[David A]

In the Sept. 3 letter obtained by Postmedia, Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Dreeshen calls the revised concept of the southeast-to-downtown Green Line LRT plan in Calgary a wasteful disaster and states the province can't in good conscience follow through with its $1.53-billion funding share.

Province rejects revised Green Line plan, says funding to be withheld

In a scathing letter, Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen slams Calgary's Green Line plan, saying funding for it to be withheld.

calgaryherald.com

This is not surprising. There probably is some genuine concern about cost, but I have a feeling the UCP is reluctant to fund certain things like transit, and their poor relations with Calgary City Council probably does not help.

So no new hospital for Edmonton, no new LRT line for Calgary, but they still seem to have the money for a new arena there. All this might be easier for the UCP to defend, if they were not running multi billion dollar surpluses.

 

[Gus Haynes]

This is not surprising. There probably is some genuine concern about cost, but I have a feeling the UCP is reluctant to fund certain things like transit, and their poor relations with Calgary City Council probably does not help.

Yeah, I mean, Dreeshen's statement (trying to somehow rewrite history and blame Nenshi for the death of the project) kind of tells you what drives the UCP: trying to score "wins" at the expense of their enemies. Albertans are the collateral damage.

 

[trevorhayden]

Truly despicable creatures in our government these days.

 

[Gronk!]

This is not surprising. There probably is some genuine concern about cost, but I have a feeling the UCP is reluctant to fund certain things like transit, and their poor relations with Calgary City Council probably does not help.

So no new hospital for Edmonton, no new LRT line for Calgary, but they still seem to have the money for a new arena there. All this might be easier for the UCP to defend, if they were not running multi billion dollar surpluses.

The UCP will likely piss it all away just like the previous PC governments.

 

[YEG imagineer]

I predict the UCP will make a grand announcement of $1.5 B to connect downtown with the airport by way of the CP rail lines within 6 months. Give to Calgary but not to the municipal council.

 

[Garneau2Go]

The proposal was expensive, but they want to integrate it with some sort of new Calgary Grand Central Station and the arena deal they used to win the last election. The municipal green line cancelation can’t be about cost when the plan is to then tack on…*checks notes* a whole multi billion dollar HSR network.

It’s primarily to screw over Nenshi and Gondek while acting as fiscally responsible saviours, even though a significantly more expensive project is going to take it’s place.

 

[David A]

I predict the UCP will make a grand announcement of $1.5 B to connect downtown with the airport by way of the CP rail lines within 6 months. Give to Calgary but not to the municipal council.

I wouldn't be surprised by this either ... if so there goes the Green Line money!

The provincial dithering about this goes back to 2014 or so, when Kenney was a Federal Minister and eager to fund it. I feel Calgary City Council is basically tired of it now and has finally washed their hands of it.

So the province can do whatever they want, but there may be no municipal money or Federal money.

 

[TAS]

I wouldn't be surprised by this either ... if so there goes the Green Line money!

The provincial dithering about this goes back to 2014 or so, when Kenney was a Federal Minister and eager to fund it. I feel Calgary City Council is basically tired of it now and has finally washed their hands of it.

So the province can do whatever they want, but there may be no municipal money or Federal money.

The province is going to come back to Calgary with a new green line plan that is not underground perhaps by end of year or early 2025. Calgary council will then be presented with the plan and if they choose not to fund their third of the cost, then there will be no new green line. Or, as the minister said, the new green line could be shelved until the next council is elected and they might say yes.

See where UCP is going? Make current progressive council look incompetent. Make Nenshi look bad. Incentivize electing a UCP friendly city council in 2025.

But make no mistake, Calgary is not going to be shortchanged.

 

[Whattagame]

Maybe Dreeshen was confused by his party's commitment to shutting down all green projects.

 

[David A]

The province is going to come back to Calgary with a new green line plan that is not underground perhaps by end of year or early 2025. Calgary council will then be presented with the plan and if they choose not to fund their third of the cost, then there will be no new green line. Or, as the minister said, the new green line could be shelved until the next council is elected and they might say yes.

