This is the full text of Premier Dr. Ewart Brown's speech to delegates at the Progressive Labour Party conference delivered on Thursday night:

As I prepared myself for this Conference and particularly to address you this evening, I vividly recalled that incredible night of November 9, 1998 – just about 10 years ago – when there was a sea of PLP members and supporters dancing on Court Street. I thought about the years of minutes, hours and days that were sacrificed by our Party leaders in order to get us to that one night.

So, before we go any further, I am going to ask for a moment of silence in memory and honour of Dr. E.F. Gordon, Dr. L. Frederick Wade, Dr. Paulu Kamarakafego, and Dame Lois Browne Evans. These were pathfinders who gave so much of themselves in order for us to one day reign victorious.

I have been thinking about the 10 years since that fateful night in 1998. Last night we gave honour to our present PLP Government, and tonight I want to give honour to our past Governments as well. First, I want to ask our first PLP Premier Dame Jennifer Smith to stand.

Former Premier Alex Scott – please stand.

Will all former Cabinet Members please stand?

And finally, will all former Parliamentarians and Senators please stand?

Many of you may ask why I tend to continuously honour our ancestors and our former members of government. It is because we have come so far and accomplished so much that often we need to remind ourselves of the struggle that occurred to get us here. I never want us as a Party to forget upon whose shoulders we stand because I never want us to forget that we have to be held accountable for that struggle. We must achieve measurable results to build upon our esteemed history and to prepare for our illustrious future.

So, let me first report our most stunning accomplishment since we last met here:

We won the General Election!!!!! Thanks to all of you and all of our supporters Island-wide, we were able to return to Government and continue on our path of positive change for all Bermudians. I have news to report on many fronts of Government activity, because our accomplishments are vast and numerous. In the interest of time, I am only going to highlight a few from each Ministry.

· In a bold display of progressive leadership, our Ministry of Finance moved from a few buckets of paint to the finalization and approval by Cabinet of the Economic Empowerment Zone Design Plan – our plan to totally revitalize a part of the Bermuda community that has been sorely neglected for years. Many start-up businesses will benefit from deferred payment of customs duty and in some cases, full duty relief. And, there is a new energy around Court Street, there are new business initiatives, new investment – all due to your PLP government. We now have the For the People Banquet to visually illustrate and celebrate that we are shaking things up and turning things around for the people and businesses around Court Street – and as a result, for all of Bermuda.

· We have the continued expansion and growth  of the Construction Incubator Programme, which facilitates strategic partnerships on Government capital projects;

· The successful prosecution and receipt of $22 million in confiscated assets as a result of a Ministry of Finance led action against a company in violation of our financial laws and regulations, and;

· A glowing IMF report on insurance, which is worth its weight in gold to our credibility as a premier international financial center.

· We have made great strides in providing housing to Bemudians. We’ve introduced rent geared to income housing, we’ve increased emergency housing, and we opened the 1st phase of the 96-unit Loughlands Complex, with new units of affordable housing on the way – thanks to the Housing Ministry.

· In the Education Ministry, we passed amendments to the Education Act to create a new Board of Education, Commissioner of Education, increased the school leaving age from 16 to 18 years and legislated accountability for teachers and principals, which we believe will put us on the right road to totally revamp our education system.

· Tuition is free at Bermuda College, and we are happy that so many new Bermudian students are taking advantage of this opportunity – student enrollment has doubled.

· We increased the value of the Bermuda Government Scholarships that now award students studying abroad with full paid tuition and fees, free room and board, and free round-trip airfare.

· In our Health Ministry, we are continuing our planning for the Urgent Care Centers and the Hospital, and were able to break ground on the Urgent Care Center in the East.

· We extended services to HIP and cleared up a long-standing backlog in HIP for doctors and patients.

· We developed partnerships with the Bermuda Hospitals Board, especially the Dana Farber Center for cancer care, and we were successful in awarding 12 Barbara Ball Scholarships to students studying in the Health field.

· And, where we could clearly see differently, we refused to take no for an answer. Our Environment and Sports Minister was told that the wicket at the National Sports Center was only good for growing carrots, so there had not been an international match on the wicket in years. With the collaboration of groundsmen from around the Island, we developed a wicket that has successfully hosted 2, international 4-day matches – one against Scotland and one against Namibia.

· That Ministry has also been deeply involved in streamlining the Department of Planning to make the processes more efficient and user-friendly, reviving Bermuda’s citrus culture and opening the new Coopers Island Nature Reserve for all of Bermuda to enjoy.

· The Ministry of Telecommunications and Energy is making steady progress on telecommunications reform, preparing a green paper on energy, and revamping the Information Technology Office.

· I am extraordinarily pleased and proud to state that the Free Day Care Program that was part of our Election Platform will start on November 3, thanks to the hard work of the Ministry of Social Rehabilitation. More funds will be available for financial assistance for our needy citizens and a National Drug Strategy is being implemented. Importantly, for the first time, Bermuda witnessed the opening of a transitional home for women in recovery. How many of you have been brought to tears, as I have, by tuning in to CITV and witnessing these beautiful young children of ours pledge to turn their lives around through the Mirrors program? And how many of you were at the National Sports Centre for the first National Heroes Day celebration honoring our very own Dame Lois Evans? All of this has been due to the work of the Ministry of Culture and Social Rehabilitation.

