Mr. Speaker, in keeping with the undertaking I made publicly towards the end of last month, I am pleased today to make a statement to this Honourable House to update Honourable members and the Country on the progress made to date during this session of the Legislature; while setting out the work to be undertaken by this Government to set a path for Bermuda’s future – a Bermuda working for everyone.
Let me say firstly, Mr. Speaker, that I am grateful for the latitude you have afforded me in the making of this statement and I am similarly grateful to my front-bench colleagues who have deferred their proposed ministerial statements to the next day of meeting.
Mr. Speaker, in furtherance of a theme I sounded in a speech made just next door to this House, I have termed this statement “Throne Speech 2018 and Beyond: Charting a path for the future while challenging the status quo to build a Bermuda that works for everyone”. Honourable Members will no doubt immediately perceive that this narrative runs counter to the norm of Bermudian society where, in varying degrees, we live by a “Where the fates may lead us” approach to much of life.
This must change, Mr. Speaker. The path to the future for Bermuda starts with us challenging the status quo.
WE DID NOT PROROGUE THE LEGISLATURE
Mr. Speaker, much has been made of the fact that the Legislature was not prorogued and there was no formal Convening of the Legislature or a Speech from the Throne this year. In this determination I can advise Honourable Members and the public that I consulted with and secured the concurrence of the Governor, the President of the Senate and, of course, you, Mr. Speaker.
It is unfortunate that a change such as this has been compared to an erosion of our democracy when, in fact, the opposite is the case. Recent precedents have sought to challenge the decision to prorogue rather than a decision to keep the Legislature in session while continuing to conduct the people’s business.
Mr. Speaker, The Speech from the Throne sets out the objectives for the Government for a session of the Legislature. There is no requirement that the Premier prorogue the Legislature annually, just as there is no limit on the length of time a session of the Legislature may last between elections. The fact is that the 2018 Throne Speech, by any objective measure was one of the most ambitious in recent memory, with 56 separate pledges, many of which were transformative in their nature. Not all of those items could be realistically completed within a 10 month session, so it made sense for the government to skip the ceremony while we kept working.
Mr. Speaker, most of our traditions are inherited from the Westminster system as administered in London. Honourable Members should be interested to know that the historic purpose of prorogation was to allow MPs to return to their constituencies in days before modern transport or technology. As the need for such long breaks has diminished, so have the length of sessions increased. This change is not unique to politics. Many universities have long determined that summer breaks designed to allow students to return home and work the fields or other such labour are equally archaic and, as such, universities now promote degree courses that can be completed in half the usual time, recognizing that the world has changed.
In all likelihood, Mr. Speaker, this House and “the other place” will sit over longer periods in the future…Honourable Members and the public should consider these the new normal. The need for prorogation and a concurrent break from the rigours of debate can be better managed without so strictly being bound to centuries old tradition. However, Mr. Speaker, I can advise Honourable Members that the Legislature will be prorogued in good time for the 400th Anniversary of Bermuda’s Legislature to be observed with full ceremony in November 2020.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN SUMMARY (July 2017 – November 2019)
Mr. Speaker, our system of government has at the root of its accountability model the manifesto, or Platform. This document is put to the people and, on the strength of that Platform and other elements of an election season, the electorate determine who should form the government. That document is augmented throughout a government’s tenure by Speeches from the Throne, Budget Statements in support of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure and statements by Ministers that speak to government policy. All of these form a matrix by which performance can be measured and through which can be seen the plans for the period they cover.
I make this contextual reference as part of this statement, Mr. Speaker, to address the criticism often leveled about the lack of a plan. Some may not like the plan this Government has, but to say we have no plan is simply false.
Mr. Speaker, based on those documents and undertakings made since the tremendous mandate of trust from the people of Bermuda secured in July 2017, I can advise Honourable Members and the public that out of the 161 individual pledges made in the Platform, 40% have been fully completed and 38% are in progress. Yes Mr. Speaker, this government has achieved much.
We have invested in people:
- We have significantly increased investment in Bermudians, with a $15 million cumulative increase in education spending coupled with our College Promise initiative that has seen hundreds of Bermudians gain valuable access to tertiary studies at the Bermuda College;
- The Attorney General’s Chambers has been made a centre of choice for Bermudian lawyers to complete their pupilage and in some compelling stories of grit and determination men and women have secured their professional designations through a programme championed by this government
- We have increased our investment in training and development of Bermudians through increased scholarships and more investment in apprenticeships.
- We have provided coding classes in public schools, coding bootcamps for adults, and Fintech training for hundreds of Bermudians
We have encouraged small business development
- The expanded BEDC micro-loan programme has created new access to capital for small businesses.
- There are new payroll tax exemptions for companies with payroll of over $1m/annum
- The summer entrepreneurship programme is fostering the next generation of businessmen and women
- The modernization of the liquor license process has made it easier for food service businesses to compete and create opportunities in this sector
- We ensured the creation of the Bermuda Infrastructure fund, which is supporting new local businesses.
