Cruise petition hits target for vote
Cruise ship in George Town Harbour
(CNS): After eight months of persistence collecting registered voters’ signatures, the campaign for a people-initiated referendum on the issue of the government’s proposed cruise port development in George Town has confirmed they have now verified more than 5,300 signatures and counting. The activists issued a press release Friday, along with a short letter sent to the premier, indicating that the constitutional requirement for a national vote had been met. According to the current electoral roll, 5,289 signatures of voters, or 25% of the register, were needed to trigger the referendum.
Volunteers said the petition was now being prepared to be delivered to Cabinet after meetings with Governor Martyn Roper and Supervisor of Elections Wesley Howell, who is also the chief officer in the premier’s ministry.
“In announcing this historic benchmark, we hope that our elected leaders, as a democratic unity government, will respect the constitution and be guided by good governance,” said the volunteers after achieving the long-fought goal and thanking everyone who has taken part.
Advertisement
“The collection of signatures remains ongoing to safely exceed the minimum requirement, and registered voters who have not yet signed the petition are encouraged to sign right away to be a part of Cayman Islands history in the making,” the activists added.
Having reached the target, the grassroots activists have also written to Premier Alden McLaughlin alerting him to the achievement, given that government continues to press on with its talks with cruise lines and the bidders currently vying for the contract.
While the campaigners wrote to government earlier this month indicating that they were confident of reaching the numbers needed and warning government not to sign deals that could bind the public purse to costly contract penalties, the premier and Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell announced just last week that they had signed an agreement with a fourth cruise line, though the details have not been revealed.
The premier has not responded to the campaigners but over the last few weeks government has increased the public relations and advertising against the campaign, using public cash to urge voters not to sign. However, that failed with well over 25% of the electorate making it clear to government that they, not Cabinet, should decide whether or not this controversial proposed development should go ahead.
Cruise and cargo dock plan (click to enlarge)
However, with the volunteers having met the requirement of section 70 of the Constitution, a public meeting is being held next Thursday in George Town, which Howell in his capacity as supervisor of elections is being asked to attend to explain the process for Cayman’s first-ever people-initiated vote. Gina Ebanks-Petrie, the director of the Department of Environment, has also been asked to attend in her capacity as a technical expert, in particular to explain the findings of the Baird report and the environmental impact of the proposed project, one of the major concerns that has driven the successful grassroots campaign.
Both senior civil servants will need to have their attendance cleared by their superiors, though not allowing these key public figures to attend and answer voters’ questions would, given the clear support for the referendum, raise questions about government’s constant claims of transparency.
Meanwhile, as the campaign gears up for the next stage, the activists will continue to collect signatures to ensure a clear safety net to meet any potential challenges to electors that have signed, so that there can be no doubt that this is truly a vote initiated by the people.
Voters can still sign the petition at Rubis Savannah, Four Winds Esso & Hell Gas Station in West Bay, Silhouette in Camana Bay, and Pure Art and Cathy Church Photo Centre in George Town. Registered voters who wish to have the petition brought to them can call 327-5411.
Organisers continue to encourage people not registered to vote but eligible to do so to register as soon as possible.
Category: development, Local News, Politics
Why is there not a petition to sign at Walkers Road Rubis?? Those Wight guys were all against China Harbour when McKeeva was Premier!
I guess now that their family is in charge, China Harbour is a good company to deal with.
Personal petty gripes never read that well, do they?
Frauds selling out to McKeeva who they hated
It is time to hand over reins to younger generation. Dinosaurs that run this country were born and grew up in pristine environment. What they are leaving to their grandchildren is despicable.
I think I speak for everyone, who isn’t a moron. Just go away. These idiots worried about 1 percent of the island, vs the other 99 percent.
Ya, lets stifle future business for that 1%. And when the cruise ships stop coming, and the harbor front looks like a ghost town. Then this will reflect badly on Cayman. Do you hang out at a bar that no one else goes to? Same scenario for staycationers. Then those naysayers who are running this campaign will be like “gee….maybe we went a bit over board”. When they see the ramifications of this idiot petition.
Restaurants on 7 mile have to reduce their staff, because during the day Caymans 7 mile corridor also becomes a shell of what it once was. Believe it or not, majority of those restaurants need cruise shippers. And then these idiots will complain because nothing is opening during the day. Or the lack of service that they receive, because staff needs to be downsized, due to lack of business.
