Lethbridge Minute: Increased Flights, Physician Crisis, and Transit Discussions Continue

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

This Week In Lethbridge:

• Council is back this week with a City Council Meeting scheduled for today. The meeting is set to start with a closed session at 12:30 pm, followed by the usual public session from 1:30 pm onwards.
  
  
• During the open session of the meeting, Council will be discussing the ongoing issues with the City’s Transit System, consider more options for off-leash dog parks, and look to bring back the "Go Friendly" bus service for both Norbridge Senior Citizens and Lethbridge Senior Citizens Centre.
  
  
• The 2021 AUMA Convention is set to take place November 17th - 19th, in person, at the Edmonton Convention Centre. The AUMA is the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association - think of it as a kind of union for city governments. Their convention is set to hold discussions on a variety of topics including strategic planning, "working the bureaucracy", cyber security, and drug decriminalization. Premier Jason Kenney, Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver, and NDP leader Rachel Notley are all set to attend and give speeches.

Last Week In Lethbridge:

• The lack of family physicians in the City has become an urgent crisis and both of Lethbridge’s MLAs agree the matter needs to be dealt with immediately. Shannon Phillips, the NDP MLA for Lethbridge-West, held a press conference on Tuesday railing against what she says is the provincial government's lack of action when it comes to recruiting physicians to the Lethbridge area. Nathan Neudorf, the MLA for Lethbridge-East, says the shortage of family doctors is a top issue for himself and his office.
  
  
• WestJet/Pacific Coast announced plans to increase its flight offerings between Lethbridge and Calgary - just in time for the holidays. More frequent flights between the two cities began in early November and are expected to increase further in the coming weeks. This is welcome news not just for travellers, but also to those in the tourism and hospitality industries in the area.
  
  
• For the first time in over 20 months, the land border into the United States fully reopened, meaning long line-ups and increased wait-times at border crossings across the country. Locally, the Coutts border crossing into Sweet Grass Montana was no different, with wait times averaging about 110 minutes or more. At least that's better than not being able to go at all though!

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