Lethbridge, AB…Once again the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Lethbridge (EDL) are collaborating for a survey of the Lethbridge business community. The 4th iteration of the Lethbridge Brighter Together survey will poll business in Lethbridge and gather feedback as to what is working well in our city for the business community and where gaps may be occurring.  Both EDL and the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce use the results of the Brighter Together survey to develop strategies to help with success for both small, mid-size and major employers in Lethbridge. 

“We use the results of the Brighter Together survey to evaluate potential programs to better help businesses to succeed.  Over the past few years, for example, we’ve developed a Supply Chain Automation Pilot Program to help businesses investigate implementing new technologies, offered businesses options for energy aggregation to save on utility costs and created learning opportunities on topics including marketing, exporting, scale up & growth and much more,” says Trevor Lewington, CEO, Economic Development Lethbridge. “Benchmarking is a key point of the Brighter Together survey and asking similar questions each year allows us to track trends and provide statistical data to confirm the work our organizations need to do to best help out local businesses.” 

Some of the results of last year’s Brighter Together survey showed that:

·        74% of business owners felt positive about their overall business health,
·        The top 3 advantages to doing business in the Lethbridge area were quality of life, transportation infrastructure, and a collaborative environment.
·        The biggest barriers to business in the 2021 Brighter Together survey were utilities cost, tax environment and workforce availability. 

New this year to the Brighter Together survey are a few questions dedicated to businesses in downtown Lethbridge. Through a partnership with the Downtown Lethbridge Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ) the survey will ask businesses located downtown some questions about intentions to keep their operation in downtown Lethbridge and their level of satisfaction on certain criteria for operating in the downtown. 

“Having a safe and economically viable downtown is crucial for Lethbridge and this survey will help us determine the needs of businesses located in the heart of our city,” says, Sarah Amies, Community Director, Downtown Lethbridge BRZ. “We know downtown Lethbridge has a huge number of businesses, many are start-ups and family run businesses so it’s important for them to provide feedback as to where we can help the most.” 

Results of the Brighter Together survey will be made available in January and presented at the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce State of the City with Mayor Blaine Hyggen. 

“We always try and give attendees at State of the City an update to how our business community is feeling. What underlying issues have them optimistic and what are some of the major concerns,” commented, Cyndi Bester, CEO, Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce. “These findings allow us to update policies that may be more friendly to businesses in Lethbridge and allows us to reach out to other organizations and levels of government to action items that need attention now and into the foreseeable future.” 

Businesses who would like more information about the Brighter Together survey can contact Mike Prociw, Market Intelligence Advisor, Economic Development Lethbridge at mike@chooselethbridge.ca 

A link to the Brighter Together Survey is included here. 

Brighter Together Survey

For more information, contact:       
Mark Neskar
Director, Marketing & Communications
Economic Development Lethbridge
403-393-6376
mark@chooselethbridge.ca