Here is the obvious. If the dock was so devastating. Then there is every island in the Caribbean that is devastated. Oh look, Jamaica..ya still here. Bermuda..still here. Bahamas. Still here. Honduras, Panama, Antigua, anguilla, aruba, barbados, bonaire, british virgin islands, cuba, curacao, dominican republic, grenada, guaeloupe, martinique, nevis, puerto rico, st barts, st kitts, st lucia, st vincent, trinidad and tobago, turks and caicos, and finally the US virgin islands ARE ALL STILL HERE. And guess what. They built the dock! Some islands even built 2 or 3!
You people are pathetic. It’s like trying to get rid of plastic straws, thinking your helping the environment. yet they ship the paper straws in plastic bags. Just shut up, campaign against something that is useful, Or go back to hanging out at caymana bay, or whatever it is you do, that makes you think you know more than everyone else.
I swear these people are a bag full of hammers dumb.
” A bag full of hammers dumb”? Wow. I wonder which bit you don’t get? 25% plus of the electorate have said they want a referendum. I am not sure which school you went to (would it help if I wrote skool?) but 1% does not equal 25%. In simple words, its a lot more. Bigly time.
Indeed, you are factually challenged on most of what you write. Stay over tourism is growing rapidly, and even the governments own statistics (embarrassingly for them) shows that the 400,000+ stay over tourists annually spend 80% of the tourism income, over the measly 20% that 1,6m+ more cruise people do. The 1.6m also congest our streets and hardly spend $20 each on average but wear out our tourist spots. They get fed all they need on the ship, so your restaurant argument is tits too. Maybe they would buy a snack and a drink on a beach. However, no normal person would go to a Georgetown bar (except on the front) at night, You may not have noticed (as it appears you spend a lot of time on your own in bars during the day time), but the cruise ships ere not here in the evenings.
Unprecedented event in our history and even days later the elected Government has not released a statement or acknowledged the reality that their project is now finally going to face the challenge it deserves and will likely be voted down by the people
Yes you will be challenged 3 to 1 for the port to go ahead. Now the silent sensible majority will have to deal with this waste of time for our much needed dock.
@ CNS – Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all taking steps to limit misinformation and trolling. This is hugely important, as misinformation can effect the outcome of elections, as well as have a devastating impact on societies in general. Clearly, the comment sections of your articles are rife with trolls and misinformation. What are YOU doing to eliminate misinformation from your site? The Cayman economy and our social well being are to important to let this practice continue for the sake of entertainment and clicks.
CNS: If I was going to delete all comments that contained misinformation, I’d start with this comment. In fact, it’s so off the mark, it’s almost as if the point was to discredit CNS. But I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you just have no idea what you are talking about.
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are all taking virtually no steps to limit misinformation and trolling across the internet, despite the many outrageous scandals, including the live-streaming of mass murder in New Zealand, and Facebook’s decision to leave up the fake video of Nancy Pelosi, which even YouTube removed. None of these platforms will ever be moderated as CNS is. The best you can hope for is that they will remove the worst and most vile stuff after the fact.
This is how bad a job they’re doing.
The problem with social media is not just the rubbish that is posted (fake news, conspiracy theories, etc), it’s how it is spread. Every time someone likes or shares or comments on a post, Facebook stores that information and uses it to dictate what posts turn up in your feed. So if, for example, you liked a post about how the earth is really flat, you will find flat earth conspiracy theories appearing on your page confirming your original viewpoint.
Not only does this create bubbles of people all believing the same thing (think white supremacy) but it is also used to manipulate people. This is the technology used by the Russians in the last US presidential elections and similar to how Google sells you stuff. Yes, Facebook has been shamed into deleting some Russian accounts but in no way has it made widespread attempts to delete all the misinformation or devised any way to prevent this from happening again.
I’m trying to keep this short, but there’s plenty of information out there if you are really interested.
Comparing this to the moderated CNS comment section is ridiculous. For one thing, we do not retain any information about you other than your IP address so it’s just not possible to manipulate readers in the same way.
If you read the comments, they contain a wide range of views – unlike social media it is a place where people come to argue freely and anonymously about the topics of the day outside their bubble. I do not have time to fact check all the comments but other commenters do. They correct information and call out the trolls. It’s a place where misinformation can be corrected outside those bubbles.
I actually agree with your username, but shutting off discussion about the what is truth is not helping either.
