Over and over, Progressive Labour Party spokesmen hammer away at the idea that the One Bermuda Alliance Government cares only about the welfare of non-Bermudians, not Bermudians.

It’s a lie, of course … why a Bermudian Government would turn its back on the very people it was elected by and for is a mystery, a mystery that no Opposition spokesman ever bothers to try to explain, because there is no explanation that isn’t either silly or downright crazy.

In the media’s comments sections, the Opposition claim is increasingly being laughed at as people recognise it is being made for political reasons, not because it is accurate. But there is no doubt that there are people who would believe anything the Opposition tells them, and for them it may be worth going over it all again.

The Opposition would have us believe that anything the Government does to increase Bermuda’s attractiveness to non-Bermudians is a dagger in the back of Bermudians.

Actually, it is the other way around. Making Bermuda unattractive to non-Bermudians was the dagger in our backs. Successive PLP governments treated immigration as a political tool instead of an economic tool. They felt they could win votes by making a show of bullying non-Bermudians, many of whom seemed to have more than we did.

Non-Bermudians left and went elsewhere because of the hostility, and because of the uncertainty that PLP policies caused. And it was their leaving that created the lion’s share of our economic woes.

It caused a kind of chain reaction. Companies packing up and leaving meant people who worked here as fully participating members of the Bermudian economy left and stopped participating. That hit everyone down the chain — landlords, supermarkets, retailers, Government, Belco, BTC, Cablevision — you name it, everyone down the chain felt the impact. Companies packing up and leaving meant Bermudians became unemployed, or underemployed. Their sudden lack of spending power also reverberated through the economy.

The economy reflected those troubles by itself contracting, throwing yet more people out of work.

The PLP’s policies hit everyone, but they especially hit the ten percent of people in the population who were driving our economy. The non-Bermudians who left were job creators. They were people who helped make our economy strong. They brought skills, experience and new business that benefited Bermudians.

Is it wrong to want them back? Is it wrong to try to create conditions attractive enough to get them back? Of course not. It’s what businesses do to win back lost customers. And that’s not just at the top end of the business pecking order, it’s all the way up and down It’s what CEOs and lawyers and plumbers and gardeners do when they are losing customers, they apologise, they use the feedback and promise to improve if given another chance ... just as the Government is doing with potential non-Bermudian businesses, businessmen and investors. And all of us, up and down the scale, high and low, do that because we need the money, we need to be employed. Collectively, we need their presence to get the country running properly again.

Finance Minister ET ‘Bob’ Richards was criticised a few days ago for telling pensioners they were unlikely to see a pension increase in the near future. He was quoted as having said “Money does not grow on trees. Every dollar that you have in your pocket, it all comes from the same place; that is, outside Bermuda …

“Bermuda’s economy is like a family budget. We have to be cautious with our planning.”

To us, that’s a good Finance Minister reacting to an uncomfortable reality. We take comfort from knowing he is not a man who will be throwing the country’s money around like a sailor who just arrived in port with a pocketful of money.

Derrick Burgess, the Opposition’s deputy leader, made this comment: “Based on their record of broken promises and deception, no Bermudian, least of all our seniors, should be surprised at the heartless action taken against Bermudians who built this country and sacrificed so much for the life we all enjoy today. The arrogance and anti-Bermudian attitudes that have become the hallmark of the OBA’s time in office is disappointing but not surprising. OBA actions and policies directed against Bermudians speak for themselves.”

Like that sailor, we suppose, when he woke up with an empty pocket the morning after, Mr Burgess is expressing a kind of regret, and wishing there was some way he could get back what was squandered.

Our democracy requires an opposition that will criticise the Government’s legislative and policy decisions. But their criticism must be constructive, and offer viable alternatives and solutions, rather than simply being political point scoring.