Expansion a key part of 2025 focus, says mayor

By Lethbridge Herald on December 30, 2025.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

With 2025 coming to an end, Mayor Blaine Hyggen recounts some highlights and lessons learned throughout the year, not only as a mayor but also as part of council. 

“It’s been a very busy year, and different than most years as we had an election in the middle of it,” said Hyggen. 

He said it has been great to work with the three new members of council, and even though they are still getting to know the ins and outs of their new roles, they have brought good ideas to the table, they get along with others and they are respectful of everyone else’s opinion. 

Another highlight of 2025 that Hyggen focused on was one that is allowing the city to expand, not only in the residential side, but is allowing the city to attract new businesses. 

“The expansion of our water and wastewater infrastructure. We received some provincial dollars for that and having that is of great importance because we were at max capacity for both water and wastewater,” said Hyggen. 

He said that being at capacity made it difficult to attract new business into the city, as they would not have been able to provide them with those services. 

“Residential was getting tight as well. We couldn’t bring industry or business unless we expanded and invested in our water and wastewater infrastructure,” said Hyggen.

When talking about a second highlight, Hygge said it should not come as a surprise, that he would choose to public safety, as that is something he has ran on every time when campaigning for council and both terms as Mayor.

“We’ve seen the crime severity index in Lethbridge dramatically drop, the third largest drop in all of Canada and I believe that to be a combination of factors,” said Hyggen. 

“Including the encampment response team and the outreach workers that are connecting some of these folks that are struggling on our streets with the services that they need.”

He said the expansion of the shelter also helped with that, as it allowed for more members of the community who are homeless to have a place to sleep. 

“We also saw the opening of the permanent supportive living facility and doctor recruitment,” said Hyggen. 

He said even though there is still a need for more doctors, as many continue to struggle to find a family physician, he believes they have made good progress. 

“The permanent supportive housing is also of great importance because that’s something that is helping those that may never be able to run their own finances or work out in the community,” said Hyggen. 

He said the facility was filled up as soon as it opened, and he is already advocating for a second one with Minister Jason Nixon.

When recounting some of the lessons learned in 2025, Hyggen recalled what happened with the Lethbridge and District Exhibition, the damage to Whoop Up Drive bridge and all the extra construction needed to make the bridge safe again. 

“With the Lethbridge and District Exhibition, that was something that council, although they did not have any say in it, was burdened with trying to find responses on what to do to move forward,” said Hyggen.

He said it was challenging, especially considering the cost overruns that happened there and because the city owns the land and in turn the building, it was brought to council to figure things out.

“We had a few different options on what we could do. We could close it down, we could continue moving forward, we could have somewhat of a hybrid of the two, or we could provide additional funding to the existing organization,” said Hyggen. 

He said they decided not to close it down because it is an incredible building, also because they could not sell the building to increase some revenues or to offset some of the expenses that they would incur throughout the years with that. 

“We couldn’t sell it because the province has rules on the funding that they’ve given to us, so we couldn’t sell the building. So, we’ve decided to put some dollars into that, and we really depleted any reserves that we had,” said Hyggen. 

He said that means there will be constrictions on what they can do across the city, as there is not enough dispensable money for the wants, only for the needs. 

“We had put money aside for the needs while we worked on this. And although it wasn’t a council decision, it was put into our lap, so we needed to make sure we made a decision on that,” said Hyggen. 

As for what is coming in 2026, Hyggen said he is looking forward to continuing to work with council members, getting to know the new members even more and continue to advocate for the city within the provincial government. 

“In 2026 we have budget coming up, and we need to come up with a strategic plan with our new council to figure what we’re going to do,” said Hyggen.