Surrey’s Elenore Sturko is the sole incumbent MLA for CentreBC ahead of election
Published 2:17 pm Tuesday, September 22, 2026
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…
|
Elenore 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 rejoined 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.”
The new comes as B.C. NDP Leader David Eby announced Tuesday a 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, which 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.”
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, winning the Surrey-Cloverdale riding under that party’s banner.
Today In BC has reached out to Doerkson, Milobar, Wignall and CentreBC for further comment.
More to come.