What’s ahead for the girl from Wadena, Sask.

It has been a kind of sainted life for Pamela Wallin. She started out as just a girl from the small town of Wadena, Saskatchewan (population 1300). She broke into journalism at the tender age of 21 when she was hired by CBC Radio. Along the way,  Ms Wallin worked for CTV, the Toronto Star and in 1992 was famously hired to try to fill the void left by the death of Barbara Frum. It might be said it was here that the first bit of rain began to fall in Ms Wallin’s professional life. Her efforts did not fare too well and in 1995 she was replaced by Hanna Gartner and dismissed. But she bounced back, starting her own production company which created a show called Pamela Wallin Live. It found a spot on the CBC and she continued with this work for four years. Subsequently she moved on to cable-TV and in 2000 hosted CTV’s Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?  Her first political opportunity came in 2002 when Jean Chretien appointed her counsel general to New York,  a very plum position. Her stature in the public eye continued to grow with the flattering elevation in 2007 to the chancellorship of the University of Guelph. Along the way, Ms. Wallin was made an honorary colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force. The girl from Wadena also acquired several important board memberships and in 2009 was appointed to the Senate by Stephen Harper. Now, in what must seem to her as quite a fall from high, she is largely in disgrace as accusations of irregular expenses from her tenure as a senator are made public. The CBC has this quite good review of what’s ahead of her now.