Good morning. To get ready for the 2024 Olympics, Paris is transforming the suburbs and the Seine – more on that below, along with Mr. Brexit’s rebrand and the places where refugees feel at home.
Today’s headlines
- Temporary residents jump to 2.8 million ahead of the government’s plans to restrict migration
- Canada has designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization
- Israeli tanks push deeper into Rafah, forcing people to flee again
Paris tries to remake a river.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Les Jeux
Swimming in the Seine? It’s a maybe
In five weeks, Paris plans to open the Olympic Games by sending a flotilla of athletes down the river – and then use that river as the venue for open-water swimming events. It’s not just a complex security operation but a bold environmental one, given that the Seine was declared “ecologically dead” in the 1970s. There’s also a sprawling suburb to turn into the centre of the action. Oh, and a snap election to get through first. I checked in with Paul Waldie, The Globe’s Europe Correspondent, to see how it’s all shaping up.
Back in April, you noted that enthusiasm for these Games was a bit lacking among the French. What’s the mood like in Paris now?
I think the mood hasn’t changed much. Polls show most Parisians remain unenthusiastic about the Olympics, but that could change once the Games start. The election and protests have also clearly shifted attention. But it’s unlikely that the outcome of the vote will affect the Olympics too much, given that they start in a month.
The plan for the opening ceremony is to float 10,000 athletes in 90 boats down a six-kilometre stretch of the Seine at sunset. How will they pull that off?
It’s a huge challenge and they’ve only had a couple of practices. This will be the first time the ceremony has been held outside the main stadium, and if they pull it off, it will be spectacular. The biggest challenge will be managing the crowd. More than 300,000 people are expected to line the riverbank, and security will be unreal. President Macron has indicated that the opening ceremony could be moved to the Stade de France if security becomes an issue, but for now, organizers insist it will go ahead. They’re running out of time to change it anyway.
France spent $2-billion to clean up the very, very polluted Seine – the fish are back, but will swimmers really get in the river?
It all depends on rainfall and testing. If the rain lets up and doesn’t overwhelm the water treatment centres, they could be okay. And officials have started testing the water regularly, so they have an idea. They’ve built in flexibility to postpone some events if pollution is too high, but they don’t have a lot of wiggle room. So they have to pray for good conditions, and so far, it’s not looking great.
Most of the Games will actually take place in the suburbs. You just went to Seine-Saint-Denis – what’s it like?
It’s a very large area – think Scarborough, Ont., or Surrey, B.C., on steroids – and extremely diverse. It’s home to 1.6 million people and some of the worst poverty in France. The government has tried for decades to help redevelop the region, with mixed results. The Olympics are yet another plan and much has been promised. But people are skeptical and wonder if the money is being well spent.
Construction in Seine-Saint-Denis.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Well, London has failed to deliver anything close to the affordable housing it promised after the Games. Will Seine-Saint-Denis residents benefit from all this Olympic construction?
It’s a similar game plan. The main stadium, swimming pool and velodrome for the 2012 Games were put in east London as part of a big redevelopment effort. The area around those sites and the Stratford train station are impressive. Lots of new condos, shops and restaurants. But beyond that, the rest of the region looks much the same. That’s the concern among people in Seine-Saint-Denis: that the Games will benefit a few people but not the overall community.
Are there going to be any Parisians in Paris next month?
They are leaving in droves. Just about everyone we met said they plan to leave or at least hunker down at home, to avoid the crush of people and traffic. But people in London said the same thing before the 2012 Games – then the Olympics started, the city came alive and it was one big party. So who knows.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. And stay tuned: The Globe will be on the ground in Paris for the entire Games.
The Shot
‘Where I was born, there was green everywhere.’
Sanjar, 34, from Tajikistan: 5,018 km and 6 years away from home.Anna Liminowicz for UNHCR
Nearly a million refugees now live in Poland. Photojournalist Anna Liminowicz had a simple question for a few of them: “What’s the place that reminds you of home?” Find their answers – and read about their journeys – here.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: Extreme heat contributed to nearly 700 deaths in Canada’s largest cities over 20 years – and that isn’t including the B.C. heat dome that killed 619 people in 2021.
Abroad: Tens of thousands of young men are fleeing Myanmar to avoid the ruling junta’s new conscription law, in what one analyst sees as “almost a total brain drain.”
This guy: Mr. Brexit Nigel Farage was once a fringe agitator. Now he’s leading a party that poses a serious threat to the U.K. Conservatives.
That guy: Former president Jacob Zuma – whose party came third in South Africa’s election – is cribbing from Donald Trump’s playbook of rigged-vote allegations and threats of violence.