January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Want to make some meaningful changes Dr. Brown? Here are some pointers…
Dr. Brown has frequently referred to his "new administration". It's a healthy concept: It frees Dr. Brown to set a new course and to correct past mistakes, without slavishly following or defending former PLP Governments.
If Dr. Brown wants to shake things up, here are some starting points.
And a fresh approach is needed in several significant areas.
One of them is in Dr. Brown's own ministry, Transportation.
The country must begin a painful reduction exercise: We need to reduce the number of vehicles, reduce their size, and reduce speeds.
Dr. Brown needs to set and publicize mandatory targets for each of these areas, and dates by which they must be achieved.
The average speed, for example, could be set at 45 kph two years from now, and 40 kph five years from now. The maximum size of cars sold could be reduced over a similar period, at which point a certain percentage of all cars sold ought to be electric.
This approach has the advantage of allowing citizens, car dealers, and the public transportation system time to adapt, while committing the country to significant change.
Dr. Brown has declared that race - or more specifically, equal opportunity - as a priority. So it should be.
Previous PLP administrations seemed to believe that opportunity and equality were bound to improve simply because they were in power.
The new Premier must take it beyond the realm of rhetoric, and introduce specific programmes with specific, publicized, measurable and realistic objectives.
He must do so without the divisive racial insults from Cabinet Ministers. It saps goodwill where it is needed most, and makes the Government look puerile.
One of the most painful initiatives to behold over the last three years has been the former administration's push for independence. Public opinion remains consistently and solidly against independence.
Something needs to change. Dr. Brown would be wise to put the current initiative out of its misery, and not resurrect it until opinion polls show that the goal is at least within his grasp.
In the meantime, it should leave the job of changing public opinion to independence advocates outside of Government.
Dr. Brown recently expressed exasperation that many Bermudians don't have faith in their country's ability to look after its own affairs.
I suspect he misunderstands the objections: many Bermudians just don't want to throw away some substantial benefits, which include the right to live and work in a couple of dozen other countries.
A pro-independence Government would be wise to figure out a solution to this logical objection before beginning its campaign anew.
Housing strategies of previous administrations haven't worked well enough - and there's a substantial lack of new affordable houses to prove it. Dr. Brown's new Government simply needs to build them, and get it over with.
Bermuda is not a big country. The gap between a housing shortage and a housing surplus is measured in a few hundred units. Government should be able to build them quickly on land that it already owns. By spreading new units around as much as it can, it can reduce objections from neighbours and reduce the chances of squalid "projects" for poor people.
Dr. Brown has already mentioned several worthwhile ideas for increasing opportunities for Bermudians and making our island a fairer and better place. The six-year work permit limit is not one of them.
Dr. Brown should have the courage to admit that the policy will strip Bermuda of some of its most capable foreign workers, only to replace them with foreigners with less experience, and less understanding of Bermuda and its people.
It is impossible to administer efficiently and fairly.
Bermudians would be much better served if Dr. Brown gave the Department of Immigration the resources it needs to enforce existing laws and policies.
With the first cull of expats scheduled for early next year, Dr. Brown needs to act quickly.[[In-content Ad]]
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