John Young (Canadian politician)

John Young (11 March 1811 – 12 April 1878) was a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada and a member of Parliament of the House of Commons of Canada.

Young was born in Ayr, Scotland. His family had no particular social position or money. His father William was a cooper by trade.

He was able to qualify for a very fine school, Ayr Academy. That school boasts a number of distinguished graduates including the poet Robbie Burns and the inventor James Watt. The formal education of John Young ended when he was only 14. He left Ayr Academy to become a teacher at a small country school in the nearby village of Coylton. After only a year of teaching he came to Canada in 1826 at the age of 15.

His early life in Canada began in Kingston, Ontario, where he was employed by a company in the import/export business. Despite his youth and lack of formal education he was very successful. It appears that the energy, determination, and the supreme self-confidence that were to characterize his later career were already evident.

The Torrence firm, Young's employer, moved him to Montreal in 1830. After a few years he was made co-partner with David Torrance, the son of the owner. In addition to the import/export business, the Torrance family had interests in the steamboat business operating on the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Quebec City. This involvement with merchandise trade and shipping were the foundation of Young's lifelong passion for improved transportation.

Young believed that the future of Montreal as the pre-eminent commercial centre in North America could be attained by improved access by rail and water.

With that objective he laboured and fought for:

In order to attain maximum benefit for Montreal as a commercial centre and as a port, he believed that this improved transportation network must be coupled with the concept of free-trade with the United States.

Many of these ideas were strongly opposed by the Montreal business elite. By reason of his business success, Young was part of that elite, but he was always a bit of an outsider and consider a maverick by many in the "establishment."

Young lived at a time when ideas were held with conviction and strongly debated in public. Sometimes people got "carried away." In 1847, John Young was part of a group of Montreal businessmen involved in a pistol duel. Shots were exchanged but nobody was killed.

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