Rose Simpson: "Jim Watson: The Mayor who takes tea"

  ](http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimwatson_ottawa/10595903153/)

_ Rose Simpson’s column appears every Tuesday morning on the OttawaStart Blog. She also blogs at Rose’s Cantina . _ **

** People in Ottawa should not throw stones when it comes to Toronto’s mayoral woes.

How can we forget?

Ottawa had Mayor Larry O’Brien.

Clandestine meetings at Timmy’s. Lunches at Hy’s with folks he shouldn’t have been talking to. Nosestretchers so long they reached from the council chambers to Elgin Street.

He, too, promised to be a mayor with a lock on the treasury. All we got was baldheaded madness with a ceremonial chain around his neck.

We put up with his antics, then his court dates for months. It’s true Larry O’Brien took a leave while he was hauled up on charges. But the stench permeated the city like a skunk under the porch.

That’s why we have Mayor Jim Watson now.

He is stink-free.

Ottawans learned their lesson with O’Brien. We understood we needed a mayor who preferred to have tea with little old ladies. A man whose only blemish was that he was a Cabinet Minister in Dalton McGuinty’s government. But Jim Watson had/has no flies. The only controversy he’s had so far was about getting rid of the hooch at the opening ceremonies of council and having Timmy’s pick up the tab.

Oh yes, and that dustup with Eugene Melnyk over casinos.

A thrice married friend of mine once told me the reason he married Door Number Three was because he was looking for a little quiet lovin'. He was tired of all the nonsense and all the fighting. So far, so good with marriage number three. They’ve been together for 25 years.

That’s why we have Mayor Jim Watson for life.

Ottawa needs and deserves a little quiet loving, and we’re prepared, grudgingly to pay for it with higher taxes, Landsdowne Live!, tunnels and pedestrian bridges to nowhere.

Will Toronto stand behind Mayor Ford?

I think even the Ford Nation is tired of cocaine dreams and Grey Goose delights.

They may very well welcome a Mayor who takes tea.

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Rose Simpson _ **

** ** See also: ** Ottawa Guide

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