REPORT TO THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY BY BERMUDA DELEGATES TO THE 43RD ANNUAL COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY ASSOCIATION’S CARIBBEAN, AMERICAS AND ATLANTIC REGION CONFERENCE, 16 - 23 JUNE 2018 Nearly 100 delegates from almost the entire English-speaking Caribbean region flew into Grand Cayman for the 43rd Annual Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic region conference. Hosted by Hon. Dr W. McKeeva Bush, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Cayman Islands, delegates focused their attention on a theme, “Building Small Developing States”. The Speaker was joined at the opening ceremony by His Excellency the Acting Governor, Mr. Franz Manderson; the Premier of the Cayman Islands, Hon. Alden McLaughlin, MLA; and the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Ezzard Miller, MLA. During their opening speeches, the Caribbean leaders underscored the challenges faced by small developing states in the region and urged delegates to use the topics selected for discussion to take workable solutions and best practices back to their jurisdictions. Delegates came from the following countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guyana, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, United Kingdom. This year a warm welcome was extended to the Cuba delegate who participated by adding value to discussions on immigration and trade corridors throughout the region. The conference was spread out over the course of six days to accommodate eight sessions: • Caribbean Women Parliamentarians on June 16 and 17, focused on building a platform to develop recommendations for social and parliamentary initiatives. • Caribbean, Americas and Atlantic-region Parliamentarians, from June 18 to 20, encompassing all parliamentarians • Caribbean Youth Parliamentarians’ debate on Brexit, on June 22 The Commonwealth Women Parliamentarian session on “Women and Political Parties in Small States of the Commonwealth Caribbean” was held the weekend before the general assembly. Bermuda’s two representatives were Junior Minister for Disabilities Tinée Furbert and Susan Jackson, Shadow Minister of Health and Opposition Whip. Discussions included our strengths in the region and how women may best support fellow women election candidates within the region. There was much discussion recognising the strengths women parliamentarians have and our potential impact when networking together. One of our actions is to remain in contact with former women politicians as an ongoing resource and to survey and collate their insights. A plenary session on strategies to increase the number of women in Parliament focused on a re- commitment to attract and maintain the 65% under thirty ‘youth’ parliamentarians. Strategies to sustain and grow the numbers of youth parliamentarians both male and female depends on our ability to continue to lift the Caribbean and remind our youth “the struggle is real, but not in vain” according to Shirley Osbourne, Former CWP Chair. During the main conference, there were four representatives for Bermuda — Speaker of the House Dennis Lister, Susan Jackson, Tinée Furbert and Christopher Famous. The first two plenary sessions were on the following topics: “Relevant security systems for government entities including parliamentarians” and “Relevant education systems to build the economies of small developing states”. Relevant security systems for government entities including parliamentarians During the session on security, the three presenters were Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons in Britain; Brigid Annisette-George, Speaker of the House of Parliament in Trinidad and Tobago; and Kerensia Morrison, a Jamaican senator. During the first presentation of the session, Deputy Speaker Hoyle spoke of the security measures put in place to protect the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the British Parliament. Included in their security measures were: • Armed police • All mail opened to check for powder substance • All food double-checked • Water barriers to prevent persons crossing the moat Speaker Annisette-George of Trinidad and Tobago spoke of the experience that happened in her country during the Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt of July 1990, when armed terrorists stormed the Houses of Parliament and took MPs hostage. Since which, the Government has now put in place extensive amounts of security measures to protect both Parliament and Parliamentarians. Most notable was the formation of a Parliament Police Unit. This unit of 150 officers is designated with the singular task of protecting elected officials — essentially equivalent to the Secret Service in the United States. Comparatively speaking, here in Bermuda, we have only one unarmed officer stationed in the House of Assembly. Relevant education systems to build the economies of small developing states During the session on education, the presenters were Raymond Ivany, former president of Acadia University; Shirley Osbourne, Speaker of Montserrat; and Alincia Williams-Grant, president of the Senate for Antigua and Barbuda. During this session, each presenter spoke from a slightly different perspective about ensuring that the Caribbean continues develop a regional plan that not only increases the level of education, but ensures that the curriculums are suited to what the region will need in coming decades. A prime example given was that as more and more persons are installing climate-control units in their homes, we must ensure that we have adequate amounts of persons trained in those relevant fields. At the end of the first day’s session, we left the conference room and were taken to a reception at Government House. Day Two of 43rd Annual CPA CAA conference saw delegates from around the Caribbean gather once again at the Marriott Hotel for a day of presentations, discussion and debates. Starting the day was Plenary Session 3 where the topic was as follows: Relevant Population growth of Small Developing States. The moderator for this session was Christopher Saunders- Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) of Cayman Islands. Presentations by: • Hon. Juan Paul Watterson-Speaker of the House of Keys-Isle of Man • Hon. Alden Mc Laughlin- Premier of Cayman Islands The first presenter gave a short presentation on the transformation of the economy of the Isle of Man from one based on fishing to light manufacturing now into a home for retirees and financial services. A major part of their success has been the growth of their resident population from approx. 48,000 persons in 1960 to 82,000 in 2018. With a size of 220 sq. miles they have more than enough room for growth. The second presenter, Premier McLaughlin, spoke proudly about what he calls “The Cayman Miracle”. A miracle predicated on the growth in population from 8,000 persons in 1960 to 63,000 persons in the year 2018. For a bit of context, Cayman Islands economy is based primarily on financial services and a growing tourism industry. In the year 2017 there were approx. 2.1 million visitors with 1.7 million arriving via cruise ship. During the same time period approx. 400,000 visitors arrived via air with the large majority of overnight tourist staying at hotels along the swanky 7-mile beach strip. Premier McLaughlin spoke of the trickle-down benefits that has afforded the Cayman Islands coffers to swell via massive increases in fees paid to government. This has resulted in budget surpluses for the last few years. He also spoke about several public-private partnerships that have resulted in improvements in the infrastructure of their islands. Now on one hand one cannot deny that any Caribbean island having budget surpluses is indeed a miracle. No such thing as having too much money. The Premier was filled with such pride that he spoke openly about an agenda to increase the population of the Cayman Islands, with a size of 76 sq. miles, from 64,000 to record levels of at least 100,000 persons. However, one has to only peel back the layers to find out exactly what has been the contributing factors to their population growth subsequent economic windfall. The latest Cayman Islands government statistics cite the following employment figures: • Non-Caymanians on work permit-17,439 • Non-Caymanian with permanent residency-4139 • Caymanians-19259 This would indicate that Caymanians are now clearly the minority in the Caymanian workforce. Now this is where it gets very interesting. Depending on who one speaks to will determine if these figures are considered a miracle or a travesty. Plenary Session 4 – How should CARICOM respond to the focus of De- globalization- How will this affect the CAA region. Moderator-Hon Dr. Barton Scotland- Speaker of the National Assembly-Guyana First Presenter-Ambassador Byron Blake-Former Assistant SG CARICOM This session focused on the various attacks on Various Caribbean Jurisdictions by the UK and EU. Whether it be on banking or gaming in Antigua or more recent UK legislation aimed at Beneficial Ownership in the British Overseas Territories (OTs) Consensus was that these constant attacks are aimed to destabilize the growth of the financial services sector in various Caribbean islands. Further discussion resulted in representatives of several OTs, namely: Bermuda, BVI Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos having extended discussions to implore their respective governments to continue to do the following • Increased communications between OTs • Increased awareness of the ill effects