Town Hall with Caroline Elliott and Stockwell Day

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:06]All right, welcome everybody. Thank you for joining us this evening. I'm going to get this kicked off in about a minute here. Just going to wait as some more uh attendees hop on. If it's one of your first times joining us on these virtual town halls, there's a little Q&A button at the bottom there. We want to get to as many of your questions as possible.

[00:00:25]Today we have some very special guests with us. I see on the call we have MLA Christina Lohen. Thank you so much for being on here. We also have, you know, Stockwell Day. Uh, super excited to have you here, man. And of course, Caroline, I think, um, Brian Ter MLA is going to be hopping on as well in the near future. And, and as people keep rolling in, again, there's a a Q&A button at the bottom. So, to kick things off, uh, Stockwell Day, sir, why don't you kick off maybe reiterate, you know, why you decided to come out and, uh, endorse Caroline Elliot.

[00:00:53]>> Well, great question. Thanks, Daniel, and thanks Caroline for doing this. Uh, by the way, I am hopping airports in the US right now. I'm I've got a couple of speaking engagements. So, if I suddenly go mute, it's not because I'm being uh, you know, carried off by ICE somewhere is because their background there's background noise. Um, you know, I'm I'm really getting a a lot of questions in a positive way. Uh, people are saying why Caroline, why are you supporting her?

[00:01:20]And first of all, I got to say I think all the candidates have something to offer. There's no question about that.

[00:01:26]And so people have to look at and what I'm telling people uh first of all um I use the word courage a lot. The fact that Carolyn was way out in front on issues like drip on issues like the land acknowledgement way before it was fashionable for other people to appear to be pushing back on that. Um, I like the fact that Carolyn's not afraid to be a trendsetter and uh, being a former minister of finance, I can tell you I am very sensitive when I hear any hesitation among candidates, I don't care what political stripe, when they're saying, "Yeah, we probably going to have to raise taxes to deal with debt." Um, I get I start to lose it and Carolyn sees the economic world a lot differently.

[00:02:08]Uh, very smart on that. and uh the fact that a lot of stuff that she's been talking about for years on the policy side is being picked up by others and they're starting to see uh this person has it figured out and uh this person isn't afraid to say it. So the strategy com and also combined with you know a strong uh a strong hold on these important issues that are going to make a difference for British Columbia. Those are the some things that really uh grab me. And Caroline, I have to say on the first debate, well, on all the debates, you've been great. But I won't mention any other names or any other candidates, but somebody took a real hard run at you and I thought, "Oh boy, this is going to be tough for her." I'll tell you what, you turned around and dealt with that.

[00:02:52]Like, I don't want to use the word smackdown, but I thought after you had finished dealing with that particular individual, I was thinking, "Wow, that's going to leave a mark." Uh, and it did leave a mark. you're not afraid to uh to stand up and push back when you know you're on the issue. I've also heard you when uh somebody's raised I've heard this in conversations at receptions when somebody has raised something that you hadn't thought about. Uh you're very good you you don't you're not like most politicians maybe like me trying to cover up that you don't know something.

[00:03:20]You're really good about saying you know what I'm going to look into that. Uh you know what I need more information on that. So those are some of the reasons that um I'm supporting you but I'm supporting Carolyn. Uh but also we've got to look at the next step. Hopefully Carolyn will win this. And then which of the candidates, we got to ask ourselves this question. Look at all the candidates. Listen to them carefully and ask yourself the question, which candidate is going to be able to bring in the most undecided to take this election over the top and finally rid yourselves of socialism in British Columbia.

[00:03:53]>> Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Miss.

[00:03:55]Thank you for that. Do you want to maybe come on now and and ask your your first question to Caroline and then I'll I'll go to start getting some questions from the crowd.

[00:04:02]>> Uh, sure. Caroline, I'm going to ask you uh the same question that I get asked a little more so years ago in provincial politics when um I was working and helping um of course Gordon as premier and uh Christy Clark in her first campaign. I came on as a conservative and I asked people I I said, "Look, I'm a conservative, but we've got to win this. Christy Clark's the best candidate." And uh so people would question whether I was a true conservative just because I was working with people who are or were known to be small L liberals. Are you getting that?

[00:04:41]And just because of past association, let's put it right out there. Um and yet you're getting conservative support.

[00:04:46]What do you say when people ask you that question?

[00:04:49]>> Yeah. Thank you. And thank you everyone for being on this town hall. I'm so happy you're all here and I'm very very honored to have Stockwell Day uh here to kick things off. Um I'm I've been an admirer for a long long time and um if there's anyone who knows what it is to bring people together uh and win, it's him. So and that's what we need to do.

[00:05:11]That is the task right now uh in BC.

[00:05:14]We've got to keep the party together and we've got to win. Um and as part of that, we need to grow our appeal. And so, yeah, you know, lots of people, you know, will ask about, you know, you weren't you a BC liberal? They'll ask me that. Well, yeah, I was, along with most other federal conservatives in this province. I've been a lifetime federal conservative supporting Steven Harper before he was even elected. He still remains one of my uh role models today in politics. He did the he did the, you know, the the hard thing, not the easy thing, and it was the right thing. He was willing to stick to his guns and do that even when it was hard. And I look at actually a really great good example of that is he was under pressure to adopt UNRIP into federal law and he said no that's not going to be good for Canada. He was under all kinds of pressure and he pushed back. He just said no it's not right. Uh sure enough subsequent governments including here in BC brought in UNRIP. They call it you know the the legislation is called DRIPA which you'll all be aware of. Uh and we're seeing the havoc that that's creating. So that's the kind of leadership we need to see I think in BC.

[00:06:13]Uh but um all that to say uh look like yeah I I am a federal conservative a former BC liberal here in BC that was the furthest right alternative. But I think like the main thing is like for me politics is it's a game of addition not subtraction. Like you succeed when you open doors not close them. And for me right now, like my message to British Columbombians really is like if you can get on board with what we stand for, what we're putting out there as our plans. Whether it's like, you know, um getting our economy firing on all cylinders again, get dealing with this massive size of government and the debt relieving for our kids, dealing with the activism in the education system, the ideology in the education system, dealing with um you know, this public safety crisis where the rights of violent criminals keep getting put ahead of the rights of regular people to go about in safety and security in their communities. You know, if you agree with all of that, come be part of this. I don't care who you voted for in the past. I don't care who you're going to vote for in the future. if you want to be part of this movement to make this change right now in BC, uh come join us.

[00:07:13]And the the the good thing I think uh that we have on our side is there's a huge alignment between um what we stand for as conservatives and everyday British Columbombian principles. And for me, that is our ticket to success is showing and demonstrating that alignment every single day. We don't have to compromise on those principles to form government. We just have to show British Columbombians how much they align with what they really think anyway. So, I think that's part of my mission um as a as a political leader in this race and and if I'm successful obviously going into the next general election as well.

[00:07:47]>> Thank you so much for that answer. We're going to start taking some questions uh from the audience here and then we'll bring Mr. Day back up. I think he has a couple other uh questions for you. First one here is how committed are you to helping fight the government regarding the gun laws?

[00:08:02]>> Oh yeah, thank you for that question.

