Canadian provinces and cities are bucking calls for any sweeping, Boston-style construction shutdown as they eye the deadly COVID-19's growing economic fallout.

但是一些大型项目所有者选择关闭站点或减少操作。

According to new federal statistics, the number of confirmed cases jumped on March 22 to 1,302 from 1,099 the day before,.

But with efforts to contain the virus triggering a major economic downturn, provincial leaders in Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario are either accelerating plans for big, public infrastructure projects or insisting on keeping existing work rolling.

没有省级关闭

Quebec Premier Francois Legault recently announced that major education and healthcare infrastructure projects will start earlier than planned to pick up the slack as projects in the private sector halt work, while British Columbia Premier John Horgan is touting plans for roughly $23 billion in infrastructure work over three years, including $4.1 billion for new hospitals and $4.8 billion for roads, bridges and transit, in a bid to keep the local economy afloat amid the COVID-19-driven downturn.

And in Ontario, Premier Doug Ford noted pointedly that construction sites would remain open when he rolled out sweeping emergency measures at a March 17 press conference, including closure of schools, day care centers, theaters, concert venues and bars and restaurants.

Construction is a major employer in Canada, with more than 1.1 million tradespeople working on projects across the country as of 2019, according to BuildForce Canada.

这一举动与宾夕法尼亚州，波士顿和其他人在本周下令停止建设活动相反。

福特在新闻发布会上说：“这不是省级关闭。”

Still, the efforts to shield the country’s construction business from a complete shutdown are growing more complicated by the day, with a number of individual projects scaling back or limiting activity in a bid to stop the spread of the virus.

The government owned B.C. Hydro announced this week that it will “scale back certain construction activities” on the site of a giant, $7.4 billion hydroelectric dam, Site C in the Fort St. John region.

该项目雇用多达4,000名员工，是不列颠哥伦比亚省省级领导人的大型基础设施项目之一。新利18备用网址

Megaprojects Scale Back

公元前Hydro没有提供任何会影响多少工作的数字，但表示计划减少工作场所“住宿小屋”的工人人数。

The utility noted it had already taken several steps to lower the risk of infection, including more intensive cleaning, restricting common areas, and barring self-service stations in the dining room.

其他场外工作，例如当地高速公路和传输线安装的重新调整，因为它们不涉及工人留在公司拥有的住宿小屋。

“BC Hydro is modifying its work activities on the Site C project ... in response to the increasing escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the utility said in a statement.

曼尼托巴省海德罗（Manitoba Hydro）还在3月19日表示，它将在Keeyaskhydro plant725吻lometers from Winnipeg and 10º south of the Arctic Circle,and suspend travel in and out of the site due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Manitoba Hydro said the temporary reduction of personnel with scaled-back work and other restrictions would last four to eight weeks.约有600名主管和其他建筑人员将留在现场。

The project scalebacks come on the heels of LNG Canada’s decision to send home 1,500 workers – half of those working on the $27.8 billion natural gas export terminal on the province’s Pacific coast.

The aim, like B.C. Hydro, is to reduce the number of workers in the field living in close quarters on housing at the worksite.

沿海Gaslink项目雇用了1,100多名机组人员，建造了一条将供应该航站楼的管道，但也将一些工人送回家。

Still Supply Chain Missing Links

John Gamble, president and CEO of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies/Canada, said he is not aware of any local or provincial governments that have shut down construction.

Gamble noted government leaders and industry officials in Canada are trying to balance health concerns with the need to keep infrastructure projects moving amid growing economic challenges.

Overall, engineering firms, with their ability to work remotely, have seen less of an impact than contractors from the spread of COVID-19, he said.

根据感染和控制加拿大，截至3月19日，加拿大已确认了Covid-19案件。

To date, an even bigger concern has been supply-chain problems, which have led to shortages of key materials at construction sites, he said.

Gamble说：“世界各地和加拿大的过去经济挑战已经证明了基础设施的有效性是通过从危机中恢复而需要的一种刺激形式。”

“In meantime we need to find a way our teams working through the crisis so that A/E/C firms retain the capacity to deliver.”