Waters worked at the Bracebridge Alcan plant before 1990, and operated an auto repair and service shop in Baysville until 2006.
He now manages properties on Lakes Muskoka and Rosseau and lives on HWY 118 West.
[6] He ran for the NDP again in the 1999 provincial election, but finished a distant third against PC candidate (and future Premier of Ontario) Ernie Eves in the redistributed riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka.
For the 2003 provincial election, he won the Parry Sound–Muskoka Liberal nomination over Evelyn Brown and challenged Progressive Conservative incumbent Norm Miller, who had succeeded Eves in a by-election.
Although the Liberals won a majority government provincially, Waters lost to Miller by more than 5,000 votes.