EVEN OTTAWA’S NON-STOP MAYOR NEEDS DOWN TIME
To hear Jim Watson tell it, recovering from a broken pelvis is a grand holiday. He’s been reading books, watching popular TV series and catching up with old friends. He’s grabbed a coffee with his campaign chairman and taken in a movie with an old confidant. In other words, the mayor’s been doing all the things he doesn’t have time to do when he’s being mayor.
Of course, Watson’s accident is no joking matter. The mayor fractured his pelvis at the end of February as he rode a snowmobile for the very first time. It turns out he confused the gas and the brake handles, and ended up crashing into another snowmobile in the parking lot. At his city hall welcome-back reception Monday morning, Watson admitted the entire thing was “a little embarrassing” — there’s no hiding anything when you’re the city’s most visible politician — and joked later that he was going to have the words “Gas” and “Brake” embroidered on a pair of snowmobiling gloves before trying the sport again next year.
And, to be clear, Watson hasn’t stopped being mayor. Not remotely. His staff has been delivering a stack of files to him each morning at Lord Lansdowne Retirement Residence, where Watson has been convalescing for the last month. He’s been watching council meetings on Rogers Cable 22, and messaging staff and councillors as much as usual — if not more.
Still, Watson says this forced time off is the longest he’s ever been away from work.
But mixed in with the anxiety of wanting to get back to the office, Watson has discovered that not working every moment of every day isn’t the end of the world.
“I think that it was a bit of a wake-up call for me,” Watson told the Citizen.
“I had a wonderful stream of friends that would come in and visit me because I was somewhat confined. And it was just nice to connect and talk with them in more of a social setting as opposed to an event. A lot of the time, I see friends just at events and you’re either at the head table, or you’re speaking and leaving and you never have any kind of chance to converse with people.”
This isn’t the first time the mayor has talked about needing to press the reset button on his work-life balance. But his time away from the office has given him some additional perspective.
“First, you realize that everybody is replaceable,” he said, as important issues such as the budget, the agreement with the National Capital Commission on the western LRT and awarding former Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson the key to the city, moved ahead without him there in person.
Second, his convalescence gave him time to think. He was reminiscing about the last time he had a dinner party for his staff — although one of his assistants had to roast the beef because the mayor can only barbecue — and how much he enjoyed his home being full of people and delicious smells.
“Was that before the election?” he asked his press secretary. Err, yes — two years before the election.
We demand the world from our elected city officials. They must manage everything from multibillion-dollar projects to what sorts of trees to plant in parks. One of the great things about municipal government is that it’s closest to the people. But do our councillors have to attend every event, every time, sacrificing every bit of personal life?
Of course not. If there was a tiny bit more work-life balance in politics, perhaps more people would consider entering it.
Watson is something of a victim of his own success. As he’s known for showing up for the opening of an envelope, as the old saw goes, more groups expect him to show up. And Watson wouldn’t go to 15 or 20 events a weekend if he didn’t enjoy it.
Still, he’s says, “I do have to do a better job of pacing myself, and I think easing into that by not going full out for medical reasons is a good start.”
We’ll see. Last Saturday, Watson attended the Cumberland Maplefest — “I’ve gone for the last 15 years!” he protests — and then couldn’t help dropping by some nearby bake sales and a farmers’ market. And while he’s supposed to be working just half days for the next couple of weeks, he’s meeting with the Carleton University Ravens basketball team early Tuesday morning, and attending the public consultation on the new central library in the evening.
Everyone deserves a personal life, even the mayor. It’s encouraging that he’s starting to recognize that fact. But we’ll believe it when we see it.