Bob Richards has told the island’s seniors that their pensions will be protected under the One Bermuda Alliance.

Speaking at a party press conference yesterday morning, the Minister of Finance said they would ensure pensions would not be used in “venture capital type investments”.

Mr Richards accused Opposition leader David Burt of wanting “to take $70 million or more from government-controlled pension funds and shift them to fund start-up companies in Bermuda”.

Mr Richards added: “Start-up companies are, by definition, very high-risk investments, essentially gambling with people’s retirement funds.”

In delivering “The People’s Budget”, the Opposition’s Reply to the Budget 2017-18, Mr Burt said the next PLP government would create a “Bermuda Fund”, which would be “seeded with a small portion of the pension funds that are under the control of the Government”. He said this would allow “Bermuda to tap into the investment expertise on the island, while providing an additional outlet for our large pension funds to invest more of their monies in Bermuda-based equity investments”.

While he added that the fund would have strict governance controls, he suggested it could be used to invest in “industries identified by the Economic Development Unit to diversify the economy”.

Meanwhile, an OBA spokesman pointed out that in his 2014 Reply to the Budget, Mr Burt had said the fund could be “seeded with 3 per cent of the pension funds that are under the control of the government”.

According to the spokesman, this would equal $70 million because the total public pension funds are at $2.3 billion.

Mr Richards added: “I take this opportunity to say unequivocally to Bermuda’s seniors, of which I am one, we will protect your pensions.

“We will not allow them to be used in venture capital type investments as we see on a TV show called Shark Tank.

“We will make sure pensions are responsibly and safely managed, as they are right now, while we will be providing cost of adjustments to social insurance and also the Civil Service pension fund.”

Opposition Leader David Burt responded later in the day, saying: “For all seniors, who receive social insurance, Minister Richards has made seniors wait longer for a pension increase than any other Finance Minister . . . ever. No Finance Minister has been as uncaring as Bob Richards making seniors wait five years for a pension increase. Now, two weeks before an election he wants you to believe that he will increase your pensions every year after five years of neglect.

“Bermudian seniors should not believe Minister Richard’s desperate scare tactics, and last minute promises, while he tries to run from the OBA record of increasing taxes, fees, and health insurance on seniors, while making them wait five years for a pension increase. Seniors’ pensions will be safe with the PLP and seniors will have a PLP Government that values them and will not tell them that “money doesn’t grow on trees”.

Speaking on Bermuda’s economy, Mr Richards also highlighted some of the OBA’s achievements during the past 4½ years, including the creation of jobs through the airport redevelopment and the St Regis development in the East End, and a “renaissance in tourism”.

The Civil Service had been cut by 650 people “without laying off one civil servant”, he said, and reiterated that “we are on track to have a balanced budget by 2018, which will be the first time in about 20 years and that will enable us to start finally paying down this mountain of debt that we’ve accumulated”.

Mr Richards also highlighted the two major capital projects mentioned in the platform — the rebuild of the Causeway and the rebuild of the Hamilton waterfront, adding: “We’re going to do this in a fiscally prudent and responsible manner.

“The bottom line is that the public purse today is in much better shape than it was 4½ years ago and we are moving in the right direction. And that’s important because we will be in a better position to serve the needs of Bermudians if government finances are in good shape.”

Meanwhile, Nalton Brangman, the OBA candidate for Warwick South East, said the remediation process at Morgan’s Point, which began in 2013, was complete.

He said the Government’s infusion of cash there made “a major difference with many Bermudians getting work”, adding: “I can tell you that at some times there were well over 100 Bermudians working at any given time.”

Ray Charlton, OBA candidate for Sandys North, highlighted some of the work done in the West End.

The chairman of West End Development Corporation said: “The team up there did a splendid job — we’ve spent close to $15 million in the past 2½ years on building renovations.

“And now, with the close of the America’s Cup, we have restored buildings that can be used for commerce, for creating additional jobs.”

He added that in the past 2½ years, more than 200 contracting firms were employed and “conservatively, without fear of being factually incorrect, I can tell you that we’ve employed more than 500 Bermudians”.

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