GEORGE TOWN SOUTH CANDIDATES PITCH FOR THE VACANT SEAT

George Town South will have a new MP after the April 30th election with voters to choose from independent candidate Alric Lindsay, Craig Frederick - hoping to hold it for People’s Progressive Movement(PPM/Progressives), and Gary Rutty of the Cayman Islands National Party(CINP).

The seat has been vacated by PPM’s Barbara Connolly who is not contesting the election.

The Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum is one of the platforms the candidates are using to get their message across, addressing a series of pre-selected questions and topics and the pattern continued with the session for the George Town South seat.

On the national scale, CINP’s Gary Rutty is highlighting immigration, cost of living and education as his top three issues. “Immigration reform will be my first priority. Previous administrations have watered down what it means to be Caymanian. They’ve handed out status grants like Santa Claus handed out candy at Christmas. If we keep giving it away, being Caymanian would be worth nothing. We need to tighten up on the legislation enforcement. I will advocate for bringing the Caymanian Protection Board back to this country because the Cayman Islands deserve it.”

The CINP candidate proposed that one way of tackling the cost of living is to make healthy foods cheaper by reducing the import tariffs while raising it on less healthy options. His focus on education includes training and employing more Caymanian teachers, and introducing financial services studies on the curriculum linked to that pillar of the economy.

Education, cost of living and immigration are also priorities for independent candidate Alric Lindsay.

“For immigration, we recently saw some proposals put out by the government that were not well thought out. I propose, in the case of Permanent Residency, that some of the easier ways to gain points be removed, meaning walking dogs, and also remove the maximum of 30 points that is given for investment in property because that artificially raises prices of homes and keeps them high.”

On the cost of living, Mr Lindsay proposes further empowering OfReg - the independent regulatory authority -  with greater control over utility prices, and likewise giving CIMA (Cayman Islands Monetary Authority) more say over interest and mortgage rates.

Prioritising nationals in the workforce, in education and throughout the wider society is the priority for the PPM/Progressives hopeful Craig Frederick.

“First and foremost, the opportunities for Cayanians, especially young Caymanians who take that opportunity to go and further themselves by getting that education.  We all tell them, ‘that’s what you need to succeed’ only for them to get the degrees, come back home and can’t find opportunities in that specific field.”

Mr Frederick is also pushing for easier access to housing for Caymanians,  as well as taking steps to reduce the cost of health insurance.

A discussion about the cruise sector of the tourism industry saw the three competing candidates trading views on the controversial cruise pier proposal, including the size of cruise ships calling here, and what type of tourism best works for the destination.

Rutty(CINP): “At the present time, I find our tourism product to be absolutely garbage. Why in the world would we want to bring in larger cruise ships at this time with a higher clientele to experience a tourism product that I am not proud of?” he asked.

Mr Rutty said the focus should instead be on smaller luxury liners as his party’s research is showing that cruise berthing is not a priority at present.

Lindsay (IND): “I would support smaller ships coming here because those are people who actually spend…Next, think about what is the impact of having this facility? Is it going to worsen the traffic? And if you worsen the traffic, then you’re reducing the quality of life for the residents.”

Mr Lindsay said the cruise pier concept was being pushed by some cruise lines seeking to exert control and putting Cayman at a disadvantage.

Frederick (PPM/Progressives): “We have an opportunity to create a cruise berthing facility to take that huge anchor off of our ocean beds and be able to still maintain the product that we have built as cruise tourism and try to lessen that gap of almost 50 per cent loss in cruise passengers.”

Other issues which came up in the George Town South forum included revitalising the capital, developing multi-story buildings for affordable housing, the policies and functioning of the Cayman Islands Development Bank, and minimum wage.