[00:08:04]Um, this is one I feel really strongly about, uh, because, uh, my husband's a hunter. We are law-abiding firearms owners ourselves in this household, and it drives me absolutely crazy when I see, um, the government pretend like they're doing something about gun crime by going after legal firearms owners when they are some of the most law-abiding citizens you will ever meet.

[00:08:24]Um, there's scarce resources. Let's spend those scarce resources on going after criminals with illegal firearms because those are the people who are committing the crimes. Uh so yeah, so when it comes specifically to that gun buyback buyback program, I oppose it and I will join uh Danielle Smith in Alberta as well as Saskatchewan and even the NDP premier in Manitoba in saying I will not be dedicating provincial resources uh to pursue that policy or to enforce that policy.

[00:08:53]>> Awesome. Thank you. Next one here from Bill and I recognize your name, sir. I think you've been on one of our previous town halls. Uh he says, "Simple question. Verification completed.

[00:09:01]awaiting to vote undecided. No perfect option exists. All have baggage. It's down between Caroline or Yuri. Why are you the better choice? And then second question is election is in 2028. What would you do in those two years? Wish wish you well. It's a job interview.

[00:09:16]Answering questions matters. Bill, >> thank you, Bill. Those are such important questions and I want to try to deal with them um as you know and and get and leave time to get through the other ones because it's tempting to talk a lot about this. Um, thank you for being engaged as an undecided voter.

[00:09:30]Like, this is so important. It's part of the process. So, I'm glad you asked your question. I'm glad that I have the opportunity to answer it. Um, look, what it comes down to a few things. One, who can keep this party together? Who can grow our appeal and deliver a strong majority government that actually has the political will to drive through the kinds of changes we're going to need to do uh in BC following a decade of decline, an absolute mess that they've left us. Um, so bringing people together, I have I feel very fortunate.

[00:09:58]I have the endorsements of people like Stockwell Day, of course, he's on this call, but also Christina Lohan, uh, who's also here, and hopefully we'll hear from her in a few moments, uh, you know, Emila in Colona, uh, MLA Brian Ter, MLA Harmon Bangu, grassroots movement conservatives who were here as part of this party from the beginning.

[00:10:14]But then on the other hand uh people like Gordon Campbell, Daryl Jones, free enterprisers, like that is the breadth of the sort of spectrum that we have to cover in order to win. So I'm trying to demonstrate that I'm doing that right now as part of this leadership race so that people can have confidence that I'll continue to do that uh following uh this leadership race if I'm successful.

[00:10:32]So that's a big part of it. Reaching people where they're at with a tone that is accessible to them so that they can see themselves in our values as I was talking about a moment before. That's also what I bring. But ultimately it is it comes down I think to what uh Stockwell Dame was talking about that need for courage to drive through the tough change that we are going to have to do uh to recover from this mess from the NDP. It's going to take a lot of courage to pull the activism out of the education system. It's going to take a lot of courage to reign in the size of government. It's going to take a lot of courage to repeal DRPA in full and to properly protect private property rights. Uh so that's what we need is people that who have been unafraid to speak up and advocate on those issues in the past even when it was politically hard as I was doing uh back when no one else was speaking up or very few people were speaking up. Um including some of my competitors who were voting for DRIPA who were you know advocating for its adoption into the corporate sector who were you know covering their own websites in in the kind of land acknowledgements that led to the mentality of DRIPA. Um so that's the kind of courage we need to drive that change. I'd say that's what distinguishes me from the others. Um, and at the risk of going on too long, I do want to get to the other half of your question, which is around like what do you do for the next two years? Um, there is such a huge task ahead of us. Um, I had someone ask me today, they said, and I I'll just throw out this criticism for you all to hear it because I think it's important that I address it. Uh, they said, "Well, isn't it a disadvantage that you're not an elected MLA um compared to another uh person such as, let's say, Peter Millibar who is an elected MLA?" And I said, I actually counterintuitively see it as an advantage because the work that we need to do right now, we need to get all around this province. We need to be talking to British Columbombians in every single community, hearing their concerns, setting out a policy platform that actually addresses those concerns, building out our organization in 93 writings. Um, making sure we're recruiting like allstar candidates in writings where we don't have people. um you know raising the funds we need to fight to fill a war chest to to fight back against the NDP's war chest which is way bigger than ours right now.

[00:12:34]There's a lot of work to do outside of Victoria and I think being in an MLA at this moment it's really important work they do but it really constrains their ability to do that other work uh which as leader I think is crucially important. So that's what I'm going to be focused on. Obviously, I'll run at the first available opportunity to to get into the legislature down the road, but I don't I think the immediate work is all over British Columbia and not just right there in Victoria.

[00:12:58]>> Awesome. Thank you so much, Caroline.

[00:13:00]And I think before we get to the next uh the next question, Christina Lohan, MLA for for Colona Center is on the call.

[00:13:06]And so, Christina, if you just want to hop on for a moment, um you know, made you made the decision to publicly support Caroline in this race. and I'd love to hear from you maybe like what you saw in her leadership that made you want to endorse her.

[00:13:20]>> Yeah, thanks Danny. Yeah, I I was looking at all the candidates and I think that they all have something to offer. Um, but I started with, you know, who do I believe can really win a provincial general election? And I feel like hands down that's Caroline Elliot.

[00:13:38]And the reason I feel that way is because um she has an authenticity and a likability to her that just um that is just so present. And I think I think people are coming to see that. The more that we see her in the public, I think that people are coming around and memberships coming around and seeing that. And I think those are very key to winning a general election because we've got to swing a whole bunch of undecided voters in the middle. And uh a spoiler alert, the 45 plus woman is the swing voter, I'm told. and and that would be me. Um, [laughter] so I think it's a real good vouch for, you know, who could win a general election. Um, I see her being able to do that. And and not only that, not only is she likable and authentic, the real part that's super important to somebody who's grassroots like me is she is bold in leadership and she's not afraid to say things that aren't unpopular. And she's been doing that. She's been proving that. Um, many people were following her, watching her, thinking that she was a social media influencer, just walking through the forests of North Vancouver, uh, talking about Drippa and and you know, it was Caroline all along and she has something important to say. She's not going to back down. So, those two things combined, true leader. Um, yeah, and I'm just excited to to continue and and see I've already been seeing her grow. And that's the the last thing I'll say is I think she has a lot of growth and a lot of future in her. Um the fact that she has a six and 8-year-old uh really resonates with my heart as a mother. My youngest kid is graduating um this next month from high school and that's what prompted me to get into politics just seeing a future in this province for our children and um that really resonates with me as well with Caroline. So yeah, thank you for having me on.

[00:15:24]>> Awesome. Thank you Christina. Thank you so so much for that. And do do another question here around the the DRIPA issue and then going to bring back uh Mr. Day.

[00:15:33]I see a question here from John. I see a question from Robert. I see a question from uh Graham. Steve. It's all like drippa drippa drippa. And so Caroline, like you were speaking about DRIPA before it became a mainstream issue, before it was cool to, you know, talk out against DRIPA. Um, I'd love to hear from you, you know, what it was like at that time and what you believe needs to change right now.

[00:15:57]>> Yeah, thank you. And thank you, John, Robert, Graeme, and Steve and others who have these questions about DRPA because I it's it's such an important issue. And once in a while, I'll get a little bit of flack from people. They'll say, "Well, you talk a lot about DRIPA. Like, sure, we know you talk about public safety. We know you talk about the debt you, but you talk a lot about DRIPA."

