Why Guy?
Nomination of Guy de Faye as Deputy for St Helier, District 3/4
Wednesday 11th April 2018
Speech delivered at St Helier Town Hall by proposer, Daren O’Toole.
M. Le Connetable, M Le Doyen, M Le Procureur, - I am pleased to nominate Guy de Faye as a candidate for the position of Deputy in St Helier, District 3/4.
Guy has previously served as a Deputy in St Helier No.3/4 between 2002 and 2008, during which period he became a member of Jersey’s first Council of Ministers - which now seems like the “A team”, when compared to its successors.
With a significant number of States Members now leaving the Assembly, Guy’s considerable experience of States matters will be a vital component amidst a potentially large intake of novice politicians. His public speaking abilities are well known and he will provide considered and intelligent contributions to debates in the States Assembly.
Guy’s primary determination is to tackle Jersey persistent population growth, which is a feature of a fundamentally flawed economic growth policy and has developed into an overriding pressure on the Island’s housing, infrastructure requirement and local landscape - to mention just a few issues. I have listened to the solutions he will put forward, so - for a change - we will get action and not the usual spin.
Guy is a creative forward thinker and - 15 years ago - was the political driver behind the project to turn Jersey Heritage buildings like Barge Aground and the Corbiere Radio Tower into very profitable holiday lets. As he predicted, the historical portfolio continues to generate media interest and - this year - these unusual holiday retreats feature heavily in Visit Jersey’s online marketing.
Unlike the majority of candidates Guy goes beyond identifying matters that require attention and, after careful research, he offers achievable practical solutions. He has already crafted policies to end peak time traffic congestion, a mechanism to encourage Jersey graduates to return their acquired skills to the Island and reductions in the cost of buying a property.
In the course of his public service as Minister for Transport and Technical Services, Guy proved to be business-like to an extraordinary level and supervised several department contracts to ensure savings in public expenditure running into millions of pounds.
You could say that Guy de Faye is a voter’s perfect politician, who instituted policies that paid back for his entire 6 years as a States Member and provided substantial additional financing to government revenue.
Guy is readily approachable by all sections of the community and he can be relied upon to provide common sense solutions and straight talking leadership.
In these difficult economic times I urge Islanders to elect Guy de Faye.