Montreal Can't Compete on Formula 1 Level

Watching this week's Formula 1 race from China reminded me why Montreal is no longer able to compete as a venue, irrespective of the fact that the race here was one of the most popular on the racing calendar.

Take a look at the picture above of the beautiful Shanghai International Circuit, which is the most expensive Formula One circuit, costing upwards of $US240 million. (Soon, a new track in Abu Dhabi will far outspend that number).

It seems that certain emerging economies have decided to invest in Formula 1 in order to showcase their new economic clout and to make a statement that they have arrived into the big leagues. The races held in these countries lose millions of dollars each year for organizers, but that doesn't seem to matter at all.
While the economies of these nations have been hammered badly by the world economic downturn and the fall in oil prices, it doesn't seem to make a difference, the facilities have already been built and paid for and the venues enjoy long-term contracts with F1.

Here an aerial view of the magnificent facility in Bahrain;

and the one in Singapore.



But the grandaddy of them all is this Abu Dhabi facility called the Yas Marina Circuit. It's scheduled to open later this year and is rumored to cost over 1.5 billion US dollars!


It may be true that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal looks minor league compared to the above, but it does offer a cosmopolitan western city to host the event, something these new venues cannot provide.


Montreal's only hope of hosting a race again depends on the pressure brought to bear by the racing teams and their advertising sponsors, that the racing schedule include a return to North America. The caché of Formula 1 racing has suffered badly by the loss of the Canadian and French Grand Prixs.

Even though Montreal can never compete on an economic level, there are hopeful signs that racing will return. Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1's mercurial head honcho may be forced to grant a race in Montreal even if it means accepting much less money than from the other promoters.

At any rate, the city should stand firm in it's negotiations. They should be mindful of one of Bernie Ecclestone's favourite quotes;

"You can have anything you like, as long as you pay too much for it"

McDonalds Set to Whack Canadian Competitor

In a brazen marketing attack, American fast food giant McDonald's is taking on a Canadian coffee icon, Tim Hortons.

From April 20 until May 3, the Golden Arches will be offering its premium roast coffee for free.

Yup.... FOR FREE!!!!

The free coffee will be available between 5 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. every morning, with no other purchase necessary.
WOW!

The promotion aims to divert a percentage of the regular traffic lined up at the approximately 3,000 Tim Hortons across Canada towards the 1,400 McDonald's.

Will Canadians stand firm and resist the attack on a Canadian institution?

.........Not a chance!

Free coffee is free coffee!

Throw in a free McSomething and we'll give you our kids!

See the original story here.

Let's Hope Court Overturns FTQ Election Conviction

The largest of Quebec's labour unions, the FTQ (Quebec Federation of Labour) is appealing a court decision that has fined them for illegally contravening electoral law, in the provincial election campaign of 2003.

It isn't often (never) that I support their positions. The union, while not as radical as in the past, still represents a sovereignist/socialist view of Quebec.

That being said, the right of the union to take a political position and it's right to inform it's members and the general public of that position, should remain sacrosanct.

The Quebec Election Act puts controls on who may spend money in an election campaign and does so (according to them) in the interest of 'transparency' and to eliminate 'outside' interference. Political parties and their candidates are the sole entities entitled to raise and spend money in an election campaign and must do so according to strict limits placed upon them by the election act.

Under the law, it is illegal for a private citizen, a company or any organization to spend money in an election campaign. It's effect is rather chilling and clearly anti-democratic.

It is this part of the law, sections 413, 415 and 420, that the union is attacking as unconstitutional under the Canadian Charter of Rights and the Quebec Charter of Rights. It seems likely that the union will prevail.

The part of the law that forbids third party spending is inspired in part, by the Referendum Act of 1980.
Back then, as a prelude to the upcoming referendum on Quebec sovereignty, the Parti Quebecois passed a law that mandated that an official committee be set up for both the YES and NO sides and that no spending outside these committees be permitted. Furthermore, the funding would be equal for both sides and would be provided by the government. The law was enacted, not so much in the name of fairness, but rather to make sure that the federal government couldn't unduly influence Quebec voters.

In 1995, on the eve of the second referendum the sovereignist government set the spending limit of 5 million dollars for both the YES and NO committees.

During the referendum, a shadowy group called 'Option Canada' (funded largely by the federal government), intervened both financially and organizationally in the referendum. In the dying days of the campaign they organized a massive unity rally and bussed in thousands of people from outside the province in a show of federalist support. They were also involved in other assorted election shenanigans, including an effort that accelerated citizenship for new immigrants so that they could vote in the referendum.

Months later, when these actions became known, the sovereignist side went apoplectic, claiming that the referendum was 'stolen.' The No side was accused of illegally spending up to 5 million dollars. The Director General of Elections, Pierre F. Côté, filed 20 criminal charges of illegal expenditures against Option Canada.

While this was going on, the referendum law itself, became the subject of a legal challenge by Robert Libman, the then leader of the Equality Party (a small federalist provincial party). The case made it's way all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, where in 1997, the court ruled that the law was too restrictive. All charges against Option Canada were subsequently dropped.

With history and precedent on their side, let's hope that the FTQ wins their appeal.

