Willard Gerard Ferguson or William A. Ferguson
[William A. Ferguson]
at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario; retrieved March 8, 2022 (February 13, 1954 – July 22, 2011) was a Canadian
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
in Ontario. He was a member of the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1994, and served as
Minister of Energy in the government of
Bob Rae.
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
Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a public college located in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1967, Conestoga serves approximately 23,000 registered students through campuses and training centres in ...
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 Centre from 1984 to 1988, and was Director of Administration at Dusty's Disposal from 1989 to 1990.
Ferguson competed as an amateur boxer and earned a
silver medal
A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...
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
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...
for the
Kitchener City Council
Kitchener City Council is the governing body for the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
The council consists of the Mayor of Kitchener and 10 ward councillors.
2006-2010
Council elected in the 2006 municipal election.
2010-2014
Council elect ...
in 1972 when he was only 18 years old and still in high school at
Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute
Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute is a public secondary school in Kitchener, Ontario, run by the Waterloo Region District School Board. It is part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. The school is located at 301 Charles St. E. As ...
.
[Ontario Hansard, 30 October 2013]
at the Ontario Legislature He ran again in 1979 this time being elected. He remained as city councillor until his election to the provincial legislature in 1990.
He was a champion representing the 'little guy' and on one occasion residents of his ward complained about dust coming from gravel being spread on the road. He requested the city spray water to keep the dust down but he was ignored. So he brought in a sack of gravel to a city council meeting and dumped the gravel into a bucket which generated a considerable amount of dust and his point was made.
Ferguson ran as a candidate of the federal
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
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in the
Canadian general election of 1984, but finished third in the riding of
Kitchener behind winner
John Reimer
John Henry Reimer (born July 16, 1936) is a Canadian politician. He served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1979 to 1980, and again from 1984 to 1993, as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.
Reimer was born to a Mennonite f ...
by 12,892 votes.
In 1990, Ferguson ran again, this time as the provincial NDP candidate in the riding of
Kitchener defeating incumbent
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
David Cooke by 6,019 votes.
He initially served as a
parliamentary assistant
In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the ...
to
Dave Cooke
Dave Cooke (born August 1, 1952) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was an NDP member of the provincial legislature from 1977 to 1997, and was a senior cabinet minister in the government of Bob Rae.
Background
Cooke was born in Wind ...
, 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 a
sexual assault
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
while working as a guard at Grandview. He was acquitted in 1994.
Canadian annual review of politics and public affairs (1992)
by David Leyton-Brown, 1998, University of Toronto Press
The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911.
The press originally printed only examination books and the university cale ...
, via Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
(retrieved January 10, 2011) From the time when he was charged to his acquittal he sat as an independent. 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
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
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.
Cabinet positions
Later life
After leaving the legislature he held a number of jobs including town manager in northern communities including the hamlet of Grise Fiord
Grise Fiord (; iu, ᐊᐅᔪᐃᑦᑐᖅ, translit=Aujuittuq, lit=place that never thaws, italics=no) is an Inuit hamlet on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of three populated places on ...
, Nunavut. He also consulted on energy issues in South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. He struggled with alcoholism which escalated shortly after the death of his son. 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.
References
Notes
Citations
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, William
1954 births
2011 deaths
Businesspeople from Kitchener, Ontario
Canadian city managers and chief administrative officers
Conestoga College alumni
Kitchener, Ontario city councillors
Members of the Executive Council of Ontario
Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs
Triplets