User:Oceanflynn/sandbox/Timeline of the Irving Group of Companies

The following is a timeline of the Irving Group of Companies.

1881 James Dergavel (J.D.) Irving (1860–1933) whose grandparents had emigrated to New Brunswick from Scotland, purchased a sawmill in Bouctouche, New Brunswick. His business included a general store, farming, a gristmilling, and a forestry business.

March 14, 1899 Kenneth Colin (K.C.) Irving was born in Bouctouche, New Brunswick. His parents, James Dergavel (J.D.) Irving and Mary, were Scottish Presbyterian. Mary was J. D. Irving's second wife. James Irving "owned a forestry business" in Bouctouche.

1907 K.C.Irving was eight-years old when he dismantled and reassembled his father's automobile, which demonstrated his "innate mechanical aptitude."

1914-1918 In the later years of World War I Irving trained as a pilot.

Early 1920s Irving returned to New Brunswick and opened a Model T Ford dealership. He ran a gasoline station for Imperial Oil Ltd.

1924 K.C. Irving purchased an oil truck which he says began his career. He established Primrose Oil and no longer contracted with Imperial Oil.

1927 Irving married Harriet MacNairn from New Brunswick.

March 20, 1928 James K. Irving (1928 -) was born. His father was K. C. Irving.

1928 Irving moved to Saint John. He "built a five-storey garage as headquarters" for his newly-renamed Irving Oil company.

1933 K. C. Irving's father, James Dergavel (J.D.) Irving, died. Irving inherited his business.

1967 The Irving Whale was christened.

1967 R v Canadian Dredge & Dock Co September 7, 1970 In stomy weather, the Irving Whale, loaded with Bunker C oil for the Irving Oil Company, was sunk at 47°22'N, 63°20'W 200’ (26 metres) deep and 100 miles off the coast of PEI in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

1968 K.C. Irving bought The Daily Gleaner in 1968 from Michael Wardell, who had owned it since 1950. 1971 In 1971 the Government of Canada Department of Transport issued a biddings for dredging of the Irving Whale

1960-1970 Louis J. Robichaud was Premier of New Brunswick. Irving had described them as "a couple of Kent County boys trying to do the best for our province."

1972 The federal government overhauled the "entire tax system." For the first time in Canadian history, a capital gains tax was implemented to help "finance the growing costs of Canada's social security system and to create a more equitable system of taxation." This meant that from "1972 to 1988, Canadians had to pay tax on 50 per cent of their capital gains."

January 18, 1972 K.C.Irving announced in a letter that, I am no longer residing in New Brunswick. My sons, J. K. Irving, A. L. Irving and J. E. Irving, are carrying on the various businesses. As far as anything else goes, I do not choose to discuss the matter further." Belliveau wrote that while K.C. Irving did not give any reasons for his move to Bermuda, if Irving had remained in Canada then-Premier Richard Hatfield'’s succession duties, "would cut down the size of the empire Irving" his sons would inherit. The taxes "due to both governments on his death could come close to the amount of New' Brunswick's entire annual budget."

May 1, 1972 In a Maclean's article, J. E. Belliveau described K.C.Irving as a the "last of the great feudal barons of Canada", a "modern Croesus — short, to the point and enigmatic", who owned 10% New Brunswick, provided employment for 1 in 12 New Brunswick workers, and "worth an estimated $600 million in shareholdings of his 100 companies."

1972 At that time, K.C.Irving's major holdings included "Irving Oil (a holding and operating oil and gas company, with some 3,000 retail outlets); Irving Steamships Ltd. and Newfoundland Tankers Ltd.; Les Pétroles Inc. and Irving Oil Inc., oil distributors in Quebec; Irving Realties Ltd., a real estate holding company based in Quebec; General Realty Co., North End Service Stations Ltd., Marquette Oil Co.; Irving Refining Ltd., jointly held by Irving Oil and Standard Oil Co. of California, with one $50-million, 50,000 barrel - per - day refinery at Saint John and another of equal size announced for Quebec City; Eastern Oil and Service Stations Ltd., another enterprise Irving holds jointly with Standard; Saint John Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. (which has just received a $47 - million federal order); Ocean Steel and Construction Ltd., Thorne’s Hardware Ltd., Saint John; Irving Pulp and Paper Ltd., a joint operation with Kimberley-Clark; Irving Marine Division, a line of oceangoing tugs; all five English language daily newspapers in New’ Brunswick, one radio station, one television station. 7 otal: Some $600 million."

