Jim Watson was re-elected to a third consecutive term, handily beating his closest contender Clive Doucet by a significant margin. Watson says this is an exciting win for him, but an emotional one, too.
“It’s the first time my parents won’t be with me on this incredible journey,” Mayor Jim Watson said at his victory party tonight, “They were with me in 1991 when I became a city councilor and every re-election since and sadly, they passed away in the last couple of years and it's the first time I haven't had my parents to celebrate with me and I know they're looking down with a sense of pride in their son and daughter and I miss them every day.”
Watson says priority number one will be seeing the first phase of the LRT get rolling.
“We want to get the train up and running by the first part of 2019 and then shovels in the ground for phase 2 to go farther east, west and south. There was a lot of support for that.”
As for his new council, he said he hadn’t seen all the results at that point but, “getting new people in the system is good. You want to have a mix of veteran legislators along with people who bring new perspectives.”
Watson won 71% of the vote compared to 75% in 2014.