See where UCP is going? Make current progressive council look incompetent. Make Nenshi look bad. Incentivize electing a UCP friendly city council in 2025.

But make no mistake, Calgary is not going to be shortchanged.

Oh, I do see how this is going - those with the money make the rules and this current provincial government tends to be very heavy handed with the bigger cities.

But, it still may not work out the way they want. For instance, there will be a Federal election and what if the Federal money disappears after that or maybe they have different ideas than the province.

This sort of project requires the cooperation of three levels of government and as should already be clear does not work well with one dictating to the other two. If it falls apart, I suspect it is the province that will get the blame.

 

[Gronk!]

Danielle Smith will just lay the blame on Trudeau as usual. But will she blame Pierre Poilievre if (God forbid) he becomes the next PM?

 

[TAS]

Oh, I do see how this is going - those with the money make the rules and this current provincial government tends to be very heavy handed with the bigger cities.

But, it still may not work out the way they want. For instance, there will be a Federal election and what if the Federal money disappears after that or maybe they have different ideas than the province.

This sort of project requires the cooperation of three levels of government and as should already be clear does not work well with one dictating to the other two. If it falls apart, I suspect it is the province that will get the blame.

In Ontario I believe it's just the province and the feds who cover the costs of transportation projects like this - the cities add no funding.

As already has been pointed out, the province also covers full cost of Calgary's Deerfoot Trail including its current $615 million upgrade + all its ongoing maintenance and snow removal. Whereas Yellowhead had 50% covered by us ($500 million from Edmonton) and the rest by the feds and province for current upgrades. And we pay our own maintenance and snow removal. I'm not knocking Calgary's fortuitous position, I just want Edmonton to get in on it - however the province doesn't want to open that door and people in this city probably aren't aware of this discrepancy or are resigned to it.

This green line is kind of playing out like their event centre. The first deal falls through at the last minute and so province steps up and Calgary ends up with a bigger, better arena than the first one with the province paying for $330 million of it.

If for some unknown reason federal money is not there for transportation, which I highly doubt will happen, I'm sure the province will look after Calgary's needs.

 

[David A]

There is a Federal election coming up and as is also known the Conservatives are probably not as enthusiastic about transit funding.

IDK, maybe Calgary will get lucky but this transit funding issue seems to have been dragging on for around 10 years with nothing being built yet which doesn't seem so lucky to me.

 

[TAS]

There is a Federal election coming up and as is also known the Conservatives are probably not as enthusiastic about transit funding.

IDK, maybe Calgary will get lucky but this transit funding issue seems to have been dragging on for around 10 years with nothing being built yet which doesn't seem so lucky to me.

The UCP is not going to go into the 2027 provincial election against Nenshi without a green line project in Calgary under construction - even if they have to pay for it themselves (meaning all Alberta taxpayers, like we do Deerfoot Trail).

I agree with Braid.

Braid: A heavily edited Green Line will be built because the province now has no choice

Premier Danielle Smith's UCP will ensure that Calgary's Green Line is built. By taking over, the province leaves itself no choice.

calgaryherald.com

 

[David A]

I don't doubt it makes political sense to do it, yet somehow it hasn't happened after about a decade. I'm not sure in the end if there will be much credit for something that was dragged out for years and years mainly because of the province, which contributed to the escalating costs and scaling back, even if it actually does get done in time for the next election. But I also wouldn't underestimate the UCP's ability to continue to mess things up. After all this, the City of Calgary would be smart to wash their hands of it and say to the province just do what you want here which would at least save them and their municipal taxpayers further grief.

Some other provinces don't have municipal funding involved, just Federal and Provincial so it is not unheard of and perhaps there are good arguments for that approach, but it doesn't always work smoothly either.

We should keep that Deerfoot agreement in mind for future reference. Highway 2 which is a major Alberta route does also go through Edmonton, would be nice if the province helped cover some of the costs.