A first-time secret ballot in the House of Commons to vote on the fate of Nanaimo-Ladysmith MP Sheila Malcolmson’s private member’s bill to create a national strategy on abandoned vessels. File Photo.
Members of Parliament are currently going through two days of voting by secret ballot to save a bill on derelict vessels.
Nanaimo-Ladysmith NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson won a ruling from Commons Speaker Geoff Regan allowing a secret ballot vote on the fate of her private member’s bill to create a national strategy to deal with abandoned, derelict vessels.
Malcolmson is appealing to the other sitting Members of Parliament to overturn a committee decision that is stalling her bill.
The bill would help to end the practice of simply abandoning boats and ships by making it illegal. It would also empower the government to go after owners found guilty of dumping a derelict vessel.
Sheila Malcolmson, the MP for Nanaimo—Ladysmith, has used a 14-year-old rule in the House of Commons to prompt a secret ballot vote on her derelict vessel bill which was deemed non-votable by a Commons committee. Photo courtesy CBC.
A Commons committee earlier ruled the bill “non-votable” because it deals with some of the same material included in the newly proposed federal legislation.
Malcolmson says her bill complements the federal bill and should not be sidelined.
She found a 14-year-old, never-before-used rule that allowed her to make the appeal to the Speaker — and his decision means all M-P’s will vote secretly on the committee’s “non-votable” ruling, with debate on the abandoned vessels bill expected on Dec. 6.
With files from The Canadian Press and CBC
Andy Neal
