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.
Montreal - As Liberal Leader Paul Martin moves to the political left, a united Conservative party will be able to form a minority government, Tory Leader Peter MacKay said Thursday. "I think a minority government is within reach but it's going to take a lot of work," MacKay told reporters. He said a new Conservative Party will be able to attract moderate voters because Martin will focus on liberal social values to thwart the resurgence of the New Democrats, he said. Ottawa - The Canadian Forces, perennially short of money, is stalling efforts to increase army reserves to a target of 18,500 people by 2006, says a report by an independent monitor. St. John's, Nfld. - Canada's coastal provinces should band together to pressure Ottawa for tougher laws to protect the oceans from deliberate oil spills, says Newfoundland's new environment minister. Tom Osborne, speaking Thursday at a conference on oil spill prevention, said thousands of seabirds are killed every year by oil slicks that drift off the south coast of Newfoundland. It is not accidental spills that pose the greatest threat to Newfoundland and Labrador's 20,000 kilometres of coastline, experts say. It is the purposeful and illegal dumping of oily bilge water and garbage. "There's a lot of that going on," said Bob O'Brien, founder of the conservation group Ocean Net.
