Dianne Watts
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Dianne Watts MP |
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|---|---|
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| Official Opposition Critic for Infrastructure & Communities | |
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Assumed office November 20, 2015 |
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| Leader | Rona Ambrose |
| Preceded by | Matthew Kellway |
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for South Surrey—White Rock |
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Assumed office October 19, 2015 |
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| Preceded by | riding created |
| 35th Mayor of Surrey | |
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In office December 5, 2005 – December 8, 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Doug McCallum |
| Succeeded by | Linda Hepner |
| Surrey City Councillor | |
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In office December 2, 1996 – December 5, 2005 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 30, 1959 Vancouver, British Columbia |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Political party |
Surrey First (municipal) Conservative (federal) |
| Spouse(s) | Brian Watts |
| Residence | Surrey, British Columbia |
| Profession | Politician |
Dianne Lynn Watts (born October 30, 1959) is a municipal and federal politician in British Columbia, Canada. She won her first federal election campaign in October 2015 to become a federal Member of Parliament for South Surrey—White Rock. Previously, Watts served as the mayor of Surrey, the second-largest city in the province from 2005 to 2014. She was elected in 2005 to this office as the city's first female mayor.
Watts was born on October 30, 1959. She is a second-generation Canadian with Ukrainian-Yugoslavian roots.
She studied at Mount Pleasant Elementary School and Templeton High School in Vancouver's east side before moving to Kelowna. After graduating from Kelowna Secondary School, she married her first husband at the age of 18. After a divorce, she travelled and worked in Australia and other countries in the 1980s.
After her return to Canada, Watts worked as a credit manager and a materials consultant for an architecture firm during her 20s and early 30s. She married Surrey resident Brian Watts in 1992. She was a stay-at-home mother with two daughters prior to being a campaign manager for new provincial MLA and family friend Bonnie McKinnon in 1991. Watts later won a seat on city council in 1996 with Doug McCallum's Surrey Electors Team.
Before becoming mayor, she served on the Surrey City Council since her election in 1996.
She ran as an independent candidate, defeating incumbent Doug McCallum at the polls on November 19, 2005, who had been her political ally as recently as 2003. When she announced her intent to challenge McCallum, she claimed that a "culture of control and conflict has developed at city hall under Doug McCallum" and promised "better co-operation between the city and senior governments to bring more social services into Surrey to deal with homelessness, drug use and crime".
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