William Ferguson (politician)

Background

Ferguson was born in Kitchener. He was a male child in a set of fraternal triplets along with two sisters. His mother, Mary Ferguson had also given birth to twins two years earlier. He attended Conestoga College where he earned a diploma in social work. He worked at the Grandview girls' reform school in the 1970s, and was involved with the Big Brothers Association of Kitchener in 1982–83. He then worked as an employment Councillor at The Working Center from 1984 to 1988, and was Director of Administration at Dusty's Disposal from 1989 to 1990. In more recent years (2009-2010) he worked on a solar energy project in Cameroon Africa. Ferguson competed as an amateur boxer and earned a silver medal in the middle-weight division at the Ontario Winter Games in 1970. His first marriage was to Jeanette with whom he had a son. His son died of cancer at the age of eight. His second marriage to Janet, later produced a daughter .

Politics

Ferguson ran for alderman for the Kitchener City Council in 1972 when he was only 18 years old and still in high school He ran again in 1979 this time being elected. He remained as city councillor until his election to the provincial legislature in 1990.

Ferguson ran as a candidate of the federal New Democratic Party in the Canadian general election of 1984, but finished third in the riding of Kitchener behind winner John Reimer by 12,892 votes.

In 1990, Ferguson ran again, this time as the provincial NDP candidate in the riding of Kitchener defeating incumbent Liberal David Cooke by 6,019 votes.

He initially served as a parliamentary assistant to Dave Cooke, the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs and was promoted to Minister of Energy on July 31, 1991. In October 1991, Ferguson was involved in a minor controversy surrounding executive compensation at Ontario Hydro. He revealed in the legislature that the salary of the former chairman was $540,000. The Liberal opposition argued that this was a breach of privacy rules and that he should resign. Ferguson refused to resign and referred the issue to the Privacy Commissioner.

On February 13, 1992, Ferguson resigned from the provincial cabinet to deal with allegations that he had committed an offence while working as a supervised student at Grandview-the investigation lasted two years before he would be charged. From the time when he was charged to his acquittal he sat as an independent.He was acquitted on the charges after evidence showed he was nowhere near the facility at the time of the allegations. After his acquittal he was reinstated by the NDP and was appointed as a parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

He resigned from the legislature on October 8, 1994, in order to run for mayor of Kitchener but he was defeated. He also tried to get elected to the same council in a 2002 by-election but was again defeated.

Later life

After leaving the legislature he held a number of jobs including town manager in a number of northern communities. He struggled with alcoholism -which escalated shortly after the death of his son. He was a champion representing the 'little guy' and on one occasion as City Aldermen in Kitchener, brought in a barrel of dirt,dumped it in the chamber to demonstrate the 'dust effect' to council members. His constituents had complained of breathing problems and the mess. To validate his point, which was literally 'swept under the table'he brought in the dirt.

On Friday July 22, 2011, he experienced heart problems at his brother's place in Kitchener and died shortly thereafter. On October 17 Queens Park honored Mr. Ferguson with a Parliamentary tribute for his service to the Legislature. The tribute was attended by members of the house and speeches made by politicians. A transcript of the tribute is available on the Ontario Legislature website.