Municipal election looms over controversial Formula E race

Mayor Denis Coderrehailed the City of Montreal for its "audacity"in hosting the upcoming Formula E electric-car race,an event that is quickly turning into a de-facto referendum on his vision for the city.

Coderre's political rivalshave accused him of misusing taxpayer dollars to host the event, while business owners say they're losing money and residents complain it's disrupting the city.

"Of course it takesaudacity, of course it takes sacrifices," Coderre said Tuesday in a news conference at City Hall.

"Should we have said no to this kind of event? Should we have let that happen?" he said. "Since when do werefuse challenges in Montreal? If we want to work inthecontext of this new culture ofelectrification, why wouldn't we try to take advantage of that?"

• Coderre defends $24M price tag of Montreal's Formula E race this summer

Montrealers should look at the raceas an investment ingreen technology and a showcase for the city on the world stage, he said.

"Let's have fun, let's be proud again.Montreal is on the map, it's an investment for the long term," he said.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre on Formula E

7 years ago

Duration 0:25

"To govern is to choose."

Coderrehas been talking about bringing a Formula E event to the city since at least the spring of 2015. He had originally planned to host an event for 2016, as awarm-up for the city's375thanniversary celebrations.

Montreal agreed to host the event for three years, with an option of holding it for three additional years.

"Give it a chance. This event, for me, is important," Coderresaid.

Municipal election nears

On Tuesday, ProjetMontralleaderValrie Plante Coderre'schief rival for City Hall held a news conference withseveral business owners who have been negatively affected by the event.

"To close the downtown, as thisadministration has chosen to do for the duration of Formula E, was a bad idea," she said.

Plante said if elected mayor inthe municipal elections in November, she'd move future Formula E races to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where she says they belong.

Coderrecountered by saying the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve would've needed modifications to host the Formula E, because the track usually hosts Formula One races, and those modifications would've cost tens of millions of dollars.

Plante was also critical of the cost of the event, and said that she'd renegotiate the city's deal with the race organizers. It was bad negotiating on Coderre'spart, she said, that led to the event's $24 million price-tag beingpaid by taxpayers.

The ProjetMontral leader added that the compensation offered by the cityto affected businesses ($2,000 each)isn't enough, especiallyafter the city spent $7.5million on new concrete barriers to line the race track.

• 'No economic argument' for spending $7.5M on Formula E concrete barriers, says city councillor

Coderre said that since the city has signed up to hold Formula E races for three years, with the option of three more, the cost of the barriers should be considered an investment, not an expense.

"This is an investment, this is a great investment for the future," he said.

"We are making sure that, at the end of the day, you will have some impact attached to it. It's not just a race, it's not just an event, it's ... a laboratory of experience, it's R and D, it's electrification and we truly believe that at the end of the day it's going to be another great success for Montreal."