Bermuda is suffering its most difficult economic period in at least half a century, according to Opposition Senate Leader Michael Dunkley.The One Bermuda Alliance politician, 53, told the Upper Chamber during a debate on poverty on Wednesday that he had not seen anything like it in his lifetime. “I think the poverty situation in Bermuda is as great as I ever remember it being,” he said.Sen Dunkley said the Island had a growing number of people on the breadline, as well as an increase in the number of “near-poor” people.“Bermuda has always had a strong middle class,” he said. “I think that that middle class is definitely taking it on the chin and certainly it’s something that we should definitely pay attention to as well. “I think the problem is bigger than we can identify, simply because we don’t have any accurate numbers to measure it with.”The Shadow National Security Minister stressed the importance of having an accurate jobless rate and praised Economy Minister Kim Wilson for setting up an unemployment register. But he said: “I think we need to take that a stage further. I think it’s long past time that we had a department in Government that has as its responsibility to track unemployment.”He suggested the Department of Labour and Training be tasked with the job.Earlier, Junior National Security Minister Jonathan Smith cited some examples of how Bermuda’s poor were being helped back on their feet.He told of a 40-year-old black male who requested financial assistance after being laid off last year. “He got over $6,000 in assistance,” said Sen Smith. “He was counselled, helped and advised on how to fill out job applications. By March he was working full-time.”The Progressive Labour Party politician said a 26-year-old female teacher was given similar help after losing her job and now had three job offers in schools for September. Another woman, a single mother aged 46, approached the Department of Financial Assistance with debts of more than $10,000.Sen Smith said the Department helped her get assistance from other areas within Government and spoke with her landlord, who lowered the rent to ensure she and her children kept a roof over their heads. He said the PLP needed no introduction to the issue of poverty and had campaigned for those in need of social and economic equality since 1963. OBA Deputy Leader Craig Cannonier voiced concern that the motion tabled by his party colleague Kathy Michelmore had become political.Sen Michelmore’s motion asked that the Upper Chamber “take note of an increasing problem of poverty in Bermuda and the need for solutions to reduce the impact of poverty on our community”.Sen Cannonier said: “The intent of this motion to the table was to sit and have open discussion and to be able to put back and forth solutions around the table; to discuss what real solutions we can implement in addition to what’s already being done.”He said anyone listening to the debate would probably have already walked away, due to the “incredible amount of time” spent talking about statistics and the past. “I did not hear from the opening statement anywhere at all as to whether this was a PLP or an OBA problem,” he said. “This is a Bermuda problem. This is an issue that we need to face up to.”Independent Senator Joan Dillas-Wright referred to the recent locally produced film ‘Poverty in Paradise’, noting that no white people and no men were interviewed.“The film did touch me in so far as there were these women having great difficulty in working and being able to survive in Bermuda,” she said. “We understand from them that they were being helped by the various agencies.”She lamented the number of people not helping themselves by buying unhealthy junk food, adding: “We need to educate our people about how they need to feed themselves.”PLP Senator Cromwell Shakir said the current economic crisis could give Bermuda opportunity for renewed growth, arguing: “The best way to help people is to help them find work and stay employed.”