[00:16:14]And there's a reason I do that is because I think it is the single biggest issue standing in the way of our province right now. Um we're not going to get our economy firing on all cylinders again. We are not going to get our our the revenues into government that help us deal with the debt, provide tax relief, all that kind of stuff unless we deal with the uncertainty on the land base and that is being driven in a big way by DRIPA. So, my concerns with DRIPA, um, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People's Act, just to spell it out if people aren't aware of what I'm talking about right now, um, DRIPA is it's highly anti-rossperity.

[00:16:48]Uh, it is anti uh, it's undemocratic because we've moved away like I talked about the prosperity side. I talked about the the the concerns investors have about the uncertainty on the land base. On the democracy side, I'm very worried about this increasing trend that we're seeing under DRIPA where decisions over public land and resources are no longer being made by the people that we elect to make those decisions that's fundamentally undemocratic. Um, and then I have concerns around the social cohesion side, if I can put it that way, like our sense of social unity, our sense of like ourselves as all being British Columbombians. um the NDP are slicing and dicing us into these different camps and and sort of pitting us against one another in a way that I think is really unproductive for the future. So, we absolutely have to repeal DRIPA in full. We've heard David Eie talk about, you know, first he was defending it and then he was amending it and then he was suspending it and now he's I don't know what he's doing. He's doing nothing with it because he he got scared away. But fundamentally, we have to repeal it. If we are going to get back to the principle of of of decisions over public land and resources being made by the people we elect, we've got to do it. And um and I I understand and maybe people will have questions about like what do we expect in terms of the potential for disruption on this. It I accept that that is a risk. Uh David E's experiencing that right now in his plans to even suspend it, let alone repeal it, where there's been threats of collective resistance and so on. I want to avoid that where possible. Of course, I'm going to open the door to productive conversations, but at the end of the day, that's not how we resolve things in a democracy. We have to enforce the law.

[00:18:22]We have to move forward with what's right in the public interest. And it is not in the public interest to have 200 plus indigenous groups making, you know, uh, decisions over the vast majority of the province's land mass with overlapping traditional territories covering the entirety of BC. It's unworkable, and we're not going to get our province back on track until it is repealed.

[00:18:42]Thank you, Caroline. And maybe uh Mr. Day, I'll pass it off to you. Uh take it over here for your next question.

[00:18:48]>> Sure. Happy to hop in here. Um well, Caroline, we haven't had time to rehearse these. People might think otherwise, but we're both pretty busy, so uh if I catch you off guard, so be it. Uh one thing I kind of like to do when I see somebody on screen, I like to look in the background to try and read the titles of the books that are behind them. But if I'm not wrong, that's uh Raphael's School of Athens. beautiful uh beautiful portrait painting behind there. And so of course that fame features the two famous actors of the day Plato and Aristotle. Aristotle talked a lot about ethics. Ethics and politics are not words that usually go together. And he talked about virtue.

[00:19:26]Taking care of the poor, >> taking care of the [snorts] homeless. Uh that's a virtue. But you're talking about cracking down on certain things like uh free uh drug injection sites and free drugs and this type of thing. Some people are saying that's harsh. So h how do you reconcile, you know, as a virtue wanting to care for the poor and the homeless, but at the same time sounding like you going to get tough on them?

[00:19:54]>> You know what? um that you you put that so uh beautifully and I love how you linked it to some of my favorite philosophers behind me in this uh in this uh print I have and yeah it's it you're right um compassion like how do you how do you square that with uh my plans for for dealing with uh mental health and addictions and what I would say is this what we're seeing right now play out on our streets in the downtown east side uh in Vancouver but not just in Vancouver as we all know in our own communities Pandora street in Victoria.

[00:20:25]There's uh you know the areas that we all know about in Prince George, in Colona, in Terrace, in like no community is immune from this right now. Um and and we are seeing, I think, an utter failure of our compassion because no one goes out into those parts of our communities and looks around and opens their eyes and says, "This is working great. Let's do more of this. These people are so well treated. Uh they're so free." They're not free. They're imprisoned by their addictions. they are at the mercy of bad actors on the streets, drug dealers and people who who who who who have invested interest in their continued addiction. It's not right. It's it's actually in my view a moral failing of us as as as British Columbombians uh that we we kind of let this play out on our streets every day.

[00:21:09]It's not what we would want for our mother or brother or or son or daughter.

[00:21:14]And so I think that there's a a moral impetus on us to do something about it.

[00:21:18]What would we do? Uh for me, I want to see a focus away from facilitating addiction and into treatment and recovery. Making sure that we have the beds available for people who need it.

[00:21:30]Making sure that we um making sure that we uh uh provide that on an involuntary basis if necessary because unfortunately a lot of these people in the throws of their addictions, in the throws of mental health challenges are not actually able to care for themselves.

[00:21:45]and we owe it to them to help them in clean, safe, compassionate facilities that actually offer them care. The same goes for mental health, not just addictions. And again, this we have to do it. Like people may not realize this.

[00:21:57]Overdoses are the leading it's not it's not the individuals merely on the downtown side or the areas like that where, you know, I spoke with a first responder who told me they they had uh uh 94 overdose calls that they had to respond to in a single shift at one fire hall. So there's it's not just the resource side of it. It's also the fact that like the moral side that it's beyond just these parts of the communities, everyday people, construction workers, whatever line of work they're in, it is the leading cause of death among young men aed 19 to 39.

[00:22:28]Um it is it is uh responsible for over half of all deaths in that age category.

[00:22:34]So to me it's not like a question of do we deal with this? It is a question of we must and we have to take a drastically different approach than what the governments before us have been have been doing. So it means reopening facilities like Riverview but all I think facilities around the province uh so that they can as much as possible people can be close to the support networks and family they have while they're undergoing these kinds of um programs. Um, and you know, I would way rather for me, even as a fiscal conservative, uh, I would way rather spend that money upfront on treatment and recovery and the facilities required to to offer that and care for the people with mental health challenges. I would way rather spend that money upfront and have people walking around their communities in safety and security than deal with the after effects where we're spending I would s I would suspect just as much money if not more on um policing this disaster on the mental health challenges or that on the brain injuries that are occurring from repeated um um revivals from overdoses and all kinds of like compounding challenges and stresses on our healthare system that we're seeing as a result of this. So I think it's not just like a should we do it, it's we must.

[00:23:40]>> If I can just uh hop in before Daniel goes to the next one. Uh Prime Minister Carney in the budget has said less health transfer, less dollars for healthcare to provinces. U you probably haven't had much time to really weigh that out because you're out on the trail, but uh how how are you going to handle that? You want to keep the deficit under control and actually reduce it. Um, and now we've just got the word from Prime Minister Carney, less money from the feds for health care. What are you going to do?

