May 24, Bermuda Day, marks the traditional start of our summer. The annual Bermuda Day Parade is enjoyed by thousands of Bermudians and visitors as both participants and spectators.

The Appleby Half Marathon Derby and Sinclair Packwood Memorial Race involve hundreds of runners and cyclists taking to the roads. Fitted dinghy sailors begin their season in St George’s Harbour. Some brave souls even go in the ocean for their first swim of the year.

Bermuda Day is all about celebrating our heritage and all that it means to be Bermudian.

Unlike other Bermuda holidays that may, for example, be celebrated on the last Friday of a certain month, Bermuda Day has always been celebrated on May 24 no matter if it is a weekday or weekend.

If May 24 does fall on a weekend, we take the following Monday as a holiday.

In the last session of the House of Assembly, the Opposition introduced a Bill that would have shifted Bermuda Day from May 24 to the Friday before the US Memorial Day in May.

On a personal level, I, and others in the One Bermuda Alliance, were open to the possibility of moving the date of the holiday. However, the Opposition’s Bill was poorly drafted and, had it passed, all holidays after May 24 would have been deleted from the Public Holidays Act. Cup Match, Christmas and other holidays would have been outlawed.

When this flaw was pointed out, the Opposition attempted to make an amendment, but chose to rise and report progress because Government had said it did not support the amendment for a number of reasons, plus it did not believe a majority of the community actually supported the change.

The Bill remains on the Order Paper, but has not been taken up for debate.

To get a better feel for community reaction, we did conduct a poll in December to gauge people’s feelings on changing the day on which the holiday is celebrated.

The poll showed that 57 per cent of people want the holiday to remain as it is and 40 per cent want it to change. Those voters between the ages of 18 and 34 were most in support (69 per cent) of not changing the date.

In light of the poll results, and other consultations with the public and stakeholders on this issue, Government MPs said they were unwilling to support changing the date on which the May 24 holiday is celebrated. I question whether Progressive Labour Party MP Michael Weeks has sought out the responses from the poll that was conducted, or whether his party has initiated an independent poll that gives a different result.

The other motive is that this may be political mischief and simply the Opposition’s attempt to be seen to be doing something, while trying to distract from the work the OBA is engaged in to revive our economy and move Bermuda forward.

It is unlikely that the Opposition will explain what their intentions are with this attempt to revive a dead issue, but one thing is clear — for this year at least, Bermuda Day will continue to be celebrated on May 24.

• Nandi Outerbridge is MP for St George’s West and Junior Minister for Community, Culture and Sports