Imagine just how Corrupt CBC and their pals in VIAFOURA truly are when they disable comments already replied to that only contained links to their own articles

Sorry - we can't find that page

 WOW

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/irving-natural-resources-crown-land-forestry-marketing-boards-1.4474896

Natural resources minister in Alward government says Irving letter got him fired

'I have a strong feeling that did it,' PC MLA Bruce Northrup says of shuffle out of portfolio

By Connell Smith, CBC News Posted: Jan 08, 2018 6:00 AM AT


94 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.



Aaron Allison

Time to get rid of the 29 Subsides, Time for a Royal Commission

Content disabled.

David Amos

@Aaron Allison Perhaps folks will pay attention to the NBEUB hearing this year. Some of this Subside nonsense has been well known for quite sometime and reported about by CBC

Paper mill power subsidy $1.3M over budget
CBC News Posted: Sep 15, 2009 11:58 AM AT

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/paper-mill-power-subsidy-1-3m-over-budget-1.803938

Irving hit by U.S. subsidy investigation
The U.S. Department of Commerce released a preliminary ruling Tuesday
By Jacques Poitras, CBC News Posted: Jul 28, 2015 10:00 PM AT

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/irving-hit-by-u-s-subsidy-investigation-1.3171754

NB Power first full rate hearing gets questions about big paper mills
The utility has applied for a two per cent rate hike beginning on July 1
By Robert Jones, CBC News Posted: Jun 15, 2015 9:43 PM AT

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-power-first-full-rate-hearing-gets-questions-about-big-paper-mills-1.3114844

EUB challenges NB Power to reveal analysis of political burden
Crown corporation resists full disclosure of cost analysis to protect commercially sensitive information
By Robert Jones, CBC News Posted: Apr 29, 2016 7:23 AM AT

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/eub-challenge-cost-test-nb-power-1.3558574

Shawn McShane

@David Amos The spin has begin...2017 JD Irving on record favouring seasonal electricity rates and will likely argue for them at the final hearing. 2014: Residential electricity customers underpaying, NB Power says. Commercial customers making up the difference. The old Public Utilities Board, found large industrial customers were the most heavily subsidized group.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/electricity-rates-nbpower-1.4098376

 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/residential-electricity-customers-underpaying-nb-power-says-1.2804028

David Amos

@Shawn McShane Read the transcripts to review what I have been saying in the 357 and 375 Matters in the NBEUB

Content disabled.

David Amos

@Shawn McShane Please Notice my comment was disabled after you replied to it and it was "liked" a couple of times. More importantly it only contained links to CBC articles just like your reply does.

David Amos

@Shawn McShane Notice anything?

 
David Amos

This has been well known for quite sometime so why is Northrup whining now?

David Amos

@David Amos Gee I wonder who does not like my quesion

Claudia Tannahill

@David Amos Its election year ,just my guess.

David Amos

@Claudia Tannahill My guess is that Northrup is gonna cross the floor

David Amos

@David Amos Trust that I will die laughing if Northrup joins the Green Party

  


Clive Gibbons

Meanwhile, the people of Kedgwick are mourning the loss of their mill, and the people of Doaktown are still waiting for the promised mill expansion there. I guess James D has already implemented the "reduction of size and scope" of their investment plans.

The last election the Irvings lost was with Louis Robichaud...

David Amos

@Clive Gibbons I disagree Methinks the Empire owned Little Louie and his Old Boyz Club too.

 

Ronald Parker

This shouldn't surprise anyone in NB, it tells us our system works for big business and not the people.

David Amos

@Ronald Parker The truly sad part is that nobody cares

Mary Noonan

@David Amos they care.....these are the people telling their kids to leave the province and seek prosperity elsewhere, away from the parasite which is killing its host slowly.

David Amos

@Mary Noonan Perhaps the kids shuld check my work before they go. There is a rather important NBEUB hearing coming up in February. Perhaps who truly care should read some documents and the transcripts within the 357 and the the 375 matters then go to Federal Court and pull my file and start reading ASAP.

 
Ronald Parker

This head line is no where to be found in the daily gleaner today, control the message to the sheep.

David Amos

@Ronald Parker Should we be surprised?

