Nanaimo-Ladysmith NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson loses a secret vote in House of Commons to revive abandoned vessels bill. File photo.
The effort to revive a bill to address abandoned vessels along Canada’s coastlines has come to an end for a Vancouver Island MP.
Nanaimo-Ladysmith NDP representative Sheila Malcolmson was informed Thursday morning that the Liberal majority in the house voted against her in a secret ballot.
Malcolmson became the first MP to use a 14-year-old Parliamentary rule to challenge a procedural committee vote that deemed her private member’s bill on abandoned vessels unvotable.
The result of the two-day vote total was not released.
Malcolmson says she supports Transport Minister Marc Garneau’s legislation to make it illegal to abandon a boat, but it doesn’t do everything coastal municipalities wanted.
It is estimated there are 600 derelict vessels in Canadian harbours and waterways and some may cost more than $1 million to remove.
With files from the Canadian Press.
Andy Neal
