Tossing the baby out with the bathwater; Ontario cracks down on internships

Have to admit that the think tank here at Falling Downs has been whining as long and as hard as anybody about the injustice of unpaid internships.

And an unpaid internship is an injustice. As a matter of principle, anybody who works for somebody else should be paid for their work.

That said, the practice of unpaid internships seemed to be sailing along nicely, well under the radar, until the inevitable happened; one or two idiots wrecked it for everybody.

While there may be something to be said for Steven Spielberg taking on a few unpaid interns etc, it was only a matter of time before opportunistic money-grubbers took advantage of things. Suddenly you had major league hospitality chains offering "internships" to clean cutlery and bus tables.

Isadore Sharp's Four Seasons chain even got in on the action!

So the folks who offered genuine opportunities, in film and publishing and advertising and so forth, got caught in the backlash when the luxury hotels and the big restaurant chains started offering "internships" for folks who might be wanting a chance to make a career in cleaning hotel rooms or bussing tables.

Looks like a case of an over-eager bureaucracy using the proverbial hammer to swat a fly.

Izzy Sharp is even sharper than we knew!

We all know Izzy. Humble home-town lad who made Four Seasons into a world-class luxury hotel brand.

Our hearts swell with pride!

Alas, Izzy has a secret.

Izzy is building the brand on the back of slave labour.

Here's Four Seasons listed among the high-end chains that have connived with Humber College to get young people to work for free.

This is worse than slavery. At least back in the plantation days the masters were responsible for providing a roof and a meal.

Today the slaves are on their own.