We have cared for the vulnerable and built a strong social platform:
- We have established the sex offender registry and promoted public safety with notification of the release of offenders
- A strengthened child safeguarding regime will allow vulnerable witnesses to give evidence in protected surroundings
- By focusing on the root causes of crime, we have seen a 55% reduction in firearms incidents since 2016.
- The living wage is on the way to reality to ensure that a worker’s primary wage meets his or her primary needs
- We have decriminalized the possession of under 7g of cannabis to remove the legal, social and employment stigma often caused by youthful indiscretion.
- Construction will soon start on two additional buildings at Harbourview Village, providing another opportunity for Bermudians to own their own homes
- And we kept our pledge to seniors by increasing their pensions by the rate of inflation every year!
We have managed public finances and made our Economy fairer:
- We delivered the first balanced budget in 17 years.
- Payroll tax has been reduced for those earning under $96,000 per year, and those making under $48,000 have the lowest payroll tax rate in 23 years!
- We eliminated the payroll tax loophole which saw many local companies not pay their fair share of taxes. For example Mr. Speaker, there were local companies declaring $1milllion quarterly dividends tax-free. We pledged to make Bermuda fairer and we have delivered.
Mr. Speaker, these represent a summary of those things achieved by this Government in the 28 months since July 2017’s election. Similarly Mr. Speaker, out of the 56 individual pledges that were made in last years’ speech from the throne, 19 pledges are fully complete, with 33 in progress with some of those in progress matters being tabled in this House today and more to come at the next sitting.
These have, in some cases, been hard fought successes but it has been the combined effort of the Cabinet, supported by a connected caucus team, which has created the conditions for these promises to be kept and for the next phase of this Government’s work – to challenge the status quo.
WHY CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO?
Mr. Speaker, the Irish poet George Bernard Shaw said, “ Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
We stand at the dawn of the third decade of this 21st century, facing a unique set of circumstances. Our population has never been older, more in need of comprehensive healthcare, facing an economy that is stubbornly inefficient and vested interests that desire a return to comfortable norms of 40 and 50 years ago.
Mr. Speaker, these combined issues almost scream in unison a need to challenge the status quo. If we do not change, if we do not change our mindset, if we do not commit to doing things differently, the stark reality I describe will be a new normal so embedded in our daily lives that Bermuda will always be what was and never what can be.
Mr. Speaker, we must challenge the status quo because our very survival and ultimate growth depend on it. There is no alternative or happy medium that allows us to repackage a 1970s or 80s model, tweaked with a passing reference to technology in an effort to pass it off as something that meets the global challenge that faces jurisdictions like Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker, we must challenge the status quo because the future we build does not belong to us and a failing present means we are building no future for our children.
A PATH TO THE FUTURE
Mr. Speaker, the path to the future must start with enhancing the lives and livelihoods of those who we are counting on to actually build the future. Demographics and social pressures often mean that our policymaking and policy priority is directed to seniors and young people. In the case of the former, we aim to make their golden years productive and for the latter, our goal is to equip a generation with the tools for success.
But Mr. Speaker, there is an almost silent but significant working population in their 20s through to their 50s on whom falls the burden of the present and who we count on to build the future. These men and women are raising and educating their children, pursuing the dream of home ownership, taking the risks of starting a business and doing whatever they can to care for their parents or grandparents in their senior years. There is immense pressure on this group and with such demands on them, a secure future depends on improving their present.
Mr. Speaker, as pledged in the Throne Speech, this government will use its balance sheet to drive down the cost of borrowing and make the goal of home ownership not only more accessible but more manageable. The mortgage guaranty programme will be implemented in 2020 and this will provide relief to the monthly mortgage burden our people now bear. This single change will save the average family carrying a mortgage $5,000 a year.
Mr. Speaker, as the consultation phase on the proposed healthcare reform continues, I wish to signal loudly and clearly for the people of Bermuda that any new system for this country will promote better healthcare outcomes, preserve personal choice in healthcare and bring costs in line with benefits provided. People will see value for money and a system that is centered on their care and not on the profits of those who provide legally mandated health insurance.
Mr. Speaker, this government has made it clear to the proposed new owners of BELCO that no plan or sale that increases costs to the people of Bermuda will secure the approval of this government. Energy costs must go down and with the Integrated Resource Plan recently provided, that goal forms the centerpiece of the new energy framework for Bermuda. To support the transition to renewables outlined in last year’s Throne Speech, the Government in partnership with international companies will set up a Green Energy Fund, to provide capital to deploy solar installations throughout the island. The objective is simple, to provide jobs for solar installers and relief from high energy bills. Bermuda can lead the world in renewable energy adoption and this government will make that a reality.
A BERMUDA WORKING FOR EVERYONE
Mr. Speaker, I have sought to identify Bermuda’s disparate groups and the dire need to change the status quo to their benefit. The skill, some might say the paradox, of governing is to govern for all and develop a society that lifts up people and can be measured by both its strategy for growth and expansion as well as how it provides for its most vulnerable.
Mr. Speaker, in addition to properly managing government’s capital projects to promote economic activity and infrastructure enhancement, priority must be given in capital development to those areas of most need and where their completion will have the broadest positive impact on the society.