@CNS – Thanks very much for your response. To be clear, in no way did I intend to discredit CNS’ efforts. My question was sincere in my attempt to discover whether CNS actually does anything to discourage misinformation.
If this referendum ever does come to fruition, I strongly encourage everyone obtain factual information before voting, regardless of which side you are on. I encourage constructive debate and I can only hope that my fellow Caymanians will make their decisions based on FACTS and not rubbish spouted by manipulators with their own agendas.
Until they hand the signatures in these clowns are just bluffing.every time they think government is about to announce and they say “hey, we have the numbers so don’t sign” and send a letter to Alden telling him they almost there. Bunch of baloney but I would put my money on these guys in a world series of poker tournament with this kind of bluffing skills.
Well Done! …and just in the nik of time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oz-Uon0boU
PPM Government, above is the link to the song “Small Axe” and yes we the Caymanian
people are the “small Sharp Axe” ready to cut the “Big Tree” down
Congratulations on your achievement…
Even if you signed up 101% of the legally registered voters, On Island, it will only amount to a bunch of wasted ink on paper that our CIG will consider nothing more than “Butt Wipe”, TP or whatever you want to call it.
I commend all of you for your efforts, time and full felt commitment.
Face the Facts, this is not a Democracy!!!
I’m Pessimistically Optimistic About the Future.
But, in the end, hopefully I’m wrong.
Banana Republic (Long Time Observer)
PPM will look very useless if they let this minority of people stop this important infrastructure project.
The Progressives need to prove they can make Prigress!
The petitioners will fail to meet the 50% +1 requirement. The vote will be approx 3-1 against the dock but not enough will vote. Moses and Alden will proclaim this as proof that the people are in favour of the dock.
They keep saying so you can make your choice. I’m pretty sure not all of their 25% signed to say no since they preach signing the petition isn’t a vote for no.
So not only are they up against 75% of other voters like Abyss said earlier, has anyone not realized this 25% isn’t 100% no voters?? Why so confident in shutting it down??
The 50% +1 of the voting population participating is only necessary to make the vote binding, none of those MLAs are brave enough to risk losing their seats by ignoring the results even if it is non binding (they didnt ignore OMOV even though it didnt reach that binding result because they know they would not be able to survive that political firestorm)
The project is now almost certainly going to be voted down just as it should
Just like the rest of us, Moses Kirkconnell, Alden McLaughlin and Kenneth Dart are all people that will die one day.
I do not fear them. God will hold them all accountable for the destruction they have wrought upon the “The land that time forgot.”
I am so proud of Caymanian Patriots. You will get your country back, just be patient.
Oops. Am I guilty of “wrong think”? Sure.
Too late. They have given Status away to so many, so freely, even Mac must be embarrassed.
Dead men tell no tales because it’s like the time before you were born. Nothingness.
You don’t know Moses. I don’t know the Premier and we all know Dart. Moses believes in this project. You and others perceive that he’s doing it to line the family pocket. He’s not like that. I know him, really know him. He wants a positive view toward our future. If anything, he is guilty of believing that the cruise ship companies will always do as they are currently saying. We can see that other places have gone down this same road and are sorry for it. Moses is a smart businessman. I think he is wrong in this instance.
I will vote against the finger piers. I think the shipping port needs upgrading. If they are linked together, I will vote “No.”
Moses is a good man who wants the best for us all going into the future.
A good man vs. a man with grand vision and sense of direction for this country.
The government are simply not going to allow it, they do not respect the democratic process or the environment. Why do you think they are anxious to change the conservation laws? Why do you think they are not implementing the standards in public life laws?
The petitioners should immediately arrange for the signatures to be verified by the Eections Office. It’s interesting that is not mentioned in the article. I assume that the count is accurate, nevertheless verification is a necessary step in order to trigger a referendum.
CNS: The petitioners do not need to arrange for the Elections Office to verify the signatures. That is already part of the process. Try to keep up.
They know not done or what they have signed nor what they are doing to this country or the 3500 to 4000 people in Cayman who directly or indirectly derive a living from the cruise tourism industry. It is one thing to reach the 25% threshold to force a referendum, it is totally another thing to win the referendum. They will never achieve a 50%+1 vote in the referendum to win the referendum, so it is all a complete waste of time money and effort in this regard. More delays after 40 years of delays. Cayman is the only jurisdiction in the entire region that does not have cruise berthing, so is everyone else wrong and only Cayman right. I do not think so!!!! Thank you petition signers for holding back progress and the future of this country in preventing the expansion of our cargo port which is the life line of this country. We still have just the single one berth for cargo ships built in 1977 yet our population has quintupled. YOU KNOW NOT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE !
