Days after a spokesperson gave an update to reporters on the progress of work on the Valley LRT Line, Alberta Labour confirmed to CTV News that crews had been ordered to stop working on the tunnel by Occupational Health and Safety about a week and a half before.

“That stop work order was issued on Monday, December 4,” Alberta Labour spokesperson Trent Bancarz said.

The order was issued due to concerns over safety for workers underground.

“Our belief is that more needs to be done on that site to ensure the safety of workers, should something happen,” Bancarz said.

City Councillor Aaron Paquette said he has questions about why a public update on the project did not mention the order.

“The stop work order was a surprise, we had just gotten a news conference earlier about how great progress was going, and then we found out there’s a stop work order,” Paquette said. “So that does make me wonder, it’s very curious and it’s something we’ve asked for more information on.”

On Monday, the spokesperson representing TransEd apologized, and explained why the stop work order wasn’t revealed during the media update on December 13.

“First of all, we’d like to apologize for not mentioning it last Wednesday,” Spokesperson Dean Heuman said. “To be honest, at the time of the briefing we had submitted all the responses to the enquiries we had at that time and we thought we’d be back to work last week.”

The city department overseeing the project told CTV News officials knew about the work stoppage the day it was put in place, but the way it was handled is an internal matter for TransEd.

A statement was released to CTV News by Guy Boston, Branch Manager for LRT Delivery with the City of Edmonton. The statement said:

“The City of Edmonton prioritizes worker safety above all other concerns, and is actively monitoring the stop work order. We are working with our partners in both TransEd and Occupational Health & Safety to reach a successful resolution.”

“TransEd has been keeping the City abreast of the stop work order and its status through daily updates and communications with key personnel. It is our understanding that they have been timely and fully complaint with all request for information to date.”

“At present, we do not anticipate any delays to the Valley Line SE project due to the stop work order.”

With files from David Ewasuk