A black Canadian is being kicked off the Island following a row with a Government MP who swore to get his work permit revoked for showing a lack of respect.

Global Construction site manager Curtis Macleod was involved in a row with Warwick North Central MP George Scott on a Hamilton building site.

It is alleged words such as "racist", "ignorant" and "uneducated" were used and Mr. Scott's children also insulted by Mr. Macleod, who denies saying anything about the children.

But despite having the backing of his bosses and colleagues Mr. Macleod has lost a three-month battle to stay in Bermuda and will leave on Monday.

Yesterday Mr. Macleod said: "This was an argument between two men and it is unbelievable that it has got to this point.

"I cannot believe a Government MP, who represents the country, said racist comments.

"This is just one man's vendetta against me and I haven't been given a fair shake with Immigration. They have not listened to me."

However an unrepentant Mr. Scott, who is also the Bermuda Industrial Union chief organiser, said the disrespect shown by Mr. Macleod justified his deportation.

Last night he said: "I am a member of Government. Nowhere else in the world would he be able to get up in the face of an MP. If I was another staff member of his he could have got away with it.

"I said 'let me give you my business card so you can see who you are talking to' but he crossed his arms and did not want to hear anything.

"After he said what he did about my children I said 'you do not know who I am, but I will see you off this Island'.

"It will be an example to anyone who is a guest worker in this country that they better respect what is here, the people and the Government."

It is the second expat to have left the Island suddenly after a dispute involving their conduct towards a Government MP. Australian chef Anthony Reynolds left in December after an alleged comment about putting arsenic in the Premier's food during a lunch at Elbow Beach Hotel.

The saga started when Mr. Scott and Louis Somner, a BIU official, turned up at the construction site, in Church Street, on October 26 last year.

There was a row and Mr. Scott complained to the Department of Immigration who wrote a letter on October 31 to Mr. Macleod's bosses Global Construction. It stated the Minister might revoke all the company's work permits "on the grounds that you have permitted and/or created an environment where your senior managers conduct themselves in an abusive manner which the Minister considers unacceptable".

The letter stated that Mr. Macleod told the MP to get off the construction site saying: "I don't give a f*** who you are. You are uneducated and your children are too."

The letter also stated that when Mr. Scott said he had never seen other managers display open contempt for workers Mr. Macleod replied: "You are a racist."

However in a formal hand-delivered submission dated November 14 to the Department, Global's vice-president Dennis DeSilva backs Mr. Macleod, who denied saying anything about Mr. Scott's children.

Mr. DeSilva's letter stated that Mr. Scott and Mr. Somner appeared on the site and did not identify themselves before talking with workers and asking for a junior mechanic Kennith Smith. He said Mr. Macleod believed they were conducting personal business.

The letter says Mr. Macleod alleged he overheard Mr. Scott say: "This is a white man's company. Is he hiring any black Bermudians? Cos you know how the white man is."

It added that Mr. Macleod found the comments offensive and requested the men take the conversation off the property.

According to the letter, Mr. Scott refused to move and asked Mr. Macleod what he would do about it. Mr. Macleod said he informed the men he was in charge of the site and they did not have permission to be on it.

The letter went on to say Mr. Macleod claimed the second time Mr. Scott was asked to leave he said: "I don't have to move. This is Bermuda and you are a foreigner. You are not Bermudian."

Mr. DeSilva says in the letter that Mr. Macleod requested the men leave a third time and told them they did not know him or his country of origin.

At this point it is alleged that the MP said: "I know who you are. Your name is Curtis and I have heard you talking on Elbow Beach.

"You are not from here and you don't know what it is like to be a black man. You are a black man with a white man's heart."

The letter adds: "It was only at this point that Mr. Macleod responded in a defensive and frustrated manner, but at no time did he make any comments regarding anyone's children and their lack of education.''

However in a separate submission, Mr. Macleod does admit that during the argument he said: "Listen you racist, uneducated, ignorant a**hole this was a diplomatic conversation asking for you to leave my site and since you could not say anything educated you had to turn it into a racist thing, you ignorant racist.

"Now get the f*** off my site before I remove you."

The letter was signed by Mr. DeSilva, Mr. Macleod and two Bermudian construction workers, including Kennith Smith, who witnessed the incident.

On December 28 Global Construction was informed that Immigration Minister Derrick Burgess had decided to revoke Mr. Macleod's permit and he was to leave the Island by February 1. An appeal was filed on January 4.

In the appeal law firm Wakefield Quin, on behalf of Global Construction, argued that Mr. Scott was on the site for private, not official business, had failed to identify himself and that Mr. Macleod was provoked with racial language and offered his apology for losing his cool.

They argued that the Minister appeared not to have taken these points into account and said Mr. Macleod had also been reprimanded for losing his cool.

However this week the appeal was turned down.

Yesterday, Mr. Macleod said he had no idea who he was speaking to when the two men arrived on his site and that he was amazed a Government MP acted in a such a manner.

He said: "I don't know who he is, I couldn't even pick him out in a crowd today. All I knew was that two men who failed to identify themselves came onto the property I was running and made derogatory comments.

"Global has been very good to me and 75 percent of its employees are black Bermudians. I found his comments offensive and told him to take it off the site.

"Then he made it personal and I responded because I was angered by his comments."

However last night Mr. Scott said he was following up on complaints to the BIU about Mr. Macleod's behaviour towards Bermudian workers.

Mr. Scott denied saying "This is a white man's company. Is he hiring any black Bermudians? Cos you know how the white man is" but said the statement may have been said by someone else in the group of people he was speaking with.

Mr. Scott also denied saying "this is Bermuda and you are a foreigner. You are not Bermudian", but he admitted he did refuse to move because he was standing on a public sidewalk.

He said he never made the racially charged comments but did inform Mr. Macleod that he knew who he was. He also said he told Mr. Macleod that he had never seen white, foreign site managers treat Bermudian workers with such blatant contempt.

Mr. Scott said Mr. Macleod acted in an unprofessional and hostile manner throughout their discussion and did not give him any chance to identify himself as a member of Government or union representative. He said: "He approached us first in an unprofessional manner. I tried to give him my card but he crossed his arms and acted like a spoilt child.

"The way he acted towards us backed up claims we have received since the summer that he was a tyrant and had fired many young Bermudian workers."

Global Construction vice-president, Dennis DeSilva, said the whole incident was unfortunate and that he fully supported Mr. Macleod, but had to abide by the rules of Immigration.

He added that the company had gone out of its way to seek out black site managers because it appeared to be what the Government wanted and the company has never had an issue with Immigration.

Mr. Macleod was part of a two-year plan, his work permit was set to run until 2008, but the company would now have to reconsider its plans.

He said: "We are a Bermudian company and have been in business for 13 years. We have actually just finished a project with the Government on the recycling plant. The majority of our workers are Bermudian."

Immigration officials did not respond to a request for a response to Mr. Macleod's claim that he was not given a fair hearing.