Irfing family provides many jobs for the Canadian boycott, but it also raises concerns

Even in the city of a port filled with the length of the Atlantic Ocean, it is impossible to miss the escalating steam clouds from the largest oil refinery in Canada over St. John, New Bronzwick.

On a series of hills overlooking the refinery, six huge tanks are located, each containing one million barrels of crude oil. The messages that were drawn in a dark blue talisman “Irfing”, the family whose work dominates Saint John, but most of New Bronzwek.

On the horizon, larger than the local leaf mills in Irvengz over the St. John River are like the Middle Ages. The IRVING CRISSCROSS railways track in the city, which connects the family’s smaller factories to the ports under Irfing control. Irfing -owned construction stores and gas stations are traveling in the streets in this city of 78,000 people, as Park honor Erfing’s contributions to their maintenance.

The four family radio stations in New Bronzwek fill the air waves. Irfing transport trucks carried Erfing goods, such as structural steel and frozen fried potatoes. A security company owned by Irfing provides guards for the owned property owned by Irving.

There are many families in Canada that built business empires, most notably the Thompson family, Who controls Media, Financial and Legal Information Company.

But Irvings stands out for the leadership of one area. Starting in the twenties of the twentieth century with a public store and a fuel station that sold the Ford TS, Kenneth Colin Irfing, known as KC, created a private royal company with a special value of $ 14.5 billion, or about 10.1 billion dollars.

The legacy of the family in Canada is complex. Its companies have brought job opportunities to an area where jobs are rare. With some estimates, one out of every 10 people work in New Bronzwek for Irfing. However, the boycott is constantly classified or near the bottom in Canada to get family income.

While Irfing companies have created large industries, their factories also brought pollution to St. John and hit their neighborhoods, according to residents and former government officials.

But the economic power of the family and the political influence made many people in Saint John hesitant in publicly criticizing the Irvenigs. Family decision in 2003 to close the Saint John’s shipbuilding basin, which was once working on 4000 people, to focus on his work in Halifax, Nova Scotia was widely seen as a result of the Menax business relationships.

“There is a culture in St. John to keep your head down and keep your mouth closed,” said Don Darling, the city’s mayor from 2016 to 2021.

He said he believed that the powerful industrial base of St. John should make the local economy stronger, but the relatively low taxes on many companies owned by Irfing have made it difficult to support the necessary social services.

He added: “I do not necessarily blame Irvengez, but everyone should play a role and everyone must take responsibility for their role in society.”

The Irfing family did not answer the list of questions about its impact on the city.

The Erfang Empire today consists mainly of two large groups, still owned and controlled by the Irfing family.

Companies were not always easy neighbors. In 2018, Plezant City Street residents were threatened at St. John East twice by the Irfing Refinery. First, a leaked tube caused an explosion that was hit by 36 workers. Then the neighborhood was evacuated after a rusty pipeline carrying a toxic and explosive explosion.

Erfing Oil was fined 200,000 Kandy, about 140,000 dollars, for the explosion, and Plezant City Street has been changed forever. Irving bought about 20 houses near and demolished pipeline, apparently to create a temporary store between the refinery and residents. The abandoned neighborhood is now banned by concrete barriers and patrols by employee Erfing guards.

Like others in St. John, Lisa Crandall, who lives near the barriers, said she is aware of family members and pets that died from unusual cancer.

But there was little scrutiny on any health issues related to Irfing by local government agencies or private groups. A 2009 study of the New Bronzwek, a group of advocacy, found this Lung cancer rates For women in Saint John 82 percent higher than national rates and 98 percent higher for men.

There were no well -known studies that directly link the health problems of Irving companies.

The refinery has been overwhelmed Biology with chemical particles. This boycott government announced Dust and soot versions to be low risk For residents, but that failed to reassure them. Microbial particles are linked to asthma, lung diseases and bronchitis.

Mrs. Crandall said she was frustrated because there were no contacts from the company. She said so far, no information was provided about the crime of homes on her street.

She said, “They are not talking about it.” “They always send a message saying: Hello, we are your neighbor. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

KC Irving the family’s empire began adding an oil company to its auto agent and the gas station. During the Great Depression, he assumed buses and failed trucks, and after the expansion of World War II to paper, ships and wood.

The increasing impact of the company brought the government’s concessions and exemptions from the government. In 1951, the boycott was legally approved, which is no longer in effect, allowing the Irving pulp factory to pour waste in the St. John River. And Irving Oil obtained an exemption from property tax for 42 years, which ended in 2023.

“The level of arrival to the elected officials, like this, no one gives anyone else,” said Mr. Darling, the former mayor. “Show us if it makes sense to provide a special tax transaction for any work – to Irvings or anyone else.”

Once again on Blazant City Street, Mrs. Crandall said she hopes that there will be a way to reduce the huge Irfing presence in St. John.

She said, “I would like to see them only selling everything and different companies come.” (Irfing has not announced any such plans.)

“It will be really good for the city,” she added. “I know that many people hate me to say that.”