After the Polls Close on Tuesday: The Choice Between PLP and OBA
From: Lauren Bell, PLP Candidate for Constituency 8
After the polls close on Tuesday, there will not be a government of independents or an FDM government. There will either be a PLP or an OBA government. Here’s what both means for you and your future.
A PLP government means a team of Bermudians - a record number of women and the right combination of experience and wisdom with youth and new ideas - that is committed to building a fairer Bermuda for all. It will be a team that will focus on:
- The cost of living by supporting price transparency and controls on essential goods
- Further reducing taxes on workers
- Increasing senior pensions
- Opening at least one senior daycare centre
- Adding a free primary care visit under HIP and specialist visit under FutureCare
This PLP government won’t be perfect, but it will build on its record of reducing taxes on 86% of Bermudians, raising senior pensions six times, expanding childcare, introducing the minimum wage, and bringing over 70 affordable homes onto the market.
But what does taking a risk on the OBA mean for you and your future? We remember what the OBA did the last time they were in power:
- The bad Morgan’s Point deal that cost us over $200 million
- The bad airport deal that cost us over $50 million
- No pension raises for 4 years
- Underfunded public schools
- Attempts to restrict mammograms
- An attempt to redefine what it means to be Bermudian through Pathways to Status
Now, we know what they’ve done. What do we know about their real plans for the future? Well, we don’t know for sure because they won’t tell us. They’ve often touted their “platform,” but it is only an 8-page pamphlet with no details whatsoever.
But we get glimpses of their real plans based on what they've done during the campaign. They brought back Michael Fahy and put him in a position of power, and that move should signal to Bermudians their objective for immigration reform. Doug Decouto complained about the cost of senior pensions and said they should signal their real plans for pensions. They told us they would stop education reform, which is bringing expanded access to technical education, with no plan other than to bring in some unknown outside experts.
When you go to the polls on Tuesday, you may see a few options on the ballot. However, at the end of the day, only the OBA or the PLP will lead the country after the polls close. So, while you make that choice, ask yourself, with all that is going on in the world, is the OBA worth the risk?