It will soon cost $60, instead of the usual $40, to recalcitrant or distracted drivers who park illegally in the territory of the Quebec agglomeration.
“The proposed $20 increase in parking fines brings current Quebec City regulations up to the level of those established in the Montreal region,” reads a summary of the executive committee’s decision made public on Monday.
This document must be adopted by the municipal council and the agglomeration council before its entry into force. Only after these formalities will it be implemented, possibly starting this Wednesday.
The $40 cost had not increased in Quebec since 2015. In its summary, the Marchand administration explains that “the costs of operating the administrative units responsible for enforcing parking rules are significant and are increasing at the same rate as the costs. of labor and goods and services have increased since 2015.
Please note that the fine for parking in areas reserved for disabled people will double from $100 to $200. In the latter case, a maximum of $300 is even provided.
“Indulgence with motorists”
Called to react, Stevens Mélançon, municipal councilor of Équipe Priority Québec, regretted that “we continue to attack motorists.”
According to him, “we could have modulated by putting 25% this year and another 25% next year if we wanted to catch up with Montreal. That’s a lot of increases for motorists: parking meters, stickers and here we are talking about parking fines. Motorists are starting to get fed up with these increases. “We are always behind their backs.”
In general, Mélançon said he was in favor of raising awareness rather than repression. Although the increase in fines can have a deterrent effect in certain cases, the elected official considered, however, that “it is just talk.”
“Illusory”
Without clearly opposing the proposed increase, Claude Villeneuve, director of Quebec First, stated rather that the problem comes from the fact that the number of parking ticket officers is insufficient in Quebec.
“In each district there are six parking officers (…) There is a great shortage of parking officers (…) Increasing fines is illusory if fines are not issued,” he said.
Speaking of “a sword in the water,” Villeneuve added “that we do not have enough personnel to apply the rules as they already exist.”
