Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister has reaffirmed his promise to host a summer summit involving the whole community on how many people the Island can comfortably hold.

Asked if he would be advocating a cap on work permit limits, Mr. Lister said it was up to the whole of Bermuda to decide the answers.

The sustainable development conference would comprise business, the international community and ordinary Bermudians, said Mr. Lister if his party is re-elected.

He said: "How many people can we have, how many houses can we build and still have open spaces for people to live properly?"

Mr. Lister said he attributed a lot of violence to people living on top of each other.

"We need to assess the best thing overall for Bermuda."

Companies would be hit with heavy fines for employing people without work permits and it was unfair to put all the blame on the individual worker, said Mr. Lister.

Companies who break the law continually will have a hard time getting future work permits, said Mr. Lister who said legitimate business groups would agree. Firms abusing workers and breaking the Employment Act 2000 would also find themselves at the back of the work permit queue, said Mr. Lister while individual expatriate employers could find their permits being pulled.

A PLP government would also examine a Bermudian parent's relationship with their child born overseas before granting that child status.

If there was no evidence of a strong financial and emotional link, status would not be granted.

He said the PLP had fulfilled its promise to offer status or residency to long term residents, introduced work permit limits and ended automatic rollover of permits.

"We are proud of the success of our policies, success that can be measured, in part, by the number of letters from employers terminating the services of the work permit holder because the position has been filled by a Bermudian. The automatic permission given to families of work permit holders to reside in Bermuda has been removed.

"From June onwards, work permit holders must prove they have the means to house and support their families."

For the Opposition Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said: "For far too long Bermudians have been made to feel like second-class citizens in their own home. "Immigration laws and enforcement have not been able to generate confidence among local workers.

"The New United Bermuda Party is determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past."

She said her party would ensure the balance between business interests and protecting jobs for Bermudians is maintained.

"Since 1998 the number of work permits has increased dramatically and with the continued rapid growth of international business, the need for tough but fair policies will be essential. "We must eliminate the red tape that hampers legitimate applications while increasing the penalties on those who would seek to subvert our immigration laws."

She said Bermuda needed to be flexible to stay competitive as a first class business jurisdiction.

"We will work with business to identify areas where Bermudians are needed and develop long term educational and training strategies to fill those jobs."

She said her party would identify incentives for companies to recruit and train Bermudians to not only fill entry level positions but to also identify paths for upward occupational mobility. "With the many Bermudians employed at middle management, as well as entry-level positions, we must hold firm to the commitment that those jobs are never jeopardised.

"Finally, the burden of proof to hire any foreign worker must always be placed squarely at the door of the business making the application.

"We will require that all jobs involving immigration permission be posted on a website so that Bermudians get first shots at jobs.

"We will not issue work permits if qualified Bermudians are available to fill the applying companies' needs."

Proactive long-term immigration planning in cooperation with the business community will help alleviate this, said Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin.

"We don't think the term limits on work permits have been thought through sufficiently by the Smith Government, and the result may be very different than what is intended."