With two terms as councillor under his belt, Peter Ferragine will be running for re-election in Ward 5 this fall.
The lifelong Bradford West Gwillimbury resident wants to continue to have a positive impact on the community and ensure it’s a great place for his children to grow up.
“I’ve been doing this for eight years now and I love the community so much that I just wanted to continue to give back to it,” he said. “I want my kids to love Bradford as much as I do. Being part of council and helping make great decisions in our town for my kids is why I wanted to put my name back in the hat.”
In his time on council, Ferragine is most proud to have played a part in improving senior housing and prioritizing bringing business to town, which he hopes to continue to do as Bradford grows.
“We’ve been able to attract a lot of employment and industrial to come to town because we need more employment and industrial to really help offset our residential tax base,” he explained. “We just announced that Toromont is coming to Bradford, which is a huge accomplishment...We’re starting to see big companies look at us and move into our municipality because they know it’s a great place to be in business.”
In Ward 5 specifically, Ferragine has made a point to address the issues that impact the rural areas of Bradford.
“Fixing up the roads and re-paving has been a big thing for me because I know a lot of residents in the rural areas want that,” he said. “Vianet has been huge as well and working with them to bring high-speed internet to our rural area. The next thing that would be amazing would be natural gas and we’re constantly looking at it to see if we can do that.”
If re-elected Ferragine wants to minimize tax increases but knows that council will need to be realistic because of the wants and needs of the community.
“The last eight years have been the lowest increase in taxes in the history of Bradford, which is incredible, but we have to be prepared because with the last two years of the pandemic we’ve focused on keeping our tax increase at zero, and with inflation it’s going to be interesting to see what happens at budget time,” he said. “That’s going to be very important for this next council. We have to make sure we have services available to our residents but still have to be very responsible with their tax dollars. The upcoming budget meetings need experience in the room to make sure things are handled appropriately.”
As inflation continues to have an impact across Canada, Ferragine says affordable housing needs to be at the forefront of the next council's agenda.
“We need affordable housing in our community because it’s becoming a problem for a lot of people everywhere,” he explained. “That’s something we’re constantly working on all the time, and I want to see what other ideas are out there and what we can bring to our community to help those in need.”
Safety is another key piece to Ferragine’s platform, and he would like to continue to see the town work to improve on it, especially as the community grows.
“Traffic and safety are a big one,” he said. “People who aren’t used to rural areas use our rural roads like speed tracks. I constantly hear that at the door and it comes to a point where it’s enforcement, but we’ve also got a speed camera in town that will be sending tickets out in 2023. I think that will take off and hopefully, we can obtain more cameras to put around town.”
As a member of the Lake Simcoe Regional Conservation Authority, Ferragine is also working towards the building of an educational centre at Scanlon Creek.
“It would be incredible to have an educational centre in Bradford,” he said. “The Conservation Authority would own it, but it would be a huge benefit for Bradford, and it would attract people to come here for sure.”
Being born and raised in Bradford, Ferragine says this community means everything to him and that’s why he’s so passionate to continue to represent it.
“I’ve lived here my whole life, I have my family here, my family has a business here, I have my own business here,” he said. “I work, live, and play here. I’m the logo for Bradford, this community is my life. I’ve always wanted to be here, my life is here, and I want other people to love it and enjoy it as much as I do.”
To learn more about Ferragine and his campaign, visit his website here.
Election week is Oct. 14-24.
