VANCOUVER — The woman who came within a whisker of the B.C. Conservative Party leadership will be running for the party in the Oct. 24 provincial election in the riding in West Vancouver-Capilano. Caroline Elliott lost to Kerry-Lynne Findlay in May in the final run-off to the leadership race, with official results showing her just two per cent behind the winner. Findlay quit the party last week amid a series of departures and expulsions of sitting members and said she wouldn’t be running for the provincial Conservatives after NDP Leader David Eby set off the early election call. Elliott announced she’s running in a riding that was won by Conservative Lynne Block in the 2024 election, while Block will be running in North Vancouver-Seymour, whose incumbent is New Democrat Susie Chant. Elliott becomes the second of the five final Conservative leadership contestants to announce they’ll run in the snap election, joining former legislator Peter Milobar, who will be running again in Kamloops-Centre. Former leadership candidates Harman Bhangu, Bruce Banman, Sheldon Clare and Steve Kooner are also running again for their seats, while leadership finalist Iain Black was seen with interim leader Lorne Doerkson during his introduction but has had no announcement yet. B.C. Conservatives, meanwhile, nominated Ayla Dumais to run in West Vancouver-Sea To Sky, where she will go up against incumbent B.C. Green MLA Jeremy Valeriote. He won that riding two years ago ahead of Conservative candidate Yuri Fulmer, who also ran for the party’s leadership. Fulmer later rallied to the defence of Findlay, saying in late August that he was proud to stand with her. The entrepreneur did not immediately respond to questions about his plans. Warren Hamm, who was the first Conservative leadership candidate to declare his intentions in late 2025, is running for OneBC in Penticton-Summerland. Hamm is among four official candidates running for the right-wing party under the leadership of former Conservative MLA Dallas Brodie. Other OneBC candidates include Findlay’s husband Brent Chapman, who will be running in Surrey South, which he won for the Conservatives in 2024. Chapman will face Elenore Sturko, the leader of CentreBC and current White Rock Mayor Megan Knight, who will be running for the Conservatives. “I’m embarrassed by the fact that he has been my MLA, and I plan to remedy that,” Sturko said in a statement. In 2024, Chapman was among 13 Conservative MLAs, who called on then former leader John Rustad to discipline Sturko for comments she had made about a former Vancouver Police Board member. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2026.
