ? I think a lot …
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
2 words
Yes, correct.
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
15 words
So, Mr. Chair man, I am now going to move on to page B -241.
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
11 words
And I am going to be looking at the performance measures.
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
1,041 words
Yes. So, I started with the point that I was making when it comes to the Junior A thlete Awards and that difference that you see there. I would like to just finish off with the number of elite athletes receiving funding. The Minister had mentioned that there were 25 elite athletes who were part of the programme and that …
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
1,135 words
Because if your parents don't have the ability to pay for you to do the extra travel , the extra training and all the things that are needed in order for you to make it , you are falling behind. Not because you don't have the athletic ability, not because you don't have the desire to be a top- level …
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
7 words
Yes, page B -238 under Athletic Awards.
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
26 words
The 2023/ 24 . . . there was , I want to say there was about $250,000 from that that was given to the elite athletes.
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
174 words
There was a target of 10 with a revised forecast of 23. Right? For the sake of argument, it was $25,000 a year under the . . . when you had 10 athletes that were in that situation. When you increase the number of athletes without increasing the amount of money significantly, you are now dropping down to a number …
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
29 words
National Stadium trustees . There has been an increase there from . . . so in 2024/ 25 it was $1,350,000. And then it was revised to $1,630,000 .
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
372 words
So, can the Minister give us a detailed breakdown of what that difference was between the original and the revised estimate, and then what the ex-pectation is with the new increase to $ 1,500,000? I know part of that potentially is the increase in salaries, but there are several items within that facility that I think would be important for …
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
1,442 words
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, considering the investment that was put into the diving boards, whether the Minister can give us a breakdown in the diving participation. And whether he is seeing growth in diving in Bermuda and whether we have an expectation to see an increase in the number of people that are participating in diving with the investment …
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
238 words
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Minister, when he was giving his brief did mention that there was going to be a sports conference. I'm actually taking this from under Department Objectives. There were certain things that he was trying to put forward. And there were two things that I noted. One of them was the digital signage. Where …
21 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
583 words
Thank you and good evening, Madam Deputy Speaker. I just want to give a few brief words as we are leading into this Bermuda Day holiday. I think everybody here has a different version of what makes this holiday important to them. You have memories from growing up in Bermuda and what it meant to you. And each person here …