The Chamber Announces 2022 Citizen of The Year
The Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce is proud to recognize the outstanding achievements of the businesses, organizations and individuals who make a difference in our community. We are pleased to announce the recipient of the coveted 2022 Citizen of The Year award is Jason Baker.

Jason is known as many names to many people, from “Mr. Landslide” to “Scrapper” to “Coach Jason”, but one term that encompasses how all these people feel about Jason is “A Good Man.” Jason is currently the co-owner of Ketchum Manufacturing and has been since 2016, but his work in strengthening our community is extensive and spans decades. He was involved with the palliative care telethon going so far as chairing it from 1995 until 2005, and local hockey including the Brockville Braves and Brockville Girls Hockey Association (where he was president for 5 years and head coach for 9 years). He has demonstrated consistent, unwavering support of the local legion and Rotary Club of Brockville, and been a loyal donator/supporter of the Winter Classic plus the Brockville & Area Food Bank. Beyond his volunteerism and private donations, Jason Baker is also a very selfless, respected, and generous leader donating much of his hard-earned money and precious time to public service. As a municipal politician, he was a councilor from 1997 until 2018 and served as mayor for the City of Brockville from 2018 until 2021.
When the pandemic began, Jason had two very large and energy-consuming commitments with his company and his mayoral duties. This meant he oversaw one of the most tumultuous times in the 21st century and had many looking to him for stability. Jason tirelessly did everything in his power to ensure that his employees were taken care of, the local community could recover, and Leeds & Grenville at-large could rebound. From his company luncheons that brought in food from local eateries or paying for his employee’s bills when out at those same eateries, to his leadership in the St. Lawrence Corridor EDC that saw Greenfield Global, 3M’s new factory, & LeClerc set up facilities in our region bringing new jobs and growth. Even Tourism maintained some level of stability under his watchful eye which included overseeing the now popular River of Lights festival and Theodore Too’s arrival in 2021. The work he did inside and outside of politics was vital to keep our community stable during some of the most unstable times.
Jason’s accomplishments are awe-inspiring and his generosity is highly commendable. With his legacy of great achievements, we are so pleased to be able to contribute to it and give Jason Baker this well-deserved and long overdue honour.
We look forward to celebrating Citizen of the Year, with Jason Baker’s family and friends at the Awards of Excellence Gala on Thursday, October 20th at the Brockville Memorial Centre. We will also be announcing the recipients for: Business of The Year, Small Business of The Year, Businessperson of The Year, the Community Excellence Award, the Tourism Award, and the Ben TeKamp Award.
Seating is limited so please sign up as soon as possible at: HERE