Western Standard - Update on the Calgary Ring Road

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.000 Thank you.

00:01:00.000 Thank you.

00:01:30.000 Thank you.

00:02:00.000 Thank you.

00:02:30.000 Thank you.

00:03:00.000 Thank you.

00:03:30.000 Thank you.

00:04:00.000 Thank you.

00:04:30.000 Thank you.

00:05:00.000 Okay, perfect.

00:05:07.000 That would be a wonderful way to start us off.

00:05:10.000 Are you doing that?

00:05:12.000 Yes, this is .

00:05:15.000 I wonder if you want to announce that I was coming in?

00:05:22.000 Sam, why don't you come in and just sort of get things underway, and then we'll turn it over to Eric.

00:05:30.380 Hello. Thank you, everybody, for joining us today.

00:05:32.420 We're just going to start off with a quick prayer here, and then we'll have Emily Bouchard lead in with an introduction.

00:05:45.580 Just put it there.

00:05:52.800 I want to thank everybody for coming.

00:05:55.200 This is a great honor for me to do the opening prayer.

00:05:59.400 So I'm going to say the prayer in my own language.

00:06:05.560 And my helper here is Dave McGinnis,

00:06:08.720 and he'll be singing an old song

00:06:12.820 that was tanned down for a whole number of years.

00:06:18.940 With that, I'd like to say the opening prayer.

00:06:22.000 oh

00:06:43.680 nah

00:06:52.000 the

00:07:22.000 oh

00:07:32.000 oh

00:08:02.000 With that I'd be singing a song for our old people and was one of our trails back here

00:08:25.440 and in recognition of our elders and our old people

00:08:29.700 and our relationship with Calgary.

00:08:55.440 oh

00:09:06.440 oh

00:09:19.440 Thank you my friend.

00:09:44.220 Thank you.

00:10:14.220 good morning everyone thank you all for being here today i'm pleased to be here on treaty

00:10:25.900 seven territory i also acknowledge the metis people who share a deep history and connection

00:10:30.940 with this land today is a great day for the city of calgary my name is eric bouchard and i am the

00:10:36.860 proud mla for calgary law heed it's my pleasure to be here for this historic announcement and i'm

00:10:43.180 honored to call on premier smith to share a few words of why we're here this morning thank you

00:10:47.900 very much thank you eric and thank you so much uh elder for starting us off in such a good way

00:10:57.020 i have so many people to recognize this morning and it's such a pleasure for me to be here with

00:11:02.140 transportation and economic corridors minister devon dreeshan along with many current and former

00:11:07.420 mlas and members of cabinet along with other elected officials and dignitaries who have joined

00:11:11.580 us for what is truly an historic day for Calgary. And I say historic because today's announcement is

00:11:18.240 a game changer for Calgarians and for all commuters who are traversing the city and going

00:11:23.840 to bypass to get to the mountains. We were all just talking here about how each of us is going

00:11:27.920 to be personally impacted by this. I know it's going to be a whole lot easier for me to go to

00:11:31.600 High River to get into the mountains. And I'm so excited when this comes formally open. So let me

00:11:38.180 just take a moment to acknowledge the many, many people who joined us today and who've been involved

00:11:42.780 in this project, whether through their advocacy, their work at the cabinet table or other ways. I

00:11:47.320 must tell you, this really is a Team Alberta effort. When you think of three different

00:11:53.060 governments, multiple different transportation ministers who all kept up the effort to make

00:11:58.780 sure this got to completion, it is quite a remarkable thing to be able to see that we're

00:12:04.640 able to cut the ribbon on it today. So alongside Minister Dreeshan, we're joined by Matt Jones,

00:12:09.440 who's Minister of Jobs, Economy, Trade, Minister Rick McIver, Minister of Municipal Affairs. Let

00:12:14.920 me just say a special note of thank you to Rick McIver, as well as I see Chief Roy Whitney here

00:12:20.200 with Sutina. When I think about how important it was for this leg of the ring road to get completed

00:12:26.200 with the incredible work that you did with us as a nation, I greatly appreciate you doing that.

00:12:31.420 Thank you.

00:12:32.240 Eric Bouchard, of course, as you know, MLA for Calgary Law,

00:12:35.800 Heath Chantel DeJong, MLA for Chester Strathmore.

