The organization has announced changes in the horticultural technician, arborist and utility arborist trades, and promised further changes in the three heavy equipment operator trades later this year.

More evenly distributed migration would not only benefit smaller cities, but also help ease the challenges in infrastructure demands faced by major centres like Vancouver or Toronto.

The agreement eliminates risk for work delays and disruptions caused by strikes or lockouts during construction of the hospital’s new 2.5-million square-foot campus.

The expanded program is now open to as many as 1,000 out-of-status workers in the GTA construction industry.

Tunnel boring machine Diggy Scardust was deployed on January 18, and will dig nearly seven kilometres of the 7.8-kilometre tunnel.