Lethbridge Minute: Festival Funding, Food Tourism, and a Cardiac Catheterization Lab

Lethbridge Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Lethbridge politics

This Week In Lethbridge:

• On Tuesday, City Council will convene at 12:30 pm, starting with a one-hour closed session. At 1:30 pm, the meeting will open to the public. On the agenda are two submissions from the Civic Works Standing Policy Committee, one regarding the phase 2 survey results for off-leash dog park locations and the other concerning the implementation of the curbside organics program.
  
  
• The Economic Standing Policy Committee will meet on Wednesday at 1:30 pm. The Committee is scheduled to receive several presentations, including annual reports from Tourism Lethbridge and Economic Development Lethbridge. The Downtown Lethbridge Business Revitalization Zone will request a letter of support as well as $150,000 cash and $60,000 in in-kind donations over three years from the Major Community Event Grant budget to support hosting the PlayOn! Canada Street Hockey Festival for 2024-2026. The City Treasurer will inform the Committee that the City is adding a new payment option that allows property tax payments to be made online and Opportunity Lethbridge will provide a progress update on the drafting of a Community Revitalization Levy Plan.
  
  

• On Thursday, at 1:30 pm, there will be a meeting of the Cultural and Social Standing Policy Committee. The Committee will receive a presentation from the Vice President of the University of Lethbridge Students Union, as well as hear several funding requests. The requests for funding include $40,000 for the Blackfoot Resource Hub program, $50,000 annually over a four-year term to implement a Homeless Individuals and Families Information System, and $70,000 annually to fund a Senior Support Navigator.

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• The Province announced a $2 million investment into Chinook Regional Hospital to enhance its cardiac services. The funding will focus on six priority areas that include a cardiac catheterization lab, cardiac imaging, and clinical cardiology. The new catheterization lab, once up and running, is expected to help more than 1,500 patients stay within their community for care. Mayor Blaine Hyggen had previously expressed disappointment that the lab wasn’t included in Budget 2023.
  
  
• Tourism Lethbridge said they plan to position the city as a premier destination for locally grown and produced food and beverages. The organization has teamed up with the CulinaryTours Alliance, a national organization that promotes agri-food tourism. Tourism Lethbridge wants to capitalize on domestic visitors and the trend toward food experiences as an attraction. The strategy aligns with the new Agri-food Hub and Trade Centre on the Lethbridge Exhibition ground. That facility can host conferences of up to 7,000 people, and the hope is that conference visitors will stay and explore the area.
  
  
• CANstruction YQL donated 8,622 cans of food to three local food banks after wrapping up its anti-hunger event. Teams of volunteers purchased canned and boxed food items to donate, but before handing them over, they used them to design and build a themed artistic sculpture. The Lethbridge Food Bank and Interfaith Food Bank will each receive 4,000 cans, while Lethbridge College will receive the rest. The organizer emphasized that the initiative aimed not only to raise food for the food banks but also to create awareness of community needs.

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