Canadian businessman George Cohon, who founded McDonald’s Canada and helped open the fast-food company’s first franchise in the Soviet Union, has died, his family said on social media. He was 86.
“Last night we said farewell to my dad,” Mark Cohon, a former CFL commissioner, wrote Saturday on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Our family, Canada and the world lost a remarkable man.”
Cohon was born in Chicago in 1937 and moved to Toronto in the 1960s. In 1968, he opened the first McDonald’s location in Canada, in London, Ont.
He also founded Ronald McDonald House Charities Canada in the 1980s, a non-profit organization that provides travel and temporary accommodations for families with seriously ill children. Cohon’s work with the organization helped him become a member of the Order of Canada in 1988, and he was later promoted to a companion of the Order of Canada in 2020.
Cohon cuts a cake with children at a McDonald’s restaraunt in Moscow’s Pushkin Square in January 2000, to celebrate the location’s 10th anniversary. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)
Cohon “was an accomplished businessman who never stopped giving back, and who dedicated himself to lifting others up,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday on X.
“Our families’ paths crossed multiple times over the years, and his passion for serving — and supporting — others was always evident.”
To Russia with fries
In the late 1980s, Cohon was charged with expanding McDonald’s into the Soviet Union. He found a system that was years behind North America’s, and the company couldn’t find reliable suppliers of power or gravel for construction, let alone beef and potatoes.
“In Moscow, we had explored all sorts of meat plants and dairies and bakeries and found that they weren’t up to our standards,” Cohon wrote in his 1997 autobiography, To Russia with Fries, whose proceeds from sales went to Ronald McDonald House. “The simplest things became logistical headaches.”
The company built a $40-million “McComplex” food-processing plant and invested in farmers’ equipment, irrigation, soil and transportation networks. The investments helped modernize Russia’s production system.
The first location opened in Moscow on Jan. 31, 1990, and locals began lining up near Pushkin Square as early as 4 a.m. Cohon used appropriately gigantic scissors to cut the ribbon.
Cohon, left, cuts the ribbon to open a McDonald’s location in Moscow in January 1990. (CBC Archives/The National)
At the end of the day, 30,000 new customers had passed through the doors — to mixed reviews — and the restaurant had set a McDonald’s record for most customers served on an opening day.
The unequivocal success of the first day of his new venture brought out the poet in Cohon, who supposed that Russian writer Alexander Pushkin might have written a poem praising the availability of “meat, bread, potatoes and milk — of the highest quality.”
The restaurant, along with all McDonald’s locations in Russia, closed in March 2022. According to the Reuters news agency, the company pulled out of the country in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
George Cohon, fast food and Moscow
Featured VideoThe McDonald’s Canada founder cut the ribbon at what was to become the first of many of the fast-food restaurants in the Soviet country.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.
The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.
Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.
Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Masrani, who will retire officially on April 10, 2025, says the bank’s, “anti-money laundering challenges,” took place on his watch and he takes full responsibility.
The bank named Raymond Chun, TD’s group head, Canadian personal banking, as his successor.
As part of a transition plan, Chun will become chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over the top job when Masrani steps down at the bank’s annual meeting next year.
TD also announced that Riaz Ahmed, group head, wholesale banking and president and CEO of TD Securities, will retire at the end of January 2025.
TD has taken billions in charges related to ongoing U.S. investigations into the failure of its anti-money laundering program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
