Ferguson competed as an amateur boxer and earned a silver medal in the middle-weight division at the Ontario Winter Games in 1970.

Ferguson ran for alderman for the Kitchener City Council in 1972 when he was only 18 years old and still in high school at Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute.

[5] He was a champion representing the 'little guy' and on one occasion residents of his ward complained about dust coming from gravel being spread on the road.

[6] Ferguson ran as a candidate of the federal New Democratic Party in the Canadian general election of 1984, but finished third in the riding of Kitchener behind winner John Reimer by 12,892 votes.

[7] In 1990, Ferguson ran again, this time as the provincial NDP candidate in the riding of Kitchener defeating incumbent Liberal David Cooke by 6,019 votes.

[11] On February 13, 1992, Ferguson resigned from the provincial cabinet to deal with allegations that he had committed a sexual assault while working as a guard at Grandview.

After his acquittal he was reinstated by the NDP and was appointed as a parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.