Let me start off by saying this: I like heading across the river to Gatineau — I worked there for a year, and I enjoy the restaurants, Gatineau Park, and the whole ambiance.

What doesn’t thrill me is the idea that, as someone driving a car with Ontario plates, I think I am much more likely to get a parking ticket, or to get stopped for traffic violations, than someone with plates from la Belle Province.

A night two weeks ago was the final straw — I pulled into a Gatineau parking lot at 6:30 p.m., paid the meter, put my ticket in the window, and then, when I came out two hours later with time left on my purchased ticket, there it was — a parking ticket from Le Ville de Gatineau.

This one followed on one from the week before Christmas, when I got one as I was parked in a row of cars, all with expired meters (including mine, I confess), but the one car — the only car out of at least 15 — in the parking garage two weeks ago with a parking ticket on it?  Mine, with the Ontario plate.

Do I view this as a grand conspiracy?  I do not.  But it does drive me nuts that I got two tickets in a month in situations that I felt indicated unfair treatment from a friend and neighbour.  If every car in the line had gotten a ticket last month, I probably would have put down this month’s ticket as an accident.  Instead, this month’s ticket led to this post — and a request:

Am I wrong, or do others perceive the folks on the other side of the river as quickdraws with parking tickets for out-of-province plates?

The only time I’ve ever been pulled over in what I have to say was a random fashion (I wasn’t speeding that time, cop just asked to see my licence and registration, then he wished me a good day) was in Montreal, and the only time I’ve ever been pulled over out of a line of cars in the fast lane was just outside Quebec City.

I won’t be paying this current parking ticket — I’m sending a copy of my paid receipt, and the ticket, to the mayor’s office, and to the ticket folks, but it still irks me that I feel like I was deliberately targetted, in a parking garage, because of the province of origin of my car.

Just a thought — it wouldn’t kill us, on both sides of this provincial border, to be a little more neghbourly to each other this winter …
Let me close with this free advice to Le Ville de Gatineau: when I was younger, the City of Charlottetown decided not to ticket out of province plates with parking tickets for meter violations in downtown (they stopped after a couple of years, but the principle was, I believe, sound and correct).  Instead, they issued a “Welcome to Charlottetown” ticket, wishing the visitor all the best in Charlottetown and reminding them to please pay the meters but we did hope they enjoyed their stay …