It will ban the importation of whales and dolphins into Canada, as well as breeding them here for the purpose of putting these creatures on display to do tricks for tourists.

That’s surely something everyone can agree on. Marineland in Niagara Falls is the only facility in the country that still believes it’s OK to keep such intelligent mammals penned up in pools.

If not for some Conservative senators who used every procedural tactic imaginable to stall it in the Upper Chamber for more than three years, the bill would have been quickly passed.

Still, the bigger problem isn’t partisanship. Canada already had a reputation for dragging its feet on animal rights long before Bill S-203 was introduced back in 2015. While the Free Willy bill passed by the skin of its teeth on Monday, too many other attempts to strengthen protections for animals have been left to die on the order paper or are defeated in the House of Commons.

Consider, for example, three other bills aimed at curbing cruelty to animals that have been introduced since the last election. One was defeated and the other two are destined to die when the House rises on June 21.

What’s at play? Partisanship is only part of it. Intense lobbying efforts by powerful foes of any animal rights bills comes into play. And then there’s sheer ignorance on the part of some MPs and senators.

For example, the Senate held up a bill by Conservative Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen, known as S-214, aimed at banning cruel and often unnecessary animal tests in the development of cosmetics, for three long years, although it too should not have been controversial.

Indeed, many leading cosmetic brands — such as the Body Shop, which backed the bill — already ban animal testing. Nor is the notion of banning the sale of animal-tested cosmetics new. It’s been in place in the European Union since 2013.