She served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1990 to 2003, and was a cabinet minister in the New Democratic Party (NDP) government of Gary Doer from 1999 to 2003.
[3] In June 1991, she criticized Premier Gary Filmon's sudden announcement that Winnipeg's child and family services would be brought under a single agency.
[5] She also introduced a private member's bill that, if passed, would have required the Manitoba Office of the Children's Advocate to report to the legislature rather than the Minister of Family Services.
[15] On January 17, 2001, her position was renamed as the Minister of Labour and Immigration, and she was relieved of responsibility for the Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation Act and the Civil Service.
Barrett's primary accomplishment in office was to reform Manitoba's labour laws, reversing many of the decisions made by the right-wing Filmon government during the 1990s.
[18] Barrett also allowed parents to take more time off work after the birth of their children[19] and increased Manitoba's minimum wage by 25 cents for every year of her tenure in office.
[21] Some business groups again opposed these messages, though on this occasion Barrett received support from the labour movement and the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper.
[23] Barrett established an arm's-length complaints office for Manitoba's Autopac program in April 2000[24] and signed an official proclamation in the same month to commemorate the 13 Winnipeg civic workers who had been killed on the job since 1978.
[29] Shortly after her appointment to cabinet in 1999, Barrett successfully pressured the federal government to allow Manitoba to recruit more than twice as many immigrants for skilled jobs.
In the resulting controversy, it was noted that former WCB chief executive officer Pat Jacobsen had sent a written complaint about Fox-Decent to Barrett in March 2001.
[41] Barrett's successor Nancy Allan argued that she acted properly, as the WCB board held legal authority over the matter.