Kenneth Colin Irving, OC (14 March 1899 – 13 December 1992) was a Canadian businessman whose business began with a family sawmill in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, in 1882.
[4] In his early years, K. C. Irving was viewed as a tough kid from a rough sawmill town on the Northumberland Strait.
[5] Irving attempted to enlist while being underage, but his father disapproved of it and sent him to Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
[10] While back in Bouctouche, Irving dabbled in the merchant trade,[11] working as a Ford automobile salesman for a dealer in Richibucto at the age of 22.
[2] He was unceremoniously dumped from that franchise within the year, whereupon he contacted Samuel Lloyd Noble in order to purchase a supply from him.
[15] At the age of 26, Irving was invited by the representative of Ford to take over the franchise in Saint John,[16] the city he would make his home for the next 46 years.
By 1930, Irving was selling petrol in Saint John, Bouctouche, Shediac, Moncton, Sussex, Campbellton, St. Stephen, Westville, Weymouth, Amherst and Truro.
[21] Irving saw that the petrol business was also an opportunity to purchase land,[20] and in 1931 erected as his headquarters the Golden Ball building at the corner of Sydney and Union streets.
[21] Canada Veneers had been established in 1933 by Robert McMillan, chiefly to produce orange crates for another local company.
[23] Irving obtained the contract from Ottawa or London to build in Bouctouche wooden landing barges for D-Day.
[29] Ownership and operation of the Irving group of companies ultimately divided among his three sons and their respective children, James, the oldest brother and his (James') two sons, Jim and Robert, took more control of forest products and several other divisions, Arthur the middle brother assumed more autonomy in Irving Oil,[1] which owns the Saint John, New Brunswick Irving Oil Refinery, Canada's largest refinery, and Jack who looked after much of the construction, engineering and Radio & Television stations.
As a result, Irving has been able to capitalize on the growing need for low-emission fuel in California and other U.S. markets (delivered by its own ships).
The conglomerate operates with considerable latitude which the Irving family's wealth permits—operating somewhat as a maverick to the consternation of many of Central and Western Canada's business leaders.
Irving's food processing plants in Prince Edward Island are looking to build one of the largest wind farms in Canada in that province to completely power their operations, and many Irving-owned sawmills and factories in the rest of northeastern North America are rapidly adopting co-generation, bio-gas and solar/wind power to complement current energy usage.
[1] Irving had a near monopoly in media in New Brunswick[2] well into the 1980s when they owned several English radio stations and CHSJ-TV, the only CBC affiliate in the province.
Despite Forbes's estimates, the overall Irving family fortune is likely to be grossly underestimated because of complex tax avoiding schemes which blur evidence behind a network of number companies and international holdings.
In 1981, the National Film Board movie "I Like to See Wheels Turn" mentioned Canadian Lawyer Peter Glennie's findings.
[citation needed] Irving was previously a supporter of the New Brunswick Liberal Association, then-led by Louis Robichaud.
Irving began supporting the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick after Robichaud pushed back against tax concessions.