Mayor of Lethbridge looks back on 2025

Every year seems to be a busy one, but Lethbridge, Alta., certainly experienced a lot in 2025. Carrying over from the year before was a concerning financial situation involving the former Lethbridge and District Exhibition that city council had to deal with. There was also a lingering doctor shortage and an economic uncertainty - all in an election year for the mayor and council. Things didn’t get any easier when, in August, a semi-truck hauling construction equipment collided with the underside of the Whoop-Up Drive bridge, damaging it extensively and causing months of traffic delays. However, the city has weathered the storm and appears to be transitioning into 2026 with a fairly clean slate and three new councillors. Returning Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen sat down with Global News to discuss how the year went and where the next will go. “Probably the top thing for this council (in 2025), I know for myself, was the Crime Severity Index (CSI) drop,” said Hyggen. While the numbers refer to 2024, they were released by Statistics Canada in July of this year and showed serious improvement for Lethbridge. The decrease was nearly 19 per cent - the largest drop the city had seen in about 25 years. “We were at the top of the list for some time and being at the top of the list for that is not the best thing to be at the top of the list for. So, it was great to be able to see that drop this year.” In addition to a drop in CSI, the deficit facing Lethbridge and District Exhibition was also lower than anticipated. Get breaking National news Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy . “It’s something we wanted to make sure was successful and I’ll never say that it’s making money, but I’ll say that it’s losing less,” said Hyggen. An independent report was presented to council in 2024 which outlined apparent significant mismanagement of the organization. In 2025, council opted to continue funding of the exhibition while making needed changes to ensure future stability. “Things are looking very positive and we hope they keep on that trajectory. It seems like that’s the way that it’s going.” The plan was simple: split the organization into two distinct groups. Thus, Excite Lethbridge and the reborn Lethbridge and District Agricultural Society were created to operate within the newly-renamed Lethbridge Trade and Convention Centre. “I think it was about a $1.7 million difference of what we had thought would be lost (wasn’t). There was that much less lost.” One of the most important issues this year was the shortage of doctors, too. While 2024 saw major announcements in this regard and 2026 will see some more come to fruition, this year was also crucial. “I know a lot of people say ‘that’s not your lane, that’s the province’s lane’, but let’s be honest, we want (doctors) to be able to enjoy their time in Lethbridge. We want to be able to recruit them to Lethbridge...

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