Rt. Hon. Perry Christie Marco City March 10, 2012

Hello, Grand Bahama! Look at all of you – aren’t you amazing?! You look like you’re ready for a new direction! A new direction and a new day! Grand Bahama, are you with us? Are you marching to victory with the PLP? Are you ready for change, Grand Bahama? We’re ready, too!

That’s why I’ve recruited a new generation of leaders – an amazing and talented group – they’re going to bring their energy and their innovative new ideas to my government and we’re going to see some big changes in The Bahamas! Greg Moss and Tanisha Tynes are part of this movement for change, part of the big change coming your way.

They’re just the kind of people we need in government – they’re smart, they’re committed, with big ideas about how to make things better for Grand Bahama and the whole Bahamas. Tanisha and Greg are going to fight for Grand Bahama, and they’re going to fight for investing in people – you know they will.

Marco City, are you standing strong with Gregory Moss and the PLP? Are you ready for change?

East Grand Bahama, are you ready to go in a new direction? Are you ready for Tanisha Tynes and the PLP? This new generation of leaders that I’ve recruited has worked with me on Project Safe Bahamas, our innovative plan to fight crime, and they’ve worked with me on our Job Creation & Empowerment Agenda, to put Bahamians first and create jobs and expand our nation’s economy. And of course, they’ve worked with me here in Grand Bahama, to put together a detailed plan to create a big success story here.

Because Grand Bahama, isn’t it time to put Bahamians first? Isn’t it time for a government that will fight for you? Isn’t it time for a government that believes in you? When I led the government, we added 22,000 jobs to the economy – jobs for Bahamians. By the end of my term, Bahamian economic growth was actually out-pacing US growth, and we were at the top of our region.

I don’t have to tell you what’s happened since then. Everywhere I go in Grand Bahama, tragedy on nearly every corner. The suffering here is unimaginable. Unemployment through the roof, young Bahamians, old Bahamians and everyone in between out of work and out of hope. I hate to see the middle class slipping into poverty, the poor getting even more desperate. It hurts me to my core. Because I know we can do so much better. The global recession is only part of the explanation here, you know that, Grand Bahamians. The FNM made it worse; much worse. It never had to get this bad. Grand Bahamians trying to succeed during the recession had an FNM boot on their necks, keeping them down.

The FNM has failed you – starting with an unthinkably dysfunctional relationship with the Port Authority. Families losing their homes, losing the dignity that comes with work and with raising your children in security – and this government cannot find a way to sit down, come up with a plan for the way forward? Look, let’s get real, Grand Bahama. You need big change.

In my government, we’ll have a Ministry for Grand Bahama, to make sure your economy gets the special focus and the support it deserves. We’re not going to pit Freeport against the rest of Grand Bahamas – that divisive way of doing things doesn’t work.

No, what we need is an All-Grand-Bahama approach, one that considers the strengths and opportunities in every area of this great island – east and west and in between. The possibilities here are extraordinary – not just in tourism and entertainment and sports, but in industry and shipping and financial services and agriculture. But first you need a government which believes in you. We’re not just planning to revive tourism here, with big cuts in airport and hotel taxes, we also want to expand Bahamian ownership within tourism, by making sure Bahamians have access to affordable start-up capital, affordable land, technical and marketing support. We have initiatives for worker retraining, for technology centres, for more and better vocational and technical opportunities, and for upgrading our schools to meet 21st century standards.

We have to move to aggressively reduce energy costs, and we have to investigate very serious charges of over-billing here in Grand Bahama. You know, Grand Bahama, I’m sure you’re looking at the FNM’s slogan “We Deliver” and asking yourselves “Have they gone crazy?” Their slogan should be: “We’re Sorry.” Or maybe: “We’re So, So Sorry.” That’s right.

They should be apologizing. They should be asking for forgiveness, not for votes. What have they delivered for you, Grand Bahama? Look around…what have they delivered? They have delivered unthinkable neglect. They have delivered unbelievable misery. They have delivered for foreigners, but not for you, Grand Bahama. I know you’ve been watching the roadworks scandal in New Providence with horror. Nearly one hundred millions dollars over budget! What a waste!

It’s their massive incompetence – but it’s your massive debt: You’re the ones who will have to pay it back – you and your children and your children’s children. Shady backroom deals, missing accounts, lie after lie about the date of completion, still no end in sight – and their slogan is “We Deliver”? A project that was supposed to stimulate the Bahamian economy – they turned it into a jobs killer! They deliver? A devastated small business community, hundreds of jobs lost – that’s what they delivered.

And then Hubert Ingraham strolls into Parliament to ask for tens of millions more for roadworks which were supposed to be completed months ago, acting like he’s just asking for some more peas and rice. As if it’s no big deal. Like I said, their slogan should be: “We’re Sorry.” The countries in our region which are growing in stopover tourists despite the recession – they’re delivering for their people. But not the FNM.

Grand Bahama, if you had a dollar for every minute Hubert Ingraham’s spent worrying about you or your troubles or trying to make them better, you still wouldn’t have enough money to afford a haircut.

Aren’t you tired of a Prime Minister who only knows how to hold one-way conversations? Aren’t you tired of a Leader who doesn’t have any time to listen to what you have to say? Aren’t you ready for a government which believes in investing in people? The FNM has failed, and The Bahamas is much worse off than it was when they over nearly five years ago.

But we’re going to turn things around. In Grand Bahama, we’re going to overcome this terrible adversity – we’re going to do it together, hand in hand.

The FNM might not know how to create jobs during tough times…but we do. We did it before and we’re going to do it again. We’re going to do it with innovative new ideas and an amazing new generation of candidates. We’re going to do it because we believe in you, Bahamas! Grand Bahama will rise and become the shining success story it was meant to be! We’re going to do this together…we can’t wait to get started… Are you ready, Grand Bahama? PLP…PLP….PLP…