MONTREAL and OTTAWA -- Fearing clashes with protesters against globalization, one of Montreal's more venerable hotels has abruptly begged off a meeting of the World Trade Organization at the end of the month.
The Queen Elizabeth Hotel, a downtown landmark which promotes itself as the city's "grandest and most gracious hotel" has just undergone a series of renovations.
On Monday, it advised federal officials it wanted to back out of a contract to receive the meeting of 25 trade ministers in two weeks.
Organizers had to scramble to relocate the July 28-to-30 mini-ministerial meeting, of which International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew is host.
The WTO meeting is being moved to Le Centre Sheraton Hotel, also in Montreal's downtown core, a federal source said.
Sébastien Théberge, a spokesman for Mr. Pettigrew, said Ottawa regrets that the Queen Elizabeth changed its mind. "We are disappointed that we will not be going to our original location. . . . They apparently felt that security and logistical requirements may have inconvenienced other clients."
He said Ottawa had already explained some time ago what it would have to do at the Queen Elizabeth to keep the peace during the meeting.
"They had been advised about the security perspective in meetings we had with them several weeks ago."
Mr. Théberge said the WTO event will proceed without interruption. "All of the security elements will be in place for a safe meeting."
Antiglobalization activists are cheering the turn of events.
"Obviously, it's a victory. Before any placard or picket sign was picked up, they're already having to change their plans," said Stefan Christoff, a spokesman for a Montreal-based coalition co-ordinating the protests against the WTO.
The Montreal reunion is preparation for a larger meeting in September in Cancun, Mexico, aimed at reviving the oft-stalled Doha round of WTO talks.
In the past months, calls to opponents of globalization have been posted on activist Web sites across North America, urging demonstrators to disrupt the Montreal meeting.
"[The WTO] is universally reviled as a symbol of corporate domination," one statement issued by the Montreal-based coalition said.
"A powerful popular resistance in Montreal will help to unsteady the WTO so that protesters massed in Cancun can deliver the knockout blow."
While a large, peaceful rally is planned the day before the Montreal meeting is to begin, other activists believe that confrontation and civil disobedience are necessary tactics. They evoke the success of the huge protests that rocked the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999.
"These institutions are completely illegitimate. They're not accountable to the people that are affected directly by their policies," Mr. Christoff said.
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