Derelict vessel removal bill sinks in House of Commons

By Austin Grabish, The Selkirk Record

A private member’s bill that would have made the federal government responsible for the removal of derelict vessels is dead in the water after a 145-133 vote in the House of Commons.

British Columbia MP Jean Coward put Bill C-368 forward late last year, and the bill sunk at its second reading in May.

Coward’s bill would have made amendments to the 2001 Canada Shipping Act, which would have made the Canadian Coast Guard responsible for all of the country’s abandoned vessels including the MS Lord Selkirk II.

Currently, the Coast Guard only deals with abandoned vessels if they are in the way of something or are an obstacle to navigation.

Crowder argued the majority of abandoned boats across the country don’t pose an obstacle to anything and are therefore left to rot.

She recognized there is often a fight over who should pay for an abandoned vessel’s removal between the different levels of government, and which federal department should deal with the wrecks.

“Part of the reason I brought this bill forward is that what we have out there is a jurisdictional quagmire,” Crowder said. 

St. Johns South MP Ryan Cleary supported Crowder’s bill saying derelict vessels are a growing problem across Canada.

Cleary said in 2012 the number of derelict and abandoned vessels was pegged at 240, with the majority of those boats on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

The abandoned boats have been eyesores for residents across the country including in Selkirk.

The MS Lord Selkirk II was abandoned in 1990 and efforts to have the ship removed from the slough it’s been rotting in have repeatedly gone unsuccessful. 

Conservative MP Ed Komarnicki from Souris, Sask. said the Tories didn’t support the bill, because it did not address the bigger issue – the prevention of the abandonment of vessels. 

“This private member's bill is a sincere attempt to address the issue of abandoned vessels and wrecks. 

“However, when we look at the facts, we see it is clear that the bill does not provide the proper mechanisms needed to respond to the issue,” Komarnick told the House. 

He added the bill could have unintended consequences, like encouraging boat owners to abandon their vessels relying on the federal government for their disposal. 

“This cannot become so here,” he said. 

The Tories' stance on derelict vessels mirrors one long echoed by Selkirk-Interlake MP James Bezan.

Bezan doesn’t believe taxpayers should be on the hook for removing the ships and reiterated the Tories hardline stance on the issue in a phone interview last Friday. 

He said in the case of the MS Lord Selkirk II, legal action should be taken against the ship’s owner, who although has filed for bankruptcy, may be held accountable for the rotting beast. 

A spokesperson for Fisheries and Oceans Canada said the MS Lord Selkirk poses no further threat of hydrocarbon pollution so its work with the ship is done.

The Coast Guard raised the vessel in 2014 to remove hydrocarbons from the ship.

 -- First published in the Selkirk Record print edition July 9 2015 p.9