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‘I don’t know how I survived’: Remembering D-Day, 75 years later
Canadian Bob Roberts was among the first soldiers to land on Juno beach the morning of June 6, 1944, one of 14,000 Canadians that took to the shores of Normandy in the massive Allied invasion that turned the tide of the Second World War.
“I was never brought up for killing people. Thinking back now, I don’t know how I survived it,” Roberts said in a video message that began a ceremony in Portsmouth, the British city which was a key launching point for the ships. More than 300 D-Day veterans were in attendance, along with the Queen and world leaders.
Canadian Bill Wilson, 94, served as an anti-aircraft gunner. “They say these guys are heroes,” he said, pointing to the other veterans. “The heroes are buried over there [in France]. When those guys landed, they did so for a cause. They didn’t have to.”
Journalist Heidi Legg writes about the importance of remembering, as the number of veterans dwindles: “if you are not a history buff, nor the grandchild of a storytelling veteran, how will we remember? How do we ensure we never forget what others did for us to live in the promise of democracy and individual freedom?”
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Raptors roar ahead of Warriors with a 123-109 win in Game 3 of NBA finals
The Toronto Raptors beat the Golden State Warriors 123-109 in Game 3 yesterday night, pulling ahead in the NBA Finals with a 2-1 lead.
The Raptors dominated the Warriors almost the entire game: Kawhi Leonard led scoring on the Raptors side with 30 points followed by Kyle Lowry with 23 points, and the team collectively scored 17 three-pointers. With Golden State missing both Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant due to injuries, Steph Curry’s 47-point game couldn’t pull them ahead. “The well-balanced Toronto Raptors couldn’t be beat,” Rachel Brady writes from California.
The teams will face off in Oakland again this Friday for Game 4, before the series shoots back to Toronto for Monday’s Game 5.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Consumers want greener alternatives to single-use plastic in grocery stores, but they aren’t willing to pay for it, a new study from Dalhousie University has found. New research shows that many shoppers now regard environmental degradation as a more important issue than food safety – but the latter is still a priority for big food retailers like Loblaws and Metro as they attempt to balance it with other factors, such as cost. On Monday, Ottawa will reveal a federal strategy to reduce plastic waste.
Enbridge Inc. will need to set a date for the shutdown of a major crude oil pipeline or face legal action, the state of Michigan has warned. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she will work with the company to “identify a firm date," but if negotiations don’t come to fruition by the end of the month, Attorney-General Dana Nessel says she is prepared to take legal action. The 66-year-old line runs underwater beneath the Straits of Mackinac, and ships more than half of the crude oil that arrives in the Sarnia region of Ontario. (for subscribers)
Elections Canada will be hiring social media “influencers” in an attempt to increase the turnout rate of young voters in the coming federal election. The $650,000 campaign will be used to pay 13 social-media stars – including athletes, singer-songwriters and popular YouTubers – to promote the importance of voting. Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault told The Globe and Mail that he understands such campaigns are politically sensitive, but that influencers who seemed overly partisan were weeded out early on in the process and the final choices were required to sign agreements that they will remain neutral.
Students and teachers are celebrating the new Toronto District School Board dress code for its inclusionary philosophy. The board was motivated to action after dozens of students came forward with negative stories of dress code enforcement during a community consultation period in 2018. The new guidelines aim to make dressing for school more equitable – the only restrictions are that a student’s face cannot be covered, clothing cannot be hateful, and nipples, buttocks and pubic areas must remain covered.
German bond yields plumbed new record lows on Thursday and U.S. treasury yields resumed their fall as renewed trade tensions doused a rally fuelled by hopes for more central bank stimulus ahead of a European Central Bank meeting. Sentiment had soured on a lack of progress in talks between U.S. and Mexican officials and President Donald Trump issuing a fresh threat to hit China with tariffs on “at least” another $300-billion worth of Chinese goods. Tokyo’s Nikkei inched down marginally, and the Shanghai Composite lost 1.2 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.3 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were up by between 0.5 and 0.7 per cent by about 4:45 a.m. ET. New York futures were up. The Canadian dollar was above 74.5 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
The opioid crisis has stunted Canadian life expectancy. Let that sink in
Abhimanyu Sud: “Gains in life expectancy over the past century are as much due to improvements in living standards, lifestyles and education as they are to improved health care. In this light, these new figures are telling us not just about health problems or our health care system but our development as a country. For the first time since Canadian soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy, Canadian social development has stalled.” Abhimanyu Sud is the director of Safer Opioid Prescribing at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine.
Beijing’s undiplomatic envoy goes, but will China send another like Lu?
Campbell Clark: “Certainly, Mr. Lu’s insults got under Canadian skin. But Chinese diplomats around the world are taking on a new, more assertive tone. Foreign policy under President Xi Jinping is explicitly unapologetic and assertive, and in practice, sometimes intimidating. This ambassador leaves as a symbol of that: Few diplomats are remembered for their insults.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Canadian Paediatric Society releases new digital screen-time guidelines for children and teens
How much time children and teens are spending in front of screens is important, but what they are doing on those screens is crucial, according to the Canadian Paediatric Society.
The society released their first guidelines on the use of digital media for children over five years old and teenagers, and while the moderation of screen time should still be a priority for parents, the CPS says, quality is the real focus. The new guidelines apply to children as young as 5 and teens as old as 19.
In an era of shifting norms on electronics, the CPD also offers advice to parents looking to better manage their children’s screen time, including making a firm family media plan and watching digital media with children whenever possible.
MOMENT IN TIME
First drive-in movie theatre opens
(Ullstein Bild via Getty Images)ullstein bild via Getty Images
June 6, 1933: The talkies had only been around for six years when Richard Hollingshead introduced the next big innovation in movie-going. The Camden, N.J., film buff, said to have been inspired by his mother – who found cinema seats uncomfortable – came up with the idea of an outdoor venue where audiences could watch from the comfort of their own cars. Hollingshead experimented in his driveway with various setups, including a projector mounted on the hood of his car and a screen tied to trees with speakers placed behind. A month after patenting his concept, the first cars pulled in to the Park-In Theater in Camden to see the British comedy Wives Beware. It would be another 13 years before the Skyway Drive-in – Canada’s first – opened its gates in Stoney Creek, Ont. By the 1950s, drive-ins were popping up all over both countries in tandem with the rise of North America’s car culture. Their popularity began to wane in the 1970s with the advent of VCRs, and the rising price of undeveloped suburban real estate saw many more drive-ins go dark. At their peak there were more than 4,000 in the United States and Canada; they now number in the low hundreds in the U.S. and about three dozen still operate in Canada. – Ian Morfitt
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