File photo of a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Kitchener, Ont.Tim Fraser/The Globe and Mail
Maple Leaf Foods says one of the three plants previously identified for closure will be shut permanently on Dec. 31 and the other two will close by the end of March.
The company's plant on Panet Road in Winnipeg will be the sixth closure under a multiyear reorganization of the Toronto-based food giant's operations.
Maple Leaf says its expanded Lagimodiere plant, also in Winnipeg, is fully commissioned and requires only minimal work to optimize its operation.
The remaining two of eight previously announced closures, in Kitchener, Ont., and Toronto, will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2015.
Another Toronto-area facility in Brampton, Ont., has been expanded while a new Ontario plant in Hamilton is being commissioned to produce wieners and sliced meats and is expected to in full production by the end of the first quarter.