Marcus Jones To Run In Pembroke South West
[Updated with video] This afternoon [Apr.4] the Progressive Labour Party announced that Marcus Jones will represent them in Constituency #20 Pembroke South West.
Pembroke South West is presently held by the One Bermuda Alliance’s Louise Jackson who [under the UBP's banner] won 83% of the vote vs the PLP’s Laverne Furbert [711-145] in 2007.
Mrs Jackson has confirmed she will retire from Parliament, and the OBA has not yet named a replacement for her seat, which is widely considered to be a safe seat for the Opposition.
Although Mr Jones is the only confirmed candidate for the area at this time, the constituency could possibly see a three-way battle, as the United Bermuda Party releasing a statement on the retirement of Mrs, Jackson, saying as the UBP continues “to reform and rebuild, we are casting a serious eye focused on this constituency.
Mr. Jones, a graduate of West End Primary School and Warwick Academy,received his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Trent University in Ontario, andhas also received diplomas from Bermuda College in Hospitality Supervisor and Food & Beverage Control courses.
His work has been in the Hotel sector, serving as Director of Finance for Elbow Beach Resort from 1997 – 1999, and at the Novotel Toronto Centre [1999-2001]. Mr. Jones also was employed as General Manager of 9 Beaches Resort from 2002 to 2006.
He served as Manager at the Department of Tourism until 2010 and then opened his own hospitality consultancy business, Covenant Hospitality Solutions.
Mr. Jones also served as Project Leader for the Economic Empowerment Zone Agency, participated in the Foster Parent programme, has served as President of West End Primary PTA, and is an active member of Better Covenant Christian Fellowship.
Update 4.15pm: Mr Jones’ full statement follows below:
Good-afternoon Madame Premier, Chairman of Constituency 20 Branch, Mr. Colin Gilbert, MPs, PLP Members, family, friends and you the Media.
I would like to thank you Madame Premier, the Candidate’s Committee and the PLP Constituency 20 Branch for having the faith in me to represent the good people in Pembroke South West.
Let me begin the launching of my political career by declaring that “I am proud to be a Bermudian” Proud to be born in a God-fearing country and raised in a home which boasts a rich spiritual legacy.
Friends and family have asked me three questions since I have made my political aspirations known and the answers for these questions will be the framework of my short speech today.
1. Why Politics?
2. Why the PLP?
3. Why now?Why Politics? Public service has always been an interest of mine and being able to represent people, be an advocate for their concerns and champion their cause is part of my DNA. I believe a Public Servant is a servant first and must be willing to lay down his own personal ambitions and comforts for the people he represents.
He must be true to his convictions, be connected to his constituents, empathise with their challenges, be accessible to hear their concerns and have the technical acumen to be part of a team that can affectively govern this island.
In short, a politician must be able to interpret the times, conceive a plan and initiate an action that would promote and maintain a spiritual, physical, social and economic environment for its citizens that will maximise their quality of life.
Governments are not tasked with the responsibility of creating wealth but rather to provide the infrastructure for the marketplace to thrive. Not interfere with the ebb and flow of business but rather massage it when stimulus is needed.
As a businessman, former manager within the Department of Tourism and a hotelier for the last 20 years I bring a wealth of knowledge from the private and public sector to the table.
Why the PLP? When my political awareness began in my late teens, I was influenced by a convincing discussion that I had with Mr. Eugene Cox, the openness and friendliness of Mr. Walter Lister, the candid debates on politics with my neighbour and union man Mr. Alfred Bean and of course the fiery leadership of Dame Lois Browne-Evans, who I observed from a distance.
I was infatuated by personalities. But as I got older the charisma of a politician did not hold my attention any longer. I became more issue driven not personality driven. That’s when I began my research on the mission and initial vision of the PLP.
The Bermuda Progressive Labour Party founded in 1963, made equitable taxation, the removal of racial discrimination, greater economic parity, healthcare programs, insurance and pensions and electoral reforms the building blocks of their first PLP Platform.
Most of those initiatives have been achieved in my lifetime and at times change and progress have seemed slow and tedious. As the opposition, it championed these causes, endured the hard times, refused to quit or change its name when their numbers in the House of Assembly dropped, absorbed ridicule and misrepresentation.
This is a big tent party who accepts all types of people with varying opinions, liberal and conservative, extreme and mainstream. We have heated debates within about the state of our beloved country and disagree more times than not at times but at the end of the day we come together as a family and make decisions based on what is right for the country as opposed to what is politically expedient.
