Formula One boss calls Plante on the carpet
No one could read this piece without seeing it as the top boss of Formula One calling Mayor Plante on the carpet for perceived failures at this year’s event, notably the rain on Friday, and the track invasion at the end of the race by fans. No mention of terrasses in this piece, though.
More on the story in Global.
Friday, QMI is really wallowing in the deep disgrace to the city occasioned by the race, and even La Presse has a look at it. Ironically, if you look around Formula One sites, some people are calling the actual race the best and most exciting of the season.
A tweet from Taylor C. Noakes on Friday is good: “this is starting to look a lot less like a Valerie Plante problem, and more a rich entitled assholes problem.”
CE 11:08 on 2024-06-14 Permalink
They’re blaming Plante for the rain??
I had some guests stay at my place for the rain so I hung out with them and other race fans and everyone seemed to agree that it was an excellent race (although everyone had very muddy shoes).
jeather 11:17 on 2024-06-14 Permalink
I too had friends in for the race, and they said it was a good race. I even watched some of the Saturday stuff on tv. That said leaving the race was a huge fucking mess, I think it took them almost 2 hours in line on Saturday to get into the metro. I saw pictures of it, looked very unpleasant.
Bert 14:18 on 2024-06-14 Permalink
Without knowing specifics of the contracts and operations, I think it a bit unfair to directly blame the Mayor. Every time I have been, security is handled by private firms and thus I would guess is the responsibility of the actual organizer. But what do I know.
It was a great race!
As to the 2 hour wait for the Metro, that is to be expected, particularity if you leave immediately after the main event. That is one of the reasons that they have support races before and after most sessions. One time I went I actually walked the JC bridge, I think to the Pap Metro station. I was there a couple of years ago, and even on the Friday, after all the sessions (I am a big race fan) the wait was still like 2 hours. It is what it is. I don’t know if the STCUM allows alternate operation from Metro PJD, such as closer train spacing, etc.
Kate 14:21 on 2024-06-14 Permalink
So long as the race is being held on Île Notre‑Dame, there’s bound to be a bottleneck when everyone wants to leave at the same time. That’s been true since long before Valérie Plante was mayor, and there’s little or nothing she can do to fix it. But there are columnists and commentators who really want to bring her down, one of my favourite canards lately being that she caused the Peel Street terrasse fiasco on purpose because she “hates cars.”
jeather 15:01 on 2024-06-14 Permalink
I wasn’t blaming her for the metro issue — I know part of it was the Pit Bull concert cancellation too — though I do think they should try something else. A special shuttle bus? I also don’t know if they can do more trains on that line. On Sunday they took the river shuttle instead, where they did put on extra crossings, though that’s not a lot of people. I know to a certain extent this kind of thing is inevitable at the end of an event, but I suspect it could have been alleviated some. (And it wasn’t like they were the last people off the island, the two hour wait was longer for others.)
Other than her stance on the police, I’m generally happy with Plante as a mayor.
Ian 17:34 on 2024-06-14 Permalink
I blame PM for lots of stuff but it never once crossed my mind to blame them for the weather, let alone Plante individually. That’s some next level “old man yells at clouds” behaviour.
Kate 20:09 on 2024-06-14 Permalink
Ian, are you telling me that Valérie Plante couldn’t’ve put a big Tempo up over Île Notre‑Dame if she really wanted to?