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 - The federal government may sell off some of its buildings to trim more than $1 billion in expenses from its Public Works department, minister Scott Brison said. The minister told Liberal MPs Monday night that the measures will help improve his department's image, which is at the centre of the sponsorship scandal, sources say. Brison told a conference call that the government is now running a deficit of about $100 million a year in maintenance fees on its buildings. Under the new plan, buildings now in use would be sold to private companies and leased back by the government. Halifax - A former gambling addict is suing the Nova Scotia government and the Atlantic Lottery Corporation for the damage done by video lottery terminals. Walsh hopes his court action will turn into a class-action suit on behalf of gambling addicts. "We talk about people that have been ruined financially, people that have lost marriages, people that have lost their homes, and right up to suicides," he said. Among other things, he alleges the gov't was negligent when it legalized machines in 1991. St. John's, Nfld. - Prostitutes should be allowed the protection of union membership, delegates to a Canadian Union of Public Employees convention in St. John's were told Monday. "We would like to see decriminalization of sex work so that sex workers can work in health and safety."
