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Flashback to 2003: Just when everything seemed lost ... 

A decision by Formula One to drop Montreal from its 2009 racing calendar may have caught promoters, tourism officials and politicians by surprise, but for the Canadian taxpayers who saw $12 million of their money spent in 2003 to keep the race here for three years, yesterday's announcement probably evoked an uneasy sense of déjà vu.

On Aug. 7, 2003, local Grand Prix promoter Normand Legault told reporters that Montreal had been dropped from the F1 calendar for 2004 because of federal and provincial laws that banned the advertisement of cigarettes - ads that appeared on cars competing in the race.

In the two weeks following that announcement, two things became clear. First, that business people were adamant the race - and the estimated $100 million it pumps annually into Montreal's economy - had to be saved. Second, federal and provincial politicians were equally determined that no public money would be spent to compensate a sporting event for obeying Canadian law. . . .

But on Nov. 18, Legault, accompanied by federal and provincial ministers, announced the race had been saved. Both levels of government had agreed to kick in $6 million each to compensate F1 for lost cigarette ad revenue. The use of public money was justified by the fact F1 had not benefited from a federal "transition fund" that had allowed other events financed by tobacco advertising to adjust their sources of revenue.

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