Restricting public debate and comment by third parties in either an election or a referendum is not in the public interest. It enforces the unacceptable ideal, that only 'official' positions may be heard.

Whether we agree or disagree with the message of the FTQ, we need to defend their right to speak out publicly, on their own behalf.

If we don't defend their right to do, we will surely lose ours.

Why I Learned To Hate Aeroplan

Image via Wikipedia

Aeroplan is a travel reward program, formerly owned by Air Canada, up until it was sold off in an effort to raise cash in troubled times.
The program now runs independently, but is still closely identified with Air Canada.

Ever since the sale, I believe that Aeroplan has gone badly downhill, to the point where I wouldn't recommend membership to anyone, even for free.

That being my said, it was with great scepticism that I read the announcement by Aeroplan/Air Canada that they were making an additional 250,000 airline seats available to members, in the coming year. Link

An hour long search on the web-site confirmed my suspicions that nothing much has changed.

I've been a member of Aeroplan for over twenty years and until it's spin off from Air Canada, I had always been satisfied and in fact, adored the program. It offered an excellent level of service and the availability of reward flights at reasonable point levels was very gratifying.

Since my job in back in the day, required me to be on a plane twice a week, it made sense to remain loyal to Air Canada, racking up reward points that were truly valuable.

My wife and I would fly to Miami or Fort Lauderdale at a combined cost of 50,000 points. The flights were easy enough to book and were always nonstop, about three hours flying time from Montreal. You didn't have to book months in advance and the choices available then, make today's offerings look like table scraps.

Try to book that same reward today at Aeroplan and you'll find that it's well nigh impossible.

A search by myself yesterday (even with the 250,000 new seats) for flights to those same destinations and ranging up to ten months in advance provided a choice of unattractive flights, on precious few dates, the majority, not worth taking, even for free.

Dates were extremely limited and none of the flights were non-stop or direct. All required transfers via Toronto or Ottawa and no trip took less than six hours, most averaging between seven and eight hours.
In fact, one of the available itineraries required an overnight hotel stay and took an amazing 18 hours of travel time to complete!

Aeroplan has also introduced measures that reduce the value of your points by creating something called "Extra Access Flight Rewards" whereby the better flight options are offered at significantly more points, sometimes more than double!

What does Aeroplan say about these seats"

"They allow you to redeem extra miles to get more access to the flights you really want. These seats are beyond the original 3.5 million seats available for Aeroplan Members, so they are often offered at higher mileage levels, based on demand and market value. Get the flights you want, when you want them."

Like all other affinity programs, Aeroplan makes distinctions between membership types and those people at the top echelon are granted better options and rewards. For those of us who are not 'super-duper-elite-platinum-titanium' members, the pickings are decidedly slim.

Aeroplan's revamped website is also a step backward and is maddeningly slow and difficult to use. If you're a Mac user, you are dutifully informed that they can't be bothered to support the operating system because 'Aeroplan members are 90% PC users,' (For Quebec anglos, this is a painfully familiar scenario.)
As most Mac users can confirm, this access problem has practically disappeared from the the Internet and Aeroplan remains one of the last dinosaurs not to support multiple platforms and browsers.

I heartily suggest that if you spend over 10K a year on your credit card, you get a travel reward card from one of the big banks.
The cards usually cost around a $100 dollars a year, but offer significant travel advantages. Typically, they offer signing bonus' of up to twenty thousand points. That means that you automatically qualify for a short hop flight and you can earn a ticket to say, Florida, by spending as little a five thousand dollars on the card. The beauty of these programs is that the airline ticket is purchased for you, in the open market, from any airline and for any time, subject only to airline availability.

For a great website to compare which credit travel reward program best suits you, try this- creditcards.ca

Another great resource is- points.com, where you can track all your reward points in multiple programs and learn everything you need to know about them. You can also trade points with others!

The Great Panhandler Debate

When it comes to panhandlers, everybody has an opinion. Some people always give money and some people never give them a dime.

Gone are the days of the offensive squeegee punks, today's panhandlers are polite and respectful, even if you don't give them anything. It's as if they went to the special panhandling school of charm.
They are mindful how they dress, not in rags, but in clothing that gives the appearance of need. They all display that same cardboard sign, with a handwritten message of that screams of desperation.

I'm generally not impressed. There's a urban myth out there that says they make hundreds of dollars a day....Dunno.

Me, I fall on the side of the 'GETTA JOB!' crowd, those who give nothing. I'm also no fan of the indigent young punks and old rubbies that make up the majority of those who extort money at strategic intersections.

However, this un-typical panhandler, pictured above, got my attention.
She didn't fit the usual profile and her message on the sign was compelling.

"I have 2 Kids
No Work
No Money for Food and Diapers
Help Me! God Bless!"

My usually cold heart thawed momentary and I gave her a Toonie.

She was dutifully respectful, bowed and offered me a 'Gawd bless you'.

You know, it made me feel pretty good. Sort of superior, in a perverse way.

A kilometer later, I turned into the Blue Bonnets shopping centre was struck by the many 'HELP WANTED" signs that propagated the site.

...and I thought back to the panhandler's sign:

"I Don't Have Work"

Grrr.....I want my two bucks back!!!!!