Irving's New Brunswick Land Holdings

The Irving family is one of the wealthiest in Canada, with a net worth of $7.38 billion. They own a significant amount of land in New Brunswick, where they are based, as well as in the United States, where they are one of the largest landowners. The family's business empire began with a gas station in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, in the 1920s, and has since expanded to include over 250 companies spanning various industries, such as energy, forestry, trucking, construction, shipyards, hardware stores, and media. They employ a large number of people in the province and have a significant impact on its economy and development. However, their business practices, including vertical integration and tax avoidance, have also drawn criticism and controversy.

The Irving family's land ownership in Maine

The Irving family owns a substantial amount of land in Maine, ranking as the Pine Tree State's largest private landowners. They are also one of the five largest landowners in North America. The family's landholdings in Maine were acquired by K.C. Irving, the son of James Dergavel "J.D." Irving, who founded the family business empire.

The Irving family's businesses operate with a high level of vertical integration, meaning they own different companies that complement each other in the chain of production. For example, the trees from their timberlands were used to supply their sawmills, which then fed their pulp and paper mills. This integrated approach to business allowed the family to maintain control over their supply chain and keep profits within the conglomerate.

The family's vast landholdings and diverse business interests have made them one of the wealthiest families in North America, with a net worth of billions of dollars. Their business empire's reach extends beyond Maine, with significant holdings and influence in neighbouring New Brunswick, Canada.

The Irving family's wealth and business interests

The Irving family is one of the wealthiest in Canada, with a net worth of $7.38 billion. Their empire spans energy, forestry, trucking, construction, shipyards, hardware stores, media, and sports. They own more than 900 gas stations, railway lines, shipping companies, and paper and pulp mills. They are the largest private landowners in Maine and the fifth-largest in the US, with 1.246 million acres of land in Northern Maine and an additional 2 million acres in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The Irving family business began in the 1920s when K.C. Irving started a small service station in his hometown of Bouctouche, New Brunswick. He turned this into Irving Oil, a 3,000-franchise distributor across the east coast. K.C. Irving was a strong believer in vertical integration, and the Irving companies are structured so that each purchases the services of the other, keeping profits within the conglomerate.

The Irving family's media company, Brunswick News, owns most newspapers in New Brunswick, including the three major dailies in the region: the Telegraph Journal, the Times & Transcript, and the Daily Gleaner, as well as over a dozen weekly publications. They also own radio stations in New Brunswick and Ontario through their subsidiary, Acadia Broadcasting.

The Irving family has been the subject of controversy due to their impact on the historical and contemporary development of New Brunswick, their media monopoly, and their use of offshore tax havens. They have been accused of exploiting the province's natural resources and people, contributing to high unemployment rates, and influencing politics and public figures.

The Irving family's influence on New Brunswick's media

The Irving family owns all five English-language daily newspapers in New Brunswick, alongside 29 other publications, including 21 French and English weekly newspapers. They also own three radio stations, one of which is in Newfoundland.

The Irvings bought New Brunswick Publishing Co. in 1944, now called Brunswick News Inc (BNI). Over the next two decades, K.C. Irving, who was the head of the family dynasty at the time, bought out the remaining English-language newspaper publishers in the province.

The Irving family's monopoly over the media in New Brunswick has been the focus of court action and a CRTC investigation. Their near-monopoly continues to inspire allegations of collusion and biased reporting. In 1974, K.C. Irving Limited and associated companies were convicted under the merger and monopoly provisions of the Combines Investigation Act. Members of the Irving family had acquired a controlling interest in all five of New Brunswick's English-language newspapers. An appeal in 1975 overturned the conviction, and the Supreme Court of Canada ultimately upheld the appeal decision.

In 1987, the CRTC reversed a 1982 ruling that prevented Acadia Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Ocean Capital Holdings, from buying more broadcasting companies. The CRTC granted the company licences for new TV stations in Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton, and Halifax.

Brunswick News controls 90% of English-language newspaper circulation in New Brunswick. It owns the three major dailies in the region—the province-wide Telegraph Journal, Moncton's Times & Transcript, and Fredericton's Daily Gleaner—in addition to more than a dozen weekly publications.

