Ottawa mayor Jim Watson returned to the job today, welcomed back to city hall with a party, complete with a cake shaped like a snowmobile.  Watson continues to recuperate from a fractured pelvis after a snowmobile mishap a month ago. But there is another misstep making news these days: the ill-fated motion by Councillor Rick Chiarelli to open Sens Mile – a motion that some say has jinxed the team.

Hobbling in on crutches, a few pounds lighter than a month ago, the first person Jim Watson greeted was councillor George Darouze who was the one teaching the mayor how to use a snowmobile that day he crashed in February.

‘This guy gave me a four week vacation,’ he jokes to the crowd gathered in the Mayor’s board room.

No party, of course, is complete without a cake.

‘I don’t know if you can see it,’ Watson laughs, ‘it’s (shaped) like a snowmobile.’

The mayor was injured February 28th when he confused the gas and the brake after a training session with Darouze and several other councilors in Darouze’s Osgoode ward.

‘I pushed the gas and hit another snowmobile and hit my mouth. Initially I thought I hit my nose and my mouth,’ explained the mayor in an interview with reporters, ‘but then I couldn't get up.’

Watson has spent the last few weeks in a retirement residence while he recuperates, making phonecalls, reading city reports and watching a lot of series on NetFlix, including the British version of “House of Cards.”  Watson will work half days while his pelvis heals.  That will still take months.

Councillor Darouze credits the mayor with preventing the ski-doo from hitting anyone else.

‘He directed the snowmobile towards the back of the parking lot,’ Darouze told reporters, ‘away from people so I have to give him that credit.’

As Watson revealed his snowmobile cake, his chief of staff, Serge Arpin, quipped, ‘Someone is working on a draft motion to support the mayor as he returns to city hall.  Don't do it, do not jinx the mayor's recovery.’ 

That jab was directed at councillor Rick Chiarelli, accused of jinxing the Senators who have now lost 3 games in a row. Chiarelli had introduced a motion to declare Sens Mile early, then council cancelled that idea after the Senators’ organization told them to wait until the playoffs.  Allan Hubley continued the Rick Chiarelli roast.

‘Apparently, Councillor Darouze is looking to take him (Chiarelli) for a ride in the ski-doo at the request of many of the councillors,’ Hubley laughed.

‘It's a lesson that if we are going to commemorate someone, we should speak to them first,’ added Councillor Stephen Blais.

A petition is circulating calling for Chiarelli to resign.  He wasn't at the mayor's party today. In a phone interview, he explained he had a prior commitment with another councillor opening a restaurant in the east end. 

‘It wouldn’t have been a priority for me anyway.’

Chiarelli explained he is working on reversing the jinx.

‘It involves a block of wood and rapping your knuckles on it,’ Chiarelli explained. ‘I’m not the least bit superstitious but I think if the Senators win a game, maybe people will realize this jinx thing is not scientific. But I do have the power to reverse that.’