To that end, Mr. Speaker, the 2020/21 Budget will also signal an end to a decade of austerity. Bermudians of all walks of life have sacrificed over the last decade with spending cuts, service cuts, and tax increases. Now that Bermuda finally has a balanced budget, the first one in 17 years, we will be able to return some of our surplus to taxpayers in the form of tax cuts, while increasing investment in capital projects to support Bermuda’s most vulnerable. This next budget will contain funding support for seniors living, services for the homeless, and a repurposed group home for those of our citizens who have aged out of the Department of Child & Family Services system and who need a managed, residential programme to thrive in Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker, Bermuda’s system of transport is creaking under the weight of resistance to technology and a reluctance to focus on the core function of efficiently moving people. In the first instance there must be a harmonization of permit costs as between taxis and minibuses coupled with smarter regulation that ensures that our taxis and minibuses continue to have work, but allow citizens to help move our visitors when our taxis and minibuses are full during the busy summer season. We cannot succeed in tourism if we cannot get our visitors from point A to B.
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members will no doubt recall and will have broadly endorsed the slogan “Jobs for Bermudians”. Mr. Speaker, Bermudians need jobs to feed their families, to educate their children and to achieve their economic aspirations. But, Mr. Speaker, I wish more for the people of Bermuda. I want Bermudians to be owners, investors, men and women of financial means and acumen such that they are in position to drive this economy.
Mr. Speaker that is the reason why we will allow persons, if they choose, to access their own savings, just like they are allowed to do in countries like Singapore. Mr. Speaker, persons will tell you that people are being forced to use their savings – or that I am going to decide what to do with their savings, nothing can be further from the truth. If you like your savings where they are right now, then you can leave them there, this Government will not force you to do anything you don’t want to do. But if you have a need and desire to access your savings to put a down payment on a house, or to purchase an asset to start a small business, or to pool your savings with likeminded Bermudians to put together a medium sized business to challenge existing players in the local economy, then I consider it our responsibility to make that a reality. We cannot give people the training, and then not give them the tools; capital is what is needed for many Bermudians to unlock their potential, and we will unlock that capital.
Finally Mr. Speaker, there has been much comment on my encouragement of persons to use their capital to form their own co-operative enterprises including those that can reduce the cost of food to Bermudians. Persons whose mind is stuck in the past decide to bring up old models without realizing that we are in 2019 and not 1979. Mr. Speaker, technology has transformed what can be done when it comes to using collective buying power. The Bermudians who are now in our coding bootcamp won’t need to rent a building to provide cheaper food; they can design an app that will consolidate orders from Bermudians so they can purchase food cooperatively eliminating the middlemen and saving Bermudian families money. Mr. Speaker, that is the difference between thinking for the future and protecting the status quo, on this side of the House we are focused on building the future.
This government is determined to create the conditions that allow us to preside over a period of transformation where Bermudians are on equal footing with those historic interests that have carried the most weight in any discussion about the direction of this country. The tensions that exist between us will only be eased by greater equality of opportunity and a resultant equality of influence.
A Bermuda that works for everyone is one in which that ideal of equality is not seen as radical or outside the mainstream but a legitimate step of growth both economically and socially. This is the toughest change we must usher in. Modern success in the fast paced world of technology innovation has yielded a series of clear examples of how disruptors and those not constrained by the norms that might otherwise apply have made change. Apple’s Steve Jobs put it this way:
“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
CONCLUSION
Mr. Speaker, the initiatives I have outlined previously are by no means an exhaustive list. In the course of this continuing session of the Legislature, Honourable Members and the public can look forward to:
- Revisions to the Motor Car Act that will reduce regulations and red tape for Public Service Vehicles, truck permits, resale of used vehicles, and vehicle leasing.
- Legislation to create a Union Deposit Company, a co-operative venture between the Government and Labour Unions, to provide expanded access to lower mortgage rates for Bermudian families.
- Revisions to the Cost of Living Commission Act that will require grocery stores to electronically share prices of staple goods that will be accessible to all residents.
- Legislation to pave the way for the promised elimination of single use plastics by 2022.
- A Consumer Protection Bill that will have the power to regulate the conduct of local banks and insurance companies to ensure that consumers are treated fairly.
- Legislation that will maintain Bermuda’s leadership position as a domicile of choice for FinTech companies.
Mr. Speaker, more than the initiatives I have outlined in this statement, my intent is to signal a clear need for a change in mindset. We must approach the development of solutions differently. In 2019, if you can dream it, someone can build a technology solution that will make it a reality. Bermuda has nothing to fear from an aggressive trek away from the status quo and a passionate embrace of the opportunities that a future driven by technology will bring. The attributes and core values that have seen us prosper in years gone by remain a strong foundation on which to build the very future we claim to want for our children. Rather than dwell in nostalgia for the past, we must convert that rich history into the fuel that drives the brightest future.
Mr. Speaker, I am confident in our ability to do that and I am certain that we will rise to the challenge issued by the reality of our situation and that we will unite in challenging the status quo….charting a path to the future…towards a Bermuda that works for everyone.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.