page_title: Saint John, New Brunswick
section_title: Heavy industry
hierarchical_section_title: Saint John, New Brunswick / Economy / Heavy industry
caption_attribution_description: English: St John New Bruswick
context_page_description: Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of King George III. The port is Canada's third largest port by tonnage with a cargo base that includes dry and liquid bulk, break bulk, containers, and cruise. Historically New Brunswick's largest city, in 2016 the city fell to second place, with a population of 67,575 over an area of 315.82 km². Greater Saint John covers a land area of 3,362.95 km² across the Caledonia Highlands, with a growing population of 126,202.
  French colonist Samuel de Champlain landed at Saint John Harbour on June 24, 1604 and is where the Saint John River gets its name although Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik peoples lived in the region for thousands of years prior calling the river Wolastoq. The Saint John area was an important area for trade and defence for Acadia during the French colonial era and Fort La Tour, in the city's harbour, was a pivotal battleground during the Acadian Civil War.
context_section_description: Saint John maintains industrial infrastructure in the city's East side such as Canada's largest oil refinery as well as the country's largest dry dock. Capitalist K.C. Irving and his family built his unfettered industrial conglomerate in the city by buying up mills, shipyards, media outlets, and other industrial infrastructure during the 20th century, and still continue to this day. Today Irving dominates the city and province with stakes in oil, forestry, shipbuilding, media and transportation. Irving companies remain dominant employers in the region with North America's first deepwater oil terminal, a pulp mill, a paper mill and a tissue paper plant.
  Other important economic activity in the city is generated by the Port of Saint John.
  Saint John has a long history of brewers, such as Simeon Jones, The Olands, and James Ready. The city is now home to Moosehead Breweries, James Ready Brewing Co., Big Tide Brewing Co., Picaroon's and other craft brewers. The Moosehead Brewery (established in 1867, is Canada's only nationally distributed independent brewery [M. Nicholson]), James Ready Brewing Co., the New Brunswick Power Corporation which operates three electrical generating stations in the region including the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station, Bell Aliant which operates out of the former New Brunswick Telephone headquarters, the Horizon Health Network, which operates 5 hospitals in the Saint John area, and numerous information technology companies. There are also a number of call centres which were established in the 1990s under provincial government incentives.
caption: View from Fort Howe of the Saint John skyline prior to Peel Plaza
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