2016 has turned into a good year for business development in Steinbach. Mayor Chris Goertzen made the comment in reflecting on the value of building permits through the first nine months of this year. The total value of building permits through the first three-quarters is $33 million and over two-thirds of that ($24 million) has been for business development including renovations and expansions.

"We expect to exceed 2015 in our numbers and, especially, the commercial numbers are quite high when you compare them to other years. This has been a year of many smaller projects. Many of these are small businesses that are expanding or coming into the city. We are really encouraged to see so many entrepreneurs taking initiative and that shows very clearly in the permits."

He notes, when the new Steinbach Credit Union building opened last year, there was a sudden glut of office space in the city. Goertzen adds a lot of those spaces are now being taken up this year by entrepreneurs wanting to do business here.

"We saw those being filled very quickly this year because people are taking advantage of maybe a little bit cheaper (lease) rates, they have entrepreneurial ideas and so we are really encouraged to see so many people taking the risk of being an entrepreneur because we are going to be better for it as a city."

Meanwhile, there have been 33 housing starts this year, including single-family homes and duplexes, which is on pace with last year.