Budget: Strong Words from the PLP’s Dale Butler
PLP Member of Parliament the Hon. Dale Butler is in the House of Assembly speaking about the 2010/11 budget…the budget of his own party.
The budget was presented on February 26 by the Hon. Paula Cox, the Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier. As the total estimated expenditure for 2010/11 is $1,202.2 million, while the total estimated revenue is $1,058.8 – it will leave an estimated $143.4 million dollar shortfall over the year.
Mr. Butler said he believed Bermudians are thankful for matters like free day care, buses and the government response to Haiti, and that he doesn’t think people are unthankful.
Mr Butler said he believes people are very worried about matters like increasing debt and expenditure on consultants.
He went on to say that “we cannot squander the people’s hard earned money.”
Mr. Butler also condemned the actions of Government Race Relations Consultant Rolfe Commissiong earlier this week. Mr. Commissiong allegedly called a member of the Bermuda Democratic Alliance a “house n*gger” for belonging to the party.
The Speaker of the House, the Hon. Stanley Lowe of the PLP, interrupted Mr. Butler on more than one occasion, at one point saying “The Honourable member is not doing very well”.
Mr. Butler’s comments follow an almost two hour reply from the opposition delivered by the Hon. Bob Richards.
This is far from the first time Mr. Butler has gone against the grain. In a marathon 14 hour meeting of the House of Assembly in 2009, Mr. Butler led the demands for Dr. Ewart Brown to apologise for the decision to covertly accept the four Chinese Uighurs Guantánamo refugees without consulting other government officials. He went on to resign his post as Minister of Culture in protest.
