And Quebec. I'm all for a provincial government running transit and transit projects - there's plenty of reasons why a provincial role could benefit the big cities, procurement and delivery if they are done right. Many places do this.
The only difference with Alberta is you have an anti-urban populist government with a strong rural perspective, zero transit project experience and minimal demonstration of effective cost control or procurement procedures of their own.
A rational place has transit as a a-political tool to support economic growth and mobility that transcends political dogma or is at least supported cross-spectrum to varying degrees. Haven't seen many examples of that recently on transit or any other file.
With this Provincial bunch I wouldn't be surprised if the real reason for delays is if they either:
- want a slow death of the project (so they never said no but it just drags and wait for popular support to wane and lose interest)
- want to change Council and replace with puppets so Council can say no in 2021 (supporter by the Province's open-season election funding changes and plebiscite attempts)
- want to change the scope/procurement so they can find ways to push construction contracts to their donor's / lobbyist companies
Obviously - if my jaded perspective on a provincial slow play comes true - that's not how you build an effective transit system. Nothing says "moving at the speed of business" like bogging down your biggest city's, biggest infrastructure project with more uncertainty.