  


Matt Steele

Sadly , it is no big secret that Irving has been basically getting the wood from Crown Lands for free ; while private woodlot owners cannot give their wood away . Now Irving wants to go one step further , and disband the Wood Marketing Boards that gave a voice to private woodlot owners . Of course , Irving owns most all of the print media in N.B. ; so we will never see a word about it in most news papers .Welcome to New Brunswick....Canada's failed province !

Mary Noonan

@Matt Steele And they made a presentation to Alward that they want to own the Crown Lands Freehold by 2050. It is no coincidence that NB is being pushed into bankruptcy. Easier to get the Crown Lands after that.

David Amos

@Mary Noonan Somebody in our Federal government should what Alward has done on my Clan's behalf in Beantown since he was appointed by Harper

Bill Thompson

@David Amos
It's a conspiracy between the government and the extraterrestrials.

 
Ray Zincain (simplistic to lump folks as either left or right)

Come on now, this can't be true! Irving is a good corporate citizen. He owns most of the wood mills and needs this wood to provide jobs to New Brunswickers. He also owns the printing presses and newspapers that also provide many jobs and the paper needed to print the news comes from that wood. Don't you know?

David Amos

@Ray Zincain (simplistic to lump folks as either left or right) Methinks thou doth jets too much N'esy pas?

David Amos

@Ray Zincain (simplistic to lump folks as either left or right) Methinks my grammar and spelling is atrocious. Tis time for more coffee N'esy Pas?

Winston Smith

@David Amos
Doing that wake and bake thing?

David Amos

@Winston Smith YUP My mind is not baked but nearly fried some mornings because I've been up and down all night fighting a wicked virus I have had for over a month now..

David Amos

@Winston Smith FYI the coffee worked fine and I am frying a far bigger fish at suppertime

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ethics-commisioner-morneau-sale-shares-1.4478000

 

Samuel Porter

It's a well known fact that Irving runs this province, and he tells the Liberals what to do too. Anyone doesn't know that, well, they don't know anything about NB. Someone with some guts to stand up to the outfit would be nice for a change.

Mary Noonan

@Samuel Porter If anyone wonders why NB parents are telling their kids to leave the province.......this is why.

David Amos

@Samuel Porter Check my work

  

Shawn McShane

In other CBC News: History expert says Trump is undermining American democracy, and Canada should be concerned

I think it is the other way around. How long has Irving been pulling Canadian government strings? How did Irving negotiate themselves the lowest soft wood lumber tariffs? Irving is the only company in Canada to have received such a low tariff.

Mary Noonan

@Shawn McShane They are one of the wealthiest families in Canada. They didn't get that way by being nice or playing fair. They achieved this off of the backs of the average New Brunswick tax payer, like a parasite that is slowly killing its host. One NB Premier had to have RCMP protection after turning them down. No one will oppose them, they are feared in NB. That is just the way it is.

David Amos

@Mary Noonan FYI I oppose the Empire and their political cohorts all the time They don't scare me

 

Brian Robertson

It's not a question of what Irving said.
Everyone has a right to an opinion in this Country.

The issue is weak governments and politicians that are not held accountable.
And that issue goes well beyond woodlands and Irvings and natural resources.

It affects everything that governments touch upon in our daily lives; from declining healthcare to the withering tax burden heaped upon New Brunswickers.

David Amos

@Brian Robertson True. So why don't more folks do what I do and run for public office as Independents and speak their mind? If just one got elected they could ask the important questions on behalf of the neighbours on the public record without being whipped by a Party Leader demanding that they adhere to the agenda of the Party.

Imagine if Northrup spoke up as soon as the letter was written to Alward years ago. I suspect that if he had done so Irving would not being mowing down more of OUR forest right now nor would the SNB in his riding be suffering through a ridiculous lawsuit filed by the Irving Clan.

Claudia Tannahill

@David Amos I wonder how Conservative Irving boy Blaine Higgs can pretend to be an outsider when he crafted some of the very deals that the Empire got from the province for the LNG terminal,a gift the keeps on giving.They should limit these deals to the time each government serves a maximum of four years to be renegotiated,not a 25 yr term or more ,that makes them unbreakable or costly for all of us.

Brian Robertson

@David Amos
The historic reality is that New Brunswickers are going to vote one of two ways.
As good as running as an independent might sound, the only way an independent MLA could be more than an afterthought would be if a Government were in power by a very slim majority.

