You did however say “most paid parking lots are not legal”. I can almost gauruntee you most lots in Calgary are properly permitted and 99.999999% of the cases I see on beyond are from major private parking companies which would no doubt be permitted.
I won’t argue the legality of forcing you legally to pay ( I agree with you) but I do not believe there is anything to back up the claim that “most” lots (Impark, west park, indigo, etc etc etc) are illegally setup