McTaggart goes on PACT attack

| 15/07/2021 | 108 Comments
Cayman News Service
Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart responds to the SPS

(CNS): The opposition leader wasted no time setting out the opposition stall in his first address to the new Parliament on Thursday, going on the attack against the PACT Government. Roy McTaggart accused the government of leaving the country adrift, taking too long to set out its policies, criticised its border opening plans and derided all of the moves the new government has already made since taking office. He also fanned the flames of rumours about divisions among those in the new PACT Government.

In his response to the Strategic Policy Statement tabled yesterday, McTaggart said it “did not amount to much given the time it took them to say what their collective plans are”.

Although his party lost the election, McTaggart nevertheless disagreed that the country had voted for new leadership. He said that “over the last three months, we have had a remarkable absence of leadership” and that PACT’s silence had been broken only by cancelling policies of the previous administration, as he went on to laud the arguable success and importance of the George Town shuttle bus service and the farmer’s support programme.

Referring to the announcement that the tourism stipend will stop at the end of November, McTaggart compared the tourism minister to the Grinch for “cancelling Christmas for the more than 3,000 tourism workers and their families who rely on the stipend to get by in these tough times”.

In the very critical and long address, the leader of the opposition attempted to compare the ministerial experience of the opposition bench with the political newcomers in Panton’s Cabinet and offered to help them if they listened to the PPM team.

“We in the opposition have said that we do understand that the lack of experience in the current government will hamper getting things done. That is inevitable even if undesirable,” he said. Given that the last government’s front bench was returned to office, he claimed that the public still supported their policies, which PACT should adopt. He said they would be pressing for the PPM’s policies to be adopted, as they owed it to the “thousands who voted for that plan”.

Criticising the PACT approach to open borders, McTaggart said their population numbers were wrong, despite interjections from Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Chris Saunders, who explained they came from the very same national statistics office that the opposition leader had presided over when he was finance minister.

McTaggart also said the 80% target for national vaccination would be impossible to achieve. He argued for a set date for full border reopening in September even in the face of concerns about the resurgence of the virus due to the more infectious variants. The opposition leader argued that a set opening date would spur people to get their shots, knowing that the risk of infection would increase. He said the PACT target of 27 January was not even a real date and that in reality they did not have a plan.

While McTaggart said he might support some of the PACT policies, such as the programme to feed children in schools, he said wanted to see much more detail, as he continued to criticise PACT for a lack of cohesive polices more than three months after taking office. The opposition leader constantly alluded to the contrast between the opposition’s stated policy platform versus what he implied was still a vague offering from government, a theme that is likely to shape this opposition’s term.

Given that the PPM (plus one aligned independent) is an established political group, PACT can expect to face concerted pressure on their policies from the opposition, which will be in a position to present a united front against them, unlike the more fractured opposition the previous Unity government faced.

Following McTaggart’s response to the government motion to adopt the SPS, no other members rose to speak on the motion. Therefore, instead of there being several more days of debate, as had been expected, Parliament was adjourned to allow the premier to wrap it up today, Thursday 17 July.

See McTaggart’s full address in the CNS Library or watch the SPS response below:


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Category: Government Finance, Policy, Politics

Comments (108)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Look ya, Roy. If those numbers are wrong that is squarely on your shoulders. Sit down and stop being a sore loser!

  2. Anonymous says:

    What a bunch of useless Sore Losers! Roy gets up there complaining, twisting the truth and trying to stay relevant.

    Most of them didn’t even bother showing up. No only are they no longer relevant but we are paying them to do nothing..

    • Anonymous says:

      Where is Alden?????

      • Anonymous says:

        Probably reciting pointless daily facts, introducing prayers to COVID press conferences, and telling Wendy from CNS that the free press are not allowed to question the government. Oh… and maybe also supporting a man that refers to Jesus and a donkey when answering key public health issues. In other words… offering nothing useful.

      • No Fan says:

        Who cares? The further away, the better!

    • Notta Hog says:

      Hey, 11:43 pm…. We’ve been paying them for years for doing nothing! Actually, they were helping themselves to some BIG MONEY all along, so it may be inaccurate to say they did nothing. It would be O.K. with me if they would SHUT UP!

    • Anon. says:

      Trying to stay relevant?
      You realise his main job as the Opposition is to oppose the government of the day right?

      So you all were paying Chris and Kenneth to do nothing when they were the Opposition too?

      I have no skin in this game, I just find it difficult to not respond to some of the comments here. 😁

  3. SSM345 says:

    Hearing Politicians after elections, when they lose, makes me think our kids have nothing to live for in Cayman.

    The shit they implement that doesn’t work, then they are ousted for said shit, yet complain that the new Govt wont do it is effing ludricous.

    Far to many XXXX out there who shouldn’t have voting rights because the BS.

