THOSE . . . ER. . . SUBSIDIES!
So now the Budget’s come and gone, all relevant and clear;
I don’t think Justin had much choice ‘bout what we need to hear.
Just one thing on the road ahead that he had failed to mention –
I thought that the environment would warrant more attention;
But numbers now. They are a joke – try counting to a million,
But that is just a small amount, the basic one’s a billion!
Five hundred billion bucks we pay as yearly subsidy,
To bolster up the finances of the big-oil industry..
The Budget didn’t mention this – ‘twas Harper started it –
But Harper is no longer there – so why then can’t we quit?
I do not like these subsidies, of any kind, at all;
They smack too much of bribery, in legal terms, withal.
These billion dollar companies can stand on their own feet,
And mingle in the marketplace with others, to compete.
In this respect, old Maynard Keynes was really not so wise,
For subsidies make a mockery of the true free enterprise.
Not only that – this industry fires workers every day –
Hardly a good investment to give tax-money away;
And all we do is bolster up their managerial bonus –
Let’s focus on an industry that will accept the onus
Of putting workers back to work, in a non-polluting way –
For after all, five hundred billion smackeroos ain’t hay!
The rest of this new Budget, then, is close to what’s expected;
To take good care of voters – that’s why Liberals were elected;
In Health and Education Welfare and Police Protection,
And help to the Economy, in law and sound direction.
Mind, if those subsidies were changed, to boost clean energy,
I really wouldn’t mind at all – in fact I would agree!
H.Barry Cotton.
April 2016.