SHELBURNE, N.S. - The South Shore MP expects her bill on derelict vessels to be approved by the government this fall, but what Bernadette Jordan is really hoping for is all party support.
Jordan, the member of Parliament for South Shore-St. Margaret’s, has been pushing a bill aimed at getting the federal government to become more involved in the issue of abandoned vessels.
“We’ve had First Reading and it goes to Second Reading on Oct. 17 and
then a week later it will be voted on,” she said. “But it has government support, so it will pass as far as I’m concerned. But what I would like to have is all-party support.
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“That’s what I’m pushing for because then I think there is a little more force behind developing the legislation when everybody thinks it’s a good idea,” she added. “I’m very positive that this is going to go through and then we start building the legislation around it.”
Jordan’s private members bill on abandoned vessels is aimed at seeing the federal government take a more proactive role in dealing with abandoned vessels, which not only become a burden – both visually and financially – in communities they are left abandoned in, but they can pose environmental concerns.
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She also says owners of these vessels have to be held more accountable.
“Taxpayers should not be on the hook for large cleanup costs. Saying that the Coast Guard should be responsible for all abandoned or derelict vessels is giving the owners a ‘get out of jail free’ card,” Jordan said in the House of Commons in June. “We want to make sure that this actually is not the case.”
Jordan said more teeth is needed in legislation to make sure it is an offence, with penalties, to abandon a vessel.
Locally, one of the more-well known vessel abandonments has been the Farley Mowat that has been in Shelburne’s harbour since September 2014.
Last month, its owner and scrap dealer Tracy Dodds was arrested and ordered to serve 20 days in jail for not complying with a court-ordered deadline to remove the vessel. There had already been a previous deadline that had been extended by the court.