    Unnah really take us all for clowns because none of it affects you.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Go PACK ! PPM sore LLLLooosers 😂

  5. Anonymous says:

    Old man continues to yell at clouds.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Nobody cares Roy. PPM’s biggest mistake was trying to ram the port debacle down people’s throats.
    Good riddens, at least we don’t have to worry abt that.

  7. Anonymous says:

    PACT helping the poor and caymanians….ppm dont like that? Why?

    • Anonymous says:

      PPM know that all of PACT’s wishlist has significant cost attached to it.
      Without a competent professional and experienced Minister of finance, we should all fear the consequences..
      No tourism and cruise income, anti development, feed and house every foreign national dependent , then guess who is going to pay for it.

  8. anon says:

    This is going to be a very interesting 4 years. The opposition is strong, experienced, and seem to attack hard. Regardless, I’m content with the outcome of the election, and am especially looking forward to more on the national development plan.

    • Anonymous says:

      The opposition is nothing but a bunch of burned out power hungry politicians that can not accept they were replaced by the people. If they would spend a quarter of their time trying to help and work in their districts then we would see improvements. Take our old Premier Alden; once he lost power the Red Bay road paving stopped, no markings on them, the big waste of money park is growing up in weeds and unfinished and no representative to be found; but he has lots of time to tell old Roy what to blabber on about. Get a life boys!

      • Anonymous says:

        Um if road works stopped in Red Bay you can’t blame Alden. He is no longer in power it’s PACT who stopped it. Thanks for admitting that when he was Premier things were happening though. Very insightful

        • Anonymous says:

          You can not ever blame the Teflon Don Alden for anything! His heart is pure and his hands are clean – somebody else always did it.

        • Anonymous says:

          Happening when he was in power? Why did this work only start 1 month before he called elections when he had a full four years to serve us in Red Bay? You need to just go back to the PPM office and dream up another stretch of the imagination.

        • Anonymous says:

          I dislike asinine comments!!!

      • Anonymous says:

        Bullshit. He was at a community meeting and talking about the very same issues being stopped despite his outreach to PWD and the NRA. But I guess you might not know that if you weren’t there, you know, working for and being vested in the community?

      • Anonymous says:

        Quote, ” Take our old Premier Alden”.

        No, no! Please, NOT THAT! We’ve had enough!

  9. Anonymous says:

    My granny usually say if you don’t have anything useful to say better if you keep your yabba shut!! She must be talking to the PACT too. Way to go granny.

  10. We pay for salaries and everything else says:

    Not so much Roy M. but I hope the rest of the opposition puts aside their petulant attitude and starts behaving accordingly. We do not pay you bunch to sit and pout in a corner; none of unna paid from your own pockets to get anything (good or bad) done during the 12 years you were in and out of direct power. It was us the people who paid for everything. I hope PACT realizes this too: every study that was commissioned, every initiative that has been undertaken and fell by the wayside, we the people paid for it. So we have a right to see it activated or enacted or brought back into play. Please keep that in mind.

  11. Anonymous says:

    what a hot mess, the PPM is no longer the cashers of this country

  12. Robert Mugabe IV says:

    Anyone have the names of our elected officials who have NOT been vaccinated?

  13. Anonymous says:

    Well, seems like a case of sour grapes to me. I seem to recall the Hon Leader of the Opposition Mr. Roy McTaggart advocating for an 80% vaccination threshold. Maybe he was working with the old population figures of 65,000 which most people knew were incorrect. Seems like both he and the former Premier were wrong.

    Perhaps his time may be better served acting the part of a maturing politician and not catering to the side show.

    • Anonymous says:

      71,000 is just the upper end of the statistical confidence interval. It’s as equally valid to say the population is 61,000, which is right around the lower end. The upper-limit is more conservative, but Roy is not wrong that it’s relatively arbitrary compared to the 65-66,000 used before. Shifting goalposts, same data.

      • Anonymous says:

        Is this actually where the new population figure came from? The upper confidence band? If it is then CIG should be saying they are using the higher estimate to be very conservative or whatever the logic is. As it stands it just seems that they had ESO pull another higher number out of a hat.

    • Anonymous says:

      Him and the rest of the PPM are so upset they lost out on the power spots that they can never get over it. They would rather see our country completely in turmoil instead of trying to work together and make the Cayman Islands a great place. All of them should really be ashamed of themselves but seems like self gratification, greed and the drug called power override their supposed civic and moral duty to all of us Caymanians.
      They have shown what is in their hearts and it is not love of country or their fellow Caymanians. Shame on you Roy & Alden.

    • Anonymous says:

      The leader of the opposition is doing his job. If McTaggart did not point out the inadequacy of the details Panton and Saunders provided on Wednesday we would not have received the details they were forced to give on Thursday.

