The Irving Empire’s hidden caches have been revealed

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, in April 2020, an unusual email was sent with the title Donate toilet paper She lit the powder, to highlight a discussion about the tax practices of one of the country’s richest families.

This email, intended for all New Brunswick’s elected officials, came from JD Irving, the province’s largest private sector employer, which operates, among other things, the Royale-branded toilet paper factory in Dieppe.

Email praised important work Made by politicians In this difficult time.

Then the company announced that it will implement per member Federal and provincial authorities in New Brunswick have donated boxes of toilet paper to shelters and transition homes in the province.

Farmer Kevin Arsenault is one of three Green Party New Brunswick MLAs in the Fredericton Legislative Assembly.Photo: Radio Canada/Paul-Emile Detremont

This insulted me so badlyremembers the Greens of New Brunswick Rep. Kevin Arsenault, one of the email recipients.

An insult that Irving is posing for the right to donate toilet paper on behalf of politicians in order to exercise their influence with the ruling class.

But anger in particular is this PR operation orchestrated by a family of billionaires estimated to have a fortune estimated at more than eight billion dollars and whose tax evasion practices have made headlines in the past.

Your charity does little to hide the harm caused by the shameful use of tax havens by the companies it controlsreplied via email. A few New Brunswickers will need your charity if you prefer to pay your taxes on your corporation’s profits in Canada.

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Royale toilet paper is produced at the Dieppe factory owned by Irvings.Photo: Radio Canada

Irvings’ response was quick.

The next day, the senior boss, Jim Irving, sent him a letter saying he was sorry that Mr. Arsino had been found This offensive gift Confirmed that the conglomerate JD Irving Owned by Canadian entities and citizens who live in the Atlantic Territories and pay their taxes in Canada.

Will the Irvings stop using tax havens?

Their empire consists of private companies, the financial statements of which are not public. It is difficult to define all this organizational structure with certainty.

However, the broadcast Investigationin conjunction with CBC, exposed several companies associated with Irving’s empire while digging in Paradise LeavesSecret documents leaked from tax havens Obtained by the German daily newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung which was reported to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists as well as to Radio Canada.

These discoveries have shed new light on the hidden face of the Irving Empire, whose use of tax havens dates back to the 1960s.

KC Irving, the head of the family, left Canada in 1971 to settle after a few months in Bermuda. This decision was made a few days before the federal capital gains tax and estate tax came into force in New Brunswick. Photo: The Canadian Press/Bill Baker