New Brunswick under public pressure to remove hospital parking fees

The politics of paid parking in N.B After parking fuss in N.B., the government is backing down from a plan to make civil servants pay for parking in a bid to boost revenues.

After controversial ticketing problems in New Brunswick, there now poses a question of who should pay for parking, and who should be given a free pass.

The debate for paid parking in New Brunswick has been restocked ever since Charlottetown’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital eliminated parking fees in July – making parking at all island hospitals free.

“We think it’s jumpstarted the conversation,” says Chris Parsons of the Nova Scotia Health Coalition.

Parsons says he’s hopeful that the rest of the Maritimes will follow P.E.I’s lead in getting rid of hospital parking fees.

“The reality is, it actually prevents people from accessing healthcare they need,” says Parsons. “It also prevents them from visiting their loved ones when they’re sick and in the hospital or receiving treatment.”

New Brunswick’s Horizon Health Network says revenue from hospital parking fees goes back to snow removal and parking lot maintenance.

The debate about hospital parking comes on the heels of the government, backing down from a budget plan to phase in parking fees for public employees in a bid to boost revenues.

The plan was supposed to start this month, but a government spokeswoman says the plan is now on the back burner.

“I hope they mean it’s under permanent review,” says CUPE Maritime Regional Director, Debra Grimaldi.

Grimaldi says unions who thought free parking was a given for employees are now on alert.

“Charging your employees parking is just picking the low hanging fruit off the tree as a way to make income,” says Grimaldi. “I think there are lots of other ways this government has even identified that it can get income.”

The provincial government has not indicated when its review of free employee parking will be complete.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore