Minister for Tourism and Telecommunications Renee Webb last night said she made no apologies for stating that she wanted "people like her" to succeed on the Island - and said institutionalised racism was alive and well in Bermuda.

In a passionate speech in the House of Assembly, Ms Webb said Government - since coming into power in November, 1998 - had attempted to spread the wealth by offering contracts to companies owned by Bermudians.

But she said the Opposition United Bermuda Party had chosen to misinterpret that "honourable intention" and had claimed, instead, that the Progressive Labour Party was benefiting where black Bermudians had only been offered a chance to own something.

In responding to the Opposition's reply to the Throne speech, Ms Webb said the only reason such furore had been created over the new $70 million Berkeley Institute was because general contractor, Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd, was owned by black Bermudians.

And she said so much had been made of whether or not a performance bond had been secured before the start of construction last year. Said she had gone back and studied many previous major contracts and found that they had never had performance bonds put in place.

She said: "I did a little bit of research.

"Was there one in place for CedarBridge - no.

"Was there one for Westgate - no.

"Was there one for the airport - no", and Ms Webb continued to list major construction works of the past where she claimed performance bonds were not in place.

"Your mindset tells you that blacks are going to fail. They want to know where the performance bond is.

"THEY did not have performance bonds in place.

"It's a sad thing that in 2002, racism still permeates in the minds of those people on the other side of the House."

The Minister said that for the first time in the history of the country, a black firm was in charge of a major project.

She added: "All they want to know is, is it behind'?"

Ms Webb said the Government had a choice of a Canadian company to build the school or a Bermudian company, so Government had done the right thing and opted for the Bermudians.

"I wanted to have a Bermudian group," she said.

"Yes, they might not bring it in on time and it might take longer, but guess what, all of these (previous) projects were late and they were all over budget, too.

"That's what we talk about when we talk of institutionalised racism. All of a sudden we are criminals... and we need a performance bond for Berkeley."

Ms Webb said the Government was committed to ensuring that the economic paradigm of the Island shifted in favour of black Bermudians.

"Bermudians do not own, and those that do own happen to not look like me," she said.

"We do not have economic ownership of our country. That was my goal (when I entered politics) and I don't apologise for it. I never said that white people should not own anything, but I said more people like me should be a part of the ownership of this country.

"I have nothing against white people. I have a white father, white nieces, white cousins.

"It's about making sure that we have parity in this country."

Ms Webb mocked the UBP's claim that the Government was "tired" and "was out of touch with the people".

She argued that the PLP was a part of the people.

"Now can anyone tell me that Grant Gibbons is more in touch with the people than me?" she said.

"That John Barritt is more in touch with the people than me? That Tim Smith is more in touch with the people than me?

"Who would have thought that a Gibbons would be a man of the people. I don't think so.

"The minute a Gibbons becomes a man of the people - it will be a Kodak moment. You are not going to convince the people of this country that Grant Gibbons is more in touch with the people than me or the Premier. You are whistling Dixie."

Ms Webb slammed the hypocrisy of the Opposition for claiming that it would reintroduce the Bermuda Tech when the UBP closed it down in the first place.

She added: "It was a Gibbons who got rid of it, but now a Gibbons wants to bring it back. The reason they got rid of it was because it was producing too many male black leaders."

Ms Webb claimed that the people who shared the power and the money prior to November, 1998, still had it now. And she said no Government could change that in four years.

She said when the PLP came into power, contracts at Bermuda Housing Corporation were dished out to the same few companies every time.

The Minister said the list of Government contractors read like a list of Who's Who of the UBP, and it had not changed that much.

But she said after the change of Government, more contractors did get a chance. And she said, of course, mistakes were going to happen along the way, as more contractors were now involved. But she claimed that was simple maths.

Ms Webb admitted that she asked members of her Ministry to look for companies that were owned by "people like her" when they were looking for contractors.

She added: "It's sad for me that we don't have blacks that own companies that I can support.

"We are not picking the pockets of labour. We are not drunk on power and champagne. You are stoned and I would like to know what drug it is."

Opposition whip Maxwell Burgess said that Government had had many failures in the last four years, but said Minister for Works and Engineering Alex Scott had claimed that Pro-Active won the Berkeley contract purely on merit.

Yet, he said, Ms Webb was telling the House that the company was chosen because it was a black company.

Mr. Scott confirmed to Parliament that Pro-Active did deserve the contract on price and merit, not colour.

Mr. Burgess said: "I know that Pro-Active won the contract fairly and squarely, but I want to know why that Minister (Mr. Scott) did not interrupt the other Minister (Ms Webb).

"The truth is that they did not give them the contract because they wanted to empower them. He says he does it fairly and squarely and (and I believe Mr. Scott)."