Part II observation: it maintains (Section 3. Appendix 1. page 15) that: "The Hospitality Industry has been de-Bermudianised to some extent between 1982 and 1991''. This observation is borne out by the number of complaints our Shadow Ministry continues to receive from Bermudians working in our hotels and restaurants.

Further, the Immigration and Protection Act mandates the protection of Bermudians -- in the workplace. Clearly, this is not happening in every "walk of life'' and job description. Consequently, Bermudians have become increasingly concerned about the security of their job and their ability to enjoy upward mobility in their chosen profession without having their career prospects curtailed by an insensitive employer or a "glass-ceiling'' -- or both! The daily complaints our Shadow Ministry receives from butlers, executive secretaries, hotel employers, tradesmen, Government employees, Policemen omen and the clergy, detailing how the Minister and the Ministry of Immigration and Labour have failed to provide each of these cases with both protection and representation will cause the PLP in this session to put down a motion for debate that will bring this unacceptable state of affairs to the attention of Parliament -- for a remedy.

Further, in this session, the PLP will: Move to limit categories that are open to non-Bermudian work permit holders, and in which there are still qualified, unemployed Bermudians available; Monitor and require that work permits and the duration of these permits be directly linked to Bermudian trainee and understudy programmes where appropriate; Mandate that the number of work permit renewals will be further imited; Continue to recommend that Government train and increase the number of immigration inspectors in the Immigration Department -- to ensure that work permit regulations iolations can be professionally investigated, prosecuted and reduced; Continue to campaign to have Government investigate the implementation of a system of "permanent residency'', not linked to any form of Bermudian status or voting rights, that will provide security of tenure to long-term residents in Bermuda who have made an important contribution to our country and economy; Take parliamentary steps to ensure that Government revamp the Government Employment Office, instilling in it a more pro-active role in reaching out to the community and facilitating the job placement of unemployed Bermudians; Cause Government to review the terms of reference of the Labour Advisory Council to facilitate: (a) The convening of more frequent meetings of the Council as an effective means of anticipating and eliminating problems affecting Labour Relations.

(b) Promoting the Council's role as an advisory body to the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs.

TOURISM Mr. Speaker, certainly the restoration of the Tourism industry to its former position is of paramount importance to the success of the other programmes proposed by Government. The Throne Speech promises to "provide additional incentives for the hospitality industry to refurbish their physical plants and revitalise the industry''.

Mr. Speaker, the Government continues to pay lip service to the real needs in tourism. In our Budget Reply earlier this year our Shadow Minister of Tourism, Mr. David Allen, set out the following steps that must be taken if we are to seriously improve our performance in this important sector of our community:- 1. Pay more attention to developing the Continental European tourism market; 2. Revamp a staid and stuffy advertising campaign; 3. Ensure that the tourism advertising budget keeps abreast of inflation so that we do not lose advertising buying power at a time of increased challenges and more aggressive media campaigns by our prime competitors; 4. Market more aggressively adventure sports activities, such as SCUBA-diving, deep-sea fishing, parasailing, for example; 5. Concentrate more on developing key target audiences and further promote ecological tourism and the cultural attributes of Bermuda and Bermudians; 6. Increase the number and variety of activities, particularly those that are entertainment oriented, in the winter and shoulder seasons; 7. Encourage the enhancement of entertainment opportunities in our hotels, utilising Bermudian entertainers in particular; 8. Assist Bermuda small properties in promoting themselves more effectively, and becoming more economically viable; 9. Put more muscle behind Government's involvement in the marketing of convention and incentive and travel business; 10. Develop a programme of joint venture air charters to develop new gateways; 11. Provide tax incentives to encourage the lengthening of the cruise ship season during the shoulder periods, and further scale taxes and fees which affect the tourism industry overall to greater reflect the seasonal nature of the industry, and We must do all of this and more if we intend to rebuild our industry. The spectacle of Club Med's continued closure is not only an embarrassment to Bermuda but economic folly. Time has long since passed that we should hasten to bring this matter to a conclusion for the benefit of Bermuda.

FINANCE International business, while providing a stabilising influence on our economy and foreign exchange earnings must provide more employment opportunities for Bermudians. But Government and the private sector must step up education and training programmes which will guarantee upward mobility for Bermudians in this important sector of our economy.

