MEMBER FOR FOX HILL (MR. FRED MITCHELL): I wonder if we can make a request at the start if it is possible for the Member for Mount Moriah to provide a copy of the Pre-clearance Agreement. I had thought at some point that it is actually in the Statue Law Books but I didn’t see it.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Mt. Moriah.

MEMBER FOR MT. MORIAH (HON. TOMMY TURNQUEST): It is in the Statues and the need for this amendment is so that now that we want to amend the Agreement we could do so by way of an agreement as opposed to having to continuously change the Statute and what we are doing today is providing that framework. And so, this wouldn’t specifically state private aircrafts in Grand Bahama for example but this provides the ability to so and to change locations as the need may arise over the future years.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Fox Hill.

MEMBER FOR FOX HILL: My recollection was that the… because I looked in the present Statutes but I don’t see the actual Agreement.

AN HON. MEMBER’S REMARK IS INAUDIBLE

MEMBER FOR FOX HILL: Ok. I thought so. So is it possible to get a copy of the existing Agreement?

AN HON. MEMBER’S REMARK IS INAUDIBLE

MEMBER FOR FOX HILL: Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the policy of the PLP in foreign affairs is and was to create a hassle free travel experience for Bahamians abroad when they travel whether for business or for pleasure and no visas required anywhere. The Pre-clearance facility here is a good thing and we support this facility here and did our best to ensure that the facility stays here and in Grand Bahama.

This Bill, which seeks to allow for General Aviation Clearance in Freeport, is a good thing. The idea is for a fixed base operation to be able to clear flights going into the States; these flights now have to clear in Fort Lauderdale. The idea is that there will be greater volumes going through Freeport which in a time of fiscal austerity is often subject to being eliminated; that is the facility in Freeport. When we were in office there was a time when the US was saying that the volumes were not high enough of passengers going through it and so therefore they were seeking to eliminate the facility on the basis of cost.

In our time, one of the things we did to bring about increased volumes to Freeport is by encouraging airlines from Latin America to come to Grand Bahama to clear in Freeport rather than in Miami or in Fort Lauderdale.

It is important for something to be done for Freeport. The impression you get in Freeport is that things are as dead as a door nail and that there is nothing being done for those people up there by a Government that they voted for, and now appears to be sending them to the poor house.

The US Border Protection Agency statistics show that last year I think, there was a total of 1.4 million people who passed through both facilities with 1.2 or so million passing through Nassau when compared to just about 300,000 going through Freeport; so there is a big disparity in the numbers between the numbers that go through Nassau that go through Freeport.

Anyone who has entered the United States through Miami knows what a nightmare it is going through Immigration and Customs facilities in that Port, it is not a pleasant experience and it takes too long. In fact, it can routinely take an hour and a half to process through the airport on arrival in the States. This is quite strange to me for a country that is supposed to be so technologically advanced and efficient. Those who experienced the Immigration inputs at the London Airport in the United Kingdom or the Montreal Airport or Toronto Airports in Canada or even Jamaica where there are long lines in the airport, those lines seem for some reason to be able to move so quickly and the people are courteous.

Entering the US, one of the largest tourism destinations in the world, many people feel like criminals begging to come into the US and many people feel stripped of their dignity by the whole process.

The whole business of entering the US for Bahamians is of major importance to education, tourism, health and business. Many people who cannot travel legitimately to the United States feel that they are in prison and people are being denied the right to travel because of infractions some of them of a minor nature; but which do not stop Americans with the same infractions from coming to The Bahamas.

It was therefore pleasing to hear, the US Ambassador when she presented her credentials to the Governor General, say that the visa process is one that she would look at improving during her tenure; and so we live with the hope. But Bahamians should not, in my view, need to get visas to go to the US. The US should be visa free for Bahamians just as Americans are visa free to come to The Bahamas.

During our tenure in office, we sought to become part of the Visa Wavier Programme, but were told that we could not qualify because the rejection rate of Bahamian applicants for visas were too high, and then we were told that the programme was being discontinued; although when the EU expanded I believe that I am correct in saying that the programme has since been expanded to include the new EU countries. The Government of our country ought to pursue that issue.

