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Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard (2) and Golden State Warriors centre Kevon Looney (5) battle for the ball during second-half basketball action in Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Toronto on Thursday, May 30, 2019.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press

Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

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Stand on guard for thee!

O Canada, our home and Raptors land,

True basketball, in all our hearts command!

With glowing eyes, we see Kawhi,

His jump shot strong and free,

Not far behind, Kyle Lowry runs

To stand on guard for thee!

Come, build our brand,

Gasol, Ibaka, Siakam!

O Canada, our guards stand tall for thee,

O Canada, Norm, Fred and Danny stand tall for thee!

Ron Charach, Toronto

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The occasion of the NBA Finals in Toronto is a proper time to honour the late, great Jack Donohue, a father to Canadian basketball and legendary head coach of Canada’s men’s Olympic basketball teams from 1972 to 1988.

Coach Donohue was one of the brightest and funniest men I ever met. I worked for a company in Toronto in the late 1990s, and we had a silly corporate pep rally at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. The saving grace of that experience was meeting Jack Donohue as the featured “motivational speaker.” I sat in the front row, and he proudly stated, “I was the coach at Power Memorial High School in New York City in the early 1960s. Who knows why that’s important?”

Naturally, and without hesitation, I piped up, “Wow, you were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s high school coach.” I was a stooge for a set-up, as he quickly replied, “That’s right and I was a genius – I won 108 straight games!”

That opener set the tone for one of the funniest, most inspiring talks I ever heard. The Raptors’ success is a tribute to his legacy, and Raptors fans should sing, “O Jack Donohue, we stand on guard for thee.”

H. Scott Prosterman, Oakland, Calif.

CBC: Cost, benefit

Re ‘We Want To Be The Masters Of Our Own Destiny:’ CBC Woos Advertisers In Push To Expand Commercial Revenue (May 30): Andrew Scheer is right to observe that the CBC devotes too much time to U.S. news. What happens in the U.S. is important to Canadians. The CBC cannot ignore that reality, but there has to be a balance. It is distressing to think important Canadian stories are not being aired because of an infatuation with shenanigans south of the border.

Having made that point, I expect the CBC to give as much weight to my (and Mr. Scheer’s) opinion as it does any other Canadian’s, no matter how humble or influential. The editorial independence of Canada’s public broadcaster is a sacred trust that must never be compromised.

I share Mr. Scheer’s concern about the CBC’s excessive dependence on commercial revenue. The unseemly genuflection of a CBC vice-president before advertising buyers is a troubling spectacle. It does violence to the CBC’s core purpose, which is to serve citizens, not commercial interests. But if we are to lament such a sad state of affairs, we must also understand how we got there and offer a fix.

The CBC became dependent on ad revenue long ago, at the insistence of politicians who cut its budget year after year. I urge the leaders of all federal parties, in the national interest, to endorse making all CBC information programming (news and current affairs) ad-free. It would require Parliament to make up the difference in lost revenue, but it could achieve two important objectives: more Canadian stories and less friction with private broadcasters.

Tony Manera, former president, CBC-Radio Canada; Ottawa

Big asks, big tells

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised the question of anti-abortion laws in the United States with visiting Vice-President Mike Pence (Trudeau’s Unsubtle Ploy To Import U.S. Abortion Fight – May 31). Campbell Clark asks: “How would Canadians view a U.S. vice-president who came to Canada to complain about this country’s abortion laws?”

I ask: How would Canadians view an American vice-president who came to Canada to tell us how to run our own security (Pence Urges Trudeau To Bar Huawei From 5G, May 31)? His government has already demanded Canada extradite a leading Huawei executive as a tool in Mr. Pence’s President’s trade war with China, making Canada’s relations with China collateral damage.

Now Mr. Pence tells us in Ottawa to ban Huawei.

Reg Whitaker, Victoria

Canada’s care crisis

Re Bedlam Over Beds: We Can No Longer Ignore Our Long-Term-Care Crisis (May 28): Four years in private, long-term care for my mother. No urine smells, no Jello, care workers who have time to wash her, smile, and treat her with respect. $10,000. A month.

We have no national strategy for dementia or aging, nor do we have decent standards of public care. So when her money runs out? Urine smells, plastic chairs, shared bathrooms, shared rooms, no activities, no dignity …

Cathryn Robertson, Bowen Island, B.C.

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André Picard is right to focus Canadians on the issue of housing and support for the increasing number of seniors who require these services. Growing inequality, and persistent and significant poverty rates mean market solutions aren’t feasible to meet this need. It is ironic that the market constructs longer life as an opportunity for corporate profits – which makes living longer a curse, rather than a blessing, for many.

Public policy has been key in increasing our longevity through public health, income support and health services. We need public policy to make this increase a benefit, rather than a burden.

Sid Frankel, associate professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba

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In the mid 1990s, acute-care hospital-bed capacity was cut by 30 per cent; of those beds that remain, 15 to 30 per cent are occupied by patients waiting for long-term care. Some provinces continue to cling to the mistaken belief that inappropriate use is the cause of crowding, and focus on diverting patients to walk-in clinics. British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec and New Brunswick seem to be the provinces keenest to uphold this mythological approach to health-care reform.

André Picard is right. Hallway medicine, and all its associated misery, is all about getting patients out of hospital and into more appropriate long-term-care beds, or at home with improved community supports.

Alan Drummond, co-chair, Public Affairs, Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians

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André Picard outlines the case of oldies who need care. He writes that the bulge of aging baby boomers, combined with head-in-the sand planning and lack of investment in care homes, has resulted in mind-boggling wait lists, crumbling infrastructure and catastrophic staffing shortages.

I’m one of those oldies, but fortunately in reasonable health, and not poor. It’s easy to see the need for elder care with 34,000 people on wait lists in Ontario alone. We’re living longer. For some of us, it’s too long. I suggest a remedy for those who want it. If youth can have drop-in centres, surely we seniors can have drop-out centres – a comfortable, staffed lounge where one can register a few days ahead of time, then drop in for a very strong drink, or a needle.

There may be a rush.

Helen Sinfield Hansen, Guelph, Ont.

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