The news comes as several sites in the GTA are being stricken by COVID-19. The Eglinton LRT project saw 28 COVID cases on eight sites in January, while The Well and the Michael Garron hospital sites—both run by Crosslinx consortium member EllisDon—saw their own post-holiday outbreaks.

The funding, which is being provided jointly by the federal, provincial and municipal governments, will fund significant renovations to the Civic Recreation Complex.

Excavation of the second of two 180-metre tunnels under highway 409 and 401—a key part of the project to deliver two-way all-day GO Rail service between Kitchener and Toronto—reached completion earlier this month.

Infrastructure Ontario and Niagara Health expect to shortlist three teams to deliver the project. A request for proposals will follow in the fall, with contract close expected in 2022.

Analysts Lodging Econometrics show that the hotel construction pipeline in Canada ended 2020 with 270 projects—just 35 fewer than the record high reached at the end of 2019.