Speeches by Rolfe Commissiong

27 Sep 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

378 words

Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Deputy Leader’s comments are welcomed. I think the caveat she places before us is the ultimate challenge. The Premier talked about Court Street, that area, N orth East Hamilton, which is how we have of late been referring to that area, what we used to call more broadly, the Back o’ Town. Certainly, going back to …

27 Sep 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

273 words

Concessions. Thank you. Rightly put. —to both St. George’s and Somerset. Both areas, I might add, have high concentrations of black populations in Bermuda. In fact, if you go back 100 years or so, the concentration of black Bermudians took place in Hamilton, Pembroke East region, Som-erset, and St. George’s. As I understand it, those inbetween areas, the mid- east …

27 Sep 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

503 words

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. You know, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to Mr. and Mrs. Bermuda out there this must almost seem like Greek. Even for many of us who have been right at the forefront of these significant changes to engender a new economic sector in our economy over the last year and a half, it has been a steep …

27 Sep 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

67 words

Mr. Deputy Speaker, thank you. In relation to my good friend, t he Minister Zane De Silva, they talked about the fact that he was a mystery shopper. But many people may not be aware of this. For the last 10 years, he has shown up at various worksites of his company dressed as a E uropean gypsy as if …

27 Sep 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

9 words

So, he is well schooled in that. [Inaudible interjections]

27 Sep 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

39 words

Undercover boss, Minister Zane De Silva. I thought it would be good just to try to inject some levity before I get a litt le serious here, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Bermuda House of Assembly THE FUTURE STATE REPORT —RACISM

27 Sep 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

895 words

You know, I heard the Shadow Minister, Mr. Sylvan Richards, earlier. Bermuda has deep structural issues, Mr. Deputy Speak-er, structural issues that are long- standi ng. But I do not get a recognition of that from the Opposition. We did not get that recognition when they were Gover nment, and we do not get it now. And this is inhibiting …

27 Sep 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

857 words

Mr. Deputy Speak er, just moving on. I heard our colleague from constituency 33, Jamahl Simmons. He has extensive experience in journalism in this country. I remember when he came back; I was able to get a couple of interviews with him when he first got back from overseas. And he talked about the racial disparities that even occurred there. …

26 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

629 words

Thank you, Mr. Speaker . Mr. Speaker, as it is the advent of Cup Match I want to begin and conclude my remarks with som ething that is highly relevant to the coming Cup Match holiday. We all know that Cup Match has its roots, its raison d'êtr e, as a way we can also honour those persons who were …

26 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

245 words

She says here, in her book, “I was born at Brackish- Pond, in Bermuda, on a farm belonging to Mr. Charles Myners. My mother was a household slave; and my father, whose name was Prince, was a sawyer belonging to Mr. Trimmingham, a ship- builder at Crow -Lane. When I was an infant, old Mr. Myner s died, and there …

26 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

282 words

I know, I know. Yes. “This was the happiest period of my life;” she says, “for I was too young to understand rightly my condition as a slave, and too thoughtless and full of spirits to look f orward to the days of toil and sorrow.” Mr. Speaker, I remember a few weeks ago we had an interview with my …

26 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

164 words

Mr. Speaker, last week we had the opportunity to talk about the living wage with respect to the Wage Commission Bill, which we passed. And I said that help is on the way and I have continued to say that, and it is, it is getting closer by the day. But I had one omission I want to correct, for …

26 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

632 words

Mr. Speaker, I am going to take a few minutes here just to focus on another i ssue. I saw the intervie w of our Premier on ZBM with Mr. Gary Moreno. And I guess as interviews go, Mr. Moreno was simply doing his job. And I am not here to criticise the media, although at times they surely deserve …

26 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

282 words

Exactly. And so we understand that. And we think Bermudians are going to have confidence, and mai ntain their confidence in us, because we have been honest about this and being up front about it. And they are going to see the demonstration of our resolve and our commitment to bringing about these progressive reforms over the next year to …

26 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

2 words

Thank you.

26 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

7 words

White privilege again. Who is the Leader?

19 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

1,530 words

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been a mantra that we have consistently used when discussing this topic on our side of the aisle, and that is: To let Bermuda know that help is on the way. And it is. This is not going to solve all of our problems. But, certainly, this is going to offer some …

19 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

129 words

Of 2000 [sic]. It made no requirement that persons who are on work permits have to pay into it. We all know that the employer pays his 5 per cent and the employee pays 5 per cent. But it provided a perverse incentive on the part of employers, some out of extreme necessity (I am not making excuses), and some …

19 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

1,737 words

Or longer than that, as the Member from constituenc y 26 interpolates. Look at the development down at St. George’s, much needed. We need to get that hotel up and running. But the deal was struck, at the risk of running from the bipartisan nature of this exercise, which I have commended. The deal was struck that saw scores of …

12 Jul 2019 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House Of Assembly

761 words

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, thanks so much. Mr. Speaker, as I would say, I guess, an avowed progressive, I am not always keen on seeing government subsidies and then tax breaks and exemptions going to the, as my colleague just said, the 1 per cent. I think this was one of the issues that divided opinion when it came to …