Career
Barrett attempted election in the 1986 Alberta general election and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for the riding of Edmonton Highlands. She defeated 3 term incumbent Minister of Technology, Research, and Telecommunications David Thomas King, in what was regarded as a substantial upset. She served in the New Democrats official opposition caucus as Deputy House Leader from 1986 to 1993.
She initially retired from provincial politics in 1993 claiming poor health resulting from job stress.
She served the third time from 1997 to 2000. Barrett led the New Democrats in winning two seats in the Alberta Legislature in the 1997 election (from zero in 1993).
Her aggressive leadership style in and out of the legislature led many Alberta political watchers to nickname her "Mighty Mouse." She resigned her seat and leadership position in 2000. Barrett resigned her position as party leader in 2000 after claiming a near-death experience in a dentist"s chairman
She was succeeded by Raj Pannu.
After her sudden retirement from politics she went on a "spiritual search". Her near death-experience was a subject of both serious and satiric attention in the Canadian media. She was parodied on the Canadian Broadcasting Company Television show The Royal Canadian Air Farce, and featured on the front cover of the May 2000 issue of lifestyle magazine Elm Street.
She died on January 21, 2008, aged 54, at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, from oesophageal cancer, after battling the disease for at least two years.
