The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) and opposition leaders at Queen’s Park are calling on the government to reduce or eliminate parking fees at hospitals for staff, patients and visitors.
“The average rate right now for a monthly parking pass is about $400. In the GTA, it’s extraordinary the amount of money spent on parking by staff,” Angela Preocanin, ONA’s first vice-president, told CTV News Toronto. “In my own experience, I had parking that went up by 200 per cent in a year.”
CTV News Toronto recently interviewed a woman who spent nearly $2,000 on parking visiting her mother in health-care facilities over 15 months, including at long-term care facility, West Park Healthcare Centre.
“$1,832 in parking over 15 months is a lot. It could have gone to so many other things,” said Michela. CTV News agreed to identify her by first name only.
There may be new pressure on the province to take another look at how much people pay in parking at a hospital after the issue was raised at Queen’s Park on Tuesday.
Parking caps were introduced in 2016 to make hospital parking more affordable, but those caps have since been removed.
“This is the way we nickel and dime the people of Ontario. The government downloads costs like this to the hospital. You know, hospitals are feeling the crunch. So they are trying to find some other ways to make some money. And then it’s downloaded onto people,” Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said on Tuesday.
“We all know anybody who has had anyone in hospital recently or had to go to a hospital for an appointment knows that these costs are really astronomical. The government needs to address it, and you can count on us to be pushing the government to look at other options.”
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said a weekly, or monthly, flat fee for parking needs to be looked at for hospital workers and those visiting their loved ones.
“I know that previous Liberal governments capped the parking rates, and this government lifted those caps and what we’ve seen is most parking costs rising and so imagine if you were going to visit a loved one, who may be receiving treatment for a period of weeks or months, or if you are a hospital employee,” Crombie said.
Mike Schreiner, leader of the Ontario Green Party, also weighed in on the parking issue, saying it is “completely unacceptable” there isn’t a cap on parking fees at hospitals and that it is another sign that the province’s healthcare system is underfunded.
“We have the lowest per capita funding for healthcare than any province in the country. Many hospitals are taking out lines of credit now and one of the ways they are trying to make up for it is through hospital parking,” said Schreiner.
The ONA said that many staff members try to find off site parking or park on the street trying to save money and said it’s time its members received the free parking they deserve.
“The additional burden of paying for parking is money that has to be paid out and impacts (healthcare workers) take home pay,” said Preocanin.
Other provinces do offer free or reduced rates for hospital staff and have lower daily limits on parking costs for both patients and visitors.
Those who operate parking lots also say they need money to run and maintain them, but some workers say they’ll continue to push for free parking.