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The United Conservative Party stayed true to its word Thursday, refusing to debate or vote on a bill that will create protest-free bubble zones around Alberta abortion clinics.

The number of MLAs on the official Opposition side of the legislature see-sawed between four and eight over the course of the morning’s debate, but fell to zero when it came time to vote on an amendment proposed by Independent Conservative MLA Derek Fildebrandt.

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The member for Strathmore-Brooks voiced his displeasure with his former colleagues, saying he was “disheartened” to be the only conservative voice to speak on Bill 9.

“I think we have a duty as MLAs and elected officials to speak to legislation, regardless of if we like the bill or not. On this side of the house, we vote against a lot of government bills, but at least most of the time we show up to debate it,” Fildebrandt said, drawing scattered applause from a handful of NDP MLAs.