NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson speaks with the media about her private members bill regarding abandoned vessels, in Ottawa on Thursday, November 30, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
November 30, 2017 - 8:17 AM
OTTAWA - NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson says she is disgusted by a Liberal government that quashed her attempt to clean up abandoned ships on Canada's coasts.
Malcolmson is 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 because it was too similar to a government bill introduced six months later.
With support of the other opposition parties, Malcolmson challenged that decision, which led to a secret-ballot vote among MPs this week.
The House of Commons refuses to release the vote totals, but told Malcolmson this morning she had lost and she says it was because the Liberal majority voted against her.
There are an estimated 600 abandoned vessels sitting in harbours and along waterways across the country, some of which will cost more than $1 million to remove.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau's legislation will make it illegal to abandon a boat in Canada and Malcolmson says she supports his bill, but it doesn't do everything coastal municipalities wanted.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2017