Do you remember Ottawa's failed $20 million scheme back in January 2000 to subsidize NHL teams It was an absurd policy proposal that lasted 72 hours before being yanked due to overwhelming national outrage. Well, the feds, soon to be led by Paul Martin - along with Jean Charest's Liberals in Quebec - have gassed up a new offensive proposal which seems to be "racing ahead."

Yesterday, federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon along with Quebec's Municipal Affairs Minister Jean-Marc Fournier grinned for the cameras as each announced a $6 million, three-year contribution form their respective governments to the Montreal Grand Prix during a news conference at a downtown Montreal hotel. That's $12 million in taxpayer dollars to finance burnt rubber, exhaust fumes and noise pollution. Is this Kyoto compliant

The 2004 Montreal Grand Prix was cancelled earlier this summer because a stringent federal law which prohibits tobacco companies from sponsoring/advertising at sports and cultural events went into effect this past October. And the largest sponsor of Formula One (F1) racing teams is big tobacco.

Business leaders and race organizers were panicked that Montreal had lost a race which reportedly generates up to $80 million (an unverified figure) in local spin-off benefits. But if this event is really worth $80 million, why don't the folks who make this money (hotels, restaurants, etc.) pony up the $12 million themselves It's 600% plus return on investment.

The fact that the sponsorship prohibition was seven years in the making is lost on our politicians. Ditto for the fact that F1 racing is a multi-billion dollar global sports entertainment empire. Instead of planning well in advance for their rainy day, race organizers and local business leaders instead made a bee-line for the Bank of Taxpayers for emergency financing. Sadly this bank employs the worst loan officers in existence: spineless politicians.

After months of lobbying, the taxpayer cheque - $12 million in total - was cut yesterday. Sound public policy was stuck in the pits with a flat while stupidity supreme revved its engine, won the time trial and took the pole position with the feds and Quebec behind the wheel.

Defenders of this odious scheme call it a good investment. Their logic is as follows: The race generates millions of dollars for the Montreal economy which turns into business profits which are then taxed to pay for things like health care and education. Indeed, Minister Fournier raised this maternelle-level (that's junior kindergarten in French) economic argument yesterday.

If we follow this argument through, then governments should not only subsidize car races and aerospace companies, but corner stores, drycleaners, restaurants, and every other profit making entity known to humankind as well, because they generate tax revenues. Heck, let's just ditch capitalism, risk taking and private investment altogether and opt for a Ministry of Production and Commerce to control everything, with five year plans, etc., since it worked so well for the command and control regimes in Eastern Europe and former Soviet bloc - not!

As ludicrous as Mr. Fournier's musings were, Martin Cauchon did even more damage by telling Canadians - according to wire reports - that both Prime Ministers, Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, had signed off on this deal. Does Paul Martin truly believe that $6 million in corporate welfare for an F1 race in a city where he sits as an MP is a responsible use of tax dollars And are Canadians prepared to accept another Trudeau salute from their federal government (like the hockey subsidies fiasco) Instead of the democratic deficit, Mr. Martin might want to focus on his own gaping policy deficit.