Remaining candidates, minus two, set to face off in Conservative Party of BC debate

NEW WESTMINSTER — Two high-profile front-runners are expected to miss the Conservative Party of BC’s first leadership debate Wednesday evening, with conflicting explanations for their absences.The 90-minute forum, scheduled for the Anvil Centre in New Westminster, will stream live starting at 6:30 p.m. Organizers moved the event to the larger venue after they said the Caroline Elliott campaign purchased most tickets for the original smaller location. It remains the only all-candidates debate scheduled before the April 18 membership-sales cutoff, ahead of the May 30 leadership vote.Absent will be Elliott, a political commentator, former BC United vice-president, and major fundraiser who has emerged as a leading contender, and Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar, the only sitting legislator in the race.Elliott initially committed to the debate but withdrew following the venue change. She described the event as unsanctioned by the party, said its timing conflicted with membership drives, and raised concerns that it included candidates unlikely to reach the final ballot. She also alleged that an unnamed Juno News representative mischaracterized the expected attendance of other candidates, influencing her decision to pull out..Milobar, speaking in an exclusive interview with the Western Standard on Friday, explicitly denied Elliott’s allegation. He said his campaign had flagged a pre-existing scheduling conflict from the outset and maintained ongoing contact with debate organizers.“My campaign had been in contact with the debate team all the way through repeatedly, and we said from the start that we had scheduling conflicts right away,” Milobar explained. “We would see what we could do.”As the only sitting MLA in the contest, Milobar noted that securing dates to campaign across the province is particularly challenging. He has committed instead to a rod-and-gun club event in the Mid-Island that evening, which is also being live-streamed and anticipates strong attendance.“I’ve never shied away from debates,” Milobar said. “It’s not about anything to do with that whatsoever. It’s literally just a function of the timeline.”.Multiple attempts by the Western Standard to reach Elliott’s campaign via official email and phone have gone unanswered — an issue reportedly shared by several other media outlets, according to posts on X.Bexte further explained the sequence of events in another X post over the weekend.."You initially agreed to the date, the format, and the venue," Bexte wrote on X. "After that, your campaign moved quickly to purchase large blocks of tickets at the moment they became available, limiting access for others who wanted to attend. (Was this a campaign expense, or dark money?) 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.Taking the stage will be former BC Liberal cabinet minister Iain Black, Capilano University chancellor Yuri Fulmer, former federal Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, and Rossland contractor Warren Hamm.The event will be moderated by author Lindsay Shepherd and federal Conservative MP Aaron Gunn.

Remaining candidates, minus two, set to face off in Conservative Party of BC debate

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