Premier Cannonier To Attend Meetings In NY

January 24, 2014

cannonier craig bermudaPremier Craig Cannonier will travel to New York next week to conduct a series of meetings in order to “foster international relations and increase foreign direct and indirect investments for Bermuda.”

The Premier will first meet with officials of the Norwegian Cruise Lines [NCL], as well as conduct meetings with the U.K. Consulate and the Bermuda Government Washington D.C. office representative.

Premier Cannonier said “Everything the Government is doing is to promote the recovery and renewal of Bermuda; to provide job opportunities for Bermudians primarily through foreign investments and strategic partnerships. Bermuda has a very compelling story to tell and it is imperative that we are aggressive about telling it.

“My meetings in New York next week will do just that. At the request of the NCL officials, I will meet with them to commemorate the inaugural launch of the Norwegian Getaway and discuss other potential job opportunities for Bermudians. You’ll recall that through our jobs initiative launched last summer, NCL hired Bermudians to work aboard their vessels.

“I will then meet with the U.K. Consulate to develop our strategies for leveraging trade and strategic international partnerships. A meeting with our representative from the Bermuda Government Washington office is also planned to find ways to increase our presence with interested parties in the United States.”

The Premier will be joined by the Secretary to the Cabinet, Dr. Derrick Binns and the Bermuda Government Washington Office representative Ms. Cheryl Packwood.

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Comments (70)

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  1. Leroy says:

    Premier, just keep on doing what is best for Bermudians…. not for your self gain.

    • Oh lord please help us says:

      Hmmm why are we sending this one out of the group? Can’t we send Minister Grant Gibbons and Minister Bob Richards. This temp plate Premier don’t know nothing. Keep him here to smile and walk around Hamilton shaking hands, Send the brain men of the OBA to go chase down the money. We should consider putting a stop to sending anymore clowns to try to drum up further investments for us.

    • Gee Whiz says:

      Have card will travel. Destinations might change but the waste of public funds for overseas trips remains consistent no matter who is in power. PLP should ask some questions in Parliament although admittedly it might seem like the “pot calling the kettle black.”

      Sad part is that the people suffer whenever or whoever wastes the country’s funds.And that makes this most disgusting as those responsible leave office and are never held accountable for their reckless financial behavior while those most vulnerable suffer the consequences.

      Children going school hungry while Ewart and Paula enjoy their pension. Only in Bermuda.

  2. Nuffin but da Truth says:

    Bring me a warm bike jacket back,it’s feckin’ cold as New York here!

  3. The Messenger says:

    He is certainly taking an awful lot of trips. The PLP were ridiculed, non-stop, for fourteen years for tripping. Now you don’t even hear a peep from their accusers.

    • campervan says:

      So long as he doesn’t take an entourage of mirror shaded body guards, hire $14,000 worth of limo service, sleep in a hotel that costs $4,000 a night, or pimp it up at the playboy mansion then we are all good.

      • Kangoocar says:

        @campervan, funny how the sheeple neglect to mention all you just said??? I can tell you straight up that DREB showed up at a friend of mines house in DC, in the longest stretch limo with a huge number of a?? Kissers, and I can safely say nothing came out of the jaunt !!! Huge difference between a responsible government ( OBA ) and what we had in the plp!!! As ” swing voter ” says, all the plp would come back with after vacations on our money, was smiles on their faces!!!

        • Kangoocar says:

          So?? I have 6 dislikes concerning my 10.43pm post!! What part of , it was a friend of mines house he showed up did the blind faithful pathetic plper’s miss??? I know this to be factual!!!! You sheeple are nothing short of pathetic?? BAAHAAAAA !!!!
          It actually would sicken people even more if I revealed what the meeting was about, but I will reveal that in good time!!

          • neverODDOreven says:

            Kangoocar the “dislikes” MAY have something to do with the term “sheeple”. I think when you use it you are referring to sheep because they are easily led……(we all know that one shepherd can easily lead many sheep) BUT here’s something that I’m sure you didn’t think of or intend to suggest…..the way sheep are kept is very similar to the way slaves were kept……in large groups with one or two people in charge of them at any given time.

