May 16, 2022

Winnipeg
12° C, Partly cloudy

Full Forecast

Contact Us Subscribe Manage Subscription Chat with us
Log in Create Free Account Help Chat with us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • My Account
    • Manage my Subscription
    • Change Password

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
    • Log in
    • Create Free Account
    • Help

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
  • Coronavirus Coverage
  • Replica E-Edition
    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West
  • Above the Fold
  • Front page
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Book Club
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Canada
  • Local
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • World
  • The Star
  • Reader BridgeNEW
  • WFP EventsNEW
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Archives
  • Free Press Community Review
    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Classifieds
  • Contests
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • LifestylesNEW
    • All Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Homes
    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Newsletters
  • Obituaries
  • Puzzles
  • Photo and Book store
  • More

©2022 FP Newspaper Inc.

Close
  • Quick Links

    • Coronavirus Coverage
    • Federal Election
    • Above the Fold
    • Home
    • Local
    • Canada
    • World
    • Classifieds
    • Special Coverage
    • Newsletters
    • Obituaries
    • Photo and Book store
    • Archives
    • Contests
    • Publications
    • Sponsored Content
    • Privacy Policy

    Ways to support us

    • Pay it Forward program
    • Subscribe
    • Day Pass
    • Support Faith coverage
    • Support Arts coverage
  • Replica E-Edition

    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • Community Review East
    • Community Review West

    Business

    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
  • Arts & Life

    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Sports

    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • Opinion

    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor

    Media

    • All Media
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos

    Homes

    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Canstar Community News

    • All Free Press Community Review News
    • East Edition
    • West Edition
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Coupons

    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • About Us

    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
The Free Press
Articles Read
Your Balance +tax
Day Pass Till
Day Pass
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Report an Error
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
    • Staff Biographies
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • Log in
    • Create Account
    • Help
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
    • My Account
    • Manage My Subscription
    • Change Password
    • Chat with us

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
Log in Create Account Contact Us
Contact Us Manage Subscription
  • Sections
  • Local
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Diversions
    • Environment
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Health
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
    • Manitoba's Top Employers
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Soccer
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • E-Edition
  • Homes
  • Classifieds
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Automotive
    • Careers
    • Garage Sales
    • Merchandise
    • Pets
    • Real Estate
    • Rentals
    • Services
  • Lifestyles
    • Business Hub
    • Community
    • Drink & Dine
    • Life
    • Manitoba’s Top Employers
    • Wellness
    • Whiskers & Wings
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print
    • Ripley's Aquariums
    • The Bay
    • Staples Canada
    • Altitude Sports
    • Nike
    • Tuango
    • Ebay Canada
    • Sport Chek
    • Roots
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe$1.50 for 5 months
Home Opinion Analysis

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

Remember: politicians are people, too

By: Royce Koop
Posted: 4:00 AM CDT Saturday, Mar. 25, 2017

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Print
  • Email
  • Save to Read Later
JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES</p><p>Jane Philpott, federal minister of health, is one of several politicians who have experienced personal tragedy.</p>

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES

Jane Philpott, federal minister of health, is one of several politicians who have experienced personal tragedy.

Canadians generally hold politicians in low regard. In a 2015 survey, for example, the non-profit think tank Samara found only 40 per cent of Canadians trust MPs to do what is right. Sixty-two per cent believe politicians only want our vote.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/3/2017 (1878 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Canadians generally hold politicians in low regard. In a 2015 survey, for example, the non-profit think tank Samara found only 40 per cent of Canadians trust MPs to do what is right. Sixty-two per cent believe politicians only want our vote.

Sometimes, politicians earn that enmity. They break promises. They avail themselves of the perks of public office and then wonder why people complain about their having become "Otta-washed." And occasional examples of unethical behaviour give Canadians whole new reason to downgrade their regard for elected officials.

It’s easy to paint all politicians with the same brush. We forget politicians are human and, like everyone else, they often have experienced hardship and tragedy in their lives. It’s easy to see them as talking heads on television rather than as people.

Former U.S. vice-president Joe Biden provides an example of a politician whose personal life has been marked by significant tragedy.

Biden served as a senator from Delaware for a stunning 36 years before becoming Barack Obama’s vice-president. A few weeks after Biden’s first successful run for the U.S. Senate in 1972, a tractor-trailer rammed into a car driven by his wife, Neilia, which was also carrying his three children. Neilia and the Bidens’ one-year-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in the accident; however, his two sons, Beau and Hunter, survived. Biden had lost his wife and daughter even before he was sworn into office.

