PLP backbencher Glenn Blakeney stood by comments made earlier by Community Affairs and Sport Minister Dale Butler - that international business should be taxed.

“Why should be have to acquiesce to tax, no matter how slight,” Mr. Blakeney said.

He said international business can't be immune to Bermuda's social challenges.

He also understood businesses will be “very receptive to exploring opportunities outside of the tax structure relative to the particular industry”.

“We have a buoyant economy,” he said. “Some would say overcharged, or overheated.”

For housing to receive $25 million was “no drop in the bucket!” he said.

“I think we are the only Commonwealth country not to have an office in London,” Mr. Blakeney said of Government intent to have a London lobbying office.

In a recent visit he had shared dinner with representatives from the House of Lords and House of Commons and engaged in “enlightening discussion and serious dialogue.”

He said they were surprised when they discovered Bermuda with some of its political endeavours - like independence - did not have a presence in London.

“I don't understand what the thinking of the UBP are?” he said. “What are they afraid of?”

Speaking on Opposition Leader Wayne Furbert's wish to include the PLP in a UBP Cabinet, Mr. Blakeney was not sure how that would fit into a Westminster style of government.

“It makes absolutely no sense,” he said.

He also stated if a “leak” was ever discovered, the UBP would blame the solo PLP MP and cast them aside.

On an increase of foreign workers, he said many Bermudians had given up positions not seen to be “glamour jobs”.

However, employers still have to operate their businesses, and had to bring in staff from overseas.

Government cared for seniors, he said as seniors who needed constant prescriptive medicines now had assistance.

Traffic congestion was growing to become, if not so already, an acute problem, he said.

Health and Family Services Minister Patrice Minors encouraged the public to see the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute as a service to the community.

“The community are encouraged to look at it as a community facility,” Ms Minors said. “Not with the stigma attached to it in the past.”

The mental hospital received increased funding of seven percent to $29 million, she said.

However, discussion of the Bermuda Hospital Board (BHB) Estate Master Plan continued for the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, she said.

“We will have continued discussion in the years to come,” she said. “We will have an institution far more advanced. But it is frustrating when I hear of people speaking negatively of the facility.”

She said there were great plans for KEMH.

A St. George's Rest Home was expected to be handed over in June, she said.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann would advertise for staff for the St. George's Rest Home soon, she said, as well as selecting which residents will be received there.

“My vision is to see a replication of what I see in St. George's at Lefroy House,” she said.

And a Pembroke Rest Home will meet the needs of seniors in the central parishes, she said.

She said that was the vision she saw Government going towards.

Speaking on avian flu, she said great work was being done to prevent its spread to the Island.

And an expert even told her Bermuda was further along than the US in its preparedness, which spoke volumes about the wonderful efforts of the Health Department she said.