            I’ll give another example of how people of different colors see things differently that causes problems on these sites……when people say “koolaid drinkers” that refers to Jim Jones and the group he so easily led BUT that’s not they way SOME people take it…..it’s almost like saying “watermelon eater”. I hope you understand that your name calling is viewed very differently than I THINK you intend……unless you DO intend to come off the way you do…..if so carry on.

            I’ll leave you with this: How would you finish this phrase? “Say it loud……”

            I promise you the way you finish that phrase is NOT the way the majority of the people in Bermuda finish it…….

            38,399 strings can make a MIGHTY thick rope

            • Kangoocar says:

              @neverODD, your points are valid and I thank you for them, I just am a passionate person about the well being of all Bermudians, it just is frustrating when one looks back over the last 7 yrs or so and compares where we were then to were we ended up by Dec 17th, 2014. Way to many Bermudians are suffering now and the previous government is not being held accountable for it by their supporters on here?? Obviously the majority of Bermudians thankfully did at the last election!
              There constant bashing of the OBA by them is frustrating because of their lack of understanding that up until now the OBA has been operating under their budget and their hands are tied to it!! Believe me there is going to be a lot of them screaming and yelling at the first OBA budget, IF the OBA are going to be truly responsible, and if they are not everyone will know my dissatisfaction as well! I have no time for any government that doesn’t take this debt seriously, we should all be ashamed of ourselves for allowing it to get to this point. We have saddled future generations with a debt they didn’t deserve!!
              I will again thank you, for pointing out the sheeple thing and will refrain from using the term again because I never intended it to be a throw back to slavery in any ones minds!!

          • sage says:

            No proof, and you will “reveal that in good time” sounds just like unsubstantiated “ulterior motive ” claims and allegations of inside knowledge that can ” get people gotten”. Put up or shut up, all of you.

        • DarkSideofTheMoon says:

          So your friend was in cahoots with him?

          • Kangoocar says:

            @darksideof the moon, thanks for making me re read what I wrote, I should have said EX friend, thanks again!

        • Gee Whiz says:

          “… with a huge number of a?? kissers” is one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time. Well put and absolutely hilarious yet also an accurate description of Ewart’s reign. Keep these qoutes coming.

      • Nuffin but da Truth says:

        any and all Dislikers have to be plp cool aid drinkers.

    • Hmmm says:

      Did you not read the reasons? For the benefit of Bermuda….they are NOT to receive awards for himself.

      • Ian says:

        They try to justify everything they do by simply tacking “for the benefit of bermudians” or “to create jobs for bermudians” on the end… Yet everything they do DIRECTLY benefit non bermudians for the most part.

      • Ian says:

        All the OBA do is justify everything they push thru by sticking “for the benefit of bermudians” on the end. So condescending… Yet 99% of everything they do is for the DIRECT benefit of non bermudians and the old money locals who miss swimming in seas of seemingly endless cash flow.

        • Triangle Drifter says:

          Care to back any of that up with some verifiable evidence or are you simply regurgitating the usual PLP propaganda & folklore?

          • Mazumbo says:

            I understand that leaders of countries have to visit other countries but to hear the hypocritical biased comments against one party and endorsed for another for doing the same thing is laughable.

          • Ian says:

            Wins for non Bermudians, courtesy of the OBA:
            1. Work permits scrapped despite assertions by OBA to suspend them temporarily.
            2. PRC status given to loosely-defined “senior managers” who now get to compete with average bermudians for housing and commercial opportunities through their immense savings after years of thriving on the likes of housing/transportation/tuition/travel/utility allowances.
            3. Scrapping the 60/40 local business ownership rule; Capital G recently under control of foreigners. Whether good or bad move, expect more headliners like that in days ahead.
            4. Lowering barriers to foreign access to Bermuda realty through temporary (so they say) cuts to duty rates and rezoning of lands to facilitate foreign ownership.
            5. Scrapping gaming referendum to move forward in the interests of promises made to 3rd party foreign investors – yes that is indeed what happened.
            6. Scrapping the land licensing legislation, which was intended to counter illegal fronting of real estate reserved for locals. Regardless of how overkill the measure was, the OBA never followed on w an alternative proposal for fighting illegal fronting.
            7. Giving well-to-do expat residents they (OBA) see nothing wrong with given their privileged children the opportunity to compete with Bermudian kids from way more humble / in-need-of-support households for summer jobs IN A RECESSION.