[00:24:09]>> It's Thank you. Um, it's extraordinary to me when I see the way that healthcare dollars are spent today. Um, you know, you have this 13.3 billion deficit that we're facing right now. We have a debt that has doubled and is on track to triple yet somehow and healthcare is our single biggest spending item in our budget. So um to Stockwell to your question, we have to deal with the expenses in health care even prior to that kind of decision coming down from the federal government but but certainly um in in as a result of it as well. Uh we have to deal with that um as just a single line item in terms of of the expense. If if more money was the answer, um our healthcare system would be working brilliantly right now because we do spend so much. Yet, if you actually look at peer jurisdictions, we get some of the worst outcomes for the money spent. So, we're we're delivering healthcare in in an extremely inefficient way. And part of it I think um is because the NDP is they they want us to wear these ideological blinders where we you know where they want us to believe that um there's exactly two healthare systems in the world and we have to choose between them and that you know those systems are the US and Canada when in fact there's all kinds of jurisdictions around the world that are very progressive places like Sweden or Switzerland um who deliver healthcare far better than either of us do in terms of dollars spent in patient outcomes and patient outcomes have to be what drive us not what works for the system, not what works for government. It has to be patient outcomes driving every decision we make. So, I think that we do have to be quite bold in bringing in looking to the rest of the world and bringing in um the kinds of of systems and ways of doing things that actually are delivering way better outcomes than we're seeing in BC right now. Um, as just one example, like the administrative waste that we have in our healthcare system, the fact that we have 70 presidents and vice presidents and all the supporting staff that requires in across our health authorities when Alberta with a similar size population has 10. Like that's just an indication to me of like the administrative bloat, the top heaviness, and the lack of dollars actually getting to the front lines.

[00:26:09]>> Thank you so much, Caroline. And what great questions from from Stockwell Day.

[00:26:13]Those are those are those are awesome.

[00:26:14]Really happy to have you on here, sir.

[00:26:16]I'm going to go to uh the next question here and then we're going to bring up MLA Brian Pepper. I see he's hopped on, but I've seen six or seven questions here around like vote splitting and different things. I'm going to read this one from from John. He says, "I believe you're the best choice for leader and we'll vote for you. The key to winning in the next election will be in uniting all the other conservative-minded voters. The worst thing would be another nonsensical vote split. How will you get everyone on one page?"

[00:26:43]>> Such an important question. And I've said when I've been asked this, you know, we've been all over the province lately. And I thank you for this question because I hear it in virtually every single community I go to. People are very worried about that and rightly so because a divided party is the single biggest gift we can give David Eie and we know we can't let that happen. So um I talked about it a little bit in the beginning of this town hall and many of you I don't think had joined yet. So at the risk of repeating myself, I do want to just touch on it a little bit. It's not just saying you can bring people together. It's actually demonstrating that you can bring people together. And that's really been important to me as part of this leadership race is saying um you know I I've tried by the way to very very hard not to um go after my fellow candidates too much where unless it's absolutely necessary because I want to make sure that we can all come together and work together at the end of this. is part of the task I see um if I'm successful is sort of planning a tour all around BC right after winning and making sure I'm telling everyone from every other camp there's no grudges like we're all one big political family we need to work together to actually win this thing so the message is the doors open and you're welcome here uh no matter what campaign you worked on as part of this leadership uh race um but more even beyond that it is attracting um and and this is the part where I'll repeat myself a bit and I apologize for doing this but um getting uh people like uh and you're going to hear from Brian Ter in a moment. Wonderful MLA in Siri.

[00:28:07]You heard from Christina. I'm very very fortunate to have her endorsement.

[00:28:11]Harmon Bangu and other MLA like these are movement grassroots conservatives.

[00:28:15]They're from the beginning. They represent a really really important part of this party. Um and they they understand this party in ways that a lot of people don't. But then at the same time uh having endorsements from people like Gordon Campbell and Daryl Jones on that free enterprise side like that really is the the range of support that we have to attract. Uh and of course Stockwell Day who who we're so fortunate to have join us today. Um you know that is th that kind of collection of perspectives is exactly the kinds of perspectives that we need to make sure are represented and feel welcome in this party. So my door my my my policy really is that sort of open door not closed door addition not subtraction and telling people if you share our views come be part of this thing.

[00:28:55]>> Awesome. Thank you Caroline. Brian are you able to to hop on? Awesome. I I'd love to to hear from yourself. I I asked you know Christina a question about you know what in what in Caroline's leadership she saw that made her want to endorse her. I'll kind of let you take this wherever you go. I mean, you decided to endorse Caroline, you know, uh why why' you do it and uh why you're here helping us fight to the end of this thing?

[00:29:16]>> Yeah, first thing I I do want to comment on uh Mr. Day's uh question. Uh secure compassionate care. Uh it's not uncompassionate to to take people into care, right? So we do have definitely a uh a a language problem and we always have with the between the conservatives and the progressives that comes out. So when we call something like that secure compassionate care and that's what I hear Caroline saying in her answer as well is uh you know it's it's fantastic answer as far as I'm concerned. But what made me endorse her is actually just some of the things she just said right now, funny enough, I will expand on is what I've heard her say basically is we're we're not a big tent. We're a big bus. We we share so much ideology that I think probably 70% of the people in this province are conservative at heart, but they pick out these little issues. So, we've got to get everybody on the bus going the same direction that we're going. and and Caroline is uh has been a fantastic bus driver for these few years for sure. And when I first uh decided I well I met Caroline I guess I'm going to I'm going to say three years now because this has been going on a little bit. I was started off at two and a half years.

[00:30:31]Um but uh we uh we met at a uh a safety uh symposium and we just started talking very easy to talk to and uh you know I felt uh sort of a friendship right from the start and you know when we talked about ideas our ideas matched up so well even though we were both at the time running for different parties before you know Caroline was the one that uh that stepped down to make sure we didn't have that vote split on the right. So, I mean, all all the congratulations, I guess, or admiration in the world for her to do that and help us get to the place we are already. And, um, I just, you know, seeing that in her matching up with my ideals. And I don't know how many people are on the call right now, but if anybody knows me, I uh I'm on the I'm on the fairly conservative side of of conservatism, right? And uh and I believe in free enterprise. I believe in freedom as much freedom as we get smallest government we can get and um and I think as long as we talk about those things Caroline is it and she is the one talking about it is common sense I don't care if you know I mean I joined the BC Liberal party because you know again we didn't have that option along and I knew there was the people I knew in it were strong conservatives federally and so you know we we went along and you know there was a little uh a stray from the path I think uh with with not stepping up and uh and and taking the tasks head on that needed to be. But see Caroline has she continued on doing those things even when you know she wasn't running for government anymore in these past 2 and 1/2 years I guess is uh you know the the election 18 months ago. So almost you know we're almost up at the 2-year mark. And you know that's that's where I said it it came to me that she she is putting out the ideals that as a base grassroots conservative party we should have. And then I follow up by saying over this time I I need somebody I can trust.

[00:32:36]Coming from a policing background I trusted who I worked with otherwise there were problems. We went into lots of situations that were a little bit hairy shall we say. and I trusted the brothers and sisters I work with and I am putting that same trust into Caroline and that's why I support her.

[00:32:56]>> Awesome. Thank you, Brian. Thank you.

[00:32:57]>> Hope I didn't talk too long, everybody.

[00:32:59]>> No, that's that's great. Always always a lot of value um in what you have to say.

[00:33:03]So, thank thank you Brian for for hopping on here with us. Going to go to another question or two from the crowd and then I'll bring back uh Mr. Stockwald Day to ask another question.

[00:33:13]Uh, one here. I I picked it uh selfishly because my name's in it, but huge supporter of your mom, Daniel. Biggest question for you, Caroline. What's your plan for the housing crisis?

