In a game of political brinksmanship, the Government of Alberta has said Calgary is on its own to cover wind-down costs for the now-dead Green Line project.
The day after Calgary voted to begin the end of the current Green Line alignment, Alberta’s Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen said the province’s contribution to the Green Line was never a blank cheque.
“The province promised funding for a line servicing hundreds of thousands of Calgarians in southeast Calgary, not a stub line barely reaching out of downtown,” Dreeshen said in a statement put out Wednesday morning.
“It is unfortunate that some members of city council would prefer to see the Green Line cancelled entirely rather than find a far more cost-effective and longer above-ground alignment that will actually reach hundreds of thousands of Calgarians in the southeast of the city.”
On Tuesday, Calgary city councillors heard that there’s been $1.6 billion spent or committed on the Green Line project, and a minimum of $550 million in further wind-down costs. City of Calgary Chief Financial Officer Carla Male said that they would endeavour to be made whole with the province for those costs.
Minister Dreeshen dismissed any provincial help to cover those costs.
“Regarding wind-down costs, I don’t see why Alberta taxpayers should be asked to pay for decade-long mismanagements and decisions of past mayors and city councils,” he wrote in the emailed statement.
“Further, the City is more than welcome to proceed with the project without provincial funding should they insist that the cost of the wind-down exceeds the committed provincial contribution.”
He said that by December they will provide council with a new alternative route extending further to the southeast for their consideration. He said they’d be happy to discuss it at that time.
“Should the City change its mind and decide to build a Green Line that serves the needs of Calgary commuters, our provincial contribution remains on the table,” Dreeshen wrote.
Some councillors attempted to stop the wind down of the current Green Line alignment, urging Calgary city council to wait until the province was ready with their transit plan. That was voted down.
Councillors heard that it would cost between $20 million and $30 million a month to carry the project with no work being done to advance it.
Criteria for City of Calgary participation
Along with the approved vote on winding down the current Green Line project, Calgary city councillors also voted in favour of creating a criterion by which the City of Calgary would consider engaging in a future LRT project with the Government of Alberta.
Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott, who drafted the amendment to include the criterion, said he knows it will impact how the City negotiates and how the Green Line winds up.
“But in the end, I reiterate, this is a new project that the province is proposing, and we have to protect ourselves to not have the same issues that have plagued us for the last six years, last 10 years, come forward again,” he said.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that the criteria ensures that certain conditions are met for their participation in the project – like the Government of Canada as a funding partner, a commitment to connectivity in the north and south, stations in the Beltline and more.
“I have absolutely no idea what this provincial government is going to do with the recommendations we’ve made. I have no idea what kind of a program they’re going to come back with, I have no idea.
“If they hadn’t issued that letter, if they had actually spoken with us and given us an indication of what they wanted to do, perhaps, this would be a different conversation. At this point, the project is fully theirs. I don’t know what it looks like.”
