PLP: ‘Wrong To Privatise Vital & Strategic Asset’
“We said from the outset that it is wrong for the country to privatise a vital and strategic asset” and “we will not rest until this current deal is stopped”, Shadow Minister of Finance David Burt said today.
Mr Burt was speaking at a press conference about the planned airport redevelopment, which was also attended by Shadow Minister of Transport Lawrence Scott and Constituency 13 candidate Diallo Rabain.
“This deal contains every single element the Minister of Finance and the OBA have railed against for years. There is no open tender, no proof or surety of value for money,” said Mr Burt.
“This deal sacrifices this country’s single most important physical asset, transferring it to the control of a Canadian company, while stripping the government of potential revenue.
Mr Rabain said, “With our government in desperate need for revenue, can we truly look our children in the eye and say that revenue is better off being sent to Canada than spent on diversifying our economy, investing in the training and development of our people or providing our youth with a world class education?
“We cannot afford to move forward with this deal without proper consideration and processes, and we urge the OBA government to do better when it comes to managing the people’s assets and brokering deals on their behalf.
Mr Scott said, “It would appear that a financial cloud is hovering over the protracted attempts by the One Bermuda Alliance Government to get the much heralded Bermuda Airport Project airborne which remains grounded because reportedly the Canadian Corporation did not intend to be the Primary source of financing.”
“It is our understanding that the reason the OBA are remaining silent about the project at this time is because the crucial finance package is not yet in place – consequently, neither the Minister of Finance nor the Premier have been prepared to update the country as to what progress has been made.”
Shadow Minister of Finance David Burt’s comments
In November 2014, when the Minister of Finance first told Bermudians that the OBA intended to privatise the LF Wade International Airport, the Progressive Labour Party was quick to raise concerns about this project.
We said from the outset that it is wrong for the country to privatise a vital and strategic asset, and under no circumstances should any deal proceed without a tender. We said that we need to focus on rebuilding our tourism product and not borrow money off the balance sheet to construct a building that will not bring more tourists to our shores.
Fifteen months later, our concerns have manifested themselves in the form of a contract negotiated by Minister Richards and approved by the One Bermuda Alliance Cabinet that sells the people of this country short. This deal contains every single element the Minister of Finance and the OBA have railed against for years. There is no open tender, no proof or surety of value for money. It started with a personal, 25 year relationship between Bob Richards and a friend of his in Canada.
This deal sacrifices this country’s single most important physical asset, transferring it to the control of a Canadian company, while stripping the government of potential revenue. What will be the largest capital project in the country’s history has no involvement by the Ministry of Public Works and no oversight from the Office of Project Management & Procurement as required by the Good Governance Act. This deal proves that there is a double standard in the OBA’s vision for Bermuda and proves that the OBA doesn’t believe the rules should apply to them.
How can Premier Dunkley look school children in the eye and tell them to work hard and expect success in the OBA’s Bermuda? This deal proves that every-day, hard working people continue to struggle and get little or no justice. Our children go to rodent-infested schools, while foreign companies get tax relief, customs duty exemptions, guaranteed revenue from taxpayer dollars and free electricity for 30 years!
I want the people of Bermuda to know that we in the Progressive Labour Party share their disgust with this airport deal. The portions of this deal that have been released to the public have rightfully outraged hardworking people who sit around their kitchen tables every month stretching to cover their own bills.
Instead of reducing the cost of living, the OBA want to use the tax dollars of those hardworking Bermudians to pay the electricity bill for a Canadian company who is taking no risk and isn’t even being required to preserve the pay and benefits for the staff at the airport.
People of Bermuda, this is what poor governance looks like. This is how we get Auditor General reports in 6 years time lamenting a complete disregard for rules. This is the standard of governance that the people of this country are told to accept from the One Bermuda Alliance.
Bermuda, we can do better!
We can do better by following the Good Governance Act which was put in place to prevent the very abuses being engaged in by the One Bermuda Alliance. We can do better by ensuring value for money and putting the largest capital project in the country’s history out to an open tender.
We can do better by ensuring the pay and benefits for the largely Bermudian staff at the airport. Finally, we can go better by not giving a Canadian company that didn’t have to bid a blank check guaranteed by every tax payer for 30 years.
The Progressive Labour Party remains committed to doing better by getting a better deal for Bermuda; and we will not rest until this current deal is stopped. We will use all measures and means at our disposal to ensure that the people of this country are not saddled for 30 year with this sweetheart deal that Bob Richards has negotiated with his friends in Canada.
In my capacity as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, I have written to the Ministry of Finance to request the schedules that are an integral part of this contract. These schedules put firm numbers to what the OBA has committed this country’s taxpayers to fund for the next 30 years.
I would encourage members of the media to file a PATI request for these schedules so they can share with the people of this country the actual dollars that Minister Bob Richards has committed us to pay for a generation.
