The first time Trudy Bossio worked a federal election, it was Mulroney vs. Turner, and St. Albert was part of a riding called Pembina.
Forty-one years and 13 federal elections later, and she’s still at it as the Elections Canada returning officer for St. Albert-Sturgeon River.
“I just really love working elections,” said the St. Albert resident.
Bossio was one of the handful of people in the St. Albert-Sturgeon returning office in the old SportChek location in St. Albert Centre March 28, working to organize the upcoming federal election.
It’s safe to say they have experience on their side. Many have been working for Elections Canada for decades; Bossio has been at it since 1984.
“I like the rush,” she said.
“I like the fact that it’s a really huge amount of work to do in a very small timeframe.”
What’s new
Apart from the advent of cellphones, Bossio said this year’s federal election will be pretty similar mechanically to the ones back in the 1980s, right down to the pencils and hand-counted paper ballots.
One big change for St. Albert this time around is the size of its riding. St. Albert used to be part of St. Albert-Edmonton, which was basically that city plus Castle Downs in Edmonton, Bossio explained. Now, it’s in St. Albert-Sturgeon, which is a 140-kilometre-wide swath covering Sangudo, Redwater, and Legal.
Bossio said she and her team have ordered some 138,000 ballots and several thousand pencils for this election. St. Albert residents will likely see candidates from the Christian Heritage, Conservative, Green, Liberal, NDP, and People’s Party of Canada on this year’s ballot.
Bossio said she plans to hire some 900 people before the end of April to man the 232 polls in St. Albert-Sturgeon. With a few exceptions, any Canadian citizen who lives in St. Albert-Sturgeon and is at least 16 years old can apply for these jobs. Job seekers should visit elections.ca or the St. Albert-Sturgeon returning office for details.
How to vote
Any Canadian citizen who will be 18 or older on April 28 and can provide a valid ID can vote in the federal election, said Elections Canada spokesperson Leanne Nyirfa. Valid IDs include a driver’s licence or any two items from the list of approved documents (such as a bank statement and your voter information card, the latter of which will be mailed out in early April). You can also have someone vouch for your identity.
St. Albert-Sturgeon voters can vote in the election any time before April 22 by going to any returning office and requesting a special ballot, Bossio said. (You might want to wait until nominations close April 7, in case your candidate drops out.) They can instead vote at their assigned advance poll on April 18-21 or their assigned regular poll on April 28.
St. Albert’s advance polls will likely be at St. Albert Centre, St. Albert Inn, and the Kinsmen Banquet Centre, Bossio said.
Bossio said she hopes lots of people would vote in this year’s election, adding it is an honour and privilege to do so.
“If you don’t vote, you don’t have a say in how the county is run.”
Information on the 2025 federal election is available at elections.ca or by calling the St. Albert-Sturgeon returning office at 1-866-228-3597.
