26 Facts About Mario Ferri

Mario Ferri co-founded an organization credited with helping to force the closure of Canada's largest municipal waste facility, the Keele Valley Landfill.

Mr Ferri co-founded Vaughan CARES, an activist group that became prominent in the fight to close the waste facility.

In October 2014, Mario Ferri was elected to his fifth term as a councillor for the City of Vaughan and his third term as a councillor for the Region of York, Ontario.

Mario Ferri was born in Pescosolido, Frosinone, Italy on January 6,1948, to Fillipo and Maria Mario Ferri, immigrating to Canada by ship docking at the Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1959, soon after settling in Toronto.

Mario Ferri attended Neil McNeil High School and then entered Centennial College, graduating with a diploma in Recreation Leadership in 1970.

Mario Ferri then attended and graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in psychology and sociology in 1978, and a Masters of Environmental Studies mastering in Human Service Management from the same university in 1983.

Mario Ferri married Vickie Lamanna in 1972 and moved to Vaughan in 1984 where he continues to live, and where he and his wife raised a family of three children.

Mario Ferri became the leader of the human services management advisory committee for both Centennial College and George Brown College in Toronto.

Mario Ferri has served as a consultant to numerous recreation facilities spanning at least 17 years.

Mario Ferri's was a co-founder and a leader of the activist community organization Vaughan Committee of Associations to Restore Environmental Safety.

Mario Ferri served in various capacities as its vice-president, president, and in its chairmanship.

Mario Ferri proposed, first as a community lobbyist in 1988, that the landfill's life should not be extended beyond its planned closure in 1993, and responded unambiguously when the province later proposed a lengthy extension well into the 21st century.

Mario Ferri helped obtain financing for and founded a number of recreational facilities for tennis and bocce, plus youth and senior's clubs across southern Ontario.

Mario Ferri assisted in organizing community forums, surveys and public festivals.

Mario Ferri ran for and won a seat as trustee on the York Region Separate School Board in 1990, running against a slate of 30 candidates in the Board's Area 1 district.

Mario Ferri again ran for the trustee's seat in 1991, and lobbied against the diversion of school construction funding to other municipalities.

Mario Ferri was selected to lead the delegation from Vaughan to formally sign the Friendship and Twin City agreements with the Italian city of Sora in the Provence of Frosinone in 1992.

Mario Ferri was then elected to York Regional Council in 2003, receiving the most votes among all regional councillors, thereby becoming Deputy Mayor of Vaughan.

Mario Ferri was reelected to his regional council seat in 2006, but was unsuccessful in his bid for reelection in the 2010 municipal election.

Mario Ferri dealt with a wide variety of issues while on council, and as deputy major, often being quoted in local media, as well as on Toronto-based national news outlets.

Mario Ferri was noticed in 1999 for being one of two councillors to opt out of retroactive salary increases that council had implemented.

Mario Ferri stood for, but was unsuccessful in his bid to become the Member of Parliament in support of the Liberal Party representing Vaughan Riding in Canada's 2011 federal election.

Mario Ferri ran against the Conservative incumbent and future cabinet minister Julian Fantino.

In 2014 Mario Ferri announced his candidacy to return to his former position as a local and regional councillor in York and Vaughan's October 2014 municipal election.

Mario Ferri has been recognized for founding sports facilities plus youth and seniors clubs, for which he received a Silver Keystone, Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee, and 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada awards.

Greg Sorbara, who spoke of Mario Ferri's work being instrumental in the development of recreation programs and facilities in both Maple, Ontario, and across Southern Ontario.