Seated around the large, circular wooden table in his office, Mayor Jim Watson leaned back in his chair surrounded by the mementos of decades in the public service.
Nestled on the office’s wooden shelves are a gift from the speaker of the Uzbekistan parliament, another from the Korean ambassador. There are slightly faded photos of Watson with a younger looking Queen Elizabeth and a younger still Nelson Mandela.
Watson said his passion for politics started early in his university career. While majoring in communications at Carleton in the early ’80s, he was president of the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA).
With over 200 part-time employees working for the association—which, alongside its convenient store and newspaper, also ran a residence bar—Watson said the experience gave him insight into politics and running a municipal government.
It was during his tenure as RRRA president that the convenience store, Abstentions, recieved its name—bestowed after students kept abstaining from voting on a name.
Also named at the time was Fenn Lounge, Watson said. Despite the administration protesting students’ naming a university-owned building, 30 years later the lounge has the same name.
Watson said he originally planned on becoming a journalist, writing a monthly column about Parliament Hill for a local paper in Sarnia during his time at Carleton.
But after being elected RRRA president in his last year of studies, Watson said he started to focus on politics.
“I also became dismayed over the fact that our city councillor had very little contact with the university,” he said.
“Students would see the politicians at election time and then they’d disappear between elections, then come back at the next election and then they’d disappear again,” Watson said.
Once Watson graduated, he said he began working in federal politics and became director of communications for the Speaker of the House of Commons. He left the post to become a city councillor, he said.
At the age of 28 he was elected to municipal council. He ran on a promise to not forget students after the election, he said.
Every election he’s won since, he said he has returned the day after to Carleton to have lunch in residence commons.
“Almost every time, people see me and they say ‘why are you here? You just won the election,’ and I say ‘that’s exactly why I’m here,’” he said.
After his years as city councillor Watson made a run at mayor and was elected for the first time in 1998.
A parking meter, turned into a sort of commemorative trophy, sits next to his desk. A present, he said, from his staff during his first tenure.
“I used to get a lot of parking tickets,” he said with a laugh.
Watson pursued provincial politics afterwards including a stint as the minister of municipal affairs and housing—the mayor of mayors as he put it—but returned to run for mayor again in 2010.
Three years in, Watson said he plans to run again when his term is up in a little over a year.
Student politics and municipal politics, as well as provincial and federal governments each have to stick to their promises, he said, and it’s the best advice he can give to students seeking a career in public life.
“My view on politics is very simple,” he said. “You either run on your record or you run from it and in the next election, I’m going to run on my record.”
