Roughly 100 people gathered Monday at Calgary’s Municipal Plaza, rallying support for Calgary’s Green Line, which is clinging to life awaiting details expected at an upcoming city council meeting.
The current alignment of the $6.25 billion Green Line transit project got the proverbial death blow earlier this month when the Government of Alberta pulled support and funding.
The province has since come forward with ideas of pushing the route from the now-under-construction Calgary Event Centre down south towards Seton and the South Health Campus. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said they may reconsider a Nose Creek alignment to get to North Calgary.
While the Nose Creek alignment was found to be the worst option among four back in 2012, Premier Smith, on her weekend radio show said they’ve already had preliminary talks with Canadian Pacific railway on the potential use of their heavy rail right of way between Okotoks and Airdrie for potential passenger service.
Meanwhile, the Calgary city council is going to hear from administration Tuesday on the wind-down costs of the Green Line project, should they abandon it. They will also discuss the transfer of the project to the province.
In a social media post published Monday morning, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek outlined the steps they’ve taken with the province and the impact the provincial decision has on the city. The mayor said in the post that it’s “shameful” the project has been killed by “power and political stunting.”
Outside council chambers Monday, in a break from a Strategic Meeting of Council, where preliminary budget discussions are underway, Mayor Gondek doubled down on her Green Line frustration.
“We cannot deliver this without all three partners at the table, and one has walked away,” she said.
“So, it’s shameful that you wouldn’t have a conversation with the two other partners before you issue a directive like that.”
Mayor Gondek said there’s still a lot of uncertainty around the project.
“The only certainty we have is that the Green Line program as we knew it is gone. It is gone. It has been terminated by the province,” she said.
“What it is that they’re proposing to bring forward remains a mystery.”
‘Lots to absorb’: Coun. Sonya Sharp
Several speakers shared their thoughts at the noon-hour Green Line rally outside Calgary’s municipal building. It was organized by the Calgary Alliance for the Common Good – a coalition of groups that represent roughly 35,000 citizens. They published an op-ed Monday saying that the Green Line was essential for Calgary’s future.
Jared Blustein, executive director of the Calgary Climate Hub, said that with Calgary’s population exploding, there’s a greater emphasis on clean, connected transit.
“The Green Line is absolutely critical for our continued growth and prosperity,” he said.
“It will make Calgary more connected and accessible, create new jobs, encourage development, attract new businesses and investment, and allow for decreased car dependency in an already over-sprawling city.”
Peter Oliver with Project Calgary and Calgarians for Transit dubbed the proposed provincial transit project the “Dani-Line.”
“I’m here to deliver one simple message, Calgarians will not accept any half-baked substitutes,” he said.
“The Dani-Line is not the Green Line.”
Oliver said he believes the provincial plan would be further delayed, it would be dysfunctional, and their proposed downtown plan would create massive traffic headaches in the core for all commuters.
“The Dani-Line will be a disaster,” he said.
“That’s why we are asking, calling on the Premier and the province today, to get back on board the Green Line and fund the project.”
Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp said she’s disappointed that she hasn’t yet seen the administration Green Line recommendations. That makes it difficult to prepare for Tuesday’s meeting.
“There’s lots to absorb here with the Green Line. I’m getting information on social media and the news like everyone else,” she said.
Either way, Sharp said it’s time to dial back the emotion on the issue.
“There is a lot of finger-pointing right now, and that doesn’t look good on any of us. At the end of the day, we’re all here to serve the same people, be it Calgarians or Albertans,” she said.”
“You may not like what sort of banners people are flying under, but that doesn’t matter when you’re trying to deliver a transit system to the citizens of Calgary.”
Sharp said there needs to be financial due diligence, and recognizes that there’s both financial and reputational risk. She said they’re already hearing some companies don’t want to do business in Calgary.
“I just feel like we need to take a step back, take a breath, regroup, and find a solution… to provide more transit or a different path, whatever that might look like,” she said.
“But we need to stop with the stuff in the media on all levels. It needs to stop. It’s actually painting us all in a really bad picture, and it looks like we don’t know how to do our job.”
