Kim Swan speech to Sandys Rotary Club, August 19, 2009

• Good Evening Rotarians. Thank you for inviting me here to address your highly respected club.

• I’m very proud to be here tonight as the leader of the United Bermuda Party – a party with a great past and a great future.

• I suspect that some of you may not see our future that way, but I have good reasons to be optimistic. One of the reasons is right here tonight, the man who introduced me, the MP for Southampton West Central, Mr. Charlie Swan.

• It is no secret that we have had a tough time as a party. The 2007 election hurt. Morale was down. There was frustration in the ranks and pessimism about our prospects.

• To the public, the perceptions of our internal challenges began to overshadow whatever we were saying or doing for a better Bermuda.

• But the members of this party are resilient, from the elected representatives to our supporters in the field. We understand our situation, we know what we have to do and we are working together to move forward.

• We know the road we are on is a long one, but we are sustained by our love of Bermuda and our determination to improve the life of the country.

***
• When I first became leader of the party I pledged to the people of Bermuda that we would be an effective Opposition.

• At the time I remarked that Bermuda needed a strong voice in Parliament to keep the government in check and to closely watch out for the interests of people and families who struggle each day, whether as a result of the high costs of living, the failures in our education system or growing crime.

• That mission has not changed and our Opposition voice has never been more important than today.

• It is a vitally important job holding a government to account for its performance, and I like to think that we, in our role as the Opposition, are the catalyst for Bermuda’s democratic stability.

• The thought of Bermuda without an opposition is too dire to contemplate.

• And so we have worked hard to hold the government’s feet to the fire of public scrutiny.

• We watch to make sure
1. Promises are kept
2. Rules are obeyed
3. Government programmes work
4. Services reach the people, and
5. Public money is responsibly managed

• In everything we do we try to be constructive. We make suggestions for a better way, for more responsible behavior, for more effective planning and for leadership by example.

• At the highest level , the United Bermuda Party aims to provide the people of Bermuda with

1. A government that is attentive to the needs of people
2. Morally upright and competent in the management of public money
3. Dedicated to creating and spreading opportunity
4. Fair in its decision-making, and
5. Committed to building an island home for all of us – young and old, black and white, rich and poor – a Bermuda we can be proud of.

• We think these basic aims stand as a good counterpoint to the government today.

• It may be committed to the same aims, but the record shows otherwise.

• And it’s not just us who think this.

• We know from doorstep conversations, from national polls and headlines, from social get-togethers and workplace talk that Bermudians from one end of the island to the other are very concerned about the way things are going.

• We know they are concerned about government inefficiency and allegations of corruption.

• We know Bermudians are extremely disturbed and agitated by trends in crime – from growing violence, to the spread of gangs and gang culture, to shootings in the streets, to beatings and muggings.

• We know there is frustration over the unacceptably slow pace of reform to our public education system.

• We know people are sensing that the economic strength of the island is narrowing dangerously toward a one-leg economy as Bermuda tourism continues to decline.

• We know that more and more Bermudians are rejecting the politics of division.

• We know there is a yearning for a greater sense of community, a greater sense of unity, a greater sense that we are one people.

• Finally, we know that people are worried that Bermuda is slowly starting to slip down a slope to something less than what we have been.

• The United Bermuda Party understands these concerns, because we live with them, we share them, and we are absolutely united in our determination to change things for the better.

• Our job is to hold this government to account.

• We do that week in and week out because people need to know that there is an alternative. They need to know there are better ways to do things, better approaches to problems, better answers.

• As we move toward an election some time in the next three years, we will put forward specific plans to make this island a better place for all. This is an ongoing process well underway in all areas of public life.

• In the meantime, I want to draw your attention to four critical areas that you can count on us to tackle:

Good governance
• We are committed to raising the standards of governance. Our programme includes freedom of information, anti-corruption legislation, whistleblower protection; a code of conduct for all parliamentarians and a non-political Attorney General.

• We would broaden bipartisan cooperation in the Legislature, opening its committees to the public, strengthening financial oversight and allowing MPs each day on the floor of the House to question ministers directly on government actions as things happen.

