Will Ferguson (Ontario politician)
Canadian politician (1954–2011)

Willard Gerard Ferguson or William A. Ferguson (February 13, 1954 – July 22, 2011) was a Canadian politician 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 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 in the middle-weight division at the Ontario Winter Games in 1970. His first marriage was to Jeanette with whom he had a son.
The public source identifies “Will Ferguson (Ontario politician)” as canadian politician (1954–2011). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Will, Ferguson and Ontario.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8003948. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954, 2011, 1990 and 1994.
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This entry incorporates text from “Will Ferguson (Ontario politician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.