r/montreal • u/chocorange • Jun 10 '25
Événement After 2024 'fiasco,' Montreal aims to prove it's still the right city to host Formula 1
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-formula-1-2025-1.755500146
u/Academic-Comparison3 Jun 10 '25
How can such a supposedly lucrative private company depend so much on public subsidies?
Do we need the GP to shine internationally and attract tourists?
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u/Uncannyguy1000 Jun 10 '25
Think about some friends or family you might have living on the other side of the world. You visit them and then they ask you about Montreal and what's cool here. I can't think of anything more prestigious than to say that your own city hosts an F1 race. Not even powerhouses like NYC and Tokyo can claim to have that.
I think it would be a shame to lose it.
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u/mbooh Jun 10 '25
- Home to probably the world's second largest orange sphere
- Bilingual homeless people
- A place that is rich in multi-culturalism (despite having a government that hates it)
- A weather system that is as unstable as a caffeinated ferret
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u/MileEnd76 Jun 10 '25
I would never ever say that to friends or family living on the other side of the world. I wouldn't even think for a second about saying that.
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u/habsfreak Jun 10 '25
Lol seriously I only ever think about the F1 the weekend it's here so I make sure to avoid downtown
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u/MileEnd76 Jun 10 '25 edited Jun 10 '25
Yeah, I kinda see it as the price to pay for living here and I don't know who we have to pay or why, but I'd rather be anywhere else. It's that weekend where it seems like we have to lend the city to some people who really like cars for some reason and look nothing like the people living here every other weekend.
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u/Honey-Badger Jun 10 '25
Really? I'm from the UK and honestly nobody back home knows much about Montreal, honestly outside of France most Europeans when thinking of Eastern North America would always look over Quebec and Montreal in favour of NYC and New England. BUT when I'm asked about Montreal and I say "oh it's where the Canadian GP is held" the response is almost always "of my god yes! It looks so pretty, id love to visit someday"
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u/Academic-Comparison3 Jun 10 '25
Sorry but that would not even cross my mind lmao Montreal has so much to give beyond the Grand Prix. Thanks for the laugh !
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u/Strange_Stop_40 Jun 10 '25
Like what lol Montreal just keeps losing more and more because the city is failing
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u/ParfaitEither284 Jun 10 '25
Unfortunately not on the international scale
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u/Academic-Comparison3 Jun 10 '25
U.S. tourism to Montreal increased by 11 per cent in 2024, with about 1.5 million Americans visiting the city. But most tourists were Canadians, largely Quebecers and Ontarians.
French tourists continue to make up a significant portion of visitors to Montreal, numbering about 500,000 in 2024. Tourism from all French-speaking countries combined grew by 19 per cent.
Tourism from South Korea grew by 63 per cent to about 6,300 visitors, which the organization attributed to a new twice-daily summertime flight between Seoul and Montreal.
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u/AnxiousToe281 Jun 10 '25
Ah we meet again old friend. Is the grand prix in the room with you right now ?
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u/MileEnd76 Jun 10 '25
Sorry, but that's a really bad use of that meme/joke, it doesn't work at all.
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u/AnxiousToe281 Jun 10 '25
Are you the meme police or something
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u/Patthecat09 Jun 10 '25
Buddy you're not cut out for this internet speak, like at all. Take your L and move on
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u/AnxiousToe281 Jun 10 '25
Ight bro I'm not gonna look for trouble with a dude who has an arkane build
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u/jawneigh1 Jun 10 '25
No but it will be in a few days. This is not how you use this meme format.
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u/AnxiousToe281 Jun 10 '25
Are you the other dudes alt account or something. I can use any meme however I want to
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u/jawneigh1 Jun 10 '25
Of course you can and I can call you out for using them wrong and sounding dumb in the process whenever I want too 😭
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u/AnxiousToe281 Jun 10 '25
You can, it's just so weird how you got triggered by a comment not even addressed to you.
You should work on that, its not healthy to be this negative
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u/hertzog24 Jun 10 '25
lol you cant thing of anything else than F1 ??
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u/Uncannyguy1000 Jun 10 '25
Anything that's as internationally big as an F1 Grand Prix?
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u/hertzog24 Jun 10 '25
i know we wont agree but Expo67 or the St. Lawrence river or CULTURE
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u/Uncannyguy1000 Jun 10 '25
Expo67 was a successful and memorable event, with the Biosphere and the building that currently houses the casino as some of the architecture that the event graced us with, but the event itself was decades ago.
