💸🔥Smith bills Calgarians for the most expensive political stunt in Alberta history
"Dine and Dash" Dani is leaving Calgarians to pick up the $2.1-billion tab for her latest political stunt to kill the Green Line. (Image source: Livewire Calgary)
In what could be the most expense political stunt in Alberta history, Danielle "Dine and Dash" Smith and the UCP government are still insisting on withdrawing provincial funding for the Green Line project forcing the City of Calgary to terminate the project. By killing the Green Line project mid-construction, the province has effectively lit upwards of $2.1-billion on fire, kicked over 1,000 Calgarians out of work, and thrown years of planning, engineering and public engagement with Calgarians in the garbage. The province is so far refusing to foot the bill for their political stunt.
According to City Administration, it will cost more money to wind down the project than what would be needed from the province to get the line to Shepard, one of the province's stated goals.
City of Calgary presentation showing the cost estimate to terminate the Green Line project. (Image source: CBC News)
🥊UCP have waged a years long war against the Green Line
In a surprise letter to the City Council this spring, the UCP government expressed they would not fund inflationary cost overruns to the project caused by their own unnecessary two-year delay to the project in 2019 at the onset of a period of high global inflation. This left the City of Calgary no choice but to reduce the scope of Phase 1 of the Green Line to stay within the overall funding envelope.
Calgary MLA Ric McIver has spent years attacking the Green Line but never could find any problems with the design despite his multiple reviews.
In July, responding to the concerns expressed by the province, Council agreed to cover a greater share of the Green Line’s costs and move ahead with construction with support from both the province and the federal government. After stating that the project was “100 per cent” secure and that Calgary Council could “bank on it” in August, Minister Dreeshen then flip-flopped on September 3rd when he sent a letter to the City of Calgary without prior warning pulling provincial funding for the project.
Dani's fellow dine and dasher Devin Dreeshen seen attending Donald Trump's election night party in New York City on November 8, 2016. (Image source: Toronto Star)
The Phase 1 alignment previously approved by all three levels of government in July 2024 was just the beginning of the project over a decade in the making to extend the Green Line from north central Calgary down Centre Street to Seton in the southeast.
🖍️ The Dani-Line is shaping up to be a DISASTER
Without any apparent tendering process, the province has "inked a deal" with AECOM, a company that lost the competitive bid to build Phase 1 of the Green Line, to design a new substitute line to the Green Line. The design for the "Dani Line" is being drawn up by rural UCP MLAs without any input from Calgarians, but from what Danielle Smith has disclosed thus far we already know it's going to be a disaster.
🔎 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 CPKC 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) ✉️ Keep up the pressure and keep the emails coming!
Contact Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Transportation Devin Dreeshen and tell them to reverse their decision to pull funding for the Green Line.
2) Show your support for the Green Line
Show your support for the Green Line by displaying your Green Line sign and other media in our DIY Campaign Toolkit!
