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| RECORD PHOTO BY BRETT MITCHELL An online petition started by Selkirk resident Lois Wales is calling on Selkirk-Interlake MP James Bezan and the federal Tories to pay for the removal of the MS Lord Selkirk II. |
By Austin Grabish, The Selkirk Record
A new online petition is calling on Selkirk-Interlake MP James Bezan and the federal government to pay for the removal of the rotting MS Lord Selkirk II and remediation of toxins lurching in water beneath the vessel.
Selkirk resident Lois Wales started the petition on change.org last Friday.
The petition lists a string of contaminants a toxicologist found in water around the ship last year.
It says the federal government has breached its responsibility to remove the ship from the slough it’s been sitting in since 1990.
By Monday afternoon, it had garnered the support of 275 people, many from Selkirk, but some from as far away as Cochrane, Alta.
Wales wants the federal government to pick up the entire bill for the ship’s decommissioning, which latest estimates show will be around $500,000.
The City of Selkirk has awarded tender to have the boat removed, but is waiting on a cost-sharing agreement with the province before it can move forward.
Mayor Larry Johannson wants a 50/50 split between the two levels of government. The feds have said they will not chip in for the venture.
Wales said the ship is a huge environmental issue the federal government and not the City of Selkirk should be dealing with.
She is displeased with Bezan and his fellow Tories’ stance that paying for the ship’s removal would set a dangerous precedent allowing other vessels to be abandoned with taxpayers picking up the cost of their removal.
“I think it’s important he realizes the citizens of Selkirk are not happy with this situation,” Wales said.
“Waterways and lakes are a federal responsibility.”
In an interview with the Record last Friday, Bezan said the feds shouldn’t be on the hook for irresponsible owners who abandoned their watercrafts.
“You got to remember that there are derelict vessels right across this country not just the Lord Selkirk,” Bezan said.
“Ultimately it is the responsibility of the owners of those vessels to be held to account for the impact on the environment,” he said.
There has been a debate for years over who is responsible for the ship.
In cases where abandoned vessels have no legal owner that can be found, the Receiver of Wreck can get involved.
But Bezan said that hasn’t happened because the MS Lord Selkirk does have a legal owner, and despite the fact the company has filed for bankruptcy, they could be held accountable.
“The Lord Selkirk ship is held by a company in New Jersey that right now is currently in creditor protection, but there is a known owner, and for that reason the Receiver of Wreck and Transport Canada rules it does not need to intervene,” Bezan said.
Wales said the feds should have dealt with the ship when it was abandoned 25 years ago.
“The city has inherited this problem because of their inaction to actually do what they could under the Navigable Waters Act,” she said.
“It will be a costly remediation and I do not believe that should be left on a city of 10,000.”
-- First published in the Selkirk Record print edition July 9 2015 p.9
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