N.S. chips away at dearth of hospital parking with new dedicated lot for health-care workers
Nova Scotia Health says at least 260 additional parking spots will be made free to health-care workers at Halifax's largest hospitals later this summer.
Parking has been an ongoing issue for patients and staff of the Halifax Infirmary, Victoria General and IWK Health Centre, as some parkades have recently been torn down to accommodate renovations and expansions.
Frustration over parking shortages spiked after the Houston government lifted parking fees at the start of May.
At peak demand times, the hospitals are short some 4,000 spaces.
Nova Scotia Health and the IWK have been scrambling to find more parking to dedicate to the hospitals.
Up to $1M to grade, repave old paid lot
To that end, Nova Scotia's Department of Public Works has awarded an untendered contract to Dexter Construction worth up to $1 million to fix up a parcel of provincially owned land on South Street, across from the IWK. The elimination of parking fees is already costing the province $19 million annually.
A spokesperson for Nova Scotia Health said the land is already a parking lot and many of the users are IWK and Nova Scotia Health staff, but it's a paid lot operated by Impark.
Dexter will grade and repave the lot before it's made available for staff to use free of charge. The health authority expects it to be ready Aug. 1.
"Nova Scotia Health and IWK Health are tirelessly working to find additional staff parking spaces to address significant supply and demand challenges," spokesperson Brendan Elliott said in an email.
Free parking at health-care facilities — an election promise from the Houston government — was sharply criticized by health-care workers who initially faced steep fees if they used spaces that were reserved for patients and families.
Those charges were reversed after a few weeks of outcry, while a different fine for misuse of hospital parking was added.
Anyone caught using hospital parking who isn't a patient, visitor, volunteer or staff member could face a $500 ticket. Health Minister Michelle Thompson told reporters last week that so far, violators are receiving warnings only.
"We're looking at a very small group of individuals who are parking inappropriately in hospital parking sites," she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Baristas show off their skills in last day of national competition
The 2025 Canadian Barista Championships wrapped up in Edmonton on July 27, 2025. (CTV News Edmonton/Connor Hogg) Coffee aromatics filled the Oliver Exchange Building 2 Sunday as the 2025 Canadian Barista Championships wrapped up its final day of a three-day competition. Eighteen competitors from across the country – including five hometown heroes – were pulling espresso shots and steaming milk in hopes of claiming the top prize. The winner of the championship will have the chance to compete in Milan, Italy for the World Barista Championship in October. Santiago Lopez, a competitor and co-owner of the Colombian Coffee Bar and Roastery, said the event helps move the industry forward. 'We get to showcase the quality of coffee that we have in the city, and its good to just showcase the city in general,' Lopez told CTV News Edmonton. 'Over the last 10 years, the industry in Edmonton has really evolved … and now we have a bunch of different, good coffee roasters and people that really appreciate coffee.' He said people are treating coffee as part of their morning ritual, rather than a commodity. Each competitor was required to complete a 15-minute 'performance,' preparing four espressos, four milk-based drinks and four unique signature beverages. Every performance was evaluated by a panel of 34 judges. But Lopez said the event wasn't just a competition. 'The intent for us all is to show other people in coffee, in the city, that we can get to higher levels, that we can push each other, that we're not in competition, that we're collaborators,' said Lopez. 'I think this tells everybody that we need to come together as a community to grow the industry in this city.' With files from CTV News Edmonton's Connor Hogg
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Over 200 candidates sign up for Poilievre's byelection — doubling previous record
Social Sharing More than 200 candidates, mostly associated with a group of electoral reform advocates, have signed up to run in an upcoming federal byelection next month. The number more than doubles the previous record on a single ballot. Former Alberta MP Damien Kurek vacated his seat in Battle River-Crowfoot to give Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre a chance to rejoin the House of Commons. Poilievre lost his longtime Carleton riding in April's general election. A group known as the Longest Ballot Committee has been organizing candidates to run in byelections in recent years in an effort to push for electoral reform. The committee's organizers want to put a citizens' assembly in charge of electoral reform and say political parties are too reluctant to make government more representative of the electorate. As of Sunday evening, 209 candidates had registered to run in Battle River-Crowfoot, exceeding than committee's goal of 200. That's more than double the previous record of 91 which has occurred twice in the past year: during a byelection in LaSalle-Emard-Verdun last September and Carleton during the last general election. That number of candidates resulted in a ballot roughly a metre long. The massive ballots have resulted in delays in vote counting and have confounded some voters. Elections Canada told CBC News on Wednesday that it will finalize ways to minimize disruptions from the long ballots. "We are looking at ways to [simplify] things based on recent experiences with elections involving a higher-than-usual number of candidates. We will finalize our plans after the deadline for candidate nominations," spokesperson Matthew McKenna said in an email. Elections Canada has already had to make changes to accommodate the mammoth-sized ballots — mostly through early counting and bringing in extra workers. Although the Longest Ballot Committee has organized in two elections where Poilievre is running, the group has also targeted Liberal strongholds such as Toronto-St. Paul's and LaSalle-Émard-Verdun in 2024. But the advocates' efforts to push the limits of a ballot have sparked calls for changes, most recently from Poilievre himself which he refers to as a "scam." The Conservative leader wrote a letter to government House leader Steven MacKinnon on Tuesday, calling for legislation to change Canada's election rules in an effort to curb the long ballot protests. A spokesperson for MacKinnon's office said the Liberals share those concerns and are open to changes. MPs were debating legislation last Parliamentary session that could have implemented some of Poilievre's proposed changes — specifically to limit electors to only signing one nomination form. The advocates have voters sign multiple forms. Elections Canada head Stéphane Perrault himself made the suggestion in front of a committee of MPs that was studying a bill to amend the Canada Elections Act before Parliament was prorogued. Perrault argued that "certain penalties" should be imposed on individuals who sign — or encourage others to sign — multiple nomination papers in an effort to get as many candidates on a ballot as possible, though he didn't say what those penalties should be. The deadline to register as a candidate in Battle River-Crowfoot is Monday. Voters head to the polls on Aug. 18.
CBC
3 hours ago
- CBC
Animal rescue fighting to save resident wild boar
An animal rescue in Yellowhead County is running up against a problematic law that bans residents from raising wild boars. Rosie's Rescue recently relocated to the area along with its wild boar Wilbur who was rescued from a meat farm. As Sarah Reid reports, a recent vote by council means he'll have to be either destroyed or removed.
