During a dinner with Bermudian students in Canada, Premier Ewart Brown defended his position on closing the Medical Clinic and the gay and lesbian cruise planned by Rosie O’Donnell.

On the topic of the Medical Clinic closure, the Premier said: “Health care should not be based on a person’s financial status, but on a health situation.”

And he promised his new system would provide “a higher level of care” for those formerly served by the clinic with over 13 doctors, which have signed on, some of which will make house calls. He added: “Transportation will be provided when necessary and the needy will have prescription access.”

In defense of Rosie O’Donnell’s Norwegian Dawn cruise from New York for gay and lesbian families, Dr. Brown cited Bermuda’s anti-discrimination laws. He said: “If we discriminate against a cruise ship, then we would have to send a homosexual detection unit to the airport.”

The dinner, which was the last stop on the Premier’s college tour, was sponsored by the Bermudian public, the private sector and the Nova Scotia Business Inc., the business development agency for the province.

The event attracted 80 Bermudian students, attending Canadian universities such as Dalhousie, St. Mary’s, Mount St. Vincent, St. Francis Xavier and Acadia University. Other questions asked by the students focused on topics such as the environment, the hospitality industry and affordable housing.

However, the dinner, which was held at the World Trade Convention Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Saturday, had a second goal, which was to help students network.

Twenty recruiters representing Bermuda’s public and private sector including Butterfield Bank, the Bermuda Hospitals Board and New Venture Holdings Ltd, the island’s largest business sector employer, were seated among the students during dinner.

As part of the evening, a networking game designed by the Bank of Butterfield gave recruiters the chance to rate students on their networking skills and those who achieved the highest score won prizes.

At 18,600 points, Omar Lodge was by far the best at networking and received a lap top computer. While in the 10,000 point range, Anthony Effs won an Ipod, Omar Dill received a round trip to Bermuda and Jason Wade won a cell phone.

Danielle Cross, a 21 year old psychology major at St. Mary’s University, said: “As soon as I graduate I want to get a job in my field, which is social work. Being here will help me communicate with different representatives and pass my resume around. Hopefully I can keep in contact with these people when I look for a job later on.”