Podcast: Donald Savoie On Why Irving Oil Is, And Always Has Been, An Underdog
Atlantic Canadians see the Irvings as a regional economic powerhouse. But since the family’s beginnings in northern New Brunswick in the 19th century, they have never seen themselves that way. K.C. was a “David,” not a “Goliath” – a tenacious entrepreneur who built a network of gas and service stations in the depression and an oil refinery in a competitive global environment.
This is the subject of Donald Savoie’s new book on Irving Oil, ‘Thanks for the Business’, and he joins Mark Leger to talk about it on this week’s episode of the “Home Office” podcast.
“If you’re sitting at Irving Oil in Saint John, you look at the world and think, ‘we’re a small player.’ They look at Exxon. They look at BP. They look at Shell. [Irving Oil is] a bit player,” says Savoie.
“They’re not part of that big gang of three or four, so they have to compete [against them]. It is a David and Goliath [situation]. They have to compete against the big boys. They have to compete against BP and Shell that have their own oil reserves, that have tremendous processing capacity; that have marketing capacity that dwarfs the Irving marketing capacity.”
Savoie, the author of several books on the Atlantic Canadian economy and its entrepreneurs, is acutely aware of the conflicting opinions about whether the size and might of the Irving empire is a good or bad thing for New Brunswick. But he admits at the outset that he’s a friend and admirer of the Irvings and says he wanted to write about K.C. and Arthur’s entrepreneurial journey in a way that would be an example to others.
“If I can tell the story of how they did it, it may inspire entrepreneurs throughout the Maritimes provinces to say, if these guys and gals could build a business that has a global reach, that’s been in business for nearly 100 years, that’s been a resounding success story, that has its head office in Saint John, maybe we can give it a go.”
Mark and Donald also chat about the recent New Brunswick election that saw former Irving Oil executive Blaine Higgs re-elected as premier. They talk about bridging the divide between English and French New Brunswick and economic opportunities for the province going forward.
They talk politics for the first part of the podcast and begin their conversation about the Irving book around the 25-minute mark.
Listen to the interview with Donald in the player above or one of many podcast platforms.
The Huddle “Home Office” podcast, available on Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher and Apple podcast platforms, features conversations with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia community leaders, entrepreneurs, analysts and Huddle reporters about the issues and events that accelerate and enrich the growth of the region’s economy and culture.