Video: OBA MPs Scott Pearman, Craig Cannonier
[Updated] Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs Scott Pearman and Shadow Minister for Works & Engineering Craig Cannonier are holding a joint press conference this afternoon [Feb 28] regarding the 2023/24 Budget. You can watch the live video below and view all our coverage of the 2023 Budget here.
Update: The live broadcast has ended, and the video is below:
Update 1.35pm: MP Pearman’s remarks:
Yesterday’s Legal Affairs Budget Debate shows very clearly how a new OBA Government would do things differently to fix Bermuda’s problems.
Four years ago, the Opposition laid out a creative plan to increase revenue in Bermuda’s court system.
The OBA proposed a tiered system for court fees in our commercial court.
Under this OBA proposal, expensive commercial cases will pay larger court fees to match the higher value of commercial claims.
This OBA solution would raise much needed revenue for Bermuda’s struggling justice system.
And what you should know is that the PLP does not disagree with this OBA plan.
The PLP have simply failed to deliver. Repeatedly. For four years.
The PLP has promised that changes are progressing, yet nothing has happened.
Yesterday, in the Budget Debate, the OBA also highlighted how our family court needs increased support.
The Minister bravely admitted to Parliament that there has been a 25% increase in child cases last year.
A 25% increase in cases involving Bermudian children.
We all need to pay attention folks.
Our commercial court is held in extremely high regard, locally and internationally.
Our commercial court deal with multi-billion dollar cases.
Our commercial court fees must be harnessed to better support our family court.
Likewise, our criminal justice system urgently needs focus and support.
When Bermuda’s top prosecutor — the main person responsible for putting the bad guys in jail – warns that our criminal justice system is “under attack” – we all need to pay attention.
The DPP is right to point out that Government cannot simply pass laws without providing effective funding.
It has been four years since the OBA proposed a funding solution.
The OBA has identified how we can harness our Commercial Court to get more money to our under-funded Family Court and Criminal Court.
So the PLP needs to deliver – or get out of the way.
These guys are hilarious.
Pure deflection. And little substance. Especially from Cannonier.
And just smugness from Pearman.
Sad bunch.
Can we just bring Dunkley back?
Politics has to about who is capable, not about other stuff.
Bermuda seems to have forgotten that, clearly.
You know why the obA made Cole leader!!! (smile) They always parade those men and women as the leader to make the party look diverse which is further from the truth. The only man who can actually get things done and run the party is Dunkley. Despite his lost at the last election he did stimulated the economy $$$$$$. The oba needs to stop the political games by having front men based on skin color and focus on placing the best men and women to get the job done.
“Politics has to about who is capable, not about other stuff.”
Modern politics is not about good or bad, right or wrong. It is about power and money. That is not confined to Bermuda. The same is true in the U.S. and the U.K.
The days of what is good for the 40 Thieves is good for Bermuda and Margaret Thatcher’s butcher shop budget balancing are long gone.