The debate about government fees and taxes has raged on for centuries. In the 1960’s, as the Montréal Champlain Bridge was nearing completion, Ann Marie Fauteux (my mother) wrote a poem about the proposed bridge toll. She lamented the apparent community acceptance of the toll by comparing it to a famous French Gaston-Alphonse cartoon. My mother loved to write. She was always in pursuit of a well twisted phrase and a clever word.
Image Credit: Frederick Burr Opper – American Journal Examiner
A-Tisket, A-Tasket, For Pete Sake Hit That Basket
Ann Marie Fauteux
Now Montreal’s an island fair,
Surrounded by a moat.
At one time just accessible
To owners of a boat.
Until the ruling party built
A road across its span
To ease the pain and burden of
The weary motor man.
To ease the pain and burden more,
They charged him “twenty-five”
In view of all the benefits
The driver would derive.
They never thought of profit when
Requesting this donation,
But just to let us share in a
Togetherness relation.
Togetherness means harmony twixt
Man and his Regime,
You pay a round, I’ll pay a round
– A Gaston-Alphonse team.
But something just occurred to me,
It may be splitting hairs,
Where’s all this money coming from
That governments call “theirs?”
Now if it comes from whence I think,
And here my point is moot,
Then aren’t we paying our share, and
The government’s to boot?
Men go to work each morning just
To pay the tax they owe,
I don’t see why they have to buy
The road on which they go.
Jules Fauteux 