Comments from Diallo Rabain, PLP Candidate for the C13 by-election:
While on the Canvassing trail, the people of Constituency 13 have made it abundantly clear to me what they do and do not want. It’s should come as no surprise to anyone who talks to the constituents that all they want is:
- Their hard work and sacrifice to result jobs and opportunities in their own country
- Their hard work and sacrifice to result in a better life for themselves
- Their hard work and sacrifice to result better future for their children
- The feeling that they are second class citizens in their own country to end
- And Bermuda to once again feel like a place of hope and opportunity
This airport deal fails to meet any of those criteria.
As parents, can we look our children in the eye and tell them that this deal is good for Bermuda and good for them?
With our government in desperate need for revenue, can we truly look our children in the eye and say that revenue is better off being sent to Canada than spent on diversifying our economy, investing in the training and development of our people or providing our youth with a world class education?
These are the questions that the people of Constituency 13 are asking. Parents are asking on behalf of their children and the generations yet unborn that will be affected by whatever decision is taken on this airport deal.
We cannot afford to move forward with this deal without proper consideration and processes, and we urge the OBA government to do better when it comes to managing the people’s assets and brokering deals on their behalf.
Shadow Minister of Transport Lawrence Scott’s comments
It would appear that a financial cloud is hovering over the protracted attempts by the One Bermuda Alliance [OBA] Government to get the much heralded Bermuda Airport Project airborne which remains grounded because reportedly the Canadian Corporation did not intend to be the Primary source of financing. From what can be determined they planned on coming on board as a cosigner in the unlikely event that [the contracting firm] AECON was unable to raise the funds themselves.
Meanwhile it is reasonable to believe that the rationale for AECON selling off their controlling stake in Quito Ecuador project [they had before Bermuda] was to raise funds for the Bermuda Project.
However, it is our understanding that the reason the OBA are remaining silent about the project at this time is because the crucial finance package is not yet in place – consequently, neither the Minister of Finance nor the Premier have been prepared to update the country as to what progress has been made.
Meanwhile, in this context the Minister [of Finance] has both promised and talked about an increase in jobs and job security for those who currently work at the airport. However, in regards to jobs, let us not forget the fight that we had to have in order to have the Canadians guarantee that none of the Bermudians would lose their respective positions.
Yet, while we have that promise on record, the question remains, what about existing benefits and long term job security. Will individual staffers/workers have the same jobs and benefits which currently they receive if Aecon utilize clause J found on page six of the agreement? Which introduces a grey area permitting the new employer provide all the jobs but their job security lays in the hands of the Project Co management. Who, as I have been made to understand, are looking at starting a “corporate restructuring” months after Project Co official takes over.
Over time, if we are to accept the OBA government policy and strategy or a new airport that [70% - 75%] Bermudians do not wish, and the airlines feel we are in danger of becoming less and less attractive – economically – by pricing ourselves out of the market for visitors. It is truly time for both the Ministers of Finance, Transport and Tourism, and the Premier to come before the entire country and demonstrate how this flawed initiative is as they repeatedly declare “A good deal for our country”!
Read More About
Category: All, News, Politics, Videos
Just as ‘vital and strategic’ as our only acute care hospital that was privatised under … oh, never mind.
Don’t forget that it was the PLP that first proposed the airport privatization… guise they ran out of time and didn’t get their chance to pick who they wanted in there like they did with TCD
David Burt is full of it. The airport is not being privatized.
How can people trust the PLP when pure lies are told by them.
What else are the PLP not telling the truth about !!!!!!
Did anyone tell these bunch of losers that only 20 people showed up last night in St David’s, and all of them was sent by the plp?? The usual plp suspects voiced their nonsense and disrupted what would have been a good information session!!! When the plp can prove their latest nonsense of 75% of Bermudians are against this airport, then I might listen??? This is nothing more than a continuation of the plp policy of getting in the way of anything good for Bermuda at all costs!!! Please plp, sit down, be quiet and for once watch how the pros get things done!!!! You have all done enough fiscal carnage to BDA to last us all a life time!!!!
Yes I finally saw the news footage and there was a smattering of people. The echo from the gym hall was louder. Too bad the news report reported on the “explosive” response from the attendants and not the attendance numbers.
Family Man you are a dummy. The ACW isn’t privatised. By the way, it’s Acute Care Wing, and the BHB is still in control of the operations. It is not privatised. These uninformed OBA supporters say anything.
No one is going to give them the money to build an airport. This problem is taking care of itself.
Bob billions will soon find he does not have any friends just like John – no tea and biscuits.
Quo Fata Ferunt
Oh this is getting so tiresome. The PLP uses the word “revenue” as if it is profit at the airport. How often & how much “Profit” does the airport actually make?
The answer is, not often & not much when it does.
Fact. A new terminal is needed. The UBP knew it. The PLP knew it. Now it has gotten to a stage where another coat of whatever available colour of paint is not going to fix it. The OBA has to deal with it.
