It certainly feels strange to be planning travel, both business and personal, after more than a year and a half at home in Ottawa. My wife and I returned from an extensive two month South Pacific cruise, followed by a few weeks in Australia and New Zealand, on March 5, 2020.
We all know what happened a week later. I suppose we were fortunate not to be caught in the chaos of early COVID-19 travel, where panicking people around the world tried to get home as borders closed, and before proper public health controls on COVID spread were implemented
My first upcoming trip will be a day-return on Nov. 24 to Toronto to attend a program co-ordinated by the Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario (CDCO) about Mass Timber; and a week later, I’ll return to Toronto for the annual Buildings Show.
Certainly, we’ve managed reasonably well during the pandemic. I think most contractors and suppliers have done okay as well, allowing for the serious complications of project delays, periodic mandatory shut-downs, and supply shortages, coupled with inflationary price escalations. But the construction industry wasn’t hammered like the tourism, restaurant and events industries.
The vaccines are doing what they should; reducing both the risk of infection and, if an infection occurs, serious injury. So we can go to the gym, begin to fly to places and attend conferences without fearing for our health, based on the rules that everyone needs to be vaccinated. I’m frustrated and to some extent angered by the anti-vaxxers spewing misinformation as they put themselves and others at risk. Fortunately, they are a very small minority.
Mark Buckshon is president of the Construction News and Report Group of Companies, which publishes Ottawa Construction News and the daily Ontario Construction News. He can be reached by email at buckshon@ontarioconstructionnews.com.
