Could new party rock the boat?

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 7: A fourth force is set to emerge on Bermuda’s political scene.

Restore Bermuda is aiming to field election candidates — either at the next election or the one following it.

Restore Bermuda spokesman Cornell Fubler said: “We have to make that decision based on what we can galvanise.

“We have the thought, do we go out now or go out later? But that would be the ultimate plan — to field candidates.”

‘Well-known names’

Mr Fubler said that the new political grouping had attracted “significant” support, both in terms of numbers and names, although he declined to discuss specifics.

He confirmed: “Key individuals are involved and well-known names are involved. But we are not trying to make this about any group or individual.”

The new party would join the PLP, OBA and the two remaining UBP MPs at the polling stations.

Mr Fubler said: “One of the things we are aware of right now is that there are a number of people who are down with Restore Bermuda, who support us, but they are terribly scared of splitting the vote. That’s a concern for many people.” He said that Restore Bermuda grew out of meetings with friends in 2010, all of who were concerned about the future of the island.

Mr Fubler added: “We cannot continue like this, with unemployment, when crime is all over the scale and when people are being robbed of the dignity to just work. Our number one issue right now is that we would attack the divide in our country. It’s almost like a family and there is this feud.

“We are divided as a country, so every challenge that comes our way means we are divided. There is one group which represents labour and another which represents business, but the two don’t meet. We don’t want negativity, we don’t want polarizing factors – we would do things differently.

“We would be honest with the people – the jobs are not coming back any time soon and anyone who says differently does not have the their finger on the pulse of the world economy.”

He added: “I believe in the power of a few and I believe we have to change the trajectory of our course.”

The group yesterday sent out 5,000 e-mails to publicize their cause.

Mr Fubler said he feared between three and four Bermudians out of ten may end up unemployed before the recession starts to ease. He added: “There are a number of people in Bermuda who have never had employment and they are probably not even factored into the statistics.”

Mr Fubler said: “Dealing with that and its aftermath is crucial to the survival of the country.”

He added:  “We don’t believe the OBA or the PLP can take us through this in the way we should be going through this.”

Mr Fubler, a CPA from Smith’s, has worked for major accounting firms in Bermuda, but took time out to work as a missionary in South Korea, before returning to Bermuda to set up his own consulting firm.

He is also one of the founders of Youthnet, which offers mentoring programmes to hundreds of children in the public school system.

Mr Fubler acknowledged that third parties – like the short-lived National Liberal Party, which was born out of a split in the PLP and the also short-lived BDA, which was a splinter group of the UBP, struggled in the Westminster-style system, which encourages a two-party set-up.

But he said: “Most of the third parties that came on the scene in Bermuda came out of another party – we don’t have that history.”

Mr Fubler added, however, that the new group was prepared to work with either party – but would not be “joined at the hip” to either: “It’s going to be hard, we recognise that. It’s hard to attract people to the political arena, but we will go to our graves trying.”

Restore Bermuda is currently asking members of the public to vote for a name for the new political grouping. Suggested titles are Democratic National Party, Bermuda Diversified Alliance, National People’s Party or Restore Bermuda Coalition, although other names can be suggested.

More information at www.restorebda.bm.