The Conversation Lab

 Elenore Sturko has taken an unusual road to the 2026 British Columbia election.Before politics, she worked in broadcasting, served in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve and spent more than a decade with the RCMP.

She entered provincial politics in 2022 and, after a remarkable few years that took her through BC United, the BC Conservatives, a period as an Independent, and eventually CentreBC, she now finds herself leading the party into the October 24th provincial election.

I joined her at home for a wide-ranging and surprisingly personal conversation about how she got here, what she believes, and why she still wants to be in politics.We talk about the snap election and why B.C. is voting two years early; affordability and housing; health care; addiction and public safety; SOGI 123 and the role of schools; the economy; political polarization; and what CentreBC means when it describes itself as occupying the political centre.

Our conversation begins somewhere neither of us expected.

Bowen Island has a population of around 4,000 people and is a short ferry ride from Vancouver. But many of the questions confronting this small municipality will sound familiar far beyond its shores.

How much housing do we need, and where should it go? How do communities accommodate growth while protecting the environment that attracted people there in the first place? What happens when aging infrastructure and limited water supplies collide with demands for more housing? How much can taxpayers afford? What does meaningful reconciliation look like at the local level? And how do elected officials make difficult decisions when the community itself is divided?

For this episode of The Conversation Lab, we travel into the world of local government through a conversation with Andrew Leonard, Mayor of Bowen Island. Leonard was elected mayor four years ago and has now been returned by acclamation for another term.

We sat down during Bowen’s 2026 municipal election campaign to talk about what those four years have taught him — about governing, about Bowen, and about the limits of what a small municipality can realistically accomplish.It has been a consequential term. We talk about housing and affordability, ferry congestion, aging infrastructure, water, environmental protection and reconciliation, along with Bowen’s major rewrite of its Official Community Plan — the document that will help determine how and where the island develops in the years ahead.

Bowen Island may be small, but the questions aren't.They are questions being asked in communities throughout British Columbia: How do we grow? What do we protect? What can we afford? And who gets to decide what kind of community we become?That’s our conversation today on The Conversation Lab.

Note: This episode was originally recorded for the Bowen Island Podcast as part of its 2026 municipal election coverage.

I've known Kirk LaPointe for a long time—as a journalist, broadcaster, colleague and friend. But knowing someone's work isn't necessarily the same as knowing their story.

In this conversation, we go back to Kirk's early life, his remarkable career in Canadian journalism, what he's learned about leadership and public life, and eventually, why he's decided to run for mayor of West Vancouver.

It's less about the politics and more about the person behind the candidacy.

This is a work in progress

Understanding an Official Community Plan (OCP)

If you've ever wondered whether your children or grandchildren will be able to afford to live in your community, worried about housing, transportation, water, wildfire risk, climate change, traffic congestion, environmental protection, or simply what future generations will inherit, then you already have a stake in this conversation.

While this episode focuses on Bowen Island where I live, the questions being discussed are the same ones facing communities across British Columbia and Canada. How do we grow? What should we protect? What infrastructure will we need? And how do we balance housing, environment, economy, and quality of life?

In this episode, we talk with Mayor Andrew Leonard, Daniel Martin (Manager of Planning and Development), and James Crandles (OCP Steering Committee Co-Chair) to unpack Bowen Island's proposed Official Community Plan and the current phase of public engagement.

Together they explore:
• What an Official Community Plan (OCP) is — and what it isn't
• Why Bowen's OCP is being updated now
• The guiding frameworks shaping the draft
• Housing diversity and infrastructure planning
• Biodiversity, stewardship, and climate resilience
• Transportation, community vitality, and circular economy principles
• Land use maps, conservation areas, and development permit areas
• How residents can participate meaningfully during this phase of engagement

Whether you live on Bowen Island or in a growing community elsewhere, this conversation is about understanding the choices, trade-offs, and opportunities that shape the places we call home.You can learn more at bowenislandmunicipality.ca.

AI systems carry embedded worldviews. This isn’t a metaphor—it’s architecture. They inherit Western epistemologies, English-language biases, individualistic assumptions, capitalist logics, hetero-normative defaults, racialized categories, settler-colonial knowledge priorities, Silicon Valley’s belief in optimization and speed, and a particular moral grammar about what counts as “rational,” “true,” or “good.”

This is a converstion with Farhan Samir that began in November as we graduated from UBC. Talking with him I felt something familiar—something that sits at the centre of my own work on conversation, polarization, and the power of language. Our conversaion reminds me how much complexity lies beneath even the simplest act of interpretation, and how rarely we pay attention to it.

Dr Jonathan Eaton is the lead author of a new study that takes a deep dive into how Vancouver residents think about disaster preparedness. He talks about how disaster preparedness is about more than seismic retrofits, sandbags, or evacuation routes - It's about people, about how we understand risk and what we value, and how our sense of place, memory, and community shape the choices we make before the ground starts shaking.

Two years ago, I underwent open-heart surgery at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. What stayed with me, beyond the procedure itself, was the extraordinary level of care I received—from the cardiac team, nurses, and support staff. It felt deeply human, attentive, and intentional.
When I later circled back to thank them, many of those I spoke with credited their approach to the teachings of Jean Watson. I was curious who was this person shaping how care is felt in a clinical setting?
Jean Watson is a nurse, scholar, and founder of the Watson Caring Science Institute. Her work has transformed how we think about healing—not just as a physical process, but as something deeply relational and grounded in compassion. So, I reached out to her. I wanted to understand more about what it means to truly care, and what lessons her work might offer not just to those in healthcare, but to all of us—especially in these divided and uncertain times.

In this episode of Sticks & Stones, Roots & Bones, we sit down with Liz Stewart, a Defend Our Homes organizer with Neighbours United in British Columbia. Liz shares how deep canvassing, a powerful tool rooted in empathy and storytelling, is helping bridge divides in forestry towns where proposed biodiversity legislation is sparking debate.

With curiosity and care, Liz opens up about what it means to meet people where they’re, the emotional weight of conversations across difference, and the quiet power of asking why. From growing up in resource-rich Manitoba to confronting her own assumptions, Liz’s journey reveals how vulnerability and respect can shift hearts and minds, one door and one conversation at a time. This isn’t just a conversation about forests. It’s a conversation about how we talk to each other and what’s possible when we truly listen.

Andy Hoffman is a distinguished professor at the University of Michigan, holding joint appointments at the Ross School of Business and the School for Environment and Sustainability. His work bridges two often disparate worlds—business and environmental stewardship—challenging the status quo by advocating for a new kind of capitalism, one rooted in moral purpose and long-term societal impact. 

His latest book, Business School and the Noble Purpose of the Market, offers a provocative vision for how business education must evolve in response to the existential challenges of our time. In this conversation, we explore not only the key themes of his new book but also his thoughts on capitalism, corporate responsibility, the intersection of business and policy, and how future business leaders can navigate a world increasingly shaped by social and environmental crises. 

I hope you can join us.