Kowalski charges "conspiracy" halted Oldman celebrations

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Plans to celebrate the opening of the Oldman River dam with a four-day festival have been scrubbed sparking a new war of words between dam opponents and the Alberta government.

Organizers said the decision to scrap the provincially funded, $100,000 event followed what they called threats of disruption and violence.

Festival chairman Hilton Pharis said the Festival of Life/Celebrations of Water, scheduled to open July 16, was meant to be a family fun event that could have been ruined by a blockade.

"If government officials didn't come, it would have been a flop, and they felt they were too highly exposed," said festival fund-raising chairman Ken Lewis. "Threats by Milton Born With A Tooth on a phone-in-radio show...put the icing on the cake."

Although Born With A Tooth, head of the Lonefighters Society, has said he is prepared to die to prevent the opening of the dam, he denied ever making direct, violent threats.

Following the cancellation, Public Works Minister Ken Kowalski started a fire when he said dam opponents were members of a "conspiracy" involving the United Church, labor groups, environmentalists and the Lonefighters.

"It's a cheap way of trying to discredit us," said Rev. Bill Phipps, executive secretary of the church's Alberta and Northwest Conference. "It's an embarrassment to the government and the people of Alberta."

Don Aitken, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, said Kowalski should either explain why he made the remarks or take them back.

"Because they actually blame us for the cancellation of a huge public event, they could have the effect of casting the federation in disrepute and we cannot let them pass," Aitken said.

Born With A Tooth described the coalition of dam opponents as a "unit of groups with common concerns."

In a press conference following the United Church complaints, Kowalski said he didn't mean to imply any criminal activity when he referred to a conspiracy.

"The word 'conspiracy' was used in the context of the word 'network' and used in the context of groups working together," he said. "I want to make it very clear that the Government of Alberta does not perceive the United Church of Canada as an enemy."

Kowalski has yet to make a public announcement regarding labor activities.