McDonald's Restaurants of Canada, Limited is the Canadian master franchise of the fast food restaurant chainMcDonald's, owned by the American parent McDonald's Corporation. One of Canada's largest fast-food restaurant chains, the franchise sells food items, including hamburgers, chicken, French fries and soft drinks all across the country. McDonald's is known for its high fat and calorie foods, but it also has alternatives such as salads, juice and milk. McDonald's was previously Canada's largest food service operator before being overtaken by Tim Hortons in 2005. The slogans used in Canada are "i'm lovin' it" English and "c'est ça que j'm" in French. McDonald's Canadian operations are based in Don Mills in North York, Toronto. The current McDonald's Canada President is John Betts.
History
The company was founded by Chicago-born George Cohon. The first store opened in 1967 as the Western Canadian franchisee and operated with the U.S. operations. Cohon was the Eastern Canadian franchise and opened his store in 1968 on Oxford Street West in London, Ontario. In 1971, Cohon merged the two operations to one national operation. Cohon was responsible for developing the eastern Canadian franchises. The first McDonald's restaurant in Canada was opened on June 1, 1967 in Richmond, British Columbia, by western franchise owners. It was also the first McDonald's restaurant outside of the United States. As of 2014, McDonald's Canada had 1,400 stores in Canada, and more than 85,000 Canadian employees. There are McDonald's restaurants in all of the provinces and territories with the exception of Nunavut. The flagship location opened in 2013 near the Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. In 2019, McDonald's Canada donated 50 cents from every medium, large and extra large coffee purchased at these locations, all day long. Last year's event raised more than $10,000 for the Alzheimer Society of Hastings-Prince Edward. In September of that year, McDonald's Canada observed its third annual McDelivery Night.
Products
Executives
As of August 2017:
George A. Cohon, O.C., O.Ont., B.Sc., J.D., Ph.D., Founder
McDonald's Canada faced severe criticism for its use and alleged abuse of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program. Several of its franchises are under federal investigation for abuse of Filipino workers brought into Canada under the TFWP. After a public outcry, McDonald's Canada stated that it would undertake a comprehensive review of its use of TFWP. In a conference call to the franchisees about the program, McDonald's Canada CEO John Betts stated: "the fact of the matter is we are a big bad company corporate you know, bad company. And these poor maligned employees, are who they are ... This has been an attack on our brand ... This is an attack on our people. It's bullshit." He pointed out that he has spoken with Employment Minister Jason Kenney, and the minister fully understands McDonald's Canada's concerns. Following this and other similar controversies, the government halted the TFWP for the entire restaurant industry.
