Mayor Jim Watson’s experience of dealing with AnnMarie Neill-Jenkins seems entirely typical for someone who has to check their emails around the clock. The Ottawa-Ottawa MPP for Ottawa South also works as director of policy for the charity Safe Alternatives for Safe Communities.
On Friday, Mr. Watson’s email to Ms. Neill-Jenkins turned into a furor. His request was part of a party leadership contest: Ms. Neill-Jenkins was a vice-president of citizen engagement for Olivia Chow’s campaign.
Since the election, Mr. Watson’s office has released thousands of individual emails as part of the Canadian Privacy Act. On Tuesday, he released an entire month’s worth of emails. The first release contained a half-dozen emails with Ms. Neill-Jenkins. There were dozens and dozens of other ones released, some far beyond that.
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Mr. Watson’s correspondence with Ms. Neill-Jenkins is colourful, peppered with jokes, flattering, avuncular and mildly peeved, all while touching on the mayor’s political and public life. The content isn’t salacious or dangerous, but there is clearly still a gender-based divide. “Thank you for contacting me!” he emails to Ms. Neill-Jenkins in a few emails dated Feb. 27, 2014. “Have you ever been to Nashville? Was involved in Music Row for eight years, seeing hundreds of bands, spending a lot of time backstage and watching musicians showcase their talent. They were showing off better than any runway models.”
That includes a short conversation between the two that appears to be a query about her personal hair at length, with Mr. Watson seeming particularly interested. Ms. Neill-Jenkins was on her second cycle of a cervical cancer vaccination.
The first email asks if she was still taking the protection. At this point, there’s no mention of a rectal cancer outbreak in London, Ont., or the media gossip that lead to calls for Mr. Watson’s resignation. Mr. Watson replied, “I emailed a topic…but I need to tell you I’m being inundated with several inquiries…just imagine that in your position your first question is for personal hygiene and that you need a document. An hour-long phone call and information gathering is quite different.”
There’s a joke about Ms. Neill-Jenkins looking “ornate” and noting that she is wearing a charcoal-grey suit. “Wearing charcoal suits is very “old school” huh?” she writes, making Mr. Watson laugh and then tells him she looks “good” with black hair and shades.
“There is no mystery about what your day is going to be like this morning,” Mr. Watson replies.
“I remember what happened the last time you came into work because it was a new day. You were drowsy and I was only a mile away and the alarm went off. It started our day off on a high note (I know what you mean, AMERICA) so I put you on the treadmill and we started our new day right away. You were very awake to start with and it really made our day – for once.”
Mr. Watson’s tone is never hostile, but it has its moments. He also mentions the people he picks up coffee with in the morning. Ms. Neill-Jenkins, meanwhile, has a bit of a fall-out with a social media presence for schools and nurseries, which sounds incredibly serious. “I really hope that your behaviour is not indicative of your work habits for school children and other staff,” Mr. Watson emails.
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“To date no disciplinary sanctions have been imposed,” Mr. Watson adds in an accompanying news release.
There’s also a note that Ms. Neill-Jenkins quit her volunteer role as director of citizen engagement, though she continues to advocate for the privacy of parents and schoolchildren.
At times, Mr. Watson seems amused, others defensive, other angry. There’s even a discussion of how to handle the youth and family office at City Hall. He proposes that some online email might be filtered by the privacy office to be more “convenient.” Mr. Watson makes it clear that he will know exactly who is on that email list.
Ms. Neill-Jenkins did not return a request for comment.