Yukon Premier meets with US president-elect Donald Trump’s son
President-elect
Donald Trump, left, his then-chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg,
center, and his son Donald Trump Jr., right, during a news conference
at Trump Tower in New York. (AP/Evan Vucci, File)Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai has met with Donald Trump Jr., the son of Donald Trump, the U.S. president-elect.
In a press release sent out on Dec. 23, Pillai said he met with Trump Jr. on Dec. 21, in North Carolina.
Pillai said he and Trump Jr. talked “about the many ways that Canada and the United States – and the Yukon and the United States – can further deepen our already strong partnership.”
The statement goes on to say that at a recent Council of the Federation (COF) meeting, which took place on Dec. 16 in Toronto, Canada’s premiers decided to begin outreach with American contacts.
“Following the COF meeting, Mr. Trump and I took the opportunity to discuss concerns about proposed tariffs on Canadian imports to the United States, which would harm jobs, affordability, investment and supply chains on both sides of the border,” Pillai said in the statement.
Pillai thanked Trump Jr. for his generosity, and said that he looks forward to continuing conversations that will improve security, prosperity and resilience in both Canada and the United States.
According to a release published on Dec. 16 by the Council of the Federation, Premiers will be embarking on a mission trip south of the border in February “to further cement ongoing work to build strong U.S. partnerships.”
Contact Talar Stockton at talar.stockton@yukon-news.com
Letter: Open letter to CBC Yukon
The Yukon Chamber of Mines (YCM) was pleased to see that corrections were made to your online story (Canada and U.S. Department of Defence invest $35M in the Yukon's Mactung mine | CBC News). This recent announcement of Canadian and US government funding for preconstruction work associated with infrastructure related to Fireweed Metals’ Mactung and MacPass projects is a significant positive for both the Yukon’s mining industry and the territory as a whole; as it will support improvements to the North Canol Road – a public route – that is in need of upgrades.
While we are pleased to see the corrections, we are extremely disappointed they had to be made in the first place. As a public broadcaster, the CBC owes Yukoners and Canadians a standard of journalism that is factual, fair and balanced. The initial CBC Yukon story failed on all three counts by making inappropriate, unfounded and deliberately inflammatory linkages to potential uses of metals from Mactung, and through numerous factual errors in reporting that cast the proponent, project and industry in a poor light. This damaged the reputation of one of our members and implied there should not be investment in Yukon critical minerals. This would be unacceptable in any journalistic endeavour and is especially egregious from Canada’s public broadcaster. Despite the corrections made, the article continues to include a photograph of a “missile launch” that has no relation whatsoever to the project and continues to include a quote which references a “link between this mine and missile production” without any note that this supposed “link” is unfounded.
We trust CBC will accurately report on our industry in the future. The YCM is always available to comment on news and provide factual information about our industry. We will be there to assist you with accurate reporting and will be correcting the record should your reporting fail to meet journalistic standards.
Jonas Smith
executive director
Yukon Chamber of Mines
Can't give them away: Vintage upright pianos are meeting a sorry end
‘The era for old uprights is coming to a close,' P.E.I. tuner says with regret
Janine
Gosbee was surprised there were no takers for her vintage upright
piano, 'considering I'm trying to give it away for free.' (Laura Meader/CBC)Scroll through an online for-sale site like Kijiji or Facebook Marketplace and you will almost always spot old upright pianos on offer, either for free or for a very, very low price.
The wooden pianos can be beautiful, but the ads tend to stay up a while because the instruments are very heavy to move and often out of tune.
"At one point in time, I thought at least every other home had a piano, because I could drive down the street and say, 'I've been there, I've been there, I've been there,'" says Mike Klomp, who has been tuning and repairing pianos on Prince Edward Island for more than 35 years.
Klomp used to take free upright pianos, fix them up and sell them. Now he won't take them, because there is no market for them.
"I couldn't even resell it, because the amount that I would have to put into it would exceed the amount I would ever get for it. It's unfortunate," he said.
Space is an issue
Janine Gosbee of Cornwall, P.E.I., was given an old upright a few years ago, when her daughter started learning piano. But now her daughter is in a school band program, and has dropped piano lessons.
Gosbee has had the piano listed as free for several weeks — but the ad has garnered only three lukewarm inquiries.
Sometimes furniture makers or crafters can reuse parts of old pianos, including the cabinet or keys. (Laura Meader/CBC)
"Most of them were actually just asking about the measurements of the piano for a place to put it in their home. So that's kind of an issue too — just people having the space in their home for it," Gosbee said.
She is surprised there's so little interest in a free piano, speculating that fewer people might be learning to play, or those who do play are opting for electronic keyboards that are light and portable.
There was a big explosion in manufacturing and selling upright pianos in the 1920s, '30s and '40s, Klomp said. Many people were taught to play as part of a well-rounded education, and the pianos were a social hub in many homes in the days before radio and TV sets took hold.
But now, more and more of those pianos have reached the end of their usefulness, and people are having a hard time finding places for them.
'Send them to the dump'
Klomp said people usually put the old uprights in two places: online, or in a landfill.
"They will advertise them as free pianos, so they won't have to spend money on moving them, or they will send them to the dump," he said. "Some will donate them to churches, schools, different places, but the problem is those places, I've seen churches with five pianos, and they only use one."
'I
would love to have hope for a piano, but pianos do have a lifespan,'
says Mike Klomp, who's been tunring and repairing pianos on P.E.I. for
35 years. 'I would like to see them somehow saved, but cost is generally
the thing.' (Laura Meader/CBC)
Klomp said when he started years ago, he spent 60 per cent of his time tuning old upright pianos. Now, he spends about 60 per cent of his time tuning newer Yamaha uprights.
Some of the old pianos simply need a tuning, which costs less than $200 per year. But if they haven't been tuned annually, or P.E.I.'s varying humidity has damaged them, Klomp says it could take $1,000 to $5,000 just to repair one to the point it would be tunable.
