For acts 'against the law' you can look up their environmental infractions on the web. Their anti-union practices are well established and the fact that NB has the lowest union activity per capita in Canada is proof of the media power (where people distrust unions more than the Irvings-and the NDP is unable to get more than one seat!). There is virtually undeniable research showing a direct correlation between union activity and standards of living in the industrialized world (both increasing or falling together)
International shipping cannot be ethically defended by anybody, and the fact that they are 'no worse than anybody else' is hardly an endorsement. Likewise their refusal to contribute to the salvage of the Irving Whale, which was loaded with PCB's is also telling.
As far as media monopolies go, they were found guilty in the seventies of that, and the problem has grown worse. They simply bought off the politician's, who claimed that it couldn't be proven that their monopoly had 'caused harm'. This is the most telling, since Irving has such vital interests in the province it is no coincidence it owns so much media-if it merely wanted more media businesses, well, there is a whole world out there full of places where they could compete in media.
That they are not behaving as any other business would is specious and untrue, we see many examples of corporations who are contributing members of their society. Nobody is 'forcing' them to clearcut forests to be turned into jack pine plantations, and nobody is stopping them from doing business elsewhere. The idea that somehow New Brunswick wouldn't be where it is today without the Irving's or McCain's is simply crazy. Both are notorious anti union enterprises with horrible reputations among those forced to work with them-go ask a farmer in Northwestern New Brunswick!
New Brunswick ranks consistently as the worst province in Canada for standard of living, and by international organizations ranks lower than 48 of 50 of the states. It would be hard for New Brunswick to have done worse.
Simply because of one personal 'happy story' is not enough to spare them. Many of Hitler's closest friends remarked on what a nice and generous man he was, and even Churchill talked about what an honest and trustworthy businessman Stalin was. RB Bennett is said to have spend most of the depression writing $20 cheques to impoverished letter writers who were crippled by the depression made worse by his policies, again, that doesn't spare him criticism.
# posted by Anonymous : 11:18 PM
1 comment:
Thanks for your letter correcting my misconceptions. I believe I am the author of the "happy" letter you refer to. That was attributed to K.C. Irving. He was a very nice man from the little I knew of him, which was indeed very limited. The same with his 3 sons. I was never introduced to any of them even though I worked in the office here for 10 years & became it's manager. That to me was strange, not to "meet" the bosses. But hey! You'd have to have known my immediate supervisor!
I was impressed by the fact that any of these 4 men could be seen in rolled up shirt sleeves doing actual "dirty" work right along with the regular workers. I probably wouldn't recognize any of them now if I met them on the street.Thanks for taking the scales off my eyes. I learn something new every day on this blog!
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