Surrey’s Elenore Sturko named leader of CentreBC as MLAs leave
Published 4:08 pm Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Elenore Sturko has been named leader of CentreBC, the party announced Tuesday afternoon.
“I am proud to be a part of CentreBC and to continue to offer a choice for British Columbians,” Sturko, the incumbent MLA in Surrey-Cloverdale, said in a statement released by the party. “Like many people I have found a political home with CentreBC, and I am ready to fight for the people of this Province.”
CentreBC’s president, Mike Wignall, embraced Sturko as the right choice.
“We are very pleased to have Elenore Sturko onboard as our leader,” Wignall said. “She has an amazing record of community service and shares the values that define CentreBC.”
Sturko is now the only incumbent MLA still with CentreBC heading into the provincial elections, less than a week after eight sitting MLAs announced they would be joining the centrist party.
Sturko told Today In BC Tuesday (Sept. 22) that the seven others, including the party’s incoming leader Peter Milobar, had re-joined B.C. Conservatives under interim Leader Lorne Doerkson.
CentreBC’s president Mike Wignall slammed that decision in a statement.
“We are disappointed that Peter Milobar and others did not stand by commitments made to this party, its Executive Council, and its members,” Wignall said.
“We all want to remove the NDP government which has caused such harm to our province, but at the end of the day, you also have to stand for something. CentreBC remains committed to our foundational values and will not be selling out to divisive politics.”
Asked about the decision for Sturko to not return to the B.C. Conservatives, Milobar said he would leave it to Sturko to speak to her decision.
“But certainly, all eight of us knew that the door was open for us today,” Milobar said.
READ MORE: B.C. Conservative Leader Doerkson responds to election call
The new comes as B.C. NDP Leader David Eby announced Tuesday a snap provincial election for Oct. 24.
A statement afterward from the B.C. Conservatives said that Doerkson and Milobar “have come together to give British Columbians a viable governing alternative to the NDP chaos.”
The last Centre B.C. caucus meeting was Tuesday morning that presented the choice for the MLAs to go back to the B.C. Conservatives, Sturko said.
Sturko said she asked if they could take a few minutes to speak to loved ones about the decision, as well as her staff.
Ultimately, she said she couldn’t go back to the B.C. Conservatives. Sturko was removed from caucus in September 2025 by former party leader John Rustad.
“Do they have probably a little bit more steam power in their elections campaign? The answer is yeah,” she said.
“But, you know, I heard these overtures in 2024, again, about how they were going to move to the middle and do this big camp, and it was actually awful.”
She said that even under previous interim leader Trevor Halford – “the moderate, stable leader” – the Conservatives ended up voting in support of a bill that would see the Human Rights Code destroyed.
“I can’t go back to that, I’m sorry.”
Sturko said it’s been such an honour being an MLA, and she said she would rather stand as the only CentreBC incumbent that compromise her values, adding that’s what she feels like she would be doing if she went back.
“This might not be exactly how people thought it would go, or maybe there’s people that might not understand my decision not to go to the Conservatives, but I remain incredibly, incredibly grateful.”
Sturko was first elected in 2022 under B.C. United in a byelection for Surrey South. She switched to the B.C. Conservatives ahead of the 2024 provincial election.
As for the snap election call, Sturko said it’s “quite insulting” that Eby and his government that’s run up $13.8 billion in a deficit has “suddenly found money to have a snap election.”
She said CentreBC still plans to run candidates for people to make that choice on Oct. 24.
“There’s people that, even despite the seven going back, will not feel comfortable voting for a party that over the last two years since 2024 has been an abject disaster.”