OTTAWA – Personal connections and political obligations played a role Friday as Stephen Harper named five new senators, including the controversial winner of a Senate election in Alberta and the wife of a Conservative MP who committed suicide in 2009.

Denise Batters, a Regina lawyer and senior figure in the province’s Crown Investments Corp., is the widow of Conservative MP Dave Batters, whose suicide prompted Harper to deliver an emotional call to arms at his funeral.

“We know this much,” the prime minister said. “Depression can strike the sturdiest of souls. It cares not how much you have achieved, nor how much you have to live for.”

In a brief interview Friday, the newly appointed Batters — since becoming a prominent advocate for mental health — said she plans to keep up the fight to raise public awareness about depression once in Ottawa.

“That will remain a personal priority of mine, definitely,” Batters said, describing as “amazing” the opportunity she will now have to walk the same corridors of power as her husband once did.

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