Ottawa will create a multimillion-dollar compensation fund for lost business and damage to private property during the G-8 summit, and will pay for prosecuting protesters arrested during the June meeting of world leaders in Kananaskis.
Sources have told the Herald that Alberta Solicitor General Heather Forsyth will take the proposed agreement to a provincial cabinet meeting early next week, before signing off on the deal with the federal government.
The battle over the potentially huge costs of putting any arrested protesters through the court system reached a head earlier this year, when lagging negotiations prompted the Alberta government to issue stern threats to the feds.
Forsyth warned Alberta would ban federal officials, including the RCMP and other security officers, from K-Country unless the feds agreed up front to cover all costs associated with the event.
According to provincial government officials, it's the first time Ottawa has gone into a conference with a commitment to pay for prosecutions and third-party damages, including lost business and vandalism.
Exact figures weren't available, but Ottawa has agreed to put up a set amount for prosecutions. The amount agreed on is in the hundreds of thousands, but less than $1 million.
The compensation fund is said to be much higher -- in the tens of millions of dollars.
A spokesman with the G-8 management team in Ottawa confirmed Wednesday a compensation announcement was coming within days, but wouldn't give any details.
No one from the federal solicitor general's office -- responsible for the prosecution issue -- could be reached for comment. Forsyth wouldn't confirm the details, but acknowledged negotiations with Ottawa had recently taken giant strides forward.
"What we have been able to negotiate is precedent-setting," she said. "I'm very satisfied with how far the federal government has come. We are very pleased."
Forsyth said she believed the hard line she took earlier this year played a role.
"There's no question, they realized the seriousness of the negotiations at that time," Forsyth said. "I have always said this is a federal responsibility -- it's their party in our backyard."
Concerns about prosecution costs arose after Quebec's experience with last year's Summit of the Americas. According to the Quebec government, the bill for prosecuting one of the protesters there came in at over $800,000.
The compensation issue began boiling after Ottawa instituted a 150-kilometre-radius no-fly zone around the summit site at Kananaskis Village, 120 kilometres west of Calgary. That had extreme-adventure businesses that rely on air flights bracing for losses.
The no-fly zone will be in effect from June 25 to 28. The G-8 runs on June 26 and 27.
Forsyth received applause Wednesday for her zeal in standing up to Ottawa, but there were continued harsh words for the federal government.
Marty von Neudegg, spokesman for Canadian Mountain Holidays in Banff, estimated his heli-hiking company would be out $270,000 in lost business.
Von Neudegg said he was of two minds on the compensation agreement: "As a business operator who is about to be compensated for significant losses, it's good news," he said. "But as a taxpayer, I'm somewhat offended."
He said the federal government rejected his proposal that security officers be put on extreme-adventure helicopters, which would then be given clearance into the restricted airspace.
Paul Leeson, who runs both the Purcell Lodge and Fortress Lake Wilderness Retreat near Golden, B.C., said money is only part of the issue.
His resorts are only accessible by helicopter, and Leeson had a lot of bookings before the no-fly zone was announced.
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