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Tomorrow's by-election offers the people of Southampton West Central the opportunity to select a person who can best represent their interests. It is important they have confidence that the vote they cast is going to work for them.

My commitment to the people of Southampton West Central is just that: I will work hard for them.

Southampton is my community. It is where I went to school, where I live and where my children are growing up. I am part of the community and I want to make sure its streets and homes are safe, its children protected, its infrastructure works and its environment healthy.

I believe the first duty of an MP is to look out for the community that elected him to office. It is his duty to know the concerns of its residents and to carry them forward; always looking for and pushing for solutions.

That will be my approach to the job of MP.

If a senior is not getting her pension cheque, if a pothole needs fixing, if Police need to get officers on the beat, if street lighting needs improving, I will be there to get things done.

But one cannot know what needs to be done without staying in touch, without keeping lines of communication open. I am committed to doing just that. I give my word to the people of Southampton West Central that I will be available to them 24/7-365. That's the way I run my business and that's the way I will operate as their representative.

I believe that effective representation at the local level can take care of a lot of problems at the national level, and that will be my starting point as the MP for Southampton West Central.

But I also take into this election strong views on some national issues, particularly improving public education and managing our economy in troubled times.

Making sure our public education system serves our children well is an issue close to my heart. It comes from working with apprentices on the job and understanding that our technical education and training is simply not good enough. The ball has been dropped.

We are not meeting the needs of our children and not meeting the needs of the community. My concerns have deepened in my time on the Joint Select Committee overseeing the education reform process. This is something I intend to address as a national priority.

I am also very concerned about the economy and Bermuda's readiness to manage a major downturn that is already beginning to affect us. As an elected representative who runs his own small business, I can bring forward a nuts-and-bolts understanding of challenges before us.

I have hands-on knowledge of how business works. I know what it means to plan and prioritize, when it is time to grow a business and when it is time to tighten the purse strings. I have provided jobs and steady paycheques for many employees over the years and trained Bermudian apprentices, some of whom have gone on to run their own businesses.

In everything I do as an MP, I will conduct myself in a positive, upstanding manner. You will never hear me denigrate others, or use destructive language. That's not the way I am and it is not what the people of Bermuda want. The need to get this island pulling together is what's important.

We can do it. I believe in people and I have an undying faith in my fellow Bermudians. If I get elected tomorrow, I look forward to working with them and for them 24/7-365.[[In-content Ad]]

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