[00:33:24]>> Yeah. Oh, thank you. Um, uh, like it's a huge issue. Like when I talked early on um about like the fact that we have like when I look at why I'm doing this entire thing, I am so worried about where this province is heading because we've got so many of our our young people leaving.

[00:33:41]70,000 British Columbombians left BC last year looking for jobs and opportunities and and all of that to start their life elsewhere. And I hate that as a mom. I hate that because I know how much how painful that is for all the parents saying bye to their kids as they move elsewhere. when BC should be that jurisdiction where you know people really are flocking to and one of those things that is a huge factor in this uh it's not just the jobs and the paychecks it's the housing prices and so housing is a huge huge issue um this is what I would say is like government spends a lot of time talking about affordable housing and yet all they ever do is layer on costs uh they've added on all kinds of requirements just as an example to the building code uh accessibility requirements um unit cooling requirements, zerocarbon step code requirements, like all these different things that have very little benefit and have a massive cost that just gets passed on to the consumers who are looking to buy their first home.

[00:34:35]Then you add to that the NDP's PST expansion that they announced in their last budget, which onto professional services, which is just going to add even more cost onto the cost of building. Uh, and then you add on uncertainty around private property rights and an uncompetitive all kinds of things that make it uncompetitive to actually um to want to put in the money to build in the first place in British Columbia. And um and and my concern is on that front as a result. We're seeing a lot of um we're seeing a huge decline in housing starts. And I don't even think people realize how bad that decline is right now because housing starts data for a whole bunch of reasons is kind of a couple years behind just the way that they measure it. So housing starts are way behind where people think they even are right now. And that of course we know this it's supply and demand leads to a supply crunch which ultimately leads to higher prices. So everything this government is doing is at is going in the wrong direction. So we need to uh get into the building code, reduce all those unnecessary costs and like resend the zerocarbon step code uh because it has very little benefit for huge huge costs. Um um uh stop prevent what is it? roll back uh the PST uh expansion uh that the NDP announced in the in the latest budget. Um work with municipalities and it can be carrots or sticks like we can figure out how we how we do that. But as a provincial funer of a lot of municipal things, we have a lot of leverage to say um we want you to have clear permitting timelines. Um we want to make sure that you're not holding these projects hostage uh when when when when there's um you know uh an an an opportunity to get more supply built. At the same time though um we need to make sure that the decisions about where that supply where that density goes is in the hands in my view rightly of municipalities. Um right now you have the province like uh I I think overstepping where bureaucrats in Victoria are basically telling municipalities where that supply intensity should go. I don't think that's right because they don't know these communities. Uh so you can set those targets and you can set those targets in terms of the supply. you can set the targets in terms of in terms of the permitting timelines but ultimately it does have to be made the the supply decisions and where it goes has to be made by municipalities. Um the last thing I will say on that front is something that doesn't get talked that much about but I think we should talk about is the fact that the federal immigration policies over the past um almost 10 years have been or in fact over 10 years have been really disastrous uh in terms of its pressures the pressures that it's placed on the housing market. Um it's also placed pressures on our healthcare system and our education system and our traffic infra our transportation infrastructure and so on. Um this isn't a question about where people come from. It's just a simple numbers game that when you have five new arrivals for every one unit being built, you find yourself again simple economics and a supply crunch that drives costs up. So as much as immigration's federal, the province should have been standing up and saying this isn't going to work for BC. They didn't say a single thing and they should have. Uh so so it's my view that should we find oursel in a similar situation again, we need to be very vocal about making sure that federal immigration policy actually works for British Columbia. So I know there's a lot in there, but I think that it's it's actually um it's there's even more to say on it, but I'll leave it there for now.

[00:37:47]>> Thank you. And uh going to do one more question and then uh Mr. Day, I'll I'll bring you back up here. Just to note, I've seen I've seen four questions about the verification process. This one's like ver verification process is a disaster and different ones. I just want to reiterate um to everybody on this call, we have a link set up www.winforbc.ca/verification.

[00:38:09]So, if you're having any issues verifying um please do go on there and fill out the the help form. Just because you're a member does not mean that you're able to vote. You have to get your your ID verified so you can get your your unique voting link. So, if you like what you know you're hearing from Caroline on this call and and you need help with that, please do um reach out to us and and to our team. Next one here, gonna go to a question from Barry and then back to Mr. Day. So Barry asks, "During the debate on Global TV a few days ago, you were the only candidate who said explicitly that you would scrap the NDP's clean BC policy due to its impact on the economy. Can you comment on this?"

[00:38:43]>> Yeah, thank you for that question. Um, look, like here's the thing with clean BC. Like it is a plan. It sounds like a nice plan, but like so many things uh it's it it sort of the name conceals a reality that's actually not good for British Columbia. And um what it is is, and this is not me saying this, like the business council of British Columbia did an analysis on it just as one party uh that's looked at this in depth um that found that it's essentially a plan to uh reduce emissions by stagnating our economy and that's not going to work. Uh we can't have that. So to just give you a sense like right now everything that's happening economically in this province um the NDP is very quick to point to the tariffs and say oh it's the tariff's faults it it has nothing to do with us.

[00:39:28]The reality is the impact of clean BC is far greater than the impacts of tariffs.

[00:39:32]Just to give you a sense of how damaging it is for our economy. The tariffs are costing us uh a study by the um ICBA found that the tariffs are costing us $43 billion over four years and clean BC is costing our economy $110 billion over over those same four years. So the scale and scope of the problem here is so significant and let's focus in my view on what we can control in terms of our economy rather than the things that we can't. Uh so scrapping cleanBC is is definitely a plan that I have and I think the biggest contribution if you know for those out there who who who who think a lot about emissions and are worried about that um the biggest contribution that we can make is actually exporting our LG so that it can displace um coal fire generation in other jurisdictions. That is the single biggest contribution we can make to global emissions and it happens to be something that actually grows our economy instead of killing it. So for me, that is what I would far prefer to do rather than what the NDP's got uh in their plan.

[00:40:29]>> Awesome. Thank you, Caroline. And Mr. D, I'll bring you back up to ask your next question.

[00:40:33]>> Uh great that you just ended with that one, Caroline, because it's about resources. A lot of people uh are not fully aware maybe of your expertise when you're involved with BC Hydro. And I can tell you that uh Christy Clark used to talk about the effect that you have in terms of understanding the resource sector and navigating some of the really tough decisions relative to sight C and it's it as people would know it's it's it's up it's going all six generators. I think it can power 500,000 homes. It's a huge uh success. But you had to deal with a lot of First Nation issues there uh and environmental issues.

[00:41:11]environmentalist saying you know this is going to be the end of the world if sight C ever got going and of course it's far from that. uh did you learn some lessons from that that you can apply to what you are going to face uh with with the what you've raised with DRIPA and we know that u economic growth is in the future for first nations if it's handled right but what did you learn from your dealings with on the first nation side and on the environmental side with uh bringing sight se along to such a successful place that it is today?

