Here’s some news – Michelle Dubé’s a Leasider

Michelle Dubé with husband Mark Ferguson and kids Shae, Mack and Paisley. Photo Meagan Maher Photography.
Michelle Dubé with husband Mark Ferguson and kids Shae, Mack and Paisley. Photo Meagan Maher Photography.

If you’re into news at all, you should recognize the name and voice of Michelle Dubé – the co-anchor of both CTV News at Noon and CTV News at 6 for CTV News Toronto. You might also know she won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Local News Anchor in 2019.  But what you may not know is that she and her family – husband Mark Ferguson, daughters Paisley, Shae, and son Mack – are Leasiders. 

Michelle was born in Anaheim, Ca., but moved to Ancaster, Ont., with her Canadian parents when she was young. She knew from an early age that she “always wanted to do news.” She loved writing and presenting and would get so excited when these opportunities came up that she couldn’t sleep. When the time came for post-secondary education, she faced a conundrum. She was completing her OAC year in high school the same year that universities and colleges were also accepting students completing Grade 12. She was on several admittance waiting lists and took a chance on a new program at the then University of Western Ontario that was accepting 10 students and offering a diploma from Fanshawe College at the same time.

She worked at local station CHCH in Hamilton for a few years before being hired by CTV in Toronto in 2009 as a television journalist before becoming a co-anchor in 2012.

It took a while after she met Mark Ferguson on New Year’s Eve in Montreal for the two of them to navigate their way towards marriage and a family. They started out living downtown, but when they realized “their late-night party days were over” and they wanted “a house and kids,” it took a very patient real estate agent over two years to find them their first house, on Whitewood, just west of Bayview off Davisville. 

The location worked well, both for Mark to get to work in finance downtown and for Michelle to get to CTV in Scarborough. Their daughters were born at Sunnybrook while they were living on Whitewood. But by now, they knew two things – their current house wasn’t big enough, and the neighbourhood they wanted to live in was Leaside. They were fortunate that their real estate agent, Kate Young of Bosley Real Estate’s Vanderhoof office, was also a friend and neighbour. She found them their North Leaside home. Son Mack came home to this house when he was born at Sunnybrook on the first day of the Covid lockdown.

Michelle and her family enjoy shopping and restaurants on Bayview and around Laird and the walkability of the neighbourhood. It “totally fits our needs,” she says. Michelle was pleased that she got all three kids signed up for Leaside Baseball for this coming summer. Paisley plays girls’ hockey in Leaside.

One day Michelle was coming home from walking the kids to school when she got a call that Queen Elizabeth II had died: could she fly to London right away and stay there for the next two weeks to cover the event? She said yes and was pleased “to do things I never thought I’d do and get the chance to tell stories.”

Telling stories is what she really enjoys about her twice a day, hour-long newscasts. Every day is different. She’s working collaboratively with the many people involved in putting the broadcasts together as they curate the show. She hopes it “enables you to navigate your day a bit better, because you know what is going on.” There is definitely some juggling to fit in family time, but Michelle also enjoys donating her time to host various not-for-profit or charity shows, where she gets to know people and sometimes hears “you should do a story on this”…which often ends up being the case.

About Lorna Krawchuk 188 Articles
Lorna Krawchuk is publisher of Leaside Life. She is actively involved in St. Cuthbert’s Church. Her volunteer activities with the Leaside Property Owners’ Association led to her being elected a Councillor in the Borough of East York for 9 years before amalgamation in 1998. She also held a variety of volunteer leadership positions with the Girl Guides of Canada for over 30 years. Lorna has been a Leasider since 1968.