REGINA - Opposition New Democrats are again blasting the Sask Party government over the pay parking lots at Saskatchewan hospitals.
At a news conference at the Legislature, Rural and Remote Health critic Meara Conway claimed there were contracts in place with American firms to run those parking lots and called for those to be cancelled.
“Saskatchewan families are paying to park at Regina hospitals and the Cancer Clinic, and Scott Moe and the Sask Party are sending those dollars straight to big corporations in Donald Trump's USA,” said Conway.
She pointed to ParkMobile, which she said was based in Atlanta, Georgia, as running parking at the Regina General Hospital, and at the Allan Blair Cancer Center. She also said Regina General also uses Platinum Parking which she said was Dallas-based.
As well, the NDP pointed to ParkChip, based in Chicago, as operating the pay-by-phone parking at Pasqua Hospital.
“This means U.S. companies profit every time someone checks into the emergency room, every time someone gets cancer treatment, or visits a loved one in the hospital,” Conway said. “I don't need to remind you why we need to be moving away from American companies. This is a betrayal of Canadian businesses and workers, especially those already hit by Donald Trump's trade war.”
Comway also pointed to U.S. firms getting contracts for lab collection, park reservations, and even hunting and fishing licenses.
“All of this flies in the face of what we should be doing. Not only that, it flies in the face of repeated promises by the Sask Party government to prioritize local procurement. I believe one of the first principles of their policy around their response to the U.S. trade war was to say that they would be prioritizing local procurement. But we have not seen that happen.”
Conway called on the Sask Party to cancel American contracts and “deliver on their so-called Canada First procurement policy.”
Conway also said the NDP have opposed pay parking at hospitals to begin with.
“They revoked the free parking for cancer patients in Prince Albert. We've been very clear we definitely don't think that people should be charged in emergency situations if they're visiting the ER,” said Conway.
“I think we should probably look closely as you point out to getting rid of this wholesale. I know that Nova Scotia recently did just that. And I know there are many examples across the province where people aren't paying for parking.”
Conway said she “got a few parking tickets myself because it's the last thing you're thinking about when you're in that kind of situation. So I think it makes sense to take a hard look at getting rid of paying for parking altogether in these kinds of settings.”
Conway adds it is “hard to get any information” about changes to procurement. She said they submitted a written question during the second-last week of session asking how many contracts have been cancelled?
But Conway said “they kicked it down the road six months. So we see a real aversion to any kind of transparency on this issue.”
When Sask Today reached out to the province for a response, they provided a statement in which they point out Saskatchewan Health Authority does not own the parkade at the Regina General Hospital.
According to the province, the owner is Link Developments, which contracts with Platinum Parking Canada for operations of the parkade at Regina General Hospital.
The statement notes Platinum Parking Canada is owned by Robbins Parking, a Canadian owned company based in Victoria, British Columbia. It was also noted the headquarters for Platinum Parking Canada are in Winnipeg and they have offices in Regina and Saskatoon. They have over 40 staff throughout Saskatchewan and provide parking services to over 25 locations across the province.
It was also stated Robbins Parking previously owned a separate entity of Platinum Parking based in the United States, but sold that company August 15, 2024 and no longer retains any ownership.
It was also noted in the statement that Platinum Parking Canada partners with ParkMobile, owned by Easy Park Group, which was founded and based in Sweden.
The province also states revenues from parking fees are “used to offset the cost of maintaining parking operations and infrastructure so that our health care dollars can be directed to delivering high-quality health care to our patients and the residents of Saskatchewan.”
