White, female and with an English accent, Jane Correia is not your typical Progressive Labour Party candidate.

But breaking down the social barriers has been a theme of her life.

She was the first woman Commodore of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and is now a contracts administrator in the male-dominated world of construction.

Indeed both those experiences have armed her for the political fight which at first blush seems an odd choice for the shy and unassuming 44-year-old mother of two.

She might not seem like someone likely to thrive in the hurly-burly of political debate. She disagrees: "I think it is something I will be able to deal with given the experience from the yacht club.

"There were times when there were contracts that got sticky, my philosophy is if you tell the truth and stick to the truth you will never go wrong.

"That would be the way I would conduct myself in the House."

And she has already been embroiled in controversy.

Three years ago the Opposition attacked Government for awarding her husband's firm Correia Construction a contract to repair the Dockyard foreshore damaged in Hurricane Fabian without putting it out to open tender.

Then Works and Engineering Minister Ashfield DeVent had said no other bids had been sought because other marine building contractors had been tied up or had lacked the resources to do the job.

And earlier this year the Mid-Ocean News ran an article claiming that Government had given Correia Construction the bulk of the building work for the new multi-million pound cruise ship pier in Dockyard.

At that time, her husband, company boss Dennis Correia, had insisted the tendering process for the cruise ship pier had been carried out correctly and that his friendship with the Premier had not been a factor in any decision, despite claims other people had not been given sufficient time to put together rival bids.

Correia Construction has also been given the Government contract to build a new vehicle emissions test centre but Mrs. Correia said it had tendered for that contract.

She said of the Fabian repairs: "We had done an awful lot of work for Dockyard. We built the cruise ship dock and terminal there and it was felt we had the most knowledge of how it had been constructed to repair it.

"We tender any Government contract just like anyone else — but this was an emergency situation, there had been a hurricane."

But the scrutiny continues. "There is nothing to find. We are a reputable company and we are reputable people."

Earlier this month she was announced as PLP candidate to fight the United Bermuda Party stronghold of Smith's South.

She said: "I have been involved in the labour force throughout my life. My grandfather was a plumber, my father in the UK was involved in the roofing business and I ended up married to a construction worker. They are blue collar jobs. It seems just like a natural fit."

Despite this the firm is not unionised.

"None of the men have asked to be unionised," she said. "We feel we treat them very fairly. If they asked to be unionised we would have to follow the law."

She said she had only stepped forward to join the PLP after a lot of soul searching.

"I joined the PLP because I felt very welcome at any meeting. There are some very, very bright young minds and I felt that their philosophy was along the lines of my own."

Some have argued the parties differ little in their ideological approach.

Probed on what UBP policies she disagreed with, she said: "It would not be fair for me to comment because I haven't been to any of their meetings."

Of the PLP's policies which attracted her, she said: "They are keen to see international business continue here."

She is excited by the Southlands project. "The PLP are keen to see the racial barriers broken down. Education is key."

She said the PLP was keen on Bermudianisation but if posts couldn't be filled then work permit holders would be employed.

"I think it was a tremendous thing they did in introducing long-term residency because they recognised the plight of those who had been here for a long time and were left in no man's land."

Indeed Mrs. Correia herself was left in no man's land for a long time.

Despite moving to Bermuda from England with her mother when she was seven, she only got status and the right to vote three years ago through her marriage to Dennis.

Educated at Gilbert Institute and Bermuda High School for girls, Mrs. Correia did a secretarial course in London and came back and joined Appleby, Spurling and Kempe where she started in the typing pool, before becoming a paralegal and then moving into marketing.

In her spare time she did volunteer work at both hospitals but she said her work with Meals on Wheels as a teen was an eye-opener to the poverty which existed in Bermuda.

"I really didn't realise people lived in such poor conditions in Bermuda. It is only when you see it for yourself you realise just how bad it is. We were going all through the 'back of town'.

"People were living in squalor. It was mind-blowing. I couldn't believe in a country such as Bermuda people were living in such dreadful conditions."

But the experience did not cause her to get politically involved. It's only within the last four to five years has she become interested in party politics.

Asked why, she said: "People complain and just don't do anything about it. I have to confess I was one of those. So, instead of complaining, I decided to get involved."

She signed up to the party last October and told Premier Ewart Brown she wanted to stand as a candidate.

