Reply to Throne Speech: it’s time for an election
Promises broken by the Progressive Labour Party Government and a need to prioritise taking care of residents mean it is time for an election, the Leader of the Opposition insisted.
Jarion Richardson delivered his Reply to the Throne Speech in the House of Assembly, where MPs heard that a One Bermuda Alliance administration would “do the things that people expect” its elected officials to do well.
It came a week after Rena Lalgie, the Governor, outlined the Government’s legislative agenda at the convening of Parliament.
Mr Richardson claimed: “This year’s Throne Speech overcomplicates, misdirects and does not fix the actual cause of our problems.
“The Premier likes to say, ‘Promises made, promises kept’.
“Take a quick look around at our families, our jobs, our pay, our buildings, our roads, our communities and everywhere else.
“They tell us that those promises were broken.
“It’s time for an election. The One Bermuda Alliance can fix this.”
He said: “For years, the Government reduced the budget for maintaining and upgrading the roads. For years, the budget and manpower for those who police the roads shrank.
“The less money and time we invested in these issues, the faster they deteriorated.
“The buildings that have trees jutting out of them started as buildings that needed only ‘a lick of paint’.
“Roads that now feel like a ride at Coney Island started as cracks and chips in the asphalt … or were perfectly fine until ripped up and slapped back with neither care nor diligence.
“What started as a few patches of grass have become overgrown sidewalks, forcing walkers to share the road with cars and bikes racing by.
“The absent roads policing started as a few vacancies in the police service.
“All this is now a disaster.”
Mr Richardson’s reply, titled Securing Bermuda’s Future, touched on education reform, healthcare, immigration and government transparency, among other topics.
He claimed that last week’s Throne Speech could be split into four themes: rehashing old promises, taking the ideas of others, ideas “so bad” that they must be politically motivated, and “a lot of things just missing”.
The Opposition leader said that an OBA government would provide social services to free people from gang lifestyles, and prioritise community and roads policing.
Mr Richardson told the House: “It’s mind-boggling to think we are going to expand the signature school experiment when the Bermuda Union of Teachers is warning us of an impending disaster.
“This experiment has effectively shifted millions of taxpayers’ dollars from social services into consultants’ pockets. And, distressingly, the proponents of this experiment have failed to realise our kids are not lab rats.
“Give the school leaders the authority and resources to run schools. Let teachers teach.”
He said: “Universal healthcare is a pipe dream until we have enough of a population to spread healthcare costs. The $125 million needed to pay for this is being used in interest payments on the burgeoning debt every single year.
“The hospital is treating patients in corridors and, very distressing for a First World international business jurisdiction, we ran out of key medical doctors in the field of oncology.
“As we hand out more and more health benefits, we don’t seem to mention who will pay for them.
“We need to address the hospital funding model while reducing the cost of healthcare through targeting excessive charges.”
Mr Richardson told MPs it was “galling“ to see the Government “playing games with St David’s”.
He added: “After multiple government Members of Parliament permitted dumping medical waste there without consulting the community as well as standing by while St David’s fought back against the closing of an historic school in the community, this Government has promised a ‘St David’s Plan’.
“This seems awfully convenient as it takes place after the OBA candidate for St David’s, Maurice Foley, with no government assistance or official position, launched multiple projects to reinforce his community and start the long road to acknowledging St David’s as a full, proper historical treasure unique in all of Bermuda.
“The ‘St David’s Plan’ was started the day when a community organisation stood up against being abused again.
“The OBA will finish that fight by giving St David’s its own parish and ascertain how the organisation can better manage its own land.”
In his Reply to the Throne Speech, Jarion Richardson, the Opposition leader, noted that the Government said the cyberattack of September 2023 had “driven a number of actions”.
He added: “Yet it is entirely unwilling to share the report into the incident with Parliament, and the joint select committee has not been given the chance to undertake the work assigned to it by this honourable House.
“The Government has not informed Bermudians and residents what, if anything, was stolen, to what extent nor what we can do to protect ourselves.
“The Government is clearly executing its own agenda without public scrutiny whatsoever.”
Mr Richardson said: “If the One Bermuda Alliance was to act before the JCS could finish its work, we would publish the necessary reports that influence those decisions.
“Only where demonstrably necessary, would we redact portions of those reports.
“That information is the natural property of the public.”
Mr Richardson said later: “The OBA would launch a comprehensive open data portal where government financial records, meeting minutes and performance reports are publicly accessible.
“This will reduce the amount of information which is accessible only via Public Access to Information requests.“
The Government’s Throne Speech said that legislation would be introduced to eliminate the employer’s portion of payroll tax for Bermudians aged over 65 who continued to work.
Mr Richardson replied: “Easing seniors’ ability to work is a powerful pivot from the sad underlying fact that seniors have to work in Bermuda.
“Despite the multiple accolades the Government gives itself for astute financial stewardship and economic management, the fact that seniors must work to sustain themselves is an indictment on itself.
“They must work because they must pay for food. They must work to pay for their healthcare. They must work to secure their housing.
“In other countries, pensions pay for these expenses.
“Pivoting away from this fact is further proof this Government is aware of its failed obligations to the seniors of Bermuda.
“The OBA would expand social programmes to reduce the need to work, while seriously addressing the key drivers increasing the cost of living, for seniors especially.
“We will also enable our older citizens to live independently with easier access to health and social services in their communities.
“Our seniors can’t wait four more years. We definitely need an election.”
He told the House: “This government continues to say we have an ageing demographic, and we need more people, while doing everything it can to reduce the amount of non-born Bermudians.
“At some point, the Government must concede that Bermudians can be made by paper as well as by birth — and until they make that turn, all Bermudians will suffer as our population dwindles under the weight of our increasing financial obligations.
“The OBA would restart immigration consultation, aimed at identifying and eliminating the risks that immigration poses to born Bermudians.
“This especially includes significantly increasing the quality of education to prepare students for the best jobs in trade and services in Bermuda.”
Mr Richardson said: “The OBA will collaborate with healthcare professionals and payers to deliver efficient and effective care with streamlined administrative processes to produce favourable health outcomes, including targeting a reduction in chronic illness.
“But our first priority will be to axe the sugar tax. Shortly after that, you can expect us to axe the Airbnb tax.”
He added: “We will encourage youth employment by cutting payroll tax for businesses that hire young Bermudians."
Mr Richardson said that lack of reference in the Throne Speech to cannabis reform or seeking full membership of Caricom prompts the question whether the Government "ever considered these matters as important“.
He added: “Undoubtedly the question will be raised, what would the OBA do differently?
“Put simply, the OBA would take care of its responsibilities to the public first, before trying to intervene in the private lives of the public.
“Pave the roads, make sure the single asphalt plant and incinerator always works, balance the financials, pick up the trash — do the things that people expect government to do well.”
Mr Richardson concluded: “Bermuda is locked in a storm of this government’s making.
“There is no more meat on the bones of this government. It is now a square peg trying to get into a round hole.
“We can end this storm and like every hurricane in our history, we can come together and fix what is broken.
“The way to fix it is an election.”
• To read the Throne Speech reply in full, see Related Media
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