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.
[3] He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in a by-election on November 26, 1959,[1] 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.
Weir replaced Roblin as Premier in 1967, and Watt entered cabinet as Minister of Agriculture on September 24, 1968.
[4] His tenure in office was short-lived, as the Progressive Conservatives lost power to the New Democratic Party following the 1969 election.