A thaw in New Brunswick's French-fry wars

As deals go, it was small potatoes, but the $60-million sale of an Alberta processing plant signals a new stage in the long-running French-fry fracas between New Brunswick’s McCain and Irving families.

Maple Leaf Foods Inc., run by Michael McCain, announced this week the sale of the Lethbridge plant to Cavendish Farms, the potato-processing arm of J.D. Irving Ltd., the family conglomerate owned by the Irvings of Saint John.

Twenty years ago, a McCain selling a potato asset to an Irving would have been scandalous...