Mayor Blaine Hyggen

By Connor Gunn

Mayor Hyggen looks back on 2021, optimistic about next year

Dec 27, 2021 | 7:00 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Although he hasn’t been Mayor for long, Blaine Hyggen is recapping the past year as a City Councillor and a resident.

With the many negatives that came with COVID-19, Hyggen says there were also many positives.

“The economy is growing again. And so for economic development, we see a lot of things in the future that are coming forward. We’ve got some other proposals on the books that we look forward to welcoming business.”

Hyggen says during the 2021 Municipal Election, a big key point that the city was focused on was public safety which is something the city is planning for.

“I guess the biggest thing that has really stood out and I think it’s no surprise is community safety. And it’s something that as we sat down in our strategic plan and where we hope to have that completely wrapped up and ready for the public here in early January.”

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Another large topic of discussion was the local airport.

“Well, the number one thing absolutely is, is our airport. My gosh, when we can leverage three million to get 23 million back towards this initiative, it’s amazing. If you had the opportunity to have a look out there at our airport, we need to have that to continue. It’s such an economic driver. So we’re quite excited about that for sure.”

Hyggen hopes the airport can keep building for the future and knows the situation right now could be better.

“I know our flights right now aren’t where we want them to be, but they’re getting better and we’re adding a couple more flights here already this next week and moving forward. We just need to build on what we’ve got now.”

Read more: Lethbridge Airport upgrades complete as passenger traffic increases

The Lethbridge Airport reported a 228% increase in passenger traffic in the third quarter of the year when compared to the same period in 2020.

The upgrades focused on increasing passenger traffic, revenue diversification through land development, fire safety, and more – all to position the airport for pandemic recovery and future growth.

When asked what some challenges the city will be facing going into 2022, Hyggen cites the new Omicron COVID-19 Variant.

“Getting through this last variant of COVID the Omicron variant. And I think that it’s from everything that I have heard that it’s very contagious. But again, I’m not an expert, but it’s the results of you getting it aren’t as strong as some of the previous variants. And so of course, that’s if there’s anything to be positive about. I suppose that’s it that it’s not creating, you know, these long-term hospital stays and ICU stays. So just make sure that we’re vaccinated and prepared for anything we’ve got coming forward because it’s my understanding and from everything, we’ve heard that being vaccinated does help with even this latest variant.”

He hopes as a community we remain optimistic about 2022 saying we can get through these hard times “together.”

“You just can’t wait to get through this and we’ll do everything we can so that we’re where we come out on the other side, bigger and better and ready to work our way through this pandemic.”