PLP rhetoric contrasts with the reality

It is the mission  of the PLP leadership, no matter what, to undermine public trust in the One Bermuda Alliance Government. 

Whether it’s cannabis reform, development of a Tourism Authority or job-growing initiatives, you can bet they’ll find an excuse, any excuse, to rip at, tear down, undermine or tarnish the work. 

Almost from the day they lost the election, the PLP leadership has been hell bent on portraying the OBA Government as devious and wicked, deceitful and dishonest; out for themselves and everyone — everyone that is but the Bermudian people. 

This first caught our attention in the House of Assembly, where Opposition Leader Marc Bean described the OBA as ‘demonic’ and ‘practised in the Dark Arts’ — extreme language, to say the least, that betrayed a toxic view of the people opposite.  

Just last week, the PLP leader remarked to this newspaper that the OBA was a government of “ulterior motives” and “personal agendas”, not to be trusted.

PLP’s troops in the field

The troops in the field are also on script. Roban and Robain and the ever-prolific Famous are the main front men, but others are getting in the game. Mr Erin Hill, for example, said he was quitting the Cannabis Reform Collaborative because it was working to an “ulterior agenda”, though he refused to say what the ulterior agenda was. That, of course, was not the point. Throwing the
grenade was the point.

The fact is that there is a big gap between PLP rhetoric and the truth. Here’s another example: 

In his reply to last November’s Throne Speech, PLP leader Marc Bean said: “After nearly a year of inaction, a year without a plan…” the OBA has shown itself to be “a party devoid of ideas, devoid of a plan and devoid of a commitment to Bermudians.”

Strong stuff, but when you look at the record, the PLP has supported almost all legislation brought forward by the party
“devoid of ideas”. 

Mr Bean even said so in the same speech noting that the Opposition had supported an “overwhelming majority of the bills the OBA brought to Parliament during the last session”. 

Those were bills and decisions that extended benefits, protections and opportunities to Bermudians from all walks of life —
contrary to the PLP line.

Think of tax breaks to support the hiring of unemployed Bermudians, new job training initiatives and expanded human rights protections, new rules to cut down employer abuse of immigration laws and increased penalties for work permit violations, new approaches to revive tourism, steps to strengthen law  enforcement and new efforts to defuse gang conflict; think of expanded of career pathways for students and raising teacher recruitment standards, cruise ship job opportunities for Bermudians, the re-opening of the St George’s Police Station and cash-back for communities.

And think of the long-term effort to rebuild an economic foundation that was left in tatters by the previous government, with thousands of out-of-work Bermudians — the very people whom PLP leaders say they are now so
concerned about.

Political mission

At the end of the day, the PLP’s extreme rhetoric doesn’t match the reality. 

That’s because their political mission comes first, before the record, before reality. 

And what about those ulterior motives? Do there really have to be ulterior motives? Or is that just a reflection of the way the accuser and his colleagues think? That, surely, is food for thought.

It seems to me the one motive that applies today is a Government working to do the best it can for the people. That may mean testing and changing the status quo — and all the anxieties and doubts that come with it — but that’s what’s happening.

We’ll take it as a given that the PLP will continue bombarding the work of the Government — we can handle it — but just keep in mind the wilful amnesia that that requires. Because everything the Government is doing is to dig Bermuda out of the deep hole the PLP Government left it in and to re-set the foundation for a secure and prosperous future. 

Toni Daniels is an OBA candidate.