My thoughts are to bring about change would be to work from within, to change the nature of how politics work in the Province. And if we can't rely on an independent, objective media to hold politicians accountable, use social media to get the message out.

And, for the benefit of Claudia, your poorly thought out, childish slander of Blaine Higgs is precisely the kind of ill informed political opinion that perpetuates New Brunswick's string of bad governments.

The curse of democracy is that you get the government that you deserve. If you want good government, voters need to be better informed and demand more from those they elect.

David Amos

@Brian Robertson "As good as running as an independent might sound, the only way an independent MLA could be more than an afterthought would be if a Government were in power by a very slim majority"

Thats all Gallant has had for the past 4 years. However what if Northrup quits whining and crosses the floor before the writ is dropped? Methinks Mr Higgs' boat wont float after that N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Claudia Tannahill Need I say that Mr Higgs and I are not fans of each other's work?

 eddy watts

(For those who benefit from Irving)...So What? (For the rest of NB) Will Irvings control over NB political/economic life ever end. Is being almost dead (in Canada)last in economic output, all we can ever hope for under the rule of what-ever government + Irving. And yes I can hear those Irving beneficiaries: So What, I'm working.

David Amos

@eddy watts Sad but true

 

Douglas James

What Irving wants, Irving gets. Ever notice every demand comes with a threat? We'll have to reduce this or that? Is that how they got the drastic reduction in property tax assessment on the Saint John pulp mill....give it to us or we won't expand? K.C. .Irving read New Brunswickers well when he chose this province to host his empire. That empire thrives on spineless political leadership and benign citizenry.

David Amos

@Douglas James Methinks you should not forget the other New Brunswick Billionaire Clan that Mr Morneau married into. N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Douglas James Methinks that this was a very predictable outcome for Mr Morneau N'esy Pas?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ethics-commisioner-morneau-sale-shares-1.4478000

 

Hank Williams

The Alward government was elected on promises of transparency and good government. I don't think that government kept ANY of the promises it made. The lack of transparency with them is equally upsetting. It upsets me to know that Mr. Alward was rewarded for incompetence with a job. Nothing which he said could be trusted and/or believed. Any wonder they lost in 2014?

Shawn McShane

@Hank Williams The Gallant government was elected on promises of transparency and good government. I don't think the government kept ANY of the promises it made: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/brian-gallant-says-changes-coming-to-forestry-deals-1.2998792 Wait for it...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/brian-gallant-won-t-change-wood-allocation-in-forest-deals-1.3001656

Liberal/Tory you know the story (well you do now eh?)

David Amos

@Shawn McShane "Liberal/Tory you know the story (well you do now eh?)"

Methinks everybody knew it all along N'esy Pas?

Shawn McShane

@David Amos If they know why do they only elect Lib/Con?

David Amos

@Shawn McShane About 40 percent of the folks did even bother to vote and I am not allowed to. Most of he rest voted for the same parties they always do. It is the swing voters who decide most elections unless there is a sweep like Meckeena in the 80s Chretien in the 90s and Trudeau The Younger" in 2015 It appears to me that that only happens when the folks can't take the Conservative nonsense anymore

  

Dwight Mullover

We need to try and elect a party other than Liberal or Conservative in New Brunswick.

We keep getting the same old failed governments here and that's why we are not progressing. We are paid the lowest wages in Canada to the tune of $10/hr on average (source: StatsCan) We have no low cost options for heat. Our food prices are higher than most parts of Canada. We pay higher taxes, higher government fees, and we have very few jobs. Our lobster is being sold to Asia at huge prices, yet fish plant workers are still paid $12.50 an hour, and New Brunswickers can't afford to buy our own resource anymore.

Are folks here seriously ok with what's happening in New Brunswick? Can we not choose a party that is not Conservative or Liberal this year?

We have 3 other parties to choose from PANB, NDP, and GRN. Let's at least give one of them a try; we can't be any worse off.

stephen blunston

@Dwight Mullover what we need is a Politian with a backbone they will do what is right for the province not keeping irving happy so they get elected again, and make irving pay its fair share, I respect that they employ a lot o NB'ers but come on sitting on billions in the Bahamas and keep asking and the gov keeps givin them all the bteaks and then wonder why we run defecits , no brainer

David Amos

@stephen blunston "what we need is a Politian with a backbone"

I repeat check my work

Shawn McShane

@David Amos "Between the Cradle And The Grave Lies A Haircut And A Shave"

David Amos

@Shawn McShane FYI I suspect that my hair and beard will keep growing a bit after I die.

