Irving Group of Companies

The Irving Group of Companies is an informal name given to those companies owned and controlled by the descendants of Canadian industrialist K.C. Irving, namely his children J.K., Arthur, and Jack(1932-2010) and their respective children.

Ownership structure

Many of the components of the Irving Group of Companies were established or acquired by K.C. Irving during his period of active entrepreneurship between the 1920s and the 1970s. Following his retirement to Bermuda in the 1970s, the conglomerate was operated by his three sons in much the same manner and remained relatively intact and maintained a strong vertical integration. The companies were roughly divided into similar divisions, each controlled by one of K.C. Irving's sons and their respective children.

Companies

J.D. Irving Ltd

  • Irving Forest Products & Services
  • Irving Pulp & Paper Ltd.
  • Irving Paper Ltd.
  • Irving Tissue Co. Ltd.
  • Lake Utopia Paper
  • Irving Sawmill Division
  • Irving Woodlands Division
  • JDI Integrated Logistics (formerly Irving Transportation Services)
  • Midland Transport
  • Midland Courier
  • RST Industries
  • Sunbury Transport
  • Atlantic Towing
  • Kent Line
  • JDI Logistics
  • Harbour Development
  • Irving Retail & Distribution Services
  • Irving Consumer Products
  • Irving Tissue (Royale, Majesta, Scotties, private labels)
  • Irving Personal Care (diapers, training pants)
  • Cavendish Produce (fresh vegetables)
  • Cavendish Farms (frozen potato processing)
  • Indian River Farms
  • Riverdale Foods
  • Master Packaging
  • Industrial Equipment & Construction
  • Atlantic Wallboard
  • Irving Wallboard
  • Gulf Operators
  • Irving Equipment (crane rental, heavy lifting, specialized transportation, pile driving and project management services)


  • Specialty Printing
  • Plasticraft
  • Personnel Services
  • Protrans Personnel Services Inc.
  • Security Services
  • Industrial Security Inc.
  • Amateur Sports
  • A selection of former subsidiaries
  • Acadian Lines Ltd.
  • SMT (Eastern) Ltd. Bus Lines
  • Saint John City Transit
  • Irving Industrial Rentals
  • Lexi-Tech International
  • Barrington Environmental Services
  • Barrington Industrial Services
  • Commercial Equipment
  • Maritime Tire
  • M.I.T.I (Xwave)
  • Hawk Communications
  • Steel and Engine Products Ltd.
  • Scot Truck
  • MITV
  • CHSJ-TV
  • CIHF-TV

Irving Oil Ltd

Ocean Capital Investments


Source Atlantic (formerly Thornes)

Petro Service, Limited

Commercial Properties Limited

Acadia Broadcasting Limited


Criticisms

Irving companies are private companies; as a result, there isn't as much public information available as there would be for publicly traded organizations. This lack of transparency has led to significant criticism and paranoia regarding Irving business activities.

Irving companies are often criticized for their vertical integration. Examples of vertical integration within the "Irving Group of Companies" (as the Irving family refers to their holdings) include the acquisition or formation of businesses along the entire chain of production, from the Irving refinery (an Irving Oil subsidiary) and its retail outlets, to the transportation subsidiaries of J.D. Irving (RST, Midland, NB Southern, Sunbury), to various construction and engineering companies that assist in building, maintaining and expanding the conglomerate's facilities. Further examples of vertical integration within the conglomerate include Industrial Security Ltd. (ISL), the wholly owned security company that guards facilities, as well as industrial suppliers such as Thornes, Universal Sales and Commercial Equipment Ltd. which provide specialty goods and services to its companies. J.D. Irving, the sister firm to Irving Oil, is a dominant forestry company in northeastern North America, growing trees, harvesting trees and producing lumber, pulp and paper, and various enhanced value products such as newsprint, tissue, and personal care products.

The Dominion newspaper, an independent Canadian newspaper, has criticized Irving's ownership of the New Brunswick Papers, as well as the papers' journalistic integrity, particularly when reporting on companies controlled by the Irving family such as Irving Oil.[1] Even the Canadian Senate has examined the issue; a report from the Senate in 2006 on media control in Canada singled out New Brunswick because of the Irving companies' ownership of all English-language daily newspapers in the province. Senator Joan Fraser, author of the Senate report, stated, "We didn't find anywhere else in the developed world a situation like the situation in New Brunswick."[2] The report went further, stating, "the Irvings' corporate interests form an industrial-media complex that dominates the province" to a degree "unique in developed countries." At the Senate hearing, journalists and academics cited Irving newspapers' lack of critical reporting on the family's influential businesses.[3]

There have also been accusations of Irving family political patronage, notably involving Allan Rock and Claudette Bradshaw of the Liberal Party of Canada.[4]


References

  1. ↑ Steuter, Erin (November 10, 2003). "Freedom of the Press is for Those Who Own One". The Dominion. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ "CBC News: Feds must examine Irving media empire". 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  3. ↑ "The Star: Hot scoop burns reporter at Irving paper". 2009-06-17. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  4. ↑ "Rock disregarded ethics ruling to advance Irvings' cause". National Post. October 20, 2003.

External links

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