Members
Parliament
Transparency

Walter H. Roban

593
Speeches
148,851
Words Spoken
34
Sittings Active
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
6 words
Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
20 words
Interested to have a question to the Minister in relation to clause 14, Funds of A uthority. [Inaudible interjection] [Gavel]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
201 words
Thank you, Madam Chairman. As I was saying, in relation to clause 14(d)(i) and 14(d)(ii), in relation to Tourism Authority fee and also as . . . Yes, the Tourism Authority fee. This did come up as discussion in the previous part of this de-bate on this Bill. But the Minister did not answer. Perhaps I can specifically address the …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
92 words
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Of course, I am happy to give the first r esponse to this amendment Bill, the Incentives for Job Makers Act 2013. Just to let you know, Mr. Speaker, although this is obviously being led by the Minister of Economic Development, I am leading first, but [then] there will be certainly substantive comments made …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
555 words
Okay. Also, I wish to thank the Minister for providing his brief for this debat e, which has been helpful in following, and to even further cry stallise comments that I would like to make. Firstly, as we have already stated as a party, and as our Leader stated, we welcome the bringing of this Bill for a number of …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
6 words
Of his statement, of his brief.
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
17 words
Well, the Minister was kind enough to provide it to us. So I am referring to it.
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
94 words
Yes. The Minister spoke about the action that the Government was taking. I am sorry. It is on page 3, the actions that the Government was taking, i.e., that Bermuda needs jobs. The previous administration was asked for accelerated action. This particular Act was a part of the accelerated action that business had asked for. There were other things done, …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
17 words
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for that. And I hear the point. But I am arguing another point.
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
3,559 words
That accelerated action was taken, and this was a part of the accelerated action that the Government was taking. There were other things that were done, but they are not the subject of this Bill, so I am not going to raise them. I want to stay strictly to what we are dealing with. And I was not [involved] in …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
26 words
Right? We have headlines sa ying, Bermuda at the brink, and these are an effort to almost scare some people. Now, Mr. Speaker — [Inaudible interjections]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
136 words
Mr. Speaker . . . and I am speaking to you, Mr. Speaker. I am not listening to the chirping on the other side, the irrelevant chirping. What I am saying is this, Mr. Speaker. There seems to be an effort to cultivate a certain panic amongst the citizenry, even to the point where we have certain executives and key …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
1,293 words
Somebody murmured, Phase one. Well, we will see. We will see. You know something, Mr. Speaker? I will divert just a bit because of something I remember. I have a pretty good memory about most things. W hen it comes to politics, my memory is pretty good. Most of my Members would attest to that. I remember a lot of …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
258 words
Yes. Okay. But I am talking generally of the Bill and what the Bill is going to do. I am not going to get there. But there is the issue of the movement of the figure from 25 down to 10. Again, Mr. Speaker, the original Act spoke to, a core component of that Act was about creating opportunities for …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
7 words
I was reading the original Act —
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
1,134 words
— what it states. So where the Minister said “only under exceptional circumstances,” I disagree. That is not the proper interpretation of that clause. Actually, and I think it is fine that the Minister had that discretion that if a company, just for example, Mr. Speaker, a company, not one that is already here. I am going to deal with …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
20 words
Because it does not gel with the arguments that the Minister has put for this. It says — [Inaudible interjections]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
11 words
Ah, the interpreting is so wo nderful, like Angry Birds. [Laughter]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
1,136 words
For t hose companies, Mr. Speaker, with less than 25 staff, the number will be reduced proportionately. Please note for indicative purposes only —that is key. This is in the guidance notes, which is associated with the actual original Act, of which I assume that the Minister will update and modify if these amendments pass. Please note, but this is …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
5 words
Point of order, Mr. Speaker.