I also disagree with your quote. Methinks if one's time is well spent between shaves and haircuts a decent man will leave behind a bunch of happy children and grandchildren to visit his grave and remember him fondly if he is a truly lucky man N'esy Pas?

John Spartan

Its not news that big money controls federal, provincial or municipal governments.

David Amos

@John Spartan Everybody knows the Golden Rule for politicians is

"He With the Gold Makes the Rules"

  

stephen blunston

we all know Irving dictates and the puppet premiers fall to their wishes , lets keep giving them free wood from the crown put the few small independent woodlots is risk of failure and welcome the big duties inposed by the US , hmmm I wonder why

David Amos

@stephen blunston Why? Well please allow me ask and answer a question in reply.

What is the root of all evil?

The love of money.

  

Chantal LeBouthi

Move hurt marketing boards

—————————

The move did more than just hurt

The move is basically destroying our forestry our wild life and river

And the Liberal did nothing probably Gallant got very scare

David Amos

@Chantal LeBouthi Trust that the lawyer Gallant doesn't care one little bit.

Natural resources minister in Alward government says Irving letter got him fired

'I have a strong feeling that did it,' PC MLA Bruce Northrup says of shuffle out of portfolio

By Connell Smith, CBC News Posted: Jan 08, 2018 6:00 AM AT

Progressive Conservative MLA Bruce Northrup was natural resources minister in the David Alward government. (CBC)

Pressure from Jim Irving led former premier David Alward to switch natural resources ministers, says Bruce Northrup, speaking for the first time about how he lost the portfolio in a cabinet shuffle four years ago.

The shuffle came months after Irving, the co-CEO of J.D. Irving Ltd., sent a frankly worded letter to the Progressive Conservative premier, expressing frustration that Northrup seemed opposed to increasing how much Crown land should be made available to industry.

In the letter, Irving attacks decisions Northrup made, saying they were disruptive and hasty and showed a lack of understanding of the consequences.

• At loggerheads: J.D. Irving and other forest companies take an axe to the longtime marketing board system  

The letter was first published almost two years ago by the Halifax Media Co-op, but only recently did Northrup agree to discuss the lrving letter and its possible role in his removal from the Natural Resources Department.

Northrup said he believes Irving's written intervention led to his move to the Department of Public Safety.

"I have a strong feeling that did it for sure," Northrup said in an interview with CBC News. "I don't think some people wanted me in that department. Obviously, that was the premier of the day's decision and I respect his decision."

In a province where about half the wood supply comes from publicly owned Crown land, Northrup's story raises questions about how much control industry has over government decision-making.
At the time, the province was under pressure from J.D. Irving to decrease the amount of Crown conservation land protected from timber harvesting to 23 per cent from 28 per cent.

Irving reports on minister 

These parcels include buffer zones along rivers, deer-wintering areas, protected natural areas, and old growth forest.

In the letter to Alward, Irving pointed in particular to what he called "another unfortunate example" of a Northrup decision — a statement he alleged Northrup made at a meeting of the New Brunswick Environmental Network in February 2013.

• New forestry plan provides more Crown wood to industry 
• David Alward revamps cabinet in major shuffle

"At this meeting the Minister confirmed the Province's intention to maintain Conservation Areas at 28%," Irving wrote.

"This seriously compromises the work we have been undertaking since June 2012 — at the request of the Province — to define and realize capital investment opportunities that would put hundreds of New Brunswickers to work, which would in turn generate tens of millions of dollars in new wages and related tax revenues to the Province."

Threatens cut in investment

The letter to Alward ended with a warning: "Without the necessary wood supply, we will have to reduce the size and scope of our mill modernization and investment plans."

A spokesperson for JDI declined a CBC request for an interview about the letter, which is dated Feb. 27, 2013.

Alward is now consul general of Canada for New England.

In February 2013, Jim Irving, the co-CEO of J.D. Irving Ltd., wrote a letter to then-premier David Alward that criticized Northrup and his decision-making as minister. (CBC)

A spokesperson said that in his current role, Alward cannot comment on issues related to his term as premier.

Paul Robichaud, who replaced Northrup as natural resources minister, would not comment on the issue, but former Alward adviser Dallas McCready dismissed the idea that Irving had a hand in the cabinet shuffle.

