As scary as it might sound, it seems for once I am going to agree with some of you posters about the positive Irving bias in the TJ, TT and DG. The TJ is running a story this morning called Safeguard N.B.’s export economy which strongly insists that the federal government do something to help NB’s export economy.
Now, for those of you who don’t know it, the N.B. export economy is essentially Irving. If you get some time, probe around here to find out more. Petroleum refining is a whopping 60% of all exports, folks. 60%. One company (unless there’s another refinery around). But it doesn’t stop there. The Irvings are involved in at least another six of the top 25 export groups. While it is impossible to know for sure, I would posit that close to 65%-70% of the value of all New Brunswick exports are Irving exports.
So, when the TJ writes a strongly worded opinion piece demanding support for NB exporters, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure things out.
PS – You remember how cranky I got when Lord and the boys took credit for the massive increase in exports during his tenure. It was all Petroleum. The majority of other export categories declined during his term – some significantly – and Lord, Volpe and the boys had zero interesting in sharing that little tidbit with New Brunswickers.
If the TJ is interested in non-Irving exports, it should call for the attraction of other manufacturing firms to set up here and to encourage other NB firms to export. This opinion piece is a direct call for support for the Irvings.
Imagine. At least $6.5 billion worth of Irving exports. If the Feds jiggered tax policy or some other tool that helped the Irvings make 1% – just 1% – more margin on that it would be $65 million more bucks.
Some of that money, presumably, would be reinvested in the TJ, n’est pas?