Candidate rollout remarks by Jon Brunson, OBA candidate Constituency 29, Southampton West, November 1, 2012

Thank you, Craig, and good morning ladies, gentlemen, members of the press, to the residents of Constituency 29, Southampton East, and Bermuda in general.

I am sure that many of you are wondering why I have decided to return to politics.  The best way to explain why is to explain to you what I believe in.

As a single father who has actively participated in raising two fantastic young adults, I believe that a strong family structure is vital to success.  For the family to succeed it needs some essential components to survive.  Today, Bermuda’s family unit is wounded and struggling just to make it to the next day, to have a roof over its head, to feed its children and put food on the table.  The truth is times are hard and getting harder every day.

Read our platform brief on Cost of Living.

By E.T. (Bob) Richards, Shadow Finance Minister, October 28, 2012

The Department of Statistics on Friday confirmed what most Bermudians already knew, that 2011 was a year of recession, our third in a row.

Economic conditions since then leave little room to conclude anything other than that 2012 will be Bermuda’s fourth straight year of recession.

This poor record stands in contrast to our major trading partners and our neighbours to the south whose economies have emerged from recession with positive growth.

And it points to homegrown reasons for Bermuda’s protracted and stubborn recession. These include policies that alienated international businesses, tourism marketing failures, undisciplined spending and skyrocketing debt that hobbled Government’s ability to stimulate economic growth and ease recessionary pressures on people.

The One Bermuda Alliance represents a different approach to economic leadership. We will take a balanced approach in which we implement responsible policies to grow and protect Bermudian jobs while exercising prudent and disciplined financial management.

We will govern to protect and grow the short- and long-term interests of Bermudians, making sure we have the resources in place to take advantage of economic opportunities and to weather the storms that inevitably come our way.

And it is on that last point – protecting the security of the people – that speaks to a more fundamental issue of responsibility and duty.

On the weekend, a local economist asked to comment on the Island’s economic decline said the Government’s ability to stimulate recovery was “almost out of firepower’’.

That is a revealing statement that points to a basic failure on the part of the Government.

If the Government had been looking out for the interests of the Bermudian people, it would have made sure the public purse was strong enough to help people in tough economic times.

This harkens back to the Biblical parable about of saving during the fat years to prepare for the lean years.

The reality today is that this Government was not thinking about the long-term security of the people, or of Bermuda as a whole, when it spent lavishly during the fat years.

And so we saw years of waste, excess and arrogance bleed the public purse and drive us into debt.

Almost as bad has been the Government’s lack of contrition and acknowledgement for its role in where Bermuda finds itself today.

And so we have a Government that has left itself few resources – ‘firepower’ – to help people who need help.

We consider this a failure of the first magnitude. A government’s first priority is to ensure the safety and security of its people and in this the Government is failing the people.

A One Bermuda Alliance Government will give Bermuda the fresh start it needs. We cannot afford five more years of the country being governed by ‘me-first thinking’. It’s time for change. It’s time to put the people first.