Security tight for conference

Press, 20 July 1981, Page 9

Security tight for conference

NZPA-Reuter Montebello, Quebec The secluded hotel where leaders of seven nations will meet today for their economic summit meeting is a huge log cabin built in less than four months by men desperate for work during the Great Depression. The 200-room Chateau Montebello, on the fringe of a French Canadian village 70km east of Ottawa, is set in heavily-wooded countryside where security police now seem almost as numerous as the trees. While helicopters hovered overhead and police boats patrolled the adjacent Ottawa River, the protective curtain was lifted at the week-end to give reporters a quick look at the confer-' ence’s setting. The hotel’s most striking feature is the lobby, dominated by an enormous 21metre high stone chimney in the centre. Wings radiate out from each of the lobby’s six sides. The hotel was built in 1930 by 800 men working for a maximum of 55c an hour. Thev fastened together the building's 10.000 red cedar logs entir°lv with hand tools and used no nails. The hotel was recently refurbished by its owner, Canadian Pacific; in preparation for the conference. Two landing strips for helicopters project into the river and guests can hunt for deer, moose and bear in 26,000 ha of forest.

The summit leaders will hold their formal talks in the Canada Room off the hotel lobby, sitting round a $14,160 circular oak table provided by the Canadian Government. When reporters visited the site, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officers lined a steel fence at the hotel's entrance and more were scattered through the woods. Asked how many men were involved in the security, a Canadian Mounted spokesman said, “lots." In addition, four fire engines stood beside the driveway and ambulances and special medical teams will also be on call. President Ronald Reagan has scheduled separate meetings in Ottawa with five of the other six leaders attending, the conference. The White House assistant press secretary, Larry Speakes, said Mr Reagan would meet the West German Chancellor (Mr Helmut Schmidt) and President Francois Mitterrand of France separately before the summit’s opening. He will have breakfast with the British Prime Minister (Mrs Margaret Thatcher) and will meet the Italian Prime Minister (Mr Giovanni Spadolini) in the afternoon. He will also meet the Japanese Prime Minister (Mr .Zenku Suzuki). Mr Reagan has never met Mr Mitterrand or Mr Spadolini.