"I just tuned one that was 120 years, and it was still viable, but just viable," he said.
This
old upright was dumped by the roadside in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Many
vintage pianos are meeting an ignominious end like this. (Kris Ketonen/CBC)
He advises anyone interested in acquiring a vintage upright piano to do the research to find out if it's worth the effort and cost of moving it.
"It is buyer beware, or taker beware. You really need to know before you move a piano that it's even viable to tune," he said.
I just want it to go to a home that will love it as much as we loved it.
— Pat MacKinnon
A lack of space to accommodate her growing family led Pat MacKinnon of Dunstaffnage to post her family's piano online for free, but she hasn't found a taker yet either.
She estimates the instrument to be about 150 years old. It's been in MacKinnon's home for about 30 years, handed down by her parents.
Pat
MacKinnon of Dunstaffnage, P.E.I., posted her family's piano online for
free because she doesn't have the space in her home for it anymore. (Laura Meader/CBC)
She doesn't want to see the piano scrapped — she said it might need to be tuned, but it's in good condition and still has some life left.
"As time passes, I know that I'm not using the piano, none of my children have space for the piano, and I just want it to go to a home that will love it as much as we loved it," MacKinnon said.
"It would make me really happy to know that some little boy or girl — or even some person who would like to have a piano and really can't afford a new one — would take it in their home, love it and play it."
Klomp said new acoustic pianos are still being made and have become more popular than the old uprights.
"I would say that the era for old uprights is coming to a close," he said. "The inevitability is that one day, those pianos will be gone… The ones that have musical value — yeah, I'm sad about those."
'Maybe it shouldn't leave'
Gosbee said if there are no takers for her free piano, she will hang onto it for a few years in the hope that someone will eventually take it.
In the meantime, her daughter's interest has been rekindled, at least temporarily.
"Now that it's Christmas, she actually started playing the Christmas carols again, and she started teaching her little brother a little bit, so I don't know, now I'm kind of like, 'Maybe it shouldn't leave,'" Gosbee said.
With files from Laura Meader
A piano tuner will be as rare as a Carburetor tuner.
David Amos
Reply to Gary Wheeler
We are nearly extinct
Nav Saloojee
Reply to David Amos
If climate change doesn't get us, AI will.
David Amos
Reply to Nav Saloojee
I am just old Thats all there is to it
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: David Amos <myson333@yahoo.com>
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2024 at 03:35:49 PM AST
Subject: Like the seeeBeeeCeee, couldn't give it away if you tried.
ersations, full names will appear with each submission to CBC's online communities. CBC does not endorse the opinions expressed in comments.
Comments are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. To learn more about commenting, visit our Getting Started guide or the CBC Help Centre.
All Comments
Corey Raine
Please DO NOT donate your old pianos to your local museum. Our local museum, in a town of 7000 people, has 14 pianos sitting in storage that they can't do anything with. Because they are donations, they have no choice but to hold onto them. They are prevented from selling or throwing them out. Not a single one is of any value, people just thought because it's old it would be a nice thing to donate. It's not! It's a nightmare and tax payers are paying for their storage.
David Amos
Reply to Corey Raine
Too Too Funny Now I suspect more people will do just exactly that
Steven Tyler
Hmmm.... an industry that is being replaced by more-modern technology, and the old ways are becoming extinct and unnecessary. Sounds like a group that recently went on strike, doesn't it?
David Amos
Reply to Steven Tyler
Yup
David Gray
Disassemble and recycle what parts you can, junk the rest. There, it's gone. An alternative to dumping it on the side of the road and making it someone else's problem.
hs fisher
Reply to David Gray
they do not come apart very easily
Elliott Stranger
Reply to
Burn the wood off and then recycle the metal.
Drop it several times to get the wood to remove itself from the metal.
Get a bigger hammer.
Elliott Stranger
Reply to
That road beside the train tracks looks a bit remote. It probably took as much effort to dump the piano there as it would take to get it to a dump site.
Ingrid Raudsepp
Reply to
Yeah, I'll get right on that in my basement where the piano is..
David Amos
Reply to
When I was a kid my parents saved up to buy my sister a piano but it never made it home My Father's buddy took a turn too fast with his pickup truck and when that piano hit the road it blew apart
Steve Peacock
This is not news.
hs fisher
Reply to Steve Peacock
it is for some, brings back memories. Read another article
Ingrid Raudsepp
Reply to Steve Peacock
Many would disagree with you.
David Amos
Reply to Ingrid Raudsepp
I am one
Elliott Stranger
Reply to Steve Peacock
There’s always at least one of you that can’t manage to find an article they are interested in. Weird.
William B B Williams
Much like our vintage prime minister who’s also meeting a sorry end, great article
David Amos
Reply to William B B Williams
Surely you jest
Ingrid Raudsepp
I think this is so sad. We have an upright piano that looks exactly like the one in the first pic above. Impossible to get rid of.
David Amos
Reply to Ingrid Raudsepp
Perhaps I should plant a line of them at an angle on my property like that dude in Texas did with Caddys with tail fins and call it art
Will Cole
Like the seeeBeeeCeee, couldn't give it away if you tried.
Richard Henschel
Reply to Will Cole
And yet you are here...
Steve Brockhouse
Reply to Will Cole
Of course not, it is far too valuable to be given away.
Gregory Pittaway
Reply to
Well not to guys who think Rebel is an actual news source.
David Amos
Reply to Gregory Pittaway
What say yo of the Canadian Press?
David Amos
Reply to David Amos
Trump says he urged Wayne Gretzky to run for Canadian prime minister in Christmas visit
Trump added that it would be 'fun to watch' if Canadians launched a movement to get the retired hockey player to seek office
The Canadian Press
Ingrid Raudsepp
Reply to David Amos
ugh.
