OWEN SOUND, ON – The longtime owner-operators of Owen Sound’s iconic grain elevators will cease operations at the site in December, according to the union representing workers there. The president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union local that represents workers at the 1499 1st St. W. marine terminal confirmed that Parrish & Heimbecker, operating locally as Great Lakes Elevators, will permanently close its operations at the Owen Sound Harbour site in December.
“The Union worked to ensure that our members at Great Lakes Elevators were treated fairly and supported throughout this process,” said UFCW Local 175 president Kelly Tosato in an email. The closure will affect six employees at the Owen Sound location, the union said.
Parrish and Heimbecker did not immediately respond to a request for comment. P&H has owned the Owen Sound grain elevators for over 80 years and bought out other partners in 1956. The Winnipeg-based company, with roots in Hanover, operates the site through its subsidiary, Great Lakes Elevator Co. Ltd. It can store 93,000 metric tonnes of dry product.
The move comes more than a decade after P&H broke off talks with the federal government about potentially divesting Owen Sound Harbour to the company.
In 2013, Transport Canada gave P&H Ltd. permission to negotiate with the federal agency to take over the federally owned Owen Sound Harbour. Those talks broke off a year later. At the time, Transport Canada made it clear it would not dredge the Owen Sound Harbour until it was divested to another interest, though the company did not give a reason for the talks breaking down, citing non-disclosure agreements.
Around the same time, Owen Sound also explored taking over ownership of the harbour, but also demanded the harbour be dredged to a commercial navigation depth before assuming ownership. In 2016, the city notified Transport Canada that it did not want to buy the harbour but was interested in participating in divestiture talks.
According to its website, P&H was founded in 1909 when two grain-trading families, led by W.L. Parrish from Brandon, Manitoba and Norman Heimbecker from Hanover, Ontario, joined together to become Parrish & Heimbecker, Limited. Members of the two founding families still own and manage the company.
Greg Cowan
Cuyahoga unloads grain at the Owen Sound grain elevators in this 2017 file photo.
