Liberals vote to keep B.C. tanker ban in place

OTTAWA — The Liberal government has voted to keep the B.C. oil tanker ban place, defeating a Conservative bill that would have repealed it.

MPs voted along party lines during second reading in the House of Commons today, with only the Conservatives voting to move the bill forward to the committee stage.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, who made a rare appearance after question period to vote in person on several bills today, 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.