{"id":271305,"date":"2025-04-01T10:54:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T10:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/01\/the-irving-family-provides-many-jobs-to-a-canadian-province-but-also-draws-concerns\/"},"modified":"2025-04-01T10:54:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T10:54:08","slug":"the-irving-family-provides-many-jobs-to-a-canadian-province-but-also-draws-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/01\/the-irving-family-provides-many-jobs-to-a-canadian-province-but-also-draws-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"The Irving Family Provides Many Jobs to a Canadian Province, But Also Draws Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/09\/03\/world\/canada\/Saint-John-Topper-HZ\/Saint-John-Topper-HZ-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Irving Family Provides Many Jobs to a Canadian Province, But Also Draws Concerns\" title=\"The Irving Family Provides Many Jobs to a Canadian Province, But Also Draws Concerns\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even in a frequently fogbound port city along the Atlantic Ocean, the billowing clouds of steam rising from Canada\u2019s largest oil refinery over Saint John, New Brunswick, are impossible to miss.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On a ridge overlooking the refinery sit six enormous tanks, each containing one million barrels of crude oil. Letters painted in dark blue spell \u201cIrving,\u201d the family whose businesses dominate not only Saint John, but most of New Brunswick.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The larger of the Irvings\u2019 two local paper mills looms above the Saint John River like a medieval fortress. Irving-owned railway tracks crisscross the city, linking smaller factories owned by the family to ports under Irving control. Irving-owned building-supply stores and gas stations dot the streets in this city of 78,000 people, where park signs honor Irving contributions to their upkeep.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The family\u2019s four radio stations in New Brunswick fill the airwaves. And Irving-owned transport trucks carry Irving-made goods, like structural steel and frozen French fries. An Irving-owned security company provides guards for Irving-owned properties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Canada has many families that have built business empires, most notably the Thomson family, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2007\/05\/09\/business\/media\/09reuters.html\" title=\"\">which controls Thomson-Reuters,<\/a> the media, financial and legal information company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the Irvings stand out for their command of a single region. Starting in the 1920s with a general store and gas station that sold Ford Model Ts, Kenneth Colin Irving, who was known as K.C., established a privately owned family business now worth an estimated 14.5 billion Canadian dollars, or about $10.1 billion.<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The family\u2019s legacy in Canada is complicated. Its companies have brought employment to a region where jobs are scarce. By some estimates, one out of every 10 people in New Brunswick works for an Irving company. Still, the province consistently ranks at or near the bottom in Canada for family income.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And while Irving companies have created large industries, its factories have also brought pollution to Saint John and blighted its neighborhoods, according to residents and former government officials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the family\u2019s economic power and political influence have made many people in Saint John reluctant to openly criticize the Irvings. The family\u2019s decision in 2003 to close its shipyard in Saint John, which once employed 4,000 people, to concentrate on its operation in Halifax, Nova Scotia was widely seen as a consequence of fractious labor relations. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere is a culture in Saint John of keeping your head down and keeping your mouth shut,\u201d said Don Darling, the city\u2019s mayor from 2016 to 2021.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He said he believed that Saint John\u2019s strong industrial base should make the local economy stronger, but that the relatively low taxes on many Irving-owned businesses have made it difficult to support needed social services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI don\u2019t blame the Irvings necessarily,\u2019\u2019 he added. \u201cBut everybody has to play a role and everyone should take responsibility for their part in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Irving family did not respond to a list of questions about its effect on the city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Today the Irving empire consists of two large conglomerates, both still owned and controlled by the Irving family.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The companies have not always been easy neighbors. In 2018, the residents of Pleasant City Street in Saint John East were twice jolted by the Irving refinery. First, a leaky pipe led to an explosion that injured 36 workers. Then the neighborhood was evacuated after a rusty pipeline carrying toxic and explosive butane burst.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Irving Oil was fined 200,000 Canadian dollars, about $140,000, for the explosion, and Pleasant City Street was forever changed. Irving bought about 20 houses near the pipeline and demolished them, apparently to create a buffer between the refinery and residents. The abandoned neighborhood is now blocked off by concrete barriers and patrolled by Irving-employed guards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Like other people in Saint John, Lisa Crandall, who lives near the barriers, said she knew of family members and pets that had died from unusual cancers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But there has been little scrutiny of any health issues related to the Irving company by local government agencies or private groups. A 2009 study for the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, an advocacy group, found that <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.preventcancernow.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/ccnb2009.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">lung cancer rates<\/a> for women in Saint John were 82 percent higher than national rates and 98 percent higher for men.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There have been no known studies directly linking health problems to Irving-owned businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The refinery has dusted <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/new-brunswick\/irving-oil-dust-particulate-gordon-dalzell-air-1.4404962\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">neighborhoods with chemical particulate<\/a>. The provincial government has declared these <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/new-brunswick\/irving-oil-dust-particulate-gordon-dalzell-air-1.4404962\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">releases of dust and soot to be low risk<\/a> to residents, but that has failed to reassure them. Fine particles have been linked to asthma, lung disease and bronchitis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Crandall said she was frustrated by the lack of communications from the company. To date, she said, it has offered no information about the bulldozing of houses on her street.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey don\u2019t talk about it,\u201d she said. \u201cThey just always send out a letter saying: Hi, we\u2019re your neighbor. Sorry for the inconvenience.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">K.C. Irving began the family\u2019s empire by adding an oil company to his car dealership and gas station. During the Great Depression, he took over failing bus and truck companies, and after World War II expanded to paper, ships and lumber.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The company\u2019s growing influence brought concessions and tax breaks from government. In 1951, the province passed a law, which is no longer in force, allowing the Irving pulp mill to pour waste into the Saint John River. And Irving Oil was given a 42-year property tax exemption that ended in 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe level of access to elected officials that they have is like that given to no one else,\u201d said Mr. Darling, the former mayor. \u201cShow us if it makes sense to give special tax treatment to any business \u2014 to the Irvings or anyone else.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Back on Pleasant City Street, Ms. Crandall said she wished there was some way to diminish Irving\u2019s outsize presence in Saint John.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI would love to see them just sell everything and have different companies come in,\u201d she said. (Irving has not announced any such plans.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt would be really good for the city,\u201d she added. \u201cI know a lot of people would hate me for saying that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/01\/world\/canada\/irving-family-canada-oil-environment.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even in a frequently fogbound port city along the Atlantic Ocean, the billowing clouds of steam rising from Canada\u2019s largest oil refinery over Saint John, New Brunswick, are impossible to miss. On a ridge overlooking the refinery sit six enormous tanks, each containing one million barrels of crude oil. Letters painted in dark blue spell [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/09\/03\/world\/canada\/Saint-John-Topper-HZ\/Saint-John-Topper-HZ-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[740,5345,507,12369,17,59496,6980,208267,20589,208266,164579],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":271307,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271305\/revisions\/271307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}