Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has engaged an unidentified engineering company to plan a new route for Calgary’s stalled Green Line project

The premier’s suggested revisions raise questions about the future of a proposed downtown terminus around the site of the former Eau Claire Market, where XX plans to develop a seven-tower mixed-use project.

Several other announced and potential commercial real estate investments have become uncertain after getting caught in the political crossfire as the province opposes the city’s approved version of the G light rapid-transit line.

Smith’s United Conservative Party government recently withdrew its $1.5 billion in funding for the future light rapid-transit line. The province opposes the city’s approved version, which reduced the Green Line’s station total to seven from 13 but increased the budget by $700 million to $6.2 billion from $5.5 billion.

The provincial funding pull-back came after Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen reiterated the government’s support for the project in an interview with CBC on August 1.

City council subsequently voted to direct staff to provide options by September 17 on how to wind down the project and turn it over to the province.

Smith told reporters that the province’s new vision for the line could include a central station modelled after Toronto’s Union Station. That station would be located at a future entertainment centre in Victoria Park, just southeast of downtown, around the current Saddledome arena that serves as the home of the National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames and other hockey and lacrosse teams.

Smith’s latest Green Line vision came after shortly after she called for the network be built the way it was originally proposed. Under that plan, the downtown portion would include an underground segment. With the entertainment centre now proposed as the terminus, it remains to be seen how the line would connect to the downtown.

Smith said the province wants to see how far south the revised Green Line could go and how much it would cost.

“The second phase of that, we’ll see what would be the alignment for us to be able to serve north north Calgary as well,” Smith said in her session with reporters. “And, it may be that using the Deerfoot Valley on the route to the airport and then further up to [the town of Airdrie], which is one of the things we want to do. Using the existing CP Rail line, maybe that’s the best way to serve north Calgary.”

The Green Line’s original plan called for a north segment while connecting southeast Calgary to other parts of the city. But the plan for a north portion was shelved in order to reduce costs.

The province has committed $1.5 billion to the project, but Smith declined to say how much her government is willing to spend now, the Canadian Press reported this week.

The Calgary Construction Association has stated that it is “dismayed” by the province’s decision and called on the government to get back on board with the long-awaited project. The CCA contends that the Green Line’s delayed construction is putting the project and local economy at risk.

The CCA also contends that the government’s decision to “unilaterally to claw back” its funding “sets a concerning precedent” for all future infrastructure projects across Alberta.’

In thinly veiled politicking, Smith and Dreeshen have accused Calgary’s former mayor Naheed Nenshi of failing to manage the project during his time in office. Nenshi is now the leader of the Alberta NDP, the Official Opposition in the Alberta Legislature.

He has volleyed back at the UCP government in a written statement and comments to reporters, contending that the province has put development projects and jobs in jeopardy.

The federal government, also a funding partner in the project, has expressed surprise with the province’s decision.

Rendering: City of Calgary