· One of our most important legislative achievements of our Attorney General and Ministry of Justice was the passing of the War Service Amendment Bill, which extended pensions and benefits to persons who served with the Militia Artillery and other Bermuda military units at home and abroad during World War II. This was necessary in order to ensure that many of our distinguished Black veterans receive benefits to which they were entitled.

· As many of you are acutely aware, we implemented Electronic Tagging to help make our roads safer. We amended Immigration provisions to further protect Bermuda land from foreign purchase, and we amalgamated all of our fire and rescue services into one service to unify our procedures and enhance our efficiencies.

· We completed an $18 million taxiway and apron resurfacing project at the Airport, installed long-range radar and completed the Airport Master Plan. We have experienced a 30% growth in the Aircraft Registry, executed a new agreement with Norwegian and Holland American cruise lines. In Tourism and Transport, we are also happy to report that we negotiated a new 2-year contract with the PGA of America to host our 3rd and 4th Grand Slam Golf Tournaments here in Bermuda at our newly renovated Government-owned Port Royal Golf Course.

As a Party, we can be very proud. We were never elected to keep the UBP’s model of Government in place for whenever they returned. We were elected on a mantra of positive change, which we are steadily accomplishing.

Ten years ago, radio stations across the land were playing the song Hold on, Change is coming…they were playing that with a twofold purpose…to shore up our supporters and to remind us on our way into the halls of power just what we were supposed to do.

That call for change means that we must challenge ourselves to work everyday like an election was tomorrow. The intensity of our commitment must always be measured by asking and answering the question, What have we done today to enhance the lives of our people tomorrow?

The answer must lie not just in concrete and glass and legislative enactments. We must feel it, hear it and see it. Our children and our children’s children must know that we passed this way, and that we made a difference in their everyday lives. That is why we must continue to name streets, schools and public places after people who have been part of this journey to freedom for all. That is why this PLP government commissioned the first public art in Bermuda from Mussy Ming for those lost at sea. That is why the works of Charles Lloyd Tucker and Chesley Trott are prominently displayed at the airport. That is why a Bermuda Idol singer became the first Bermudian ever to sing the U.S. National Anthem in front of thousands at Shea Stadium.

And that is why we are reaching way back into Bermuda’s history to give proper acknowledgement to an oppressed slave who is reputed to have fought back against the tyranny of human bondage in the only way she knew how. Sally Bassett courageously and defiantly burned at the stake because she simply wanted to be free. She could not have dreamt that one day, a PLP government comprised mainly of people who are Black like she was, would one day control the government that enslaved her. Certainly, she could not have dreamt that one day a statue of her would one day stand on the Cabinet grounds of the Government that burned her.

As this second decade of a PLP Government dawns upon us, I am proud to say that we have come a long way.

Our party apparatus is a leaner, more efficient, and younger political machine. It is a dynamic force upon the Bermudian political landscape, and there is no more evidence of that than our election victory on December 18, 2007. Our Chairman, David Burt, is one of the unsung heroes. David was amazing and I want to acknowledge his extraordinary efforts.

I also want to acknowledge members of our Candidate Selection Committee, who worked hard to field candidates for each of our 36 constituencies. Would you please stand?

Our Campaign Committee put together our overall strategy and worked around the clock stoking, starting and putting out fires that led to our phenomenal win. Would the members of our Campaign Committee please stand?

It took each and every one of them, our PLP officers, our delegates, our staff and each and every one of you to secure that victory. We can all be proud.

Meanwhile, there have been a couple of other committees that have been working hard – our Fundraising Committee and our Building Fund Committee. One of my promises as leader was that I would seek to make us financially whole and secure.

I would like for Zane DeSilva to stand as Chair of the Building Fund Committee, because as a result of combining the funds that Zane raised with some of the funds that were raised at our Premier’s Gala, I have news to share that will be music to our ears.

The Bermuda Progressive Labour Party is now the proud, free and clear owner of Alaska Hall – we have paid off our mortgage.

As this second decade of a PLP Government dawns upon us, I want to caution us that we cannot rest upon our laurels. We have accomplished a lot, but we still have a tremendous amount of work to do. We must continue to fight everyday for all of our people. We must continue to open doors down hallways we did not even know existed. And we must continue to stay strong in the face of those who would use any means necessary to destabilize this Party – indeed, this Government. We must never be distracted and we must never quit.

The Bermuda Progressive Labour Party must march into the next decade with a rich history at our back, and with our eyes glued forward toward a future where all of Bermuda’s citizens are totally free to participate fully in every aspect of its bounty.

I end by paraphrasing the words of the great African-American abolitionist, Harriet Tubman, who escaped into Canada out of slavery, but went back to the States many times to bring other slaves to freedom. She would say to them:

We must keep going…

If we get tired, we must keep going…

If we get hungry, we must keep going…

If we get scared, we must keep going…

If we want to taste freedom, we must keep going.

Let us stand.

PLP all the way. All the way, PLP.