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.
Quebec - The idea of merging Canada's two right-wing parties received a warm reception among Quebec Tory faithful Saturday, as Conservative Leader Peter MacKay continued his campaign to sell the deal. While many observers predicted the potential merger of the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties would be a tough sell in the province, the idea was greeted with cautious optimism by about 100 Tories who met in Quebec City. "I'll be working for the successful merger of the parties," said Michel Rivard, a former Parti Quebecois member of the Quebec legislature who has worked for both the Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance. Rivard said the merger could lead to a repeat of the 1984 election, when Conservatives under Brian Mulroney swept to power with 58 seats in Quebec. Yellowknife - One of the largest caribou herds in the Arctic is in steep decline and researchers are at a loss to explain why. The size of the Bathurst herd, a crucial economic and cultural resource in the central tundra of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, has been cut in half over the last decade. A new survey released this week suggests the size of the herd, which ranges over Canada's diamond development area, has fallen to 186,000 animals from about 350,000 in the last 10 years.