            Mr. Drifter, who we’ve all established is in no way a REAL through and through grassroots Bermudian… I will leave it to you to list the countless changes the OBA has made for the DIRECT benefit of Bermudians…

          • Ian says:

            Have you been sound asleep this year mate??

    • whatever says:

      I don’t see anything outrageous about heading to New York (or even London, for that matter) for a few meetings. It’s certainly cheaper to fly him there than to fly all of the people he’s supposed to meet here. Even in business class, we’re talking less that $1000 round trip. Get a grip!

    • Sandy Bottom says:

      The PLP were not “ridiculed” for every single trip. The ridicule came, rightly, after the public became aware of the opulent excesses of Ewart Brown, Paula Cox, and their entourages. Ewart spent $265,000 on travel in the nine months from May 2009. That included $33,000 on limos. He spent $8,000 on limos in one single trip. He travelled first class and toured city after city all over the world, paid for by us.
      When he got back from the $37,000 India trip, he said that Bermudian students would receive scholarships from Indian sources. He said he has made 500 business contacts that would lead to benefit for Bermuda. How much of that actually happened?

      Cannonier goes on trips to meet developers and cruise lines.
      Cox went on trips to receive vanity awards.

      • Kangoocar says:

        If my memory serves me rite, I think it was “swing voter ” who said it best! ( the only thing the plp came back with from those trips, was a smile on their face! “

    • Mazumbo says:

      Its called Selective Amnesia, de Front Street guys could do it but dem Back of Town bies cant do it.
      LMAO

  4. skinnydipper says:

    I just hope St George’s Town cut channel is included in his talks

  5. swing voter says:

    go….be fruitful and multiply our prospects my son.

  6. Rhonda Neil says:

    SMDH….

  7. Valirie Marcia Akinstall says:

    Points of clarification, is the premier’s communications director and any other media crew attending the trip with him? The reason why I ask is because Charmaine Burgess was in attendance at the London reception. And as I recall she was tasked with getting business cards from parties that the premier was interested in engaging with further. With the London office staffed with consultants already efficient and able Ms Burgess’s travel expenses were an extravagant unnecessary expense to the public purse. And the media crew of about three other persons, at this point it is opaque who paid their expenses, public public?

    On the same subject but digressing slightly, I think that the premier has shown restraint and prudence in NOT attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland which is currently taking place. The cost to attend is $12,000 per delegate (excluding accommodations, food air and ground transport) and it is standard protocol for leaders of industry, government and the entertainment field to travel there with an entourage of minders (assistants who do the grunge work) of between four to six persons. So, well done and I’m sure that most are quite surprise that I have acknowledged his restraint, but posting comments is not all about criticism of public officials.

    Advocating again, where is the travel itinerary for government MPs and their entourage on the Cabinet Website, as promise, Mr premier? This promise should not be too difficult to fulfil.

    London, England

    • Sandy Bottom says:

      I can well remember the Davos trip where ministers were accompanied by numerous gombeys and bar tenders. All aimed at “putting Bermuda on the map”. Of course, those were the days when we were borrowing and spending like crazy.

      • Valirie Marcia Akinstall says:

        Yes, Sandy Bottom, but your comment is a deflection from the issue at hand. In order not to transparently show that they are being responsible every time answers are sort, it goes back to the PLP and Dr Brown – pure deflection.

        Sandy, they (PLP) are now the Opposition, Brown and Cox have left political office, Cannonier is in office. So, OBA supporters will use the rationale that they (PLP) got away with it, so should your leaders?

        What is of foremost consideration to you, the welfare and wellbeing of all Bermudians or just of the OBA supporters?

        You can write a book on what they did, but it’s peculiar that OBA supporters were not writing the book whilst the PLP were in power. Why now? Pure and simple deflection.

