Tisdale had the highest dollar value in the Northeast this year when it came to building permits.
A memo revealed at the Nov. 14 council meeting said that as of the end of October, Tisdale has issued $19.77 million in building permits, compared to almost $13 million in Melfort and just over $5 million in Nipawin.
“It’s exciting for the community as a whole,” said Coun. Carson Penner, chair of the town’s economic development committee. “It’s exciting to see any kind of development, whether it comes all in one year or slowly throughout the years. I think it’s nice to see we’re growing.”
Of the $19.77 million in permits, $16.62 million came from seven commercial permits, which include the Buy-Low grocery store, Beeland Co-op Food Store, Tim Horton’s and Sobey’s liquor store. Last year saw total permits at $3.72 million.
“Hopefully a year of good permits will have a ripple effect and will [result] in growth for years to come,” Penner said.
The councillor said he believes the businesses have located here because they looked at the town’s centralized location in the Northeast and saw needs in the local market that they could fulfil. He credited Sean Wallace, the town’s economic development officer, as the person who highlighted the town’s strengths and served as the liaison between the businesses and the town.
Wallace, for his part, also credited council for their efforts.
“We have a really good combination when it comes to economic development in the Town of Tisdale because our town council’s made up of business people. They understand what it takes to attract a business, start a business, maintain a business.”
The economic development officer said he didn’t think the permit numbers will be repeated next year, but he did say the town is focusing on attracting large agri-value facilities, like canola crushing plants, in the long-term.
“We’re pursuing foreign direct investment projects that are very large in scale, that take a great deal of time to go from inception to operational completion,” he said. “Those projects could be anywhere from $10 million to $250 million projects and they don’t happen overnight.”