[00:41:42]>> Thank you. Yeah. Um I god I learned so much from that project. uh it was at the time the single biggest infrastructure project uh in in BC history and uh it it's significant and there were there was every voice out there saying why we shouldn't do it. Uh and you look at the foresight that actually Gordon Campbell had in announcing that project back in 2010 and saying like we're going to need this power. The NDP spent over a decade saying well they spent about a decade saying we do not need this power. Um turns out we did because we're actually importing power even with sight C. um going on all cylinders. So, uh you know, that foresight to know where things are headed is is um is a lesson I take away just right off the bat there. Um when you look at the fact that we were able to proceed with that project despite um some First Nations opposition, there were agreements formed with many First Nations. In fact, the majority I think of First Nations we ultimately at BC Hydro signed agreements with. Uh and then there were two that really didn't want to proceed with the project. uh and but ultimately when it was taken to court almost I think it was if you include the appeal and other various processes I think it was over over 10 times going to court um you know it sounds insurmountable because it is I mean it it would be insurmountable for most private sector proponents um they were able to proceed with the project in the public interest by showing that they had meaningfully consulted that they had accommodated where appropriate but ultimately that we simply needed the power and it was in the public interest so um that's the framework we had prior to DRIPA I don't think sight see can be built in the current dripa context but it tells me the importance of being able to have a system that actually allows these kinds of project in projects in the public interest to proceed. The final thing I would say out of that project um that was really eye opening um is just the pure level of um investment that you have to put into any big project to even get it over the line in BC at all. And it is it's it's really um it's it's quite unworkable even if you take away DRIPA and even back then and that's before the NDP layered on all kinds of new regulations like site C had a 15,000page environmental impact statement just to enter the joint review panel process which then would review it and ultimately go to government to then decide if the project could proceed.

[00:43:58]Like that is the that is a kind of investment that most private sector investors are going to say, you know what, I'm probably going to go somewhere else. Like that just sounds difficult and uncertain and incredibly burdensome, which it was. Since that time, that time, we've only seen more and more regulations layered on top. In fact, they updated the environmental assessment process, the NDP government did in 2018. We have only seen four projects since that 2018 EA act came down. only four have actually emerged with approvals from that process. So that gives you a sense of just how difficult it is to build anything in this province. And I think that's the lesson I take away is just the importance of actually having a mindset and a process that welcomes investment rather than pushing it away before anyone will even contemplate uh putting a shovel in the ground in this province.

[00:44:45]>> Thank you. Thank you, Caroline. Stock, do you want to hop back in?

[00:44:49]>> Sure. Um, okay. This one I I I I know makes some people nervous, but I think it's great. What in the light of what you've said about um wanting to see education, not indoctrin indoctrin indoctrinization.

[00:45:04]Um my grammar school sister is listening, so she'll comment that I didn't pronounce that correctly. Um, but in light of the policy there, you're going to push back on Soji, which majority British Columbies want, and protecting minors on the gender issue.

[00:45:19]Uh, tell me if you thought about this.

[00:45:21]What are the first two instructions you're going to give to your new Minister of Education? And will that include a return to letter grading, something that it seems some teachers unions don't like?

[00:45:35]>> Um, yeah, thank you. Um, I'm sort of making some notes so I don't miss any aspects of your question here. Yeah. So, I feel so Thank you for this question.

[00:45:43]I'm really glad you asked it because it is one of the most motivating things for me in in this leadership race as I look at my my kids are young as I've said like they're in kindergarten and um grade uh three. So, I see firsthand kind of what they go through in the school system. And then I also hear on top of that from other parents who are dealing and and and and um raising similar concerns that I have, and I mean all over BC, I hear about this. Uh parents have kind of had it like the the kind of activism we're seeing in the school system that uh teaches the land they stand on isn't theirs. That, you know, teaches them every single sin of the past, but never any mention of our collective successes. that makes them feel ashamed to be British Columbombians and Canadians. Uh that teaches like and this is like straight out of a curriculum guide issued by the NDP. Um you know teaches that you have to teach children mindsets to develop mindsets of cultural humility. Like this isn't what we send our kids to school for. We send our kids to school to learn numeracy and literacy and to develop the skills they need to succeed in the world. And um all this focus on activism has been happening while the outcomes on things like literacy and numeracy and and and and science and so on is actually are those outcomes are declining quite significantly. So um and and then on top of that uh Stockwell as you mentioned you've got uh parents feeling incredibly excluded from the system conversations happening between the school system and kids that are better had between parents and their kids um and a whole bunch of ideology there too. So, uh, this is what I would say is like if if I had like, um, um, a first few things that I would because it's not just one or two. It's it's it's a host of them that I would, uh, in terms of a direction that I would give to an education minister and I would run on this and and if we get the public buy in, which I think we will, then I'll be h, you know, I'll be thrilled to pursue this because I think it's important. We need to end the activism in schools. We need to get back to focusing on the core basics and improving those outcomes. That means returning letter grades and measurability, standardized testing, making sure we're doing those things so we can track how our kids are doing year-over-year. And then also making sure that parents are treated as what they are, which is the single biggest advocate for their child's success, not some villain that you need to shut out of their child's life, but actually as an advocate for their child's success.

[00:47:55]So parents back in the driver's seat. So um I I have so much more to say on that subject, but that's that's where I'd start.

[00:48:03]>> Thank you so much. And uh I have a another question for Mr. Day myself um to to prompt him for you, but I think we'll go to him after. I want to answer another question in the Q&A. I've seen a few questions in here, you know, about some of the Toronto operatives on the the the campaign. And so, do you want to maybe just uh address that for a minute of of uh the team be the BC team that you have?

[00:48:25]>> Yeah, thank you. I'm I I like these questions because they sound like hard questions, but they're actually things that I really want to address. So, thank you for throwing these at me, uh, everyone who's asking this stuff. Um, look, like I'm I'm really proud of my team. I have a awesome team made up primarily, like the vast majority from here in British Columbia, like some of the smartest people in their fields. And yeah, I've also attracted national talent uh from places like Ontario. I'm proud of that, too, because people across Canada, two things. One, they're realizing that that BC's success is Canada's success. Canada's not going to succeed without BC succeeding. and and they recognize that and they want a change in government. So, they're coming to support me as the person that they think can most likely drive this party into government. But on the other side as well, I would say like there's an understanding across Canada like we are getting national attention right now uh on this leadership race and particularly on my campaign. And I think the reason is is because people are realizing something very cool is happening in BC right now that there's this relatively new party coming out and that we are at this moment where we define what that means uh here in BC and and not just for the party but for the entire province and said charting that new path is like an incredible opportunity like this doesn't come around often in any province. So I think there's a reason people are getting involved from even the national scale. Uh and and I'd say like a couple more things. One is that um the NDP are very good at running elections, right? They won in 2017 well they they kind of won in 2017, they won in 2020, they won in 2024. Um they bring in national talent. They bring in people who have who are winning campaigns like you know in recent years because the the the methods of running campaigns change.

[00:50:05]So if the last time that we on the right in BC, whatever party that was, if the last time we actually won an election was 2013, the game of campaigning, like what that actually requires has changed drastically since then. Think of the developments in social media, the way you run a modern digital campaign. It's a different thing. So you need to um have people at your side who have actually run a modern campaign and can win. Uh and and and so that's what we're doing. And that's that's the kind of talent I want to bring into the general election, too, to make sure uh that we have like those those really strong BC voices and that strong BC talent, but backed up by some of the best in the country in terms of actually winning this next election because it's not kind of a question of should we win the next election. We again like like so many issues, we have to there's too much at stake not to.

