Reactions to Surrey South MLA Elenore Sturko’s decision to leave the BC United Party and join the Conservatives Party of BC were decidedly mixed across the board.
Many were surprised by her Monday move, pointing to her social media post nine months ago, where she told BC Conservative Leader John Rustad that he needed to “make an unequivocal apology” for calling homosexuality a “lifestyle” and having “doubled down in his ignorance.”
In Victoria, Sturko stood beside Rustad Monday (June 3) as the leader of her new party, after she defected from the BC United, delivering another blow to the official Opposition just months before a provincial election.
Her move comes after Lorne Doerkson, the former BC United caucus chair, also jumped from BC United on Friday. BC United lost another election candidate – Brandon Fonseca, who was to run for Coquitlam-Maillardville – on Tuesday, with Fonseca calling on BC United candidates to “do the right thing and unite behind John Rustad’s movement” in a post on X.
Sturko now brings the number of Conservative members in the legislature to four.
BC United reacts
“It’s definitely disappointing, but not a surprise,” said Surrey-White Rock MLA Trevor Halford, a BC United MLA whose riding neighbours Sturko’s.
READ MORE: Surrey South MLA leaves BC United to join Conservative Party of BC
“This is a decision that, at the end of the day, she’s going to have to justify for her new constituents and to the people that worked hard to get her where she was in the byelection, including myself and people like Dianne Watts and others. Loyalty is a big deal in this business, and that’s something she’s going to be (held) accountable for,” he said.
The BC Conservatives have not been courting him, he noted.
“That’s a hard no. I signed up with the team. I’m loyal to that team,” Halford said.
“I’ve always been a big believer in ‘You dance with the person you brought,’ and that’s not changing for me.”
The move by Sturko — a former RCMP officer who is gay and has been a vocal defender of LBTGQ2+ rights and gender identity education in schools — surprised many, including BC United Leader Kevin Falcon.
He said on Monday he felt a personal sense of betrayal, given that he “really went out on a limb” to appoint Sturko as his party’s candidate in the 2022 byelection in Surrey South.
Falcon said he raised money for her and went door knocking on Sturko’s behalf.
“She has used very colourful language in our caucus and with myself about her views on the BC Conservatives, and it is not flattering,” he said. “How she can go from that, a position she held as recently as within the last two weeks, to suddenly joining them? I think that’s a real challenge that she’ll have to explain … and defend that to her constituents.”
‘Death spiral’ for BC United
Stewart Prest, who teaches political science at the University of British Columbia, said the defection of Doerkson, then Sturko shows BC United MLAs voting with their feet.
“We are seeing what looks like a death spiral for the BC United Party,” he said. “We are having an informal … merger by attrition.”
He called Sturko’s defection to the Conservatives a “significant coup” for the party because Falcon had hand-picked Sturko to run in the Surrey South byelection. Sturko was to be “emblematic” of the party that Falcon was trying to create — strong on issues like public safety, but also inclusive that would welcome members of the LGBTQ2+ community, he added.
Sturko’s defection now gives the party additional visibility and the inside track to be the main anti-NDP vehicle, Prest said.
“Wherever you look, the writing is on the wall… the B.C. Conservatives offer the most recognizable choice to go into the fall election,” he said.
But a lot still needs to be learnt about the provincial Conservatives, Prest added. Sturko herself will also face questions about her decision. While Sturko’s move “suddenly opens” the door for the provincial Conservatives to seem “more like a big tent party,” it also raises choices about what kind of choices she is making.
“She is blowing in the same direction as the wind,” he said, noting that she explicitly referred to the polls.
While she might not consider the differences between BC United and BC Conservatives on cultural issues to “be top of mind,” Prest predicts that questions about those differences will continue.
“What will happen when we see these issues come up for debate and some of her now-fellow party members are much less willing to speak about the importance of an inclusive society?”
LGBTQ2+ community responds
Surrey Pride Society president Martin Rooney said he found it hard to understand Sturko’s decision.
