What’s a nice, non-partisan British Columbia mayor like Dianne Watts going to do in such a highly partisan place as Parliament Hill?

Certainly, as the retiring three-term mayor of Surrey, B.C., Watts was able to transform the province’s second-largest and fastest-growing city from a mere Greater Vancouver bedroom community into a thriving metropolitan centre that will surpass the City of Vancouver itself in population within the decade.

Along the way, Watts rubbed shoulders with international political heavyweights such as former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair and ex-New York mayor Rudi Giuliani. They all headlined Surrey-sponsored annual economic summits spearheaded by Watts.

At one point, she was ranked as the world’s fourth-best mayor and, when former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell announced his resignation in late 2010, Watts was the immediate, highly touted potential replacement – until she took herself out of the running. “I’m not finished being mayor of Surrey,” she said.

Now, the 55-year-old Watts is entering federal politics. She’ll seek the Conservative nomination in South Surrey-White Rock, which is being vacated by long-serving Tory MP Russ Hiebert. Watts’ nomination is a slam dunk, and so is her election in this affluent Tory riding.

Then, assuming Prime Minister Stephen Harper wins at least a Tory minority in the 2015 election, what’s in store for Watts?

Those who know her say there’s little doubt Watts will make her mark on the national political scene. She’s the type of politician who attracts attention easily, thanks to her common sense, “what you see is what you get” approach.

Local media scuttlebutt says Harper has promised Watts a cabinet post in the next government. And, while no one believes for a second that that’s something you can take to the bank, if the Tories win next year, Harper would alienate many B.C. voters if he left Watts on the backbench.

Regardless, it’ll be interesting – even fascinating – to see how Watts, the non-partisan, copes with the whips and back-room wizards in Ottawa who insist that members of Parliament toe the party line.

She initially blew away the former “establishment” at Surrey City Hall by forming the non-partisan Surrey First group, whose council members simply do what they feel is best, issue by issue, whether or not the solution leans right, left or whatever.

Or, as Watts often says: “At the end of the day, people elect you to get the work done. They don’t elect you to play politics and fight.”

But why Ottawa and not Victoria?

Watts says she selected federal politics in order to help Surrey cope with major, federal-related issues, such as acquiring federal dollars for a Surrey light-rail transit system and continuing the fight against crime in a city that houses the RCMP’s largest detachment in Canada as well as its Division E regional headquarters.

But Watts has never hidden her keen interest in national and international issues – witness her annual economic summits in Surrey, which drew presidents and prime ministers.

Yes, Watts is definitely one to watch.

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