GOOD MORNING....
PLEASE POST
I hope irving is not gloating and has he earned his money honestly or how many people in this province has paid dearly ?...
Irvings stay at No. 3 as list of Canadian billionaires grows
DAVID SHIPLEY
Telegraph-Journal
As published on page B3 on December 5, 2006
SAINT JOHN - The Irving family has held on to its third-place position on the list of Canada's 100 richest people.
James (J.K.), Arthur and John (Jack) Irving are estimated to be worth $5.45-billion, according to Canadian Business Magazine's eighth annual Rich 100 list.
Irving-owned companies are privately held, which means the magazine's figures are speculative.
"We look at similar public companies, performance of the market, to get a sense of the assets they hold," said Alex Mlynek, Canadian Business' senior associate editor.
The rankings are in the current issue of Canadian Business, which hits newsstands this week.
This year 46 of those on the list are billionaires, up from 40 in 2005.
Overall, the 100 richest Canadians are worth more than $150 billion, up nine billion from last year.
The Thomson family has held on to its top spot on the list with a fortune estimated at $24.41 billion. Family patriarch Kenneth Thomson died in June. At the time of his death he was the ninth richest person in the world.
Galen Weston of George Weston Ltd, which controls the Loblaw supermarket chain, held on to the No. 2 spot at $7.1 billion.
The Irvings' varied interests include companies in the petroleum, forest products, building supply, shipbuilding, frozen food and media, including the Telegraph-Journal.
In 2005 the Irving family was estimated to have a worth of $5.36 billion, up from $4.88 billion in 2004.
That growth was driven by spikes in the oil and forestry sectors.
The slower place of growth in 2006 reflects downward trends in both of those sectors, said Mlynek.
Daniel Goodwin, a spokesman for Irving Oil, said the private company does not comment on estimates such as the Rich 100.
"However, I can tell you that we're very proud of the fact we have continued to reinvest in both our business and in the communities in which our employees live and work," he wrote in a brief statement.
"As a result of this pattern of reinvestment - including during long periods when many oil refineries were being bought out or closed down - we have been able to contribute to the creation of many employment and business opportunities here in Atlantic Canada."
The Irvings are not the only New Brunswick family on the list of billionaires, with the Harrison McCain family at 18 on the list with $1.99 billion. While the family's worth is up five per cent, their ranking slipped from 15th in 2005.
Harrison McCain died in 2004.
Wallace McCain is at 21 on the list with $1.78 billion, down five per cent from last year and slipping from the 16th position.
A spokeswoman for McCain Foods Limited declined to comment.
Saint John-born Richard Currie, chairman of BCE Inc. and chancellor of the University of New Brunswick, fell off the list this year. He had held the 98th position in 2005 with an estimated net worth of $383 million.
