40th Parliament

Donnelly entered the 40th Canadian Parliament during its third session, which lasted one year; he was named the NDP's national fisheries critic.^[21] During that year he sponsored six private member bills, none of which advanced far enough to be voted upon. He sponsored two amendments to the Criminal Code, both of which Dawn Black had previously introduced in the previous parliament: Bill C-520 would have added the offence of luring a child to those offenses prosecutable in Canada even if committed outside Canada, and Bill C-521 would have expanded the offence of luring a child to include all means of communication rather than solely through a computer.^[22] In March 2010, he introduced Bill C-502 that would prohibit oil tankers in the Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound. In May 2010, he introduced Bill C-518 which proposed to amend the Fisheries Act to require commercial finfish aquaculture only take place in closed containment facilities. He also proposed Bill C-526 that would have expanded Employment Insurance coverage received as a result of illness, injury or quarantine from 15 to 52 weeks.

41st Parliament

For the 2011 election, Donnelly was acclaimed as the NDP candidate^[23] and again challenged by Dilworth, Lee, and Helps, as well as Roland Verrier for the Marxist–Leninist Party.^[24] This time with 60% voter turnout, Donnelly won the riding with 46% of the vote,^[25] and his party formed the official opposition to a Conservative Party majority government. He was re-appointed as critic on Fisheries and Oceans by party leader Jack Layton in the NDP shadow cabinet of the 41st Canadian Parliament.

Donnelly re-introduced, all in 2011, the six private member bills he introduced in the previous parliament. While none of the bills again advanced far enough to be voted upon, the two proposed amendments to the Criminal Code regarding luring a child were adopted in the Safe Streets and Communities Act. In December 2011, Donnelly sponsored a new private member bill, the Ban on Shark Fin Importation Act (Bill C-380), but it was defeated at second reading in March 2013 with the Conservative Party majority voting against it.

In the 2012 NDP leadership election triggered by Layton's death, Donnelly endorsed Nathan Cullen.^[26] Tom Mulcair won the election to become party leader, and moved Donnelly to critic of Western Economic Diversification;^[27] Donnelly also became assistant critic in his original portfolio of Fisheries and Oceans.^[1] In August 2013, Mulcair re-assigned Donnelly to be the assistant critic to both Fisheries and Oceans and Infrastructure and Communities for the remainder of the parliament.^[1]

42nd Parliament

New electoral districts in the Greater Vancouver area, added for the 2015 election, resulted in Donnelly moving to the re-created Port Moody—Coquitlam riding, effectively shifting his representative area northwards by removing New Westminster and adding the entirety of Port Moody. In the election, Donnelly was challenged by City of Vancouver's chief digital officer Jessie Adcock for the Liberal Party, Canadian Forces veteran Tim Laidler for the Conservative Party,^[35] and Green Party member Marcus Madsen, as well as Roland Verrier of the Marxist–Leninist again. Though Donnelly won his riding with 36% of the vote,^[36] the Liberal Party won the general election and formed a majority government, with the Conservative Party taking over the official opposition status and the NDP as the third party. With a reduced number of MPs, party leader Tom Mulcair appointed Donnelly to be the NDP critic for Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard,^[37] a post he previously held in 2009-2012 and since acted as deputy to.

In the 42nd Canadian Parliament he again sponsored the private member bill C-228 which proposed to amend the Fisheries Act to require commercial finfish aquaculture only take place in closed containment facilities.^[38] This time it was voted on in December 2016, but was defeated with a majority of the Liberal Party MPs (who were granted a free vote) and the Conservative Party voting against the bill, though all NDP, Bloc Quebecois and Green Party MPs voted in favour. In March 2016 Donnelly re-introduced the Ban on Shark Fin Importation Act (Bill C-251). It only received a first reading but was introduced into the senate by Conservative senator Michael L. MacDonald in April 2017.^[39] Donnelly did not re-introduce his previous bill to prohibit oil tankers off B.C.'s north coast, though the government house bill Oil Tanker Moratorium Act (Bill C-48) was introduced that would accomplish much the same except it would still allow small general purpose tankers.

Donnelly announced in December 2018 that he would not be standing in the 2019 federal election.^[40]

Provincial elections

Federal elections