- this is unacceptable in the construction world and someone needs to put the hammer down. Standard construction contracts have clauses that address these types of issues and they should take the contractor to task by holding them to what they agreed to do - if in fact the contracts peoperly conveyed that.

If you have a look around, I doubt that you will find that much option is available.  Construction crews of all types are severely hard to find within Canada, let alone in the middle of a frozen Quebec region, over 150km from the nearest town.  There really are very few that are sitting around waiting for work, and I imagine that in the mining construction industry, there would be far fewer.  If there was a delay at the site due to weather, or something like assays/drill samples not completed in time, you can't blame the contractor for putting his men and equipment to use on another contract.  That equipment costs money even when it is sitting still.  Can't put a hammer down, as the contractor would just say - too bad, find someone else.  Construction delays are a fact of life now, like it or not.  Contracts are guidelines, unless they are well inked, something that a junior could not afford, as the contractor would demand a premium price if there were a risk of losing too much money due to a delay.