In most economies it is small business that provides an important pool of jobs. Bermuda is no different. The recession has caused the failure of many small businesses. The PLP pleaded with Government to provide some relief to small business to save jobs. We recommended hospital levy and employment tax relief as one measure of help. We were ignored. In our last Reply to the Throne Speech we called for a restructuring of the Small Business Development Corporation to make it more responsive to small business.

Now that businesses have failed and jobs have been lost forever, the Government is promising "a review of the Small Business Development Corporation Act and its policies''.

There is no indication of how they plan to review the Act or the policies.

Again we are presented with vague promises -- too little -- too late.

Mr. Speaker, even the Public Works new policy of open tendering on construction, building maintenance and painting contracts is having an adverse impact on small businesses. It may save Government money, but it has opened a door to permit large contractors to secure small contracts which previously went to small contractors.

Another result is larger contractors secure the contracts and then sub-contract to small businesses. These small businesses hire their workers and pay the Government taxes while the large contractors cream off the top.

Mr. Speaker, Government must examine their tendering procedures to ensure the small contractors get work and are able to do larger and larger contracts through the growth of their businesses and the help of the Small Business Development Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, the Speech promises that "Government will give top priority to improving the standard of living for all Bermudians''. For the first time in seven years the elderly did not get an increase in their pensions. Government obviously believes that we have reached a proper level. The Progressive Labour Party is convinced that we must continue to increase the pensions for the elderly. The Minister has promised a review of costs to see if we can afford a cost of living increase.

The Government has promised a Green Paper on Pensions. The policy discussions from this paper will not provide any immediate assistance to persons who have already retired or who are ready to retire.

Mr. Speaker, the quality of life of our senior citizens can only be maintained and enhanced if we provide increased pensions, better health care programmes, cheap efficient transportation and inexpensive housing at home and in nursing homes.

The promises here, Mr. Speaker, are vague and lack real commitment.

YOUTH, SPORT & RECREATION Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier the greatest failure of this Government has been to our young people. We have failed to provide adequate recreation, sports, culture and artistic programmes. Perhaps the most visible evidence of the Government's indifference is the development of sports facilities, in particular the National Stadium.

The lack of a comprehensive sports and recreation partnership between Government and the workmen's clubs is another clear example of the low esteem that we give to our young people.

Mr. Speaker, certainly we must provide more wholesome activities for our young people than drinking in night clubs.

We do have a very talented population of young people. We must do our part to make sure that we provide activity which nurtures and develops this talent whether it be in sports or culture or the arts and music or dance and the theatre. We must provide "opportunity for all the talent''.

TAXATION Mr. Speaker, we are aware that every programme costs money. For the past few years we have recommended that a review of our tax structure be undertaken to see how we could raise additional taxes while at the same time making our system more equitable.

The variety of programmes essential to the community's well being, the Base closure, the rebuilding of our tourism and the restructuring of our education system all will require a massive infusion of capital.

Already the Minister of Finance is talking higher taxes to fund their projects. If Government had followed our advice and commissioned an entire review of the tax system we would be in a better position to face the unexpected increased expenditure.

We have heard much talk about the expenditure side of the base closure but there is a lack of information on the revenue side of the base closure.

Mr. Speaker, certainly there are revenues from the airlines using the airport and other charges which will provide revenue. Further, the base lands when leased or sold will provide additional revenues and land tax to the Government coffers.

RACE RELATIONS Mr. Speaker, Government is hopeful that we might achieve an even more significant degree of racial equality and harmony. The initiatives enunciated in the White Paper and the proposed legislation are steps in the right direction. However they are small steps when we consider the extent to which race is a factor in the lives of Bermudians. We are not convinced that any real impact will be made in the elimination of racism in Bermuda until we deal effectively with the distribution of the wealth of the Country.

Mr. Speaker, even though a year has passed since the discussion of the "glass ceiling'' commenced, there have been no dramatic changes in employment practices. The large institutions have not even been concerned to the point of making a few token promotions. Almost total indifference prevails and it is business as usual. Recently, an exempted company announced more than half a dozen promotions. There was not one black face among them.

Mr. Speaker, many companies are paying lip service to ending racial discrimination but most have not implemented any serious programmes to counteract years of discrimination based on race. Blacks will not be treated as equals in the workplace unless there is a concerted effort on the part of Government to ensure that anti-racism programmes are put in place.

