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Rolfe Commissiong

938
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8 Dec 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
5 words
My apologies, Mr. Speaker .
8 Dec 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
38 words
M r. Speaker, during this short debate thus far, it has been very gratifying. I am in full accord with the Minister here, but I was really pleased by the comments of the Minister of National Security —
8 Dec 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
5 words
It’s all right. [Inaudible interjections]
8 Dec 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
699 words
So, Mr. Speaker, the last time there was consideration of this matter, that being the decriminalisation of 7 grams or less of cannabis, I, along with many others here, had some reservations in supporting the Bill then, in the last Parliament. For me, it further confirmed that at least on this side of the aisle we remain committed to treating …
8 Dec 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
305 words
—quotations here from this magazine article. “The available evidence suggests that removal of the prohibition against possession itself (decrim inalization) does not increase cannabis use. . . . This prohibition inflicts harms directly and is costly. Unless it can be shown that the removal of criminal penalties will increase use of other harmful drugs, . . . it is diff …
8 Dec 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
1,111 words
Or less. Mr. Speaker, I do not think I am going to bel abour the point here. I think the Minister is on the right track here. And again, what Minister Caines said is so key here, and I am really loving the way that we are starting to define an ideological direction forward which takes a more holistic approach. …
8 Dec 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
20 words
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just love the way that the bi partisanship is flowering in this Chamber. [Inaudible interjection]
8 Dec 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
524 words
Yes. You know, it’s refres hing. And she is right; in some ways this is a continuation of the same discussion, conversation we had on the Decriminalisation Bill, the National Security Minister who spoke before me on that particular Bill. A quick anecdote . . . well, not an anecdote, it was based on fact. It is evidence based. You …
1 Dec 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
82 words
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Minister, as you know and you have heard me say in this House during the period from the late 1970s to about 1995, we had about 180 individuals, or so, who contracted HIV/AIDS and who achieved fatal ity as a consequence of [ heroin] use, by way of shared needles. The question I have for the …
1 Dec 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
147 words
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to have this House commend the work of Pastor Leroy Bean. As we know, he is the Gang Intervention Coordinator, more specifically because of the public announcement of the formation of the Fathers Support Group. These are the fathers who have been affected by gang vi olence for too long. …
24 Nov 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
41 words
Good morning, Mr. Speaker, and thank you. Mr. Speaker, does the Premier anticipate that he will be having discussions on the issue of Brexit and its implications for Bermuda and the Overseas Territories as part of the agenda of this meeting?
24 Nov 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
148 words
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to take a couple of minutes to recognise a Bermudian poet, singer , artist, who, origina lly, I believe, is from the Somerset community —that being none other than Lesleyann Idell Virgil, who passed away recently due to cancer that she struggled with for some time. Again, from that Virgil clan up at …
24 Nov 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
68 words
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to commend Brother Caines from constituency 14. It clearly illustrates the great challenge that we have before us and the ardent desire for us to pack this all up and to see the disappearance of these behaviours in our community. I just want to say that we will know that we are succeeding when …
24 Nov 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
83 words
When we can say, Team StreetSafe, no more! . . . when Mirrors is deemed surplus to requirements , that is when we will know that we are achieving success. And so, the Member from [constituency ] 14 eloquently illustrates the challenge in tackling this in what I call “the back end.” And it is something we must do. We …
24 Nov 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
127 words
Craig Simmons, only the other day in response to the 2.5 [per cent] wage i ncrease afforded to the BUT [ Bermuda Union of Teachers] , subsequently we had a similar increase afforded to the BPSU [ Bermuda Public Services U nion] members, but in the story attached to the award to the BUT, Craig Simmons noted that they have …
24 Nov 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
13 words
I repeat. Under the direction from the Honourable Member from constituency 2— [Laughter]
24 Nov 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
183 words
—Craig Simmons said that during that s elf-same period, that the cost of living in Bermuda had increased by 12 per cent. And if this is affecting by comparison fairly w ell-paid teachers and civil servants and lawyers and doctors and account-ants, then imagine what it is doing to those on low incomes. Imagine what income inequality is doing within …
24 Nov 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
80 words
When we talk about the drug trade in this community, we know that has been a trade that has been populated and dominated by young black men from working class low income fam ilies, not from the last 10 or 15 years, for the last 30 or 40 years. There is a reason for that. In some ways some are …
24 Nov 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
42 words
Come on! The impact, again, of income inequality is so pernicious that we ignore it at our own peril. I just want to share a couple studies , if I may, Mr. Speaker. And I just need to pull them up here.
24 Nov 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
690 words
Even in terms of education, I remember speaking to a group of educators, BUT members and the rest, and even in terms of our education system and some of the outcomes that really have perturbed the society and community for years, we ignore the fact at our own peril (I say that again) , income equality is even affecting our …