Don Braid: UCP government’s move toward full control of all Alberta megaprojects might be a good idea

The Green Line is no longer a city hall project.

The province is stepping straight into Calgary government, demanding all records and preparing to develop its own Green Line LRT plan for the city.

Recognizing the obvious, council voted 10-5 on Wednesday to look at options for turning the project over to the province.

Wednesday evening, the provincials would only say they’ll await the details. But it’s coming – a provincially designed and managed LRT line.

When the province’s plan is ready, it will be presented to the city. This is the exact opposite of the way things usually work. The city will be able to accept or reject but, one way or another, the UCP intends to get its own version of the Green Line built.

And there’s more. According to sources, the UCP is seriously considering creation of a provincial body to develop and build megaprojects, both within and outside the big cities. This could be announced in tandem with plans for rail links.

One model might be Ontario’s Metrolinx, whose board is commissioned under the province’s infrastructure department to build major transit projects.

These projects are developed out of the hands of city hall, ideally with their co-operation and practical support.

This might not be the worst idea for Alberta. Both Edmonton and Calgary are showing that megaprojects are beyond their capacity to manage and build effectively.

Edmonton’s Valley Line LRT, now in partial operation, was a mess for years. We know what’s happened with the Green Line — endless problems, cost overruns and provincial interventions.

Premier Danielle Smith is keen on the Blue Line to the airport, and also on rail to Banff.

The idea of a “Grand Central Station” at the new event centre would link the various modes in a hub. Think Union Station in Toronto, or Vancouver’s stunning Waterfront Station.

The way things are going with the Green Line, some councillors might be glad to wave it goodbye. They would lose authority but also escape blame for any future fiasco.

Council’s long session on the Green Line quickly became something like a wake on Wednesday. There was a dawning assumption that this project might finally be dead.

Don Fairbairn, the highly respected and experienced leader of the Green Line board, looked steadily more stricken as the talk went on.

His board is charged with bringing the line into being — negotiating the contracts, hiring the people, dealing with every little detail.

About 1,000 people are working on the Green Line right now.

On the effect of Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen’s letter to Mayor Jyoti Gondek, Fairbairn told council: “I think it’s fair to say, on behalf of the board, our level of confidence is very low. We don’t believe that we can recover from this.”

That’s not a bluff. Fairbairn isn’t a politician; he’s an expert who finds his project being crushed between two political forces.

He also talked about how difficult it will be to unwind the work already done.

“There are very serious contractual obligations,” Fairbairn said.

“We are in the process of reviewing all of our service agreements with our delivery partners . . . both directly with contractors as well as third parties who are doing work on our behalf.”

Fairbairn was involved in Vancouver’s highly controversial Canada Line. They ripped up the downtown but brought the project in on budget, 15 weeks before deadline and the 2010 Olympics.

This time he could oversee a collapse not of his own making. But the province, aware of this prospect, seems prepared to pick up the pieces and move on.

This whole time-release disaster has become viciously political. Beyond its larger goals for projects, the province is determined to pin the failure on Naheed Nenshi, the NDP leader and former mayor.

“We recognize your and the current council’s efforts to try and salvage the untenable position you’ve been placed in by the former mayor and his utter failure to competently oversee the planning, design and implementation of a cost-effective transit plan,” Dreeshen said in his letter to the mayor.

But that’s a sideshow. The larger picture is the province’s push to take over municipal authority on many fronts.

They’re just getting started.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald

X: @DonBraid