Surrey MLA Elenore Sturko defects, joins BC Conservatives

The official opposition’s run-up to the next election took another hit Monday, as Surrey South MLA Elenore Sturko confirmed she is defecting and joining the BC Conservatives.

Sturko, elected in 2022 under BC United, is the latest gain for the Conservatives, after United Caucus Chair Lorne Doerkson, who represents Cariboo-Chilcotin, defected on Friday.

In a statement shared by the Conservatives, the former RCMP officer explained she is defecting to “rebuild the coalition that’s needed to defeat the NDP.”

The floor-crossing comes after talks between the two right-of-centre parties broke down amid failure to settle on a deal to avoid vote splitting in the fall provincial election.

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“It’s easy to dismiss the polls, but it’s impossible to dismiss what I hear on the doorstep when I’m talking to voters,” she said. “Like the voters in my riding, I don’t believe the NDP deserves to win the next election, but when we split the vote we are handing them an election win, and four more years of a David Eby government that has not delivered,” she continued.

“Our province and its people are worse off that than they were seven years ago when the NDP came to power. By every single measure the NDP has failed British Columbians, and splitting the vote will only reward them with an election victory they don’t deserve.”

Sturko will now run in the 2024 election in the Surrey-Cloverdale riding under the Conservative banner.

Sturko reacts to past criticisms levelled by Tory MLAs

During a media availability Monday morning, Sturko was heavily questioned on her decision to defect considering her history of publicly calling out the Conservatives and its members regarding their stances on 2SLGBTQI+ issues.

Sturko was directly targeted by Conservative Party of BC MLA Candidate Paul Ratchford on X when he called her a “woke, lesbian, social justice warrior.”

“You know BC United and NDP were very unconcerned with those tweets at that time. They simply bring them up now as a way to try and create division. I’m not interested in fighting the right, I’m interested in defeating the NDP and making life better for British Columbians,” she said Monday.

“I’m not going to back down from my support of the LGBT community, I’ll continue to do that. There are other diverse candidates on John’s team, other members of the LGBT community. You know, we want to work together with people from all backgrounds to make sure that we defeat the NDP.”

Sturko explained that she had previously spoken with Ratchford, “and he apologized for that tweet and we had a great conversation and I accepted his apology.”

She claimed that “we need to stop obsessing about the Twitterverse when the NDP has literally got people on waiting lists dying, waiting for cancer care, seniors who have to decide whether they’re going to pay their rent, medication or food because the cost of living in B.C. is out of control.”

Questions around SOGI 123

Sturko also confirmed that she is joining Conservative Leader John Rustad in his questioning of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI 123) programming in B.C. schools.

Rustad came under fire in October last year after taking aim at the resource, asking if the education minister would “look at the divisions that this is creating.”

“Parents are concerned about the sexualization of their children in this NDP government’s education system. Will the minister admit that SOGI 123 has been divisive, an assault on parents’ rights, and a distraction on student education?” he asked.

At that time, Minister Rachna Singh responded to Rustad’s comments, after he made more claims about “the divisions that SOGI 123 is creating.”

“I’m so saddened that the member opposite is talking about this. Here we are trying to create inclusive safe spaces for our children, where every child belongs, and the member is the one who’s trying to create these divisions,” she said in October.

Sturko said Monday that “we definitely need to look at SOGI.”

“If you guys were watching the estimates this year, they would know that I asked a lot of questions about SOGI, including about materials that had been the subject of complaints from parents that they’d written into my office when I was the critic for education,” she said.

“Let’s face it, there are legally enshrined rights. And, you know, me and John are aligned that we will be respecting legally enshrined rights. But when you have a program where either it’s misinformation, real or perceived, or even the acknowledged issues with some of the materials, how do we build back the trust of parents? How do we move forward in a way that finally puts the division to bed.”

Recent polling suggested BC United is at 12 per cent of the popular vote less than five months before the election. Data from Angus Reid released Thursday suggested that if an election were held then, BC United would come in third place with 16 per cent of the votes. The poll puts the BC Conservatives in second with 30 per cent support and the BC NDP in the lead at 41 per cent.

–With files from The Canadian Press and Hana Mae Nassar