The day the writ dropped for the snap provincial election Elenore Sturko was named leader of CentreBC and forced to hit the ground running. While she has no illusions that her party will form government or that she will become the next premier, Sturko thinks her party and its slate of 35 candidates have something to offer to British Columbians who feel politically homeless. “I’m hearing that people are ready for change. They want to see something different. They’re frustrated,” Sturko told CTV News. “We hear from people who said they would spoil a ballot or simply stay home because, without CentreBC, they didn’t feel they had that centre option, that they’re tired of the NDP, that they do not trust or want to vote Conservative.” The party formed after the last provincial election, launched by former B.C. United MLAs who did not run under the B.C. Conservative banner—but failed to win re-election as Independents. Sturko was elected in her Surrey riding in 2024 as a Conservative—but she was ejected from caucus and sat as an Independent until just before the election was called. In the last days of the tumultuous tenure of former leader Kerry Lynne Findlay, seven MLAs who had defected or been ejected from the Conservative caucus decided to unite under the CentreBC banner—and they asked Sturko to join them. “I was very enthusiastic to say yes,” she said. But when Findlay resigned and the election was called, everyone but Sturko returned to the Conservative party. Sturko knows it will be a tough race to be re-elected in the Surrey South riding, where she is running against B.C. Conservative candidate and White Rock mayor Megan Knight, who Sturko acknowledges could win the right-of-centre vote. “It might not be that it’s because it’s Megan Knight. It could be because people are trying to get rid of the NDP, which I think is a strong possibility,” Sturko said. Still, Sturko thinks there is a case to be made for sending her and candidates from her party to the legislature instead of choosing between the NDP and the Conservatives. “Who is it that you want to have holding the next government accountable regardless of who forms that government?” she asked. “I think there is a strong argument to be made for CentreBC.” Sturko will also be vying for re-election against NDP candidate Parik Tahlan and the Green Party’s Bill McConnell.
