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Malcolmson loses first ever secret ballot vote to keep opposition bill alive

Nov 30, 2017 | 7:30 AM

OTTAWA — Nanaimo-Ladysmith 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.