莱斯布里奇的名字来源于19世纪煤炭运输公司的老板，煤矿是早期繁荣的基础。 随着石油和天然气的发掘，煤炭失去其主导地位。莱斯布里奇进一步发展成为阿尔伯塔省南部的交通和商业中心，农业是这个城市的另一个支柱。 到二十世纪后期，该城市一半的劳动力从事医疗，教育，零售和酒店业，五大雇主是政府部门。 卡尔加里以南的阿尔伯塔省唯一的大学是在莱斯布里奇（Lethbridge），阿尔伯塔南部的三所学院中有两所在该城市有校区。
Knowledge Economy
Despite these advantages, educational attainment in the city is not particularly high because students have traditionally left town after graduation to seek their fortunes elsewhere. City leadership has responded to this challenge by laying the foundations of a knowledge economy in this city of 95,000, and doing so in close collaboration with business, institutions and citizens. In 2015, it opened a Trade & Technologies Renewal Center, which brings together students, faculty and industry to equip workers with the trade skills needed to satisfy local and regional business. With global oil prices near historic lows, Lethbridge wants to ensure that workers have the skills needed to prosper in the next boom, whatever its source.
Another project, TecConnect, has invested C$5.5 million in construction of a tech commercialization center and in data center equipment, which helped persuade BlackBridge (now PlanetLabs), a satellite imaging company, to locate its new headquarters and data center next to the center. Four years after opening, TecConnect has graduated five companies with combined revenues of C$1.5 million, is incubating six more, and has created 70 jobs, of which 80% are filled by Lethbridge post-secondary graduates.
Getting Connected
A Connectivity Working Group convened by the city is engaged in analyzing existing broadband services and infrastructure and making recommendations for improvement. Focusing on wireless, it has collaborated in the design of cell towers to be added to a major retail center now under construction, and has implemented small-cell technology in new residential developments. The public-private Lethbridge Community Network provides public access to computers, education and IT for the unconnected population as well as training and IT solutions to local nonprofits.
Canada has a long tradition of commodity-driven economic growth, from agriculture to forestry to the oil sands that made Alberta rich in the new century. Lethbridge is betting on a different future, in which Canadian innovation creates a diversified economy that can weather the winds of global change.
In the News
Read the latest updates about Lethbridge.
Population: 89,074
Website: www.lethbridge.ca
Smart21 2016