‘It’s a Canadian problem’: Langley man’s fight for free ER parking headed to Ottawa

A Langley man is taking his petition to Parliament, in hopes of eliminating pay parking from all Canadian emergency rooms. As Travis Prasad reports, he's making one last push for signatures before heading to Ottawa.

LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) – What started as a push to scrap emergency room parking fees at Langley Memorial Hospital has become a federal fight.

A petition with thousands of signatures will soon be en route to Ottawa after spending months gathering signatures locally.

In April, Gary Hee began his push to see parking fees eliminated for emergency patients and their families. He took it to councils, mayors and even Fraser Health, but says after a lack of action, he decided to submit his petition to Vancouver-Granville MP Jody Wilson-Raybould.

“It’s up to her to decide whether she wants to have the honour of taking it to Ottawa when she reconvenes the Parliament on September 16,” he tells NEWS 1130.

If she doesn’t, Hee says he plans to mail it to Parliament himself.

“The members of Parliament and the members of the Legislative Assembly have got to stand up to this cause — it’s a Canadian problem,” he adds. “I’m pleading with members of Parliament to do something instead of arguing over petty little issues.”

He is promising to keep fighting for people who have to deal with fees on top of a medical emergency. He says he’s been hearing from a number of people since he started to fight for his cause.

“In a nutshell, they sign because they were looking for somebody who would do something like this in their lifetime, to voice their opinions that don’t like being gouged. Large sums of money — up to $800, $900 — just to go to the hospital with their loved ones and find out that after a while, their loved one passes away anyhow. It is disheartening to hear these stories.”

Hee’s been campaigning at the PNE, but isn’t sure if he’ll be back.

The petition is still available to be signed online.

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