The long-awaited, highly controversial LRT Green Line has finally been launched in southeast Calgary. Federal Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland, Premier Danielle Smith and Mayor Jyoti Gondek participated in a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday afternoon to “celebrate (the) major milestone for public transit.”The ceremony represented the launch of the SE segment of the city’s LRT, and kicked off Phase 1 of the Green Line. .The project is Calgary’s largest-ever infrastructure expenditure, the city said in a statement. It cost $6.248 billion in funding, a joint investment from municipal, provincial and federal governments.“After years of hard work and planning, today marks a major step forward for smart infrastructure in Calgary. The Green Line is a long-term investment in the city’s future. One that will create jobs, support growth, and ensure Calgarians stay connected as the city continues to thrive. Our government is pleased to support this next chapter in Calgary’s story,” said Premier Danielle Smith..Freeland said: “Today’s groundbreaking is truly a significant milestone for the Green Line LRT project and a testament to the power of collaboration in catalyzing major transit projects. This is a tangible step towards making public transit a more accessible, reliable, efficient, and desirable option for Calgarians.".Smith was asked about her meeting with Treaty 8 chiefs earlier in the day — where they said the treaty is between them and the Crown, rather than with the province, and therefore the province has no authority over their rights — and how that impacts projects such as this, and future pipelines. “Well, I think we are all subject to the treaties,” Smith told the Western Standard. “The Treaty was written as an agreement between Her Majesty at the time, and His Majesty and the people who inhabited the territories. And the federal government has obligations to His Majesty, I have obligations to His Majesty.”“We all have a division of powers that are articulated, whether they're in treaty or whether in constitution, the federal government has the right to make decisions in its area of jurisdiction. The Alberta government has the right to make decisions in its areas of jurisdiction.”“As I mentioned to the leaders this morning, there was actually a pretty important decision, decided by referendum, and that was when Tsuut'ina decided to support the ring road. They had a referendum in 2009 that was negative, so we went back to the bargaining table, and then there was a referendum in 2013 that was successful.”“So referendum is a decision making tool to make sure that you've got the people behind you, so I respect their right to use it, and I hope they respect our right to use it.”.The history of Calgary's Green Line dates back to the mid-1980s, and its planning began back in 2011.Back in 2011, the line was planned to go along Nose Creek, Edmonton Trail or Centre Street N.By December 2011, there was a draft approval reported by the Calgary Herald named the RouteAhead blueprint, outlining plans between then and 2040.The plan detailed that they would begin with bus-only lanes in the southeast and along the route down Centre Street or Edmonton Trail, with construction starting in the southeast.At the time, the city lacked funding for the project, and it could only partially start the line until 2022 — or fund bus lanes where the line would go.By 2013, the city could not fund the estimated $2.7 billion project.In early 2014, it agreed to spend $889 million on transit, which included the southeast Green Line transit-only roadways and lanes, along the future LRT corridor and Green Line bus-only lanes in the north.That same year, the city's plan for the line was underway.But by the end of 2014, again, the Green Line was unobtainable due to its now estimated cost of $5 billion.By the end of 2016, the provincial government announced spending $146 million for Calgary's Green Line, and the federal government committed to $1.5 billion.Joint funding then began to disintegrate and raised doubts that the project would soon be executed, while funds still fell short.In early 2017, city officials estimated the Green Line LRT would exceed $6 billion and that it would take longer to complete, with construction beginning in 2019.