"It certainly wasn't the result of that letter," said McCready, who advised the government about industrial initiatives.

All companies sought help 

He said it was a time of uncertainty in the forest industry, and other Crown land licensees were also looking for help.

Twin Rivers, he said, had been forced to stop accepting pulpwood from the private sector, causing turmoil in the north of the province.

'Governments, whether it's this government or the previous Conservative government, will stand with Jim Irving, will stand with JDI. They have repeatedly made that decision.' - David Coon, Green Party leader

The companies came to the provincial government "with a pretty unified voice," McCready said.
Northrup was regarded by the province's private woodlot groups as a minister who understood their concerns.

Woodlot marketing boards have said that access by Irving and other big industry players to large volumes of public wood has created poor market conditions for private wood sales.

"We did feel we had a good working relationship with him," said Rick Doucett of the New Brunswick Federation of Woodlot Owners.

Alward and Irving appeared together in Chipman at a news conference following the release of the Progressive Conservative government's forestry plan. (CBC)

"There's been many times working in the private wood sector that we've started to work with a particular minister of natural resources that seemed to get it, seemed to want to work with us, seemed to want to do something different. And all of a sudden, they weren't there anymore. And then we started to talk to the same kind of people that we talked to before."

Green Party Leader David Coon said the Bruce Northrup incident is emblematic of the relationship in New Brunswick between the government and Irving.

"The government threw Bruce Northrup under the bus, their own minister of natural resources, their own member, and appointed a new minister," said Coon.

"Governments, whether it's this government or the previous Conservative government, will stand with Jim Irving, will stand with JDI. They have repeatedly made that decision. That's who they stand with, rather than standing with the woodlot owners around the province."

Fought cuts to conservation land 

Northrup defended the decisions he made as minister. He said he fought attempts by industry to persuade the government to reduce the size of the conservation forest, fearing it would hurt the market for timber from private woodlots.

Paul Robichaud (right) replaced Northrup as the natural resources minister in the Alward government. (CBC)

"It supplies too much of the wood [needed by industry] and takes it away from private woodlot operators," said Northrup.

"I really thought the private woodlot operators could have supplied that wood to the mills."
As for his comments at the Environmental Network meeting, Northrup said they were misrepresented by a JDI employee who was there.

"I'll say the same thing till I die, that I was misquoted, and that was taken back to Saint John to the head office."

Move hurt marketing boards

Northrup said he had hoped the size of Crown conservation areas could be maintained at 25 or 26 per cent of the total. He was disappointed with his government's subsequent decision to reduce the size of the conservation forests to 23 per cent from 28.

The former minister says this hurt New Brunswick's wood marketing boards and may be a factor in the U.S. Commerce Department's decision to slap anti-dumping duties on the province's lumber products.

Washington has described the New Brunswick market as an "oligopsony," where a few companies dominate and have considerable power to control prices.

A Commerce Department memo pointed to the 2014 decision that allowed more harvesting of Crown trees as a problem for the private wood market, saying the big mills were using private wood merely as a secondary option.

Liberals haven't interfered

"I think if we would have stayed around 26 or 25 [percent] then I don't think it would have been as big a deal as it is right now," said Northrup.

In the lead-up to the 2014 provincial election, the Brian Gallant Liberals promised to review and possibly change the previous Progressive Conservative government's forestry plan.

Letter from Jim Irving, the co-CEO of J.D. Irving Ltd., to then-premier David Alward. (Halifax Media Co-op)

More than two years later, in February 2017, Gallant described the file as "complex" and said the wood allocation provisions could not be changed because of contracts signed with industry by the Alward government.

In a statement Friday, a spokesperson said the government has released relevant documents related to the plan and remains committed to releasing a review of the forest strategy.

In December, the CBC reported on efforts by JDI and others to circumvent the province's marketing board system by requiring woodlot owners to make direct contracts for the sale of their wood. The Liberal government has stayed out of the conflict between the boards and big industry.

The boards, meanwhile, are losing their ability to negotiate wood prices on behalf of their members.

JDI has stopped buying any wood through the Sussex-based SNB board and has expanded that practice to other territories.   

• SPECIAL REPORT: At loggerheads: J.D. Irving and other forest companies take an axe to the longtime marketing board system