For some time now, this newspaper has had an active "Right to Know" campaign aimed at encouraging open government and transparency.

One of the primary targets of that campaign has been the Corporation of Hamilton, which has traditionally held its campaigns behind closed doors. Another has been the introduction of Public Access to Information or PATI legislation.

Earlier this month, the Government finally fulfilled its long standing promise and introduced a draft PATI bill, which is now being discussed publicly. This newspaper welcomes the fact the bill has been introduced, but has grave concerns about some of its conditions, which could make it very nearly useless. This newspaper will be making a submission on the bill, and will discuss it more fully then.

But the Corporation deserves full credit for opening a meeting. For now, this is a one off and just 20 members of the public will be able to attend. The limit on the audience size appears to be for practical reasons given the size of the Mayor's Parlour than out of any desire to restrict the size of the audience or bar entry to anyone.

Similar restrictions operate in the House of Assembly, where it is fairly common to have fewer than 20 spectators at any one time. But the principle is absolutely sound, and Mayor Charles Gosling and his team deserve full credit for fulfilling this election promise.

The members will no doubt find that having opened this meeting to the public, there is no reason why it should not continue to do so. And now that Hamilton has taken this step, there is no reason why St. George's should not follow suit. To be sure, there is some self interest involved here. Government's plans to either reform or abolish the Corporations remain alive, and in opening these meetings, the Corporation takes away one of the major criticisms against it.

The Corporation has also been criticized, with some justice, for its restricted franchise. It should move ahead with plans to expand the franchise, perhaps through an amendment to the Municipalities Act brought as a private member's bill, in the upcoming Parliamentary session. But for now, the Corporation deserves full marks.

Tax review

It is likely that the recommendation British Overseas Territories diversify their tax systems is aimed more at the Cayman Islands, which has run out of money and won't even consider a payroll tax or a land tax, than Bermuda. Nonetheless, it would appear that the Foot Report and the accompanying Deloitte report is looking at the problem through the wrong end of the telescope.

The problem that most overseas territories have is not with their tax systems but with economies that are usually based on one or two foreign exchange earners. Looked at from that perspective, Bermuda is as vulnerable as anywhere else. The current recession has demonstrated two things clearly: the extreme fragility of tourism and the reality that while international business has survived the recession and now looks to be recovering, it is unlikely that that growth will be accompanied by the kind of job growth seen over the last two decades.

So that makes the need for Bermuda to find the almost mythical third pillar of the economy more urgent than ever. And no, the answer is not gambling, for a host of reasons, not the least of which is its own vulnerability to external economic shocks.