David Amos
Reply to Ingrid Raudsepp
How about the Yukon News???
Yukon Premier meets with US president-elect Donald Trump’s son
The premier of the Yukon met with Donald Trump's son in North Carolina on Dec. 21, according to a statement
Talar Stockton, Local Journalism Initiative
Ingrid Raudsepp
Reply to David Amos
ugh.
David Amos
Reply to Ingrid Raudsepp
National Post???
Premier François Legault meets Trump and Musk in Paris as tariff threat looms
'With U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to discuss Canadian border controls and tariffs on Canadian products,' Premier François Legault wrote in a post on X
Author of the article:
Harry North
Published Dec 07, 2024
A piano tuner will be as rare as a Carburetor tuner.
David Amos
Reply to Gary Wheeler
We are nearly extinct
Nav Saloojee
Reply to David Amos
If climate change doesn't get us, AI will.
David Amos
Reply to Nav Saloojee
I am just old Thats all there is to it
Reply to David Amos
And such was he, and he looked to me like a man who had lived in hell;
With a face most hair, and the dreary stare of a dog whose day is done,
As he watered the green stuff in his glass, and the drops fell one by one.
Then I got to figgering who he was, and wondering what he'd do,
And I turned my head--and there watching him was the lady that's known as Lou.
His eyes went rubbering round the room, and he seemed in a kind of daze,
Till at last that old piano fell in the way of his wandering gaze.
The rag-time kid was having a drink; there was no one else on the stool,
So the stranger stumbles across the room, and flops down there like a fool.
In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway,
Then he clutched the keys with his talon hands--my God! but that man could play."
Reply to David Amos
And the icy mountains hemmed you in with a silence you most could hear;
With only the howl of a timber wolf, and you camped there in the cold,
A helf-dead thing in a stark, dead world, clean mad for the muck called gold;
While high overhead, green, yellow, and red, the North Lights swept in bars?--
Then you've a hunch what the music meant...hunger and might and the stars.
And hunger not of the belly kind, that's banished with bacon and beans,
But the gnawing hunger of lonely men for a home and all that it means;
For a fireside far from the cares that are, four walls and a roof above;
But oh! so cramful of cosy joy, and crowded with a woman's love--
A woman dearer than all the world, and true as Heaven is true--
(God! how ghastly she looks through her rouge,--the lady that's known as Lou.)
Then on a sudden the music changed, so soft that you scarce could hear;
But you felt that your life had been looted clean of all that it once held dear;
That someone had stolen the woman you loved; that her love was a devil's lie;
That your guts were gone, and the best for you was to crawl away and die.
'Twas the crowning cry of a heart's despair, and it thrilled you through and through--
"I guess I'll make it a spread misere," said Dangerous Dan McGrew."
Reply to David Amos
And it seemed to say, "Repay, repay," and my eyes were blind with blood.
The thought came back of an ancient wrong, and it stung like a frozen lash,
And the lust awoke to kill, to kill...then the music stopped with a crash,
And the stranger turned, and his eyes they burned in a most peculiar way;
In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway;
Then his lips went in in a kind of grin, and he spoke, and his voice was calm,
And "Boys," says he, "you don't know me, and none of you care a damn;
But I want to state, and my words are straight, and I'll bet my poke they're true,
That one of you is a hound of hell...and that one is Dan McGrew."
Then I ducked my head and the lights went out, and two guns blazed in the dark;
And a woman screamed, and the lights went up, and two men lay stiff and stark.
Pitched on his head, and pumped full of lead, was Dangerous Dan McGrew,
While the man from the creeks lay clutched to the breast of the lady that's known as Lou.
These are the simple facts of the case, and I guess I ought to know.
They say that the stranger was crazed with "hooch," and I'm not denying it's so.
I'm not so wise as the lawyer guys, but strictly between us two--
The woman that kissed him and--pinched his poke--was the lady known as Lou."
Yukon Premier meets with US president-elect Donald Trump’s son
Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai has met with Donald Trump Jr., the son of Donald Trump, the U.S. president-elect.
In a press release sent out on Dec. 23, Pillai said he met with Trump Jr. on Dec. 21, in North Carolina.
Pillai said he and Trump Jr. talked “about the many ways that Canada and the United States – and the Yukon and the United States – can further deepen our already strong partnership.”
The statement goes on to say that at a recent Council of the Federation (COF) meeting, which took place on Dec. 16 in Toronto, Canada’s premiers decided to begin outreach with American contacts.
“Following the COF meeting, Mr. Trump and I took the opportunity to discuss concerns about proposed tariffs on Canadian imports to the United States, which would harm jobs, affordability, investment and supply chains on both sides of the border,” Pillai said in the statement.
Pillai thanked Trump Jr. for his generosity, and said that he looks forward to continuing conversations that will improve security, prosperity and resilience in both Canada and the United States.
According to a release published on Dec. 16 by the Council of the Federation, Premiers will be embarking on a mission trip south of the border in February “to further cement ongoing work to build strong U.S. partnerships.”
Contact Talar Stockton at talar.stockton@yukon-news.com
As Trudeau faces calls to resign, Yukon Premier lobbies Donald Trump Jr. over bear-meat snacks
'I made sure that I brought him, Don, some clothing, because I wanted to remind him that the Trump family businesses were Yukon-built,' Premier Ranj Pillai said
Although Canada faces a major trade war with the U.S. as soon as President-elect Donald Trump enters office in less than a month, Justin Trudeau has been distracted by a leadership crisis that could topple him as prime minister.
The situation has Canada’s regional leaders hopping on flights to influence the incoming Trump administration themselves.
For Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai, that led to chewing the fat with the president-elect’s eldest son, Donald J. Trump Jr., over meals of black bear spring rolls, turkey, deer and oysters at a hunting lodge in North Carolina.
