CORNWALL – Councillor François Landry is the next Warden for the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry. He was elected to the position at the end of the August 25 monthly meeting of Counties Council.
Landry, who is also presently Mayor of North Stormont township, won the support of a majority of council over fellow candidate Councillor Jason Broad (South Dundas).
“I look forward to working with our administration, I think we have a very high level team and staff over at the county level,” Landry said after the results were announced. “I look forward to broadening my horizons to the full east and west of the counties. I appreciate the confidence and look forward to serving as warden next.”
The warden-elect said some of his priorities during his term include ensuring Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation are not ignoring communities that Highway 138 runs through, as safety improvements are planned. Economic development, especially involving projects like GFL in his home township, the expansion of high speed internet in the region, and rural education are of importance for Landry when he begins his term.
“The schools have been quiet right now as far as we went through a time where the school closures – we did organize a committee to look into that. Again, that never stopped.”
Leading up to the election, each candidate was given up-to-five minutes to make their pitch to council before the vote.
Landry was nominated by Councillor Tony Fraser (North Dundas) and seconded by Councillor Carma Williams (North Glengarry). Broad was nominated by Councillor Marc St. Pierre (South Dundas) and seconded by Councillor Andrew Guindon (South Stormont).
In his speech to council, Landry spoke of continuity and advancing counties projects like safety improvements to Highway 138. He also wanted to work on continuing to improve shared services delivery with the City of Cornwall.
Broad spoke about setting a tone as warden and wanting to work more on cooperation between the different parts of SDG as has already been done with the planning departments. He said he believed in regional leadership and wanted to be a voice for the region in Eastern Ontario.
Counties Clerk Kimberly Casselman announced Landry had won. Exact vote results were not announced, only that Landry had won a majority of the vote.
Following the vote, Broad said the results were not what he wanted but he believed Landry will do a good job in his term.
“I think they’ve chosen a good mayor, a good councillor for 2026. Frank will do a good job and we will all support him at council,” he said. “I put my name forward to win and while I really wanted to be the warden in 2026, it didn’t work out this time. But, I plan to run again as I plan to be back at this table. And I’ll keep being myself at the table and keep driving business ahead.”
Broad confirmed in July that he was going to run for re-election as South Dundas Mayor in the October 2026 municipal election.
The last time a North Stormont official served as Warden was Bill McGimpsey in 2012-13.
Broad not winning the election means it will be more than 15 years since a South Dundas official served as Warden – the longest out of the six municipalities that comprise SDG Counties. The last from South Dundas to be elected warden was Steven Byvelds in 2010-11.
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