The Premier is a personal friend of the family — she says she met him and a host of Government ministers after inviting them to events at the RBYC where she was Commodore from 2004-2006.

"I respected them and felt comfortable with them.

"One of my goals when I set out to become Commodore was to make the club more representative of the community, to make people feel welcome.

"I believe in this day and age there really shouldn't be anywhere where people feel they are not able to go in and feel welcome."

She said the Yacht club supported that concept and welcomed the slave ship replica Amistad when it came to Bermuda.

Some have questioned how someone can become a candidate so soon after joining a party when other loyal party workers have been forced out despite years of services.

She said: "I wouldn't say I have been fast-tracked. My husband and I have been involved quietly with the PLP for many years.

"We did the Jones' Village playground at cost when one of their candidates approached us."

Some suspect her speedy elevation smacks of racial tokenism as the PLP seeks to broaden its appeal.

But she said: "Just because I am white isn't the reason I am joining the PLP. I would like to encourage other whites to join the PLP. Only because I think it would be more representative of our community which I believe is basically 60/40 and I would like to eventually see the PLP platform become that. But that is my opinion and my vision."

Former Cabinet Minister Renee Webb has lamented there has been behind-the-scenes resentment about the PLP's new high-flying white recruits because of their race. But Mrs. Correia has yet to experience it.

Indeed she produces a pile of printed emails of support from PLP stalwarts backing her candidacy. And if hostility comes about she will meet it head-on by talking it through with her critics.

Talking things through seems to be another key strand to her philosophy.

She backs the Premier's Big Conversation on race and has been hosting small groups of women to chew over race topics along with PLP campaign chairperson Dawn Simmons.

"Everyone felt extremely comfortable — what we thought would last maybe an hour lasted six hours. So the next session was a barbecue."

Visitors would have marvelled at her sumptuous home which boasts a swimming pool, a tree house and plenty of room for her large dogs to run off excess energy.

But, speaking amid barrage of noise from her chirruping caged birds, she indicates the surroundings are the result of effort rather than privilege. The home has been hugely renovated in the last few years.

"Because my husband's name is Portuguese my mother-in-law had to purchase it in her name — McGregor — in the 1970s."

In the early days the furniture was boxes and crates as the family made do on Mrs. Correia's salary as a paralegal while her husband successfully fought off cancer.

Her husband's background also plays a part in the list of issues she wants to tackle.

"The Portuguese have been marginalised and it is part of my political platform."

She conceded few Portuguese had been drawn to the PLP despite often being overlooked under the previous administration.

"I don't understand why that is and I would hope to encourage them to join."

Asked about the issues that matter to her most she said she is interested in youth and boosting technical education which has been lagging.

"We are losing fine craftsman by not offering what was offered — such as the woodwork class, or the metal shop or the cooking class and sewing class. When I was at school this was all offered in the senior years.

"We don't have enough good tradesmen anymore — we have an excellent programme in the National Training Board but if you could at least start people in their younger years."

But to make a real difference she will need to get elected and she concedes winning it will be an uphill battle to overturn Cole Simons' 400-plus majority in Smith's South.

So far she has been canvassing by phone because she suffers from chronic back pain which has led to a spinal stimulator, complete with battery, being inserted in her body to determine which nerves are causing the trouble.

Recently one of the wires was disconnected and had to be fixed. The pain has eased somewhat but she still shakes during spasms. She is building her strength up in preparation to hit the pavements during the campaign.

But she is used to hard-work, putting in up to 80 hours a week at Correia Construction which is a half-minute walk from her Devonshire home.

She enjoys the tendering process, despite the massive pressure, knowing failure will result in work drying up and eventual layoffs while getting too much work will put a strain on manpower.

The firm has grown from a dozen employees to around 60 in little over a decade making it one of Bermuda's biggest companies. The firm is truly a family affair with her daughter Danielle, 25, employed as a truck driver there.

She might not win her political battle but will be shocked if the PLP lose.

Either way she says she is in it for the long haul and is not just there for Dr. Brown.

"I have a great deal of respect for the Premier — I think he is a man who gets things done. But I have a great deal of respect for other members of the PLP — like Paula Cox.

"I am very excited about it, I have had a lot of support from PLP members."

"I don't just plan to make it a one-off and drop out."