        We are being sandbagged into looking back rather than looking at our present state of affairs, and ensuring that the public purse is not being inflated with expenses that are pointless and need not have been incurred.

        You want a recent faux pas, look at the London trips and tell me why the support staff from Bermuda is needed to come to London when the London office have the staff who can hit the ground running? If they cannot then we need to deal with the inefficiencies of that office. But I suspect that it’s nothing more than a total lack of accountability to bury these unnecessary costs deep in the public purse, and sadly, the Auditor General reviews expenses after they have incurred.

        Stop giving them the passageway by rubber stamping their lack of transparency. There is a distinct difference between announcing an upcoming trip and actually showing that the entourage is needed. The London and Washington offices should be fully professionally functioning teams to address the needs of our travelling MPs when required, it’s not brain surgery or specialised skills that they do not have.

        London, England

        • Former Nothing says:

          Ms Cox has not left office, she is canvassing in Devonshire for Blakeneys bye-election.

          • Gee Whiz says:

            Bye-election? You know something we don’t?

          • Sandy Bottom says:

            Does she still ride in a limo from house to house?

          • frank says:

            and were is blakney going

          • Valirie Marcia Akinstall says:

            Bow out gracefully, Ms Cox. We have experienced your leadership of 14 self-indulgent years of it.

            If the PLP is serious about a comeback, resurrecting her political career is a major step back.

            And if Bermudians allow her to inflict the damage that she caused again on Bermuda by inviting her back into politics with their votes, then Bermuda deserves any future crisis.

            She would do much better to give an exclusive interview to the press to answer the multitude of the unanswerable when and since she was voted out of office.

            One thing I must say, even though she has remain silent, she has an ego that can sink the Titanic for the second time.

            Well Betty, you may agree with my last post, but let’s hear your comments on this one. Not a PLP defence, but a political analysis on her leadership. And do not turn the post over to someone else to respond.

            London, England

        • Sandy Bottom says:

          I’m certainly not saying the OBA should do the same as the PLP did, and I’m certainly not saying they are doing anything remotely similar. That’s your straw man argument.

          • Valirie Marcia Akinstall says:

            Straw man argument – meaning – to create the illusion of having denied a proposition without ever having actually denied the original position.

            So you deny that you say that the OBA should do the same as the PLP? And you deny that the OBA remotely do similar [as the PLP]?

            BUT you do not deny that you do not request transparency by offering constructive criticism or critique. And that was my original complaint. So I think that that title, ‘straw man argument’ is more befitting on you than me.

        • Bettty Trump says:

          Well said Valirie, I agree with you !! Believe it ! I think you make some very good points, which is what I have been hoping the UBPoba supporters would also come to grips with.

          thanks

        • Bettty Trump says:

          Well said Varilie, I agree with you on this.

          • Clive Spate says:

            Two of the Bettys agree!

            • Mazumbo says:

              Um been tellin you all this time de mans ice is colder.

            • Valirie Marcia Akinstall says:

              Tomorrow or even later today Betty may have a strong rebuttal to one of my posts.

              Stop trying to build a defensive argument by constructing and targeting individuals with smears that obscure the issue. The issue is the article, not Betty or Bettys.

              Give us your point of view on the article rather than a smoke screen of a personal smear.

              London, England

    • Family Man says:

      Attendance is strictly by invitation only.

      Bermuda is no longer invited.

  8. Concerned Citizen says:

    Let me translate the above ubp/Oba narrative………”we don’t mind our Premier being off island taking trips, after all, it allows our real leaders to call the shots….I mean come on, what use is he to us when he is in Bermuda?”

    • Common Sense says:

      Not quite, Concerned Citizen. What you have written is the twisted and totally biased narrative that you want the people to believe. On this occasion the Premier is visiting New York for all of the right reasons and he is doing so as the Leader of our country. I wonder how long he is going for and how many aides will he have compared with former Government Premiers? And what kind of “shots” do you think these so-called “real leaders” are going to call in a couple of days.