“It’s very disappointing,” he said Monday. “When you lose somebody in your community to run on a social conservative platform with all of the equality fights that are still ongoing, I fail to understand.”
Sturko said Monday she had changed her mind about Rustad’s stance on sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum in schools, that once saw her give Premier David Eby a standing ovation in the legislature when he told Rustad he should be ashamed of himself for focusing on it.
Sturko said she now believes the curriculum known as SOGI 123 has eroded parental trust in public education.
“What we’ve actually seen is that SOGI has become divisive,” Sturko said in an interview. “Whether it’s from perception, I think that the name, even calling it SOGI, I’m not sure that we would be able to win back the support of parents and families.
“Whether it’s those real concerns or whether it’s a perception, we need to finally end this divisiveness and make sure that we allow people to put this to bed and get kids back to feeling safe in their classrooms.”
Rooney said Sturko, a former RCMP officer who is gay and has been a vocal defender of LGBTQ2+ rights and gender identity education in schools, must have her reasons for the decision.
“SOGI is not on the curriculum. SOGI is a concept – a concept where all students are treated equally and all student are safe – there’s nothing in SOGI that makes people gay. You can’t make somebody gay,” Rooney said.
“As somebody who has been fighting for equality for 30 years and who believed Surrey was progressing, it’s very disappointing for a member of our community to represent a political party that does not believe in equity.”
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth called Sturko’s defection a “huge betrayal” of the LGBTQ2+ community, adding that his government will always protect the rights of that community.
“It’s unbelievable, frankly,” he said. “Knowing everything that the community has gone through, being a member of that community myself, I just find it, quite frankly, beyond belief that somebody would make that kind of leap to run for a party that quite frankly, that has shown itself to be intolerant, to show itself transphobic, to show itself homophobic.”
Sturko defends decision
Sturko said she has been in talks with Falcon since December about “the art of the possible” when it comes to working with the Conservative Party of BC.
“I’ve been hearing from constituents that ‘You have to do something to defeat the NDP,’ it’s a message I’ve consistently heard for months,” she said.
She was hopeful BC United and the Conservatives could work together, but when that was not successful, Sturko said that was the “last turning point” for her.
“At the end of the day I made a decision to move over to what I believe is the new coalition, and I joined the Conservatives of Bristish Columbia,” she said, noting B.C. has a history of coalitions, pointing to longest-serving premier WAC Bennett.
“(Bennett) did some amazing work for infrastructure and things we benefit from to this day… we know that working together – in coalitions we have things we may not agree on, but it’s getting together and focusing on the things that matter most to British Columbians where we do agree,” she said.
“For example, building a strong robust economy, fixing our collapsed health care system, making sure that we are building housing and lowering the cost of living here so that British Columbians do not feel like there’s no future for them in B.C.”
As for past social media feuds, Sturko said exchanging barbs and going after each other on social media is “sort of the politics of the day,” and that she feels “completely comfortable” working with Rustad and her new colleagues after several conversations with Rustad.
Sturko said she had not turned against the LGBTQ2+ community at all.
“That’s not the case. I will never change or hide who I am and I will continue to advocate for my community. In a coalition, there’s going to be a diverse range of view but certainly hate is not acceptable,” she said. “It’s not about focusing on where we have differences. John made it very clear that we do support the rights of all British Columbians and that we want to create a party that is inclusive.”
She noted that every single day, people come to her office about loved ones languishing in hospital hallways, or because they can’t get cancer treatment, or because they’re concerned about overcrowding in schools.
“I’m not just a lesbian,” Sturko said. “At the same time I’m a mother. I am a community member who relies on B.C.’s health-care system and I have children who will eventually be looking for housing in B.C.”
She said she will continue to represent the LGBTQ2+ community, “but as a mother with students in the school system.”
“Being a lesbian has very little to do with how I do my work.”
Part of her current Surrey South riding will actually be in the Surrey-Cloverdale riding she will be running in this fall, because of changes to electoral district boundaries, she noted.
– with files from Canadian Press