[00:50:52]>> Thank you so much. And uh I'll bring back uh Mr. Stockwell Day. I have a very kind of pointed question for you, sir.

[00:51:00]Just something that I'm curious about thinking back to your, you know, your earlier days in politics. Um, you know, I'd love to hear, uh, what advice, you know, you would give to Caroline right now as she's, uh, running in this leadership.

[00:51:15]>> Um, stick with what you said you were going to do. Don't forget the people who brought you, as they say, brought you to the dance. And I know you won't. Um, I mean, those are the two uh, biggest things. and uh have a forgiving heart to those who criticize you. People used to say to me, uh tell me what it's like uh when you stand up and speak in the House of Commons. And I'd say, well, you stand up and you start to talk and you get heckled and you get jered at, you get booed. And that's just your own members.

[00:51:47]Then there's the opposition. So keep in mind that you're going to get things thrown at you at times from surprising sources. And uh I know you will deal with those. So uh I mean be smart. You have to address stuff, but have a forgiving heart. And the other thing uh Carolyn that I've heard not not to do with you um with let's just say previous situation in BC where the leader unfortunately gets surrounded by we used to call it the kids in smart pants uh or the smart kids in short pants. Not referring to you Daniel. I know you've got your uh your jeans on there. Not short pants. Um but be just and and I know you'll be careful to this. There is a feeling among those out in the constituency associations. This is the members. This is the people who build the party. This is what we call our grassroots that a leader can get shielded and protected from hearing things that grassroots want to hear. So uh that's a suggestion. I don't think you're going to have a problem with that because I watch how you handle yourself around people. But uh yes, you need your own staff. You need your own people. But uh have in mind that strategy where you're always going to get through that sort of wall of protection and uh you'll be hearing what people are saying down home. You may not always agree with it.

[00:53:06]You may agree with it, but um it's that wall of protection thing that really uh makes the so-called grassroots uh nervous.

[00:53:19]>> Awesome. Thank you, sir. What uh what great advice. Um, with that, just so everybody knows, we're going to go a little bit over time here. We're probably going to do another another 10-15 minutes and uh get another couple questions in. Um, with that, anyone that's on here, if you are not verified, I'm just going to reiterate it. Uh, win forbc.ca/verification.

[00:53:39]Go on there and request help if you didn't get your link from the party.

[00:53:42]Just because you have a a link uh or just because you have a membership doesn't mean that that you can vote. And so, we we definitely want to help get you verified so so you can vote in this race. one around small business uh from Moheit. He says, "Hi Caroline, as a small business owner in BC, I am asking you to please make small business crime a serious priority if you win. Right now, small businesses small businesses are getting hit by shoplifting, robberies, repeat offenders, illegal counterfeit contrabands. Um these problems are not small anymore. They're skyhigh and they're pushing honest small business owners closing down. Please bring forward a strong plan for small business.

[00:54:16]>> Thank you. like that is um and I've been meeting with a lot of small businesses and um the story the horror stories that um sorry got a phone call coming in. I'm just going to hopefully that didn't Okay, I'm back. Um yeah, it's it's a it's an issue I hear about all the time and just as like it's it's happening all over the province again. These aren't just Vancouver or Victoria or what Colona issues. It's happening in small communities and it is that that sort of they call it petty crime and it drives me crazy when they talk about it because it's not petty. it's actually affecting people who have the courage and the drive to go out and start that small business and then you know there's only so many times you can get your windows broken or um have your staff threatened or you know face shoplifting before you just say like I can't do this anymore and it's among the reasons and there's many reasons but it's among the reasons why we've seen more businesses closing in BC than opening in BC um in in recent months and in in the last year I was just talking to someone from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business last tonight who was telling me about this. So, it's a huge issue. Um, and it's like just as one example, it's not exactly a small business, but I'll just mention it uh because we all saw it in the media, the closure of London Drugs at at Woodwards uh at the downtown uh location that there was the shoplifting, there was all the the the sort of graffiti and vandalism they had to deal with, but ultimately the reason they closed their doors, and they said this in the media, was because they couldn't keep their staff safe. like what kind of third world are we living in if you can't keep your staff safe?

[00:55:46]And I'm not blaming the store. It's because of the societal problem that we have uh that isn't getting dealt with.

[00:55:52]Um another of the complaints I've heard from from some businesses is like this idea of um of of like theft under $5,000 being treated as a petty crime and not being followed up on. And there and I didn't realize this until running in this leadership race. Uh, apparently what's happening is these these criminals are going and they're stealing, you know, $4,999 worth of stuff here and $4,999 worth of stuff there and they're all treated as separate incidents. So, they still fall under this threshold that they then tend not to prosecute. So, I think that we need to start making sure we're going after those guys super super hard, especially the pr prolific offenders in this in this sense to make sure that small businesses are actually like treated as what they are, which is contributors rather than the people who are doing the opposite of contributing and actually stealing and making society worse.

[00:56:38]>> Awesome. Thank you so much, Caroline.

[00:56:39]And uh from Neil, he says, "These town halls need much more time." Agree. I think there's a lot of really important [clears throat] questions. We can't can't go forever, but a plug for tomorrow night. We're doing another one of these tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m.

[00:56:50]PST. So, if you're still undecided and you have some questions that you uh want to ask Caroline, we're going to try to do different questions on that one as well and hit a a different range of topics and bring on some some different guests. So, if you want to set your calendar, we'll probably send you a couple texts and and an email about it uh for for 8:00 p.m. tomorrow. Um, somebody was asking I just lost the question, so I have to paraphrase it, but he was asking what you were going to do to help uh seniors in BC.

[00:57:15]>> Yeah, thank you. Um, and I want to say like on the quiet on on getting to all the questions, there's this is a a popular one. I I I told Stockwell that he's a popular guy because this is one of our biggest town halls we've had. Uh, and it's so great to see you all on here. But, um, if we don't get to all your questions, and we won't, unfortunately, with the time we have, we're doing lots more and we're doing these like sometimes multiple times a day. I think on like Monday I'm doing four. So, uh, and so I and some of them are region specific. So, if you check out my events page on my website, winforbc.ca, A and you can click a little tab and it'll show you the events. It includes these virtual town halls. So, if you want to join one that's specific to your region, you can.

[00:57:51]And then we'll have a way better chance of getting to all your questions in in those smaller formats. So, please do because I I really do want to answer your questions and and hear from you. Um so, not to take away from that question uh about seniors. Yeah, like this is a it's a hugely overlooked um area. I think in terms of our public discourse, you don't hear it tal you don't hear seniors care talked about a lot. Um and uh when I do talk to people uh it's a lot about um you know the the underfunding that goes on the fact that like even like um and this is this a healthcare issue in this case as well but like the lack of long-term care beds and and some other issues that where um you have uh cascading issues into the broader society beyond just seniors when you don't have have that available. So, but on the seniors front in particular, like I think the underfunding of some of the the services that we're seeing is one of those uh things where I mentioned it earlier when you have this big of a deficit 13.3 billion when you have a debt that's doubled and is on track to triple. Uh when you have that kind of spending going on, but then you don't you're not actually providing the core basics for the people who need it, like it tells me that a massive adjustment is needed in the way we're spending that money. um not just in terms of the administration within each sector but across different sectors. So it's one of the reasons I've talked about um doing a core review of all government spending with an eye to uh reeling it in because we do need to reel it in but also reallocating within it to make sure that the some of these core basics as I call them are being are being um um funded properly and providing the care that British Columbombians expect and deserve. So that would be part of that overall uh equation there.

