CALGARY—Building the Springbank dam has been a top priority for flood-ravaged communities in Calgary for years.

The City of Calgary has publicly identified it as one of the most pressing municipal issues for this year’s provincial election.

But United Conservative Party officials, including leader Jason Kenney, are noncommittal about the massive flood-mitigation project meant to protect downtown Calgary from the kind of devastation it saw in 2013.

On Wednesday, Kenney would only say that a UCP government’s focus would be “moving fast” on flood mitigation projects. He said the UCP is “absolutely committed” to infrastructure to prevent a flood like the one in 2013, but when asked directly whether he supports the Springbank dam, Kenney answered, “What we’re in favour of is the fastest path to flood mitigation.”

The Springbank dam would divert water from the Elbow River to an off-stream reservoir 15 kilometres west of Calgary near Springbank Rd. But the government needs about 3,000 acres of land to build the $432-million project, a proposal that private landowners in the area haven’t greeted warmly.

UCP deputy leader Leela Aheer, the MLA for Chestermere-Rocky View, also said in an interview that she doesn’t think there’s enough information to support the Springbank dam as definitively the best option for flood mitigation.

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“There are reports, but there’s no scientific studies specifically that have come out yet,” she said.

Aheer acknowledged that Calgarians went through trauma during the flood, and they have a right to push for a decision to go forward as quickly as possible.

“The Springbank dam right now still doesn’t protect all the people. We want to look at one or even several pieces of infrastructure that are going to protect as many people as possible,” she said.

“I completely agree with (Kenney). Until you have answers on those kinds of things, it would be incredibly short-sighted and irresponsible to make a decision for all of those people on a piece of infrastructure that may not actually protect them in the end.”

Aheer’s comments directly contradict Mayor Naheed Nenshi’s statements last year after the Rocky View County council called on the government to stop work on the Springbank dam. At the time, the mayor said it was “deeply offensive” to say other flood mitigation options hadn’t been considered.

“We’ve been working on this for five years. There has been extensive community and public consultation,” he said in December. “There have been multiple scientific studies by outside experts that show that the Springbank dry dam is the right choice.”

Earlier this week, the city announced a list of what it sees as the most important municipal issues heading into this year’s provincial election. Whether the parties support the “immediate construction” of the Springbank dam is on the list of questions.

Nenshi said Monday that construction of the dam is a commitment they want the parties to “check off,” but they also want more details on what the parties would do for further upstream flood mitigation work on the Bow River.

The province announced in January that it had made a deal with one of the families that owns a ranch on the land and had originally led opposition to the Springbank dam project. But it still needs to work through buying or possibly expropriating the majority of the land needed for the project.

Kenney accused the NDP government of failing to build flood mitigation infrastructure quickly enough over their time in power. The Springbank dam, in particular, has been stalled because of concerns raised by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. Construction can’t go ahead until that process is finished and the federal government finds that the legal duty to consult Indigenous peoples has been met.

The UCP leader continued that the government has “made a shambles” of building flood mitigation projects by moving too slowly and not adequately consulting Indigenous communities, including Tsuut’ina Nation. Chief Lee Crowchild said at the end of January that Tsuut’ina still has not consented to the project.

Federal government representatives were also in Calgary on Wednesday to announce that they would contribute $168.5 million to the Springbank dam through the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund.

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Kenney added that the UCP would have more to say on flood mitigation “in the days or weeks to come.”

City councillor Jeromy Farkas, who represents areas of Calgary hit hard by the 2013 flood such as Mission and Elbow Park, said he needed more time to review the UCP’s position before responding to Kenney’s comments.

With files from Andrew Jeffrey

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