Caveat Emptor

There was a time when one could buy a stuffed, frozen turkey breast that actually contained white meat. Wanting a boneless breast I failed to notice the word ‘semi-’ tacted in front of the word boneless on my Maple Leaf turkey ‘breast’. ‘Semi-’ means that they leave in the turkey’s keel bone, the largest, heaviest, and easiet removed in the breast. By the time one has removed that bone and scooped out the stuffing there’s very little actual meat left. Shame on Maple Leaf Foods and shame on me for ignoring caveat emptor.

Ontario Increases Minimum Wage

The price we pay for food in no way reflects the cost of growing it or catching it in the case of fish. If you think of the price you pay for gasoline at the pump for your car imagine filling a combine, tractor, shrimper, or long liner with farm or marine diesel. When it comes to dining out although you may be paying to have someone else prepare you food the people who serve you your meal are notoriously under-paid.

 

The restaurant trade in Ontario have their shorts in a knot over a recent increase in the minimum wage to 10.75 an hour. Whether or not their profitability and competitiveness justifies paying their employees starvation wages is an argument in which I stand with the working stiffs. I challenge anyone to survive on such a pay rate. I’d rather the price I paid for my meal reflected the fact that my server were paid a living wage than be expected to shell out a huge tip because he/she couldn’t live without them.