About Jim

60 years old

Hometown: Lachute , Québec

Jim Watson is the current Mayor of Ottawa. He began his involvement in municipal politics as an Ottawa city councillor in 1991, becoming the city's youngest-ever mayor in 1997. In 2000, Watson resigned to pursue other careers including radio host, newspaper contributor, and president and CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission, before returning to politics in 2003. Watson once again ran for and won the mayorship of Ottawa in 2010 and has held the position ever since.

Watson is commited to moving forward with Stages 2 and 3 of LRT, which would extend the rail system to Barrhaven and Kanata-Stittsville. He has also overseen the completion of the Confederation Line earlier this year.^[11][12]

Following news that RTG—the contractor tasked with building the LRT system—will miss its original deadline to hand the system over to the city, Watson did not support the desires of some city councillors to have RTG officials speak about the missed deadline.^[13]

Watson has requested that further research be conducted on truck side guards and other safety measures that would reduce fatal collisions between cyclists, pedestrians, and heavy trucks.^[17]

Watson calls Ottawa "one of the safest cities in Canada," citing the hiring of 75 police officers and 38 paramedics in his current term of Council.^[7]

Watson says the councils he's headed for the past two years have added $16 million to the affordable housing budget. If re-elected, he will prioritize repairing existing social housing and will leverage local innovation to ensure long-term sustainability. He will also continue to turn his attention towards the light-rail system as a way of allowing students to "move farther afield from campus" to find cheaper rents.^[3][4][5]

Watson plans to work collaboratively with provincial and federal governments to fund affordable housing efforts in Ottawa. He has pledged to end chronic homelessness by 2024.^[6]

Albert Street Development

Watson has supported the project. He believes the location near the Bayview LRT station not only supports the demands for rental properties in the city, but is also the perfect place for intensification. He also said that "staff anticipate that this development will add 1.6 million transit trips per year."^[15]

Asked about the apparent disregard for the secondary plan with regard to height, Watson said anyone can apply for exemptions to planning rules.^[15]

Watson has promised to keep tax increases at a rate of no more than 2 per cent. So far, he's kept this promise with a 1.9 per cent increase in 2014 and a 2 per cent increase this year.^[7][8][9]

Watson introduced a 4 per cent tax on Airbnb hosts in August this year.^[10]

Vanier

Watson supports the plan for the Salvation Army to build a shelter in Vanier. He believes it will ease pressure on the ByWard Market, which is already home to three emergency shelters.^[14]

Watson believes pot shops are better kept in government hands, stating that public agencies are "more receptive to making sure that everyone is carded and ID'd."^[1]

Watson will not support the creation of cannabis lounges, or anywhere that would make it easier for people to smoke any substance in a lounge environment.^[2]

Watson is opposed to weekly garbage pick-up. He says this solution is costly and harmful to the environment. Instead, residents should recycle more and use their green bins, which are collected weekly, in order to reduce the amount of waste going into Ottawa's landfills.^[16]

Watson concedes that it will be a "challenge" to ensure crowds continue to flock to Parliament Hill during renovations. However, he sees it as an opportunity to draw attention to other nearby attractions, such as the Government Conference Centre that will house the Senate for the next 10 years.^[10]

Recognizing that Centre Block is among the most photographed buildings in the city, Watson wants to drape Centre Block in a fabric that depicts a rendering of the iconic building.^[10]

Supervised Injection Sites

Watson was hesitant when the idea of establishing supervised injection sites in Ottawa first came up. He has since let Ottawa Public Health steer municipal policy.^[5]