"[9] Shortly thereafter, he began exploring options for constructing a horse racing track in Longueuil in the event that Montreal's famed Blue Bonnets Raceway was shut down.
[10] As mayor, Ferland presided over a municipal policy that required Longueuil public servants to live within the city during their terms of employment.
Highlights included a municipal housing code to set hygienic standards for rental units, an expansion of the city's existing "green network," refurbishing parts of Chambly Road and Roland Therrien Boulevard to attract businesses, and the construction of both a riverfront development and a regional centre.
[20] In 1990, he was chosen as the first president of the Conference of South Shore mayors, a group founded for the purpose of providing a united political voice for the area.
[26] In this capacity, he opposed the provincial government's plans to cut five hundred million dollars from municipal transfer payments in early 1991, saying that he would be willing to support a new gasoline tax instead.
[27] Ferland later called for the South Shore to become a distinct administrative region within Quebec, although this plan did not win support from the provincial government.
[28] In November 1991, Ferland led the Longueuil council in approving a new municipal code of ethics that gave councillors six months to end conflict-of-interest situations.
[31] In October 1992, Ferland announced the Longueuil had joined an international network of medium-sized municipalities that also included Namur, Belgium; Poitiers, France; Maidstone and Northampton in the United Kingdom; Coimbra, Portugal; and Pécs, Hungary.
[32] Ferland urged the provincial government to merge the municipalities of Longueuil, Boucherville, Brossard, Saint-Hubert, Saint-Lambert, Greenfield Park, and LeMoyne into a single city in early 1993, arguing that this would increase efficiency and promote tax equity.
[34] Ferland later endorsed a different plan to create a supra-municipal body running from Châteauguay to Contrecoeur that had broader support from municipal leaders.
The mayor's executive assistant responded that Ferland would not resign, that city staff had followed normal procedures in processing the information, and that a deliberate "political decision" had been made to support housing development during an economic downturn.
[37] Shortly after this exchange, council Roger Lacombe resigned from the Parti municipal to sit as an independent, charging that the city's policies were hurting small contractors.
[44] In May 1993, council speaker Florent Charest ruled that Ferland had been in an "apparent conflict-of-interest" in January when he voted to select a law firm for the city that was also representing him in a separate case.