Dianne Watts – On the National Stage

Published in Surrey 604 Online Magazine April 2017

From city councilor to the fourth runner up in the world’s best mayor contest to her place at the Federal table in the Canadian Legislature, Dianne Watts is known for having a sharp business mind and an ability to cut through red tape to get things done. This unusual combination of skills propelled her, and the city she was responsible for, to a new level of respect and growth during her years as mayor and continues to move her forward on a national scale.

Ms. Watts started out on council in 1996 as part of the strong Surrey Electors Team. At that time, it could have been said that she ran on the coat tails of the strong community support for the experienced Surrey Electors Team under Mayor Doug McCallum. This virtually unknown Surrey city councilor quickly made her voice heard.

Although she worked well and cooperatively with the other team of councilors, she clashed with Doug McCallum. She became more vocal and more publicly defiant in her stand over issues that she felt negatively affected the city. In 2003 she broke away from SET, stating that she disagreed with Doug McCallum and his bullying style of leadership. She also took public aim at some of the SET supported policies, policing in particular.

The SET team didn’t take her bid for mayor seriously and woke up surprised to find that the new head of the city was this young upstart that they had mentored. One of the youngest mayors, Dianne Watts stepped into a divided council, a city with a less than stellar reputation and a growth curve that would challenge even the most experienced city planner.

Using the same work ethic that gave her the mayor’s seat, Dianne used her unique style of leadership to propel the city into a strong period of growth.  She was definitely a less talk and more action type of leader. Her business-first approach pushed council, the city staff and the policy makers to adapt and keep up with the speed with which she moved projects ahead.

Being a self-described, non-politician politician, she has some basic principles which consistently show her reasoning, motivations and the belief structure around her style of leadership.

She consistently deflects personal praise and reminds everyone that her successes are a result of the team around her. This genuine attitude won the hearts of her council members and over time they were able to form the strong and cohesive team necessary for city growth.

Understanding that she works for the people, this humble and consistent theme has endeared her to the hearts of the public. When you went to city hall with an idea, the first approach is – how can we make this work, instead of being given lists of reasons it won’t work. This simple change in attitude at the top resulted in a complete turn around in how the city moved forward.

Liberal candidate for MLA, Tracy Redies remembers,

“One thing I remember very clearly about Dianne, she liked to get things done quickly (a girl after my own heart!). I remember as CEO of Coast Capital Savings, I went to show her the plans for our new purpose built head office to be constructed at the terminus of the Skytrain. She loved the ‘quirky’ unique design that was all about the Coast brand and that we were committed to and contributing to the revitalization of the City. The only thing she didn’t like was the timing…which was 3 years.  Dianne Watts immediately asked how can we get it done faster…and I laughed inwardly because I had asked the exact same question about one week earlier when I had the plans put before me! Things moved faster because of Dianne’s support and the fact that we had the same goals as the Mayor to make sure ‘the future lives here’. Thanks Dianne, it has always been a pleasure to work with you!”

Even today Dianne Watts works towards clearly defined goals. She always operates with a vision in mind and this focus put everybody on the same path, going the same direction. The result is always a team-oriented approach, people-focused public policy and a communal understanding of where the city was going and how it was going to get there.

Her biggest and strongest points are her willingness to work with anyone toward a common goal, her work ethic and her commitment to being unapologetically herself – like it or not.

While the city continues to move on under the new leadership of Mayor Linda Hepner, Dianne’s personal presence is missed in the community.

When asking people about their individual encounters with Dianne, they mentioned their general sense of having a good friend that moved far away and how much they miss her.

Supporting change to benefit the lives of people is a big motivator for Dianne, as Bev Johnson tells it.

“Dianne was a very personable mayor who connected well with the people of Surrey. We had her come to speak a few years ago at a seniors’ luncheon at Cedar Grove Church when my husband Ross pastored there. I was to welcome her at the front entrance and was so surprised to see her walking across the parking lot from her car. I had expected that she would have a driver and told her that. She was surprised that I would think she wouldn’t drive herself to the church! She is so down to earth and lovely. Following her excellent talk about seniors’ issues she didn’t rush off, but visited with various people, even posing for photos. It was a privilege to meet her. I feel that she truly cares about the people she serves.”

When asked about a special moment she had as mayor, Dianne told of one of her encounters with a homeless person outside Safeway. When he spotted her exiting her car, he began excitedly exclaiming…

“Dianne is here, Dianne is here. The mayor is here.”   He approached her and gave her a big hug. She recounted the story with a smile. It is fitting that of all her great moments as mayor, this is the moment that she remembers as being important and worthy of retelling.