[00:59:33]Thank you so much. I'm going to do another one and then just everyone knows we're going to do about another 10 minutes on this. So maybe bring uh Mr. Day back up after this one. But a good question from from Gerene here and Caroline, you and I have talked about this uh quite a lot. So I think a really good question to to touch on. She says, "Miss Elliot, uh be elected as the premier of British Columbia. What will you do to amplifi amplify the voices of British Columbombian youth who endorse the political philosophies of the right?"

[01:00:00]>> Yeah, thank you. And thank you, Gerene.

[01:00:02]Um, if it's the Gerene I'm I'm thinking of that I'm happy you're on this call, thank you for joining. Um, it's uh, actually, no matter if it is the one I'm thinking of or not, thank you for joining. Um, look, it's so important. I think this this is the thing that people sometimes lose sight of. Um, I I suspect everyone here will be aware though, like the youth are the ones who have to ultimately deal with the consequences of what decisions we make in the next election. They're going to have to deal with the consequences unfortunately of this massive debt that we're seeing. um they're going to be facing the consequences of, you know, if we continue to have a housing market that's not working for people like these are and they're going to grow up into this.

[01:00:37]It's their opportunities, their first kick at the can when it comes to their career that are it's it's all on them um in terms of the consequences. So, um I'm I'm I I really really want to engage youth as part of what we're doing as part, you know, if I'm successful in this campaign and going into the general election is making sure they're a big part of the energy behind it. um meeting, not just taking their ideas and and and and help and and using um some of the more engaged youth as a sort of ambassadors, reaching out to their networks and their peers and and helping them see themselves in what we're doing as a party, but also making sure that we're re we're um meeting youth where they're at because we know that, you know, young people aren't reading the Vancouver Sun and watching Global News at 6 and listening to CKNW or whatever the local radio station is. That's not what they do. they get their information in a completely different way and we need to make sure that we're doing them the service of actually reaching out to them in the channels that they actually use. So that means social media, it means like finding those different avenues that they're they're on and communicating in a way that uh they're receptive to. So I think there's a whole thing that comes along with that. Uh but it's it's crucially important. So I really appreciate you raising it.

[01:01:49]>> Thank you. Last question here at least for now. We might bring one more up and then we'll go back to Mr. Day from Mike.

[01:01:54]He asks, "British columbombians want to have assurances that the government will not suppress speech uh any speech. How will you ensure your leadership uh does not suppress freedom of speech?"

[01:02:05]>> Yeah, freedom of speech is hugely important. Um I've been long been an act um an advocate for freedom of speech.

[01:02:12]Even like going right back to the height of cancel culture. One of the first columns I wrote uh in um well it wasn't one of the first ones but early early on was talking exactly about that um and and the need to just not um you know not cave into this idea that just because we disagree with people that we should shut them down. I think it's incredibly damaging to our society to take that approach because we all you know the the best argument to to a bad idea is not to shut it down. It's to actually counter it with better information. And it's that free exchange of ideas that makes us better and makes us grow as a society. Free speech has been under attack for from a whole bunch of different um um in a whole bunch of different ways. We see it on university campuses where I think that we should actually look at um you know pulling our levers as federal as not federal as provincial governments in terms of funding those universities making sure that um that that that that we're saying look if you can't provide free and open discourse on your campus then we are going to u withdraw your funding um you know and we will penalize that and I think that's [clears throat] that's the kind of thing we need to do making sure that we are like setting an example as political leaders um where we're not shutting down debate on ideas in the legislature. Um, I've been critical of um, not to get too deep into the weeds, but I've been critical of different political parties shutting down debate on what's called first reading, where all you do is read a proposed bill aloud. Um, it doesn't mean you agree with it. It just means you're willing to hear it. Lately, there's been this trend of shutting down debate on I've written about this. Um, where you don't even get to hear what's in a bill before you vote it down. I think that is as political leaders setting a terrible example for society because we don't have to agree with each other but we should be able to agree that we can talk to each other about it and even agree to disagree. So I think we've lost our way um and many politicians have lost their way on this front and I really want to try to bring that discourse back.

[01:04:00]>> Thank you. And so as we go into the the closing section here and and bring up Mr. stock day. I just want to reiterate so people understand there's uh 128 unanswered questions that came in during this town hall which is uh amazing to see this level of of political engagement. If you go to our website winforbc.ca, there's a little contact form at the top. We have people of our team monitoring those email boxes and we want to get to your questions if we didn't answer them live on this. Or we also have again our another town hall tomorrow night at 8:00. And if you go to winforbc.ca/events, /events. You'll see we have several town halls planned in the next uh the next 10 days. So, would love for you to hop on there. So, with that, Caroline, I'm going to pass it off to you to to finish things up.

[01:04:39]>> Yeah. Well, look, I mean, I just I I just want to thank you all for being here and uh for for being on this. I it's it's so appreciated. I know how busy people are with their day-to-day lives. I know people have got a lot of stresses and concerns. So, the fact that you took the time to hear me out and ask your questions is so appreciated. Um, and I also want to thank Stockwell Day for being here with us as well. As I've said before, I'm just I'm absolutely honored to have his endorsement and it's been so much fun working with him. Um, just even as part of this campaign. Uh, so thank you. Uh, and look, like I I look forward to your questions in the next uh time that we can get together on one of these town halls or when I'm in your community. Um, and just keep in mind like we can have the best ideas in the world. uh and uh you know, we don't get to do anything about them unless we form government. So, we're going to need your help. We're going to need your help in this leadership race, but most importantly, we're going to lead need your help after this leadership race. Um you know, whether it's me who's successful or another of my competitors, we all have to get involved. We all know what's at stake and we all have to do everything we can to support this party and make sure that we form a good strong majority government in the next election.

[01:05:46]>> Awesome. Thank you. And uh Mr. if I could bring you back up just for uh for some final words, please.

[01:05:53]>> Well, I'm encouraged uh by what I heard here today and glad that people are looking and making a decision. I think with the way you've here, you've heard Carolyn responding. Those of you who are undecided on the call, uh I think you can see why myself and others are supporting her and uh looking forward to the next one. Do not, I can't emphasize enough, as Caroline just said, do not forget to vote. And that, Daniel, the verification process. Uh, actually, my wife and I were in fear and trembling.

[01:06:24]We're not the youngest kids on the block. I thought I was going to have to phone my grandkids to help me. It's actually not that. The ad comes on and says, "It'll only take five minutes."

[01:06:33]And I thought, "Yeah, right. We're going to be here an hour." It only took about five minutes. But there's also resources out there to help people. But you've got to get that vote verified and you got to be there for Carolyn. Thanks Carolyn for being willing to do this.

[01:06:46]>> Thank you.

[01:06:48]>> Awesome. Thank you so much everybody and uh hopefully we'll see you on a future town hall. And again, if you're still undecided and have any questions for uh Caroline Elliot and our team, please do go to that contact page on our website.

[01:07:02]Uh thank you so much and have a great evening everybody.

[01:07:04]>> Thanks everyone.

[01:07:13]Thank you.