By Jenny Weichenthal
Brian McGarry is determined to prevent large conglomerates, such as the company that owns McEvoy Shields Funeral Homes and Chapels on Kent Street, from buying up other Canadian funeral homes.
McGarry, majority owner of Hulse, Playfair and McGarry Funeral Homes, has now spoken to 14 independent funeral firms who want the opportunity to buy Canadian assets of Loewen Group Inc. if they come up for sale.
Loewen, which is based in British Columbia, operates more than 1,100 funeral homes across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
However, the large firm is now facing debts of $2.4 billion U.S.
McGarry does not want to see a large, Houston Texas based conglomerate such as Service Corporation International (SCI), which already owns McEvoy Shields and other Ottawa funeral homes, buy up the suffering Canadian funeral homes.
“I really believe the Canadian way of life and death is significantly different than those south of us,” says McGarry.
He says Canadian firms, compared to U.S. firms, have lower key, less flamboyant funerals.
McGarry says large U.S. firms, such as SCI, are more interested in selling funerals with expensive merchandise and making more money, than in giving families good service.
He says they even go so far as to telemarket senior citizen’s homes to try to convince them to buy preplanned funerals.
He says funeral service marketing is much more aggressive south of the border, but we are experiencing it in Ottawa too in funeral homes now owned by large U.S. based conglomerates.
McGarry says since McEvoy Shields joined SCI in December 1994, the business has become more product oriented.
Dan Sullivan, manager at McEvoy Shields, says this simply isn’t the case at his firm. He says staff, who are not paid on commission, let customers choose products freely based on their list of prices.
“The ground rules are the same,” says Sullivan. “The services to the families are of primary concern.”
The quality of service to families is what McGarry says he is worried about with funeral homes owned by firms like SCI.
That is why he says his firm has turned down a large conglomerate’s offer of $39 million for his business and properties.
McGarry says he thinks the culture has changed in local funeral homes, like McEvoy Shields. “It’s not what we want our firm to be anyway.”
McGarry says the personal involvement of the owners in smaller, family owned funeral homes is very important to customers. He says the owners in larger firms may even be in a different country.
John Laframboise, manager of client services at Kelly Funeral Home and Chapel on Somerset Street, says the consumer needs to have the benefit of a reputation, and if the owner is involved on a daily basis, the public will know that.
“The public benefits from the long-standing traditions of a company,” says Laframboise.
Sullivan, on the other hand, says the traditional approach to funerals may be becoming limited in today’s multicultural society where funeral practices are different for different cultures.
He says since SCI has funeral firms all over the world, they are more educated about different cultures’ practices.
“The culture has changed [at McEvoy Shields], but not because of ownership,” says Sullivan. “It’s the public demands that changed the culture.”
Sullivan says they still operate under the same jurisdiction and legislation as all other funeral homes in Ontario and their service to customers has not diminished.
He says McEvoy Shields was not taken over by SCI – they made the conscious decision to join them because it was the best move for the company and staff. He says business has neither increased or decreased with the change in ownership, which could be because of other factors like location.
McGarry says it’s premature to know what will happen to Loewen Group assets should they come up for sale, but he is guessing the group would rather have one big buyer than many independent ones.
Still, he hopes interested independent Canadian firms will have the opportunity to buy the Canadian assets.
“Some say it’s flag waving, maybe it is,” says McGarry. “But we’re proud of our Canadian way.”