You know Mr. Speaker that most Bahamians have no interest in foreign affairs or foreign trade matters until they run into a problem with their passport or there’s a visa problem. The two most requested services for me in opposition is help with visa issues and with passport issues and those are the issues which most Bahamians are concerned with in foreign affairs. It seems to me that there ought to be in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs an office which is dedicated to trying to work with foreign countries to resolve issues of citizens.

The US being the most popular of destination is in highest demand and people often wait in this country until the last minute to get visas; and these days there are very few exceptions granted to moving up the visa application process because we are told that the demand is so high and that the only exceptions that are being made to change dates for visa applications to be heard is if you are a student or if there is some medical emergency.

The other issue is the cost of the visa and the long process for an application for a wavier and what appears to some as the arbitrary nature of the refusals to grant a waiver. These waivers are necessary when someone has a criminal infraction or some other sufficient reason in their background to prevent the local officer from issuing the visa. These decisions for waiver are not taken here but back in the States and it is time consuming and the anecdotal evidence suggests that it often not successful and people complain about how much it costs and if it is refused you cannot get your money back. Indeed the visa issues that need to be addressed are not only for access to the US.

The processing of Canadian student visas is a problem. The last Canadian High Commissioner attempted to do something about this by providing an officer to come to Nassau to deal with the applications. The British have done some of this as well. But in each case the processes take too long; it is impossible to have some personal contact with a human officer and parents in the Summer time are pulling their hair out as these deadlines to go to school approach. Again I think that a dedicated office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could help with this.

And also think that given the absentee nature of the representation to this country, it would be a good idea to open a High Commission in Kingston to assist with these issues, including relations with all EU Embassy’s the EU itself with India, South Africa and some of the Latin countries that are in Jamaica.

When we left office there was a proposal on the table for a Visa Abolition Agreement with South Africa, that has not been concluded and Bahamians have to send their passports to Jamaica for visas to go to South Africa but South Africans do not need visas to come here.

CARICOM, at its last meeting at the Heads of Government decided that as a matter of policy they would, CARICOM as a group would be looking to the US for the expansion of the system of pre-clearance to all CARICOM countries.

On 13th August 2002, the then US Ambassador, J. Richard Blankenship, marked in The Bahamas 50 years of pre-clearance, the first of which came in 1952 in Canada and now exists in The Bahamas, Bermuda, Shannon and Dublin, Ireland, Aruba and one was expected to put in the Dominican Republic at the end of last Summer. The facility is good for our tourism and has the added benefit of enhancing the security interest of the United States. And what is in the security interest of the United States is usually in the interest of The Bahamas.

The Minister of National Security pointed to the new rules that are being practiced at our airport as a result of the attempt to blow up the plane going into the US on Christmas day. The PLP condemns that attempt and any other attempt to harm civilian and commercial traffic around the world. I don’t see any political or religious justification for it.

But I think that nations have to be sensible when they put in place policies in response to these acts. The travel public is being inconvenienced and I’m not certain that these changes they proposed add any security to the travel; in fact sometimes I wonder who thinks these things up, some of them just seem foolish and add nothing to safety but everything to hassle and inconvenience, but these are the times within which we live.

Sometimes our interests are divergent as we saw recently… divergent that is the countries interests are divergent from that of the United States as we saw in the intervention of the US Ambassador in the press recently. And you know that when we were a government we stood up for the interest of The Bahamas as we saw it and there was often a chorus of condemnation from the FNM that we were being anti-American and now who is anti-American having voted against the United States at the United Nations. Welcome to the real world!

MEMBER FOR NORTH ABACO (RT. HON. HUBERT INGRAHAM, PRIME MINISTER): The Bahamas…. at the UN, there is no evidence to that whatsoever and I ask you to withdraw the statement because it’s untrue.
 

MEMBER FOR FOX HILL: Mr. Speaker, I stand by what I said. The record shows that there was a vote at the UN…

MEMBER FOR NORTH ABACO: Mr. Speaker, … substantive motion; a motion to deal with that statement by the Member for Fox Hill.

MEMBER FOR FOX HILL: Fair enough.
Once when the Governor General was welcoming the Ambassador for South Korea to The Bahamas he indicated to The Bahamas and South Korea that we had something in common. We both are operated within the shadow of giants; that our independence was in fact circumscribed by the freedom granted by the giants. In Korea’s case, they sat next to China; in our case we sit next to the US and it dominates our politics and our economy. But, I think that within the shadow there is plenty of space to operate and all Bahamian Governments have been practical in their foreign relations.

