Collin used expanding spray foam to break a parking meter in front of the hospital in Winnipeg where he gets his cancer treatment. Canada, and every govt, national, state, or local, should feel ashamed to charge to park near a hospital.

this is a damn clever way to disable a parking meter

Collin Kennedy points out that 2 dollars an hour, for a one hour minimum, when he is there for 15 minutes... is reprehensible. I agree. So, I'm helping spread the awareness in the hope that Canadians get fed up with this govt act of terrible treatment of people with cancer, and force the govt to fix the problem. He estimates his mother was forced to spend nearly $600 in parking fees while visiting him during a six-week hospital stay last year after he suffered a collapsed spine.

He filled a parking meter with spray foam in an attempt to draw public attention to the issue, saying since his illness began 17 years ago, he has spent an estimated $16,600 on hospital parking.

 He argues the fees are a violation of the Canada Health Act, which recognizes Canadians' right to guaranteed access to health care services "without financial or other barriers."


http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/manitoba/cancer-patient-fills-parking-meter-outside-hospital-with-spray-foam-1.3608246
via https://swarfs.tumblr.com/


A Winnipeg cancer patient who filled a parking meter with spray foam to protest high parking rates patients have to pay outside health centres says he's touched by the attention his story has garnered, with one local businessman even offering to pay for his parking.

Collin Kennedy, who has had multiple myeloma — a form of leukemia — since 1999, vandalized a city-operated parking meter on May 30 near the CancerCare Manitoba clinic, where he has had all his treatments, because he is fed up with the City of Winnipeg and Impark charging sick people to park near the clinic and other treatment facilities around the Health Sciences Centre.

Among those who saw the story is a businessman who understands Kennedy's frustration, as he had to use the same parking meters for 3 and 1/2 years when his mother was ill, and offered to pay the fees for Kennedy.

"I just don't want him to end up getting a criminal record, getting in trouble with the city, over any of these parking meters being plugged up and all," John told CBC News on Thursday. "I'm actually worried that the city is now going to come after him for the costs for whatever they have to do to take the foam out." The city sent cops to ask him to refrain from vandalizing any more parking meters, in exchange for not charging him for this protest damage. (Darn it, you can't find a Canadian that isn't as nice as possible, it's their govt that sucks)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/collin-kennedy-spray-foam-parking-meter-support-1.3623943

In Alberta, no tax dollars are spent on maintaining or building parking infrastructure at hospitals and treatment facilities. "All our parking facilities are required to be self-sustaining," said Steve Rees, a senior program officer with Alberta Health Services. "Healthcare funding itself is not used to support parking facilities." As a result AHS must charge for parking in order to maintain the facilities, Rees said. But he says help is available for those who can't afford to pay — on a case-by-case basis.

Alberta Liberal Party Leader Dr. David Swann said he's "torn" on the issue. "I can see both sides of it very well," he said. "One way or the other, the public is going to have to pay for parking, either through our taxes as general revenue for hospitals and hospital parking, or it's going to be shared with those who actually use the parking."
 "There are lots of options, especially for those with low income," he said. "We could be thinking about one-hour free parking, to ensure that people at least can get some visiting and some services completed and then start the toll."

Kennedy's petition calls on Ottawa to enforce the Canada Health Act to ensure "adequate cost-free" parking for patients and caregivers at medical facilities and, in cases where metered parking isn't removed, that there's a way to identify those using the spots for medical visits "regardless of the duration."

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-492

The petition started by Collin Kennedy, who has had multiple myeloma for more than a decade, was submitted to the government with more than 12,000 signatures.

 It is the 10th most signed petition in the House of Commons of the 210 e-petitions completed or underway.

A Winnipeg Free Press story earlier in 2016 found city hospitals charge from $6 to $20 a day to park, with additional fees sometimes added on in evenings if a driver parks in the daytime and hasn’t left before 5 or 6 p.m. There are parking passes available with cheaper rates but they are not well-advertised.

Earlier this year, the Ontario government ordered hospitals to freeze parking fees for three years and then only raise them by the level of inflation each year after that. Hospitals where the daily maximum is more than $10 have to offer passes at 50 per cent of the maximum daily cost.

Ouellette said parking fees can be such a hardship for people, it can mean the difference between choosing to go to treatment or putting food on the table. He said when he was living in Quebec City, his son spent a week in hospital with a lung infection and they paid $25 a day for parking.

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/winnipeggers-plea-for-free-hospital-parking-gains-federal-minister-attention-406109926.html

the govt responded with the following:

Hospital parking is not considered an insured hospital service as defined under the Canada Health Act.
Hospitals are under provincial and territorial jurisdiction, including the building operations and management of hospitals and the delivery of insured hospital services.
While some hospitals in Canada have decided to provide free parking to patients and visitors, they do so at their discretion, since this is not a requirement of the Canada Health Act.

http://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/ePetitions/Responses/421/e-492/421-01000_HC_E.pdf

What I'd have said instead? Don't you worry, I'll fix it, and got on the phone and had a meeting with every state or local govt person that can make the parking meters disappear, or take a validation card from any cancer patient or caregiver, and solved the problem for Colin Kennedy and every patient at every hospital in Canada.

Why? Because that is WHAT THE DAMN GOVT IS SUPPOSED TO DO for it's citizens. Solve problems.

Alberta Health Services provides and maintains parking at 31 facilities in nine communities provincewide.

In 2014-15, AHS took in $75 million in parking revenues, using $28 million to cover operating costs, $29 million to pay down debt and moving $18 million into a reserve fund that now sits at more than $60 million.

“It’s almost making money off the sick, that’s what it comes down to,” Lundy explained. “And what about seniors? It’s really sad. These people are parking as far from the hospital as they can and then walking. That’s just not fair.”

Further east, the Prince Edward Island government eliminated parking fees at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for patients and visitors after many concerns from the public. The cost to the government for instituting this policy was $250,000 which will have to be absorbed using alternative revenue streams.

In 2010, the City of Delta — the municipality immediately south of Vancouver — adopted an unique bylaw that forbade hospitals from charging patients and visitors for parking. Mayor Lois Jackson says family and patients should have the "mental freedom to be with their loved ones."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/hospital-parking-fee-opponent-facing-own-mortality-but-hopes-cause-will-live-on-1.3917227

WHY NOT GIVE THEM A FREE PARKING MIRROR HANGER you govt bastards!! Tell the parking meter enforcement they can't ticket hospital patients, staff, or visitors who have a Hospital Hanger on the rear view mirror. If you can make Canadian money from plastic, you can sure as hell make a mirror hanger for people using a hospital.

Pardon my outrage. I've been a care giver for a friend with cancer, and both my parents have had cancer, and one aunt and one grandfather have died from cancer. No doubt, I'll have cancer too.
But I'll also have a god damn sledge hammer or bottles of this expanding construction insulation foam.