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 - About 175 hip surgery patients are being recalled by a Montreal hospital because a surgical instrument used in the operations may have been improperly sterilized. Although officials at the Montreal General Hospital say the risk of infection is low, patients will be tested for blood-borne diseases. The recall would cover patients since 1998. Vancouver - Millions of carcasses of British Columbia poultry infected with avian flu will be taken to landfills and incinerators. B.C. Solicitor-General Rich Coleman signed the Emergency Program Act to allow infected poultry from the depopulation of 19 million birds to be transported and disposed. The majority of the birds slaughtered are expected to be healthy and will be tested for the flu. If found to be healthy, they will be processed and sold to the public. Ottawa - Opposition politicians have reacted fiercely to a Liberal minister's assertion that a new audit has slashed the cost of the sponsorship scandal. Treasury Board president Reg Alcock said Sunday that an audit by independent accounting firm Ernst and Young has found $13 million misspending in the federal sponsorship program, not the $100 million identified in a report by Auditor General Sheila Fraser. Critics say Alock is trying to undermine the auditor general ahead of a possible spring federal election.