Go home, troll!
One single berth for cargo? You know that is not correct! Ideally the finger pier needs to be widened (guess what no dredging needed for that!) But there is a berth for roll on roll off cargo on the North side and a regular berth on the South side of the existing pier!
So let me get this straight, a group that has parading around pretending that their sole goal was not to stop the dock, has fed misinformation for years and has members with questionable back grounds and motives thinks that the CI Government is going to stop a massive project like this just because they say they have the numbers and verified them themselves? Either give me a break or pass whatever it is that they are smoking.
What you should be most concerned about is thinking that it’s okay for a government to ignore its constitution (especially when the relevant section is so clear and was written precisely for this purpose) ever, for any reason. The constitution is the highest law in the land. You cannot say you want good governance, transparency and for the rule of law to be respected if you do not support the constitution, regardless of how you feel about the dock.
Good, I’m happy the referendum will happen. Now the silent majority will finally be heard and we can get this project underway.
Public knows better than the government. Thank you all who made it possible.
The CPR petition group want to hold a meeting and require the elections supervisor and head of DOE to be there even though the signatures have not been handed in or varified by the elections office to actually be valid? Sounds like games and smoke and mirrors to me.
PPM Government please goggle this song by Bob Marley “Small Axe” and remember we
the Caymanian People are the” Small sharp Axe” prepared to cut down the ” Big Tree”
……… real sharp….
…….to cut you down……
Presumably the ill informed protesters will be held liable for the millions of dollars the delay will cost the people of the Cayman Islands?
ah you mean the ill informed protesters that don’t support graft, deception and generally corruption…yeah they’re the idiots…not you with your new refrigerator.
Good one, 7:37!!!!!
What a waste of time.
Ill informed? Do you not get the irony of that statement? That’s precisely why there should be a referendum. So we can see EXACTLY where the money is coming from and going to for this crazy project. To date the Gov haven’t told us nowt!
Ohh, you mean from the secret deals purportedly signed by this govt that simultaneously brags about and denies having signed anything binding? Alden and Moses are going to have to wear whatever is revealed when the curtain is pulled away. A regime that refuses to enact the most basic Standards in Public Life, rely on seasoned professional Cayman-based negotiators, or share any of the terms of whatever it is they have signed…all without a business plan, EIA, or even an order book for the ships they suggest will cut us from cruise tourism business.
Nothing will be revealed you idiot.
Dear 6:20, Please don’t make stupid comments.
6:20, And how many years has the removal of The Dump been? Try 25 years.
lets get on with it then so I can hurry and vote for the port!
6:04….. Why waste your time?
Let’s get on with the removal of The Dump first. Get your priorities right 6:04.
Where do you want to move it to? My backyard, or shall we keep it in yours? After-all you chose to have your home next to the dump. I did not.
Kirkbots are back to hack the 👍🏻👎🏻 battle in the comments. Get a life people see thru the nonsense!
Maybe the Chinese or Russians on the payroll have gone wild again for their bonus
Why does it baffle you that a few hundred people can hold a different opinion than you in these islands of more than 60,000 people?
We are few but many
fantastic news!!
Fantastic news! #HaveYourSay, United Caymanians, Young and Old.
Lets grab the country back for the people and future generations. No-one is gonna mess with my heritage!
Congrats. But do not stop the efforts now. Go back out and now help people get registered to actually vote. There are many people who do not know they can vote. Have forms and clear instruction on how to register to vote. Let’s do this !!!
Has anyone EVER surveyed to see if anyone other than the tour operator businesses that benefits from cruise passengers because they pay up front for their tours?
Cruise ship passengers are all appreciated, however, a majority of them not injecting funds into these islands when they step off of the cruise ship that is taking care of all of their meals, entertainment and room and board which is all inclusive.
They may pay for a bus tour, however, if you are at any of the locations that the tour operators frequent, they will gladly take all of the “samples” that they can get, and tell you how lovely it is, yet they are not willing to purchase the product that they just sampled, nor pay for any souvenirs over $1 each.
