If the Government had not called its long-awaited election a few days ago, the House of Assembly would have met last week on Friday.

Many members of the public will know that formally asking questions in the House of Assembly, whose rules stipulate that truthful answers must be given, is the only way to get the Government to come clean on some of its actions and policies.

The United Bermuda Party, therefore, would have spent some time during that meeting-that-wasn't, tabling questions designed to clear up some of the mysteries that swirl around the PLP Government.

We believe the public would like to know what questions we had in mind, since the PLP's performance is something Bermudians will consider when they go to the polls.

This is not a comprehensive list, but it will give an idea of just what our Shadow Ministers would have asked on the public's behalf.

Government travel

How much have the Premier and his Ministers spent on travel since the last time we got them to report to the public?

They spent well over a quarter of a million dollars in travel in less than a year. Of that quarter million, about two thirds was spent by the Premier on his own travel expenses.

It will be especially interesting to find out how much that trip to China cost us, including the cost of the dinner the Premier held for hundreds in the Great Hall. How many helpers and advisers did he take with him and what were their costs?

Bermuda Housing Corporation

We would have asked many questions about the Bermuda Housing Corporation scandal. For example, how much the Premier has spent in his legal battle to stop people from knowing what went on?

We recall that Mr. Ratneser, the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions at the time, suggested that some of the money that was allegedly misspent, and/or misappropriated, might be recovered through the civil courts. Col. Burch said he was going to do just that, but then we heard no more. Has the Government dropped that plan and, if so, was it influenced by the number of its own officials who might possibly have been involved.

Have the Police ever found the files they misplaced? Someone must have been in charge of them. Will disciplinary action be taken against those on whose watch they disappeared? At the very least, will the Police take steps to improve its care of sensitive material?

Where are those cedar beams? We remember the then-Minister of Works saying he had them stored in a safe place, but then we heard no more about them. They certainly did not go back into the Post Office, so where are they? Will the Ministry of Works take steps to retrieve these items belonging to Bermuda taxpayers?

The Berkeley Institute

The scandal concerning the construction of the new Berkeley Institute has disappeared from our television screens and the front pages of our newspapers, but we know it is occupying much official attention behind the scenes. We believe the project exceeded its initial estimate by at least $60 million — effectively doubling the cost from $71.2 million to well over $130 million. We believe the PLP Government must announce what the figure is — the true cost to the public purse of its mismanagement. We also believe the Government should tell the public how much extra it will have to spend on paying off Pro-Active Management for breaking its contract. The public should be told the cost of the arbitration, which has gone on for many months, now. And we believe the Government must fully account for that $700,000 bond payment made in connection with the Berkeley project.

Tourism

We believe the public would like to hear what success the Government can report with the recent Music Festival. How much money was spent putting that event on, and how many tourists did it attract to offset that cost?

We think the public is pretty sceptical, as are we, about the true purpose of Government giving money to Premier Brown's campaign manager to run a faith-based tourism campaign. How much money has been allocated by the Government for faith-based initiatives? How was it spent? Exactly how many tourists have come to Bermuda because of it?

And while we're on the subject of tourism, we think the public ought to be told just who is really in charge of the New York tourism office. Why have so many capable Bermudian tourism professionals left, apparently in frustration, over the last few years?

When you remove the number of business travellers to Bermuda, what is the total amount per head that the Department of Tourism is spending to attract resort visitors to Bermuda?

Consultants

How many consultants has the Government brought to Bermuda during the last year, and what have they done for us? We understand the Government's consultancy bill this year is going to be about $70 million dollars. It was $66.25 million last year, and not far off that the year before. The Government estimated initially that they were going to be able to build the new Berkeley senior secondary school for $71.2 million dollars, so you could say that we have spent roughly as much on consultants every year as it would cost for a brand new school to have been built from scratch, if the project were managed properly. Are we getting value for money? Are these consultants worth as much to the Bermuda community as a few new schools would be? We doubt it.

How much has been spent so far by Government and the KEMH Board on consultants such as Kurron, Cannon Design, Johns Hopkins and others, without any apparent progress in improving the quality of care, access to care and cost of care at the hospital?

International Monetary Fund

Why did the Government wait four years after the International Monetary Fund's original Bermuda Review in 2003 to start to address the organisation's recommendations, resulting in a "less than satisfactory" performance rating given to Bermuda after the IMF's recent visit? Does the Government not agree that a rating that puts Bermuda below Panama and Vanuatu in the IMF's overall jurisdictional rankings will severely jeopardise our competitive position and our hard-won international reputation?

Training and Bermuda College

When will Government sort out the ongoing conflict between the Bermuda College and the National Training Board, regarding the quality of technical training and facilities at Bermuda College, which is severely affecting the credibility and standard of technical training available to young Bermudians?

Education

How many hundreds of thousands of dollars did the Ministry of Education spend on their proposed gifted and talented youth programme in 2006 and 2007 on hiring teachers, consultancy fees and facilities costs before the programne was suddenly cancelled in March 2007, without benefiting even a single student?