She took a vacation to Las Vegas during the campaign, hasn't confirmed she's even visited her riding and has questionable command of French, but the NDP's Ruth Ellen Brosseau won the Quebec riding of Berthier - Maskinongé.

CBC reported Brosseau was elected with 40 per cent of the vote.

Her victory is part of a landslide victory for the NDP in Quebec, where the CBC is projecting the Bloc Québécois will be reduced to as few as two seats and leader Gilles Duceppe was defeated in his riding.

Brosseau works in Ottawa as an assistant manager at a pub and lives in Gatineau, Que. Bill Curry of The Globe and Mail has described her as a "classic parachute candidate."

During the campaign, Brosseau continued to work at the pub in Ottawa and took a vacation to Las Vegas. According to the Globe, her boss wasn't even aware she was running for office.

An NDP spokesman, Marc-André Viau, admitted to the Globe, that Brosseau is "not ready to do a press conference," explaining her French still needs work. Viau promised if she were to be elected his party would "make sure that she's ready."

Now that Brosseau has bested her nearest rival, Guy André of the Bloc Québécois, by more than 10 per cent of the vote, the NDP will be watched closely to see if it fulfills that promise.

And not only with Brosseau, but also with the many other NDP candidates who few considered contenders just five weeks ago.

(CP Photo)