Another article that acknowledges the problems facing the Montreal race:
wheels.ca
June 18, 2016
Wheels Editor Norris McDonald is in Montreal and discovers the future of the Grand Prix du Canada is suddenly in doubt.
MONTREAL –
...I know that a year ago there was a grand announcement of a new, 10-year deal that would keep the race in Montreal through 2025. But there were several pieces of the puzzle missing when that announcement was made.
Most notable was the absence of anyone from Formula One or the FIA, which governs world motorsport. True, Bernie Ecclestone, who runs F1, issued a news release in which he said how happy he was that Canada would remain in the fold.
But the announcement of the 10-year extension was made about 25 metres away from Ecclestone’s paddock compound and it might have taken him a minute – or less – to walk over and say how pleased as punch he was in person.
But that didn’t happen and now the mayor of Montreal, Denis Coderre, who made the good-news announcement a year ago, is apparently dragging his feet on a key element of the new deal, a $33-million investment in infrastructure by 2017 that would see the F1 paddock at Circuit-Gilles Villeneuve enlarged and permanent structures constructed to include indoor plumbing to replace the current, 2016-model, outhouses.
Mr. Coderre, whose city is on the hook for the cash and the improvements, isn’t saying much. But there are no plans on file for this project (so far as anybody knows) and even if construction started next Monday, one day after this year’s race will be over, it would likely not be finished in time for next June, a key condition for the race to continue...
...Time will tell, as they say. But there are storm clouds on the horizon and the clock is ticking.