The City of Swift Current made a large leap towards one of their long-term goals last week.

On March 3, 2014, the city unveiled an ambitious goal to reach a population of 25,000 people by the year 2025.

The numbers that surfaced on Wednesday from the 2016 Stats Canada Census confirmed Swift Current is trending in the right direction.

The positive growth of 6.8% saw the city's population rise from 15,503 to 16,604 an increase of 1,100 residents over a five-year span.

"I'm excited to see (the confirmation of growth within our city)," Swift Current Mayor Denis Perrault said. "It didn't come as a secret to us. We see that (growth) in our building permits, new houses, new developments and increased traffic on our roads."

However, Perrault and city officials state that they believe the census isn't an accurate representation of the true population of Swift Current.

"The provincial health card numbers show that in 2015 we're at 17,800," he said. "The trouble with statistics is they're always aged data, that problem one and with census data, the challenge is not everyone completes the census."

If the City of Swift Current's population is in fact approximately 17,800, that would mean the city is receiving approximately $400,000 less in annual provincial funding, when based on Stats Canada's census numbers.

Regardless of which number is closest to being correct, a positive benchmark was reached by the City of Swift Current.

According to the 2016 census numbers, the city was able to exceed over 16,000 residents for the time ever while breaking out of a 40-year trend that saw the population bounce from 14,747-15,503.

Those facts bode well for the city's "overarching" long-term goal of 25 by 25, according to the first-term Mayor.

"Any long-range vision should be overarching and should be inspiring," Perrault told Swift Current Online. "It's only in the last less than ten years we've seen this remarkable growth and continued growth. During the last few years when we've seen a decline in the province, we've seen unprecedented growth here in Swift Current."

With the recent announcement of the Chinook Power Station being built in the Rural Municipality of Swift Current, it will also give the City of Swift Current the chance to continue its rapid growth.

"We're going to work hard to go out and meet those 500 temporary workers and encourage them to choose Swift Current," Perrault said Friday afternoon. "We want to be able to share with them all the reasons why myself included choose Swift Current. We've got a great economic climate, we have beautiful parks, great walkways, affordable taxes, the Swift Current Broncos and the Swift Current 57's, all of those things put together make a great community."

The 350 megawatt combined cycle natural gas facility is projected to be completed by October 1st, 2019. The construction of the power plant will create up to 500 jobs during the construction process with an estimated 24 workers to run the facility going forward.