BC Liberal Elenore Sturko wins Surrey South byelection

Liberal dominance in the Surrey South riding continues as Elenore Sturko has won Saturday’s byelection.

Sturko defeated challenges from Pauline Greaves for the BC NDP, Conservative Harman Bhangu, and Simran Sarai of the BC Green Party.

“It’s too hard to explain the gratitude I feel honestly,” Sturko told CityNews.

“Being elected is the goal of everyone. But even just seeing the conversations we were able to have with people who both supported me and those who didn’t, it was a really great experience,” Sturko said.

Before the byelection, Sturko said the NDP was to blame for problems emerging in the city.

“From the rising cost of living to increased violent crime on our streets to their repeated failure to deliver on much-needed mental health services, life is worse off in Surrey under the NDP. The trail of broken promises in my community continues to grow each month under this NDP government and it is time for real change,” said Sturko in a statement last month.

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Among the key issues of the byelection was the proposed hospital in Cloverdale, which became a flashpoint last month when the BC NDP warned a vote for the BC Liberals would put the facility in jeopardy.

“We really want to see it built,” Sturko said to CityNews in an interview.

“The reality is that over the last four years the NDP has made promise after promise and announcement after announcement. My goal is to make sure they keep their promise, get their shovels in the ground next year, and finally get the second hospital for surgery underway.”

Sturko said the Liberals want to see the size of the hospital ‘dramatically’ increase.

Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon has also expressed that the proposed facility was not enough, noting the New Democrats had “promised Surrey voters a full-service hospital,” but that all they would get was “a glorified urgent care centre with just 168 beds, no ICU, and no maternity ward.”

Sturko believes the biggest issue facing Surrey South and the province right now is health care.

“People are struggling to find primary health care, their family doctors are retiring or leaving, and we have a significant shortage.”

“We have ERs closing, we have urgent care centers closing and so people on the doorsteps really did talk to me about their struggles with health care, their concerns, and their desire to make sure that we can really work together to make sure that we can solve this issue, it’s part of our identity is having a universal public health care system.”

Premier John Horgan announced the byelection for the Surrey South riding last month.

The seat became vacant after Liberal Stephanie Cadieux resigned in April to become Canada’s first chief accessibility officer.

With files from Robyn Crawford, Hana Mae Nassar, David Nadalini, and Charlie Carey