Former MP Maxwell Burgess has urged Bermudians to end their 'them and us' antagonisms to expats and realise they are here to stay.

He said Bermuda's changing demographics were no different to America where the racial composition was shifting as Hispanics became more numerous.

Bermuda's reliance on international business was not going to alter, said Mr. Burgess who said the cranes all over Hamilton indicated that sector was still on the up.

Speaking a year after his decision to retire from politics Mr. Burgess told The Royal Gazette: "We already have one non-Bermudian in every four workers.

"It seems to me that number will grow. I don't think we are in a position to produce the number of Bermudians for those businesses.

"The real challenge for Bermuda in the 21st Century is we have to sit down and openly and honestly and talk about the non-Bermudians we invite to our shores to feed us — let's be open and honest about it.

"How are we going to treat them? How do we expect them to treat us? And how are we going to co-exist in this fish bowl?

"We are only 22 square miles. It is, in my view, critical to our success.

"Them and us will not work. We have to create this melting pot where we blend in together, understanding out common purpose, respecting our differences and understanding what each of us get out of the deal."

But he said there was less interaction between locals and expats than there was 20 years ago with guest workers feeling not welcome while Bermudians often felt left out of the economic success all around them. What we are seeing is less racial tension and more class tension."

And he said that the split could be seen between Bermudians scaling the heights of international business and the less well off working in blue collar jobs.

To tackle the alienation, he suggested a commission to look at poverty with bright children from poor homes given everything they needed to succeed.

He said Works and Engineering should give their minor projects to black contractors.

To those who would say that would be discriminatory, Mr. Burgess said Government already had A class contractors against whom the smaller firms were not allowed to compete on some projects.

"We can pull them up and they feel good about it. They are working for it. It is not a hand out. It's a hand up."

The feeling of success would permeate among families involved in those businesses, said Mr. Burgess, who also said technical education was vital for matching Bermudians with jobs in construction, auto trades, electronics and mechanics.

The Bermuda College could be the first step for further technical education abroad but he added more needed to be spent on boosting education here.

"We have got to pump some money in that place to make sure that we can service our students in 21st century technical education."