CALGARY -- When Prime Minister Jean Chrétien picked an isolated Alberta resort tucked in the Rocky Mountains as being less prone to protests and a more intimate way to host leaders of the world's richest nations, activists quickly vowed to make the trek.
But with six weeks left before the G8 summit, Mr. Chrétien's strategy appears to be working.
Plans for a so-called Solidarity Village, a temporary home to 10,000 people to be located about 25 kilometres from the G8 site in Kananaskis Village, have fallen through. Now organizers of the festival are scrambling to find another spot, possibly in Calgary, 85 kilometres away. In light of the cost and effort required, other protest groups have decided simply not to bother making the trip.
"Certainly the Kananaskis Village is a difficult place for us to have our voice heard," said Sarah Kerr, one of the organizers of the Solidarity Village, now trimmed down from a weeklong camping festival to three days of music and education.
Now, organizers will ask the City of Calgary for permission to use the downtown Shaw Millennium Park.
But before even seeing an application, city hall is balking at the idea, adding that it doesn't give permits to political rallies. City police have not been consulted on the idea.
"I appreciate their difficulties and frankly, I wish them luck," said Calgary Police Inspector Al Redford of the G8 security team.
For the time being, Insp. Redford said, officials don't have a handle on how many demonstrators could hit Calgary during the G8 summit because the protest groups are "not all that well organized."
One of the most organized groups, the Montreal-based Anti-Capitalist Convergence, better known by its French acronym CLAC, won't be in Alberta for the June 26-27 summit.
Instead, CLAC, known for its pro-anarchist views and its role in the raucous Summit of the Americas protests in Quebec City last year, has invited people from Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic Canada and the northeastern United States to attend two "days of action" in Ottawa to coincide with the summit.
CLAC member Stefan Christoff said his group has decided to stay closer to home as a better way to build up its regional network and address local issues.
"The G8 ran away to Alberta to go out into the woods and be protected in that environment by thousands of police and soldiers where they could have a very strong handle on what people were allowed to visit the site and allowed to express their opinions. . ." Mr. Christoff said.
Bill Moore-Kilgannon, a spokesman for Council of Canadians, an antiglobalization group that supports the Solidarity Village plan, said the issue of deterring demonstrators has become politically sensitive.
"Let's just say they're 'the federal government' spending a lot of money to make sure their plan works," Mr. Moore-Kilgannon said.
Although the federal government's summit management office hasn't itemized costs, reports peg them at anywhere from $300- to $500-million.
Summit spokesman Michael O'Shaughnessy would not comment on whether the federal government has thwarted the potential for protest in its G8 planning.
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