Watson's Way— 30 years after entering politics, Ottawa's mayor is a brand everyone recognizes
The running joke is that there's no local event he won’t show up for, even 'the opening of an envelope.' But while rivals ridicule such appearances, Jim Watson wins hearts and minds.
Mohammed Adam, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Nov 12, 2021 • 3 hours ago • 7 minute read
First of thee parts.
It began rather unspectacularly with a tax bill, not a grand plan to conquer Ottawa.
Jim Watson, then a 28-year-old Tory working in House of Commons Speaker John Fraser’s office, bought his first home in Old Ottawa South in 1989, and was astounded at the hefty property tax bill. He complained to friends, who urged him to run for municipal office if he was so concerned. He did.
Today, Watson will celebrate 30 years since he was first elected as a city councillor. He went on to become mayor in 1997, then a Liberal MPP and cabinet minister, returning as mayor in the amalgamated city — with a brief detour out of politics. Whether he’ll run again in 2022 is the million-dollar question. Watson says he’ll announce his decision in December.
Ask Watson’s colleagues in the council class of 1991, and most will tell you he planned all along to run the city. But it may well be that the making of Ottawa’s longest-serving mayor — and arguably the most powerful — was not the result of some devilishly clever planning. It was a combination of hard work, good timing and luck.
When he first ran, Watson knew very little about municipal politics. The formidable Lynn Smyth represented Capital Ward, and an unheralded candidate taking on an incumbent was basically a suicide mission. But Watson defied the odds and won. “The trigger was the tax bill. I had a great job on the Hill, I had no interest in municipal politics and didn’t plan to be city councillor until I got the tax bill,” he says. “I had no guarantee (of winning). I was challenging an incumbent.”
The 15-member council elected in ’91 included 10 new members, led by Jacquelin Holzman, who became mayor. Others included Alex Cullen, Richard Cannings, Peter Hume, Jacques Legendre, Tim Kehoe, Joan O’Neill, George Brown and Diane Holmes. O’Neil and Kehoe ran for mayor against Holzman in 1994 and lost. Others became regional councillors. Cullen was elected a Liberal MPP, then turfed by the party. He came back and ran successfully for council before losing his seat after a doomed campaign for mayor in 2010. Watson is the only one of that class still in politics.
So what’s the secret of his success? Supporters and critics alike say Watson has a rare combination of charm, warmth and an uncanny ability to win people over. Besides, politics is his life; he’s a 24/7 politician whose energy and commitment no one can match.
“He doesn’t have much of a personal life. Politics was his life and focus then, and it’s still the same. He was always there for the public and knew how to build loyalty. That’s why he has been so successful,” O’Neill says.
“He always saw himself as taking a leadership role in the city and he started to build a solid network. He started going to every church bazaar in 1991,” adds Holzman. “In the second term of council, I knew he had aspirations to be mayor. He had a plan for himself and he made it work. I admire that.”
Legendre’s take is different. “I don’t remember Jim being a strong personality. I don’t remember him leading something with a major result, except when Peter Hume and he worked to save the Aberdeen Pavilion (at Lansdowne Park),” he recalls. “I find it extraordinary that he lasted so long.”
Coun. Diane Deans, who knows Watson more than any city politician, having served with him since 1994, says he is just good at politics. “He’s an excellent retail politician. He has a very affable personality and he makes a very good first impression,” says Deans, who nevertheless has often clashed with the mayor. “He is everywhere in the community. Everybody knows him, and that leads to political success.”
Watson says his success has been a surprise to him and his family. He was born in Montreal, then grew up in Lachute, Que. He wanted to be a journalist after leaving Carleton University, but ended up on Parliament Hill in 1983 as legislative assistant to then-Conservative MP John MacDougall. He worked his way through other jobs, including press secretary to then-sports minister Otto Jelinek in 1986, and the following year, became the Speaker’s director of communications. Then the tax bill landed, and everything changed.
Midway through his second term on council, Watson says he decided he “would move up or move out.” He would run for mayor or quit. Running against Holzman would be an uphill battle, but as luck would have it, Holzman decided not to seek re-election in 1997. Watson won handily.
Almost everyone in the city expected him to challenge Bob Chiarelli in 2001 for mayor of the amalgamated city, but Watson says his priority was to ensure a smooth municipal amalgamation, after which he needed a new challenge. Colleagues, however, say Watson realized he couldn’t beat Chiarelli and bailed. He became president of the Canadian Tourism Commission.
Watson says when he went to Queen’s Park as an MPP in 2003, he thought his mayoral career was over. But then Larry O’Brien happened. O’Brien, who became mayor in 2006, was dogged by controversy. In particular, his failure to keep a signature “zero means zero” tax promise undermined his credibility. Several city luminaries sent private pleas to Watson to run in 2010. Former mayor Jim Durrell invited him to lunch and told him the city needed him. That tipped the scales, and Watson came back to make history. None of this could have been scripted, he says.
Watson’s winning formula comes from getting to know people in their communities, campaigning all year, and building coalitions. He notes that the running joke about him in the media is that there is nothing he won’t show up for, even “the opening of an envelope.” But little do critics know how people appreciate a politician who makes time for them and is seen to support their causes and interests. While rivals ridicule such appearances, he wins hearts and minds.
Significantly as well, he campaigns hard between elections, something he learned from Mark Maloney, one of his 1991 colleagues. Watson says people appreciate a mayor who shows up off-season to hear their concerns. “People will say, ‘Why are you here? There is no election.’ And I’ll say that’s precisely why I am here. You shouldn’t see me only when I need your vote.” People remember that when an election comes around. The reality is that in Ottawa, Watson’s name has become a brand that’s hard to beat, though that brand is being severely tested now as the 2022 election draws nearer.
One of the abiding criticisms against Watson, which he rejects, is that he has become increasingly autocratic, and doesn’t tolerate dissent. “He nurses a grudge,” says Dean, who some feel should run for mayor herself. “If you cross him, there is no coming back. He puts in his inner circle people who will unquestionably support him.”
There have been ups and downs, flip-flops and mistakes over these 30 years. COVID-19 was an existential challenge, and coming in the same term as the LRT failures and the Westboro bus crash that took lives was draining, Watson says. He ranks getting LRT on the rails his biggest achievement. But it goes without saying that the O-Train debacle has stained his record.
Watson believes, however, that in time, the problems will be solved, and people will come to enjoy the service. “I take full responsibility for the fact that the consortium has not delivered what we wanted,” he says. “LRT is a very significant event that has helped to change our city, and it will continue to do that.”
And how has he changed, particularly as mayor? “You and your colleagues say, ‘Watson is so thin-skinned,’ and most people won’t believe this, but I actually think I have thicker skin today than when I first started. I don’t take criticism personally. I think I have mellowed,” he says.
“The one thing I haven’t done well is have a proper work-life balance. I basically don’t have a private life. I put everything into work.”
Monday: Part two — control or consensus?
Jim Watson at a glance
1961 : Born July 30, Montreal.
1983 : Graduates from Carleton University, starts work on Parliament Hill as legislative assistant to Conservative MP John MacDougall.
1984 : Becomes press secretary to House of Commons Speaker John Bosley.
1986 : Becomes press secretary to Sports Minister Otto Jelinek.
1987: Serves as director of communications for Speaker John Fraser.
1991: Runs for Ottawa city council to represent Capital ward and wins.
1994 : Is re-elected as councillor.
1997: Runs for mayor and wins.
2000: Resigns as mayor, is appointed president and CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission.
2003: Is elected MPP for the Liberals in the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean. Goes on to hold three provincial cabinet portfolios: Consumer and Business Services; Health Promotion; and Municipal Affairs.
2010: Resigns from cabinet and successfully runs for Ottawa mayoralty, for a second time.
2014: Is re-elected mayor for another four years.
2018: Is re-elected for another four-year term.
https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/adam-w...was-mayor-is-a-brand-everyone-recognizes
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