Guests at the south Dundas Chamber of Commerce VIP breakfast had the opportunity to hear from (from left) Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MPP Nolan Quinn, South Dundas Mayor Jason Broad, and Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry MP Eric Duncan. Tinkess Photo

MORRISBURG – With Mother Nature finally deciding to cooperate, the 2026 South Dundas Chamber of Commerce VIP Breakfast finally managed to take place on Wed., Feb. 18.

The event, which was held in the basement of St. James Anglican Church on High St. in Morrisburg, had originally been scheduled for Jan. 15, but a substantial snowfall laid waste to those plans. The meal on this day was prepared and served by Rev. Mark Lewis and the team of volunteers.

The event, which was attended by nearly 50 Chamber members and friends, featured as guest speakers Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry MP Eric Duncan, Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MPP Nolan Quinn, and South Dundas Mayor Jason Broad, with Chamber President Randy North acting as MC.

Before turning the floor over to the guest speakers, North outlined some of the Chamber’s plans for the coming year. One of note was the change in date and venue for the 2026 trade show. Due to construction taking place at the Morrisburg arena, the trade show will be held in Earl Baker Park, tentatively on May 30. More details will be forthcoming in the near future.

Eric Duncan was the first speaker and he spoke of problems that most Canadians are aware of, such as the price of food, affordable and sustainable housing, and the unstable trade relationship that currently exists with the US. He stressed that Canada must “get more shovels in the ground,” on major projects, but identified one thing that all the political parties agree about.

“It’s very, very frustrating to respond to all of this,” said MP Duncan. “At the end of the day, I think, is there’s a consensus among the parties in Canada, that we have to diversify our trade options. We have to start dealing and connecting with more countries around the world. We can’t have that reliable, predictable relationship we’ve had with the United States, which is very unfortunate.

“The elephant that’s beside us, they’re a massive economy. We’ve had a relationship for several generations. We’ve had free trade agreements that benefitted both countries very, very well, but the predictability or the lack of predictability in this constant ebb and flow roller coaster has to be something where we have to wean ourselves off of that.”

The next speaker was South Dundas Mayor Jason Broad who provided a summary of all the things that have happened in his municipality as well as some of the things that were still on the drawing board for the future. He stressed that over all the future of South Dundas looks very bright. He ended with a call-out to anyone who might be considering running for municipal office, as 2026 is an election year.

“If you or anybody is interested, a friend, a family member, if they’re interested, please reach out,” said Mayor Broad.“We’d love to have some candidates on the ballot, have people to talk to. Our clerk, Crystal Lebrun who runs the election for this municipality is here. You can always reach out to her. There’s training on the AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) website, if you’re interested.

“I’m always willing to speak to anybody about what it takes, the time and the effort it takes to be on Council. So please take the opportunity. We need folks in the community that live in the community to help organize and be part of the community.”

The final speaker of the morning was MPP Nolan Quinn, who like Duncan and Broad, spoke of accomplishments and investments the province had made in the area over the past year, and investments and conversations yet to be made, as in the potential of a water supply line from the St. Lawrence to bring water to North Dundas.

MPP Quinn is also the Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, and referenced the investment announced earlier this month of $6.4 billion for colleges and universities, the need for a highly trained workforce as well as the need for rethinking of the restrictions placed on international students by the Federal government.

“You know, there’s a lot of negativity about the international students,” said Minister Quinn. “I see it differently. You know, they are working out a lot of our restaurants, our retail, not only Cornwall, but right across all of Ontario.

“The other component too, and unfortunately, the federal government did not really do enough consultation on this one, but they’re filling labour market needs that our domestic students are not.

A specific one would be early childhood education. We do see a lot of students coming from Southeast Asia, and a lot of our domestic students aren’t necessarily filling those roles. Another one with PSW’s (Personal Support Workers) as well, that a lot of our international students are filling a void that our domestic students are not in that regard.”

At the conclusion of Minister Quinn’s speech, the floor was opened to questions, after which the event wrapped up, with most in attendance heading back to work with a full stomach and many things to think about.