Elenore Sturko was fully aware of Brent Chapman’s extreme views before she decided to run alongside him. Keith Baldrey recently reported on CKNW that Sturko described Chapman as “an extremist” and a “QAnon conspiracy theorist” shortly before she defected:

Keith Baldrey: A week before Sturko made her jump, her announcement that she's going to join the BC Conservatives, I ran into her in the legislature library here. And in my Facebook feed was suddenly a video from Brent Chapman and it was sort of about his candidacy. And I didn't know him, I didn't know he was married to Kerry-Lynne Findlay. He's an actor, he's an amateur actor, and there was a video of him in some commercial or something. I said to Sturko, I said “oh, so you're running against an actor?” And she says, “oh, this guy, he's a…” and she called him “an extremist,” said that he was a “QAnon conspiracy theorist.” She said “oh, he's crazy, you know.” And at that point, she was still a member of BC United. (CKNW, Oct 10)

Shortly after, Sturko joined the same party as Chapman and ceded Surrey South to him.

Since Chapman’s racist comments and conspiracy theories began emerging last week, Sturko has refused to condemn them.

Mike Starchuk, BC NDP candidate for Surrey-Cloverdale:

“Not only has Elenore Sturko remained completely silent about Brent Chapman’s racist comments and his suggestions that mass shootings aren’t real, but now we’ve learned that she was aware of his beliefs when she crossed the floor. She had even called him ‘an extremist’ and ‘conspiracy theorist.’ If she completely condones her colleague’s racist comments and conspiracy theories, how could people in Cloverdale trust her to stand up for them?”