McDougall Insurance Brokers has acquired Cassidy & Young Insurance Brokers, a Stouffville, Ontario, brokerage that sells group insurance across the province alongside personal and commercial lines.
Terms were not disclosed.
The deal adds to McDougall's group benefits business and gives it a retail office in Whitchurch-Stouffville, which Lorne McDougall, the brokerage's vice president, described as a key growth region for the firm.
"Their expertise in group insurance combined with their excellent team and customer focus in a key growth region for McDougall makes this a highly complementary addition to our organization," McDougall said.
Managing partner Kyle Cassidy will stay with the business after the transaction. His fellow managing partner, Rick Young, is retiring. Young said the sale would protect clients and staff after his departure, and Cassidy said joining McDougall would give the firm access to greater scale and support.
Group insurance has been a recurring thread in McDougall's recent deals. In August, its Duliban Insurance division combined with Mississauga's Insuranceland, a family brokerage focused on group benefits. McDougall said at the time that the deal gave Duliban its first foothold in the group insurance market.
Cassidy & Young brings a second group-focused book into the network, this time under the McDougall banner itself.
The purchase also continues McDougall's expansion across the Greater Toronto Area. The firm has been adding offices in the region since buying Markham's Cornell Insurance at the end of 2024.
Cassidy & Young is at least the fifth brokerage to join the McDougall group in 2026. Duliban acquired Annex Insurance Group in March, Insuranceland in August, and Tripemco Insurance Group shortly afterwards. McDougall then bought Sudbury's United Link Insurance Brokers, effective August 31. IB reported that the United Link deal brought the group to about $1.6 billion in premiums.
That growth is backed by Definity Financial Corporation. Definity raised its stake in McDougall from about 25% to 75% in October 2022, and its broker platform also includes McFarlan Rowlands and Alberta's Drayden Insurance. McDougall has completed roughly a dozen deals across P&C and financial services since 2022.
The deal follows a pattern familiar across McDougall's recent acquisitions. It targets an owner-led firm where one partner is retiring and the other stays on to run the business.
For small independent brokerages in the GTA and across Ontario, the group's pace shows how much consolidation capital is chasing succession-ready firms, particularly those with group benefits expertise that P&C-led consolidators are working to build.
