Former B.C. Conservative leadership candidate calls Poilievre’s jibe ‘disappointing’

Caroline Elliott, was a contender for the leadership of the B.C. Conservative Party. Photo by Stuart McNish/Postmedia

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OTTAWA — A former British Columbia Conservative leadership candidate is objecting to Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s description of her recent campaign as one run by “Liberal lobbyists from out east.”

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Poilievre made the remark about Caroline Elliott’s campaign while introducing special guests who were attending his speech at a Conservative Party event at the Calgary Stampede last week. Though he didn’t mention “lobbyists” by name, many in the audience interpreted it as a reference to Kory Teneycke, an Ontario-based campaign organizer who had vocally criticized Poilievre’s federal election strategy last year.

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The comment was made during an introduction of B.C. Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, a former MP for the federal party who won the provincial leadership race against four other candidates, narrowly beating out Elliott.

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In his mention of Findlay, whom Poilievre called “the future premier of British Columbia,” he added how the former MP for the riding of South Surrey—White Rock was “fresh off a big win against Liberal lobbyists from out east.”

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Elliott responded on Thursday, saying she has been a longtime supporter of Poilievre’s, including in his January leadership review, calling his remarks “disappointing.”

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Elliott added that her campaign was comprised of many of Poilievre’s own former staffers, and that it broke fundraising records and signed up thousands of new members, saying she led on “things you’re starting to notice,” such as property rights.

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Among those former Poilievre staffers on her campaign were Ben Woodfinden, the Conservative leader’s past communications director, and Anthony Koch, his press secretary during his 2022 leadership race.

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“Despite a very close loss in that race, I’m doing everything I can to continue to fight our disastrous NDP government here in B.C., because I know that politics is about addition, not subtraction, putting the public interest ahead of personal disputes, welcoming people in, not shutting them out,” Elliott said.

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A request for comment to Poilievre’s office was not immediately returned.

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Teneycke, a longtime conservative, has run three of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s successful election campaigns. A communications director for former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper and now CEO of Rubicon Strategy, Teneycke emerged as a divisive figure during the last federal election for his criticisms of the Poilievre campaign.

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Speaking on the “Curse of Politics” podcast during that race, Teneycke blasted the Conservatives for losing a double-digit polling lead in early 2025 to end up trailing the Liberals in the election, calling it “campaign malpractice at the highest level.”

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Saskatchewan-born Kory Teneycke, who lead Doug Ford’s Ontario re-election campaign for a third time this year, was former prime minister Stephen Harper’s communications director. Photo by Jill Thompson /Handout

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Poilievre was at the time wrestling with internal calls to more forcefully confront U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and his comments coveting Canada as the “51st state,” events that sparked an emotional backlash among Canadians, which Prime Minister Mark Carney centred on in his campaign.

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The Conservative leader has rejected that his campaign ought to have pivoted to focus more on the Canada-U.S. relationship and away from affordability, the main message Poilievre continues to focus on.

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The months after last year’s election loss also saw Poilievre and those around him, including Steve Outhouse, the party’s next campaign manager, and Poilievre’s chief of staff, attempt to make inroads with provincial conservative parties led by premiers Ford and Nova Scotia’s Tim Houston, after behind-the-scenes tensions with the federal party broke out into the open during the campaign.