Categories: Capital Read, Inside the Queensway

Dave Batters steps aside: We'll keep a light on for you …

by kadyomalley on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 2:10pm - 0 Comments

Well, it still sucks, but at least it seems like things are slowly but surely getting better. I can’t help thinking Ottawa hasn’t seen the last of Dave Batters:

It is with deep regret that I have informed Prime Minister Stephen Harper of my decision not to seek re-election as the Member of Parliament for Palliser.
I have been ill for the past few months, dealing with anxiety and depression. As well, I overcame a dependency on certain prescribed medications (benzodiazepines). I make this very personal disclosure with the hope that others who suffer from these conditions will seek the assistance they need. There is still a stigma attached to such illnesses and I want to make sure people realize these are conditions that can strike anyone and need to be treated.
I am pleased to report that my health continues to improve. The support my family and I have received this summer has been incredible. Though this has been a very trying time for us, your prayers and good wishes have greatly assisted me in reaching a healthier place in my life.

(Full statement is available on his website.)

Tags: dave batters, get well soon, palliser, things that still suck

More by kadyomalley

MJ Patchouli

Best wishes to Dave Batters, absolutely, but I don’t think he’ll go back into politics, Kady. I think it’s too rough a game for him.

Mental illness could use more crusaders in Canada, and he could help a lot of people if he was willing to take that on, once he’s completely recovered, of course.
Mike Horn

Before another madcap election gets rolling we should pause and consider whether we are taking proper care of everyone involved. High levels of anxiety naturally come to the leading candidates and modern parties should be prepared to help with that. Likewise, a modern legislature should have tools in place to help the representatives cope. Same goes for staffers.

People often talk about politics like it’s a working vacation. More like a safari I say. The adventure and glamour only comes when we put ourselves into risky situations.
Corey Cannon

I, for one, am amazed that anyone worthy of leading us survives in politics at all. Between the abuse they are given in the media, the microscopic scrutiny of their private lives and the near universal loathing of the public they are trying to serve… I’d rather be lawyer.

And then we wonder why we get liars and cheats in power: they are the only ones with skin thick enough to survive. Kind of like why does it seem like all the most attractive girls in highschool with jerks for boyfriends: because while the nice guys are being shy, the jerks are the only ones with stones to talk to them.
Anon

“attractive girls in highschool with jerks for boyfriends”

Ahem, usually it’s because they need a jerk around to keep the others away. Sort of like thorns protecting a rose, if you will.
Neil

Guess that’s what happens (Between the abuse they are given in the media, the microscopic scrutiny of their private lives and the near universal loathing of the public they are trying to serve…) when you aspire to that lofty position. Then again, politics is never short of applicants!
Brad

Corey,

While I admire your initial sensitivity and empathy for politicians, doesn’t your throw-away line take it all back? “…we wonder why we get liars and cheats in power: they are the only ones with skin thick enough to survive.” You offer an olive branch with one hand and tar them all with your broad brush with the other.
Mike Horn

Ok, think of this another way Brad and Corey. Is the combination of public pressure and Political Correctness forcing all politicians to limit their honesty? Isn’t public cynycism encouraging dishonesty?

As for the cute romantic metaphor, thats, cute, but misleading. Nice Guys definitly undermine themselves when they care that some Girl is with some Jerk. The advantage of being a jerk is you do what you gotta do without consulting everyone. To do that but still be a nice guy about it, is much harder but more rewarding. In other words girls who date jerks and voters who elect jerks may be testing all the nice guys to see which ones can deal with the jerks, or breeze right past them.
madeyoulook

Mr. Batters,

For your service, thank you.
For your candor, thank you.
For your health, best wishes.
Brad

Mike – for the record, in my clumsy and apparently unsuccesful way, I was trying to make the same point you make. Cruising the comments demonstrate that partisan sympathies often lead people to amazing philosophical paradoxes (sp?). Just as an example, and it will likely draw fire, the whole teen pregnancy thing raised by Palin’s nomination. The usual right wing suspects immediately threw out covering fire that they would never have entertained had the candidate been of Democratic persuasion. I know there are equally egregious examples of left leaning hypocrisy, that was just the most recent and glaring.

My point is that the pool is overflowing with sharks eager to get their bite in. The initial point Cory was making actually showed a glimmer of sympathy for the politicians and then slagged them with a gratuitous backhander on the way out.
Shenping

I’m by no means a Conservative fan, but Dave Batters seems to have done a good job of representing us in Palliser. I dealt with his office a number of times on behalf of clients, and his staff was always polite, efficient and effective. Mr. Batters understood that the secret to long-term electoral success in the prairies is to have a well-run constituency office.

Palliser is going to be an interesting contest without Dave Batters. I find it interesting that Cal Johnson is running for the Liberals in Palliser instead of Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre or Regina Qu’appelle. Palliser is usually a close NDP-conservative fight, and of the four ridings Regina is split into, Palliser has the lowest percentage of Regina voters, and has a star NDP candidate to split the centre-left vote.To me this sounds like the Liberals want to give the riding to the Conservatives rather than allow an NDP victory.