• We believe these and other reforms can do much to promote transparency, responsiveness, accountability and consensus-building into the system.

Crime
• We would clamp down hard on crime.

• There is today no greater immediate threat to our way of life than the spread of crime in all its forms, from drive-by shootings, to burglaries and violent behavior, to drugs and the spread of gangs.

• The stakes are very high. If we lose control of our streets, if criminals continue to operate without fear of arrest or prosecution, we will lose our attractiveness as a place to do business, as a place to vacation and our sense of personal safety.

• We are particularly keen to see a greater Police presence on the streets and the start-up of community policing because it has proved effective in the fight against crime and drugs.

Education
• We would move with urgency to bring forward education reforms that will make a real difference in the lives of our children.

• The government’s handling of education reform is unacceptable. It has been two years since the Hopkins Report outlined the way forward and we have yet to see any classroom-based results.

• Ministers have failed to drive forward reform with any sense of urgency while children continue to leave the system under-educated and ill-equipped to take their place in our economy. There has been no movement on pre-school education or technical education.

• The United Bermuda Party would push hard in three areas to improve the classroom experience for our young people.

1. We would make sure we get the best teachers
2. We would make sure they are properly trained and motivated, and
3. We would step in to help children when they fall behind.

Unity
• Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Bermuda’s public life in the past few years has been the politics of division that puts political gain before national unity.

• This politics offers nothing but a dead end for Bermuda. The only future for this island is one that brings people together. This requires a government dedicated to Bermuda first, not to itself first; where it does its best to encourage respect, dignity, fair play and awareness that we are one family, one people living together in a very tough world.

• The United Bermuda Party will never seek to divide Bermudians from one another. There is so much to build on, so much that we share. The righteous path is there to be taken.

***
• The UBP, when all is said and done, wants the chance to show it can provide Bermuda with a government dedicated to serving the people and the broad interests of the island.

• We won’t get that chance until the next election, but in the meantime people can let the government know that they are not happy with the way things are…

• Which brings me to the upcoming by-election in Pembroke East Central.
• The residents of this constituency go to the polls on August 27th – that’s next Thursday.

• Although The Royal Gazette ridiculed our chances – they said I had a better chance of “golfing on the moon” than winning – we are not deterred. We are on the doorsteps and working the phones with a positive approach, emphasizing our desire to serve all the people.

• We are showing our grassroots connections. Not only is our candidate Keith Young from the area but we have a branch consisting of Gina Spence Farmer, Betty Smith and Jeannette Smith, all of whom either live in or have family ties with this community.

• What is particularly important about Pembroke East Central is that it is something of a hotbed for all the major issues confronting Bermuda today - gang violence, crimes and drug abuse, government indifference, and the failures in public education.

• These issues are part of daily life for the residents like few other places in Bermuda. One statistic reflects my point: Five of the murders within the last two years have occurred within the boundaries of Pembroke East Central.

• The community has been calling for government action to help them in a variety of areas but nothing meaningful has happened – no real community policing, no real dialogue with gang members, no action to improve street lighting, no movement to improve access for emergency vehicles.

• The Pembroke East Central by-election will not change the government’s control of Parliament. Even if it loses the vote, it will retain its hefty majority.

• But it is an opportunity to send the government a message that Pembroke East Central deserves better, that residents are not happy with the way they are being treated.

• And so we are urging constituents to vote for Keith. He’s a good man. He’s from the heart of the community – Middle Terrace on Friswell’s Hill to be exact – and his issues are the same issues as his neighbours, the people he wants to represent in Parliament.

• If enough people vote for Keith, we’re sure it will prompt the government to pay closer attention to the needs and concerns of the community.

• As for the United Bermuda Party, we’re looking forward to next Thursday. We’re enthusiastic and we’re having fun going from door to door.

• Win or lose, we will have had the honour and the pleasure of doing something good to help a proud community.

• Our party is here to serve the people. We will use the time before the next election to convince enough people of this through our actions and words. It’s a tough challenge, but we’re working on it.

• Thank you for your time this evening and God bless you all.