Members
Parliament
Transparency

Walton Brown

664
Speeches
103,662
Words Spoken
37
Sittings Active
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
122 words
I will leave that part alone. All I will say is that it is a good move. It is an anticipatory move and we are moving in the right di-rection. The only thing I do not understand is when you spoke about the need for the Registry General to specif y certain types of conditions at venues , I am …
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
144 words
Thank you, Madam Chairman. Just one question for the Minister , under the current legislation, if the Minister can just confirm whether this is the case, my understanding is that the Registrar’s office . . . if an application for a marriage licence meets all the legal criteria, then there is no discretion from the office as to whether or …
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
22 words
Yes. I would not call that mischief, Madam Chai rman. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: No, no, mischief that you are trying—
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
7 words
—No. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Sorry.
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
29 words
I would not use that term. It was , again, getting involved in an area where I should a nticipate a future debate. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Okay.
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
31 words
But I was just trying to get an a nswer on the Hansard for the record. Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Oh, okay. Now I understand where the Honourable Member —
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
187 words
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, having just listened to the Honourable Finance Minister make that delivery, you would think that the global march of international capital is so powerful and so pervasive that every country just needs to sit back and be completely dominated by this march of global capital, that we have no capacity to resist, no capacity …
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
359 words
We cannot just accept the logic that we need to just lay ourselves down before the global competitive landscape. Those are just my brief introductory remarks, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak about the challenge of employment in Bermuda, the competitive nature that exists, as I support the motion by my honourable colleague for a joint select committee precisely …
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
858 words
Systemic, systematic, structural discrimination rooted in race, rooted in country of or igin, denying Bermudians opportunities. Wher e is our daily newspaper on this? Where were our radio and television broadcasts? Nothing was covered. This is the example that we hear about. This is the example which has facts that have been proven in the court. But how widespread is …
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
39 words
Right. So we allow that to take place because I am told you cannot . . . if you try to leave this place, I’m going to fire you. You’re not going to work for me anymore. [Inaudible interjection]
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
172 words
It is endured servitude. It is offensive. I do not know if it is illegal, it is certainly immoral. So we need to address that. There is a structured asymmetry in the wages that are paid to the foreign worker versus the Bermuda worker. When we allow companies to exploit foreign workers, it lowers the wages for Bermudians. So we …
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
20 words
It is going to increase income? It is going to increase income. How about a better sol ution? [Inaudible interjection]
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
51 words
How about a better solution? How about we eliminate pay roll tax altogether, if we are serious? What does the elimination of payroll tax do, Mr. Speaker? It takes away an upfront cost for a company that is trying to do business . . . engage in bus iness. [Inaudible interjection]
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
123 words
Get rid of pa yroll tax altogether. The system we have now is regressive so that the rich actually get a tax break, so the wealthy pay lower pa yroll tax rates than lower income people and so the Government has to make it progressive. Maybe the wealthy will finally pay a proper tax. But let us get rid of …
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
235 words
We could conceivably get rid of payroll tax and customs duties. I have had this . . . I did one of these experiments. I talked to my friends who own businesses , and I said, What if I told you we could get rid of payroll tax and customs duties, would you like that? Everyone likes that, so I …
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
846 words
Yes. Independence and income tax. Independence I will save for another date. We will talk about that another time. But just consider, Mr. Speaker, if we had a proper taxation system workers would have more money to take home. There would be a lower burden on companies, because they are only paying go vernment taxes if they are making a …
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
396 words
[It’s] $650, $750, right. That is what it is. And then the employer pa ys a part too, right. So you are talking about a lot of money. It is a lot of money. Imagine a society in which you did not have that significant amount of money coming out every month or every week. You would have more takehome …
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
82 words
Once you get over 50, your mind does not always remember what was said five mi nutes before. This is my final, final point. The issue of tec hnology is going to fundamentally transform nations. It is transforming nations as we speak, and i t will co ntinue to do so at an even more rapid rate. Who was it …
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
33 words
Moore? Moore’s law. (That is what I was going to say, yes.) For many years, every 18 months or so there was this increase. Remember, it was an increase in capacity. [Inaudible interjection]
17 Jun 2016 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
411 words
Right. So they got more power for the very short period of time. But now it appears that the limit has been reached. Now there is much more innovation. The consequence from the workforce standpoint is that technology is doing more, and you require less labour. So the mindset of the capitalist is, Well, I don’t need as many people. …