✊Join the rally in support of the Green Line this Monday at City Hall
Join the Calgary Alliance for the Common Good, Calgarians for Transit, LRT on the Green and other groups for a show of support for Calgary's Green Line this Monday, September 16, 2024 at noon at City Hall Plaza as we call on our political leaders to build the Green Line and not squander the investments that citizens have already made in this project.
🤮 UCP killing the Green Line for partisan politics
On September 3 2024, Premier Smith and Minister Dreeshen announced their intention to pull the provincial funding from Calgary's Green Line for the dual purpose of picking a childish fight with NDP leader Naheed Nenshi, and to shore up support from her far-right Take Back Alberta base ahead of the UCP's upcoming leadership review – the last of which ousted the previous leader Jason Kenney.
🖍️ The Dani-Line is shaping up to be a DISASTER
On the eve the contract award to begin construction of the downtown and southeast Green Line LRT, Premier Danielle Smith and Alberta Minister of Transportation Devin Dreeshen want to rip up the Green Line plans developed over the last decade by engineers and transportation experts along with the input of tens thousands of Calgarians and instead draw up a new plan in crayon behind closed doors.
🔎 Here's what we know so far about the UCP's proposed "Dani-Line":
1) ⏳ The Dani-Line will be DELAYED
Danielle Smith and rural UCP MLAs that have never used public transit want to bust out the crayons and draw an entirely new alignment for Calgarians. The last time the UCP delayed the Green Line under Jason Kenney and Ric McIver in 2021, their demand to break up the contract into two procurements (after dragging their feet reviewing the design for a whole year) delayed the project another year.
Re-designing the alignment from scratch would add multi-year delays to a project that was set to begin construction this fall. Years of more delays will mean taxpayers will pay more for less.
2) ⛓️💥The Dani-Line will be DISCONNECTED
The Green Line LRT has been planned for over a decade to connect communities in north central Calgary along Centre Street through Downtown/Beltline and onto the southeast as far as Seton. The Phase 1 alignment approved by all three levels of government this past July laid the foundation for both the north central and southeast segments to expand outward - just like the Red Line (est. 1981), Blue Line (est. 1985), and even the Ring Road (est. 1999) that were all constructed in sections over decades as funding became available.
On her September 14th, 2024 radio show Danielle Smith shared her vision that would decimate ridership by skipping over north central communities and instead build a detached commuter train to Airdrie up the CP Rail right of way in the Nose Creek Valley where no one lives.
3) 😵💫The Dani-Line will be DYSFUNCTIONAL
Since her September announcement to pull provincial funding for the Green Line, Danielle Smith has regurgitated talking points from anti-Green Line activists that have opposed proper connection to Calgary's Beltline and Downtown districts. Alternatives proposed by Smith and anti-Green Line activists include ending the line at the new arena and forcing transit riders to walk one kilometre from outside Downtown to transfer to the Red/Blue Lines or at best dumping passengers behind City Hall to board overcrowded trains on the already overcapacity Red and Blue Lines on 7th Avenue S.
Cancelling Green Line tunnels Downtown would further restrict vehicle traffic on roads condemning drivers to decades of traffic jams.
🚬 Don't buy Dani's lies
Just like Danielle Smith's 2003 claim in the Calgary Herald that smoking cigarettes can actually "reduce the risk of disease" or her more recent claim that the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) asked the government for a ban on renewable energy, Danielle Smith is lying through her teeth to Calgarians in the face of clear and present facts.
🚀 TAKE ACTION - Ask the UCP to reverse their decision to defund the Green Line
1) Join the rally for the Green Line at City Hall
Join the Calgary Alliance for the Common Good, Calgarians for Transit, LRT on the Green and other groups for a show of support for Calgary's Green Line.
👉Monday, September 16, 2024 at Noon at City Hall Plaza
Help us call on our political leaders to build the Green Line and not squander the investments that citizens have already made in this project.
2) ✉️ Keep the emails coming!
Contact Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver and Minister of Transportation Devin Dreeshen.
3) Show your support for the Green Line with a lawn sign
Show your support for the Green Line by displaying your Green Line sign and other media in our DIY Campaign Toolkit!
Thank you for your support through action!