To write for any newspaper in the province is to sign a "tyrannical contract". Everything published and everything that staffed journalists write belongs to the Irvings. The fine print of their contracts states that the owners can sell their works in media "now in existence, or which may hereafter be developed".

Jacques Poitras, a notable journalist with CBC New Brunswick, argues in his 2014 book, "Irving vs. Irving: Canada's Feuding Billionaires and the Stories They Won't Tell", that the Irving papers will cover problems that are so public that they are nearly impossible to avoid, but they avoid doing any investigative work that could draw attention to a new issue.

The Irvings have also been accused of trying to stop any competition in the media. Woodstock, New Brunswick, is home to the Carleton County Free Press, an independent newspaper created by Ken Langdon after he quit his job as publisher at the Bugle-Observer, which is owned by the Irvings through BNI. Before Langdon was able to put out the first issue, BNI went to court, alleging that he had taken important documents after quitting, such as budgets, rate information, and carrier lists. The Irvings ultimately won an injunction that prevented Langdon from using any information that belonged to BNI. The Free Press was forced to close down a year later due to the market crash's effects on the local economy and the ad-rate cuts made by the Bugle-Observer.

The Irving family's impact on the province's politics

The Irving family has had a significant impact on the politics of New Brunswick, Canada, where they are based. They own all five English-language daily newspapers in the province, alongside 29 other publications, including 21 French and English weekly newspapers. This gives them a powerful platform to influence public opinion and has led to allegations of collusion and biased reporting.

The Irving family's media monopoly has been the subject of court action and a CRTC investigation. In 1974, K.C. Irving Limited and associated companies were convicted under the merger and monopoly provisions of the Combines Investigation Act. However, the conviction was overturned on appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the appeal decision.

The Irvings' business interests have also benefited from favourable policies and decisions by the provincial government. For example, in 1972, K.C. Irving moved his businesses to a trust in Bermuda to avoid Canadian taxes. In the 1980s, the Irvings owned several English radio stations and a CBC affiliate in the province, giving them further influence over public opinion.

The Irving family's political connections go beyond New Brunswick. In 2016, the federal ethics commissioner asked Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc of the New Brunswick riding to "avoid participating in any decisions involving the powerful Irving family," as his friendship with James D. Irving posed a potential conflict of interest. Even the current premier, Blaine Higgs, was employed by the Irvings for 25 years.

The Irvings' business interests span various sectors, including energy, forestry, trucking, construction, shipyards, hardware stores, and media. They employ roughly one in every eight New Brunswickers and account for more than half of the province's exports. Their companies are all privately owned, allowing them to make decisions without shareholder input and maintain a high level of financial opacity.

The Irving family's legacy

The Irving family is a wealthy Maritime dynasty, mostly based in New Brunswick, Canada. The family's empire began in the 1880s when James Dergavel (J.D.) Irving, grandson of Scottish immigrants, bought a sawmill in Bouctouche, New Brunswick. Over the next few decades, J.D. Irving expanded his business interests into other industries, including farming and gristmilling.

J.D. Irving's son, Kenneth Colin (K.C.) Irving, took over the family business and expanded it into a multi-billion-dollar empire with dozens of subsidiaries. K.C. Irving's business ventures included Irving Oil, which he founded in the 1920s, and Irving Pulp and Paper, which he established in the 1930s. K.C. Irving was a strong believer in vertical integration, ensuring that each Irving company purchased the services of other Irving companies, keeping profits within the conglomerate.

The Irving family's business interests now encompass petrochemical, logistics, retail, and media companies, with an estimated worth of $10 billion. They own Canada's largest oil refinery, are one of the five largest landowners in North America, and employ one in twelve people in New Brunswick. The family's media company, Brunswick News, owns most newspapers in the province, and they also own radio stations in New Brunswick and Ontario through their subsidiary, Acadia Broadcasting.

The Irving family's wealth and power have had a significant impact on the historical and contemporary development of New Brunswick. They have been accused of exploiting the province's natural resources and influencing local politics and media to their advantage. The family's tax affairs have also come under scrutiny, with allegations of using offshore tax havens to reduce their tax liabilities.

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