By The Progressives

GET THE FACTS

MAC CLAIMS CAYMANIANS WORSE OFF

FALSEHOOD

McKeeva Bush claims more Caymanians cannot pay their bills or are worse off since the PPM have been in power

TRUTH

This is False. The truth is incontrovertible. With more Caymanians employed, taxes reduced, and cost of living lower, gas prices lower,
Under the UDP you definitely couldn’t pay your bills if you were a part of the 10.5% unemployed. Even if you were employed you had to pay nearly $2 MORE for a gallon of gas in addition to the other UDP imposed taxes.
This Progressives Government has:
put more people back to work
reduced import duty on goods from 22% to 20%
reduced the CUC fuel duty from the $0.75 per gallon under McKeeva Bush to $0.25.
grown the economy faster and more consistently (0.8% versus the Progressives 2 plus %)
The Progressives CUC fuel duty reduction alone is leaving $17m in your pockets and thus in the economy each year.
Because of our efforts, combined with lower oil prices, during our term the cost of living was not only kept in check, but fell by 2.5% in 2015.
Our government also successfully intervened when we saw what we thought was unfair pricing at the gas pumps and the prices subsequently dropped by $2 a gallon.
More Caymanians are in work now than they were in 2012, and there are 2 times more small businesses in 2016 than in 2014. This is a tremendous achievement in three years.
More Caymanians are better off today than they were when we took office. Also, all of these benefits have been generated fairly and transparently. It is not a matter of special handouts for some while others get nothing.

MAC PRETENDS HE WAS SUCCESSFUL

FALSEHOOD

McKeeva Bush believes that his time as Premier was a successful one with lots achieved

FACT

Never in the history of our country did we suffer more harm and embarrassment, with so little achieved, than we did under McKeeva Bush.
McKeeva Bush was not only combative with the Governor and the UK, but also with the business community and the expatriate community.
His tenure was filled with chaotic leadership, lack of transparent procurement, a cruise dock fiasco, lack of business & investor confidence, and reckless business deals.
Remember the inability to get the UK to approve budgets quickly and the ‘pretend budgets’ that would sol.
Remember the infamous expat tax fiasco and the bad press it brought Cayman.
Remember the cruise dock fiasco with the Board rebelling and the UK stepping in to stop China Harbour from being given the contract without proper process being followed.
In the end there was no dock and the country paid $2M
Remember the failed attempt to build an airport without due process – the UK stepped in to stop this as well.
Remember the Cohen loan deal fiasco that cost the country $450,000
Remember the $10M Nation Building Fund controversy, amongst others.
Remember the talk about building oil refinery’s and islands in the North Sound.
Remember the tourism tax giveaway as part of the Dart/NRA Agreement.
All in all McKeeva Bush’s tenure as Premier was unsettling and unstable and investors lost confidence in Government, businesses did not trust Government, and the economy was stagnant. Unemployment for Caymanians was at an all time high at 10.5%.
Today, under this Government life is stable, Investor and Business confidence is up, the economy has been growing and Caymanian unemployment has fallen to 5.7%, the lowest it has been for 10 years. And Government continues every day to work to improve things further.

MAC CLAIMS NO ACTION ON LANDFILL

FALSE

McKeeva Bush claims that the Progressives are doing nothing about the George Town dump

FACT

It was a dangerous and badly managed Dump under the UDP – it is a safer and better managed Landfill today under the Progressives.
This Government has done more than McKeeva Bush ever did regarding a solution for the Landfill as well as fixing the immediate problems with mismanagement.
Firstly under McKeeva Bush’s Government the proper management of the landfill and the maintenance of equipment was ignored. Creating many issues, which ultimately helped worsen if not actually create the major tyre fire in 2013.
Needed equipment valued at over $575K was provided to DEH to ensure that the refuse at the landfill could be properly handled. There is also a proper landfill management plan.
As reported in the Compass: – DEH head Roydell Carter said his department has changed the way it manages the landfill to make sure the waste is compacted and covered regularly. “We now have equipment that works,” he said, including a new compactor that gives landfill crews the right machinery to make sure they can eliminate air pockets in the dump that can cause fires. Landfill fires can occur when waste is not properly covered and compacted. The decomposing material creates heat in the pockets and can spontaneously combust. “We have had no major fires at all at the landfill for quite some time,” Mr. Carter said. The last major fire at the landfill was in March 2015, which firefighters were able to extinguish that same day.
In addition, for the first time in Cayman’s history, we have a national waste management plan and are moving forward to a full solution in line with best practice methods and expect to go to tender by year end for the full solution.

SOURCE: http://www.theprogressives.ky/the-facts/