In a scathing thread posted to social media, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek skewered the province over its decision to pull its portion of the funding for the Green Line LRT, calling it “political stunting.”
“Neither the minister nor the premier have any interest in working with partners,” Gondek said in a 13 post thread on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday morning.
“They want control and they have exerted their power to kill a project that had independent third party oversight of the Green Line Board. For their new LRT project, oversight is all political.”
Her comments come as Calgary city council is expected to learn more about the costs of winding down the Green Line LRT on Tuesday, and Calgarians rally in front of city hall in support of the multi-billion-dollar transit project.
Gondek said the province is ignoring the facts surrounding the Green Line and accused Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen of “killing” the project.
But Premier Danielle Smith said Saturday on her weekly radio show that the Green Line in its current form is not viable, too expensive and wouldn’t serve enough people in the city.
“We wanted to see if there’s a better way to do it that will actually get the line far enough out to where the people actually live. So, I hope Calgarians understand, we want to see this built properly, too,” Smith said.
CBC News has reached out to the offices of Dreeshen and Smith for comment on Gondek’s remarks.