Most of you have probably never heard of Deborah Drever, and might never hear of her again. She’s a member of the legislative assembly (MLA) in my old stomping ground, Alberta, and entered public life recently and with much controversy. At some point prior to her decision to throw her hat in the political ring, she’d posted some unfortunate photos on Facebook, and had also done some modeling, which in turn led to other unfortunate images, all of which came to light in the weeks after the election. She’s part of the NDP (socialist) government that, not long ago, swept away four dusty decades of conservative rule in the province. Furious tories–looking for something, anything to destroy–gleefully piled on Drever, demanding she be ousted from the legislature due to her online indiscretions.

Eventually the premier decided that Drever would retain her seat, but would also be sidelined with vague instructions to work on women’s issues (and undoubtedly, to keep her head down). Personally, at that point, I thought Drever was nothing more than a seat-warmer who would evaporate silently and unnoticed.

Well, Drever had different plans. She just recently stepped back out of the shadows…and did so quite brilliantly, imho.

Conservatives will, no doubt, continue to scream that she has none of the skills or experience that she needs to hold public office. Luckily, however, the future’s not up to them alone.