REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK : Sweet and Sour Signs of Welcome

When Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien decided a year ago where this year’s international economic summit conference would take place, he chose this often fog-bound city on the Atlantic Coast as a means to bring attention--and some dollars, yen and francs--to the hard-pressed Maritime provinces that have historically been an economic backwater of Canada.

Merchants responded, enthusiastically demonstrating their offerings--computer information systems, scenic tourist sites and seafood--to their visitors from south of the border, from Europe and Asia.

And few were beyond linking their own business, no matter how humble, to the work of the Group of Seven, the world’s richest industrial democracies, whose leaders had gathered here from Ottawa, London, Paris, Bonn, Rome, Tokyo and Washington.

But none had quite the ring, rhyme or questionable reason of Mr. Chang’s, a Chinese restaurant a few blocks from the harbor-side meeting points.

A sign, cantilevered over the street, called out: “G-7 has the power. We have the sweet and sour.”

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Among the arsenal of weapons deployed by the Canadian forces responsible for maintaining security of the summit participants were three falcons, sent to patrol the airways near the Shearwater military air field.

Their mission: clearing the air of sea gulls and other birds that could be sucked into the engines of landing and departing aircraft carrying President Clinton and the other summit participants.

“I would consider any bird a potential threat to any arriving aircraft,” falcon master Peter Serwylo said. “Gulls, crows, starlings--they could cause serious damage, bring down a plane.”

The base is on a migration path, with tens of thousands of birds visiting at any given moment. Falcons kill ducks, pheasants and gulls on occasion, but, Serwylo said, most birds high-tail it as soon as they catch a glimpse of the swooping and diving hunters.

Presumably, the falcons themselves know to stay out of the way of the aircraft.

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Globe-trotting U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, mediator of world conflicts, apparently is not a face to remember.

The Associated Press reported that Canadian security officers posted his photograph in the hotel occupied by American officials so he could be spared frisking every time he entered the establishment.

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Maybe they should have posted a “Thank You for Not Smoking” sign. Or one saying, “Think Before You Speak.”

A White House press officer was worried about the way preparations were shaping up Saturday for a photo opportunity with the G-7 leaders and foreign ministers.

“Tell that fat guy with the stogie to get out of the shot,” he asked a Canadian official in a remark overheard by others.

“You tell my foreign minister to move, I’m not,” the Canadian replied.

The man with the offending lit cigar was Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Andre Ouellet. No one made him move aside or butt out.