Speeches by Scott Pearman, MP

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

20 words

We agree. I was actually very surprised to hear that that had been a PLP platform policy for 40 years.

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

99 words

I am glad to see it is being i mplemented, and we agree. And I personally, speaking just for me, Scott Pearman, I would go further. Well, let us exempt all children’s clothing, you know. Why not? Why stop at uniforms? Let us give working mot hers and working fathers and families a break. Again, trying to agree here, page …

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

170 words

And I hope that if and when there is a consideration of comprehensive tax reform on this Island, which ther e must be, and I think both the Premier and the Opposition Leader have called for that consideration, that we do approach it on the basis that we must be simplistic in its approach. It has to be simple. Otherwise, …

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

52 words

So page 41, yet another thing that I can respectfully agree with. And that is, at the very top of the page in the first paragraph, it says this: Bermuda House of Assembly “This Government will make a more concerted effort towards tax collection through enhanced enforcement of policies and processes. ”

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

121 words

I agree. I have already made the point that I do not think that $7.5 million is a sufficient target or anywhere close to a sufficient target of what we should be trying to achieve if we have debts owed, taxes owed by Bermudians to the government in the region of plus -or-minus $300 million. The $7.5 is just not …

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

110 words

And anyone who thinks that the Global Minimum Tax is some great solution that is going to solve everything for Bermuda, please do your homework. Do some analysis. It is not necessarily going to be good for us. Now, why do I say that? Because the n umber - one taxable thing that we have on this Island other than …

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

323 words

I know! And I am agreeing with you. I am agreeing with you. And I actually was on page 21. I was just prefacing my remark before, when the Premier says this: “ So, whereas payroll taxes and customs duties are always paid and represent a certain stream of tax revenue to the Government, the same cannot be said for …

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

382 words

And on the subject of ideas, we do not always agree. Because sometimes you think the solution is A, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and sometimes I think the solution is B . But that does not mean that we cannot be respectful to each other in understanding your position and my position. It does not mean we cannot discuss it. That …

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

22 words

And they have to do the best they can for the benefit of Bermuda and residents collectively. So I agree with that.

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

105 words

Moving on. Let me just talk about what I think at a high level Bermuda needs. Let us look forward rather than back because too often in this Chamber we look back and we blame each other. Looking to the future, what we need is princ ipled leadership. We need politicians across the aisle, both sides, with not a hint …

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

55 words

I am looking forward. I am not imputing the motive of the particular Minister for the Economy. One would think we would all agree about that statement. I would think he would say, I entirely agree with MP Pearman that we need to have not a whiff of corruption around our political class. [Inaudible interjections]

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

222 words

We need the inward flow of foreign capital. We need to find inward investment. And very regrettably, if I have to identify one fundamental flaw of this budget, the biggest flaw of this budget is it does not identify where that inward foreign capital is coming from. We need to find it. We need to reduce the cost of government …

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

45 words

We need responsible spending, responsible spending, which requires us all to look at the cost of government. And lastly, wit h the 10 seconds remaining, let me say what we need: We need immigration. We need immigration. We need immigration. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

5 words

Point of order, Mr. Speaker.

24 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

45 words

The Honourable Member is imputing improper motive. Those stories do not start with the OBA. [General uproar] 446 24 February 2023 Official Hansard Report B ermuda House of Assembly Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Improper motive, Mr. Speaker, is right here on page 3—

3 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

7 words

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning.

3 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

94 words

Honourable Minister, thank you very much for your Statement for the House on the expansion of Litigation Guardian Services. This is something that the Opposition has been calling for since 2018, and so I think we can agree that the need for litigation guardians is a matter of bipart isan consensus. And I commend the fact that it is being …

3 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

39 words

Yes, supplementary. That being the case, and as I understand it there are currently five practicing and three new litigation guardians, being a total of eight, how much further do you plan to expand the numbers of litigation guardians?

3 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

5 words

No. Second question, Mr. Speaker.

3 Feb 2023 House of Assembly

Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly

62 words

Thank you, Honourable Mi nister, for that answer and clarification as to the number of litigation guardians now standing at five. Does the Minister agree with me that really what this shows is that it is necessary for our family courts to see a commensurate amount of funding cons istent with the kind of funding that goes to our well-regarded …