Visitors coming by plane and staying over for a period of time, paying for a hotel, buying food, shopping at the grocery stores, going to local entertainment or restaurants, this is where Cayman is getting an injection of revenue.
There is no justification financially and to the benefit of our environment in the short or long term to destroy our waters with installing a port for ships to dock up and pollute our waters for generations to come.
When we have no beautiful waters for people to want to swim or take pictures in, it is too late.
When the coral and wildlife is dead and polluted from the waste and various leakage from these massive ships, it is too late, you won’t get it back but the majority of you that is pushing for it, is already so far up in age that you don’t care about what the future brings, you just want to line your pockets now.
Caymanians are now know as some of the most passive and hypocritical people in the world that is why those that come here and are only looking to take what they can while it is still available to take, destroy what they can before they move onto to some other country when nothing is left and line their pockets with only thoughts of TODAY, nothing for the future generations.
Pathetic! and when its gone, those that contributed to the bullying deserve what they get, not the generations to come because it won’t be anything left for them.
Wow. Started out making sense and then the wheels came completely off with ‘Caymanians are now known as some of the most passive aggressive and hypocritical people in the world…’ What? Get a grip. Very few if any people are coming here to ‘take what they can…destroy what they can before they move on…’ What in the world are you thinking? Your mind must be in a very insecure and unhappy place with all these cheap horrible people everywhere taking all those samples and not spending more than $1. Overnight visitors are far better than the cruise visitors, but you need to step back, take a breath and have a long look at yourself.
RoaDs and pArks maintained for 5 yeaRs and then lefT to government to maintain was not enough for the concessions that 75% of the message relates to. As most people should be aware who the owner of 99% of the waterfront property and who stands to gain the most from this cruise port.
Maybe you should stop drinking the koolaid, or better yet, go ahead and drink the koolaid, before making assumptions that our minds are “insecure”, unhappy yes, you got that one right, for even Stevie Wonder can see that the majority in power and with endless pockets do not care what negatively happens to this country, as long as they continue to line their pockets.
Caymanian born and bred or not, it does not matter, if you have the love of these islands and want to ensure that there is something left for future generations, then something needs to be done and fast.
People stay overnight at beautiful places all over the world, take selfies and enjoy the islands and post on social media to encourage visits to, barely touched, peaceful places to visit.
Cruise ship passengers barely have enough time to take a tour bus to the rum distillery, tortuga rum factory and maybe just maybe a circle around the turtle farm or dolphin centres and then back to the cruise ship what encouragement would those pictures be to families that want to come for a vacation?
You disregard the exposure to these islands that cruise ship visitors bring.
You disregard that cruises go to multiple locations, like the sampling platter you mentioned.
Why blow all of your spending money at 1 out of 5 destinations?
When they see their friend’s selfies in our beautiful waters and island, they potentially attracted hundreds of overnight visitors.
You are the problem with Cayman. Embrace change.
A demand for growth and infrastructure does not imply we must stagnate – we must adapt and evolve.
We love you, fellow Caymanians. Enter the future with us.
Yes, the time is now fellow Caymanians. Make it ROLEX time for me and hard times for you.
It’s like you skipped over every line and only read the last one to make a sarcastic remark.
Selling merchandise on the water front isn’t the point. Exposure to attract more visitors is.
Cruise passengers are the easiest type of person to convert into overnighters.
There are already strict laws in place for ship pollution and sewage discharge that we have been enforcing for years.
You’re part of the delusional 25%
Name one case!
6:43, You must be part of the “get-it-while-you-can” 25%. You disregard the negatives involved in spoiling a beautiful place while getting all you can.
lets see of elected members gonna honor democracy and the rule of law…
Don’t count on the elected members honoring democracy and the rule of law. Why do you think they have stonewalled the referendum?
Sure took a long time to get to just over 5000 to sign.
Fear. But the ballot box will be anonymous.
You think ballots in Cayman are anonymous? LOL
Yes, they are; if you’ve ever voted you know that the ballot itself has no marks, bar codes, nor writing on it that identify it as yours. Your identity is verified, and then you are given a ballot to take into the booth. Once you are finished, it is dropped into the ballot box.
Simple, time honoured procedure.
Boy you fool
Exactly right. Now, we will see the wishes of the government employees, where they have been previously pressured to not sign.
Well done on getting 25% 10 years later.
