Full speech here:
“Thank you all for coming today and joining me for the announcement as the OBA candidate for Constituency 20 Pembroke South West.
First of all I thank the support of my wife Eimear, my children Aydin, Nasser, Zarah and Éirinn, the rest of my family and my late father who passed in February last year. Today in fact would’ve been my parents 50th wedding anniversary.
Also let me thank Susan Jackson who served her constituency well and was an excellent representative for the people of C 20.
And also the OBA leaders and other candidates who I have discussed this candidacy with in frank discussions.
For me, it has been a journey to get to this space to be chosen by the One Bermuda Alliance to run in a general election.
For some this decision may seem strange given some of the events between 2012 and 2017 and my inevitable attachment to many, especially the One Bermuda Alliance’s efforts on immigration reform.
Over the years there have been many who have vilified what I and the OBA attempted to do, so let me address some of those matters upfront.
I think it’s very important to remember that after the 2012 election the OBA came into Government and things were really not what they should have been.
We were put into an unenviable position of having to examine ways in which to bring money and income into the country, keep money and people from leaving and also increase our population.
One of those ideas to try and achieve the goal of encouraging people and capital to remain was to offer PRC to those who had been in Bermuda for 15 years and status to those who had been here for 20 years plus. That is hardly “opening the floodgates” when the very people that would have applied were already here.
The truth is the word floodgate is a political phrase to undermine progress. Period. The aim was always to ensure we prevented emigration – the plan would essentially help Bermudians by keeping capital and money on the island, increase the tax base and our pension pool. Over the years that narrative has changed into me and the OBA being anti-Bermudian – Nothing could be further from the truth – especially having at the time 3 Bermudian children, now four.
Franky the OBA, a party I helped to found, has done a poor job in trying to explain what we were doing.
Since then the current government has in fact made similar announcements about the state of our economy, and the need for 8000 or so new people to come to our shores. Numerous comments have been made by any number of alphabet groups that immigration is required to have a sustainable economy and I would say that in fact, many of the policies that were being pursued back in 2012 to 2017 have seen their way through to today, including a civil penalties regime and revamped work permit policy. Immigration need not be such a poisoned word.
What has been a game changer for me has been the number of people who have spoken to me over the last number of years telling me me how they got it wrong in terms of what we were trying to do – including some who were on front line protests. I also accept things could have been done differently by me and the OBA and have said as much. Thank you. It means a lot to have those discussions
With that said I am not here today to continuously go back and look all at the of the past events. I am far from perfect and have put my hands up and accepted failings and accepted where we could have done better.
Sometimes people’s perceptions are their reality. And I take the view once you have an opportunity to meet me and chat with me, you will not see the person that at times had a picture of me painted in the media of a villain – in fact like all of us I have friends in the PLP, FDM and with independents.
What I am here today to do is look to the future and that is why I put my name forward to represent the people of Constituency 20 and do a job for all.
As I’ve said I have enjoyed any number of conversations over the last number of years explaining certain policies assisting where I can and yes, in some circumstances, giving guidance to supporters of the current government. That is the nature of Bermuda and what I’m looking to do here is to stand up for all Bermudians.
If in Government we will listen – we will have a broad church to get the best for all of us. If in opposition we can still agree where agreement is a good idea. However it is also important to put forward alternative visions and alternative views for open and healthy debate – after all, that’s what democracy is about.
I am an individual who will listen and when I was a government minister, I did a lot of listening. I also took and made many decisions from assisting to get the St Regis hotel going, the Loren built, to helping get the triathlon World Series events to come to Bermuda when I was part of a team with with Flora Duffy, and I helped reduce grocery bills by 10% for 18 months on Wednesdays. I introduced minicar legislation, the UNESCO World Heritage Fund for st George’s and was part of a team that got cruise-ships to St George’s with a dedicated NCL ferry – all of which are still intact.
Decisions were made and there are numerous, but we have to stand by those decisions. What I’m looking to today is to say we’re here to listen. We’re here to assist. We’re here to represent the people of this wonderful and beautiful island.
My wife Eimear and my almost 8 month old daughter Érinn are also here today (my other three children are in school) – part of doing this is because I, like everyone , want a secure and happy future for their children.
And I know that I can contribute to that and should the voters of C 20 choose me I look forward to representing them.
Your past does not define you.
I’m happy to answer any questions. Thank you.”
Michael Fahy, OBA candidate for Constituency 20, Pembroke South West