Don Jr., as he’s often called, has frequented the Yukon for hunting trips, a passion Pillai shares. And the Trumps have ties to the region. More than a century ago, Donald Trump Sr.’s grandfather Friedrich Trump capitalized on the Yukon gold rush with a restaurant, bar and brothel in a remote town close to the northern territory’s border.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau departs after a cabinet swearing-in
ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. THE
CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
“I made sure that I brought him, Don, some clothing, because I wanted to remind him that the Trump family businesses were Yukon-built,” Pillai said by phone. The two first met at a conference in Nevada a few months prior.
Pillai said the conversations were “incredibly positive” and an opportunity to “share some data points” and argue that the US-Canada trading deficit that stokes the president-elect’s ire “is only because we’re sending raw materials to them, and they’re creating jobs and value from that.”
They also discussed the Yukon’s efforts on Arctic security and “opportunities to secure supply chains inside of North America.”
FILE: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. president-elect Donald Trump are pictured dining at Mar-a-Lago last Friday night.Photo by X
Some of those projects are already happening. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Defense and the Canadian government jointly announced they’d invest in a Yukon tungsten mining project.
Although Trump Jr. was quick to point out that he has no official role in the upcoming administration, people connected to the transition team were present over the weekend, Pillai said.
The premiers of Canada’s provinces and territories are trying to set up formal meetings with Trump’s transition team before Jan. 20, he added, sharing his worry that the federal government could be doing more.
Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Finance, Public Safety and
Intergovernmental Affairs, at in a news conference after his swearing in
ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024.Photo by Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
“I’ve had some very, very brief dialog with Dominic LeBlanc, but other than that there does not seem to be a full-scale strategy coming from Ottawa, with a series of different ministers taking on certain responsibilities,” Pillai said, referring to new Finance Minister LeBlanc. He replaced Trudeau’s longtime deputy Chrystia Freeland after she dramatically resigned Dec. 16, destabilizing Trudeau’s government.
![A growing number of Canadians — including Liberal MPs — say it's time for Justin Trudeau to say goodbye to his job as prime minister.]()
Should Trudeau resign? 69 per cent of Canadians say yes, according to new poll![Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, left, look on as Liberal MP Terry Duguid takes part in a cabinet swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Friday, Dec 20, 2024.]()
Why anyone would join Trudeau's doomed cabinet
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
Trump says he urged Wayne Gretzky to run for Canadian prime minister in Christmas visit
Trump added that it would be 'fun to watch' if Canadians launched a movement to get the retired hockey player to seek office
Author of the article:
FILE:
Wayne Gretzky (R) and Donald Trump photo posted by Janet Gretzky on her
Instagram account to congratulate Donald Trump on being elected as the
47th president of the United States. Credit: Janet Gretzky/InstagramU.S. president-elect Donald Trump says he told Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky during a Christmas Day visit that he should run for prime minister of Canada.
His comment about being governor of Canada refers to Trump repeatedly suggesting the country become a U.S. state, which Ottawa insists is a joke.
Trump added that it would be “fun to watch” if Canadians launched a movement to get the retired hockey player to seek office.
The Canadian Press has tried to contact Gretzky through his agents.
Experts have said that Ottawa is rightfully focused on the prospect of damaging tariffs under the looming Trump presidency instead of pushing back on rhetoric about annexing or purchasing Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leads a minority government that could be toppled by a confidence vote next year, following the surprise resignation of finance minister Chrystia Freeland.
Trump also expressed Christmas greetings to Trudeau, again referring to him as a governor and claiming that Canadians would see a tax cut of more than 60 per cent if the country became an American state.“Their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other country anywhere in the world,” Trump wrote in a post that also alluded to his desire to annex Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Gretzky has previously backed Conservative politicians, such as former Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown during his run for the party leadership.
During the 2015 federal election, Conservative leader Stephen Harper interviewed Gretzky in front of hundreds of supporters as the Tories unsuccessfully sought re-election.
At the event, Gretzky told Harper he thought he had been an “unreal prime minister” who had been “wonderful to the whole country.”
Gretzky later said he always follows a prime minister’s request, regardless of political stripe, noting he had once hosted a lunch for former Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
![Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland looks on as President Donald Trump looks over at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's document during the signing of a trade agreement in Buenos Aires, Nov. 30, 2018.]()
Trump again floats idea of making Canada the '51st state': 'They would save massively'![Greenlandic and Danish, left, flags flutter in Ilulissat, western Greenland. June 2022.]()
Manifest Destiny 2.0? Trump wants Greenland, threatens Panama, chides Canada
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.
Premier François Legault meets Trump and Musk in Paris as tariff threat looms
'With U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to discuss Canadian border controls and tariffs on Canadian products,' Premier François Legault wrote in a post on X
The two leaders crossed paths during the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral, nearly five years after its devastating fire.
The high-profile event drew dignitaries including French President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Prince of Wales. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau skipped the event to attend a vigil in Montreal marking the anniversary of the 1989 Polytechnique massacre.
Legault shared his encounter with the president-elect in a brief post on X.
“With U.S. president-elect Donald Trump to discuss Canadian border controls and tariffs on Canadian products,” he wrote.
He also shared a picture of himself with Elon Musk, who had accompanied Trump in Paris, in a separate X post. Legault said the two discussed trade and electric vehicles.
Trump and Musk had not publicly commented on the meeting as of Saturday evening.
Avec le président élu des États-Unis, Donald Trump, pour discuter du contrôle des frontières canadiennes et des tarifs sur les produits canadiens. pic.twitter.com/OvGRP0yO6Z
— François Legault (@francoislegault) December 7, 2024
Trump threatened last month to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports, calling on the two countries to reduce the flow of migrants and fentanyl across the U.S. border.
Legault warned the tariffs could severely affect Quebec’s economy. The province relies heavily on exports to the U.S., which totalled nearly $90 billion in 2023, with key products including aluminum, aircraft and energy.
Amid the threat, Legault has said he believes Trump’s fears about a rise in migration at the U.S.’s northern and southern borders are “legitimate.”
