20 December 2013

Dear Sir,

Time for a leap of faith, perhaps?

I read with interest the column penned by SAGE Commissioner Mr Don McKenzie on December 11 regarding the need to grow the Island’s resident population if Bermuda wants to end mass unemployment, grow paycheques, support those “most in need” and pay down its debt.

What caught my attention was Mr McKenzie’s suggestion that key pillars in Bermuda — unions, the Opposition and the OBA Government — had not addressed the need to grow the resident population, which he said was “the most important foundation for us to bring our economy back.”

As one who follows the Island’s public life closely, I was pretty sure the Government had made the point about growing the population time and again.

So I did a little search to see if I was right or wrong in my recollection of the matter. Here’s what I found: The Premier’s six-month address to Bermuda, July 8th: “Only by opening our doors to foreign investors, only by attracting more

people to our shores, can we achieve the kind of recovery that grows jobs and incomes for Bermudians. This is nothing new for Bermuda. We have always relied on foreign investment to grow the economy — whether through investors building hotels, allies constructing military bases or international businesses setting up shop.”

The November 2013 Throne Speech, outlining the Government’s priorities for the coming year: “Growing the economy, getting more people and dollars to our shores, is the most direct way to generate the jobs, paycheques and opportunity that Bermudians need. It is also the surest way to generate the revenue necessary to pay for social programmes and pay down the Island’s debt.

“Measures to refresh the Island’s attractiveness to international business and investors are a critical part of the Government’s economic turnaround plan. The damaging impact brought about by the departure of thousands of international workers and their families is a warning Bermuda must heed.

Steps to reverse this trend — to stop the bleeding — are being taken because jobs and opportunity at all levels of the economy depend on an international sector that is thriving, not diminishing.

“Bermudians can play their part in the turnaround by recognising the importance of international business to their personal well-being and to the larger community. The Island cannot succeed for its people without the participation of the outside world.”

And last Friday in the House of Assembly, Finance Minister E.T. (Bob) Richards continued making these points during the debate on the SAGE report. He said: “We cannot grow the economy without increasing the resident population. The influx of foreign workers, particularly of the well-compensated IB type, actually creates jobs for Bermudians. The simple truth is to grow the Bermuda we have to increase the resident population. Biologically it takes too long, therefore we have to import them. For some it is the inconvenient truth, but the truth nevertheless.”

It is pretty clear from these statements that the OBA Government understands what Mr McKenzie suggests it does not.

It is also pretty clear that the need to grow the economy, and the working population that comes with it, has been one of the Government’s core policies from Day 1. You can see it in all sorts of policy actions from the decisive move to end term limits, to lowered real estate licence fees, to increased incentives for job makers.

I think Bermudians understand that the fastest way to get back to work is to grow the demand for their services, whether that be for the construction worker, the lawyer, the hotel worker, the sales clerk or the accountant.

Growing demand has to start with growing the number of people, growing the market. I think many understand this argument in their gut but don’t enthusiastically support it because they can’t shake the suspicion, voiced by many over time, that it means Bermudians getting scraps instead of the main course.

People are going to have to come to their senses on that, and dismiss the voices whose arguments, when closely examined, offer them nothing but more of the same, or even worse. Government can help people over this hump of suspicion. On that point, I refer again to what was said in the recent Throne Speech: “The underlying challenge is for the Government to make sure Bermudian opportunity and workplace rights are protected while international workers are made welcome. Maintaining this balance is one of the Government’s most important duties. The passage in October of increased penalties for employers who breach immigration rules alongside the Incentives for Job Makers Act is an example of the Government maintaining that balance.”

So I guess, in the end, acceptance of the important need to grow the resident population comes down to the question of trust. Maybe, for the sake of more jobs, rental incomes, store sales, charitable donations and business opportunities, it’s time for a leap of faith.

What have we got to lose? Maybe almost everything.

D. MARTIN

Warwick