00:12:39.220 We're also joined by a number of municipal councillors, including Mayor Jody

00:12:42.380 Gondek, city councillors, Evan Spencer, Richard Putmans, Dan McLean, Rocky

00:12:47.120 View Reeve, Crystal Kissel, Rocky View councillor, Samantha Wright.

00:12:51.940 And as I mentioned, this project has been moved along by many, many hands.

00:12:56.260 And I'm just going to pull up the list.

00:13:01.420 Thank you.

00:13:31.420 Thank you.

00:14:01.420 Thank you.

00:14:31.660 everyone today's opening of the ring road marks the completion of the entire project

00:14:36.620 creating 101 kilometers of free flowing traffic encompassing the city and that'll mean less

00:14:42.140 congestion for calgary's inner roads less time with fighting stop and go traffic and safer

00:14:47.500 commutes for all drivers it will save calgarians thousands of hours a year time people spend in

00:14:53.100 their cars that can be better spent with their families and it will make it that much easier

00:14:57.020 for parents who work in the north to make it on time to their kids soccer games in the south and

00:15:00.860 and it will mean that folks heading to Canmore or Banff from the east or from the south can easily

00:15:05.620 and seamlessly skirt city traffic to make it to the mountains that we all love to see as we drive.

00:15:10.900 The completion of this ring road will have an immediate and noticeable effect on the residents

00:15:14.780 in the Calgary area, and it also means safer routes for long-haul truck drivers and commercial

00:15:19.040 carriers. As part of the longer east-west corridor, the Calgary ring road provides a more efficient

00:15:24.980 and non-stop route for drivers to get Alberta's goods and services to other markets around the

00:15:29.920 province and across the continent. So make no mistake, we are committed to economic growth

00:15:34.640 and the completion of this road is one more way that we encourage it. Today's announcement is

00:15:39.280 historic for another reason. It also celebrates the fact that the Ring Road project has been

00:15:44.860 completed 10 months earlier than planned. That is an accomplishment that most governments don't get

00:15:51.000 to announce. And of course, we're not most governments. We're a government that wants

00:15:54.960 to get things done for Albertans. And we do so with the help of our many, many partners. I want

00:15:58.860 acknowledge those whose hard work and vision turned today into such a wonderful reality.

00:16:03.820 Together we are making life better for all Albertans. Thank you and now I'm going to invite

00:16:08.300 Minister Drishan to share more details with us.

00:16:16.380 And before Minister Drishan comes up, we'll hear a word or two from Mayor Jodi Gondek.

00:16:23.180 Thank you. Oki Dada Nistada Ambawastich Tansay.

00:16:27.180 greetings to all of you in the mother languages of the indigenous peoples who have stewarded these

00:16:31.180 lands for generations before many of us came to settle here on behalf of my calgary city council

00:16:36.540 colleagues and our mobility teams i'd like to thank premier smith minister dreeshan and the

00:16:41.900 provincial government for this expedited opening of stony trail on the west side my gratitude also

00:16:47.420 extends to chief roy whitney and the sutuna nation for being such great partners and neighbors

00:16:52.140 in our mission to strengthen the sense of community in the calgary region

00:16:56.060 and thank you to Mayor Kissel and the Rocky View County Council and administration who were able

00:17:02.060 to join us as well. Today's announcement means we'll have better options for anyone traveling

00:17:07.020 the west side of the city. It's also a significant addition to our goods movement strategy,

00:17:11.900 ultimately aiding economic growth for Calgary, for the Satina Nation, for Rocky View County,

00:17:17.020 and the Calgary metropolitan region as a whole. And while Councillor Putmans couldn't be here

00:17:21.580 today. He's passing along his well wishes for the residents of Ward 6 and the residents at

00:17:27.580 Sutina Nation. He's looking forward to easing some of the serious traffic pressures and creating

00:17:32.880 better flow between communities. For our part in this project, the City of Calgary has invested

00:17:38.040 approximately $25 million to make a number of improvements to prepare for the opening of the

00:17:44.400 West Ring Road. There's new roadway, pathway, and sidewalk connections that were constructed to

00:17:50.280 provide safe and efficient access to the West Ring Road, including the widening of Bow Trail.

