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People don't like being misled, especially by their government. In general, the public can be forgiving about many things, but attempts to "pull one over on them" are resented and remembered.

The latest examples of government deception are contained in the announcement last week by Health Minister Minors and the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) that the replacement hospital would be built on land that now forms part of Bermuda's Botanical Gardens. I'll address just three.

Deception 1

That the decision to build on the Botanical Gardens will result in "no net loss of open space for Bermuda", and "ensure that open space is maintained for generations to come." This theme is repeated so often it inspires the Shakespeare quote "methinks they doth protest too much."

These statements are the stuff of smoke and mirrors. The hospital scheme is NOT giving back any open space. All 24 acres, 14 acres of the current site and 10 acres taken from the Botanical Gardens, will now be under the control of the BHB.

The BHB is reserving both sites for future construction. In effect the public lands will be depleted by ten acres of high quality green lands, and the BHB holdings will be enriched by ten acres, which they will be able to do with what they wish, how they wish and when they wish.

In fact, once this land is put into the hands of the BHB, the government will have no say in what is done with it. Thus the Minister's statement that her government will "ensure that open space is maintained for generations to come" is patently false. And the Minister is attempting to deceive the public by making such a statement.

Deception 2

The Minister's statement declared: "Sustainable development does not mean no development". No one has ever suggested such. None of the arguments or counter proposals has even hinted at 'not developing at all'.

In fact, everyone I know supports the concept of a new hospital. That statement by the Minister is a dishonest misrepresentation of Sustainable Development (SD). The government will have a difficult time selling its sincerity for SD if at the same time it devalues SD and SD proponents through such spin-driven statements.

Deception 3

Building on the same-site would take too long, would be too dangerous, causing "risks to patient lives and safety - to your lives and safety".

Besides the fear mongering and guilt-tripping, which aren't exactly deceitful but are contemptible tricks for persuasion, the statement implies an urgency and difficulty which are not entirely true.

Two years ago, the same Minister was saying that the "long term goal was a new hospital within 15 years, that is, by 2019. Now, all of a sudden, there is this urgency to build a new hospital by 2012, seven years sooner, or 'the sky will fall'.

Either the Minister was out of touch with reality when she made her statement two years ago, or she is stretching reality now. This we-have-to-hurry-up argument is no doubt being cranked up to push us into accepting the carving up of the Botanical Gardens.

I could understand if the government wanted to stretch its public relations envelope in dealing with its political opposition or its perceived enemies. But the Sustainable Development Initiative is its own baby. The government has been taking credit for putting sustainable development concepts on the Bermuda map. Premier Scott handpicked the members of the Sustainable Development Round Table.

We expect the government to be the example, to set the tone, to hold the line. We don't expect our government Ministers to misrepresent their own initiatives, to marginalize a segment of their constituency, to inspire divisiveness. One can only imagine such actions from a government intent on self-destruction?[[In-content Ad]]

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