If the first public meeting on Independence is anything to go by, attendees should be prepared to hear very little that they don?t already know and, when asking questions, to be prepared to be told by the Bermuda Independence Commission that it does not have the answers either.

That is no bad thing. These meetings are intended as much for the Commission to hear what people?s concerns are and to find out what questions the public wants answered. And if the commission sticks to its mandate of fact-finding rather than being a platform for strong positions for or against Independence, then it will not be making many hard and fast recommendations on the Island?s possible path. It should instead be outlining options and relaying the advantages and disadvantages of following particular routes and the costs associated with them.

A case in point is whether Bermuda would continue with the Privy Council as the Island?s final court of appeal. Commission member Rolfe Commissiong said, surely to no one?s surprise, that Britain would have no problem with Bermuda continuing to use the court after Independence.

One would expect the Commission to also report that Bermuda could join the still aborning Caribbean Court of Justice (assuming it is formed following its own referendum). It would then compare the pros and cons of the two panels and acknowledge the business community?s stated preference for the Privy Council.

Mr. Commissiong, whose own support for Independence is well known and unambiguous, seemed to be trying to make the point that the fact that Bermuda could retain the Privy Council should assuage the concerns of those who are uneasy about Independence. He is right; it should. But it would do nothing to assuage concerns that at some point after Independence, the Government of the day would decide it wanted to dump the Privy Council for some other court of appeal. The Commission needs to examine how provisions of the Constitution are entrenched and what options Bermuda could look at for changing the Constitution later.

Aside from these issues, the Commission?s bigger problem lies in trying to compare the tangible disadvantages of Independence such as the loss of British passports, additional costs for foreign policy, defence and the like with the mainly intangible advantages such as increased national pride and the fascinating metaphor on Friday, which was that Independence was natural, like having a baby, and that one did not worry about the costs of either of those life-changing events.

Leaving aside the fact that most people worry a lot about the costs of childbearing, this points up the challenge the Commission faces in comparing apples and oranges. Assuming that once the Commission has done its work, the Government, and presumably, the Opposition will have to take positions on the different options, then this problem will be even worse.

That?s because telling voters how Bermuda won?t change is not enough. If the bulk of Bermudians are satisfied with the status quo, then they need a compelling reason to take the leap of faith that Independence requires. So far, no one has come up with one.