Avec Elon Musk pour discuter, entre autres, de commerce international et de véhicules électriques. pic.twitter.com/unFiCsT0Dq
— François Legault (@francoislegault) December 8, 2024
Last week, Trudeau visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss Trump’s concerns and threat.
Trump reportedly joked about making Canada the “51st state.”
While federal Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc dismissed the remark as a joke, Trump later posted a picture featuring a Canadian flag with the caption “Oh Canada.”
Both Legault’s and Trump’s teams have been contacted for further comment.
Famous poet /1874-1958 • Ranked #52 in the top 500 poets
Robert W Service
Robert W. Service was a poet of the Yukon. His adventurous life took him from the banks of Scotland to the gold fields of Canada and the glamour of Hollywood, but his name remains synonymous with the Klondike Gold Rush. He captured the spirit of that era, its hardships, its dreams of fortune, and the colorful characters who populated this last frontier.
Service's poetry is characterized by its strong narratives and accessible language. He employed traditional rhyme schemes and rhythms, making his poems easy to read and memorize. This accessibility contributed to his immense popularity, with his works finding a wide audience among both everyday readers and literary critics.
His work bears comparison to other poets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who focused on themes of adventure and the natural world, such as Rudyard Kipling and John Masefield. Service's unique contribution lies in his focus on the Yukon and the particular spirit of the Gold Rush, making him a chronicler of a specific time and place.
Even today, Service's poetry continues to capture the imaginations of readers. His vivid depictions of the Yukon landscape and the raw human experience of the Gold Rush provide a timeless glimpse into a bygone era. His work remains popular, with his poems still being recited and enjoyed by audiences worldwide.
The Shooting of Dan McGrew
The kid that handles the music-box was hitting a jag-time tune;
Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,
And watching his luck was his light-o'-love, the lady that's known as Lou.
When out of the night, which was fifty below, and into the din and glare,
There stumbled a miner fresh from the creeks, dog-dirty, and loaded for bear.
He looked like a man with a foot in the grave and scarcely the strength of a louse,
Yet he tilted a poke of dust on the bar, and he called for drinks for the house.
There was none could place the stranger's face, though we searched ourselves for a clue;
But we drank his health, and the last to drink was Dangerous Dan McGrew.
There's men that somehow just grip your eyes, and hold them hard like a spell;
And such was he, and he looked to me like a man who had lived in hell;
With a face most hair, and the dreary stare of a dog whose day is done,
As he watered the green stuff in his glass, and the drops fell one by one.
Then I got to figgering who he was, and wondering what he'd do,
And I turned my head--and there watching him was the lady that's known as Lou.
His eyes went rubbering round the room, and he seemed in a kind of daze,
Till at last that old piano fell in the way of his wandering gaze.
The rag-time kid was having a drink; there was no one else on the stool,
So the stranger stumbles across the room, and flops down there like a fool.
In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway,
Then he clutched the keys with his talon hands--my God! but that man could play.
Were you ever out in the Great Alone, when the moon was awful clear,
And the icy mountains hemmed you in with a silence you most could hear;
With only the howl of a timber wolf, and you camped there in the cold,
A helf-dead thing in a stark, dead world, clean mad for the muck called gold;
While high overhead, green, yellow, and red, the North Lights swept in bars?--
Then you've a hunch what the music meant...hunger and might and the stars.
And hunger not of the belly kind, that's banished with bacon and beans,
But the gnawing hunger of lonely men for a home and all that it means;
For a fireside far from the cares that are, four walls and a roof above;
But oh! so cramful of cosy joy, and crowded with a woman's love--
A woman dearer than all the world, and true as Heaven is true--
(God! how ghastly she looks through her rouge,--the lady that's known as Lou.)
Then on a sudden the music changed, so soft that you scarce could hear;
But you felt that your life had been looted clean of all that it once held dear;
That someone had stolen the woman you loved; that her love was a devil's lie;
That your guts were gone, and the best for you was to crawl away and die.
'Twas the crowning cry of a heart's despair, and it thrilled you through and through--
"I guess I'll make it a spread misere," said Dangerous Dan McGrew.
The music almost dies away...then it burst like a pent-up flood;
And it seemed to say, "Repay, repay," and my eyes were blind with blood.
The thought came back of an ancient wrong, and it stung like a frozen lash,
And the lust awoke to kill, to kill...then the music stopped with a crash,
And the stranger turned, and his eyes they burned in a most peculiar way;
In a buckskin shirt that was glazed with dirt he sat, and I saw him sway;
Then his lips went in in a kind of grin, and he spoke, and his voice was calm,
And "Boys," says he, "you don't know me, and none of you care a damn;
But I want to state, and my words are straight, and I'll bet my poke they're true,
That one of you is a hound of hell...and that one is Dan McGrew."
Then I ducked my head and the lights went out, and two guns blazed in the dark;
And a woman screamed, and the lights went up, and two men lay stiff and stark.
Pitched on his head, and pumped full of lead, was Dangerous Dan McGrew,
While the man from the creeks lay clutched to the breast of the lady that's known as Lou.
These are the simple facts of the case, and I guess I ought to know.
They say that the stranger was crazed with "hooch," and I'm not denying it's so.
I'm not so wise as the lawyer guys, but strictly between us two--
The woman that kissed him and--pinched his poke--was the lady known as Lou.
