Cannonier has ‘no regrets’ over first year in charge

There may be “hiccups” but Government is learning from its mistakes, according to Premier Craig Cannonier.

In an interview with the Bermuda Sun, Mr Cannonier said he has ‘no regrets’ about his first term in office.

Asked if he could concede to any mistakes and whether he would have approached the ‘Jetgate’ controversy differently in hindsight, the Premier responded: “Certainly, over the last 10 months there have been some great lessons. 

“I kind of smile at the ‘Jetgate’ opportunity. We were simply looking at an opportunity to move this country forward and get investment into the island.

“Of course there are things we feel we could do better. There will always be things we can do better. Do I have any regrets? No, because the whole motive behind what it is that we do is to restore and renew this country.

“Hiccups will happen but the modus operandi, the agenda, is to get Bermudians back to work, and we must do that.”

He added: “I think the greatest thing that could have happened to Bermuda was to elect the OBA government.

“It’s said to me Bermudians are maturing, that they are laying aside the whole idea of conspiracy… the whole idea of there being a ‘black party’ and a ‘white party.

“Although we still see remnants of that going on, I believe Bermuda showed it wanted a new way forward; that it wanted accountability back to the table. 

“I believe that’s been the greatest achievement for this country; that it was willing to exercise its right to move this country forward. The mindset of Bermuda has changed and is moving in the right direction.”

In terms of disappointments, Mr Cannonier said: “I would have liked to have done a few more things, although our ministers are saying we couldn’t have possibly done any more work within this first 10 months.

“Certainly, we’ve been looking at the issues of conscription. We’ll be moving forward with ideas on that in this next legislative agenda.

“I would have liked to have discussed that more, but the item on the agenda for this first year was to put jobs back on the table. We needed to get that foundation laid, for investment into the country.”

He said: “It’s important we did everything possible we could in this first 10 months, and this was of course a very short legislative agenda for us, with the election held in December, so there was a lot of work to be done.

“That’s why we had the [legislative[ session in September, and I can assure you that as we go forward, we will be looking at more sessions out of the norm in this upcoming year.

“We need to get busy and set a solid foundation for Bermuda.”

The OBA (One Bermuda Alliance) government also wanted to be accountable, he said.

“That’s what this is about, getting accountability back to the table. 

“Bermudians want us to be accountable, and we have set in place a legislative agenda that makes us accountable, and to incentivize money getting back into our country.”

He said the SAGE Commission was an example of this.