We do not run from our record but embrace it wholeheartedly. Turn down the volume on your radio, refuse to read the blogs for a day, block out the noise in our society and find a quiet place to reflect and consider the following;
IMAGINE WHAT LIFE WOULD BE LIKE IN BERMUDA WITHOUT? :
A state of the art cruise terminal in Dockyard
Tax concessions for retail and hospitality industry
The Sylvia Richardson Care Facility
Fast ferries
Affordable housing developments such as Loughlands, Perimeter Lane and others
Free public transportation for our students
Child Day Care assistance for families in need
The removal of the “Death Tax”The list is not exhaustive but demonstrates a government that truly cares for those who are less fortunate than others but strikes a balance by being a friend and partner to international and local businesses.
Why now? With a worldwide economic recession that has not left our island unscathed, moral values on the decline and families that are the foundation of any society divided, Bermuda is in desperate need for servant leadership within government.
A new breed of politician is emerging and the PLP government is well aware of the need for new faces and personalities to make up its team. We have an abundance of experience and youthful energy to inject into the political process and I am thrilled to be a part of that team.
Residents of Constituency 20 lend me your ears. Allow me to come into your homes and tell the PLP story, unfiltered by the media and those who have an ingrained historical bias against it. Let’s rock the political establishment and send a PLP candidate to the House of Assembly from Constituency 20.
Choose for yourselves a candidate that can sit at the table of decision making of the governing party and represent your views and fight for them aggressively. The present political system does not allow for your view point to be effectively heard unless you have a representative who is a member of the ruling party. We all know that.
I have heard your concerns regarding crime, the economy, the need to be more welcoming to our guest workers to keep International Business here and the need for good governance while canvassing on your doorsteps.
I will forcefully and consistently represent your interests and concerns. A vote for Marcus Jones is a vote for true representation, a caring and compassionate listener and an effective advocate for the issues that exists in Pembroke South West and Bermuda as a whole.
Thank you and God bless you!!
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Quality man! Quality candidate! Well done PLP!
The PLP certainly have proven to have an all-round quality team, and distinctivley stronger then the OBA and UBP. Well done Mr. Jones, I wish you all the best.
Muppet
Well done !
Sorry Mr Jones… But the whole flipPLoP party is on the way out! Time for the PLP to go as they have destroyed Bermuda enough and we can’t take it anymore.
I commend Mr. Jones for throwing his hat in the ring. I have to say though, I am utterly confused as to how, otherwise very intelligent people, can view this Governments track record and the endless string of mass non-accountability that has been demonstrated and decide that they want to be a part of it and/or associated with it in any way.
It is baffling. I am persuaded that the best thing for the PLP is a loss. It will give them an opportunity and incentive to clean house and re-emerge a better party. Failing that, there is no real push for real change.
It is tantamount to rewarding a child for bad behavior.
Funny. So,if save for their political affiliation these people are otherwise very intelligent, why do you question their political choices? Or are they just corrupt….which of course is the answer to everything with which the Opposition does not agree.
You said corrupt, the original poster didn’t. I think people would give Jones more credit if he actually lambasted the PLP. Whereas his praise means he thinks they have done a good job….How is that debt, how is the tourism industry?
@Hmmmmm- would you reward a child for bad behavior? I don’t think so and neither would any right thinking (otherwise intelligent) parent. The point of my post was not to question Mr. Jones intelligence, I am sure he is a smart man. It just doesn’t make sense to me, in light of what we have seen from the Govt, why anyone would make the choice, it seems to me that the emotional appeal overrules the actions of otherwise intelligent people.
Disclaimer: I have no party affiliation.
That said, if otherwise very intelligent people are joining the PLP, how is the party not effectively “cleaning house” and becoming a better party through their current actions?
Why do you have to lose an election and then engage a new suite of candidates in order to exemplify real change?
Some people think in order to beat the system you have to be the system…
Because the existing structure is built on out of date hate and anger. The policies this produced have failed Bermuda, Education failed, more gang recruits, more desperate people, less jobs, huge debt, huge numbers of people leaving and taking their contribution to the economy and job creation with them as a driect result of the PLP, permit policies, red tape and guest worker, foreigner hate. The only way to deveop new policies is to start again, out of power, as when in power, it is ver difficult to change direction fast enough to have any impact. Too little too late is all the current PLP can hope to ever achieve. Look at the flip flopping, they are clueless and bound by their own contraints. Free them and free the party to griw and be relevant for the future.