Fact. Bermuda is broke & is paying finance charges on its debt that would pay for a new terminal in less than 2 years. Nobody is going to lend us any more money. The PLP exceeded our credit limit long ago. If you voted PLP anytime after 1998 thank yourself for the situation we are in today. You made it happen.
We need a terminal. The developers have made an offer. There has to be a catch. They expect to be paid. They also expect a return on the money that they invest. They are not a charity.
A good chunk of Bermuda labour will build it. Bermuda labour, from the old terminal, will staff it. The Government is still effectively the landlord. The Canadian developer is acting as a real estate agent managing the property for a set period of time & for a fee of course.
What is the problem?
Wow. You should go into the business of cliff notes.
What is frustating is that no matter how simple you try to make something that is quite complex, there are those who don’t want to see or are just plain too dumb to see.
I don’t sit in some corner office but in my working life I have been exposed to people a whole lot smarter than me & have tried to learn at least a little from them.
They mix revenue and profit deliberately. It is dishonest but not illegal.
Tell that to an auditor !
No wonder we woke up in a holy mess once the books were opened after they were kicked out.
B!%@h whine moan they drove us into debt ,now into delusion
But…it’s….already been said…..that it’s not being privatised. It’s already been said by all parties that the airport remains under the ownership and control of the BDA Govt.
Come on, PLP. You’re acting like the Republican Party in the US and just running with a false narrative.
I can’t wait to read the comments
just s vital and strategic as our Missing Millions that have put us in this predicament over years of MISS MANAGEMENT of the PEOPLES FUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLP go get Stuffed, and stop running your petulant mouths over S*** you lot created, when you admit it I and many others may listen
They hate the fact that this will create jobs for Bermudians and it wasn’t their idea.
^^^^^ This right here.
Oba are evil…blah…we are better…blah…they don’t your best interest at heart…..blah…we do despite our record…..blah.
The PLP of 2016 is basically a caricature. Are they even a proper political party?
PLP- PROGRESSIVELY LOSING PEOPLE !
Nope not at all. PLP FTW.
PLP, where’s the beef, I mean where’s the missing millions. We could build twenty airports with what’s missing.
Burt, Scott, Rabain. Blah Blah Blah. Tell the truth. Tell the truth. For God sakes man the PLP wanted to privatize the L.F. Wade airport when you were in power, you just never got the chance to completemthe task. Oh and please stop beating up Canadians. The Canadians have been good friends of ours for hundreds of years. Stop the bull and speak the truth. Blah Blah and next time Pre- read your script before you have a News conference.
In the carpenter,s shop : measure twice, cut once.. 5 to 10 years ago, measure 5 times to ensure we were on a good path.
Funny how the PLP say they can fix all of Bermudas ills but are very broken within their own camp! Pay attention voters, at this time the PLP are not skilled enough to run their own party let alone anything else.
They are such idiots!!! You won’t be running Bermuda. Get over it! And hurry up.
The PLP become irrelevant with each passing day…the PLP speak of open tenders as if it means something as the so called open tender under the PLP reign of irresponsible fiscal terror saw the same people win most bids and then go dramatically over the bid to the tune of HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS…..what does open tender mean if it is ignored….go away PLP and come back when you have a clue and bring back the missing money when you do..I look at the 3 children in the above photo and think my god what would happen if they were in charge…..
I am concerned at the difficulty these commentators who wish to represent their constituents have in understanding the facts and at how that misunderstanding misleads the public debate. This is a grave disservice to the people of Bermuda.
The revenue currently all goes to maintaining the facility which will only cost more in future so will be a drain against other services such as education. Where do they think the money will come from for redevelopment when it is essential in very few years time? Perhaps we could bang their heads together and see if we can get enough from the tooth fairy?
After years of money going out of BDA this is hundreds of millions coming in! Government are not paying them!
In order to maximise their return on investment they must increase airport use which brings more? You got it – money in! Hospitality jobs!
They have to increase money spent in the airport – more retail jobs!
What is the downside? More jobs? More income? New airport without cuts elsewhere?
And I am sorry Government guarantees are given to improve security and remove risks that would otherwise require financial input. The low numbers guarantee is based on re Ord low levels. Let’s be clear it is not I the investors interest to use this all of their efforts will be in increasing revenues. Anyone who uses this as a frighteners is just trying to mislead the public.
Were is Marc bean in the pic?
more smoke from the PLP. they just don’t get it. and they should shut up, sit down, and pay attention how real financiers get on with projects. the PLP had NOT ONE capital project on budget. NOT ONE! what a bunch of amateurs.
This is great comedy.
Come on–you guys are loosing the plot here.
Back to the drawing boarrd and come up with a plan that has strategic vision.
DO OVER!
A picture speaks a thousand words, baffeled at their own notes! Unreal!!!!!!!!!