Mayor, premier spar over C-Train expansion

Calgary's mayor is blaming Premier Ed Stelmach's government for the cancellation of $2 billion in C-Train expansion projects across the city.

Dave Bronconnier told a luncheon crowd Tuesday he has no choice but to mothball the proposed west and southeast legs of the LRT systembecause the provincial budget did not give the City of Calgary all the money he had expected.

'It is over the top, even for Dave.' —Ed Stelmach

"And in light of this recent budget, some could suggest that this was one of the most significant broken promises ever perpetrated on Albertans," said Bronconnier at a Calgary Economic Development luncheon.

Bronconnier was among the first tocriticize the 2007 provincial budget unveiled last month,saying the premier didn't deliver on his promise to unconditionally give municipalities $1.4 billion a year. Only $127 million isearmarked for Calgary this year, andonly $42 millionof that is"unfettered" money, he said.

Under thebudget, municipalities will get an extra $400 million this year, an amount that won't grow to the $1.4 billion a year until 2011.

Stelmach said he was "really ticked" when he heard about the Calgary mayor's comments.

'We kept our word'

"It is over the top, even for Dave. There is no jurisdiction in Canada in terms of a province that has dedicated more to municipalities — $1.4 billion of new funding," said Stelmach, who was in Toronto for a conference.

"We kept our word in terms of helping municipalities in the province of Alberta deal with growth pressures in terms of new funding and we also listened to municipal leaders."

Calgary is getting $4 billion in infrastructure funding over thenext 10 years,so any choice to cancel a project is the city's decision alone, he said.

Construction of the west leg of the LRT, from downtown to 69th Street SW, was to begin within months and preliminary planning for the southeast leg is almost finished, said the mayor.

As time goes on and costs continue to rise, Calgary residents can expect the city to cancel other infrastructure projects like roads, recreation centres and hockey rinks unless the province makes more money available, said Bronconnier.