After doing some research this morning, here's what I've found:
1) Recently the "contract of adhesion" of attracting fines when either not paying or staying over in private lots has been upheld in Ontario (2011). A contract of adhesion is a standard form agreement that gives the consumer no opportunity to negotiate and doesn't even guarantee actual notice of the terms (i.e. the consumer may or may not have read them). In practice there's probably no case here that you didn't agree to the amount or to the term specifying a penalty. In short, they probably can ask you for the amount stipulated on the signage at the lot ($95 or whatever).
2) It's unclear in Alberta whether this is a valid "debt" for the purposes of the Fair Trading Act and the regulations made under it for the purposes of collection. I'm betting a good lawyer could finagle enough to get you off for the tickets for that reason or for unfair collection practices, but that's going to cost you at lot more than a few parking tickets.
3) There's probably another window in the FTA that the creditor has to take steps to verify that the person they are collecting from is the actual debtor. This doesn't work like the strict liability offences for, e.g., photo radar tickets where being the registered owner is enough to attach liability. "I wasn't the one parking the car" may actually get you some traction, especially if you can prove it.
4) Toronto apparently has bylaws that prevent Impark et al from collecting at all. Lucky.
5) I called Impark to negotiate the amount and they reduced it by about 40% without asking any questions. I think I'll just take the offer.
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