St. Lawrence is a famous and important river, but the mention of it won't make the average non-Canadian go "oh wow" or "oh yeah, I know that!" like the internationally known Niagara Falls and Banff National Park.
My comment was about international prestige and recognition: Montreal is a city with a rich culture , but there are more iconic and recognizable cities in the world.
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u/Academic-Comparison3 Jun 10 '25
International prestige is what they want you to believe to publicly swallow the costs of the event
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u/hertzog24 Jun 10 '25
ok cool so cars going in circles is our pride got it thanks
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u/Uncannyguy1000 Jun 10 '25
That's the neat thing about cities: it doesn't have to be a one trick pony with one personality.
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u/zimo123 Jun 11 '25
Damn if that's the only thing that comes to mind when thinking about what makes Montreal unique you clearly don't know enough about your city :)
And even if that was the only thing that puts us on the map, I'd rather not be on the map than big complicit in all the air pollution, worldwide asshole pilgrimage to my city, and sex trafficking that goes on.
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u/Uncannyguy1000 Jun 11 '25
I'm not talking about things that Montrealers already know about; I'm talking about things from the point of view of who knows little to nothing about Montreal; you don't need a picture or a description for most people to know what F1 is.
But clearly you already have an opinion about the event so I'm not here to change your mind.
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u/ConnaitLesRisques Jun 10 '25
Yes.
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Jun 10 '25
[deleted]
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u/pattyG80 Jun 10 '25
This is a bit of a canard. Montreal is very well known for it's sex industry all year round.
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Jun 10 '25
[deleted]
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u/pattyG80 Jun 10 '25
Like people are saying, either legalize it or shut it down all year round. There are presently estimated that there are at least 4000 sex workers in Montreal on any given day so to clutch your pearls on grandprix weekend is a big pile of bullshit. Montreal is hooker/massageville and the police do nothing about it.
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u/PLAAND Jun 10 '25
I mean, I think we should be clear that sex trafficking and sex work are related but somewhat different things. A set and subset maybe?
I agree that we should legalize sex work but even if we do we should still combat sex trafficking FAR more fiercely than we do right now.
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u/AnxiousToe281 Jun 10 '25
Legalize prostitution instead of canceling the grand prix.
Problem solved
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u/goronmask Verdun Jun 10 '25
Fuck off on a des vrais problèmes à régler comme la crise de logement et le transport public
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u/RR321 Plateau Mont-Royal Jun 10 '25
Please fail harder so we can get rid of this destructive event...
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u/saren_p Jun 10 '25
How are we hosting F1 and all of the streets where one would think to go for a drink or enjoy the night out are either closed or under construction? There's no synchronization, no real 'bigger picture ' plan.
We are not a serious city.
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u/je1992 Jun 10 '25
I sincerely hope this fucking thing can leave my city.
It generates an absurd amount of atrocities with sex trafficking and bring the biggest douchebags on earth that come here and dehumanize woman popping bottles at douche clubs.
All for money...
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u/slothcat Jun 10 '25
We don’t deserve this event. Always so poorly organised. Should take it to Vancouver.
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u/Nikiaf 🍊 Orange Julep Jun 10 '25
what? When has it been poorly organized? There's been nearly 50 of them by now, and the vast, vast majority have gone off without any issues.
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u/Sir-Knightly-Duty Jun 10 '25
Last year the main fiasco was the Pitbull concert Id say. First off, he cancelled last minute, when the entire crowd was already there, which is fking insane. Not the city's fault, but its still a fiasco in itself. Second off, people waited in line for the metro for like 2-4 hours. Not having a bunch of buses and a ferry ready to go, to have more ways off the island, is kinda nuts during F1. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people who attend, 1 metro line is NOT enough.
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u/slothcat Jun 10 '25
People are downvoting but they must have not been at any of the actual events.
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u/slothcat Jun 10 '25
You must not be going to the same events I’ve been going to.
Last year particularly was a shit show. Both downtown and parc jean Drapeau. Plus tourists treated like shit but that’s more anecdotal.
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u/Hochelagan Jun 10 '25
Fiasco? JFC it was what, 2-3 terraces that were temporarily inconvenienced?
It would be lovely to see this level of outrage at the sex trafficking GP produces.