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 - Prime Minister Paul Martin says his new government will get down to business Feb. 2 by recalling Parliament and presenting an "ambitious" agenda in a throne speech that day. Martin said his legislative priorities include creating an independent ethics commissioner, introducing an electoral boundaries bill and passing patent legislation to permit the export of drugs to help fight AIDS in Africa. He also confirmed that a bill to decriminalize marijuana will be reintroduced. Toronto - Six police officers on the city's drug squad have been charged with more than 20 offences, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, extortion, theft and assault, following an independent corruption probe by the RCMP. Calgary - Shell Canada has agreed to compensate hundreds of customers whose vehicle fuel gauges or pumps were gummed up by a gasoline additive, resulting in a class-action lawsuit. The settlement deals with an additive that Shell used between March 2001 and April 2002 Ottawa - Government spending on culture rose at its fastest rate in a decade in 2001-02, the fourth consecutive yearly rise, says Statistics Canada. Federal, provincial and municipal governments spent $6.8 billion on everything from libraries to the performing arts in 2001-02 as federal funding surpassed $3 billion for the first time, the agency reported Wednesday.
