The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Ottawa - It's taken five weeks to set the scene, but the public inquiry into the federal sponsorship scandal is finally ready to take a peek inside the bureaucratic and political nerve centres of the ill-fated program. Starting this week and continuing until the end of October, Justice John Gomery will hear from a dozen witnesses whose testimony could take him a long way toward figuring out exactly what went wrong and who was responsible. Among those appearing will be four former staff members of Alfonso Gagliano, who served as Public Works minister for much of the program and who has already paid a price for it. Glasgow, Scotland - Canada's defence minister raised the possibility Monday that Ottawa's controversial submarine program could be abandoned in the wake of the HMCS Chicoutimi tragedy, but cautioned against any early decisions. "I would rule nothing out at this time," Bill Graham said at a hotel in this Scottish city shortly after meeting with the crew of the stricken submarine. Graham praised the crew of the submarine that was disabled by fire in the north Atlantic, resulting in the death of one sailor. Montreal - A judge has awarded $1,000 to a gay man who claimed to suffer emotionally after being called "fifi" by a car salesman. "Calling someone a 'fifi' constitutes a scornful way of referring to homosexuals," Judge Michele Pauze concluded.
