Trudy Schroeder wanted to be in politics when she grew up. Now, at 62-years-old, that teenage dream could come true.
Schroeder is known in Winnipeg for taking the executive director seat with the Winnipeg Folk Fest and most recently with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra before leaving in the fall. Now, she is seeking the seat of the MLA of Fort Whyte.
"It's like a plot twist. 'What will Trudy do next?'" she says. "This was not necessarily on the radar for people but community life is something that I have always been quite passionate about."
Schroeder got her start in politics in her late teens, when she was asked to nominate NDP's Ed Schreyer's re-election speech in 1977. Her executive career may have drawn her from politics, but her decades of leadership could come in handy.
"All of these things are connected," she says. "It is really the whole business of making the community better and stronger for people," Schroeder says, saying she considers herself a community activist.
First and foremost, she says, will be a focus on healthcare. She says reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and education are also top of mind.
"It brings all of my interests together in a different way."
Other campaigners
The other two people hoping to nab the MLA seat are both former Winnipeg Blue Bombers players.
Willard Reaves is running for the seat with the Liberal Party and Obby Khan is seeking a nomination from the PC Party to run under their party.