Because the existing structure is built on out of date hate and anger. The policies this produced have failed Bermuda, Education failed, more gang recruits, more desperate people, less jobs, huge debt, huge numbers of people leaving and taking their contribution to the economy and job creation with them as a driect result of the PLP, permit policies, red tape and guest worker, foreigner hate. The only way to deveop new policies is to start again, out of power, as when in power, it is ver difficult to change direction fast enough to have any impact. Too little too late is all the current PLP can hope to ever achieve. Look at the flip flopping, they are clueless and bound by their own contraints. Free them and free the party to grow and be relevant for the future.
@Dude- excellent questions. I don’t believe that real change comes from maintaining the status quo. Neither does adding new faces constitute change. That goes for both parties. That said, what I haven’t seen from the Govt. is real accountability. I have to assume that anyone who joins it, is therefore okay with what has transpired thus far until they prove otherwise….and I just don’t see how they can prove otherwise.
The reason why I believe that a loss is necessary is because if the electorate vote the PLP back in, the message would be that “we the people, are cool with what has happened and we are cool with the halfhearted measures that were taken to address the wrongs”. After an election victory, any real motivation for change that existed, dies. That is not good enough. We should demand more accountability from our Government (whoever it is). We deserve better and the PLP, as a party deserves to be a party that lives up to its ideals. At the moment they are not and just like we discipline our children we need to help the Govt to be accountable and to elevate how they operate.
Go Sophie!!! Congrats to you and your family! I know you are proud, get ‘em Soph!
PLP has a true gentleman in Mr.Marcus Jones,congrats on your selection……as a former neighbour of yours and I on the, opposite side of politics…I do wish you the best…..but its the PLP’s time to sit in opposition…. Cook’s Hill forever!
The big question remains where are the 19 seats that the the OBA need to oust the PLP? No one seems to know.
Congrats and all the best too you! One of the best if not THE BEST candidate introduced so far……..,
*had “too” ..SHB “to”
Well done! It will be interesting to see who the OBA puts in this ‘safe seat’. Marcus Jones is as formidable as they come and this shows the PLP is taking all 36 constituencies seriously. I wonder who the OBA will try and parachute into this seat.
Please explain why this candidate is formidable.
Why is he not in a PLP ‘Safe Seat”
No matter how you look at it, theres no chance this gentleman will win in this opposition stronghold. It really discourages me how this government continues to place ‘same olds’ in safe seats, and new fresh faces in seats where they have no chance. Yet Rolfe is put into a nice safe seat; Marcus Jones is very much more what Bermuda needs than some other folk in the PLP.
Don’t be ridiculous – there are 36 seats and everyone cannot be in a “safe seat”. Perhaps you should ask the OBA why their great hopes Nandi Davis, Alexis Swan, Nadia Hamza, Ras Mykkal are not in safe seats if they are supposed to be the future of the country.
Heck! The OBA hasn’t rolled out a candidate in nearly a month. What exactly is going on over there?
I wasn’t talking about the OBA. I was talking about OUR CURRENT GOVERNMENT.
pay close attention
after Mr Jones loses 20, like Anthony Richardson who will recontest in 12, Mr Jones will be parachuted into the Senate.
the politics of Loyalty.
where will Patrice go after losing 10 to Dunkley the OBA Leader?
Mr. Jones after I listened to your speech and and your request to come to my home to hear the PLP story I can save you the time…why would anyone possibly want to hear the “PLP Story”? it is a fable and not based in reality it is whatever the Central Committee decides its going to be on any particular day and could change tomorrow….no core values and no trust…
“a state of the art” cruise ship terminal in Dockyard – PART OF IT IS FALLING DOWN!
And I love it that he cites fast ferries. They’re falling to pieces through lack of maintenance. They no longer run ‘fast’ because for the past year the speed has been limited to reduce fuel. And Burgess is busily announcing ferry service cuts to save money. Perhaps Mr Jones hasn’t heard about these things.
What a wonderful man! I wish him well and God speed! Alfred would be very proud!
Marcus Jones is Scott Simmons’ brother, is there a reason the Premier is keeping her inner circle so tight with friends and family who will all go broke if PLP loses – Patrice and Premier are also first Cousins
friends and family rate