Bell: Danielle Smith UCP rip Nenshi big-time after explosive water pipe probe

Kapow! Slam! Bang!

That loud noise you’re hearing isn’t yet another Calgary water pipe going kaboom, it is Premier Danielle Smith’s UCP taking off the gloves and throwing down the gauntlet.

It’s the Smith government going flat out against Naheed Nenshi, Calgary’s mayor for more than a decade and now the Alberta NDP leader.

You knew Smith and Nenshi were on a collision course.

We had to wait until now to see how bad the crash would be.

You see, the conservative artillery is out. Smith’s UCP now have enough ammo to fire more than a few volleys Nenshi’s way.

After all, the results of a nine-month investigation has hit the streets and the panel of experts condemn Calgary city hall for its shameful dereliction of duty in safeguarding the city’s water system.

City hall’s pathetic performance has led to two water pipe explosions, the second one last week, and the pipe providing water to most Calgarians is called a ticking time bomb by Mayor Jeromy Farkas because it could burst at any moment.

Over the years, as this hugely important city water pipe continued to weaken and die, who was the mayor for much of that time?

Nenshi.

Everybody has been talking about how there needs to be a shake-up of the city hall higher-ups but almost no newshounds mention Nenshi.

Psst … Almost all newshounds love Nenshi. They really do.

So here we are.

Last week, Smith stomped Nenshi. The premier said much of the blame for the recent pipe collapse has to be owned by Nenshi.

Funny thing.

Nenshi defended himself after Smith’s gut punch last week but before the release of the damning report of the expert investigation.

But the former Calgary mayor and current NDP leader said he’d read an executive summary of the findings of the investigation and he was off the hook.

Nothing to see here.

Not so fast.

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Now we know city hall, including in the many long years of Nenshi, did a terrible job with the all-important city water system.

Enter Devin Dreeshen, one of the five members of Smith’s cabinet riding herd on the water pipe file from the provincial government’s end.

Dreeshen sees Nenshi as a mayor who prided himself on vanity pet projects rather than “unsexy stuff under the ground you don’t see every day but is critical.”

He says when you neglect the basics, like water pipes, it “will come back to haunt you one day and we are now seeing the Nenshi Nightmare happening again.”

For Dreeshen, the first Nenshi Nightmare was the totally bungled Green Line LRT.

“I think Calgarians will remember this,” he says of the water pipe debacle.

“I think Nenshi’s record will haunt him in Calgary and across the province.

”I don’t think people will need to have Nenshi-branded pots because of the boil water advisories to know they are where they are right now because of past decisions.”

Dreeshen adds …

“Being a smooth-talking politician doesn’t make you a good decision maker when it comes to running a city or a province.

“Even though he may seem like a political rock star to some because he sounds good to them, when people look at the decisions he’s made as mayor they will vote for who can run the government not who sounds the smoothest.”

It is true city hall bigshots wear a lot of blame but Dreeshen says people vote in politicians to have their back, to look out for their interests.

“The buck ultimately stops with the elected officials.”

Dreeshen says when he saw last week’s explosion of water pipe in Calgary he couldn’t believe it.

He adds, if there is any silver lining in this terrible story it is “Nenshi bringing together all levels of government to try to fix the problems he left behind as Calgary’s mayor.”

For Dreeshen, this water pipe goat rodeo in Calgary is “a Nenshi disaster” and because it was so preventable and that is why “so many people are frustrated.”

The Smith UCP cabinet minister says the level of incompetence and bad decisions on display raises more questions on exactly how this all could have happened.

Still, Nenshi has one consolation.

If a conservative had been Calgary’s mayor as the pipes rotted, many more voices would be calling that individual out on this day.

The day wasn’t done.

To rub salt in the wounds, mid-afternoon Thursday the entire group of UCP members of the legislature roll out a press release.

They take their pound of flesh from Nenshi.

“If Nenshi couldn’t manage the city’s water system how can anyone trust him to manage an entire province?”

The UCP have thrown down the gauntlet.

Will the Nenshi NDP fire it back?

rbell@postmedia.com