  14. Anonymous says:

    Roy seems bitter that he’s not the Premier.

    • Anonymous says:

      Roy is an old burned out fuddy duddy!

    • An Old Friend says:

      Of course he feels bitter. At one time he ranked right at the top of the list! Later things didn’t come together and he failed to have enough votes for the prize. Get over it, Roy, you’re a better man that! Help us get back on track.

  15. Anonymous says:

    PACT has stated their primary objective repeatedly.

    Wokeness, above all else.

    Some just haven’t been listening.

    • Anonymous says:

      Lol, ask some of their Ministers about certain subjects and see how “woke” they are. Wayne sprinkles some pixie dust and you all forget that a not insignificant number of his government do not actually support the cause.

      • Anonymous says:

        Also a non insignificant number has not a clue what to say or do. I do not have a problem that some don’t have any experience because this is their first election but those who were previously elected surely should have a clearer vision. I too am find it concerning that these people were elected in April and only now middle of July, have they found their way to the LA to do the country’s business.

        • Anonymous says:

          None of them except Wayne, would be qualified for any job in the private sector that would command such huge rewards.

          • Anonymous says:

            By the way, what are these voted out PPM politicians qualified for in the private sector – lets start with a few:
            Alden
            John-John
            Joey
            Barbara
            Austin
            David

        • Anonymous says:

          I am curious as to what they were supposed to talk about if the SPS was not ready. The constitution dictates how often they must come in and so far, they are sticking to it so…

  16. Anonymous says:

    If you look closely, you can see the strings.

  17. Anonymous says:

    It is fundamentally not credible for PPM to criticize PACT on environmental and development issues.

  18. Anonymous says:

    This is a time for PPM to collaborate with bipartisan politics. It is sour grapes and childish to play politics and stir up trouble for troubles sake.

    • Anonymous says:

      Supposedly the PACT group reached out to the PPM with an Olive Branch to ask them if there were any items they want included in the SPS. Roy gets up and criticizes everything in the SPS speech but then Wayne pulls out the letter and lays it on the table of the house that shows they included what the PPM wanted. So Roy was criticizing his own requests..What an idiot! I heard as wee Alden didn’t come in the morning as he was watching and listening to Wayne while writing the speech for Roy.. Go back and watch Roy read it, you could tell it wasn’t him that wrote it, listen for the little Alden nuances and Roy trying his best to turn on the narcissistic nasty demeanor of Alden..

      I’ll say it again, Roy has let down so many people and he has drank so much of that PPM Kool Aid that he cannot even think for himself anymore and it makes me feel sorry for him. Hope he knows that he already had his chance to be Premier and lost it. Alden can run for it again at the next election and Roy will be thrown to the side by alden just like he did Marco.

  19. Anonymous says:

    PACT assessed needs and planned an approach to the mess McTaggart and his disgusting coalition had left. McTaggart’s idea of government is pushing through nefarious but personally lucrative government projects/contracts, approving development projects for the brotherhood, and supporting woman beating political partners. McTaggart should follow Alden and the rest and just shut up and collect their salaries.

  20. Anonymous says:

    in response to the rambling non-specific sps by pact….ppm should come up with a concrete list of proposals that they would introduce.
    time for a real opposition in cayman.

    • Anonymous says:

      PPM’s plans were self interested and could never be opening proposed….they don’t have a clue how to run a government.

    • Anonymous says:

      They did make proposals. CNS just did not talk about them. But listen to the video yourself.

      CNS: We also posted the entire speech in the Library. Link at the bottom.

    • Anonymous says:

      Problem is that the PPM is devoid of clear policy ideas. Very easy to attack every policy but much harder to have some policy solutions.

    • Anonymous says:

      They did. Listen for yourself.

  21. Anonymous says:

    as bad as ppm were…they now have an oprtunity to be a meaningful opposition.
    thye have an open goal with the inexperience and incompetent start by pact….
    not overly impressed by roy and ppm so far.

    • Anonymous says:

      A meaningful opposition would needs to address the issues…not the personalities of the government members. Roy has an amazing ego for such an incompetent politician.

    • Anonymous says:

      They can start with education!

  22. Anonymous says:

    I don’t think he’s wrong about pact probably not getting along. I will say as a prospect district voter it’s very unfortunate that Sabrina last HQ is across from the park for our children that still isn’t finished. Wondering if the rest of the funds were pocketed and they have no intention of finishing it.

    • Anonymous says:

      The PPM has only ever worked for themselves so don’t know how to work with a government for the people.

    • Anonymous says:

      I have seen CNS also highlight that PACT have several differences and Wayne may have a challenge getting some of his environmental and other plans done. So if Roy is fanning any flames they are also being stirred on CNS. And I suspect both are right.

