The Rural Municipality of Tache is trending ahead of last year's pace when it comes to construction activity. That is according to Mayor Armand Poirier, who calls it a good year for construction, noting the municipality is gaining momentum. "It's kept our departments, planning and inspection departments, both busy this year," he says. "And it's moving along quite well." From January 1st through September 30th of this year, the RM of Tache issued a total of 159 permits, worth a combined $41 million. By comparison, through the same period in 2024, Tache issued 153 permits totalling $26.6 million, while in 2023, it issued 143 permits for $27.9 million. "We're up significantly, but we have to take into account inflation and various other factors when we're looking at costs," he points out. "In the last few years, things have gone up significantly in a lot of areas." If you compare only single-family dwellings, there were 50 during the first nine months of this year, compared to 28 in 2024 and 21 in 2023. Poirier says multi-family dwellings were at eight after nine months this year, which is average for the last three years. Poirier says there are probably a couple of reasons why permit totals are higher this year. He credits the lowering of interest rates, but also the fact that people genuinely want to move to Tache. "We have good quality of life here in Tache, and I think that's an attractive feature," he notes. "And, of course, we're experiencing population growth province-wide and nationally. So, I think that's being reflected in people that want to come and build homes here." According to Poirier, new homes are being built throughout the entire municipality. He adds the communities of Landmark and Lorette continue to experience a fair bit of growth, but there is also construction happening in the rural areas. "We're getting a lot of demand for secondary suites in the rural areas," he adds. Meanwhile, Poirier says he is confident that the busy year for construction will continue in the final quarter of 2025. "What we're seeing now is not boom and bust growth, it's slow but steady growth that we're experiencing," he says. "And I believe it will continue to progress in that way." Poirier adds this is all very positive for the municipality. Having said that, he notes this growth places a lot of pressure on Tache. "It's putting pressure on the infrastructure. It's putting pressure on our staff. "It's putting pressure everywhere because there's a lot of demand and more and more we have to continue being able to accommodate those demands," he says. "It's beginning to show everywhere, where our departments are getting stretched thin all over."