Chamber CEO optimistic about the city’s future
By Lethbridge Herald on February 10, 2023.
Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce CEO Cyndi Bester takes part in Friday's luncheon event with the provincial finance minister. Herald photo by Ian MartensAl Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
The Chamber of Commerce has been instrumental in the growth of the Lethbridge business community since 1889 and chief executive officer Cyndi Bester is optimistic about the economic future of this city.
The Chamber, which is 100 per cent funded by members, still has descendants of its original founders involved.
The Chamber calls itself the voice of business in Lethbridge, a catalyst for business growth, a champion for a strong community and a convener for leaders of influence.
It represents more than 800 businesses who have a total of about 12,000 employees in the city.
About 150 members volunteer their time to serve on the executive, board of directors and assorted committees.
Originally, the Chamber was known as the Lethbridge Board of Trade and Civic Committee, its primary purpose being to incorporate what was then a town when the committee was formed on Sept. 16, 1889.
On Nov. 13, 1891 it was renamed the Lethbridge Board of Trade and on Oct. 22, 1947, the body was officially named the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce.
“We helped found the city,” said Bester in a recent interview.
“The Chamber members and the Chamber board were a big piece in helping to get that going,” she said.
“We need to celebrate some of that,” said Bester, noting there is a business “on every corner of this city just about.”
With the city free of all pandemic restrictions, Bester is seeing energy and optimism growing in Lethbridge.
“Our job is interesting because we’re there to support business in various ways. We’ve got unique opportunities to learn every year because business changes, leadership changes, needs change,” the CEO said.
“When there’s a buzz and that phone is ringing, you know business is happening. And when that phone rings, you smile and you’re thankful that phone’s ringing. Otherwise you’re not in business.”
The Chamber has seen the downtown core grow into a city over the decades.
“I appreciate that growth,” she said, adding it’s important for every area of Lethbridge to feel part of the community and to let them have their own community identity.
“I think we’re proud of our identity,” said Bester.
Downtown here, like in other communities, has its ebbs and flows with businesses always cycling, she said.
“If you look at mainstream street business or business downtown in any city in North America, there’s a cycle but if you go up and down the streets of downtown, you see different businesses coming up or you see businesses that have been there forever,” added Bester, specifically pointing out 7 St. S. which has a mixture of older established businesses and others which are newer or which have moved there.
College Mall on the southside, where Bester’s dad Randy has had a businesses dating back to the days of Woolco and the first Walmart, is an example of the business community evolving. Now a strip mall, several businesses are still there, Bester pointed out.
“That shows the growth and sustainability of Lethbridge.”
Since restrictions lifted, the Chamber is seeing attendance at events greater than before the pandemic, Bester said.
“People are wanting to hear and see more,” said Bester, adding that people often wonder what they get out of a Chamber membership.
“It’s that networking and that connecting with your community on a business level and being able to connect with the government – whether it’s municipal, provincial or federal and some of those policy issues that we tap into,” said Bester.
Being an independent voice of business gives the Chamber the opportunity to stand up for its members, an example being a recent letter the Chamber through Bester recently sent to the City addressing concerns with the mandatory recycling and organics program for business.
She said business and government has to work together as a team.
“We support this program. It’s great for us to be up to what North America is doing in waste management, collection and control. But the method wasn’t quite right,” added Bester.
Discussions with the City started a conversation, said Bester, about matters that need to be addressed.
“Sometimes it takes three, four, five, six, seven times before you really get that message across.”
Bester said she’s looking forward to the future.
“I’m excited to see where we go in the spring. . . We are that agricultural hub of southern Alberta, we’ve got so much growth around us. I love watching earth get tilled up and the seeds planted and that growing season and watching it grow and get harvested.
“I think we need to experience that here because even if you look in organizations, there’s been leadership changes. We have a new president of the college, we have a new one coming in at the university, we’ll have a new chancellor coming in at the university. . . I think this is just that opportunity for us to really all get together.”
The community came together as Team Lethbridge last December when a contingent made a trip to Edmonton to connect with government leaders.
She says southern Alberta is a powerful region and Lethbridge needs the strength of outlying communities.
“For daily activities, business or employment, we need the strength of our outlying areas,” said Bester, noting the importance of the Highway 3 corridor for Lethbridge.
“I think that some of that is important to reflect on – the positive strengths of everything there,” she added.
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Where has the Chamber of Commerce been after the SCS opened and now as the downtown businesses are not only under attack by the City’s policies they are putting forward on several fronts, but still by the criminal vagrants they call the most vulnerable?
You are about as useless as the United Nations!