‘Great state of uncertainty’: What’s next for Green Line LRT project?

After the province revealed this week it is no longer interested in funding Calgary’s Green Line, the city is trying to figure out how to wind down the work on the project.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek was a guest on Now You Know with Rob Snow on Friday and acknowledge a great sense of uncertainty around what comes next, saying council is now working on how to hand things over to the provincial government, calling it “their project now.”

Gondek held a meeting with Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, Devin Dreeshen, and a member of Danielle Smith’s office on Friday to discuss transferring over the project and the risks associated with it.

When asked if she thinks the withdrawal of the $1.53 billion in funding is a political move by the UCP government, Gondek said “I am not interested in playing politics. The building of public transit infrastructure is not political, it is public service.”

“Against all hope, I am trying to convince the provincial government to reconsider their decision.”

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What about all those contracts already signed to complete the Green Line? The mayor says the withdrawal of the funding should have came months ago when council first approved building a shorter line.

“We received a letter of confidence from both governments at the time, saying that they were still interested in being partners with us,” she says.

In a letter to Gondek dated Tuesday, Dreeshen said his department has “serious concerns” with the amendments to the line made at the end of July.

The approved changes included building the core of the project from Eau Claire in downtown to Lynwood/Millican in the southeast for more than $6.2 billion. Previous plans had the first phase of the project going all the way south to Shepherd at a smaller cost, with five more stations along the route.

Dreeshen also argued the Green Line should align with the city’s new events centre that is currently under construction. The new home for the Calgary Flames will eventually be a part of a much larger entertainment district.

The province said this week it is moving to secure a contract with an independent third party to give alternative costed proposals for the alignment of the Green Line that will run to the future Arena Entertainment District and continue to, at least, the community of Shepard.

Gondek says the changes to the alignment proposed by the province would not cost any less, and the city is trying to persuade them into accepting the project in its current form.

“If they are truly invested in this project, they will understand that what they are proposing cannot be done at any less of an expense,” she says.

City administration involved in the project is set to meet on Sep. 17 to discuss the next steps. Gondek says council has until that date to get information into the province’s hands that could change their mind.

“I do believe it’s falling on deaf ears,” Gondek said. “This morning I was told there is no interest in pursuing that alignment.”

The federal government said Friday they were “surprised and disappointed” in the province’s move.

“We’ve also invested millions of dollars in affordable housing throughout the Calgary, much of it around transit stations,” said Calgary-Skyview MP George Chahal. “Many of these communities around where the Green Line is going through have also invested in upzoning and making sure that they can build more housing and density.”

Former Calgary mayor and current NDP leader Naheed Nenshi criticized the province’s move on Thursday. He called on Dreeshen and the UCP government to build on investments that have already been made.

Nenshi claims the province’s decision means saying goodbye to 20,000 construction jobs and $1.3 billion that has already been spent.

With files from Curtis Geroux