One local British Columbia resident believes that all hospital ER parking in Canada should be free, and he’s taking the fight all the way to Ottawa.
The man, Gary Hee of Langley, originally set out to have emergency room paid parking at Langley Memorial Hospital removed, even bringing his concerns to city councils, mayors, and even Fraser Health.
Since then, he has expanded his sights to all Canadian hospitals. As stated in his petition:
“We, the undersigned citizens of all Canadian provinces and northern territories, including all First Nations, hereby petition the Canadian Parliament to implement ways and means to remove parking fees placed upon us , including disabled persons, or on our personal vehicles while attending any Canadian hospital emergency department premises for medical reasons during and up to a four hour period in standard emergency cases or between 4 to 8 hours in trauma emergency cases.”
Between April 14th and 25th, Hee recorded 324 signatures. By May 19th, he hit 1,257, passing the half-way point. By May 29th, he passed 2,500. He then upped his goal to 4,000. As of August 29th, the number is now up to 4,215.
Many hospitals in British Columbia charge for regular visitor parking, as well as hospital ER parking, while others are starting to make changes.
You can keep up with his progress and/or sign the petition, here.
For more local news, stay tuned to our News section.
[sjnow-ad-large-leaderboard]