Alberta Premier Smith says she wants Calgary Green Line to proceed as first pitched [Video]

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she’s committed to Calgary’s multibillion-dollar Green Line light-rail transit project, but as it was originally envisioned.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Smith declined to say how much her government is now willing to fund.

But she said she is concerned the line is getting shorter while its budget has ballooned from the original price tag of $4.5 billion.

Smith called the Green Line “the incredible shrinking project,” and that it needs a complete “rethink” to be more cost-effective.

“It would cost $20 billion to build that entire line at the per kilometre rate we’re seeing now. That is the kind of project that could bankrupt a city,” said Smith in Lloydminster, Sask.

“I think we just have to do it a different way.”

The premier was making her first public comments on the Green Line since Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen announced last week the province …