“I was so touched by that. It was so sweet and that really touched my heart. It really did. That moment that we connected and it was pretty special.”

Ellie King of the Royal Canadian Theatre Company tells of a meeting she had with the Mayor and Council. After being asked if she could delay a pre-scheduled meeting with the mayor for an hour, she told Dianne that her mother was dying and that she really needed to get to the hospital. Dianne immediately got up from her chair and hugged her. It was unexpected and Ellie was very moved by the human gesture of comfort.

“You don’t expect to be hugged by the mayor.”

The next day she was even more touched by the bouquet of flowers that arrived from Dianne.

“Not Mayor Dianne Watts – just Dianne.”

As Beverley Brooke Bly recalls,

“10 years ago while Dianne was on city council, I sat with her and Judy Villeneuve at a Surrey Board of Trade Annual golf tournament. Everyone was happy, laughing, telling jokes and talking about their golf game. Dianne treated everyone to a pink tequila rose drink. Years later, I was at a gala that Deepak Chopra keynoted at the Pan Pacific Hotel, I spotted Dianne sitting at a table behind me. I went over and introduced myself, she was very warm and inviting and I told her the golf story. I told her I appreciated all she did for Surrey whilst Mayor. She thanked me and was very nice.”

She is a business powerhouse with a whole lot of heart.

As a member of the first Parliament run with strong female representation, when asked if she thinks women make better politicians than men, she responded:

“I think it is different. I don’t think any one way is better than the other, it’s just different. Men and women approach things in a different way. When you have a combination of both, it strengthens the process. We have had a majority of women on council since 1996 so I have had the benefit of working mostly with women. We work differently. There is strength on both sides.

It is important for women to be in positions of power in government because what is important to women may not be as important to men and they may look at things through a different lens. I would like to see more women involved.

In 1996 when I entered politics, we had the majority of women on council right up to today. It is interesting because people think that is an anomaly, but for me it is just natural and it happened that way because I think we have a lot of strong women in the community, women that are very engaged however, it is incumbent upon us to encourage other women to take public office. We need to mentor them or help them. I am not a fan of the quota system because I don’t think we are quotas. I think we have enough experience and knowledge in our communities to get there on our own. Surrey is a prime example of that. We don’t have a quota system and we still have a lot of women very engaged in this system.”

When talking about representation, women make up half of the country, so it makes sense for them to be represented in government – but what about other cultures? We don’t see the same mix of cultures in government on any level, local, provincial or federal.

Dianne says, “It is not for a lack of being engaged in the community because we had several people with different backgrounds that have run for office. Locally, we have had representation on council from the Indo Canadian community, both women and men.

I don’t think the current mix really represents all cultures because we have a lot of different communities with large populations that don’t have a direct seat at the table. I think it is a matter of really mentoring people and bringing them along to get them to that point.”

Moving from city politics to federal politics is a giant leap. For most of us, she simply fell off the radar. Hidden in the caverns of Parliament Hill, our once vibrant leader has disappeared into the hallowed halls of Federal politics.  Although she is the critic for Infrastructure and Communities as well as sitting on the Public Safety and National Security Committee, she is missed locally as a once visible and involved Mayor.

Dianne speaks warmly of her time in Ottawa.

“The commute is very trying because you are taking red eye flights and you get in at 2:00 AM in the morning, which because of the time change makes the hours extraordinarily long. When you are in Ottawa, the house sits; and then you have committee work. If you are in the house, you have house duty; and then you have caucus meetings afterwards and then you have the community that wants to come in – those from your riding that are traveling and the organizations that want to meet. You often don’t get home for dinner until 9:30 – 10 o’clock at night, and this on a regular basis.

Then, when I come back here, it is a little bit more flexible. It is like having two full time jobs. There isn’t a lot of down time; so that is a challenge especially with family.

I enjoy the work and the debates we have in the house.   I am the critic for Infrastructure and Communities. I also sit on the Public Safety and National Security Committee. The work is interesting and I enjoy the international work as well.”

While she misses the personal connection with the people of Surrey, she feels that this challenge puts her in a position to make the biggest difference in the lives of Canadians, not just in Surrey but worldwide.

“I honestly wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t feel that I was making a difference. There are issues that I have brought forward There are issues that we collectively as a caucus have brought forward which impact people internationally. One example would be the plight of the Yiziadis women; or my colleagues bringing forward the national framework on Palliative care. Wayne’s Law that we just brought forward saw Mrs. Winn in the audience when that law passed. It was her husband who was the police officer killed. There are a lot of things that we bring forward affecting change so in that context, yes, I wouldn’t be there if I thought for a minute that I wasn’t making a difference.

