Elenore Sturko hasn’t been in politics long — for about four years — but already she’s belonged to three provincial parties and sat as an Independent MLA.
A couple of weeks ago, she became the leader of CentreBC, a party that was only founded in 2025 and has already seen its share of ups and downs.
While Sturko said she’s previously been accused of pursuing leadership in the past, it’s not something she was considering before CentreBC’s previous leader — Peter Milobar, who held the position for less than a week — abandoned ship.
On Sept. 18, several former B.C. Conservative MLAs announced they had joined CentreBC, and former leader Mike Bernier stepped aside to let Milobar take the reins.
Then, on Sept. 22, Milobar and several others announced they were returning to the B.C. Conservative Party following former leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s resignation.
WATCH | Why Sturko didn’t return to the B.C. Conservatives:
Why this former B.C. Conservative MLA declined an invitation to return to the party
But Sturko stayed — and quickly rose to the top.
She spoke with CBC’s Courtney Dickson.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
There has been a lot of pushback on the snap election. What are your thoughts?
[B.C. NDP Leader David] Eby’s reasons for wanting to push for an election, I don’t buy into his argument. He passed 46 pieces of legislation in the legislature since 2024’s election, which is actually quite a large number.
This argument that he can’t possibly run a government because he needed to have more seats to be able to pass legislation is false.
I think that there is appetite for change out there.
Eby also pointed to Trump as a big reason for making that election call.
There’s a lot of impacts, obviously, from having a trade war with your largest trade partner. We are disproportionately affected here in British Columbia because of industries like the steel and aluminum industry, as well as forestry.
This has been a wake-up call for the entire country, I don’t think there’s anyone who would disagree that we should be diversifying our trade partners and making sure that we don’t have such a heavy reliance on any one partner, given now that we’re feeling the threat to our own sovereignty.
Public safety has come up as quite important to British Columbians in both their municipal elections coming up and in the provincial election. As a former police officer, what does your party believe needs to happen to make B.C. safer?
First and foremost, one of the things that a CentreBC government is going to do is increase the number of provincial RCMP officers that are working in specialized units, they’re working around the province in smaller municipalities. We would be increasing the number of RCMP officers by 500 officers over five years, so 100 officers a year, to help fill in those programs.
Under the NDP, they announced a lot of different units and new sections coming in. But if you don’t bring in more officers, those officers are actually just being taken from other units. We’re always robbing Peter to pay Paul.
We’re going to continue funding, as permanent funding, the extortion task force budget. We also will be increasing the number of prosecutors in the B.C. Prosecution Service.
We have a robust plan about mental health and addictions — including intensive housing, which is really, really intensive home care and and hospitalization, in some cases, for individuals who have severe mental health and substance use issues who are too ill to care for themselves, people with brain injuries, and so this could be a long-term care type situation.
What do you see as the biggest issue in this election?
It’s the economy. Economy and health are probably tied.
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We’re in a terrible situation, obviously, with the way that David Eby has mismanaged our finances, math mistakes that have put future resource revenues in jeopardy. We can’t have this when we’re in such a financially tenuous situation.
But our top priority is making sure that we are expanding revenues in this province, diversifying our economy. Helping the manufacturing industry, helping resource development [and] small businesses, so that we can get the money to pay for that health care.
SOGI 123 has become a contentious issue between political parties in recent years. Where does CentreBC stand?
We want to make sure that everyone in our school system, whether it’s a student, faculty, staff members, employees of the school district, that everyone is comfortable and free from discrimination.
The SOGI resource for teachers was brought in following changes to the Human Rights Code, to make sure that discrimination policies and resources in the school district were in line with both the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and with the Human Rights Code of British Columbia.
So, we’re not looking to repeal. There’s nothing to repeal. We’re not looking to eliminate this resource guide. Every parent or reasonable person would agree that we want to just make sure that whatever resources are available, they need to be approved. They need to be relevant to what children are learning in school, and of course, they should be age-appropriate.
There’s also been a lot of political discourse around the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), especially following the Cowichan Tribes decision. Where does CentreBC land when it comes to DRIPA and Indigenous rights?
Our party wants to move away from legislation that’s created uncertainty. We also think that decisions about how our laws are aligned with the declaration should be made by government and not the courts.
We want to work with First Nations. We obviously respect and want to work within Section 35 rights and recognize that Indigenous people in this province have unique rights that are constitutionally protected.
That being said, DRIPA … and then the Interpretation Act, which actually is what tells lawmakers they must interpret all of our laws of British Columbia in a way that doesn’t deviate from the United Nations Declaration, is something that has actually caused us legal problems here in the province.
Our party wants to continue to build relationships with First Nations and come to the table to advance treaties, and work to have the treaties go in a way that we can get them done faster because they take too long, it’s too much uncertainty for First Nations, too long waiting for that economic boost that comes with having a treaty.
Give us your elevator pitch for CentreBC in this election.
We’re a fiscally responsible, socially progressive party.
I was one of those who didn’t feel like they had a home anywhere, politically. I don’t trust the Conservatives. I’m not socially conservative. David Eby has absolutely run us into the ground in terms of financial management of this province. And frankly, many ministries right now are dumpster fires. We want to be that reasonable centre voice. We have very liberal values.
Sturko, seen here in February 2023, says CentreBC aims to provide an option for those feeling “politically homeless” in B.C. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
We want to develop our economy and diversify our economy, but … we want to do that also in an environmentally responsible way.
We believe that we are the home for British Columbians who have felt politically homeless and we hope that we have a voice to put those values forward in the B.C. legislature after this election.