Thread by @youseepeeYYC

I'm going to try to live tweet the #GreenLine meeting with the #UCP members...

I've never really done this before, they talk faster than I can type.

#ableg #yyccc

Ric McIver starts by introducing the project. He emphasizes that "this is the city's project"

"It's not our project, it's the city's project"

he repeats.

#yyc #yyccc #GreenLine

Question: why has the project been delayed?

McIver: The delays are the city's fault.

Question: why is the city changing the procurement strategy?

McIver: "that's a city question."

(McIver continues to blame the city.)

"This is not our project."

I am not keeping up with the question here. McIver talks pretty quickly.

Reminder that the #GreenLine suffered "an 86 per cent funding decrease." The city was expecting $555M in funding which was slashed to $75M.

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

There's talk about jobs for Alberta contractors. McIver hopes for low bids to keep costs down.

(Me: Low bids usually mean cost overruns.)

Question: when will the #GreenLine going North of the Bow?

McIver: "This is a city project." "This is a city question" yadda yadda yadda.

McIver is talking about tunnelling under the downtown

(McIver blinks a lot when he's... thinking....)

"This is not a political issue." He says. "It's a technical issue."

"We're working cooperatively," he says.

What part of the province's review triggered a clause for procurement by the city?

McIver "Our people looked at it, but, uh, it's more complicated."

Tunnelling was discussed here

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

What will happen if the province decides not to fund the #GreenLine?

McIver: "our plan is to find an agreement that their technical people and our technical people to agree on. Our plan is to give the city money to build the #GreenLine."

(Again: the #UCP cut funding by 86%.)

Question: When will the #GreenLine reach North Calgary?

McIver: That's a city question. This is not our project.

(WHY DID THEY DO THIS WITHOUT ANYONE FROM THE CITY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS?)

Question: Is the #GreenLine even worth it anymore?

McIver: The city expects ridership to recover... (rambling) we're trying to work comparatively with the city. We expect ridership to recover.

^that should be "we're trying to work *cooperatively* with the city."

#GreenLine #yyccc #yyc

calgaryherald.com/news/local-new…

Question:

"You mentioned the original plan to build the complete 40 Km line. This was then cut to 20 Km and the cost went up. How could the original cost estimate be so wrong? Who is accountable for that huge mistake?"

#Greenline #yyccc

McIver: I don't mean to pick on the city, but this is the city's project. "not criticizing the city" (Blames city) "I'm not an engineer" "This is my second tour of duty as minister..."

#GreenLine #yyccc #yyc

Question: "Why was the provincial funding for the Green Line cut by 86% in the 2019 budget?"

McIver: We didn't cut it, we pushed it out a few years. The funding was never cut. We don't want to spend ourselves into oblivion during an oil crash.

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

Note: The #UCP had $1.3B to throw at TC Energy for... Nothing.

Alberta 'big loser' on Keystone XL; NDP says Kenney made a bad investment edmonton.ctvnews.ca/alberta-big-lo… via @ctvedmonton

McIver is reiterating that this is not a political problem, but a technical problem. Says he's proud of his time as a politician.

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

The meeting is ended at 19:48.

I don't really know what the point of this meeting was. So that the #UCP can pretend to have given constituents an opportunity to be heard?

McIver deflected almost every question as "that's a city question" or "that's a city project" etc.

No other MLA answered any questions besides Ric McIver who mostly rambled about how "this isn't my project" and dodged questions about how the #UCP have deliberately caused delays

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

"Province still hasn't shared report detailing its concerns, leading to pause on procurement"

Over and over again there are so many articles about the #UCP slowing down this project. (Even if many use the same pic)

#GreenLine #yyc #UCPcorruption #yyccc

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

They demanded a "business case" for the #GreenLine but saw no issues pouring money into an induced demand project for Deerfoot.

#ableg #Greenline #FiretheUCP #yyc #yyccc

660citynews.com/2021/01/12/a-l…

The investment in Deerfoot expansion was also a P3.

"Ric McIver said: “Alberta’s P3 model means we double the taxpayer’s investment with private money, to upgrade twice as many bridges and intersections.”

via @kim_siever

#yyc #GreenLine

kimsiever.ca/2021/05/28/ucp…

McIver kept repeating "this isn't politics..." but of course we know transit is.

"A select group gathered [last February] at the exclusive Petroleum Club in downtown Calgary for an invite-only presentation from top city officials on the Green Line LRT"

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

We know that the #GreenLine would be a huge benefit to Calgary.

#yyccc #ableg

theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editor…

A really excellent read on the #GreenLine comes from @klaszus of @sprawlalberta. It's worth your time.

"We must not gut this city-shaping project due to opposition from a small special-interest group."
--@EWoolleyWard8

sprawlalberta.com/sprawlcast-equ…

I'll stop posting old news stories about the #Greenline to this thread.

Mad respect for folks like @Adam_Toy @CGriwkowsky @JeremyAppel1025 @Tommy_Slick and other journalists who occasionally or often live-tweet these sorts of things.

I don't know how you keep up.

Just to wrap up the thread, here's the info on the event.

I made a mistake on the start time in my tweet. It was really scheduled from 7-8pm, even though it only lasted 48 minutes.

🧵
👇

https://twitter.com/youseepeeYYC/status/1404922195386662919?s=20