Conservative MP’s called for immediate action to resettle members of the endangered Iraqi minority group known as the Yiziadis and the Liberal Canadian Immigration Minister John McCallum has indicated the governments commitment to bringing more Yazidi refugees to Canada in the coming months.

Bill S-217, dubbed “David Wynn’s Law,” would require the Crown to disclose the criminal history of the accused at a bail hearing. It was the result of an impassioned testimony from Shelley Wynn, the wife of the late police officer killed in the line of duty by a serial offender.

As Mayor, Dianne was known for being personable and approachable, which is a great quality to have in a Mayor but how well does it work under the oppositional system of the federal government?

Dianne said the parties work together more than people realize but she believes in an oppositional system.

“I would say that you need an opposition to hold the government to account. It is the way in which it functions. I think that you can’t have government running amuck, raising taxes whenever they want. There needs to be an effective opposition.

In terms of working together I would say that at a committee level there is a lot of work that gets done. Committees include all parties, the government, the official opposition and the third party opposition and we all work together.

The public just sees us interacting during question period; and they think that is how we function and it really isn’t. For example as the critic for national infrastructure, I want to look at a study around the rail alignments and the stabilization of the slopes – not only just here but other applications as well.

It goes to the committee, and all parties look at it and have some recommendations. We had all of the folks in from the different rail lines speak, and the committee, working together, makes the recommendation.

On the framework for national security, we are looking at everything from prisons to how to keep Canadians safe. As in any negotiation, there are things that the government wants, there are things that the opposition wants and we come together and compromise. You don’t always get everything you want but you work together to hammer out an agreement.”

As to what the future holds, Dianne Watts gives her standard ‘you-never-know’ answer.

“I miss being on the front line and really entrenched in the community. I did my time as mayor and it was almost a decade. I was happy when I made my decision that it was time for me to move on to another chapter in my life but I miss the relationships because being in Ottawa and going back and forth, you are not as engaged on the front lines as you have been. It’s a very different challenge.

I don’t know what the future holds. Right now, I am going back and forth to Ottawa, I have been elected for a four year term and we will see what happens at that junction.”

Dianne Watts is a role model for young women interested in entering challenging careers while not giving up the dream of having a healthy family life. When asked what advice she would give to young women trying to have it all, she responded,

“We try to be all things to all people. That is in our nature. We want to nurture everybody. We can’t. It takes us a long time to get to the point of understanding that we need to nurture ourselves. If we don’t take care of ourselves then we can’t take care of anybody else. Whether our kids or our career, it all comes down to taking care of ourselves, first. If you are absolutely drained of energy, how can you give that to anybody else?

We need to learn to say ‘no’, more often. When I was first elected Mayor, I said ‘yes ‘ to everything. I hit a wall pretty quickly.

You can have everything you want, but you might not get it all at once. You have to lay out your priorities.”

When asked if she did a good job of self-care, her first response was a slightly guilty laugh.

“I am getting better. If I am not feeling well, I will take time to rest which I never did before.”

Part of self-care is taking time for the pleasures of live. Dianne’s greatest joy in life is her daughters, her pets, her love of travel and her friends.

“You birth these beautiful children and you are so responsible for them. They are everything in your world and the centre of everything and watching them, as they grow older. My daughters are young women now at 21 and 23. Watching them evolve into these amazing young women is extraordinarily joyful for me. I am in awe of that whole process over all of those years.

I also really enjoy my animals. I have three dogs and two cats.

I really love to travel.   I have traveled all over the world and I am very blessed to be able to do that.

Wherever Dianne’s travels take her, a few things are certain. She still lives by the core philosophies she had as mayor of Surrey.   She has a willingness to work with anyone toward a common goal; she still carries her strong work ethic and she is still unapologetically committed to being herself.

“I do a lot of self analysis. I have been a Buddhist for twenty-three years and part of living within the contexts of the Buddhist philosophy is doing the self-examination which means not allowing your ego to dictate who you are. You have to be an authentic person with integrity and you need to live your life that way.

I watch very carefully the way I speak – it’s never about me. It about a collective group of people that are going down a road to effect change.   When I speak, I always make sure that it is ‘we’ and not ’ I.’

I surround myself with people who are not afraid to tell me the truth. I create an atmosphere of approachability so people can come say anything they want to me. “

Thank you Dianne Watts. On behalf of the people of Surrey, for your leadership, your authenticity and your heart inspired work ethic as you move with our teams of elected officials towards a better world.