shot over Government plans to tighten racial discrimination legislation.

And although the Smith's North MP said he believed both parties were "singing from the same hymn sheet'', he warned that the get tough laws could eventually prove "very dangerous''.

Mr. Marshall spoke out after Government revealed that the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality will soon have the power to force companies to abide by its code of practice.

The legislation, to be passed in the House of Assembly later this session, will enable the Commission to make recommendations to companies it feels are failing to recruit from racial minorities. Companies which do not comply with the Commission's rulings will face heavy fines.

Last night Mr. Marshall claimed that the new laws could frighten off overseas companies and would also prove impracticable.

"The UBP is the party that created CURE and so from our perspective the principle of equal opportunity in the workforce is one that we agree with,'' he said. "From that issue there's not much difference and we're glad to see Government moving along the same lines.

"But the principle issue is how we get there, to reach the same objective.

"What is interesting here is that the objective of the Government is to see the workforce reflects the racial demographics in Bermuda.

"You have to ask the question, is that a realistic objective within the confines of the Bermuda job market? It is something that we should strive for, but is it realistic? "For example, Bermuda has a substantial amount of private, family-owned businesses, both black and white. Is it realistic to expect all those businesses to be required to achieve that objective? Is it fair to say that you must have a racial mix-up at all levels? "It brings the question back to quotas. I think they say that that's not an issue but how can you achieve that ultimate goal without quotas -- it seems contradictory.

"We believe in equal opportunity and anyone who feels they have been victimised has an opportunity for recourse. That's important but already there is legislation in place to take those steps.

"To have an agency that's going to be wielding a hammer to ensure that racial demographics are enforced in the working environment could be very dangerous.

It's a question of over legislation.

"It's important that we understand that CURE was going out to educate. I think it would be very important to find out how that education process is going on. Has it been successful? Let's get updated on that. Let's look at the employment statistics and see where we are today.

"CURE has been going out on education drives but has it been educating itself to the needs of the employer? There has been a massive increase in job opportunities and one has to look at the statistics to see if there's been an improvement.'' Mr. Marshall added Government was tackling the problem of racial misrepresentation from the wrong direction. He said there were no quick fixes to the problem, but that significant inroads had been made during the United Bermuda Party Government's tenure in ensuring that all racial groups had equal opportunities in the workplace.

"Bermuda needs to aspire to world standards and in that regard perhaps there are other policies that CURE can be involved with in insuring that opportunities are given to all people of all races by ensuring that other areas of Government are applying the resources to insure that Bermudians are qualified and educated,'' he said.

"If you don't get applications from a certain group you can't be expected to hire someone because of their colour if they don't fulfil the requirements of the job?''