      Concerned Citizens comments are nothing more than political clap trap with not a shred of substance.

    • frank says:

      the guy is just a poster boy for the oba/ubp
      so they give him a airline ticket every week to keep him out of the way
      when they get hid of him then all the others will be gone too
      just watch what happends

  9. Jo blo says:

    It’s so funny how bermudians feel the need to concern themselves w the fine details related to government travel…

    • Triangle Drifter says:

      After the excesses of Brown & Cox eyes have been opened & we want justification for money spent. We also want some returns on that spent money. Collecting silly awards to put on walls & empty promises are not good enough.

      • Jo Blog says:

        I say get over it and let government get on w the business of governing as it relates to travel.

  10. Jo blo says:

    Moving along…

  11. Da plumber says:

    Thinking isn’t this the tourism ministers job why would mr. Premier need to meet with cruise line officials where is mr. Crockwell shouldn’t this be his trip?

  12. more than enough says:

    crockwell was double-booked…
    2nd banana had to fill in

    • somuchless says:

      2nd banana. Now that’s funny.

    • Kangoocar says:

      Gee!! Some how I find it strange that only the plp sheeple can see only the disrespectful comments against their plp??? Let me help you “more than enough” that is Bermudas premier you are are calling a second banana?? Open war now my friend, I will never hold back what I think about your dubious plp from now on in!! And believe me I have been respectful up until now!!

      • more than enough says:

        i am not a plp supporter,
        i do not support the oba, or the ubp either..although i admit i have supported, all the above, through taxation.
        i refuse to give my voice to any group of individuals involved in politics.
        i chose to retain my voice as my own,
        and maintain my right not to vote.
        therefore, you will continue to see my comments, on what i feel is right, or wrong, despite your political affiliations, or opposing opinions.
        can you get me gotten? ewww i’m scared…
        and ‘sheeple’ i presume in your eyes is ok, for you apply it to the plp only. don’t need spectacles to see, how perfectly this word fits the oba followers, and the defunct ubp die-hards.
        i would suggest, that you do not romp with me, on this platform.
        although i understand, for you, it may be quite the intellectual challenge.
        your furious use of exclamation and question marks, is sooo intimidating. i am sure i will see alot of these’
        bring in the clowns!

        • more than enough says:

          i see that you have heeded my suggestion. or, are you at a loss for words…i was glad to see that you, have learned about your derogatory undertones from some one else, and apologized for your terminology which one can only describe as nasty and uncalled for.
          i, on the other hand, do not, apologize for my 2nd banana reference.i know to whom it applies, and think it is a fitting description due to the circumstances.
          i stand by my statement,
          its called humor..
          somuchless knows whasup.

      • frank says:

        blah blah

      • Valirie Marcia Akinstall says:

        It’s a very childish comment, but not an insult.

        When they truly cross line the they will be given a smack down, even by other PLP bloggers. Insults destroy the debate and bloggers want to debate not hurl insults.

        However, it’s interesting, if I said that the premier is a pretty boy, would feel insulted because I said the he is pretty (easy on the eye) or boy (not emotionally mature)? Would that be an insult to him as the premier, the OBA leader, the man or the black man (although no reference to colour is alluded, boy is a term that black men consider an insult to their manhood)?

        Just asking some questions on a very cold bleak, rainy London day.

        London, Engalnd

  13. more than enough says:

    are these tourism related matters, ie gambling, singapore, cruise ships, new york, etc…or are they not?
    what is the purpose of the t a again? i’m sure people are getting paid.
    where is this mysterious new entity conducting business?
    and how about their point of view, concerning marijuana tourism, as an added amenity, also medical marijuana tourism.
    i am sure it is a viable option,which should be discussed.
    considering the world opinion is changing, and 51% of americans(our closest neighbours, customers, and buisness partners. btw) agree that herb should be legalized.this, along with the fact, that state after state, are moving towards accepting legalized herb also in bda and internationally. for both medical and recreational use.
    time to pick this argument up off the floor, and give marijuana the place on the top shelf, that it deserves!
    even the president himself said that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes

  14. Voter says:

    Good work,Mr Premier!