Poems by Robert W Service, in alphabetical order
- A Bachelor
- A Busy Man
- A Cabbage Patch
- A Canvas For A Crust
- A Casualty
- A Character
- A Domestic Tragedy
- A Grain Of Sand
- A Hero
- A Little Prayer
- A Lyric Day
- A Mediocre Man
- A Plea
- A Pot Of Tea
- A Rolling Stone
- A Rusty Nail
- A Snifter
- A Song For Kilts
- A Song Of Sixty-Five
- A Song of Success
- A Song Of Suicide
- A Song Of The Sandbags
- A Song Of Winter Weather
- A Sourdough Story
- A Verseman's Apology
- A Year Ago
- Abandoned Dog
- Accordion
- Adoption
- Adoption
- Adventure
- Afternoon Tea
- Agnostic
- Agnostic Apology
- Alias Bill
- Allouette
- Alpine Holiday
- Amateur Poet
- Ambition
- An Epicure
- An Old Story
- An Olive Fire
- Annuitant
- Anonymous
- Ant Hill
- Anti-Profanity
- Apollo Belvedere
- Armistice Day (1953)
- Artist
- Aspiration
- At Eighty Years
- At San Sebastian
- At The Golden Pig
- At The Parade
- At Thirty-Five
- Athabaska Dick
- Atoll
- Aunt Jane
- Awake To Smile
- Babette
- Baby Sitter
- Balloon
- Bank Robber
- Barb-Wire Bill
- Barcelona
- ****
- Beachcomber
- Beak-Bashing Boy
- Bed Sitter
- Belated Bard
- Belated Conscience
- Benjamin Franklin
- Bessie's Boil
- Bill The Bomber
- Bill's Grave
- Bill's Prayer
- Bindle Stiff
- Bingo
- Bird Sanctuary
- Bird Watcher
- Birds Of A Feather
- Birthday
- Birthdays
- Black Moran
- Bonehead Bill
- Book Borrower
- Book Lover
- Bookshelf
- Boon Soul
- Boxer's Wife
- Brave Coward
- Brave New World
- Breakfast
- Breath Is Enough
- Breton Wife
- Brother Jim
- Café Comedy
- Canine Conversation
- Captivity
- Cardiac
- Careers
- Carry On
- Causation
- Celebates
- Charity
- Cheer
- Child Lover
- Cinderella
- Clancy of the Mounted Police
- Class-Mates
- Clemenceau
- Cocotte
- Comfort
- Compassion
- Compensation Pete
- Comrades
- Confetti In The Wind
- Conqueror
- Contentment
- Contrast
- Convicts Love Canaries
- Courage
- Courage 2
- Courage 3
- Cowardice
- Cows
- Dance-Hall Girls
- Dark Glasses
- Dark Trinity
- Dark Truth
- Days
- Death And Life
- Death In The Arctic
- Death Of A Cockroach
- Death's Way
- Decadence
- Decorations
- Dedication
- Dedication To Providence
- Design
- Detachment
- Distracted Druggist
- Divine Detachment
- Divine Device
- Dolls
- Domestic Scene
- Don't Cheer
- Dram-Shop Ditty
- Dreams
- Dreams Are Best
- Drifter
- Duello
- Dumb Swede
- Dunce
- Dylan
- Dyspeptic Clerk
- Each Day A Life
- Eighty Not Out
- Einstein
- El Toro
- Elementalist
- Enemy Conscript
- Epitaph
- Equality
- Erico
- Ernie Pyle
- Escape
- Euthansia
- Evenfall
- Expectation
- Externalism
- Eyrie
- Facility
- Failure
- Faith
- Fallen Leaves
- Familiarity
- Farewell To Verse
- Fear
- Fi-Fi In Bed
- Fidelity
- Fighting Mac - A Life Tragedy
- Finale
- Finality
- Finistere
- Finnigan's Finish
- Fisherfolk
- Five-Per-Cent
- Fleurette
- Flies
- Flight
- Florentine Pilgrim
- Florrie
- Flower Gardener
- Fool Faith
- Fore-Warning
- Forgotten Master
- Fortitude
- Forward
- Four-Foot Shelf
- Freedom's Fool
- Freethinker
- Frustration
- Fulfilment
- Funk
- Futility
- Gangrene
- Gentle Gaoler
- Ghosts
- Gignol
- Gipsy
- God's Battleground
- God's Grief
- God's Skallywags
- God's Vagabond
- Gods In The Gutter
- Going Home
- Golden Days
- Good-Bye, Little Cabin
- Grand-Pa's Whim
- Grand-Père
- Grandad
- Grey Gull
- Grin
- Growing Old
- Grumpy Grandpa
- Gypsy Jill
- Hate
- Heart o' the North
- Henry
- Her Letter
- Her Toys
- Hero Worship
- Highland Hospitality
- His Boys
- Hobo
- Home and Love
- Horatio
- Hot Digitty Dog
- Humility
- I Have Some Friends
- I Shall Not Burn
- I Will Not Fight
- I'm Scared of It All
- If You Had A Friend
- If you had the choice
- Ignorance
- Imagination
- Immortality
- In Praise of Alcohol
- Include Me Out
- Indifference
- Infidelity
- Infirmities
- Innocence
- Insomnia
- Inspiration
- Intolerance
- It Is Later Than You Think
- Jaloppy Joy
- Jane
- Jean Desprez
- Jim
- Jobson Of The Star
- Joey
- Julie Claire
- Julot The Apache
- Just Think!
