Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) leader Perry Christie last night announced an "ambitious agenda" to create badly needed jobs, fight crime, reform the education system and to expand the Bahamian economy.  Christie said the PLP proposes to double the nation's investment in education and training.  In the 2011/2012 budget, the government has allocated more than $250 million to education.

"We're talking about more and better educational opportunities for all Bahamians," said Christie, while addressing the closing night of his party's Job Creation and Empowerment Summit at Workers House on Tonique Williams-Darling Highway.  He said the PLP is also proposing a Scholarship Rebate Program with business license fee rebates for companies that provide scholarships for Bahamians to attend tertiary education institutions.

Christie said the party is also advocating a collaborative effort with the private sector to create new technology centers across the country where Bahamians of all ages can receive instruction and upgrade their technical and information technology skills.  "And our Worker Re-training Initiative will dramatically expand access to retraining programs and work opportunities, because when technology and industries change quickly, we must keep pace with a new commitment to lifelong learning," he added.

"As you can see, the Progressive Liberal Party believes that modernizing the way we educate and train Bahamians is the number one thing we can do to create jobs and invest in our nation's future."  He also pledged that should the PLP be elected in the next general election, Bahamians would own more of the tourism industry.  Christie said the PLP would focus a great deal on creating a new energy industry in The Bahamas, which he said would mean more jobs because reduced operating costs for Bahamian businesses would in many cases lead to new hiring.

"We must get serious about renewable energy in The Bahamas," he said.  "...We need serious research, serious investment, the right partners to share costs, and, above all, focused attention from a government willing to make alternative energy an economic-planning priority."  Christie claimed that between 2002 and 2007 his government created 22,000 jobs.
"By the end of my term, we added $1.5 billion to the GDP," he said.

"The Progressive Liberal Party knows how to create jobs.  Yet we haven't spent much time during this summit looking back.  "The reason is that our eyes are now turned to the challenges of the present and the opportunities of the future."  While recognizing the challenges posed by the global economic crisis, Christie blamed the Ingraham administration for slowing down the economy due to its "short-sighted decisions that rarely or never put Bahamians first".

"That's why the Bahamian economy is one of the worst-performing economies in the Caribbean," he said.  The PLP leader also said things are not getting better in Grand Bahama.
Christie said he was advised that 60 workers were laid off at Our Lucaya Resort in Grand Bahama yesterday, but indicated the PLP had not confirmed this.

Last night, Christie also announced plans for a Coming Home Program, which he said would attract many Bahamians who live abroad back home.  On the issue of crime, Christie said the PLP is proposing "Operation Cease Fire", an intense law enforcement focus on repeat offenders.
In recent months, growing concerns have been expressed in various circles -- including by police authorities and Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest -- that repeat offenders are fueling the sharp rise in violent crimes.

"I have said it before and I say it again tonight," Christie said, "too many criminals have no respect for our justice system.  "We must therefore move heaven and earth to ensure that when these criminals are arrested, they are prosecuted and sentenced to the fullest extent of the law in the shortest possible time, and that no one is let out of prison prematurely.  You do the crime, you do the time."

He said the more than 100 murders so far for the year are a "tragedy and a crisis".  "Bahamian children should not have to grow up in a nation or culture in which deadly force is routinely used to resolve disputes," Christie said.

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