Downtown Lethbridge in March 2020. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Economic Recovery Task Force on how Lethbridge can rebound from COVID-19

Apr 8, 2020 | 10:41 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – While the COVID-19 pandemic has, and will likely continue to impact Lethbridge’s economy for some time, there is hope.

Trevor Lewington, CEO of Economic Development Lethbridge, presented to city council this week to provide updates on the new Economic Recovery Task Force (ERTF), of which he is a member.

The goal of the ERTF is to get the Lethbridge region back to work as quickly as possible, supporting both the businesses and residents that live in it.

Lewington referenced a report from Economic Developers of Alberta (EDA) that said around one-quarter of businesses are in jeopardy of closing permanently within 30 days without any immediate financial support. With no help after 60 days, that number could skyrocket to as many as 70 per cent.

“Businesses, first and foremost, are concerned with cash flow. Many of these businesses have seen sales of exactly zero dollars in the last few weeks and that’s something that is likely to persist, potentially, for a few months. Getting support to businesses, getting cash in their hands to pay their immediate bills, that’s really the first ask and the first priority.”

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Several recommendations were made to city council for actions the ERTF believes would help to get the city back in a strong economic position. Some of these include:

• Infrastructure investments:
  • Investing in high-speed internet capacity
  • Core infrastructure such as roads, utilities, and other infrastructure to support future growth
  • Twinning Highway 3
• Catalytic projects:
  • Lethbridge Airport – creating a logistics and distribution hub
  • Canada’s Premier Food Corridor – having shovel-ready industrial land, utility system capacities, and an agri-food incubator
  • Exhibition Park – creating private investment potential and an agri-food hub
• Other Chamber of Commerce policies:
  • Supportive housing
  • Engaging businesses in municipal infrastructure planning
  • Interest-free deferrals of property taxes
  • Elimination of parking fees for business areas
  • Cancellation of development service fees such as building, planning, and zoning
  • Cancellation of business-related permit fees
  • Delay any planned tax increases to 2021

Lethbridge City Council passed a motion this week to temporarily cancel late fees for utility payments between now and June 19. More details here.

Lewington says doing something similar for property taxes would be one of the quickest and most effective ways of mitigating the financial burden many businesses are facing right now.

He adds that direct financial supports will have to be given to businesses, but, due to the municipal government having limited resources, they might have to target it towards certain sectors.

“No government wants to pick winners and losers, right? That’s politically not expedient, but it’s also not a good practice in general…but we have to look at targeting in the sense of what businesses are underserved.”

“When we look at federal business supports, federal income supports, match that with provincial funding, is there a gap that the municipality can fill? That’s something that needs to be explored. Or are there industries that are perhaps more significantly-impacted? You know retail comes to mind.”

Since many businesses have been forced to close their storefronts for the time being and many people are working from home, he believes that investing in internet capabilities is critical. Even once the pandemic dies down, the internet will continue to be more important to business operations than ever before.

Many of the statistics in the EDA report are national, but Lewington says they can give an indication of how things might be in Lethbridge.

There are, however, a few differentiators that make Lethbridge unique. In Lewington’s presentation to council, for example, he mentions that 51 per cent of businesses in the city employ anywhere from one-to-four employees, which is a higher percentage than many other places.

Also, approximately 71 per cent of University of Lethbridge students in the 2019-2020 year relocated to the city to attend classes. Now that the U of L has shifted to an online model for the remainder of the term, this means that as many as 5,868 students (or 5.8 per cent of the city’s entire population) no longer resides here.

One positive aspect for the region is that agriculture is considered to be an essential service, and therefore, should not be impacted as heavily by the COVID-19 pandemic as some other industries. As LNN reported in September 2019, about 20 per cent of the population in the city is directly employed in agriculture, but when you consider the other aspects such as transportation, food processing, and food retail, that number jumps up to about 50 per cent.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) recently confirmed to us that farmers will still be able to bring in workers under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers program, despite the COVID-19 travel restrictions that are now in effect.

Should the various levels of government do their part to help businesses get through these unprecedented times, Lewington believes that there is still hope for local economies across Canada, including Lethbridge.