John James Carrick

Who was John James Carrick?

John James Carrick was a flamboyant and controversial Ontario real estate promoter and political figure. He was always referred to by his initials as J.J. Carrick. Carrick served as mayor of Port Arthur in 1908. He represented Port Arthur in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1908 to 1911 and Thunder Bay and Rainy River in the Canadian House of Commons from 1911 to 1917 as a Conservative member. He stepped aside in 1917 for his erstwhile protégé Donald McDonald Hogarth, but when the Port Arthur Liberal Association refused to accept Hogarth as the Unionist Party candidate, he gave way to Conservative Francis Henry Keefer who won the seat in the Canadian federal election, 1917 for the Unionists.

He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, the son of John A. Carrick, and was educated at the University of Toronto. In 1899, he married Mary June Day. Carrick came to Port Arthur in 1903 attracted by a real estate boom in anticipation of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway locating at the Lakehead. He subsequently acquired and marketed a large number of subdivisions on the fringes of the Port Arthur town plot, the most successful of which was Mariday Park, named after his wife. A shameless self-promoter, he launched the Port Arthur Daily News in 1906 to promote his political career and real estate business. He was president of the Great West Coal Company. Supposedly a Quaker by religion, like many a non-military politician, he secured the rank of honorary lieutenant-colonel from the eccentric Canadian Minister of Militia, Sam Hughes during World War I and served as liaison officer to Canadian HQ staff.