over non-Bermudian gardeners continued to grow.

Opposition Senate Leader Sen. Alex Scott asked Government to confirm or deny that a landscaping firm hired by the West End Development Corporation was linked to a Wedco employee.

But Government Senate Leader the Hon. Mike Winfield moved to nip such suggestions in the bud.

The Senate controversy followed fierce political disputes last week about work permits for West End landscape gardeners.

The Progressive Labour Party fears permits for non-Bermudians were given to M&C Landscaping while local workers lost out.

Sen. Scott asked if permits were given to non-Bermudians from the firm while Bermudians doing similar work for Works and Engineering were told their jobs would be "terminated''.

Sen. Winfield replied M&C had a short-term contract. Of eight non-Bermudian employees, six had worked for the firm since the 1980s, one since 1991 and one since 1992.

"All of them were granted work permits after the jobs were advertised with a view to finding Bermudians,'' he said.

The Bermudians involved were temporary employees taken on by Works and Engineering as part of a make-work programme for the unemployed. They were unskilled general maintenance workers and were not doing similar work to M&C.

"No employee of the programme has been given notice that his or her job is to be terminated,'' said Sen. Winfield. But several had left.

Sen. Scott said a PLP probe indicated the firm was known only by a PO Box number. He asked Sen. Winfield to confirm or deny that the owner of the company was either a Wedco staff member or a relative.

Sen. Winfield said such a question was offensive. M&C was owned by a Bermudian and its details were known to the Ministry, he said.

There was no relationship between a senior or board member of Wedco and the company. It was a policy of the corporation that no manager or board member should have an interest in a company doing business in Dockyard.