Lethbridge County Council hears update on Canada’s Premier Food Corridor outcome reports

Posted on October 15, 2026 by Sunny South News

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

Lethbridge County Council heard a brief update on Canada’s Premier Food Corridor (CPFC) 2023-2026 outcome reports, as presented at the Sept. 17, Regular council meeting by Trevor Lewington, director of growth and engagement.   

Lethbridge County councillors ultimately received Canada’s Premier Food Corridor 2023-2026 Investment Attraction Reporting Dashboard and Business Retention and Expansion Impact Dashboard (reports) as information.

The CPFC was created to present Southern Alberta’s connected agri-food corridor as a regional opportunity and to support existing businesses and new investment. 

Lethbridge County contributed $5,000 annually for three years, for a total of $15,000 to Canada’s Premier Food Corridor (CPFC), alongside other corridor partners.

“There were two pillars to the program – one was around BRE – our business retention and expansion and as you can see in the stats, there were 58 businesses across the region that were supported and they offered a number of different sessions, training events and had approximately 1,000 people in the region go through those training opportunities,” said Lewington. “So that was a fairly good news story. There were  11 successes that came out of the program,” he added, noting on the investment attraction side, a number of County Council members and administration participated in events, including conferences and trade shows.

From 2023 to 2026, CPFC supported 58 businesses, organizations and institutional programs through 165 one-on-one or exclusive support sessions. The (BRE) portfolio also connected businesses to programming, workforce solutions, strategic partnerships and regional promotion, strengthening Southern Alberta’s agri-food ecosystem. 

The Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) Impact Dashboard demonstrated direct business support, programming and workforce, regional capacity and proven outcomes. BRE portfolio highlights included 13 initiatives under Workplace Development, 10 initiatives under Strategic Partnerships, 17 initiatives or assets under Regional Promotion and 11 documented stories under Success Stories.    

The Investment Attraction Reporting Dashboard highlighted several statistics including 18 prospective investment files, 16 market development (files) – which included events and activities attended, and 13 organizations engaged.  

“There were approximately 18 files that were generated across those three years for prospective investments,” said Lewington. “None of which have resulted in a tangible project that we can point to in the region today, but that’s not abnormal – these programs tend to be fairly long-term. They tend to take many years to deliver tangible value.”

Lewington noted the report was presented for Council’s information as the County did support the CPFC program. 

“The tangible results that were generated, if nothing else, I think we can point to the branding work that they’ve done. Whether it’s visits to the website or just the concept that we now have provincial and federal politicians using the phrase – ‘Canada’s Premiere Food Corridor’ when they reference this region,” explained Lewington. “I think it’s quite important, in that it put the whole region on the map, which we benefit from.”