I say this notwithstanding the propaganda of the other side about how we conducted our foreign relations. We stood up for this country and acted in its best interest and in the interest of the Bahamian people.

I think that this Bill is in the best interest of the Bahamian people because it will do something for Freeport. It is in our best interest that Grand Bahama succeeds. We cannot afford for Grand Bahama and Freeport to collapse and every effort must be made to ensure that the present trend there is reversed with people saying that this is worst it has ever been in their experience. The pre-clearance facility in Freeport is under utilized when compared to Nassau; that is a direct result of the low volumes of tourist coming into Grand Bahama.

When I was there over the weekend, the largest hotel in the island was predicting some 20 per cent occupancy for January and some 40 per cent for February. Can you imagine this at what is supposed to be the height of the season and they cannot get the hotel half full? Next door at Pelican Bay, a much smaller hotel admittedly, they are said to be running at 90 per cent. And then you have the owner, of the Grand Bahama Port Authourity, Sir Jack Haywood, saying that his main partner in the port Hutchinson Whompoa, was doing an awful job of running the hotel. Yet, in the scheme of things it appears that there is a hands-off attitude toward the economy of Freeport. What we seem to be developing throughout the country is a welfare state and the warning signs are there that there is simply too much borrowing rather than going out and beating the bushes to get some people into Grand Bahama and increase the productive capacity of the island and of the city.

It is so bad in some quarters in Freeport that it is impossible to move around without someone coming and asking for money and each has a compelling story. The unemployment statistics tell one story, but the anecdotal evidence tells an even worse story of people who are out of work, have no money and are under pressure to make ends meet. The situation is simply dire. In fact, some have contrasted the small airport in Marsh Harbour with what is happening in Freeport; and they think that there is more activity in Abaco than there is at the Grand Bahama International Airport.

So, where is the plan of this Government to speak up for our country? Where is the plan to get people back to work in Freeport? Where is the plan to raise the tourism figures? Where is the plan to re-open the closed hotels? Where is the plan to fill the existing hotels?

I’m told, for example, that 700 rooms in the 1,200 room Our Lucaya facility are out of inventory. You go to the property and you see the wear and tear and the fact that no maintenance is being done on the property. There is an electronically controlled door to the property that has been out of commission for it seems to me a year, but certainly six months and they can’t seem to fix it. At breakfast, I was told there is no longer a buffet because of the low occupancy at the hotel. The internet service does not work in the rooms and has not for at least a year, so all the guests have to come down to the lobby to get internet access. The casino is a shadow of it self and does not do its own promotions, it appears. It appears to depend on the hotel for its customers and we have the word of Jack Haywood himself that the hotel does nothing to promote itself. Then we hear that the Prime Minister is in a row with the owner of the port over who that owner wants to run his business. Holding no brief for anyone, I thought it was the policy of the Government, successive governments that an owner has the right to at least have one man in the business who will act on his behalf, but it appears that this has gone out of the window.

My general point is that when Dolly and her people in the Straw Market put out their wares in Freeport, they have no one to sell to and this has been a complaint for two years. The point is who do they go to? The port seems to be in disarray and the Government seems to have abandoned the city and thrown their hands up in the air.

And so, the Pre-clearance facility we hope will stay in Grand Bahama, that the possibility of an FBO being part of that will enhance the attractiveness of the Freeport product and we hope that there will be some new business for this city, Freeport; that the city will live and that the Government will get up off its duff and do something to cause it to live.

AN HON. MEMBER’S REMARK IS INAUDIBLE

MEMBER FOR FOX HILL: The distinction that is being done is that The Bahamas voting against the United States. My expression of that means that The Bahamas voted differently from the United States at the UN and that’s what happened. The Bahamas voted differently….

AN HON. MEMBER’S REMARK IS INAUDIBLE

MEMBER FOR FOX HILL: I’m not withdrawing anything. Always throwing up red herrings.

And so, Mr. Chairman….

AN HON. MEMBER’S REMARK IS INAUDIBLE

MEMBER FOR FOX HILL: Mr. Chairman I thank you for your indulgence and I think that… as I say I hope that this facilitates the growth and development of Freeport and its people and I join with my colleagues on this side in commending the Bill. I thank you.