Economic development in the City of Lloydminster and the future of the municipal airport were key topics in a recent presentation to the Rotary Club of Lloydminster.
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Katlin Ducherer, the City of Lloydminster’s economic development officer, presented to Rotarians on all things economic in the Border City on Dec. 15.
The city’s bi-provincial status was something Ducherer touched on early in her presentation, as the city continues its efforts to be recognized on either side of the border.
Economic snapshot of growth and prosperity
Ducherer says Lloydminster has worked to be recognized in both provinces.
“I do feel we have made strides in that understanding and that’s an ongoing piece for us, to ensure that Lloydminster is recognized,” she said. “We’re being recognized by both provinces more as a city, as we should be.”
The work done in Lloydminster is guided by council’s strategic priorities.
“Our work is guided by five strategic priorities outlined by council in a recently completed Lloydminster strategic plan. Organizational excellence, governance excellence, economic strength, community safety and well-being, quality of life and amenities,” said Ducherer.
A new committee was recently formed in an effort to support local economic growth.
“Recently, we have formed the economic development advisory committee,” she said. “This committee will support the economic growth, development and sustainability within Lloydminster.”
Ducherer said economic development has also been guided by a five-year-old economic development strategy, with an update planned for the first quarter of 2026.
The city’s been active in engaging directly with businesses over the last year.
“Over the past year, we’ve conducted 150 direct business visits,” she said, noting conversations during visits highlighted various key topics, including the challenges of being a bi-provincial city.
“That’s something that’s, for as long as I’ve been around, its been an ongoing challenge,” she said, adding workforce needs will be a focus next year.
“We’ve heard workforce needs loud and clear. That’s something we’re going to focus on in 2026,” said Ducherer.
She said investment attraction is something the city has been involved in as they look to expand the community and went into detail regarding industrial developments they’ve looked at.
“Over the last year, we’ve looked at and pursued a number of large industrial developments, including a nonferrous metal facility, renewable energy facility, a data centre, direct air capture, a large-scale steel stamping and a number of other commercial developments,” said Ducherer.
She explained these are examples of the city going after industrial development and said the city has been preparing for facilities such as data centres to come to Lloyd.
“We’ve done a significant amount of planning over the last five years to ensure these different and diverse technologies are able to land here in Lloydminster,” she said.
A topic that’s been front of mind for many Lloydminster residents is the airport and the impact of WestJet pulling its commercial service from the city in early 2024.
“When it was announced that we were losing that service, we did get to work immediately in looking at ensuring we could either regain that service or look at a replacement,” said Ducherer, noting the city updated and approved the airport master plan.
The previous master plan was done in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, which changed a lot of things related to air travel.
A feasibility study was done and looked into commercial air traffic in Lloydminster.
“So, we looked at making Lloydminster a strategic location for commercial air service,” she said. “Ultimately, it was very feasible and there was about five targets that we could potentially successfully go after to fill that gap within the community.”
Conversations and meetings related to commercial air service revealed there needed to be minimum guarantees.
“What was basically told to us was that a minimum revenue guarantee is expected from a commercial air service. We were hearing numbers as high as $2.8 million for those minimum revenue guarantees,” she said. “So, if they didn’t make the revenue they wanted, the city, or the airport, would be on the hook for that.”
Ducherer says there was word from the province that airports were being looked at regionally.
“The timelines have just really been quite slow,” she noted. “We are hoping for an announcement in 2026 from that regional perspective.
“We’re really confident in our airport and what we have to offer. (We’re) waiting on that announcement.”
The city was already working on a feasibility study at the airport when the province came forward with funding.
“We started in our feasibility and then the Alberta government came forward with some funding that was available for communities in Alberta to look at the feasibility (of their airports),” said Ducherer. “We were approved for that funding, which was great. Were going to do the work anyways, but they looked at it from a regional perspective.
“So, I believe there was seven communities that were included in that grant and they each did feasibility studies on their own and then the provincial government brought those together and looked at that.”
The airport, besides the lack of commercial air service, has still seen plenty of traffic, marking a successful year for charters.
“There are a number of charters that come into the airport as it sits now,” said Ducherer. “We did have a very busy season from an outfitter perspective, those who are coming in for the hunting season.”
Business numbers have also seen a steady increase since the pandemic.
“We’ve seen an average growth rate in business numbers, I think it’s 2.8 when you average it out,” She said, noting there’s been strong post-COVID recovery. “I expect to see the registered businesses over 2,000 in 2026 which is the highest I’ve ever seen.”
She says while they were already hoping for an announcement regarding the air service, the hope now is to see a Q1 announcement in 2026.
Another plus for the Border City is the bounce back of the local hotels.
“Our hotel occupancy, tourism and hospitality hotel occupancy, has rebounded strongly, reaching 70 per cent in parts of 2025,” she said.
Ducherer says the trade area has also seen growth.
“The primary trade area is growing a little bit faster than our secondary trade area,” she said. “It is growing, but it all really just depends on the growth in each of those individual communities.”
She explained the city is also working on a Choose Lloydminster campaign to help with attraction to Lloyd.
“We are working on a Choose Lloydminster campaign, which is used by us internally right now, but we’re working on product that can be used externally by business groups who are trying to attract people for these positions.”
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