Featured Candidate | KEN FERDINANDS | Ward 1 Whitchurch Stouffville

Ken Ferdinands

KEN FERDINANDS  (incumbent), WARD 1

Ken Ferdinands has been a resident of Ward 1 for 35 years. He is married to Colleen a self-employed Physiotherapist and they have two married daughters.

Before being asked to run for office by his neighbours Ken was employed by the Toronto District School Board as a Department Head; his educational background includes degrees from the University of Toronto and Wilfred Laurier University. His area of specialization is Geography and Urban Studies.

As a Councillor he has been diligent in keeping his residents informed on matters relating to the Municipality and has made himself available to residents seven days a week. He works as a full-time Councillor.

Ken believes that to succeed in politics you need to have two things: clear ideas of what you want to achieve and a capacity to listen and work as a team because you will achieve nothing alone.

The residents of Ward 1 want to see that the Municipality succeed as an entity and that homeowners, property owners and business owners want to be assured that the investments that they have made in their properties remain secure and insist on a forward –looking civic administration as a key element in achieving that goal.

The past four years have been pivotal time for the Municipality; it has grown from a place where it was difficult to find a store to buy a pair of socks to a mature municipality that offers a full range of commercial and cultural services. More has been achieved in the past four years than the last forty.

The municipality is now the beneficiary of about $200 million in assets. In order to provide our residents with a 21^st century standard of service we recently re-built the Western Approach, provided a modern arena, moved the works yard off a prime piece of real estate to more appropriate location and contributed 33 cents on the dollars towards a $3 million Cultural Centre; in addition, the majority of Council, of which I was a part, chose to purchase a low rise combination warehouse /office building at about $100.00 per sq/ft for use as an administrative centre. Much of the cost of these municipal enhancements have been shifted to the builders by way of development charges.

In my view the building of key infrastructure elements are now over. My task, if elected, will be to manage these assets, this exercise will involve a through program review and the implementation of rationalizations if warranted.

I am running on my record of diligence and informed decision-making and am confident that the residents of Ward 1 will choose wisely.