Although business trends continue to lag in Medicine Hat, this year's growth sectors showed promising signs of expansion.--NEWS PHOTO ZOE MASON
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
As Medicine Hat continues to contend with a lagging business sector, new initiatives in 2025 sought to identify growth areas and invest in the things that make the city special.
Annual data for the year 2025 is not yet available, but heading into this year trends remained negative for several key business indicators in the city. As of 2024, Medicine Hat had 2,245 businesses, 20 fewer than the previous year.
The most recent available monthly data showed employment dropping by 3.2 per cent year-over-year in November compared to the same month in 2024. Unemployment was also higher, a trend that continued right across the province with few exceptions.
In 2025, leaders across the southeast Alberta region created a new strategy to try to address some of these troubling trends.
The Southeast Alberta Economic Opportunity Strategy was created in partnership with the municipalities of Cypress County, County of 40 Mile, the Town of Redcliff, the Town of Bow Island and the Village of Foremost. The final product was a report that identified two focus areas and three sectors that engagement across all six municipalities determined would suit the needs of the whole region.
The three sectors the report suggested emphasizing were defence and aerospace, agriculture and agri-food, and regional tourism.
“We look at what the key strengths are in our region, and then we focus on those strengths, those key assets that can help us to be able to build on and attract what we’ve already got,” said City of Medicine Hat director of economic development Selena McLean-Moore.
According to surveys conducted by the city, aerospace and defence was particularly promising, with respondents indicating that 80 per cent of local aerospace and defence companies are likely or certain to expand in the next three to five years.
Executive director of the Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce Lisa Dressler says defence and aerospace isn’t necessarily top of mind when people think about this region’s business potential.
“But when you look at all the assets we have, it really plays to our favour,” she said.
Located at the pivot point between Calgary, CFB Suffield and Foremost UAS Test Range, Dressler says Medicine Hat is uniquely well positioned geographically to expand the aerospace and defence industry.
Medicine Hat Regional Airport benefited from a collaboration with local aviation company Super T and Prairie Rose Public Schools this year, with the flight academy boosting activity numbers by almost 50 per cent.
Dressler says continuing to increase airport capacity and flight connectivity is one goal for the new year.
McLean-Moore says the city is poised to take advantage of trends on the federal level to increase defence capacity.
“Prime Minister Carney announced in June of this year that he’s going to be spending the 5 per cent NATO target,” she said. “This is an opportunity that Medicine hat, and the area of southeast Alberta, is hoping to capitalize on. We will be assisting our companies in being ready to be able to capitalize on that investment.”
The UAS Test Range in Foremost is one of the country’s largest testing sites for drones. With an area of 2,400 kilometres, it is one of only two that allow beyond visual line-of-sight testing.
The range made headlines in December after CBC broke the news that it was facing financial hardships that could force it to close. With aerospace and defence a major focus point of the region’s new economic strategy, Dressler and McLean-Moore agree it’s important it stays open, and they are optimistic about early discussions.
“When we look at the assets, it’s just raising the profile of need and ensuring we have the advocacy and we are pulling together as a region,” said Dressler. “I think it’s just ensuring that the different levels of government come together to ensure continuity, stability and long-term planning for that.”
McLean-Moore says there is more to come on that front, but that the test range is in conversation with provincial and federal departments to try to find a way to stay afloat.
Regional tourism, one of the other areas highlighted in the region-wide strategy, has already begun to see expansion in 2025.
Jace Anderson, executive director of Tourism Medicine Hat, says mid-year indicators showed a promising increase in key tourism numbers.
Digital experience guides saw online engagement increase by about 10,000 readers by June, a year-over-year increase of more than 10 per cent. Tourism Medicine Hat offered more tours than ever before, and ticket sales were up by almost 50 per cent. Sunshine Trolley traffic is also up.
“The ticketed experiences we’re selling, every one of them is intentionally focused to feature something to see and do along with something to eat or drink,” said Anderson. “It gives people a really fully look at who we are as a community and how we present ourselves.”
One indicator of tourism’s success in the region is the addition of the new trolley to the Sunshine Trolley fleet. The new trolley had its maiden voyage on a December Holly Jolly Twinkle Trolley tour, allowing tourism to expand the offerings on that sold-out experience.
Like the overarching regional strategy, Anderson says Tourism Medicine Hat’s internal strategy is to find ways to capitalize on the unique gifts of this region.
“I think one of those growth areas is food and drink,” he said.
Anderson says recent Travel Alberta research highlighted culinary in the southeast Alberta corridor between Medicine Hat and Lethbridge as a significant growth opportunity.
Anderson says the Savour Alberta South campaign was built to tap into that resource.
November’s associated Farm to Fork campaign, which ran for three weeks, saw substantial uptake, with 70 independent restaurants across the region participating by featuring one or more locally-sourced menu items.
“It speaks to that culinary taste of place that we benefit from as locals. It’s how we eat and drink,” said Anderson.
“It becomes a matter of us selling it while they’re in the market, but it also makes a really compelling reason for travellers to linger, whether their end destination is southeast Alberta or they’re just passing through, it can be a reason why people will spend a little bit of time here before they drive on.”
The campaign also has the bonus of contributing business to the area’s third key growth sector, agriculture and agri-food.
Over the course of the year, Anderson says Tourism Medicine Hat has been finishing production of a database of local producers, so when restaurants want to collaborate, they can support both sides by making introductions. That tool is scheduled for release in 2026.
The regional strategy also contains two focus areas to improve the business environment for the three sectors highlighted and the rest of the region’s businesses. One key aspect is workforce attraction.
In the new year, McLean-Moore says the city will launch a matchmaking campaign, where recent graduates are paired up with high-quality jobs in Medicine Hat.
She says her department has also prepared recommendations for council about finding ways forward with the Rural Renewal Program, a municipal immigration program that helps businesses employ newcomers and fast-track their permanent residency.
The program had been put on hold in response to changes in provincial and federal policy, but McLean-Moore says they are hoping to bring it back.
With U.S. tariffs wreaking havoc on Canadian businesses of all kinds in 2025, Dressler says the impact in this region is still developing. But she says local business has demonstrated a willingness to shift priorities.
“One thing that’s always impressed me about our business community is their ability to be resilient, to switch strategies and change strategies.”
And with the changes for the resource sector outlined in the federal-provincial memorandum-of-understanding, Dressler is optimistic this region will benefit.
“If we can stimulate that resource revenue and ensure that we’re getting more product to market, there are some benefits that definitely come with that,” she said.
