Liberals defeat Conservative bill to repeal tanker ban

The Liberal government voted Wednesday to keep the oil tanker ban on British Columbia’s north coast in place, defeating a Conservative bill that would have repealed it, The Canadian Press reported.

MPs voted along party lines at second reading in the House of Commons, and only the Conservatives voted to move the bill to the committee stage, according to The Canadian Press.

Prime Minister Mark Carney made a rare appearance in the House after question period to vote in person on several bills, the news agency reported. Carney struck a deal with the B.C. government earlier this summer to keep the ban in place.

The existing law, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, prohibits tankers from carrying more than 12,500 metric tonnes of crude oil in areas along the northern coast of British Columbia.

The Conservatives have argued the law undermines Canada’s prosperity by limiting the potential for oil exports from B.C.’s northern coast to international markets, The Canadian Press said.

Alberta originally envisioned that the proposed Pacific Link oil pipeline would export from the northern coast, but the route was revised this summer to go south to respect the ban, according to the report.

The vote follows weeks of pressure on the issue. We reported on Oct. 27 that Alberta backed a bill to repeal the federal oil tanker ban, and on Oct. 26 that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asked Carney to scrap the north coast tanker ban.

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