Minister disappointed over daylight savings U-turn
Wayne Panton, Minister of Financial Services, Commerce and Environment
(CNS Business): Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton has said he is disappointed that the Cayman Islands Government will not be going ahead with the decision to introduce daylight saving time in March. The minister told CNS Business it was “unfortunate” that the opposition to the plan had mounted recently in the face of a jittery world economy.
“The global economic environment is challenging and we need to be doing everything we can to align ourselves with our major markets, he said. “Everyone wants growth and opportunities for their children but to achieve that we have to be able to adapt. Everything cannot remain as it has been since 1969,” the minister warned.
The push for the time change came mostly from stakeholders in the offshore and tourism industries in order to synchronise all year with New York, in particular for the financial services firms, and with Miami for flight and cruise ship times. But opposition came from the wider community because of the impact on the natural daylight pattern in the summer, which would see darker mornings but more light in the evenings in the summer.
“In some cases there is just genuine misunderstanding but in others the negative perspective is harder to understand,” said Panton, who is still keen to see the change introduced. “No health advisories are ever issued on travel across time zones and people here will travel to Miami all year and adjust to DST without giving it a second thought. I genuinely believe that DST will give us benefits to business and in our personal lives so it will be unfortunate if there is not sufficient support.”
The premier revealed the U-turn on the issue as a result of significant representation that had been made to him and other members of government, as well as the lack of support on the opposition benches. Given the government’s wafer-thin majority, Alden McLaughlin said last week that government was shelving the proposition, despite his administration’s previous commitment to introducing DST.
Category: Finance, Financial Services
Daylight savings time will not help working with clients in Hong Kong, London, Singapore, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Switzerland etc. change the hour all you want. It’s still useless. So Panton, if others want to adjust the working schedule, there is nothing stopping employers to enact shift work or staggered times.
This minister’s disappointment with become greater come next election
The bigger issue is that he is pointing out how weak our leaders are by not being able to implement change. Make the change with the promise that next time the one man one vote referendum happens this question is included also.
Of alllllllllll the pertinent issues facing these islands Wayne you choose this one. How many people have complained to Wayne Panton about DST v how many have complained about unemployment and its related issues. You picked the matter of least relevance to stay somewhat public and vocal. You are silent on real social issues, you are silent on issues faced by Caymanian legal practitioners, you are silent on everything that matters. WTH is DST going to do for my life that is more important than these issues. You are so out of touch with everyday people and that is clear because you do not associate with them.
Tired of the attacks on Ministers doing their job for their portfolio, because they’re not working on the front page on some other Minister’s issues YOU think are more important.
If you want to complain about a lack of progress on your pet issue, try saying ‘Why isn’t Minister X doing something about Issue X like Minister Y here has tried to do about Y?’ You’ll still be hijacking a thread to whine about the price of tea in China, but at least you wont’ sound like a complete boar.
The real problem is that the majority of Caymanians do not understand that we live in a globalised world. We are no longer the land of turtlers and fisherman. Our standard of living is directly due to two sectors, financial services and tourism. We need to do everything we can to accommodate these sectors if we want to continue on a path of prosperity. Minister Panton gets it but I regret to say that the majority of Caymanians don’t get the globalised world Cayman is a part of.
What a mess out politicians are in SMH.
I for one am pleased to keep our local time year round. For me there are many advantages to NOT having DST.
Advantages such as?
Here are four for starters: no sleep disruption, no increased power bills, no hassle of changing your clocks twice a year, no kids going to school in the dark.
The first to points are minimal. The last one is simply not true. The clock changing point is only for the lazy. The pros of the plan are very clear and outweigh the negatives. Oh and the children you care so much about? Some will be involved in traffic accidents they would not othewise have been in, since rejecting DST means more peak time traffic at night, not less.
On occasion it seems as if Wayne is more on the side of the foreigner and less on the side of Caymanians.The Government should speak with one voice, therefore since the Premier had spoken on behalf of the Government, it was not necessary for Wayne to publicly disagree with him.Some of these politicians need to learn the rules if they want to play the politics game.
Wayne is on the side of what is best for Cayman and he has done more for Cayman and Caymanians than many would do in several lifetimes. I happen to know that the Premier regrets the current position on DST as well. The Government has spoken with one voice – what Wayne has said is supportive of DST not a contradiction of the Premier.
Congratulations Wayne for speaking out and supporting the DST move.
well said wayne…you have more fortitude than alde (but that wouldn’t be hard)