CEMENT COMPANY CRISIS

More than 1,500 construction industry jobs in Bermuda hung in the balance with no solid evidence that Government had arranged a back-up plan to fill the gap created by the decision to evict the Bermuda Cement Company from Dockyard at the end of December. Alex DeCouto, president of the Construction Association of Bermuda, said a drying up of bulk cement supply would lead to some job layoffs within a matter of days.

Minister of Works and Engineering Dennis Lister, said: "(Government) is assured that other private entrepreneurs are actively engaged in securing the ability to provide cement to the Island."

Three days later, fed-up cement supply workers staged a walk out and marched to the offices of the West End Development Corporation, demanding to know what was to happen to their jobs in the new year. Soon after that, it was revealed that Government made an offer to buy the Bermuda Cement Company, lock, stock and barrel and in the process avert a construction industry crisis.

But the company claimed that Government had offered to buy the Bermuda Cement Company for below the asking price. Government defended itself by saying it was trying to temporarily nationalise the bulk supply operation and prevent a construction industry crisis. On December 4, the final monthly cement supply ship left Bermuda and no more deliveries were on order. The next day, businessman Clifton Lambert named one of the world's biggest cement companies as the potential new bulk supplier for Bermuda.

Mr. Lambert said he had entered into a ten-year commitment with France's Lafarge cement and building materials company, which has global reach including North and South America and an operation in Martinique in the Caribbean.

TERRENCE SMITH'S –CONVICTION QUASHED

Terrence Smith's conviction for defrauding the Bermuda Housing Corporation of $1.2 million was quashed by the Court of Appeal, and a re-trial ordered. The court ruled that the foreman of the jury which convicted him, businessman Gerald Simons, was potentially biased due to being the half brother of former BHC chairwoman Valerie Dill.

Delivering their ruling on November 29, the three-strong appeal panel criticised both Chief Justice Richard Ground, who heard the trial, and Smith's former defence lawyer Larry Scott for allowing Mr. Simons to participate.

BERMUDA WAR VETS– CONTROVERSY

November 10: It was the war of the veterans this November when two separate charity collections for war veterans took place due to an ongoing dispute between the Bermuda War Veterans Association (BWVA) and the Royal British Legion (RBL). The BWVA broke with decades-old tradition and sold stickers instead of poppies, because the RBL, a global charity for veterans based in London, withdrew support from it in September and banned it from selling RBL poppies and keeping the funds as it had done for decades.

The BWVA has strenuously denied any wrongdoing. H. Francis Stephens, honorary secretary and trustee of the Association, said: "We are terribly angry because they are allegations without any foundation whatsoever." Former Bermuda Regiment captain Larry Burchall defended the BWVA.

The newspaper columnist and retired Defence Administrator explained that Bermuda War Veterans Association (BWVA) was only able to give funds to soldiers who have seen active service and not all Islanders who have served in the forces.

ELECTION FEVER

Speculation over a possible General Election ran rife all summer. On November 1, a half-page advert announcing the ending of the session of parliament had the public flustered with some wrongly thinking it meant an election had been called. The election date, December 18, was finally announced on November 2. The throne speech spoke of boosting education and home-ownership.

Free Bermuda College tuition for Bermudians in accredited programmes and boosts to various scholarships were pledged alongside plans to give interest-free down payment loans to 500 families for mortgages.

Information from several different polls conflicted, with one poll showing the United Bermuda Party ahead, and another showing the PLP with 45.5 percent of support compared to 37.7 percent for the United Bermuda Party. The later poll done by Research Innovations proved to be more accurate on December 18.

As the election countdown began, Dr. Brown sent an e-mail to colleagues urging them to pull together and save any leadership challenges until after the election.

For the first time, politicians tried to woo the younger vote by using Internet websites such as YouTube and My Space. Unfortunately, the attempt was not always successful. In August, Minister of Labour and Immigration Derrick Burgess was available for two hours in the evening to more than 5,000 Bermudian users of Facebook, a social networking site with more than 30 million members world wide.

Progressive Minds, the youth wing of the Progressive Labour Party, organised the online event to allow people to ask questions about the National Training Board (NTB). Seven questions were thrown out to Mr. Burgess. Nevertheless, Dr. Brown wasn't giving up on the Youth Vote, and at one point travelled overseas to court them, while the UBP put out a satirical video on YouTube.

Many young voters told The Royal Gazette they would cast their ballots based on the issues rather than party affiliation.

Nomination day registration on November 22, saw few surprises with 74 candidates registering and just two independent candidates including 'Son of the Soil' Harold Darrell running in Pembroke Central and Roger Russell to competing in Pembroke West Central. Meanwhile, The Parliamentary Registrar rejected claims that registration details for more than one in ten voters could be incorrect.

Randy Scott said claims by Voters' Rights Association President, Geoff Parker, that up to 13 percent of voters could be breaking the law in the forthcoming general election were "way off". He said the Parliamentary Registrar's Office constantly updated the details of individual voters as they moved or passed on.

Statistics

The Department of Tourism spent $75,000 sponsoring the World Tourism Summit in China. The three-day event was held in Beijing and was attended by hundreds of travel and tourism industry leaders from 24 nations around the world.

Tourism arrivals rose by almost a quarter last year, adding another $60 million to the economy. The 2006 Economic Impact Report for the Department of Tourism attributed the rise in visitors to cheaper air fares, in particular the arrival of carrier jetBlue.

From a total of $97.5 million spent locally and overseas on goods and services, the amount spent off-Island jumped half-a-million dollars to $5.9 million compared with the same month a year ago. That was a 9.6 percent rise on declared overseas purchases year-on-year.

Combined local and overseas retail sales were $700,000 higher than last September, with 6.1 percent of the total representing overseas spending, a slightly larger proportion of the total than the 5.6 percent recorded in 2006.