
 
 The Canadian Press 
 
 
 
 
 
 MONTREAL -- A class action lawsuit against McDonald's Canada arguing that Happy Meals and their accompanying toys illegally advertise to children can go ahead, a judge has ruled. 
 
 Montreal lawyer Joey Zukran sought authorization for the lawsuit on behalf of a father who, according to court documents, spent hundreds of dollars on the meals during regular visits to the fast-food restaurant with his children. 
 
 Zukran argues promotion of the popular children's meals contravenes Quebec's consumer protection law. Among the strictest in Canada, the law prohibits commercial advertising directed at children under the age of 13. 
 
 The application was heard on Nov. 6, and Quebec Superior Court Justice Pierre-C. Gagnon cleared the way for the case to be heard on its merits in a decision Wednesday. 
 
 The lead plaintiff is Antonio Bramante, a father of three who says he takes his children to McDonald's every two weeks. 
 
 Because the Happy Meal toys are typically part of a collection, his children insisted on going back, court documents say. The toys were often linked to popular films such as Transformers, Minions and My Little Pony. 
 
 "He was telling me about how much money he had spent on toys on his three children over the years," Zukran said in an interview Thursday. 
 
 Zukran is seeking an injunction to end the practice of targeting children with toys. He will also ask for compensation amounting to the full cost of the toys and meals as well as punitive damages for a practice that has been going on for 25 years. 
 
 In court documents, Bramante notes McDonald's displays the toys inside its restaurants in a display case at the height of a child's eyes. On its web site, he says, it attracts children with slogans such as "Fun's in the box!" and "See the toys!" 
 
 Bramante claims McDonald's is acting deliberately "to the detriment of vulnerable consumers, their children and their families," the documents say. He says it is a commercial practice that is illegal in Quebec. 
 
 A spokesman for McDonald's Canada denied the allegations brought in the action. 
 
 "McDonald's Canada has received the ruling and plans to examine it carefully," Adam Grachnik said. "We are aware of our obligations under Quebec's advertising laws and reiterate that we do not believe this class action has merit." 
 
 In court, McDonald's argued that it limits advertising of Happy Meals to restaurant interiors and drive-thrus, and the boxes the meals are packed in make no mention of toys. 
 
 The restaurant chain also argued it abides by a voluntary agreement signed in 1985 with the province's consumer protection office in relation to child-oriented advertising. 
 
 Corinne Voyer of the Quebec Coalition on Weight-Related Problems, a group that encourages healthy eating habits, said she's happy the case will move forward. 
 
 "It will confirm whether this type of advertising is allowed in Quebec," Voyer said. "It's been a bit of a grey zone for us, so it will allow us to see if it will set a precedent for advertising to kids." 
 
 Last February, McDonald's -- including its Canadian arm -- announced it would move to make some of its Happy Meals options healthier by 2022. 
 
 The class action authorization comes as the federal government is bringing in new rules to forbid marketing of unhealthy foods to children. 
 
 Zukran, who specializes in class action and consumer protection cases, said the suit would cover anyone who has purchased a Happy Meal for a child under the age of 13 at any Quebec McDonald's restaurant since Nov. 15, 2013. 
 
 The suit would be open to any Canadian who made a Happy Meal purchase in Quebec. The exact number of people covered and how they will be identified will be worked out at a later date, the lawyer said. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images 
 
 A Quebec father has launched a class-action lawsuit against McDonald's, alleging the company's Happy Meals break strict provincial laws against advertising to children. 
 
 Since its debut in 1979, the Happy Meal has been a staple of McDonald's menu and a go-to meal option on family road trips. 
 
 But some Canadian parents are decidedly unhappy about the hold the fast-food empire has over their children's stomachs. 
 
 Antonio Bramante is the lead plaintiff in a newly certified lawsuit that alleges McDonald's is unlawfully aiming advertising at children under 13 years of age. 
 
 That would violate the province's strict youth consumer protection laws. 
 
 Mr Bramante, a father of three young children, says he eats at McDonald's about once every two weeks on the urging of his children, according to the court documents. 
 
 He estimates he has spent hundreds of dollars on Happy Meals, which are children's meals that come with toys. 
 
 The Quebec father says the toys are often linked to popular film releases and his children often want to return to the restaurant so they can complete their set of toys. 
 
