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.
Toronto - Canada's blueprint for reducing death and social disruption during an influenza pandemic does not call for the stockpiling of anti-virals or antibiotics - drugs experts believe will be crucial in keeping essential workers healthy until a vaccine can be made. The federal government's pandemic flu plan acknowledges vaccine probably won't be available during the first of several waves of pandemic flu expected to sweep rapidly across the country. The plan was obtained Tuesday by The Canadian Press. Ottawa - The federal government had a budgetary surplus of $5.2 billion for the first nine months of the fiscal year 2003-04, the Finance Department reported Wednesday. That's well up from what the government - which usually underestimates surpluses - had been publicly musing about, but down from the $7.1-billion surplus in the same period a year earlier. The fiscal year ends March 31. Ottawa - Prime Minister Paul Martin, distancing himself Wednesday from the sponsorship scandal, blamed a small "sophisticated" group of bureaucrats for the fiasco and also took a veiled swipe at Jean Chretien. Martin fended off opposition charges that he must have known about the scandal. He insisted that he and other cabinet ministers were kept in the dark by those involved Martin said the public inquiry he has called will leave no stone unturned.
