Denise Leanne Batters (born June 18, 1970) is a Canadian politician who has served as a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

since January 25, 2013. She was briefly ousted from the national

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...

from November 2021 to February 2022, after criticizing then-leader

Erin O'Toole Erin Michael O'Toole (born January 22, 1973) is a Canadian lawyer, former military officer and politician who was the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the leader of the Official Opposition from 2020 to 2022. O'Toole was elected ...

, but remained a member of the Senate Conservative Caucus.

Early life and education

Born in Regina, Batters received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Regina in 1991. In 1994, she obtained her

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree from the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

and was admitted to the bar in 1995.

Legal career

Batters was in private practice until 2007 and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2008. From 2007 to 2012, she served as the Chief of Staff to Saskatchewan Minister of Justice

Don Morgan Don Morgan (born 1951) is a Canadian provincial politician. He was the Saskatchewan Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan (MLA) for the constituency of Saskatoon Southeast from 2003 until 2024. Along with Donna Harpauer, h ...

. From 2012 to 2013, Batters worked for Saskatchewan's

Crown Investments Corporation The Crown Investments Corporation (CIC) is a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Saskatchewan. It functions as a holding company to manage the province's commercial Crown corporations, as well as the provincial government's minority holdin ...

as executive director of regulatory affairs."Stephen Harper appoints five new senators"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', January 25, 2012.

Mental health advocate

On June 29, 2009, Batters' husband, former Palliser Conservative Member of Parliament Dave Batters, died by suicide at the age of 39. In the wake of his death, Denise Batters became a mental health advocate. She organized a number of Dave Batters Memorial Golf Tournaments, which raised more than $215,000 for mental illness awareness and suicide prevention. Denise directed the proceeds of these fundraisers towards the production of a television commercial aimed at men aged 30–50 struggling with anxiety and depression. In 2012, she testified before the House of Commons Health Committee in support of a national suicide prevention framework. Denise Batters was awarded the Canadian Association on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH) Champion of Mental Health Award (Parliamentarian) in 2015. In October 2017, she received a "Difference Maker" award from the

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH, pronounced , ) is a psychiatric teaching hospital located in Toronto and ten community locations throughout the province of Ontario, Canada. It reports being the largest research facility in Can ...

(CAMH) for her work in the area of mental health.

Senate career

In January 2013, she was appointed to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

. Senator Batters served as Deputy Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs until 2021. She served as Deputy Chair of the Senate Standing Committee of Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration from November 2017 to April 2020. She has also been a member of the Senate Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament, and the Subcommittee on Senate Communications.

Leadership review

In November 2021, about two months after the

2021 Canadian federal election The 2021 Canadian federal election was held on September 20, 2021, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons to the 44th Canadian Parliament. The Writ of election, writs of election were issued by Governor General of ...

, Senator Batters launched a petition for a review of

as Conservative Party leader stating that, "Mr. O'Toole flip-flopped on policies core to our party within the same week, the same day, and even within the same sentence." On November 16, O'Toole ejected Batters from the national Conservative caucus (in which Conservative MPs and Senators both sit) for "discrediting" the work of the caucus and the leader. Batters released a statement on the expulsion saying that "Mr. O'Toole cannot 'tolerate' criticism." Though expelled from the national Conservative caucus, which is made up of both MPs and Senators, she remains a member of the Senate Conservative Caucus. However, the Senate Conservatives have excluded her from appointment to Senate committees. In January 2022, the Saskatchewan Conservative Caucus confirmed Batters as a member of their regional caucus. In February 2022, after O'Toole's ouster as Conservative leader, Batters returned to the national caucus.

Freedom convoy

In Senate, she offered effusive praise for the "

Freedom Convoy The Canada convoy protest, known as the Freedom Convoy (French: ''Convoi de la liberté'') was a series of protests and blockades across Canada in early 2022, initially organized to oppose COVID-19 vaccination in Canada, COVID-19 vaccine man ...

" protesters who demonstrated in downtown Ottawa from January 29 to February 20, 2022. Batters said that the "chattering classes" had unfairly portrayed the protesters, classifying it as a "dance party." "I can say that in the last two years, I never felt safer walking home from my office at night."

Personal life

Denise Batters met her future husband, Dave Batters, in 1989, while they were crossing the street at a political convention. They married in 1997. Dave Batters served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for the federal Saskatchewan riding of Palliser from 2004 to 2008. After a battle with depression and anxiety, Dave died by suicide in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batters, Denise 1970 births Canadian senators from Saskatchewan Conservative Party of Canada senators Women members of the Senate of Canada Women in Saskatchewan politics Living people Politicians from Regina, Saskatchewan 21st-century Canadian women politicians University of Regina alumni University of Saskatchewan alumni 21st-century members of the Senate of Canada