The Bermuda economy will not be salvaged through austerity or expenditure cuts alone.

When everything is said and done, we need to grow our economy and therefore create jobs.

The nature of politics is for each party to tell you why they have the answers to grow our economy. Additionally, each party will tell its electorate that the other party is not capable of achieving this goal. This is counterproductive and will not solve any problems.

A strategy to growing our economy cannot be solved solely by one party or one group of people. In other words, we as Bermudians need a unified understanding of what we need to do to reignite economic growth.

The key to solving any problem is agreeing on what the problem is. We must first agree on what has caused the declining economy and then address the problem systematically. While this sounds simple in practice, a lot of the rhetoric in Bermuda demonstrates a lack of understanding of why we are in our current situation (or a lack of conviction to honestly state the problem).

In its most simple form, the primary cause of recent economic woes in Bermuda is a residential population decline over the past few years. By this I mean a decline in the number of people (Bermudians and non-Bermudians) working and living on Island.

Since 2010, we have lost 2,000 work permits. Assuming that each permit represents 2 additional family members, this equates to 6,000 less residents. It is not a question of if our population has declined, but by how much.

We see the effects on a daily basis: failing businesses, redundancies, emptier schools, unrented apartments and empty office buildings. We also see lower tax revenues for Government, thereby hindering their ability to deliver essential services.

A population decline such as the one we have experienced would have a similar effect in other countries.

The population decline has had two broad effects:

n The local economy has shrunk because less people are spending money on groceries, rents, clothing and all other items that residents spend money on

n The reduced number of people who are left in Bermuda have to share an increased burden of costs. These costs include paying for Government, our schools, hospitals and healthcare costs, energy costs, charities etc. This is made worse as the remaining population ages and consumes more healthcare.

The basic fact is that we have declining revenues and increased costs for each resident.

The stark reality is that as Bermuda has a flat population growth rate, the only way to increase our resident population is to retain and, more importantly, to attract non Bermudians to live and work in Bermuda. This is also important because we need non-Bermudians to bring foreign capital into our local economy.

When we have the necessary and appropriate level of non-Bermudian residents, what happens is that we grow our economy and we all share the costs (including providing prosperity that can support those most in need).

If we take a stance that discourages non Bermudians from living here and participating fully in our economy, our fortunes will continue to decline and employment will not increase for Bermudians. Our guest residents don’t take away jobs from Bermudians — it is the opposite. This is why the loss of work permits has contributed to higher unemployment among Bermudians.

At this time, this should be the immediate discussion point for our economic future.

Let us stop blaming the global economy. It won’t solve anything and no one cares.

We are still in recession after others (including similar jurisdictions such as Cayman) are in growth mode. Many countries would like to have our situation whereby a simple commitment to allow “foreigners” to reside and invest was a clear path to improving the economy.

We have no other sources or means of attracting foreign capital. We have no natural resources to sell nor do we have a bail out partner. No Government (be it the OBA or the PLP) will directly create or guarantee jobs for Bermudians. The only real thing Governments can do is to create policies and a framework to foster an environment that encourages job creation. Conversely, bad policies can harm an economy.

Our Government cannot meet its pension obligations, it cannot cover its own expenses and its fiscal status means that it now has limited flexibility for assisting even the most disadvantaged Bermudians. This is a disturbing fact that we need to absorb.

The appropriate increase in our resident population is our path forward.

Once we all understand this issue fully, we can then decide if we want the economy to grow or if we want the economy to decline. It will be a decision based on understanding the problem and seeing if we can accept the solution.

If we do reject the notion of increasing our resident population, we must accept the consequences. These consequences will be a poorer country with a lower standard of living. The gap that exists between the haves and the have-nots will grow.

A declining population and prosperity are not partners.

We have the ability, if we so choose, to attract non-Bermudians to reside here. This will not be easy because we compete for expatriates with other jurisdictions. In some cases, we will need to create new sectors that will entice people to come to Bermuda and the process will be incremental and time consuming. This is why we need to understand this and develop the unified strategy to execute a plan now. It is likely we are going to have to create additional incentives to attract people to reside here.

Accepting this reality still requires us to deal with important issues:

n we need to ensure that Bermudians are preferentially treated with respect to new employment opportunities and

n we need ensure that Bermudian workers (particularly our youth) are trained to meet the demands of a global economy so that there are maximum job opportunities for Bermudians

It is unclear to me that the PLP, the OBA and other key stakeholders (such as the unions) are willing to acknowledge or admit to the resident population issue, thereby bringing proper and effective solutions to the table.

I challenge the OBA, the PLP and other key stakeholders to communicate clearly to all Bermudians that they recognise this issue and more importantly, are willing to provide a unified strategy on how to address our economic situation.

I would also ask Bermudians to not make this a debate on racial or socio-economic lines. We need clear heads and rational thought based on simple economic truths.

We need to be mindful that simply growing our economy does not address the continuing socio-economic and racial inequality we face. However, a growing economy provides a better foundation to create jobs and more importantly to have the resources to address inequalities. A declining economy widens the gap between those who have and those who do not have.

We cannot let the racial inequality reality in Bermuda (a separate and more important issue to address) to be used as a diversion to cloud economic necessity. I need to acknowledge this point so that people see the population strategy in the right context; simply as the most important foundation for us to bring our economy back.

Sometimes, these types of arguments appear theoretical and are often hard to put into context, particularly when much of the real debate has been side stepped. So let me put this in a more personal and understandable frame. Although privileged to now call myself Bermudian, I came to Bermuda in 1989 as a “foreigner” on a work permit. I am the face of the non-Bermudian.

By arriving and living in Bermuda, I was enabled to put capital into the Bermuda economy, create jobs and make some Bermudians (from all backgrounds, black and white) wealthy along the way.

I am the face of the “foreigner” and if we reject the concept of non-Bermudians living and working in Bermuda, we are rejecting critical contributions of people like me and all of the past and present non-Bermudian and guest workers who have brought intellectual capital, foreign capital and economic growth for Bermudians.

Every guest worker and non-Bermudian residing on our island (at all levels) provides a significant contribution to our prosperity by directly and indirectly creating jobs for Bermudians. In many cases, this is done by doing no more than simply living on the Island and spending money here.

Let us see if our politicians and stakeholders show the leadership to openly acknowledge that our declining resident population is a key cause of much of our economic woes. They have a responsibility to promote a debate and solutions based on the facts. If they can’t lead the debate, then we as the citizens should. Specifically, the Government, the Opposition and the unions need to accept and place the resident population issue front and centre.

Secondly, let us make them accountable for formulating a solution in a bi-partisan and thoughtful manner.

We can no longer afford to engage in side debates that avoid or ignore this core economic fact. It is a disservice to our unemployed and disadvantaged Bermudians.

Don MacKenzie sat on the Spending and Government Efficiency Commission. His opinions are his own.