About 15 years, the town of Canmore, Alberta had a labor shortage--and demanded the provincial government subsidize the wages of the retail/toursim sectors.

Canmore is a high-end town, consisting of rich people commuting to Calgary for high paying jobs. There are few "poor" sections of the town, to draw long-term service workers. It made little sense for service workers to come to work in Canmore. Commuting costs were too high or rents were too high. So the local employers had to rely a lot of high school students (of rich families). Which means Canmore stations and restaurants had a hard time operating.

The free market solution was to raise the wages--then pass the cost of the those wages to the consumers of this high-end town. But somehow the business people of Canmore could not see that.

Good thing the Alberta government told them to take a hike.