 He also claims the restaurant is directly targeting children by displaying the Happy Meals toys at their eye level. 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ice resurfacers are among the toys available in Canada 
 
 "In today's world, parents have to choose their battles. And what's the easiest thing to give into? It's to feed your children," says Joey Zukran, the Montreal-based lawyer who filed the class action on Mr Bramante's behalf. 
 
 Quebec prohibits marketing to children under the age of 13, making it one of a handful of jurisdictions in the world to essentially ban all advertising geared towards children. 
 
 The province has also had a law since 1980 that restricts marketing unhealthy food to children. 
 
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 "McDonald's has a legal obligation to respect that law and they're not, in Quebec at least," Mr Zukran told the BBC. 
 
 There are three exceptions, with conditions, to Quebec's advertising law: for ads in children's magazines, for promoting a children's entertainment event, and for advertising via store windows, displays, containers, packaging and labels. 
 
 Mr Zukran says he is ready to argue McDonald's is not covered by any of these exceptions. 
 
 A Quebec court judge issued a ruling certifying the lawsuit last week. 
 
 Anyone who purchased a McDonald's Happy Meal in Quebec from November 2013, even if they are not Canadian residents, can request to be part of the class action, Mr Zukran says. 
 
 Image caption Children at McDonald's 
 
 It seeks both compensatory and punitive damages and an order to prevent McDonald's from continuing the alleged practice. 
 
 McDonald's has about 300 restaurants in the Canadian province. 
 
 In a statement, McDonald's Canada told the BBC it has received the ruling certifying the lawsuit and plans to examine it carefully. 
 
 "We are aware of our obligations under Quebec's advertising laws and reiterate that we do not believe this class action has merit," it said. 
 
 McDonald's is one of the world's biggest distributors of toys in the world, driven in large part by Happy Meals sales. 
 
 This is not the first time the Happy Meals toys have been the target of a lawsuit. 
 
 In 2015, the US Children's Advertising Review Unit, a self-regulatory body, advised the company to focus its advertising on food and not its Happy Meal toys. 
 
 The company agreed to take the advice into consideration for future advertisements. 
 
 In 2010, the restaurant chain faced a charge that its advertising violated California consumer protection laws. 
 
 The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group based in the US, was eventually dismissed. 
 
 The claim that the company exploits children in advertising also made its way into the longest court case in UK history. 
 
 The "McLibel" case pitted the fast-food empire against two Greenpeace activists who had distributed leaflets entitled "What's wrong with McDonalds - everything they don't want you to know" 
 
 It is estimated McDonald's spent millions in legal fees suing the couple for libel. The couple defended themselves after being denied legal aid. 
 
 In 1997, a judge ruled in favour of McDonald's, but found the leaflet's claim that the company exploited children in advertising to be true.
– Antonio Bramante doesn't see the "happy" in one of McDonald's most famous offerings. The Canadian dad of three says he's cajoled every couple of weeks to take his little ones to McDonald's, and he figures he's forked over hundreds of dollars on Happy Meals. Now he's suing the fast-food empire, citing a Quebec ban on marketing to kids under the age of 13, the BBC reports. It's not so much the fries and nuggets that are firing up Bramante's beef with the restaurant: Per CTV, it's the fact that each Happy Meal comes with a toy, often tied to film franchises like Transformers or My Little Pony, and his kids are constantly haranguing him to go to McDonald's so they can get all the toys to finish off each set. Bramante also claims the restaurant targets kids by putting the Happy Meal toys right in their sightline inside the restaurant. It's a practice, Bramante says in his class-action suit, that's "to the detriment of vulnerable consumers, their children, and their families." The Quebec marketing law, not seen much elsewhere in the world, has just three exceptions: ads in kids magazines, promos for certain children's events, and ads that appear on a company's packaging and labels, and in their windows and displays. McDonald's says it's poring over the suit, but it adds "we do not believe this class action has merit." Bramante's lawyer says anyone who purchased a Happy Meal in Quebec for a child under 13 from November 2013 onward can join the suit, which is seeking compensatory and punitive damages; it's unclear whether the consumer would need to be a Canadian citizen. (A $5 million McDonald's lawsuit, all over two slices of cheese.)