00:17:55.940 Several key intersections, such as Bow Trail and Old Banff Coach Road, Bow Trail and 85th Street

00:18:01.460 received capacity upgrades to maintain efficient access to the West Ring Road. New and upgraded

00:18:07.160 traffic signal infrastructure has been installed at several key intersections, and we will continue

00:18:12.680 to further coordinate with Alberta Transportation to place temporary cameras so that we can monitor

00:18:18.040 traffic on the new section of the ring road we'll monitor traffic flow and make signal timing

00:18:23.520 changes 24 7 as they are needed and we'll provide opening information on dynamic message signs

00:18:30.160 traffic radio as well as social media and google street view that all-important tool will also be

00:18:36.740 updated accordingly all of this to say that we believe in strong partnership between governments

00:18:42.100 because that's when we can deliver projects that add to people's quality of life thank you

00:18:48.040 well thank you mayor gondek for that and for premier smith for this historic announcement

00:18:57.240 uh it's it's great to be here as as transportation minister uh the final leg of such an important

00:19:03.100 project uh for a bad football analogy it feels like i'm just the guy at the one yard line with

00:19:07.840 the football that goes in the end zone and gets a touchdown so so so much work went into this

00:19:13.220 project when you tally it all up from 1999 till now it's about over four billion dollars went

00:19:19.220 into the completion of this ring road as premier smith noted 101 kilometers now free flowing around

00:19:25.860 the city so really uh christmas came early for calgarians this year uh 10 months ahead of

00:19:32.020 schedule on budget this final leg here which essentially i'd like to thank graham construction

00:19:38.500 and CarMax and Vinci for further work on this project.

00:19:42.500 You also were with me as going across the finish line at the very end

00:19:46.740 or getting into the end zone at the end.

00:19:48.340 It was fantastic to work with you from the department standpoint.

00:19:52.180 And I'd also like to thank the officials within transportation

00:19:55.140 and economic corridors for your work.

00:19:57.220 It's a pleasure to work with you because as government officials,

00:20:00.340 as bureaucrats, you want to make sure that the province gets built

00:20:03.300 and that people get home safely.

00:20:04.980 And so it's a it's an honor and a privilege to work with you day in and day out.

00:20:09.500 But yeah, decades in the making of this project, over four billion dollars, thousands of jobs.

00:20:16.040 And really, it's it's incredible. And for many of the transportation ministers here, you're it's almost a full circle moment.

00:20:22.920 Sorry, there's going to be more dad jokes coming along. So buckle up.

00:20:26.660 But special thanks to Walter Pazowski, Ed Stelmack, Lou Coulette, Brian Mason, Rick McIver, Prasad Panda, Raj Nsani, all had their marks on this important project.

00:20:42.760 And really, it's easy for politicians to take credit for other people's work, but this was a huge team effort.

00:20:50.460 And actually, you go back all the way to the visionary leadership of Premier Loughey.

00:20:57.440 Back in the 70s, he actually had the foresight to set aside land to build a transportation utility corridor to make this highway that we're standing on here a reality.

00:21:09.480 And even predating that, back in the 1950s, the Social Credit Party envisioned what it would look like to have these types of ring roads around Edmonton and Calgary.

00:21:18.780 So, you know, from the late 1970s, high level planning and land acquisition, construction beginning in 1999 and all the way to today to be able to see nearly 200 bridges built along this new highway, 48 interchanges.

00:21:36.240 And if you actually stretch the 101 kilometers and all the single lanes into one lane, it would be over 1,300 kilometers in a single highway.

00:21:45.020 So that would take you almost to Winnipeg if you went east, Las Vegas going south, Yellowknife if you went north.

00:21:52.240 And if you really wanted to go west, you'd be somewhere in the Pacific if you went that far out.

