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A new private members’ bill from the Saskatchewan NDP is aiming to lighten the mental and financial load on people getting cancer care in the province.
Jared Clarke, the NDP’s rural and remote health critic, said the bill would ban parking fees for people who are attending a Saskatchewan Health Authority facility to receive cancer treatment.
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“In Saskatchewan, we have casinos, government-run casinos, where people can go and gamble and have free parking, and yet cancer patients in this province are being charged to park to get their treatment,” said Clarke.
He said having to pay for parking is another complicating factor for people already navigating a cancer diagnosis and treatment plan.
“When people are struggling with that, they shouldn’t have to worry about whether they have to pay for parking or not. It should just be as simple as it can be. So you get in, you get your treatment, you work on getting healthy. That should be what it’s about,” he explained.
Clarke said the move doesn’t have to be in legislation. It could just be a policy change from the provincial government.
Lori Carr, Saskatchewan’s rural and remote health minister, said the government won’t be supporting the bill, and the policies around parking will likely stay the same.
She explained that the money collected through parking fees goes to maintaining parking lots at health centres so other health-care funds can be used for care rather than maintenance.
“It’s a policy that the SHA has in place to ensure that there are parking spots available for people when they need it, as well as maintaining those parking lots and ensuring that the dollars that are invested by the government go to front-line care,” said Carr.
Carr asked how the government could be expected to chose one type of diagnosis over another when deciding who gets free parking.
Clarke called the explanation from the minister “weak.”
“What will it take for this government to show some goddamn compassion to cancer patients in this province?” he asked.
