Call: Nenshi shoots Smith's UCP through the Green Line and they fire back

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Green Line LRT is Naheed Nenshi's baby.

There is now overhead in the network, but we don't know how much.

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The line will not go as far north or deep southeast of Calgary as originally planned.

It is being built in stages and already has money problems.

Premier Daniel Smith has made it clear he won't be making much money and suggests the Green Line plans will have to be tweaked to fit the existing budget.

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Nenshi is going after Devin Drieschen after a showdown with other NDP leadership candidates in Calgary just days ago.

Drieschen is Smith's straight-talking man on the green line. He told Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek that the province was closed.

No more dough for Phase 1 of the Green Line LRT, which runs from Provincetown in Shepard, south of Curry Park, to downtown Eau Claire, which has several subway stations.

Nenshi, a former Calgary mayor who now wants to return the NDP to the political Promised Land, says the Green Line's woes are the UCP's fault.

Nenshi says the province explored the Green Line “to the ends of the earth” when the NDP ran the show.

The UCP government under then-premier Jason Kenney investigated it again and Nenshi says it was delayed for two years.

Finally, Nenshi continues, the UCP gave the green light to the Green Line plan.

Here, Nenshi unloads on Drishen. Classic Nenshi.

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At least he's not calling Drieschen a monkey, a term he used last week to refer to UCP members of the legislature.

“For Minister Drieschen to come out and leave now: I don't know, man. Maybe it should be above ground. Maybe he should just go to the tracks.

“This is a person who has not passed the information, has not seen any documents. Very typical UCP. They'd rather fight than get the job done.”

Nenshi is just getting up.

“His department is to blame for the increase in expenses.

“If they want to kill the Green Line, kill it and let Calgarians know who you are.”

How about the idea of ​​going above ground instead of underground to save dollars?

“You're going to cost billions and billions of dollars to change everything, and to change utilities and so on. you will waste all the money spent. “Sometimes you have to derail the train.”

Earlier this week, Calgary City Council passed the Green Line behind closed doors.

They stood behind those closed doors for a long time.

Nenshi said any excess costs would have to be covered one-third by city taxpayers, one-third by provincial taxpayers and one-third by federal taxpayers.

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“Partners have to partner and split it,” he says.

“Indeed, the city has a cash flow and it can be financed by debt. But it's just a debt owed to the same taxpayers who pay taxes to the province in property taxes.”

Again, Nenshi has a message for Smith, Drieschen and company.

“Get up and leave man: it's our fault for rising costs.” We take some responsibility. Let's share the cost,” he said.

The province is solid unless Hell Freeze is in the weather forecast. No.

According to Drieschen, Nenshi is trying to deflect the blame because he owns the project as mayor and “couldn't build a single kilometer of road or a single railway station.”

Drieschen actually calls the current Green Line problems “Nenshi's mess.”

“This is a pattern for Nenshi where he fails and then blames others. It's time for him to take responsibility.

“It's amazing that this is a guy who wants to be premier of Alberta.”

Nenshi said in today's world, the Green Line wouldn't exist if Smith didn't allow cities to cut off indirect deals with Ottawa.

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Yes, “Green Line” was born from politics.

The city council led by Nenshi took $52 million a year in tax breaks from the province and put it on the Green Line.

30 years of $52 million in tax breaks for Calgarians.

The federal Conservative government at the time matched the dollar amount. Then the NDP provincial government followed suit.

People seem to think that those dollars will pay for the entire network. He doesn't even pay for the first stage.

Meanwhile, following a meeting between the UCP government and Green Line movers and shakers, major business leaders confirmed that the cost of Phase 1 of the Green Line will reach $10 billion, while experts expect the entire North-South Green Line to exceed $20 billion.

No wonder Drieschen sent a letter to Gondek saying the province would not step on that escalator.

Another incident of the city administration can be very unpleasant.

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