West Vancouver Sea-to-Sky Country MP Pamela Goldsmith-Jones and Terry Beech, Burnaby North-Seymour MP met with the public and press in Horseshoe Bay on Friday to discuss the Liberal government’s new Ocean Protection Plan.
The Plan will invest $1.5 billion over five years to restore and protect marine ecosystems and habitats, to strengthen indigenous and community partnership/management practices, invest in safe shipping practices and spill clean-up and response research.
In response to a question about where LNG tankers fit in to this plan, Goldsmisth-Jones said that Transport Minister Marc Garneau is currently working on a report on a marine transportation plan, and we can expect the issue to be addressed there.
Mayor Murray Skeels, who, alongside other members of council, had a private meeting with Goldsmith-Jones last week, says the component of the plan that deals with derelict vessels is likely to have the greatest direct-impact on Bowen Island.
“Pamela [Goldsmith-Jones] said she will speak with Bonny Brokenshire, head of Bylaw Services, and get information about boats we consider derelict here and try to sort out the logistics of how we can actually make this plan work for us,” says Skeels. “The government is acknowledging that derelict vessels are a real problem, and incidental part of big-picture marine protection. I think we will see what this means to us when a boat washes ashore and we have to pay $8000 to wash it away
