Amidst the fallout following the actions of a few Tim Hortons franchisees to cut costs in order to mitigate the impact of higher minimum wage laws, the real villain is overlooked.

Yes, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne knows nothing about the concept of individual rights and has no clue about economics. She’s merely parroting the bad ideas absorbed from pseudo-intellectuals without question or appeal to reality.

Sure, the franchise operators who clawed back some employee benefits in order to reduce costs may have acted in haste. Their actions seem to have been directed at the Premier in retaliation for the ridiculous minimum wage laws. That’s what has given Wynne the higher ground in charging the franchisees with using employees as “pawns” in this affair.

And, what of Restaurant Brands International (RBI) which has tried to remain aloof by statements to the effect that the actions of the desperate franchisees do not represent the brand? I would expect a principled statement from such an entity not a political one in the style of a Kathleen Wynne.

Not least the protesters, organized to protest across the country on Friday. The reportage from Media and Marketing Reporter Susan Krashinsky Robertson is as vapid as the drivel coming from the Premier, RBI and the protesters themselves.

The article quotes a Ms. Cotie who claims an “addiction” to Tim Hortons coffee but is willing to boycott some store on some unnamed principle.

Apparently referring to RBI the article quotes her as follows:

“A company that’s that busy, they’ve got to have huge profits at the end of the year,” she said. “Why can’t that filter down to their franchise owners to help them? “

Filter down from where, the vault of heaven? Profits are determined by subtracting expenses from revenues. Profits are either reinvested in further business production by paying expenses such as wages or they are consumed, which they would be if “filtered down” to franchise owners. It would not take long for profits to be fully consumed with such practice. At the end of that short road is a business that is out of business.

No, the reporter had no comment of substance regarding this frivolous analysis. Why? Because she, Ms. Cotie, Kathleen Wynne and evidently the principals of Tim Hortons were all weaned on the same bloody Marxist conception of capitalism.

A better culture than ours—upholding the concept of individual rights rather than collectivism and egalitarianism—would respect the freedom of association between employer and employee to form “at will” contracts. There would be politicians concerned with the protection of those individual rights (including those of individuals organized in business) rather than with attempting to micro-manage every aspect of our lives.

The villain in this bloody mess is bad ideas, most based on the bloody legacy of Marx. Most have been accepted by default without challenge to the intellectuals in the Humanities departments of our universities. It is difficult to hold much optimism for the future of civilization as long as we do not question with vigor the ideas permeating our education system as a result of the dangerous liason it holds with politics.