Residents and tourists alike excited for the return of the Montreal Grand Prix

The Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal is back this weekend, drawing in thousands of tourists for the largest sports tourism event in the country.

One of downtown Montreal’s most famous nightlife streets has been turned over to pedestrians this weekend, but it’s not part of Mayor Valérie Plante’s much-publicized campaign to calm traffic in the city.

The Canadian Grand Prix, the unofficial kickoff to Montreal’s summer festival season, is back, and most people on Crescent Street Friday were ogling high-priced cars and checking out booths with Formula One-themed activities. On nearby Ste-Catherine Street, sports cars roared by as drivers unleashed their inner F1 driver.

Residents and tourists alike are excited for the return of the race, but some are more enthusiastic than others.

Interviewed on Crescent Street, Christophe Philibert and Lauren Cinq-Mars said they appreciate the tourism dollars the event brings to the city, but they wish the surrounding festivities would put more emphasis on electric vehicles. Philibert pointed to the irony of making a downtown street pedestrians-only to celebrate turbocharged cars “going in circles.”

“Pushing green energy and green cars would be a better way to integrate it into the city’s values” of sustainable mobility, Cinq-Mars added.

Kassandra Tremblay says working in a downtown shop has helped her come to appreciate an event she once disliked.

“I thought it was a bit annoying and too loud,” she said. Now Tremblay recognizes the benefits and is even excited to see drivers revving their engines on Ste-Catherine Street. “Surely for locals it can be annoying,” she admitted. “It’s a bit of a 50-50.”

The Grand Prix draws thousands of tourists each year — a Quebec cabinet minister has called it the “largest sports tourism event in Canada” — but it comes at a significant cost to taxpayers. Since 2017, the governments of Quebec and Canada have committed over $100 million to keep the race in Montreal through 2031.