Trevor Lewington, CEO of Economic Development Lethbridge. (Photo from Thursday press conference)

By LNN Staff

Coutts blockade costing Southern Alberta $3M/day: Economic Development Lethbridge

Feb 3, 2022 | 1:40 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – For Trevor Lewington, the ongoing convoy and blockade near the Coutts border “is not a political issue, this is an economic issue.”

The CEO of Economic Development Lethbridge spoke about the financial impacts the convoy near the Canada-U.S. border crossing along Highway 4 is having.

“The blockade of that international port of entry at Coutts, and the only 24-7 commercial land crossing in Alberta, is a direct threat to the economic well-being of growers, producers, manufacturers and many other businesses that rely on the movement of both raw materials in and finished goods out along the Can-Am-Ex Corridor.”

On Saturday, January 29, hundreds of commercial vehicles and others lined up along Highway 4, demanding an end to COVID-19 restrictions.

For the majority of the six-days-and-counting convoy, vehicle access has been either completely stopped to and from the border or substantially slowed down.

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Lewington says manufacturing plants in the region will be forced to reduce or cancel production as their supplies run out and they are unable to get their goods to international markets. This is something farmers and food producers are dealing with as well, as agricultural exports are one of the region’s largest economic drivers.

In 2020, he reports that the Lethbridge census metropolitan area exported nearly $1.8-billion worth of goods, about 80 per cent of which went to the U.S. The vast majority of these exports went through the Coutts/Sweetgrass border crossing.

“That means for the City of Lethbridge alone, roughly $3-million a day in economic impact based on the road and rail traffic that must move through that port of entry. The impact is, of course, four or five times larger than that if you consider the movement of other Alberta goods in and out through that same north-south corridor.”

Lewington adds that the transportation, warehousing, and logistics sector in Lethbridge Creates about $310-million in GDP every year, employing nearly 3,000 people.

“Those are people who depend on the free movement of their equipment, their goods, and their services in and through that corridor. Many of these businesses are incurring significant incremental costs as perishable loads are spoiled, drivers are rerouted many kilometres off course into B.C., which is the next major commercial port of entry, and border paperwork and customs details have to be written.”

It is his hope that the situation at the Coutts border can be resolved sooner rather than later so that there would not be a risk of this having a longer-term impact on the local economy.

Economic Development Lethbridge has reportedly heard from investors who are holding off on their trips to the region until the protesting situation died down.

“It’s a challenging time for all of us, and I would ask that we all come together to focus on what matters, and that’s jobs, that’s getting people back to work, and that’s keeping the flow of goods moving.”