- Kail Yard Bard
- Kathleen
- Katie Drummond
- Kelly Of The Legion
- Kings Must Die
- Kittens
- L'Envoi
- L'envoi
- L'Escargot D'Or
- Land Mine
- Last Look
- Laughter
- Laziness
- Learn To Like
- Leaves
- Les Grands Mutiles
- Lindy Lou
- Lip-Stick Liz
- Little Brother
- Little Moccasins
- Little Puddleton
- Lobster For Lunch
- Local Lad
- Longevity
- Lord Let Me Live
- Lost
- Lost Kitten
- Lost Shepherd
- Lottery Ticket
- Lowly Laureate
- Lucille
- Lucindy Jane
- MacTavish
- Mad Maria
- Madam La Maquise
- Maids In May
- Making Good
- Mammy
- Man Child
- Marie Antoinette
- Mary Ellen
- Matador
- Maternity
- May Miracle
- Mazie's Ghost
- Mc'Clusky's Nell
- Men of the High North
- Michael
- Mike
- Milking Time
- Miracles
- Miss Mischievous
- Missis Moriarty's Boy
- Mistinguette
- Montreal Maree
- Moon Song
- Moon-Lover
- Mud
- Munition Maker
- Murderers
- Music In The Bush
- My Ancestors
- My Bay'nit
- My Bear
- My Book
- My Boss
- My Brothers
- My Calendar
- My Cancer Cure
- My Centenarian
- My Chapel
- My Childhood God
- My Coffin
- My Consolation
- My Cross
- My Cuckoo Clock
- My Dentist
- My Dog
- My Dog's My Boss
- My Favoured Fare
- My Favourite Fan
- My Feud
- My Foe
- My Friends
- My Future
- My Garden
- My Garret
- My Guardian Angel
- My Hero
- My Holiday
- My Hour
- My House
- My Hundred Books
- My Husbands
- My Husky Team
- My Indian Summer
- My Inner Life
- My Job
- My Library
- My Madonna
- My Masterpiece
- My Masters
- My Mate
- My Neighbors
- My Picture
- My Piney Wood
- My Prisoner
- My Rival
- My Rocking-Chair
- My Room
- My Son
- My Suicide
- My Tails
- My Trinity
- My Twins
- My Typewriter
- My Vineyard
- My White Mouse
- My Will
- Nature's Touch
- Nature's Way
- Navels
- Negress In Notre Dame
- Neighbours
- New Year's Eve
- No Lilies For Lisette
- No More Music
- No Neck-Tie Party
- No Sourdough
- No Sunday Chicken
- Noctambule
- O Lovely Lie
- Obesity
- Oh, It Is Good
- Old Bob
- Old Boy Scout
- Old Codger
- Old Crony
- Old David Smail
- Old Ed
- Old Engine Driver
- Old Scout
- Old Sweethearts
- Old Tom
- Old Trouper
- Ommission
- On The Boulevard
- On The Wire
- Only A Boche
- Orphan School
- Our Daily Bread
- Our Hero
- Our Pote
- Over The Parapet
- Pantheist
- Patches
- Pavement Poet
- Pedlar
- Perfection
- Periods
- Picture Dealer
- Pilgrims
- Pipe Smoker
- Playboy
- Plebeian Plutocrat
- Poet And Peer
- Poet's Path
- Politeness
- Pooch
- Poor Cock Robin
- Poor Kid
- Poor Peter
- Poor Poet
- Portent
- Portrait
- Post Office Romance
- Pragmatic
- Prayer
- Prelude
- Premonition
- Priscilla
- Privacy
- Procreation
- Profane Poet
- Property
- Pullman Porter
- Quatrains
- Ragetty Doll
- Raising The Flag
- Raw Recruit
- Red-Tiled Roof
- Regret
- Relativity
- Relax
- Remorse
- Repentance
- Reptiles And Roses
- Resignation
- Resolutions
- Retired
- Retired Shopman
- Reverence
- Rhyme Builder
- Rhyme For My Tomb
- Rhyme-Smith
- Rich Poor Man
- Ripe Fruit
- Ripeness
- Rivera Honeymoon
- Romance
- Room 4: The Painter Chap
- Room 5: The Concert Singer
- Room 6: The Little Workgirl
- Room 7: The Coco-Fiend
- Room Ghost
- Rose Leaves
- Rosy-Kins
- Roulette
- Rover's Rest
- Ruins
- Sacrifice
- Sailor Son
- Sailor's Sweetheart
- Schizophrenic
- Sea Change
- Sea Sorcery
- Second Childhood
- Secretary
- Security
- Segregation
- Self-Made Man
- Sensibility
- Sensitive Burglar
- Sentimental Hangman
- Sentimental Shark
- Seven
- Seville
- Shakespeare And Cervantes
- Shiela
- Silence
- Simplicity
- Sinister Sooth
- Six Feet Of Sod
- Slugging Saint
- Soldier Boy
- Someone's Mother
- Son
- Song Of The Sardine
- Spanish Men
- Spanish Peasant
- Spanish Women
- Spartan Mother
- Spats
- Stamp Collector
- Stowaway
- Strip Teaser
- Striving
- Stupidity
- Success
- Successful Failure
- Sunshine
- Suppose?
