Members
Parliament
Transparency
Ben Smith, MP

Ben Smith, MP

738
Speeches
138,286
Words Spoken
67
Sittings Active
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
838 words
Now which schools will have renovated bathrooms with the $125,000 that is allocated ? Is this a situation where these are problems that have been kind of brought to everyone's attention this year ? Or is this just scheduled that happens on an ongoing basis ? Are these major problems ? I know that one of the schools that is …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
997 words
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I thank the Minister for the answers he provided. To this point , some of the answers made me think of follow -up questions to some of those answers . So, on page B -140, I'm just going to circle back to my question on those T. N. Tatem numbers . I understand that the …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
441 words
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I believe there were a couple of questions that I asked that might not have been answered before. I asked a question about what that number “3” means in the performance measures , just so that we have an idea where it says that . . . in the scoring and it says “3.” …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
78 words
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just go back to page B-141. From the answer that the Minister gave on the increase in energy was based off of an increase of the office building. J ust if we could get an indication, is the office space significantly bigger ? Is it housing more people ? If we could get …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
5 words
This is page B -141.
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
14 words
Correct . Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: —Up from revised of $764 [thousand].
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
20 words
And the response that the Minister just gave me , up from page B -145, for primary schools 1705 .
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
371 words
The questions that I asked about those actual outcomes . So, the answer is that they were coming up 1 per cent short and that is what was causing the issue. T he question is , If the target was already low and they were coming in 1 per cent short , this number is still just as concerning. And …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
178 words
Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'm just going to go back to page B -146, Secondary School . I asked those questions about IGCSE and I'm very thankful that the Minister gave those responses about the breakdown on what the students are able to take from IGCSEs . And it was a significantly broader range of subjects . So …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
257 words
I just think it's important that if that is the case that we do all that we can to highlight those 586 16 May 2025 Official Hansard Report Bermuda House of Assembly subjects so that , once again, it's also about perception. We never want to be standing to our feet and making our young people feel that they are …
14 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
14 words
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just have a couple of quick questions.
14 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
403 words
On page B -252 under Transportation, Head 35, specifically under 45010 for Bus Operations, just wondering if there has been any consideration for extending the time period of buses running during the night hours? The reason I ask that is because we have a lot of people in Bermuda who work shift work and would probably be looking for transportation …
9 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
58 words
Yes. Good morning, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Honourable Premier be able to let this House know whether he has received any feedback from the retail sector, since the announcement of increasing the duty relief for people coming through the airport seems to be aiming toward the direction of more Bermudians buying overseas rather than buying Bermuda?
9 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
3 words
Yes, Mr. Speaker.
9 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
82 words
Will there be any consideration of changing or lowering the duty rate for the retail sector considering that they are the ones who are hiring the Bermudians? As we continue to lower for people to buy outside of Bermuda, it is important that we are making sure, yes, retail is changing worldwide. But we have to take care of the …
9 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
12 words
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Madam Deputy Speaker, thank you so much—
9 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
409 words
—for this opportunity. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, the budget obviously is filled with numbers but when the population listens the thing that impacts them is usually not those numbers. That is not the one . . . that is not what they pay attention to. They pay attention to how those numbers turn into services that they deal with. How …
9 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
79 words
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. The issue is not that the PLP has come up with this initiative. It is that this tax is going to be layered on top of the demand that already exists. That is where the issue comes. But understand something: We as a country have to realise that the same way they could pay that …
9 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
16 words
But this is the issue. And it is not about fearmongering. An Hon. Member: It is.
9 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
7 words
It is about the reality — [Crosstalk]