Lethbridge Minute: Issue 291

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

📅 This Week In Lethbridge: 📅

• Mayor Blaine Hyggen says the City is looking at any and all funding options for the projected $285-million upgrade of the Lethbridge Wastewater Treatment Plant, in a bid to avoid a major spike in utility rates. That includes meetings with both provincial and federal ministers about ways the project could be funded. Under the current plan, the City would borrow $261 million, with the remaining $24 million coming from reserves. Hyggen says the plant was maintained at a level the City thought was sustainable, but the city has grown much quicker than expected, and industry that uses a lot of that infrastructure has moved into town.
  
  
• The Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce is calling for a coordinated response to the latest US tariffs, which apply a 50% levy to approximately $28 billion in selected Canadian goods. Energy, potash, and certain other commodities are excluded from this round, but the Chamber warns that businesses that do not export directly to the US may still rely on American equipment and inputs, or supply Canadian companies whose products ultimately enter the US market. Chamber President and CEO Cyndi Crane says trade uncertainty works its way through supply chains and ultimately reaches local businesses making decisions about hiring, investment, expansion, and growth. The Chamber argues the dispute reinforces the need to accelerate the removal of interprovincial trade barriers, pointing to greater regulatory alignment between provinces, mutual recognition of goods and services, and improved labour mobility. Crane says that if it is becoming harder to trade north-south, it "makes absolutely no sense" to make it difficult to trade east-west.
  
  
• Whoop-Up Days set an attendance record for the third straight year, with figures released last Wednesday by Excite Lethbridge showing 56,375 guests at the five-day festival. The Lethbridge and District Pro Rodeo drew 11,041 fans, up nearly 22% from last year, and Saturday night's rodeo was a sellout for the first time since the event was added to Whoop-Up Days in 2022, with 5,080 people in attendance. Tourism officials estimate the festival generates between $8 million and $15 million in the local economy each year, with about 10% of attendees travelling from outside the city. Excite Lethbridge officials say the community support helps drive economic growth within the city, and planning is already underway for next year's festival, which runs from August 24th to August 28th.
  
  
• The City of Lethbridge has begun installing temporary traffic-calming curbs at 11 locations across the city, in a bid to reduce speeds and improve road safety. The large precast concrete units are placed along the edge of a roadway to create temporary curb extensions or narrow driving lanes, encouraging slower speeds, improving visibility between pedestrians and drivers, and shortening crossing distances. Nine of the locations were identified through the development of School Travel Plans, and most sit near elementary schools. The City says locations were selected following a review of road safety data, including vehicle speeds, pedestrian crossing activity, visibility, and collision history. The temporary installations are meant to let the City evaluate how each location performs before determining whether permanent changes are warranted. The City's traffic-calming program recently earned a national award from the Transportation Association of Canada for its work implementing Lethbridge's Transportation Safety Plan.
  
  
• The City is offering a Business Improvement Loan program, which provides interest-free loans of up to $20,000 to downtown businesses to improve the appearance or function of their premises. The program is provided in partnership between the City, Community Futures, and the Downtown Business Revitalization Zone, with approved loans paid out in monthly installments. The City profiled The Sill and Soil, a plant shop on 6 Street whose owner used the loan to renovate, reopening in mid-August with upgraded furniture, lighting, workshop tables, and a new floral fridge. Small businesses account for about 90% of those operating in downtown Lethbridge. For larger projects, the City also offers its Business Development, Expansion and Retention Incentive Program, a property-tax-based grant for businesses that invest at least $2 million in new construction or $750,000 in renovations, covering the incremental property tax increase at 100% in year one and tapering to 50% in year five.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

What do you think? Should the City make more of its temporary traffic-calming measures permanent?

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

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