‘I don’t know what game of chicken they were playing, they 100 per cent caved. We didn’t flinch and they came on board,’ says Devin Dreeshen, the province’s point man on the Green Line, on Calgary city council
The province is clear.
Did Calgary city hall cave on the Green Line LRT?
You ask Devin Dreeshen, Premier Danielle Smith’s point man on the Green Line.
Dreeshen answers Yes. The city did cave.
“The city did a complete 180,” says Dreeshen.
“The city went from winding down the Green Line, it’s done, woe is me and now all of a sudden they voted — No, just continue on with the Green Line.
“Let’s do exactly what the province has been saying the entire time.”
Explain.
“They went from termination to continuation. They had to do their political theatre and say all the things they said at Calgary council three weeks ago.”
And now…
City council had an in-camera chinwag. In other words, they went behind closed doors.
“Maybe the political theatre got dropped because the cameras weren’t on and they came to a logical conclusion,” says Dreeshen.
The logical conclusion?
“Let’s continue on with the Green Line. Let’s make sure it’s a line that actually goes somewhere, that actually has significant commuters and riders on it and is cost-effective.”
And in the downtown there would be no tunnels.
Political times sometimes change as fast at city hall as the weather does outside.
Wasn’t long ago when Mayor Jyoti Gondek seemed confident they had the province by the…
You get the picture.
They would paint the Smith government as the bad guy, as the destroyer of dreams, as the enemies of transit.
The province would face the wrath of Calgarians.
The righteous indignation of Calgarians would rain fury on the Smith government.
The Smith government would then realize the error of their ways.
So Gondek said the Green Line was dead, the province could take over the management of the project, the province was only interested in power and in political stunting.
Jobs were at stake, lives and livelihoods.
It was a double dog dare.
Dan McLean, the councillor who is not afraid to speak up, said Gondek and her allies were pouting, they couldn’t stand not getting their way.
McLean told them to grow up.
Gondek figured the Smith government was acting in a most shameless way. She was pissed off.
The province’s sin?
They would not bankroll a Green Line stub. They would not cut more cheques for a line shrinking, shrinking and shrinking while the price tag grew, grew and grew to more than $6 billion.
They would not throw good money after bad for a train going not even as far south as Ogden and Quarry Park and far from where it was intended to go, which was to the deep southeast, to Seton.
They would not be part of a boondoggle Dreeshen nicknamed the Nenshi Nightmare.
After all, the Green Line started as a fantasy in the mind of former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, a line stretching from the far north of the city to the deep southeast for well under $5 billion.
It was never a real number and it was never a real line.
But the masses in Calgary did not push back.
“To me it was political theatre for them to say it had to be their way or no way,” says Dreeshen.
“But enough political pressure has been put on them to realize: Wait a sec, the province wants to build this and the city is choosing to wind it down?”
So detailed engineering work will continue from 4th Street S.E., near the new event centre, to Shepard. There will then be a construction contract for that stretch.
The deep-thinkers hired by the province will offer up options in December, a train either at-grade or elevated, to get into the downtown, either entering at the far east end or further west toward the centre of downtown.
There will be dollars saved from not tunnelling downtown so they will see how far south the line can go.
The new fancy low-floor trains ordered by the city can also be used so no money is lost there.
Dreeshen makes sure to add Gondek is now working with the province.
People like Nenshi, now the Alberta NDP leader, figures the province backed down.
Dreeshen laughs.
“To say I somehow backed down. I said the money is here if you guys choose our alignment. And here they are, agreeing to our alignment.
“I don’t know what game of chicken they were playing, they 100 per cent caved. We didn’t flinch and they came on board.”