- Surtax
- Susie
- Sympathy
- Take It Easy
- Tea On The Lawn
- Teddy Bear
- The Absinthe Drinkers
- The Actor
- The Afflicted
- The Aftermath
- The Alcázar
- The Anniversary
- The Answer
- The Ape And God
- The Ape And I
- The Argument
- The Artist
- The Atavist
- The Auction Sale
- The Baldness of Chewed-Ear
- The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill
- The Ballad Of Casey's Billy-Goat
- The Ballad of Gum-Boot Ben
- The Ballad Of Hank The Finn
- The Ballad of Hard-Luck Henry
- The Ballad Of How Macpherson Held The Floor
- The Ballad Of Lenin's Tomb
- The Ballad of One-Eyed Mike
- The Ballad of Pious Pete
- The Ballad Of Salvation Bill
- The Ballad Of Soulful Sam
- The Ballad of the Black Fox Skin
- The Ballad of the Brand
- The Ballad Of The Ice-Worm Cocktail
- The Ballad Of The Leather Medal
- The Ballad of the Northern Lights
- The Ballad Of Touch-The-Button Nell
- The Bandit
- The Battle
- The Battle Of The Bulge
- The Biologic Urge
- The Black Dudeen
- The Black Sheep
- The Blind And The Dead
- The Bliss Of Ignorance
- The Blood-Red Fourragere
- The Bohemian
- The Bohemian Dreams
- The Booby-Trap
- The Boola-Boola Maid
- The Bread-Knife Ballad
- The Bulls
- The Buyers
- The Call (France, August 1st, 1914)
- The Call Of The Wild
- The Cat With Wings
- The Centenarian
- The Centenarians
- The Choice
- The Christmas Tree
- The Comforter
- The Contented Man
- The Contrast
- The Convalescent
- The Cow-Juice Cure
- The Coward
- The Cremation of Sam McGee
- The Cuckoo
- The Damned
- The Dauber
- The Death Of Marie Toro
- The Decision
- The Defeated
- The Dream
- The Dreamer
- The Duel
- The End Of The Trail
- The Enigma
- The Faceless Man
- The Farmer's Daughter
- The Flower Shop
- The Fool
- The Front Tooth
- The Ghosts
- The Goat And I
- The God Of Common-Sense
- The Gramaphone At Fond-Du-Lac
- The Great Recall
- The Haggis Of Private McPhee
- The Hand
- The Harpy
- The Hat
- The Headliner And The Breadliner
- The Healer
- The Heart of the Sourdough
- The Hearth-Stone
- The Hinterland
- The Home-Coming
- The Homicide
- The Host
- The Idealist
- The Joy Of Being Poor
- The Joy Of Little Things
- The Judgement
- The Junior God
- The Key Of The Street
- The Land God Forgot
- The Land Of Beyond
- The Lark
- The Last Supper
- The Law Of Laws
- The Law of the Yukon
- The Leaning Tower
- The Learner
- The Legless Man
- The Little Old Log Cabin
- The Little Piou-Piou
- The Living Dead
- The Locket
- The Logger
- The Lone Trail
- The Lost Master
- The Lottery
- The Low-Down White
- The Lunger
- The Lure Of Little Voices
- The Macaronis
- The Man From Athabaska
- The Man From Cook's
- The Man from Eldorado
- The Man Who Knew
- The March of the Dead
- The Men That Don't Fit In
- The Missal Makers
- The Mole
- The Monster
- The Mother
- The Mountain And The Lake
- The Mourners
- The Mystery Of Mister Smith
- The Nostomaniac
- The Odyssey Of 'Erbert 'Iggins
- The Old
- The Old Armchair
- The Old General
- The Ordinary Man
- The Other One
- The Outlaw
- The Palace
- The Parson's Son
- The Parting
- The Passing of the Year
- The Pencil Seller
- The Petit Vieux
- The Philanderer
- The Philistine And The Bohemian
- The Pigeon Shooting
- The Pigeons Of St. Marks
- The Pines
- The Portrait
- The Pretty Lady
- The Prisoner
- The Prospector
- The Quest
- The Quitter
- The Receptionist
- The Reckoning
- The Record
- The Red Retreat
- The Release
- The Return
- The Revelation
- The Rhyme Of The Remittance Man
- The Rhyme Of The Restless Ones
- The Robbers
- The Rover
- The Sacrifices
- The Sceptic
- The Score
- The Scribe's Prayer
- The Seance
- The Search
- The Seed
- The Sewing-Girl
- The Shooting of Dan McGrew
- The Shorter Catechism
- The Sightless Man
- The Silent Ones
- The Smoking Frog
- The Sniper
- The Soldier Of Fortune
- The Song of the Camp-Fire
- The Song of the Mouth-Organ
- The Song Of The Pacifist
- The Song Of The Soldier-Born
- The Song of the Wage Slave
- The Spell of the Yukon
- The Spirit Of The Unborn Babe
- The Squaw Man
- The Stretcher-Bearer
- The Sum-Up
- The Summing Up
- The sunshine seeks my little room
- The Super
- The Telegraph Operator
- The Thinker
- The Three Bares
- The Three Tommies
- The Three Voices
- The Trail of Ninety-Eight
- The Trail Of No Return
- The Tramps
- The Trapper's Christmas Eve
- The Trust
- The Tunnel
- The Twa Jocks
- The Twins
- The Twins Of Lucky Strike
- The Under-Dogs
- The Undying
- The Visionary
- The Volunteer
- The Walkers
- The Wanderlust
- The Wedding Ring
- The Wee Shop
- The Whistle Of Sandy McGraw
- The Widow
- The Widower
- The Wife
- The Wildy Ones
- The Wistful One
- The Woman and the Angel
- The Woman At The Gate
- The Womb
- The Wonderer
- The Wood-Cutter
- The World's All Right
- The Younger Son
- The Yukoner
- Three Wives
- Tick-Tock
- Tim
- Tipperary Days
- Titine
- To A Stuffed Shirt
- To A Tycoon
- To Frank Dodd
- To Sunnydale
- To The Man Of The High North
- Toilet Seats
- Toledo
- Tom
- Tom Paine
- Tourist
- Tourists
- Tranquilism
- Tranquillity
- Treat 'Em Rough
- Trees Against The Sky
- Tri-Colour
- Triumph
- Trixie
- Two Blind Men
- Two Children
- Two Graves
- Two Husbands
- Two Men (J. L. And R. B.)
- Two Words
- Unforgotten
- Unholy Trinity
- Vain Venture
- Vanity
- Victory Stuff
- Village Don Juan
- Village Virtue
- Violet De Vere
- Virginity
- Visibility
- Wallflower
- Warsaw
- Was It You?
- Washerwife
- Weary
- Weary Waitress
- What Kisses Had John Keats?
- Wheels
- While The Bannock Bakes
- White Christmas
- White-Collar Spaniard
- Why Do Birds Sing?
- Why?
- Willie
- Winding Wool
- Window Shopper
- Wine Bibber
- Winnie
- Wistful
- Wonder
- Words
- Work
- Work And Joy
- Worms
- Wounded
- Wrestling Match
- Yellow
- You And Me
- You Can't Can Love
- Young Fellow My Lad
- Young Mother
- Your Poem
He's "The Piano Man"
Or Tom Waits loves old funky stuff.
Elton John should fund a home for senior pianos.