On June 23, 2021, Private Member’s Bill C-269 (Andrew Scheer) came up for second reading in the House of Commons.

Bill 269 would have prohibited the deposit of raw sewage into waterways inhabited by fish. The federal government can currently grant exceptions to entities (such as cities, municipalities, towns, ocean going vessels, industries) dumping raw sewage into our waterways.

The federal Liberal Party defeated this bill. With a very political “not invented here” spin, their vote was whipped to follow party instructions: vote no. Makes a joke out of the words they’ve written to announce the new Canada Water Agency. And those healthy oceans will just have to wait for the right political party to have a good idea.