As Kirk LaPointe prepares mayoral run, his former boss, Patricia Graham, resurfaces in Saint John

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      This week, there's been a great deal of speculation in our town about the very high likelihood of former Vancouver Sun managing editor Kirk LaPointe becoming the NPA mayoral candidate.

      I'm looking forward to asking him whether he played any advisory role in the board's ouster of Dunbar Theatre president Ken Charko or the NPA caucus's casting out of school trustees Sophia Woo and Ken Denike.

      Meanwhile, LaPointe's former boss at the Vancouver Sun, ex-editor-in-chief Patricia Graham, has moved to Saint John, New Brunswick.

      She's now ombudswoman of Brunswick News, which is owned by J.D. Irving, which in turn is owned by billionaire James K. Irving.

      Brunswick News owns New Brunswick's three English-language daily papers as well as 14 English-language and seven French-language weeklies.

      In her debut column on June 12, Graham wrote that in her new position, she will "review comments and respond to complaints from readers about editorial content".

      "I have respect for an organization that is willing to appoint someone to represent readers and to independently assess its journalistic endeavours. In determining whether I would take this job, I satisfied myself that Brunswick News management is fully committed to their newspapers and wants them to be journalistically sound and to make a positive contribution to New Brunswick," she stated.

      According to Forbes magazine, James K. Irving has a net worth of $6.2 billion, which puts him at Number 234 on the publication's list of world billionaires. According to ForbesJ.D. Irving owns Irving Oil, which has an oil refinery and hundreds of gas stations, as well as companies involved in frozen foods, transportation, and forestry.

      Comments

      2 Comments

      400 ppm

      Jun 23, 2014 at 7:16pm

      Nicely done, Charlie. Round and round it goes.

      Circulation of elite

      The Circulation of elite is a theory of regime change described by Italian social scientist Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923). Changes of regime, revolutions, and so on occur not when rulers are overthrown from below, but when one elite replaces another.

      Steve Shane

      Jul 7, 2014 at 4:00pm

      J.D. Irving, Limited. doesn't own or operate Irving Oil. Together the companies represent the Irving Brother's companies. You should consider checking your facts, especially considering this is an article about an ombudswoman for a newspaper company.