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

By Connell Smith
CBC News
January 8, 2018
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada East

Bruce Northrup MLA

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 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.

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