00:21:56.240 so opening this ring road means obviously new travel options for calgarians seamlessly connects

00:22:01.760 major highways such as the trans canada east and west and a highway two going north and south

00:22:07.040 the road has been designed to accommodate up to 100 000 vehicles per day and with this final

00:22:12.240 section opening drivers will save about in the west side here on calgary will save about 20

00:22:16.880 minutes one way traveling through this area and the highway also draws traffic away from heavily

00:22:22.320 congested areas, whether that be the Deerfoot, 16th Ave, Glenmore Trail, and obviously Sarsi

00:22:27.900 Trail. And for Calgary drivers, that means less time stuck in traffic and more time at home doing

00:22:33.580 the things that they love. And also on the economic side, for commercial truck drivers,

00:22:37.420 this ring road provides an efficient bypass route, saving time and money for delivery of

00:22:42.740 products and goods around Alberta and North America. And the ring road is critical to growing

00:22:48.240 economic corridors here in the province the highway is also important part of the canamax

00:22:53.120 corridor which connects alberta to highway networks in the us and mexico an efficient

00:22:57.680 modern transportation network sends a strong signal that alberta is open for business and

00:23:02.400 we will compete with other jurisdictions to attract people and investments here in our province

00:23:07.120 now the ring road is a major boost for calgary's economy new businesses have already set up

00:23:10.960 businesses set up shop along this route and just once again thank you for everybody that's been a

00:23:16.720 part of this project through planning design and construction and i also want to thank the families

00:23:21.600 along this route for their patience as this project has progressed over the years you put

00:23:28.080 up with extra noise and dust and traffic and construction uh more than more than others have

00:23:34.240 so thank you for your understanding your patience throughout this entire project so it's great to

00:23:39.280 ring in a new era of travel options here in calgary and thank you for joining us here today for this

00:23:44.720 historic uh occasion and i think we're gonna go straight into a q a but uh don't leave uh right

00:23:51.280 after that there there are some some fun uh hockey games we'll be raffling off some christmas trees

00:23:56.560 and uh santa is here probably should have led with that um so uh so so try to have fun uh get into

00:24:03.040 the the christmas spirit and the holiday spirit and thanks everybody for coming here today and

00:24:06.640 happy to turn things over for questions thank you minister

00:24:09.600 We will now be the media Q&A portion for media we will be going with one question one follow-up for

00:24:19.440 those in person there is a mic just off to your right behind the cameras we're going to start off

00:24:24.240 here on the phones. Operator could you put through our first caller please? Rick Bell Calgary Sun.

00:24:30.720 uh good morning and uh congrats on the ring road i if if ray down there i'm saying hello

00:24:40.420 um i see i see luke i'm trying to see where ray is i think he was supposed to be here yeah

00:24:45.900 he's waving in the back message message received the message received thank you um so uh first

00:24:55.060 First off, Premier, if you could tell us exactly what the status is of the tax cut for all Albertans that you rolled out on the first day of the election campaign earlier this year.

00:25:07.960 Where is your government at on that right now?

00:25:11.740 Well, I'm working with my finance minister on working through a time frame for implementation because, of course, we know how hard it is right now for families and especially seniors.

00:25:22.400 with the cost of living increases,

00:25:25.340 federal deficits that are driving inflation,

00:25:27.800 the fact that the federal carbon tax

00:25:29.560 continues to be levied on fuel.

00:25:33.520 And I'm committed to providing

00:25:34.880 what we promised in the election,

00:25:36.600 which was an 8% low rate

00:25:39.360 that is going to apply on incomes $60,000 and below,

00:25:43.260 which would save Albertans up to $750 per year.

00:25:46.560 So we will be implementing that.

00:25:47.720 And we're working with caucus and our finance minister

00:25:49.520 on the planning timeline

00:25:51.020 to roll out the tax cut we do want to see it implemented in the mandate and you'll you'll see

00:25:55.580 that in budget 2024 we obviously have to need to balance the softening of oil prices oil prices are

00:26:02.380 now sort of hovering around the the 68 to 72 dollar range and so we have to be mindful that

00:26:09.420 we have to phase in a tax cut over um to ensure that we also don't end up getting back into

00:26:15.100 deficit that's our number one framework uh so uh when you look at what happened with the corporate

00:26:20.220 income tax cut jason kenney faced it in over three years so we'll work out that phasing

00:26:24.460 um but when it comes to affordability we know as well the two most important issues we've got

00:26:28.220 to deal with in the new year are insurance which we are working on as well as electricity we've

00:26:33.660 already seen a bit of a moderation in in prices but we'll have a lot more to say about that as

