As the April 18th deadline to become a voting member for the B.C. Conservative Party leadership race is less than a week away, candidate Caroline Elliott continues to face backlash over her decision to withdraw from the first leadership debate.

On April 9th, Rebel News was at Site B for Elliot’s Port Moody campaign stop to capture her passionate speech to over 40 attendees and give her an opportunity to address the controversy directly.

BC CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP RACE:

Currently at Caroline Elliot’s Port Moody meet and greet located at Site B.

Traffic delays as we await the candidate.
More to come at https://t.co/oaE81gZw1P pic.twitter.com/mmnSKwTB5U

— Drea Humphrey (@DreaHumphrey) April 10, 2026

After traffic delays, Elliott took the stage for approximately 20 minutes, making her case to supporters and those still on the fence, giving her pitch for why she is the best candidate to take down the NDP.

“We’ve got to get our economy firing on all cylinders again,” she said. “70,000 British Columbians last year left this province for other jurisdictions,” Elliot continued. She stressed that British Columbia needs to focus on harnessing opportunities — including our abundance of natural resources — to help make the province a place that attracts "the best and brightest," not a place they're "fleeing from."

The B.C. Conservative also spoke about other issues such as repealing DRIPA, removing SOGI from schools and improving the high cost of living. The event came just one day after the Juno News hosted the debate that she chose not to attend.

Elliott had originally agreed to participate. Her absence drew criticism after her campaign teammates allegedly bought out a large portion of the debate tickets and then withdrew after the venue location was changed to accommodate more attendees.

“In this case we made the choice based on the fact that we were led to believe that all candidates were participating in that debate,” Elliott said when questioned, adding that her campaign is focused on signing up members and raising money.

Juno News founder Keean Bexte pushed back on that explanation in X.

“Peter Milobar is the only candidate with a genuine, long-standing scheduling conflict. His team has been working through this process in good faith to try and make it work, and may still be able to,” he wrote.

“When that became clear, we expanded the venue to ensure that no single campaign could dominate the room and that all candidates would be heard in front of a fair and representative audience. At that point, your campaign withdrew,” Bexte continued.

“You then asked for the debate to be moved to a later date. We considered that request carefully. Consulted other campaigns. This isn't the Caroline Elliott Show. But we could not move it for you. The reason we couldn't is simple, and was communicated to your team,” he added.

The controversy has since escalated with Juno News reporting that Conservative Party of B.C. member Steven Evans has filed a formal complaint with Elections B.C. and the party’s leadership election officials. Evans alleges that Elliott’s campaign breached rules on out of province funding after her supporters bought out 90 tickets to the debate.

At the same time, members of Elliott’s own campaign team have begun to walk away. “Skipping debates, disrespecting volunteers, and now cutting backroom deals with influencers? That’s not leadership,” wrote former riding captain Tyler Zeeman in a post announcing his resignation.

I resigned as a riding captain from Caroline Elliott’s campaign last week alongside @AnthonyRussoBC & @NateWeber13.

Skipping debates, disrespecting volunteers, and now cutting backroom deals with influencers?

That’s not leadership.#politics #bcpoli #vanpoli pic.twitter.com/3KJLrHTivy

— Tyler Zeeman (@TylerxZeeman) April 13, 2026

At the Port Moody event, I also asked Elliott what steps she would take to protect private property rights beyond her pledge to repeal DRIPA, her response to concerns about her past role as vice president for the B.C. Liberals/BC United Party, and why those who have signed up to become CPBC members by the April 18 deadline should choose her as leader.

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