    • Anonymous says:

      Check with Alden as that is in his district

      • Anonymous says:

        Both should be held accountable for the half finished project. Not to mention Alden’s district has bay island that is a dumping ground for rusted who knows what but it seems like a barge was dumped on land to just sit. Tyres as well are just dumped. Its the harbour house guys land though so doubt anyone will do anything. I walk my dog there almost every week and nothing is ever removed.

        • Anonymous says:

          Don’t like it, don’t trespass. Go somewhere else…

          • Anonymous says:

            Oh lordy, calm down. You do realize that you can see things on open land without trespassing right?
            I mean there is enough mangrove missing all over the entire island to now be able to see lots of questionable things on land that previously was hidden by said mangroves.

            • Anonymous says:

              What a tragedy when they pulled out the mangroves a few weeks ago. So sickening. He’s doing nothing with that land except turning it into a mini shit hole like his business with boats half dumped in the water. At least the island used to have vegetation hiding everything but he seems to have a vendetta against nature. So strange.

          • Anonymous says:

            It’s not trespassing bobo

          • Anonymous says:

            I have prescriptive rights. Prove me wrong.

        • Anonymous says:

          Alden is to busy running around starting trouble instead of working in his district.

        • Anonymous says:

          The option of land or sea…
          Do not ever think that it will NOT be dumped over the wall into the trench… I have heard stories. (An actual word of mouth)
          If I were ‘bigger’ I would prove this as fact but anyone that were to try may find themselves in that same trench.

    • Anonymous says:

      @12:55PM..Guessing you are not a Prospect Voter because you would know that that Park is in Alden’s District of Red Bay…Guess you need to ask him and Austin what they did with the money if you are worried about it..It goes to show it was all a sham because if those two wanted it done they would have gotten it done. By the way here are they? Alden held one or two meetings in his district during elections. He and Austin never bothered the set up district offices in their districts. If that doesn’t give you an indication as to why the park wasn’t completed then you have drunk too much of that PPM Kool Aid.

  23. Worried Young Voter says:

    It’s extremely concerning to watch the PPM fan the flames of political instability in this country.

    • Anonymous says:

      That’s the role of the opposition.

      • Anonymous says:

        No the opposition should be earnestly evaluation and critiquing as necessary the government’s policies and proposals. The PPM is incapable of this so really just opposing losing leadership. Roy is a joke.

    • Anonymous says:

      Did you sleep through the election campaign and the days that followed up until Wayne embraced McKeeva and formed a government?

      Check Sandra’s facebook page to see if she kept any videos of the wonderful things PACT supporters were doing as they went from district to district like Tonton Macoutes.

  24. Anonymous says:

    Give it a rest Roy.. You sound like a broken record!

    • Anonymous says:

      I agree, people just hate that the Opposition is right. And I didnt even support them before until now. You dont have to hate someone becauae they are correct. I didnt support PPM because of the development plans they had, but at this point PACT is no better.

      • Anonymous says:

        It is still early days. As the saying goes “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. A lot of the problems PACT is currently facing were inherited from the PPM when they took office. People need to be patient.

        There is a lot of talk that PACT has no re-opening plan and they want the borders shut indefinitely but remember it was Alden and his cronies in PPM that also wanted the borders to remain closed as COVID continues to rampage around the world. It seems people have short memories on this matter.

  25. Anonymous says:

    We urgently need Honorable Alden and his team to take over and bring the country back to normalcy. Our developers will leave and the country will be without jobs and money. Please Honorable Roy get us back to greatness!

  26. Anonymous says:

    Following McTaggart’s response to the government motion to adopt the SPS, no other members rose to speak on the motion. Therefore, instead of there being several more days of debate, as had been expected, Parliament was adjourned to allow the premier to wrap it up today, Thursday 17 July.

    Maybe some of the newly minted PACT Ministers decided to follow the old adage of better to remain silent and be thought a fool…..

    • Anonymous says:

      The PPM gave nothing to debate….just continued to cry about losing leadership.

      • Anonymous says:

        All PACT Minsters should debated the SPS nimrod. Replying to anything the PPM may have said is just argument.

        • Anonymous says:

          You’re stupid…debate that idiot

        • Anonymous says:

          Why would they debate themselves? The Premier brought the SPS on behalf of the Government. If anything everyone of the PPM should have debated the Premier’s speech…bu oh yeah, they weren’t even all in attendance…that tells you just how much they think of debating or what’s going on in the Country.

    • Anonymous says:

      Wayne spoke for half an hour and really said nothing. Roy spoke on substantive things, gave suggestions and critiqued the Government’s SPS. I suspect the PACT did not expect Roy to say as much as he did on policy and were unprepared. Not one could speak despite Wayne looking around at them expectantly and the speaker waiting on them. Sad really.

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