Hospital parking fee opponent facing own mortality, but hopes cause will live on

It began as a publicity stunt, but a Winnipeg cancer patient's crusade against hospital fees has gone all the way to Parliament Hill, where hopes are high that health officials will limit hospitals' ability to charge for parking.

Collin Kennedy, 48, who is currently undergoing treatments for multiple myeloma, a form of leukemia, made headlines last May when he invited media to document his protest over parking fees at the CancerCare Manitoba facilities. 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.

Seven months later he's now faced with the prospect of not living to see his cause through to the end.

"I really want to be around to see this whole thing to fruition and my goal is still to be around until this is done to fruition. After that, this is up to my family and the powers that be," said Kennedy in an interview while attached to an IV unit.

"I was informed a week ago yesterday that my cancer had taken a radical change for the worse … they said with or without treatment, I've got less than four to six months left to live on the planet," he said.

Last July, spurred on by the incident, Kennedy initiated a Canada-wide petition sponsored by Winnipeg Centre MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette. The objective: push for the federal government to step in and bar hospitals or municipalities from charging hospital patients or visitors for parking.

"[Health care] is free, don't get me wrong, like we do have free health care in Canada — if you can afford the toll. But we're doing to change that," he said. 

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On Dec. 5, the petition was tabled in the House of Commons in Ottawa with over 12,355 signatures. The government has 45 days from that date to respond.

Kennedy says that when Ouellette heard about his deteriorating condition, he received a personal call from the MP.

"He contacted me on his own and said 'I'm going to bear this torch for you and they have not heard the last of Collin Kennedy', is one of the last things he said to me," on Tuesday.

Jurisdictions taking aim at hospital parking practices

This past year has seen at least two major jurisdictions implement measures to either limit or eliminate parking fees at hospitals.

As of last October, the Ontario government has frozen the price of parking at all the province's hospitals and has forced those that charge more than $10 a day to offer discounts for longer-term users.

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.

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Asked about the possibility of taking similar action, the Manitoba Health Minister's office said in a written statement that fees collected cover costs and are reinvested in hospital care and that other programs exists to help reduce the burden. The spokesperson for Minister Goertzen also said the province has limited control over the costs.

"Many of the parking sites near hospitals are run by either the City of Winnipeg or private contractors, and the Manitoba government doesn't have control of these spaces and aren't able to adjust costs," said a spokesperson.

Municipalities tackling issue

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."

"It was really as the result of my eldest daughter, she had cancer in the Kamloops hospital here in 2008. It was terrible. We had big snow storms and we were out running outside to beat the meter, I got a ticket and you know you just don't want to deal with that," she said in a phone interview.

Jackson says the bylaw was easily passed by council, but was met with resistance from the Fraser Health Authority.

"They said that we were going to have to makeup the shortfall that was going to the hospital and I said 'Bring it on. You know, just bring it on,'" said Mayor Jackson.

She says following their decision, around a dozen other interested municipalities from across the country inquired about how their bylaw was structured.

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"In the court of public opinion, you'd have total support for this, right? So why isn't any government able to make this happen?" she said.

As for the City of Winnipeg, the Mayor Bowman's office said that there is currently no plan to consider or introduce such a bylaw, but said the Mayor is open to discussion, but insists that any action would required input and support from hospitals.

Robert-Falcon Ouellette could not be reached for comment.