00:26:37.820 well but we we recognize there's still a lot more to work work to do on affordability

00:26:41.740 and um supplementary is just so is there going to be you're saying there's going to be a phase

00:26:51.620 in so am i clear that there might be is it necessary that the first part of the phase

00:26:57.440 in will start in budget 2024 or i'll work that out with my how will how will that look like is

00:27:04.400 this like a three-year phase in or two-year or is it going to start this coming year the 24 budget

00:27:10.580 well the budget is scheduled to be on february 29th so we'll have an answer for you then but

00:27:15.700 i'm i'm very mindful that our finance minister's number one goal is to make sure that we maintain

00:27:20.340 balanced budgets and so i'll be taking his advice on that we're we're still in inactive conversation

00:27:25.540 but you'll see the the phase in schedule in the budget in february 29. thank you rick and operator

00:27:31.860 could you put through our next caller please shaylan skulski ctv

00:27:37.140 thank you very much for taking my question my question is for the premier i'm hoping that you

00:27:44.180 can comment on allegations of your political interference in the revocation of dr hinshaw's

00:27:49.780 position within alberta health services last spring so your question is

00:27:59.380 can you confirm uh the allegations in his resignation letter to dr cowell dr mads states

00:28:04.820 that he's reiterated concerns several times that you the premier were reaching down four levels

00:28:09.700 into ahs and instructing them to rescind an approved contract what do you say to that

00:28:14.340 allegation well i can tell you that i put dr cowell in place to make these decisions i talked with him

00:28:19.940 on a weekly basis we talked about staffing decisions a lot and we have a major restructuring

00:28:25.380 that we're doing in alberta health services as well so uh ultimately it's the it's the official

00:28:30.740 administrator and now the board and the uh and the ceo who will make those decisions and it was

00:28:36.740 the it was the case in in this instance too the decisions of ahs were made by ahs thank you nicole

00:28:42.420 did you have a follow-up uh sorry yes and i do have a follow-up on that same topic in in that

00:28:48.900 resignation letter dr mann states that dr cowell said that after speaking directly with you on a

00:28:53.700 phone call on june 1st he said at a group meeting that the premier is firm there can be no hiring of

00:28:58.660 of dr hinshaw can you confirm that you had that phone call on june 1st with dr cowell and you

00:29:03.700 outlined that dr hinshaw could not be hired look as i said i talked with dr cowell all the time

00:29:08.580 about uh about staffing decisions and he always made it clear that the decisions by hs were made

00:29:14.260 by hs so for him in con in conjunction with the ceo thank you shay operator could you put through

00:29:19.860 our next caller please sean polzer western stanford

00:29:25.620 Oh, hello. Thanks for taking the call. I'm really happy about the Ring Road. I live in

00:29:33.540 Bonass, so it's going to make my trip out to Brad Creek. But the question I had was,

00:29:39.620 this is your first media availability since COP28 conference. Can you comment on COP28

00:29:48.740 and maybe how effective the Alberta and maybe even Saskatchewan presence was there given the

00:29:56.900 policy pronouncements that came from the federal government out of that meeting?

00:30:01.780 Well, I can tell you that the federal government would have gone much further.

00:30:04.820 They wanted to announce a complete phase-out of fossil fuels within a very short time frame.

00:30:10.180 There were a number of countries that were there asking for that. I'm very disappointed that we

00:30:13.940 have a federal government that is actively working against the interests of the oil producing

00:30:17.940 provinces and actively making policy pronouncements in an area that they have no constitutional

00:30:22.820 authority so i think what you saw with cop is the strong presence of myself and scott mo from from

00:30:29.060 saskatchewan as well as many of the other oil producing nations we were able to get something

00:30:34.580 far more reasonable which is a recognition that carbon capture utilization and storage is going to

00:30:39.300 play a key part in reducing emissions the uh the assertion that we need transition fuels like

00:30:44.820 natural gas which is what we have always said and that we'll ultimately be moving towards a balanced

00:30:50.180 energy usage and we've all we agree with a balanced approach we're exploring small modular nuclear

00:30:55.620 we're building out our hydrogen network we have a number of carbon capture projects already

