UPDATE: Former mayor Phil Poirier passes away

UPDATE: Former mayor Phil Poirier passes away
Former Cornwall mayor Phil Poirier passed away Tuesday.

CORNWALL, Ontario – A former Cornwall mayor who was battling a rare form of cancer has passed away.

Phil Poirier died Tuesday. He was 68.

City hall confirmed the news Tuesday afternoon.

In an interview with Seaway News just days ago Poirier recounted his time in Cornwall with happiness and the same ambition he held while in office.

“Out of all the hardships and what they threw at me…God only knows…I loved it, I still do,” Poirier said at the time. “It still pains me to this day what we lost, and where we could be today.”

Cornwall Mayor Bob Kilger was saddened to hear the news.

Both men were political adversaries during the 2006 mayoral campaign in Cornwall but Kilger noted he still thought well of Poirier.

“Just because we were political adversaries didn’t mean we were personal adversaries,” Kilger said in an interview. “He’s someone I always had a great deal of respect for.

“We spoke as recently as two weeks ago about the watefront tank issue in Cornwall. Right through to the end of his life he illustrated his passion for Cornwall.”

Poirier spent two terms as mayor of Cornwall, elected once in 1988, and again in 2003.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been released.

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