Opinion: James K. Irving: A legacy secured, a long-lasting impact on New Brunswick

David Campbell is president of Jupia Consultants Inc. He was formerly chief economist with the New Brunswick Jobs Board Secretariat.

Years ago in my role as a government economist, I was asked to speak to the management team at J.D Irving Ltd.’s head office in Saint John, N.B. As I got in the elevator, an older gentleman in a trench coat and fedora stepped in, and we nodded at each other. It was an unremarkable interaction, and I didn’t expect to see that older man again.

But later, a few minutes into my talk, the older gentleman came in. It turns out he was James K. Irving, chair of J.D. Irving Ltd. and one of Canada’s top industrialists.

After listening to me for a few minutes, Mr. Irving weighed in. He said New Brunswick has made enormous progress in recent years and that he remembered just how poor the province was in the 1950s. He was proud that his company employed thousands of New Brunswickers all across the province and played some role in the betterment of particularly rural communities. Whatever economic policy changes I was proposing, he said he hoped that I keep the interests of rural communities in mind. (I would later go on to consult for J.D. Irving Ltd.)

Mr. Irving died this week at the age of 96, less than two months after his brother, Arthur Irving.

What is J.K.’s legacy? It stands in stark contrast to that of Arthur, who had headed what is effectively the other half of the Irving family empire, Irving Oil.

Despite Arthur’s successful early expansion of the business, it had struggled with longer-term growth. Irving Oil also has no clear family succession plan, and Arthur had put it up for sale

On the other hand, J.K.’s empire has both successfully executed on a long-term vision and has a clear family succession plan. J.K.’s sons Jim and Robert are co-chief executives, and they have children already in senior roles. They have been investing billions of dollars in the various Irving companies to ensure they continue to thrive for years to come.

J.K.’s legacy is a set of businesses positioned to thrive for generations to come: wood and paper products, food, transportation, construction, shipbuilding. There is no doubt these industries will be disrupted and will change in the coming decades, but the core products and services will still be in demand.

The company that J.K. helmed for decades has become a North American conglomerate. It has forest products operations in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Georgia and New York State. The agriculture division has manufacturing plants in Prince Edward Island, Alberta and North Dakota. Irving Shipbuilding is one of Canada’s largest shipbuilders and there are other business units in retail, transportation and construction.

In New Brunswick alone, the company has approximately 9,000 employees and supports thousands more jobs in its supply chain and through induced economic activity. Across all its operations, the company claims to have more than 19,000 employees.

Consider just the forest products division in New Brunswick. In the past five years, the company says it has invested $1.3 billion into its various forestry, sawmills and paper products operations. One of the largest ongoing investment projects is at the Irving Pulp & Paper Ltd. mill in Saint John. When the multiphase renovation project is finished, the company will have invested over $1.7 billion into that one facility. I asked one of the executives working on the project how long this would extend the life of the mill and he told me “at least 50 years.”

How many businesses do you know that are investing now for the next five decades? It takes 40 years to grow a tree from seedling to full maturity in New Brunswick. You have to take a long term view.

A number of international forest products companies over the years have come to New Brunswick, operated for a while, and moved on. Not the company led by J.K, Irving. On his LinkedIn page, Jason Limongelli, vice-president at J.D. Irving Ltd., states that J.K. planted his first tree in 1957.

Perhaps more important than Mr. Irving’s legacy in business is his impact on his home province. Using Statistics Canada data, as a share of provincial gross domestic product (GDP), New Brunswick’s forests create twice as much economic activity compared to British Columbia, the province that comes in second. All this while ensuring a sustainable supply of wood for generations. By my estimation, J.D Irving Ltd. alone contributes about 50 per cent of the total GDP from the entire forest products industry around the province.

Mr. Irving leaves behind a multi-generational business, thousands of good paying jobs, mostly in rural New Brunswick, hundreds of companies supported in the supply chain and several hundred million in tax revenue induced each year to help pay for public services.