Good luck when you’re up against the other 75% of us when it’s time to vote. 🙂
You mean that the referendum petitioners are up against 75 of you. And that includes the 2 in the Ministry, 4 in Fountainhead, the 4 outspoken business owners and their 8 trusted family members and staff, 8 people positioned to serve the interests of the PPM, 3 well known gullible people who act as your mouthpiece and 44 non-Caymanian Kirkbots on work permits. Game over.
5.19pm You lost all credibility on your very first sentence. When you misstated 75% (75 percent) as 75 voters you exposed yourself as a fraud.
Not a fraud, J|) ….. It’s just that we aren’t as smart as you bots.
I’m flattered, truly.
hahah…cig and their own incomptence are to blame if this petition succeeds…..
do-nothing ppm have been ‘talking’ about the port for 8 years…
now wait for cig to pull a dirty trick out and cliam that they were too late or the petition can’t be validated….
They’ll just set the date for a convenient time in the summer when all the new caymanians who oppose our port will be “back home”.
And the referendum question will be something like “ do you support the cruise dock or are you a gay, atheist paedophile.”
So, which is it?
I’m flexible, Sweetheart…… Which one do you want?
The exact wording desired of the referendum question should be incorporated into the petition so that there is no way to skew the vote by clever wording on the part of the government!
Whatever one’s view point on the merits or demerits of the utility of a ‘new” port – surely now, there will need to be full transparency and disclosures on the “deal(s)” done, the costs, the plans etc?
Like most, my reference point for this whole project is the government schools fiasco – original projected cost of $80m, actual cost $120m + (and they stopped counting as there were insufficient receipts, policies, oversight, audit trails etc – so they guessed the final numbers) and when completed, the schools were valued at only $75m …….
Nothing is there in recent times to convince me that there will NOT be significant cost over runs on this, if it goes through…..vide: the OR airport. Only this time, the dollars will be significantly more and a 50% cost over run of a very much bigger number, is what worries the heck out of me….
……We might as well just dust down one of the many previously issued Auditor General Reports, right now, on big CIG project spending prolificacy, incompetence, “change orders”, “change plans”, inadequate oversight, “no audit trails” etc and substitute in the “George Town Port” and input a number of $300 million, and at least we can save the AG’s time and effort in report writing……
So you finally got your 25% willing to vote no. Cute.
Remember, there’s 75% of voters left out there… ever considered they align with us?
Good luck.
Abyss:
a wide or profound difference between people; a gulf.
“the abyss between the two nations”
Eerily fitting. Nice username.
Looks like the same viewer was able to get his vote ‘bots’ working for this 75/25 comment as the other 75/25 comment. 399/54 vs 406/80. Strange how both comments have ten times the number of votes as any other comment…
Whatsapp group entered the chat
No. It never crossed my mind that there might be that many stupid people out there.
Now we can get the vote and get on with the port
Some bots sure come up with dumb comments!
Kirkbots and the government officially in panic mode.
This referendum is an indictment on the performance of the ppm led-coalition the government of national unity who are detached from the views of the people.
Alden Moses McKeeva Roy Tara Joey Dwayne David Barbara and Austin are in serious trouble for 2021.
If there is a referendum can we please have electronic voting in a single location in each district or at least in each constituency. The voting system could be self contained within the voting location. No external communication. Only those for that district/constituency would be in the system so only those could vote once. Counting would take 5 minutes.
Great test for (hopefully) switching of general elections to electronic voting.
Electronic (black box) voting is inherently unsafe. – Just Say No.
Kirkbot collusion!
Now that the activists have seemingly obtained enough signatures to trigger a referendum, they need to turn their attention and energy to ensuring that Caymanians have REAL AND RELIABLE information to make an informed decision. Many who support the building of the port are spreading misinformation and lies on social media and on this very comment page.
Caymanians, don’t be fooled! Do not use social media as your source for facts on this issue! Whether you support the building of a new port or not, make sure you get your facts from reliable and VETTED sources!
Haha. Good luck convincing the blind, those that wanna be blind, those that just don’t care because social media ‘is the internet’ ‘or is that Google/Chrome’? Sigh. Like sheeps to the slaughter they were lead, believing all is well, with rose colored glasses intact, until that final – no way back- moment when they realise>🐑🗡️😵🛳️
probably 1/2 the signatures have been misled as to what they signed. Sorry it will be defeated in a referendum. This has already been an election issue and won.
