North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney has written to federal minister of transport Omar Alghabra to share local concerns and priorities about ocean protections in the wake of the MV Zim Kingston disaster.
According to a media release, the submission was in response to the consultation process for the Oceans Protection Plan (OPP).
Blaney’s submission drew on feedback from constituents and touched on the need to address the gap and oversight between departments, developing an emergency response plan, holding companies accountable, and promoting the use of sustainable packaging.
“I have learned, through consultations with residents on the ground doing these cleanups, that often the work continues long past the time we have stopped considering the impacts of the spills,” wrote Blaney.
The submission also highlights the following motion from MP Lisa Marie Barron, NDP critic for fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guards: M-41 – the emergency coastal debris spill response plan, which calls for the government to: “(i) immediately deploy a local workforce to support spill containment, shoreline cleanup, and mitigation of environmental impacts, (ii) publicly release a full accounting of the environmental impacts of the spillage, including a manifest of all missing cargo, (iii) ensure that the operators are held financially liable for the full cost of the cleanup.”
The release stated that Blaney is continuing to meet with stakeholders and is asking for more feedback from local residents on this issue through her website at rachelblaney.ndp.ca/protectourcoast.
“All the ministers who have responsibility for our coast need to hear from our communities on this,” stated Blaney. “I intend to make sure they do.”
In October 2021, 109 shipping containers went overboard in BC waters from the MV Zim Kingston and four of the containers washed up along the north coast of Vancouver Island last November, strewing contents on the beaches.
