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Let's let Canadians decide on their own how much fun their money buysLast updated 53 minutes ago You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.Mercedes' Italian driver Kimi Antonelli and Williams' Spanish driver Carlos Sainz drive in pit lane during the 2026 Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada, on May 24, 2026. Photo by Cristobal Herrera Ulashkevich/POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesI’ve never been a big Formula 1 racing fan. It’s too hard to tell the cars apart, though the little floating name tags TV now puts on them do help. And it’s like horse racing: the driver isn’t the real athlete. This weekend’s F1 race in Montreal featured a duel between two Mercedes cars, which suggests the real stars this year are Mercedes engineers. To test the drivers fairly, they should each get a turn in every car. As baseball great Larry Walker said when he came second to Jacques Villeneuve for 1997 Canadian athlete of the year: “I lost to a car.”Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorWhat’s undeniably fun, though, is watching the on-track billboard ads whiz by as the cars roar their way around the circuit. Some noteworthy ones this year: Aramco (the, ahem, Saudi oil company), Louis Vuitton (luxury fashion), Moët et Chandon (champagne), Las Vegas (we don’t actually know because what goes on there stays there), Qatar Airways (luxury travel), MSC Cruises (more luxury travel), allwyn (gaming and lotteries), crypto.com (same sort of thing, with money no one understands), and so on. When Mercedes driver George Russell’s engine blew on the 30th lap he ended up parked in front of a big American Express ad. I wonder if the extra eyeballs thus generated made anybody any money.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againIt’s clear F1 is targeting people who aren’t greatly troubled by the affordability crisis. But isn’t it nice every once in a while to see redistribution toward the top of the income ladder? For among the race’s “funding partners” were the governments of Montreal, Quebec and Canada. (Quebec’s trackside billboards read only “bonjour québec” — not “bonjour/hi québec,” though the province presumably wants the money of non-francophone visitors, too.) Funding entertainment aimed at the deserving rich is outside-the-box redistribution.Our governments claim that funding F1 and similar events (e.g., soccer’s World Cup) makes them money. In fact, F1 mainly seems to be a taxpayer subsidy to the Montreal hotel industry. Nothing against hotels but if they can’t make money without the freedom the subsidies give them to jack up prices to F1 levels one weekend a year, they should try something else for a living.Governments claim there’s a net economic benefit from the big events they sponsor but if you’re mainly persuading either locals or “casual non-locals” who would visit anyway, to spend their money on F1 instead of something else, all you’re really doing is reallocating people’s entertainment dollar: F1 gets it; others, including local providers, don’t. Where’s the logic in that?But even if F1 does attract visitors who wouldn’t otherwise come here and they do drop dollars, since when did government get into the business of trying to make money by promoting sports extravaganzas? Better they stick to what they’re supposed to do: fix the damn potholes and get the three R’s into our kids’ heads.The customarily sensible Cathal Kelly, one of the country’s best sportswriters along with our own Steve Simmons, says in this regard that we have a national obligation to take our turn every so often in these money-devouring international fests, even if they chronically overspend budgets that are bloated to begin with.I’m not sure why. NATO devours money, too, but has a much clearer and more serious rationale and yet for years we obviously felt fine about not paying our fair share and probably would have happily continued shirking unless a certain U.S. president had finally started imposing consequences for our delinquency.Kelly says the alternative to ponying up to those running — and often profiting very nicely from — the World Cup, Olympics and such-like is that we save our cash and “sit around on top of it, like a nation of bridge trolls.” Rather, “the point of a government is to, within reason, maximize the amount of fun in its citizens’ lives.”A couple of things about that:First, it’s our money and if sit on it is what we decide to do with it, who’s anyone to say we shouldn’t?But, second, if I’m seeking after fun, Parliament or the local provincial legislature is not the place I’d go looking. If Canadians got back the money our governments currently spend overriding taxpayers’ own preferences about what they’d like to do with it, I bet we’d all go out and support all sorts of interesting and in many cases, yes, even fun activities. They might be smaller and less organized but, you know, that might make them even more fun than the over-hyped, over-produced, over-spent global-paloozas that allow our puffed-up politicians to rub shoulders with and bask in the reflected glory of worldwide celebrities like F1 drivers and Premier League soccer players. Let our little would-be demigods hobnob on their own dime. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.