In a March 19, 1975 In a As it Happens interview PC MP Heath McQuarrie was concerned about an ecological catastrophe on PEI shores.

1975 Peter Charles Newman published his non-fiction book entitled The Canadian Establishment, in which he said that K.C. Irving was one of the thousand "invisible, in-bred, secretive, puritanical and tough-minded"...men who really run Canada".

1981 NFB documentary "I Like to See Wheels Turn" was aired on television. “an absorbing look at K. C. Irving who “amassed great wealth as a by-product of his main objective: 'to see wheels turn.'man who amassed great wealth as a by-product of his main objective: 'to see wheels turn.'”

1983 Peter Newman published his non-fiction book entitled The establishment man: a portrait of power. He described Irving as one of

1992 K.C. Irving died. His will was controversial. James K. Irving (J.K.) became the owner of responsibility for Brunswick News (publishing); and J. D. Irving, Limited, a conglomerate with interests in several industries including forestry, pulp and paper, tissue, lumber, building supplies, frozen food, transportation, shipping lines, and ship building. Arthur Irving (Art) became the owner of Irving Oil, its retail stores, oil refineries, oil tankers and distribution terminals and other facilities. John E. Irving (Jack) became the owner construction, engineering, and steel fabrication companies. After his death in July 2010 he was succeeded by son John K. F. Irving.

December 14, 1992 The New York Times obituary said that at the time of his death he was residing in Bermuda. K. C. Irving Ltd., at that time owned "about 300 private companies, mostly in New Brunswick and Quebec provinces, with interests in oil, timber, mining, shipbuilding, construction, real estate, the information media and transportation." The company employed a "twelfth of New Brunswick's work force" and owned "about a tenth of the province's land."

1993 A biography of K.C. Irving was published by Douglas How and Ralph Costello.

In June 1995, an operation was undertaken to remove the Bunker C oil from the Whale. Environmentalists called the Irving Whale "a pollution timebomb."

July 30, 1996 Irving Whale was refloated at a cost of $42 million. It took 70 minutes to raise The Whale. It was in "remarkably good condition, preserved by the cool waters and smooth seabed of the Gulf of St. Lawrence." It was towed to Halifax where the oil and PCBs were pumped out.

1996 The federal government sued the "Irving company for $42 million, which represented the total cost of the recovery."

1999 Environment Canada said in February 1999, that testing showed that there were still approximately “150 kilograms of PCBs” on the ocean floor where the Whale had sunk, and that while “neither human nor marine life” was “threatened”, “commercial fishing in the immediate area” was “prohibited.” This represents approximately 1% of the “amount in the entire Gulf of St. Lawrence.” While Environment Canada.

On 17 July 2000, the federal government reached a $5 million out-of-court settlement with J.D. Irving Ltd. to recover some of the $42 million it cost to salvage of Irving Whale. Daniel Green of the environmental group SVP said if this is an example of the 1985 "Polluter Pays Principle", it is “the worst precedent that one could have." The Canadian government had to pay the remainder of the recovery costs: $33 million.

2007 The Globe and Mail published the Irving's family tree. James Kenneth Irving had four children, Jim Jr., Robert, Judy, and Mary Jean.

July 2010 John K. F. Irving became the owner of the Irving Groups' construction, engineering, and steel fabrication companies, following the death of his father John E. (Jack) Irving.

2013 Peter Newman's article "The death of the Canadian Establishment", was published in Maclean's magazine.

September 30, 2014 Jacques Poitras' non-fiction book, Irving vs. Irving: Canada's Feuding Billionaires And The Stories They Won't Tell, was published.