While we in the PLP support the formation of the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE) to promote equality of opportunity and work towards the elimination of all forms of institutional racism, we question how effective this new Commission will be, given the fact that it does not have the power of enforcement separate and apart from the Human Rights Commission.

The problem of equal access to opportunity by blacks is both systemic and structural. Both the racist system and the structure within organisations must change if blacks, women and others who are being discriminated against are ever going to achieve access to equal opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, we have seen the large corporations consolidate their holdings through mergers, acquisitions and takeovers. Instead of the wealth being more widely distributed it is becoming concentrated in fewer and fewer hands despite the public posture of some of those companies. The board of directors interlock and the same faces show up as major shareholders and officers of these companies.

The UBP Government applauds this development, in fact the Premier said recently that it is not his fault that his Party members and supporters have the money and took advantage of the opportunity. There is nothing he can do to change that.

Mr. Speaker, while the Premier may not have the power to spread around the opportunity and money, the people of Bermuda can. We trust that at the next opportunity they get they will demonstrate to the Premier and his colleagues that Bermuda belongs to all of us -- not just his business friends.

WOMEN'S RIGHTS Mr. Speaker, the Speech promises to undertake "a comprehensive review of issues of concern to women''. We support any steps which may be taken to bring equality to women in every aspect of our community life.

At our Annual Delegates Conference the PLP Parliamentarians were charged with the responsibility to investigate the feasibility of establishing day care facilities for the workers at their place of employment. It was noted that hotel workers in particular had problems of securing day care, especially on weekends. It was noted that Government and other large employers could assist in this area. It was felt that such facilities would provide better supervision for the children and would put parents at ease regarding the well being of their children. The delegates expected that the employees would pay for this service.

Mr. Speaker, we know that we must find a way to decrease the violence in the community. It seems that there is a growing tendency to resort to violence to settle disputes. This phenomenon is not limited to young people. The state, parents, the school and the institutions seem anxious to reintroduce violence as a form of punishment. Some, including the Premier, has gone so far as to reintroduce the cat-of-nine-tails.

Mr. Speaker, the community has to make up its mind whether violence is to be the means of resolving disputes, or whether we are going to treat each other as human beings and try to rid our society of all violence no matter what form it takes.

POLICE INTERVENTION In order to stem the flow of violence in the community we have called for a greater Police presence through the better deployment of Police officers and the re-establishment of the role of the Parish Constable. To date the Parish Constable has been re-established in the community. The deployment of Police officers from clerical and administrative work to community Police is yet to be achieved even though a year has passed since Government promised to look into the proposal.

Mr. Speaker, it is still our stated intention to Bermudianise our Police service. Such a policy will go a long way towards improving Police PLP's answer to crime effectiveness.

Greater support for the Police in the area of drug interdiction is imperative.

At the same time we must step up the work of the National Drug Commission so that education, rehabilitation and other demand side activities are strengthened so that we reduce the demand for drugs in Bermuda.

Earlier we called for a Royal Commission on Crime, such a commission would look into the impact of pornography and violence on the TV in the Bermuda community.

Mr. Speaker, while we attend to the problems discussed above we need to proceed with the basic tasks of taking care of the every day needs. The problems associated with transportation, public works and the environment continue. This Throne Speech only makes a passing reference to these areas.

The problems associated with the motor car, parking in the City of Hamilton, the need for an integrated ferry and bus system are left unattended.

Even though a report has been prepared on the taxi industry and transport for the handicapped, these two areas have been relegated to low priority.

The resolution of the Catchment Hill dispute is still on the sideline.

Bermudians wait for Government proposals.

Mr. Speaker, Government has promised 15 new pieces of legislation and four discussion papers. We have come not to expect much in the actual presentation of the listed legislation. We can only wait and see how much the Government achieves.

Mr. Speaker, we are at the crossroads as I said earlier. Instead of this Throne Speech setting a clear path and proposing carefully thoughtout plans to deal with the major problems facing the community, the Speech is a knee jerk reaction with piecemeal solutions. On an important issue like independence there is no leadership. e base closure policy lumbers on without impact or participation of the people of Bermuda. The reaction to increased crime is harsher penalties. Education reform remains a UBP secret. Our youth are left to raise themselves and some have chosen gangs and the rule of the gun.

Mr. Speaker, our country deserves better. We intend to do our job to push and prod the Government in the right direction while we prepare ourselves for the next election when we intend to form the Government.

Opposition Leader Mr. Frederick Wade Mr. Alex Scott