According to reports, Ottawa, Quebec and Montreal were ready to invest $20 M for 2009, increasing that to $24 M in 2013, to save the Grand Prix, but Ecclestone demanded a bank or government guarantee of $175 M over five years, plus all revenues from racetrack advertisement, all revenues from the Paddock Club, as well as the promise of the majority of advertising revenues off the racetrack. According to Ecclestone's way of doing business, local promoters would have to undertake all the financial risk while Bernie and Formula One Administration Limited got to reap all the profits. That's not a negotiation; that's extortion

The thing is, the crotchety old billionaire, rumoured to have once said "You can have anything you like, as long as you pay too much for it" is used to having his way and can afford to extort governments eager to woo him and his Formula One circuit. The newest racing site to be added on to the 2009 calendar in the United Emirates is expected to be an ultra-luxurious fantasy land that cost close to $600 M to build! These new facilities make our tired, patched-up and groundhog-littered Circuit Gilles Villeneuve seem positively provincial in comparison! Even with $5.5 M spent last year in upgrading the track, it still wouldn't even remotely rival what is currently being built to accommodate Ecclestone and his mechanical thoroughbreds. We should have spent that money in patching up our own roads. You know… the ones me and you drive on every single day!

In one of Tremblay's finer moments (and he doesn't seem to have too many of those lately) he and everyone involved in trying to come to some sort of agreement, wisely decided it was time to pull the plug on an event that has been part of Montreal culture for 30 years. Its demise will no doubt be a hard pill to swallow by the city's restaurants, hotels, bars and boutiques who looked forward to this international event and the $75 M it pumped into the local economy, but given the current worldwide financial situation it would have been complete madness to kowtow to such ridiculous demands.

While regrettable in terms of financial repercussions, the outcome is far from tragic for Montreal's image. Some F1 fans may be lamenting Montreal's loss as a "trendy, worldly, sexy" city, but that's narrow-minded thinking to say the least. Montreal is and always has been trendy, worldly and sexy because it follows the beat of its own drum. Our artists, our culture, our food, our music, our love of life have nothing to do with an annual weekend frat party and the jet set of under-dressed Euro trash glitterati that descend into town to throw their money around in their usual tacky, tasteless way that the Nouveau Riche are known for.

Sure, we'll miss their money, but we would have missed the money we would have had to shell out to get them here even more. Good riddance to Ecclestone and his delusions of Grand…eur.