Jim Watson returns to work after breaking pelvis in snowmobile crash
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson returned to city hall today after breaking his pelvis in a snowmobile crash late last month.
Watson was in crutches as he was greeted by city staff and councillors — along with a cake shaped like a snowmobile.
He will be working half days for now as he continues daily physiotherapy but will gradually return to full-time work.
The recently-reelected mayor was learning how to snowmobile in the rural southern community of Osgoode on Feb. 28 when he confused the power and the brake, he told Ottawa Morning host Robyn Bresnahan on Monday.
"I had actually never driven a snowmobile in my life, that's pretty obvious from what happened," he said.
"(Osgoode councillor George Darouze) said to just go try it out on this open field and come back to where all the other snowmobiles were parked… I was going not that fast and then I came onto the flat area and instead of pushing the brake to slow down I hit the gas and ran into another parked snowmobile."
Watson, who walked into the studio on crutches, said he broke his pelvis in three places and his doctor says it will be four to six months until he makes a full recovery.
He said he would like to come back and try snowmobiling again next year.
Spent time in care home
A frequent visitor of community events, Watson was confined to a wheelchair while living in a care home in the Glebe for much of the last month, left to tweeting about city events, the cards and flowers that came in and a newfound love of the show Homeland on Netflix.
"I was in the dining room one day, I went down for breakfast, they put you at a different table and I was sitting with this lovely woman and chatting away... she said 'what do you do?' and I said I work for the City of Ottawa and then she said 'wasn't that terrible what happened to the mayor?' and I said 'well I'm actually the mayor,'" he said.
"She said 'Oh really, I've never seen your picture in the paper' which I'm sure my council colleagues would laugh hearing that."
Deputy mayors Mark Taylor and Bob Monette replaced Watson at many official events while he was recovering.
Councillors and city staff will be welcoming him back to work with tea and cake at 11 a.m.
On mobile? Click here to listen to Watson's live Ottawa Morning interview.
