Members
Parliament
Transparency

N. H. Cole Simons

1424
Speeches
165,822
Words Spoken
83
Sittings Active
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
59 words
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I have been sitting here listening to this debate from the very beginning and I find it very interes ting. I actually feel very, very sorry for the O pposition because philosophically I know that they support the Tourism Authority. I would like to read a quote — [Inaudible interjection]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
10 words
The quote reads as follows, if you do not mind.
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
89 words
From the Royal Gazette [22 January 2013]. It quotes a person in this House. It reads as follows, “When I became Minister, I put in place a Tourism Authority. I didn’t use the word Tour-ism Authority, I used the word Tourism Board.” He went on to say, “I think it’s good but what they are trying to say is going …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
21 words
So, as I said, it is difficult for the PLP on this debate because, quite frankly — POINT OF ORDER [Misleading]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
12 words
I have just proven my point. Thank you. [Laughter and desk thumping]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
15 words
Another Minister of the PLP—Tourism Minister, again, former —and I would like to read that.
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
45 words
Again, the Royal Gazette , August 29th. One of our smartest Tourism Ministers, if I may add, “ Former Tourism Minister Renee Webb yester day backed the privatisation of the Tourism D epartment as ‘an excellent step in the right direction’.” POINT OF ORDER [Misleading]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
362 words
I would like to continue. The [former] Tourism Minister throws her support by also saying the SAGE Commission has it right. You have to deliver or be fired, which has not been the mindset of Government. Madam Deputy Speaker, listen, what we have heard today on the Tourism Authority, we have had discussions about the CEO, the Chairman, we have …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
10 words
A working, a working community, 35,000 people. We know everybody.
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
33 words
If there is a person that is Bermudian that has a proven track record that is number one in global tourism, we would have had them back in Bermuda by now. [Inaudible interjections]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
11 words
We would have tried, yes, we would have tried. [Inaudible interjections]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
98 words
Exactly, as the Premier said, The PLP would have found them. The reality is at this juncture after 14 years of PLP Government —Renee Webb, Dame Jennifer Smith, Dr. Ewart Brown, a very resourceful Premier — he would have brought a Bermudian home if he had found one. The reality is we cannot find a Bermudian House of Assembly 2202 …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
76 words
We want the best person and if it means going to Singapore, if it means going to Hong Kong, if it means going to the US, if it means going to London, if it means going to Geneva, then that is what we had to do because Bermuda's tourism industry deserves the best. I make no apologies for that. I …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
97 words
If there was a Bermudian of international stature and calibre that can do this job, we would have found that person already. We would have found that person already. So we can sit up here and talk about this issue until the cows come home. We have scouted, we know our people, individuals who have sent their r ésumés in …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
24 words
Listen, Gil would tell you himself. Gil and I are very good friends. At the end of the day, Mr. Tucker — [Inaudible interjections]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
48 words
Listen, we are a community of 35,000 people and we are not going to produce 10 world -class lawyers, we are not going to produce 15 XL-calibre CEOs because it does not happen in the world that way. We are a small co mmunity in Virginia. [Inaudible interjections]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
55 words
We are a small community in Virginia of 35,000 people. They do not produce 100 CEOs of Citibank, Merrill Lynch, HSBC —it is physica lly impossible and Bermuda, in that same model, it is simply impossible to provide people of that calibre on a statistical basis whereby we could have 100 CEOs for this country.
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
15 words
We have to bring reality to the situation, Madam Deputy Speaker. [Inaudible interjections and laughter]
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
64 words
The Minister of Tourism has it right. He has accounted for 48 people that will be impacted by this transition. It is all in the planning and it is currently being addressed. As he said, the pos itions may have been made redundant but the people are not being made redundant. He has made it clear. He has made it …
27 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
5 words
That is what I said.