Fahy returns to politics in first bid to become MP
A former immigration minister who proved a lightning rod for controversy during the One Bermuda Alliance administration has been announced as an OBA candidate in the General Election.
Michael Fahy is to contest Pembroke South West (Constituency 20) on February 18, when he will be pitted against Iesha Musson of the Progressive Labour Party and the independent candidate Vic Ball, formerly of the OBA.
Mr Fahy and Jarion Richardson, the Leader of the Opposition, were candid about his political baggage from the outset, with Mr Richardson saying the roll-out would “resonate across the island”.
“We know it will be controversial,” he said.
“We know that conversations will start and that attacks will follow. But the truth of the matter is that perception is not always reality.”
Mr Richardson emphasised Mr Fahy’s integrity and political experience, saying he “truly wants what’s best for our entire community”.
Mr Fahy said that some might see his candidacy as “strange”, particularly with his “inevitable” links to the OBA’s efforts on immigration reform.
He referenced the party’s “unenviable position” after its 2012 election win, with the need to retain money on the island and “keep money and people from leaving”.
His candidacy was sure to antagonise the PLP, which has insisted that the OBA intends to open the “immigration floodgates” if returned to government on February 18.
Mr Fahy as an OBA home affairs minister was the face of the Pathways to Status immigration proposals that drew immediate condemnation from the PLP in Opposition — leading to mass demonstrations in 2016 that blockaded the House of Assembly, causing the legislation to be shelved.
The PLP demanded his resignation in the aftermath.
Mr Fahy said “immigration floodgates” was a phrase repeated by the PLP as a “scare tactic” and to “undermine progress”.
He said the reforms had been aimed at preventing emigration and “keeping capital and money on the island, increase the tax base and our pension pool”.
Mr Fahy pointed out that offering permanent resident certificates to people who had spent 15 years on the island, and status to those who resided here 20 or more years, was “hardly ‘opening the floodgates’ when the very people that would have applied were already here”.
He added: “Since then, the current government has in fact made similar announcements about the state of our economy, and the need for 8,000 or so new people to come to our shores.”
Mr Fahy admitted that the OBA, “a party I helped to found, has done a poor job in trying to explain what we were doing”.
He said some who had protested the reforms had admitted they had been mistaken, and that he had learnt from experience since.
The PLP also repeatedly attacked Mr Fahy for dropping term limits on work permits in 2013 shortly after the OBA took power.
Mr Fahy, who skipped consultation and eliminated the policy imposed under the PLP, was unrepentant at the time in the face of criticism — dismissing the term limits as “a job killer for Bermuda” and insisting he would “not back down” on OBA pledges.
Yesterday, he maintained his view on the policy as harmful to the island’s economy.
Six-year term limits for work permits date back to 2001 under the Progressive Labour Party government.
The policy came with exceptions, including the chance of a three-year extension, or breaks for employees seen as key — but it was always contentious with employers.
In 2006, hundreds of expatriate workers on the island for six years faced having to leave in 2007 when the first batch of deadlines approached.
In 2008, with the advent of the Great Recession in Bermuda, term limits came under increasing criticism from business groups, and the Government contemplated a ten-year work permit for international business staff.
Michael Fahy was a founding member of the Bermuda Democratic Alliance in 2010 when he openly clashed with Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch, then the immigration minister, over the policy.
As home affairs minister, Mr Fahy generated outcry from the PLP when he dropped term limits in 2013.
Although the PLP regained the Government in 2017, the policy was never reinstated.
Asked to comment, Mr Fahy said: “They have not, because it was a job killer, and the Government of the day knows that, if we really want to delve into it.
“They knew that coming into the 2012 election. I saw enough things to suggest that they were well aware.”
Mr Fahy acknowledged that “at the time, I wish I had said more, but that’s the nature of things”.
He added: “The fact is that term limits did not come back because it was wrong then and it’s wrong now.
“That’s it, and we have to accept that.”
David Burt as Opposition leader branded him “Mr Unaccountable” in a lengthy attack on Mr Fahy in the House of Assembly in 2015, telling MPs that “he does what he likes” with the party’s tacit endorsement.
Mr Fahy’s return closes a more than seven-year hiatus since he quit politics in 2017 after the OBA’s defeat in the General Election that returned the PLP to power.
On that occasion, Mr Fahy conceded that the party had faltered in communicating its message in the face of “overwhelming negativity” and “misinformation”.
He told The Royal Gazette: “The picture painted by the Opposition of me being this anti-Bermudian foreigner was desperately unfair and completely inaccurate.”
Mr Fahy’s announcement as a candidate places him in a constituency viewed as a stronghold for the party, and marks his first run for a seat in the House of Assembly.
Pembroke South West was held by former OBA MP Susan Jackson since the 2012 General Election until her abrupt retirement from politics this month.
Mr Fahy thanked her for her service and said the OBA’s candidate selection committee had “made their decision” in picking him.
“I am aware there were other candidates, and I have no doubt that they will be disappointed,” he said. “But what I can say is I will work with them, as I would with any other member of the party going forward.”
He acknowledged Mr Ball’s candidacy but added: “I’m friends with Vic. I have spoken to Vic about it.”
He said that “we can’t have this animosity” in the electoral campaign, and underscored his cordial relationship with other political parties, which he said had included “giving guidance to supporters of the current government”.
Mr Fahy also highlighted his successes in office from “assisting to get the St Regis hotel going, the Loren built, to helping get the triathlon World Series events to come to Bermuda”.
He said he helped cut grocery bills by 10 per cent on Wednesdays for 18 months, introduced minicar legislation and the Unesco World Heritage Fund for St George’s, and was part of the team that got cruise passengers to St George’s with “a dedicated NCL ferry — all of which are still intact”.
Mr Fahy, 49, a lawyer who works in international business, made his political debut in 2008 as a senator for the United Bermuda Party.
He left the UBP and his seat in the Senate to serve as chairman of the Bermuda Democratic Alliance, which subsequently merged with UBP members to form the OBA.
He was appointed back to the Upper House under the newly established party in November 2011.
Mr Fahy’s controversial tenure as home affairs minister also came with the Municipalities Amendment Bill 2013, giving business owners in Hamilton and St George’s a vote in municipal elections, and handing Government strong powers over both corporations.
It gave the PLP in Opposition another topic to go on the offensive against the OBA.
Holding responsibility for the municipalities in his portfolio, Mr Fahy intervened in the Hamilton waterfront redevelopment proposed by the administration of its mayor, Graeme Outerbridge.
The development deal was blocked in 2014 when Mr Fahy announced that the Government was temporarily taking charge of the city’s finances.
The move pitted the Government against the Corporation of Hamilton in a lengthy legal battle, to the point where Mr Fahy threatened to disband the “Team Hamilton” administration.
In May 2016 he switched portfolios when he was appointed Minister for Tourism Development and Transport.
Mr Fahy kept a low profile after the OBA’s election defeat the following year, but continued as an occasional political commentator.
Asked if he had been approached by the party, or had offered to run, Mr Fahy replied: “I think a bit of both.”
He told the Gazette: “I probably never was totally out. I have assisted any number of individuals, quite frankly across the board.
“I have helped members of the PLP in a number of areas by discussing policy, and I have helped the OBA.”
• To read Mr Fahy’s statement in full, see Related Media
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