Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said she wants to provide the facts about Calgary’s Green Line LRT being terminated by the Alberta government on September 3. Rather than attempt to negotiate, Gondek said all the Alberta government did was send a letter pulling its support and funding. “The impact is devastating,” tweeted Gondek on Monday. “I’ll lay out how they are ignoring the facts and what it will cost us.”.After many meetings with Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Dreeshen and the Office of the Premier of Alberta in July, he sent a support letter for the amended Green Line alignment. Dreeshen stated his support on air after Calgary city council’s decision to move forward with it. Dreeshen said on September 3 the Green Line “is fast becoming a multibillion dollar boondoggle that will serve very few Calgarians.” READ MORE: Dreeshen says Alberta government to halt funding to Calgary’s Green Line LRTIn response, Dreeshen said the Alberta government is unable to support or provide funding for the revised Green Line Stage One scope as outlined in the City of Calgary’s most recent business case. “To be clear, we recognize your and the current council’s efforts to try to salvage the untenable position you’ve been placed in by the former mayor and his utter failure to completely oversee the planning, design, and implementation of a cost-effective transit plan that have could have served hundreds of thousands of Calgarians in the City’s southern and northern communities,” he said.Dreeshen killed the Green Line by claiming he had a better solution to go from City Hall/Bow Valley College Station to Seton with the same budget. The Alberta government and Calgary city council examined it in 2020/2021 and rejected the proposal. The idea of connecting the Green Line to the Red and Blue Line at City Hall/Bow Valley College Station was explored in early days. Gondek said there are not enough trains to accommodate the riders from the south. She pointed out adding trains means gridlocked traffic. In response, she said it would mean moving the Red Line off Seven Ave. and putting it on Eight Ave. While the Alberta government might want it to be at grade, she said the Red Line moving to Eight Ave. would be unviable because too many businesses are impacted. She added it cannot be elevated because the Plus 15 is in the way. People would have to tunnel, which the Alberta government does not want to do. She asked how it will manage this. Gondek went on to say the solution for northern Calgary is one of two bad ideas. The first idea is to not connect the north to the south. The second idea is to use the Nose Creek corridor beside Deerfoot to run commuter rail beside Canadian Pacific Kansas City tracks. She said it will have to forget the north or offer a train where no one lives.She predicted no consultant is going to fix these issues with the Alberta government’s dream alignment and will not be cheaper. However, it has said the existing Green Line is over and no parts of it will be considered until the consultant’s report comes out in late December.She accused Dreeshen and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith of not having any interest in working with partners. She said he and Smith “want control, and they have exerted their power to kill a project that had independent third party oversight of the Green Line Board.”For the new project, she said the Alberta government will need funding partners. This means reviews by the Canadian government and the City of Calgary. After that, it will need Treasury Board approvals at the federal and provincial levels. Calgary city council will have to weigh in. She said all of that takes time, and time equals money. Additionally, she said the funding source in place for the Green Line runs out on March 31. Gondek concluded by saying a critical public transit project “has been crushed by a government only interested in power and political stunting.” She said Calgary city council exists in a time when it has no hope of partnership and trust. “Instead, we are left to watch as the UCP (United Conservative Party) compromises Calgary’s future,” she said. Dreeshen responded by saying the Alberta government is committed to ensuring Calgarians and Albertans get the best value for their $1.53 billion spending on the Green Line. “After having reviewed the city’s new business case and scope in detail, we had serious concerns with the major reductions in proposed benefits for Calgarians,” he said. “In addition to shrinking the proposed Green Line from the 46 kilometres and 29 stations Calgarians were originally promised almost 10 years ago down to just 10 kilometres and seven stations — the city’s new alignment would also reduce ridership by 40% while bringing the total costs up to over $6.2 billion.”He said this would make the Green Line one of the most expensive and least effective LRT projects in North America. That is why the Alberta government was taking a more active role in it by finalizing an agreement with a qualified, independent third party to provide the City of Calgary and it with alternative proposals for a cost effective above-ground alignment.Smith said on Wednesday the Alberta government has committed to having an engineering firm give it an alternative route for the Green Line. READ MORE: WATCH: Smith says she wants engineering company to find new Calgary Green Line routeIf the Green Line starts at where the Event Centre is going to be with a future Grand Central Station in mind, Smith asked how far can it can, how much it would cost, and how it gets there. “And then I’ve committed to the mayor that once we get that back, we’ll bring it to them and see if they’re committed to continuing to partner with us on that,” she said.