00:31:01.060 underway for petrochemicals for hydrogen for for cement so so we share an aspiration of being

00:31:07.620 carbon neutral by 2050 but we know that fossil fuels are going to continue to be a part of the

00:31:12.740 energy mix for a long time to come and alberta is going to be right there offering the best 0.87

00:31:17.060 barrels in the world and we stand firm on that and as a follow-up uh what would be the next steps

00:31:24.420 in terms of the negotiations with uh the federal government in terms of the round tables and that

00:31:30.500 you had previously suggested i think back in the summer that uh perhaps uh alberta would walk away

00:31:36.580 or uh or shut them down is that on the table well it's pretty clear we can have no relationship with

00:31:43.300 environment minister steven gibault he's uh he went to cop with an agenda in mind he didn't loop us

00:31:49.380 in on it he had a number of pronouncements that he made not in his area of jurisdiction he forced us

00:31:55.140 if we wanted to to even hear what he was going to announce to sign non-disclosure agreements i'm

00:31:59.940 telling you that is that is not the spirit of collaborative federalism that the federal

00:32:04.020 government has been admonished to do in two court decisions now one at the supreme court level and

00:32:08.340 one at the federal court level so we are finalizing a letter on what our future engagement will be

00:32:14.500 with the federal government i think we can engage on a couple of things i think we're having some

00:32:18.260 constructive discussions around the issue of hydrogen we're having constructive discussions

00:32:23.060 around the issue of small modular nuclear we've had a great discussions on carbon capture utilization

00:32:28.100 and storage but i'm not going to pretend that stephen gabaud has any authority to dictate to

00:32:32.820 Alberta the pace of production of our oil and natural gas resources and and we have to be super

00:32:37.540 clear about that and if that means shutting down a couple of the tables I'm prepared to do that.

00:32:41.300 Thank you Sean, thank you Premier. We do only have time for one more question we'll go to our

00:32:45.140 mic here in person uh feel free to go ahead uh the questions for Mayor Gondek please.

00:32:50.900 And just state your name and outlet for the record as well please.

00:32:53.300 Kian Bexie with the counter signal uh over 13 000 people have now signed a petition calling for your

00:32:58.740 resignation after they say that you humiliated and disrespected the jewish community in calgary

00:33:03.300 i'm wondering if you've given any serious consideration to that resignation and if not

00:33:07.620 if you could give those 13 000 people almost as many people who are going to be using this road in

00:33:11.380 a day uh why you're not resigning i made a very clear statement about why i chose to not attend

00:33:19.780 an event that statement is public it has been public for quite some time and there are measures

00:33:25.700 in place in this province by which elected officials are monitored how we are evaluated

00:33:33.060 for our performance and nothing i've done is outside of that that's my statement i'll just

00:33:39.860 give a follow-up and ask about the ring road since nobody else really did that

00:33:43.780 you finished it uh 10 minutes ahead of schedule minister dreeshan um that's obviously a great

00:33:49.060 accomplishment but what's on the agenda next like what's actually going to happen uh in this

00:33:53.140 province in terms of building it up thanks yeah great uh great question um 1.2 million was this

00:33:58.500 last final leg of this ring road but when you look at big nation building projects and what's next

00:34:03.620 for for alberta uh we're actually currently working on highway 686 which would be a brand

00:34:09.060 new 200 plus kilometer from fort mcmurray going west essentially going to pierless trout lake and

00:34:14.900 over to grand prairie so that's a huge undertaking that we've been working with the three first

00:34:19.780 nations along that route actually kind of flipping the script as it were giving them the upfront

00:34:26.500 consultation ability to say where that route should be and so that's that's kind of the first

00:34:32.020 step we're still in that step right now but we'd love to be able to see that as a opening up our

00:34:37.780 north and resources safety egress for for people in the event of wildfires so that i say would be

00:34:44.020 probably that the next big project coming for the province thanks for taking the question thank you

00:34:48.580 kian that's all the time we have for questions today so thank you everybody for joining us and

00:34:52.180 as minister trishan said we have uh some facilities going on here that you can all partake in thank you

00:34:57.300 Thank you very much.

00:34:58.300 Thank you.

Western Standard - December 19, 2023

Update on the Calgary Ring Road

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript