BREAKING: Ottawa Mayor will NOT seek re-election
One of Canada’s longest serving big city mayors is bowing out. Jim Watson, who has been Mayor of Ottawa since 2010, announced he will NOT be running for another four year term in the October 24, 2022 municipal election.
“The decision was both easy and tough. On the one hand, I loved almost every hour of every day and it was a true privilege and honour to serve as our city’s Mayor. However, I also knew that I would be turning 60 during this term of Council, and if I was going to have one more career, then I needed to move on from elected office,” Watson said in his press release.
“So, for the first time in many years, my name won’t be on a ballot, as I turn my attention to finishing some important city building projects, and then bid adieu to the Mayor’s office in November 2022, after nearly 15 years representing the residents of Ottawa,” the mayor concluded, highlighting the welcoming Syrian refugees, the COVID-19 response, affordable housing, various events coming to the city, revitilization of Lansdowne Park and the LRT as signature accomplishments.
Watson is a veteran political animal, having served in some capacity at all three levels of government. He was an Ottawa city councillor from 1991-1997, representing Capital Ward, before becoming mayor the first time from 1997-2000 in the pre-amalgamated city.
He resigned in 2000 to become president and CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission, a federal crown corporation. In 2003, Watson was elected as a Liberal MPP in Ottawa West-Nepean as the Liberals swept into office that year. Watson served under Dalton McGuinty’s government as Minister of Consumer and Business Services, Health Promotion and Municipal Affairs and Housing.
In 2010, Watson resigned from provincial cabinet to run for Ottawa mayor again, defeating then incumbent Larry O’Brien by almost 25 percentage points and getting close to 50% of the vote. In his subsequent re-election bids in 2014 and 2018, Watson never fell below 70% of the vote share.
On March 20, 2021, Watson became Ottawa’s longest serving mayor, passing the previous record of J.E. Stanley Lewis. He also came out as gay in 2019 after spending 40 years in the closet, mentioning publicly about some of the social media backlash he received because of that.
But there are people more critical of Watson’s record than anything regarding his personal life. The Ottawa LRT was shut down due to a derailment for 54 days, an increasingly autocratic way he ran city council meetings, leading to accusations that there is a ‘Watson Club’ of his preferred members of council that he holds sway over that are from Ottawa’s suburban areas, an always problematic by-product of amalgamated city politics.
Who’s waiting in the wings?
Even if he did try to seek a fourth term since his return to the mayor’s chair in 2010, Watson would have had a tougher time getting reelected with the additional political baggage, even though he still would remain the proverbial favourite. Now that he’s decided against running, we should expect a significantly long list of successors waiting in the wings.
One big name that’s been rumoured is former mayor Bob Chiarelli, who served as mayor from 2000-2006 before O’Brien defeated him. Like Watson, Chiarelli also served as MPP in Queen’s Park, first from 1987-1997, then returning in 2010 after his mayoral loss. He served as Minister of Infrastructure, Transport, Municipal Affairs and Energy under both McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.
Other candidates include Somerset Ward Councillor Catherine McKenney, who was mentioned as a possible contender to Watson before he announced his retirement, and veteran Councillor Diane Deans, from Gloucester-Southgate Ward, who has been in office since 1994. Deans was the one cut off by Watson in that virtual council meeting over the LRT issues.
No word whether a credible “outsider” candidate is running. In 2006, voters elected O’Brien, who had no experience in municipal government despite having a successful business career as the founder of Calian. Alex Munter, a councillor from 1991-2003 who also ran for mayor in 2006, is now ensconced as President and CEO of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO).
UPDATE: Former mayor Chiarelli and McKenney announced they intend to run for mayor on the heels of Watson’s announcement, according to CTV News. Other possible contenders still include Deans, as well as Rideau-Vanier Ward Councillor Mathieu Fleury. On the flip side, former federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, the former Ottawa Centre MP, and current Ontario provincial cabinet minister Lisa MacLeod (from Nepean) announced they are NOT in the running for mayor.
UPDATE 2: Councillor Deans has officially entered the 2022 mayoral race in Ottawa.
I don’t know who else around the Ottawa council table is either now looking at the mayor’s chair or thinking of bowing out of municipal politics altogether, but one incumbent that is definitely seeing the writing on the wall is College Ward’s Rick Chiarelli, who’s been embroiled in accusations of office sexual harassment to the point where his pay was withheld, his committee assignments removed and literally blacklisted by the rest of council…not to mention that Chiarelli’s had recent health issues that required him to take medical leave.
Whatever happens next fall, it’s safe to say Ottawa’s municipal political scene is about to see another shakeup.
Cover photo courtesy of Jim Watson’s Instagram page