Douglas Watt

Who was Douglas Watt?

James Douglas Watt was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1959 to 1977, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Walter Weir.

The son of William Watt and Annabelle Milliken, Watt was educated at Hillview schools, and worked as a farmer. In 1936, he married Rossie Grace Smeltz. He was an active freemason, and became deputy reeve of Pipestone municipality in 1958.

He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in a by-election on November 26, 1959, defeated Liberal-Progressive candidate Harry Patmore by 77 votes in the rural riding of Arthur, in the province's southwestern corner. He was re-elected over Patmore by a greater margin in the 1962 general election, and served as a backbench supporter of Dufferin Roblin's government.

In the 1966 election, Watt defeated Patmore for a third time by 95 votes. Weir replaced Roblin as Premier in 1967, and Watt entered cabinet as Minister of Agriculture on September 24, 1968. His tenure in office was short-lived, as the Progressive Conservatives lost power to the New Democratic Party following the 1969 election.