Jim Watson

Jim or Jimmy Watson may refer to:

Jim Watson (Canadian politician)

James Alexander "Jim" Watson (born July 30, 1961) is the current mayor of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He is a former Ottawa city councillor (1991–1997) and mayor (1997–2000), and subsequently represented the riding of Ottawa West—Nepean in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2010. He was a Minister in the Cabinet of Premier Dalton McGuinty until he resigned in January 2010 to successfully run for mayor in the 2010 Ottawa municipal election. He was re-elected mayor 27 October 2014.

Early life

Born in Montreal, Quebec, Watson grew up in Lachute and attended Laurentian Regional High School from 1974-1978. He later moved to Ottawa to attend Carleton University and graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Public Affairs degree from the School of Journalism and Communications. He entered the federal public service and rose to the position of director of communications for the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Municipal politics in Ottawa

City Council

Jim Watson first entered public office in 1991 when he was elected to Ottawa’s City Council as councilor for Capital Ward. He was subsequently re-elected to Council in 1994. In 1992 Watson championed a roll-back of salaries and operating costs at the city level. His first direct action against excessive city spending was his unilateral decision to donate his yearly 2% salary increase, totaling $700, to charity. In addition, as part of the re-election process Watson donated his severance pay of $5200 to four local charities after moving from Regional to City Council in 1994. During his second term as Councilor, Watson reduced his own salary by 13% from $51,000 to $45,000 while voting to reduce the mayor’s office budget and salary. In 1996, he supported Dalton McGuinty's bid to lead the Ontario Liberal party.

Jim Watson (sportscaster)

Jim Watson is a sportscaster with Fox Sports and formerly with NBC Sports.

Sportscasting career

NBC Sports Network

He called weightlifting for the 2012 London Olympics. He also calls water polo for Universal Sports. He has also served as a play-by-play announcer, anchor, reporter, and host for NBC Sports, Universal Sports, FOX Sports, ESPN3, Time Warner, and several other regional networks. He called Volleyball at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Pac-12 Network and Fox Sports

Watson is also employed by the Pac-12 Network. There he calls football, basketball, baseball, swimming, and diving. In addition to Pac 12 sports, he has also covered golf, tennis, cross-country, track-and-field, softball, soccer, and water polo. Watson is the host and reporter for Dodgers Live, a pregame/postgame show for the Los Angeles Dodgers and calls beach volleyball for the Beach Volleyball World Tour. He was also the voice of the Los Angeles Galaxy for five years.

Other sports

Watson has also covered motocross, snowboarding, wrestling, skiing, gymnastics, and weightlifting. He was also the host of Runnin' with the Pac.