Elenore Sturko has resigned as leader of BC Centre less than two months after taking over the party. Following the British Columbia provincial election of October 24, the party won no seats. Ms. Sturko says she is withdrawing from partisan politics and that her next chapter will unfold outside that sphere.
In the riding of Surrey South, Ms. Sturko was defeated by Conservative candidate Megan Knight. She received less than 10% of the vote in that riding, a result that illustrates the scale of the party's defeat. Province-wide, BC Centre garnered about 1.6% of the vote. No successor has yet been named to lead the party, which has not specified who will serve as interim leader.
A former RCMP officer, Ms. Sturko was first elected in a 2022 by-election under the Liberal banner. That party was later renamed B.C. United. In 2024, she switched sides to join the British Columbia Conservative Party, and she won the Surrey-Cloverdale seat in that year's election. This path, marked by several changes of allegiance, made her one of the most visible figures in the realignment of the provincial right.
Her time in the Conservative caucus ended in September 2025, when former leader John Rustad expelled her. Ms. Sturko says she was taken by surprise by that decision. Mr. Rustad, for his part, had doubted that she supported his leadership. After her expulsion, she sat as an independent before joining BC Centre in September.
BC Centre was formed by former Conservative MLAs dissatisfied with the leadership of Kerry-Lynne Findlay. Peter Milobar was first named its leader, succeeding Mike Bernier. After Ms. Findlay's resignation, Mr. Milobar and other MLAs returned to the Conservative Party. It was Premier David Eby's decision to call an early election that triggered these defections, and the new party found itself without any parliamentary foothold after the vote.
The party thanked Ms. Sturko in a social media post, praising her commitment during her brief tenure as leader. Her departure leaves BC Centre without an elected member and without a leader, after a campaign that showed how difficult it was for the new party to gain a foothold against the Conservative Party and the province's other parties. Ms. Sturko did not say what plans awaited her outside political life.