But this isn’t really about holding a referendum right? Because the people behind this don’t actually want a referendum. They want to stall this until there is an election change in the hope it will sink the project indefinitely.
LOL – I think it is you that has been misled – keep sipping the kool-aid
I know for a fact they misled people, I spoke to the people that signed the petition which were being told it was merely an opposition to CHEC. So THEY DO mislead people.
so you are stating that people of the CI are so dumb? Speak for yourself only.
Yes
It’s almost as if it’s a good idea to read things before you sign them…
i spoke to one of the volunteers when i myself went to sign. She was very clear and explained what my signature meant etc. (even after i insisted that i knew and wanted to sign anyway). Have do agree to disagree here.
So you agree with CHEC getting the bidding contract then? Stay with your head in the sand my friend as CHEC is already here…the only way to get a mindful decision on this is to have a referendum.
You spoke to all of them?
They promised me a public holiday and I’d damn well better get it.
Oh dear, nothing like a sore loser. I have yet to find anyone outside of the shop owners/workers who is pro port. Tells you all you need to know.
They don’t have the numbers. This is political again trying to make noise and see if a bogus news story will stop the progress of the govt.
yeah yeah, more fake news LOL
If these petitioners wanted this to really count they would need 7000 or 8000 signatures. If you show up with the bare minimum, with the number of books scattered unattended all over the Island there are bound to be hundreds if not thousands of bogus signers.
please stop pretending that you don’t know why the numbers weren’t higher due to civil servants being threatened to sign the petition. And if you’re not pretending, then you should abstain from ignorant remarks
Yes, they lost the fight and haven’t realised yet, still keep spinning the same BS. The tactics employed by CIG during this campaign were horrendous and anti constitutional, so expect more of the same now until this gets to the House of Lords I suspect.
The Appellate Committee of the House of Lords has not existed for 10 years and a dispute from here would never have gone there anyway. It’s the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council you’re talking about and it would be quite a sight if things unfolded in a way that put this referendum effort in that court.
I am a civil servant and did not sign the petition. But I will vote no on the referendum. It is what it is.
Meanwhile the Compass is talking about artificial economic growth in the Brac and a broken helicopter to buy more PPM votes
Thankfully we have CNS
and supporting despicable parades by posting only comments that see nothing is wrong with Batabano events.
” ..a Jewish convention waving a swastika..” , “cricket or football..” and “.. Klu Klux Clan marches” arguments are so dumb that it makes me wonder who was dictating to these people.
Obviously Compass supports caveman mentality. I bet Kim Jong-un allows more freedom of expression than new Compass owner.
the compass? you mean the dartpass?
Congratulations to the organizers and volunteers…. and thank you for the hard work!
Yes congratulations are in order – particularly when Caymanians are constantly being criticized about being apathetic about the issues we face. Lots more referenda should be started but this is a great start.
Referendi.
CNS: Ahem. ‘Referendum’ is not a Latin noun; it is an English noun derived from the gerund of the Latin verb ‘referre’. The plural is therefore ‘referendums’, following the usual English plural. It is sometimes (wrongly in most considered opinion) treated as a Latin noun ending in -um (2nd declension neuter), which means the plural would be -a. ‘Referendi’ is not a word.
Here’s the thing, I don’t give a shit if it’s a word or not, it sounds much more fun. Case closed.
Never thought I would see the day that CNS quoted Latin grammar. Perfect. Fact you punctured the balloon of the pretentious person that posted it even better.
Yes, obstruction at it’s finest
Hey Aldart..the Caymanian people have spoken…step down and take up the consulting postion with DART before you do anymore damage
And hide your face in shame for what you have done to the future of young Caymanians.
There is no way that this number is legit. Once the elections office gets it we will see many signatures aren’t real.
I have a feeling that you may be wrong on this.
Yay, free Public Holiday!
That’s why I signed!
10: 35 &10 :45, does the two of you know holidays help the cost of living to go higher, if the two of you don’t know, then its no good trying to explain it, for you will never understand it, have a good holiday and the high cost of doing business.
Congratulations 🎉🎈🍾. United we stand!
Waste of time.
So are your comments …
Time will tell. I already know the outcome
Yes, CIG being taken to court for its behaviour and losing again.
A democracy respecting their constitution and the democratic rights of its citizens is never a waste of time. Giving the people a say on this is far more important on how people vote in the referendum.