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Irving Oil CEO Jeff Matthews to retire in November, new CEO to be announced. By The Canadian Press Posted Sep 3, 2026 4:11 pm. SAINT JOHN - Irving Oil says CEO Jeff Matthews will retire from the company on Nov. 1. The company says its board of directors has completed a search for its next CEO, which will be announced at a later date. Matthews was appointed president and CEO in January of last year after it completed a strategic review that had begun in 2023. Matthews has been with Irving Oil for 32 years, previously holding other positions including chief business development officer and chief financial officer. Maureen Kempston-Darkes, the lead director of Irving Oil's board of directors, says in a news release that Matthews' leadership has positioned the company for success. Last January, the New Brunswick-based energy company confirmed that it will remain privately held after it completed its strategic review. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 3, 2026. The Canadian Press Keep it Factual Add CityNews Calgary as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.

COMMENTARY: Some buildings have deep roots in P.E.I. communities. Published Aug 31, 2026 Last updated 13 minutes ago There's a common thread connecting several events on our Island. The fire that destroyed the old Charlottetown Farmers Market - place that, over decades, had become far more than a market. The construction of a Tim's service station and convenience store, threatening the long established Ceretti's service station and convenience store in Borden-Carleton. The closing several years ago of the Scotiabank in Crapaud. The upcoming closing of the Irving station in Mount Stewart. At first glance, they're just buildings. Businesses. Places to do your banking, buy vegetables, coffee, gas, a newspaper, or a bag of chips. Except they're not. Places like these have deep, deep roots in our Island communities. Over the years, they've become woven into the very fabric of our lives. They nourish the soul of a community. And roots, by definition, take time to grow. A new building can replace an old one, but it cannot immediately replace the thousands of conversations, encounters, rituals and memories that accumulated there over decades. A building can be replaced. A gathering place must grow. The new farmers market carries that spirit forward, and in time it will gather its own layers of memory, especially in a new building that will someday soon spring to life. The old market had something that cannot quickly be rebuilt: decades of familiarity, chance encounters, favourite corners and the feeling that together we are community. That is what places like Ceretti's, the Crapaud Scotiabank, and the Mount Stewart Irving also represent. They are our unofficial town halls, newsrooms, counselling centres, social clubs and sometimes simply places where someone notices you haven't been in for a few days and asks if you're all right. You go in for gas and come out knowing who had a baby, who sold their house, whose hip operation went well, who isn't doing so well, who's home visiting from Alberta and exactly what the government is doing wrong. You may even come out knowing something you had absolutely no intention of knowing. That's community. It's messy. It's personal. It's inefficient. And it's precious. But hey, who cares? I say let's keep going. Let's close all the Island's coffee shops. Let's close those little restaurants where the waitress knows your name, your order and probably your cholesterol number. Let's close the churches. The legions. The community halls. The curling clubs. The corner stores. Let's shut down anywhere two Islanders might accidentally run into one another and have an actual conversation. Instead, let's build more drive-thrus. That way we can stay safely sealed inside our cars, order through a speaker, tap our credit card, receive our coffee through a small window and drive home without the terrible inconvenience of having spoken to another human being. In the U.S., they're actually doing drive-thru funeral visitations. Let's order everything we need from Amazon and have it quietly be deposited on the front porch. No conversations required. No neighbour encountered. No chance of finding out that Mary's husband is in hospital, that Charlie's granddaughter just graduated, or that somebody down the road could use a hand. Efficient? Absolutely. Community? Nope. And while we're at it, let's replace every locally owned, unique gathering place with something completely identical to what you find in Mississauga, Moncton or Moose Jaw. Eventually, visitors arriving on Prince Edward Island will feel completely at home because everything here will look exactly like everywhere else. We talk a lot about preserving Island culture. Usually we think of old buildings, museums, books, music and traditions. But culture also lives in ordinary places. At the counter of a gas station. At a table in a coffee shop. In those familiar corners where, over years and decades, Islanders have learned that if they linger for five minutes, someone they know will probably walk through the door. It lives in the places where we bump into one another, stop for five minutes, exchange a little news, offer a little sympathy, have a laugh and remind ourselves that we belong to one another. Once those places are gone, we may discover that what we've lost wasn't simply a bank, a gas station, a market, or a coffee shop. We lost a little piece of the Island itself. Before we approve the next development, close the next local institution, or replace the next familiar place, perhaps we should ask one more question: What will this do to the life of the community? Because once a gathering place disappears, no planning permit, ribbon-cutting or new franchise can simply put that life back. Sometimes the soul of a community is sitting at the next table, drinking coffee and waiting to tell you what happened to Charlie and Mary yesterday. Martin Rutte, DeSable, P.E.I. Quick Picks