Download CCA Advocacy Update Q1 2022
An update on our advocacy efforts – Q1 2022
Raising Your Voice – Calgary Construction Association
To start this year right, our advocacy efforts were focused on familiarizing ourselves with the policy environment in Calgary, while creating key connections with stakeholders in the City of Calgary. To that end, we’ve developed important relationships with many City Councillors, senior officials in the Mayor’s Office, the Green Line LRT Board, and other key figures in City Administration. Here is an update on the positions we’ve taken, our media coverage, and what we’re looking at in Q2 2022.
- Our Position on the Issues:
Green Line LRT Project – The Calgary Construction Association and its members have been engaging directly in dialogue regarding the Green Line Project with the City of Calgary and Alberta Transportation on behalf of industry and Calgarians for over two years. We categorically support this project as a major element in Calgary’s continued growth and a stimulus for local industry firms.
We have expressed concerns related to procurement Issues around the project. In particular, the Province has unilaterally insisted on a single large bundled mega-project which we believe substantially increases the cost risk to the project and ensures only foreign consortiums can oversee the project.
The alarming reality is that the recent decision to reverse the course of smaller packages has effectively not only deferred obtaining cost certainty on the less complex leg of the line but has also prevented getting local companies to work on this shovel-ready piece of the project now. Projects like the Green Line LRT are for Calgarians – and should be built and managed by Calgarians.
Why does it matter to us? The Green Line LRT project is the largest infrastructure project in Calgary’s history. Thousands of Calgarians will work on it, and the project has important implications for the connectivity and livability of our City.
Climate Emergency and Sustainable City-Building – Now that the City Council has declared a climate emergency, the Calgary Construction Association is prepared to work with the city to build Calgary sustainably. We implore City Council to consider the expertise and voice of our local construction industry on this issue.
Why does this matter to us? We believe that a greater emphasis on climate initiatives will see new demands on local industry to construct new rail lines, stations and more. New transportation projects are catalysts for construction jobs and growth, and we wish to see that these projects are contracted out to local companies – see them built by Calgarians, for Calgarians.
Should the City of Calgary develop new building material standards for new projects and existing buildings (retrofits), we hope to see our membership engaged. Our members provide both knowledge and expertise in this area that we believe to be valuable for consideration.
Buildout of the Culture and Entertainment District – we fully support the build-out of the culture and entertainment district anchored by the BMO Centre Expansio