ATIKOKAN: For the last eight years, Rob Ferguson has served as councillor for the Township of Atikokan. But his experiences with the town run so much deeper. Born and raised in Atikokan, Ferguson hasn’t only fostered friendships within the town and raised a generation of new residents, Ferguson’s lived experience is throughout the streets, the schools, the shops, and as a powerful entity at the Ontario Power Generation, one of the last sights of the industry for Atikokan.
Now, Ferguson sets his sights forward in the race for Atikokan’s next mayor. A spot that has been held by Atikokan’s current mayor for 30 years.
“It’s a big challenge for sure,” Ferguson explains as he acknowledges the might big shoes of Denis Brown’s legacy he might fill if elected. “Mayor Brown is synonymous with Atikokan. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Mayor Brown for eight years. I do have some of that footing in place where I’ve been to NOMA, I’ve met with ministers, I did some of the town duties with Mayor Brown and in place of Mayor Brown. I’ve watched and learned from him as he performs his duties. And now, with Mayor Brown retiring, we got a lot of good things going on in Atikokan and we really want to keep the momentum going, and I think I am the natural person to step up to take the lead.”
The town of fewer than 2700 people has suffered through its past economic hardships, but as one industry closed, the door to something brighter opens, providing the town with a chance to reinvent itself.
“There are a lot of entrepreneurs stepping in. They are reopening businesses that have been closed for eight, ten, fifteen years, and we are really seeing some ingenuity,” Ferguson explains. “It seems like the entrepreneurs are showing confidence for the direction council is going, and I want to make sure that we keep that momentum.”
If elected as mayor, Ferguson’s priorities are economic development. He wants to maintain that entrepreneurial spirit that is bustling through the town.
“We’ve created a few jobs around town, but to use a baseball analogy, we are hitting a lot of single and doubles, but we haven’t been able to hit the home run or the grand slam yet,” Ferguson said. “But we are moving forward. We have got things going. We have a bunch of construction projects. We are very excited about the Waasigan Power line coming through Atikokan. It will make us the hub when it comes through Thunder Bay to Makenzie and then from Makenzie to Dryden, so we are going to be the hub for the next five years or so. There may be some mining opportunities here as well.”
Ferguson was the first to be nominated as mayor back in May, so he has had a little bit more time to spread the word of his bid for mayor than his competition, Robbin Harper. However, Ferguson still knows that there are still two months of campaigning left before election day. Therefore, for the next two months, he will split himself into four directions: being a family man, working for OPG, a town councillor, and a candidate for mayor.
“I am not going in cold. I know how council works, I know how the municipality works, and I know how the municipality works with the province, so I think those eight years have been invaluable for me taking over.”
