“They were polite, but said we had to pack up and leave,” Kurtis Andrews, the father of the two girls, told the Toronto Star. His offer to pay for a permit on the spot yielded no compromise. “For a couple of kids, it’s kind of intimidating, with the flashing lights and guy in black uniform.”

First reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the story made headlines across Canada. Many on social media took aim at Ottawa – playfully rehashing the capital’s reputation as the “city that fun forgot” – while several Conservative politicians seized on the story as an example of how government overreach can strangle entrepreneurship.

On Monday, the Andrews visited the federal agency to apply for a permit. Perhaps conscious of the many who had framed the girls’ foray into Ottawa’s byzantine bureaucracy as a struggle of David against Goliath, an agency spokesperson apologised to the young entrepreneurs and offered to waive the C$35 permit fee.

In a later statement, the agency defended its earlier actions and made it clear that no exceptions would be made for the girls. “Given the location of the lemonade stand, the Conservation Officer acted in good faith in applying the federal land use rules in place.”

The situation could have been handled differently, it acknowledged. “Children’s lemonade stands are a time-honoured summer tradition that contributes to a lively capital and the NCC wants to encourage these activities whenever possible.” Officials said the girls’ permit application would be likely expedited so that they could have the stand up and running by this weekend.

The timeline was questioned by the girls’ father who pointed to the magnitude of paperwork being demanded for the stand. “The girls can’t provide proof of insurance. They can’t provide a site map. And so on and so forth,” he told CTV News. “So I expect that there’s going to have to be some ... modification of the normal bureaucracy here.”

In recent years, there has been an explosion of rules and laws requiring permits or licenses for just about anything.  The excuse is that regulating everything makes the public safer.  In fact, the rules are designed for the purpose of controlling people. 

The Obama administration has made it illegal for individuals to put on garage sales, fearing that some of the old consumer products being sold are unsafe.  Selling any food or drink without a permit (and a certificate from the local department of health) is also illegal. 

There have been millions of children over many generations who set up lemonade stands to earn a little summer cash.  Most of the time, the profits are drunk.  But the lesson in the value of a dollar and simple, basic business practices served most of us well later in life.

The government can't abide that sort of independence.  The means of control are applied whether you're 5 or 105.