Calgary city councillors will review a letter from the province that was received Tuesday indicating that the Government of Alberta would no longer fund its portion of the $6.25 billion Green Line, in its current form.

Several councillors confirmed the letter from Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Dreeshen was received Tuesday, asking for an independent review of potential other costed proposals for the Green Line. Minister Dreeshen’s office has not responded to a request for comment on this story.

It comes a little over one month after Calgary city council came back with a revised Stage 1 plan for the delivery of Calgary’s Green Line project that would see multiple stations cut from the previously approved plan.  This was done as a result of inflationary pressures built up over years of dithering over the alignment and staging, along with provincial-government-induced delays for project reviews.

The letter from Minister Dreeshen said that after a further review of the new business case and scope that “The Green Line is fast becoming a multi-billion dollar boondoggle that will serve very few Calgarians,” the letter read.

“This is unacceptable and our Government is unable to support or provide funding for this revised Green Line Stage 1 scope as presented in the City’s most recent business case.”

During the debate over the Green Line, councillors acknowledged that truncating the previously approved line wasn’t ideal, but that by keeping intact the core of the Green Line it would ensure that future extension could be built both north and south.

Minister Dreeshen’s letter points the finger squarely at the City of Calgary’s prior city council for the predicament they face today.

“To be clear, we recognize your and the current Council’s efforts to try and salvage the untenable position you’ve been placed in by the former Mayor and his utter failure to competently oversee the planning, design and implementation of a cost-effective transit plan that could have served hundreds of thousands of Calgarians in the City’s southern and northern communities,” the letter reads.

In recent polling done by Leger, new Alberta NDP leader and former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and current Premier Danielle Smith were tied at 39 per cent in approval rating.

Further, the initial funding plan, and scope, however, were conceived swiftly at that time, as former MP and UCP leader and Premier Jason Kenney needed a quick political win prior to a federal election.

‘Hand them the binders’: Coun Chabot

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, who did vote against the recent Green Line decision due to funding – not scope – reasons, said he’s disappointed the province has once again come to this conclusion.

“I didn’t agree with it, but the letter from Minister Dreeshen basically says that some of the stuff that we should do is stuff that’s already been done,” Coun. Chabot said.

“If he wants all the material that was covered, I’m sure the city would happily hand over all of the investigative work that was done, and the assessments and the public input as to why the recommendations that were made.”

Chabot surmised there would be a separate, independent review that will be done, it will come to the same conclusions and once again add more cost. To Chabot’s point, a previous review by the UCP government took a year and ultimately landed on supporting the City’s business case given all of the extenuating factors.

“The idea of… just do this… this is a very simplistic view of something that makes it look like amateur hour,” Chabot said.

“’Oh, we’re just going to review this and just do it this way, it will save you a ton of money.

 “Well, I don’t know how you can draw those conclusions without having looked at the full assessment, the full transportation impact assessment. How it impacts the movement of automobiles, the movement of the rest of the transit system, how it will contribute to the development of the city, and the tax implications. All of those things are not something that necessarily pencil out if you’re looking at it just from a bean counters’ perspective.”

Minister Dreeshen’s letter also suggested that an independent report would examine above ground or elevated rail from 7 Avenue to Eau Claire to “bring some cost certainty to that portion of the line should it be pursued.”

That’s a position that’s been pushed heavily by a Calgary advocacy group wanting the city to avoid an underground LRT line.

It’s worth noting that a letter penned July 29 from Minister Dreeshen confirms the province’s funding for the line, based on certain conditions. None of those conditions indicate a further review of the business case, nor does it suggest an independent review looking at other options.

Chabot said this could be the kill shot for the Green Line.

“If their objective is to kill it, they essentially have done that by saying that we’re not going to give you the money,” he said.

“Without their money, it’s dead in the water.”

Chabot hopes that the province’s review will include the extensive work with stakeholders, along with public engagement that’s been done across the city before they render a decision on the outcome.

Councillors are expected to go behind closed doors Wednesday during the Executive Committee to discuss the matter further and decide on a course of action.