Biden’s long political career was marked by personal tragedy: it began with the deaths of his first wife and infant daughter and ended with the death of his son, Beau, in 2015, following a long struggle with brain cancer.

In 2016, Biden entertained the possibility of challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. The recent death of his son, however, plagued Biden: while campaigning, anything that evoked even the slightest memory of Beau drew tears. Obama himself expressed concern that Biden had not sufficiently recovered from his son’s death to endure a gruelling run for office, especially against the Republicans’ hard-hitting nominee, Donald Trump.

After the campaign, Biden himself recognized that he wasn’t ready, telling a New York Times journalist, "I was more broken than I thought I was." Speculating on what would have happened had he run, Biden said, "I don’t know what I’d do if I was in a debate and someone said, ‘You’re doing this because of your son’… I might have walked over and kicked his ass."

Like Biden, Canada’s health minister, Jane Philpott, also tragically lost a child. From 1989 to 1998, Philpott and her family, including two young daughters, lived in Niger, where she worked as a physician for a non-governmental organization. In 1991, the Philpotts’ two-year-old daughter, Emily, fell ill — Philpott soon spotted a rash she knew indicated meningococcemia, a potentially fatal and very rapid infection.

Philpott’s family immediately began the two-hour drive to the nearest hospital so Emily could receive life-saving penicillin. An hour into the drive, however, Emily had a seizure and stopped breathing. "It was the most horrible moment of my life," wrote Philpott. She and her husband were not ready to give up hope, so they took turns performing CPR on Emily as they kept driving, but the child never responded.

In the midst of all this, Philpott noticed that the same rash had appeared on her infant daughter, Bethany. The Philpotts, having lost one daughter, now faced the possibility of losing both. Thankfully and miraculously, Bethany survived long enough to arrive at the hospital and receive intravenous penicillin.

Despite the fact her kidneys had stopped functioning, Bethany survived through the night. The next day, the Philpotts attended a funeral for Emily, but Bethany’s health continued to improve. Philpott reports that the only physical manifestation of the illness for Bethany, now "a beautiful and brilliant young woman," is a scar.

Writing on the anniversary of her daughter’s death, Philpott wondered, "What would her life be like? How would our lives be different if she were still with us?"

It was impossible for me to look at Philpott the same way after I learned about this tragedy in her life.

In 2009, former Saskatchewan Conservative MP Dave Batters committed suicide in his Regina home following a long struggle with depression. He had declined to run for re-election in 2008 because of his depression as well as an addiction to benzodiazepine, a drug prescribed to treat depression combined with anxiety.

Batters, like Biden and Philpott, had tragedy in his background: when asked why he decided to run for office, he cited the 2003 murder of his friend, Michelle Lenius, by her estranged husband. Batters’ time in office was indeed characterized by a focus on criminal justice and mental-health issues.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper gave a moving eulogy at Batters’ funeral. "I became aware that beneath this veneer of optimism, Dave struggled with severe anxiety and depression," said Harper, referring to Batters’ decision not to run for re-election. Harper reminds us that politicians’ smiling public faces may mask pain, adversity and tragedy in their personal lives.

Winnipeg Gardener

What you need to know now about gardening in Winnipeg. A monthly email with advice, ideas and tips to keep your outdoor and indoor plants growing.

Sign up for Winnipeg Gardener
Sign Up

In 1993, my old MP from British Columbia, Jim Abbott, entered Parliament as a fire-breathing, populist Reform Party MP.

As a candidate and MP, Abbott was quick to denounce politicians. Over the course of 17 years as a well-regarded MP, Abbott worked with and forged friendships with scores of other politicians.

Upon announcing his retirement, he let it be known that his opinion about how the public should treat politicians had changed: Abbott urged Canadians to "cut us some slack."

I think that’s a good general rule for everyone, including politicians.

As Biden, Philpott and Batters remind us, we see politicians’ public faces but not always the struggles and tragedies that exist in their personal lives.

Royce Koop is an associate professor and head of the department of political studies at the University of Manitoba.

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

  • Report Error
  • Submit a Tip
  • Refund
  • The Free Press is certified by

The Winnipeg Free Press invites you to share your opinion on this story in a letter to the editor. A selection of letters to the editor are published daily.

To submit a letter:
• fill out the form on this page, or
• email letters@freepress.mb.ca, or
• mail Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2X 3B6.

Letters must include the writer’s full name, address, and a daytime phone number. Letters are edited for length and clarity.

Advertisement

Advertise With Us

Top