Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says a lack of “political oversight” undermined Calgary’s Green Line light rail transit project, but says her government will not take it over.
“What I fear has happened with the Green Line is it didn’t have effective, consistent political oversight,” Smith told reporters Wednesday at an unrelated news conference.
“That’s part of the reason why it’s gone completely out of control.”
She said she believes it stems from changeover on city council following the 2021 municipal election. Mayor Jyoti Gondek won the city’s top job in that vote.
“That’s where I think the fundamental problem began,” said Smith.
“I think decisions were made at that point that left a lot of council members in the dark.”
“It’s part of the reason why, I think, everything has been centred around a single option (for the transit line).”
Despite oversight concerns, and calls from members of city council to do so, Smith said the province won’t take over the project.
“We want to be partners, but we don’t want to take over the transit system,” she said.
“There needs to be a rethink on this, and we remain committed.”
On September 17, Calgary city council voted to stop construction on the $6.2-billion Green Line after the province decided to not follow through with previously committed funding.
The Alberta government cited concerns the project would not serve enough commuters, particularly in the south.
Smith reiterated those concerns Wednesday, saying Calgarians are owed the Green Line alignment that was originally promised before it was significantly shortened amid ballooning costs.
“We want a solution that comes close to looking something like the original plan we were pitched on,” Smith said.
Smith said the Green Line project has made clear that when billion-dollar decisions are being made, all funding partners need to be included.
But Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said the province was at the table when the most up-to-date alignment of the Green Line was approved in July.
“We spent July speaking with both the federal and provincial governments about what the amended alignment would need to look like, and we received confidence letters from both of them before July 30, when council voted on the amended alignment,” Gondek told The Canadian Press in an interview Monday.
“When you receive a confidence letter and you have spent an entire month explaining to a partner why this decision needs to be made, and you get their approval to go ahead, flipping the script a month later and issuing a letter without any conversation — it is not a negotiation and it’s not a partnership.”
City officials said stopping construction will cost the city at least $2.1 billion, while delaying it pending a new design would have cost $30 million per month.
Smith said the province has hired a firm to develop new alignments for the project and expects to receive those ideas in December.
“We’ll be able to come up with a proposal in pretty short order,” Smith said.
— by Jack Farrell in Edmonton
