B.C. Conservatives drop, distance themselves from Victoria-Beacon Hill candidate after controversial tweets surface

Joachim Agou has been jettisoned by the B.C. Conservative Party after a series of tweets the candidate for the Victoria-Beacon Hill riding posted last year, which called Pakistan a “sh–hole” country and encouraged violence against Palestinian protesters.

Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson moved swiftly after being asked about it by media on Thursday morning, removing Agou from his party’s rolls less than two hours after being questioned on it.

“There is no excuse for this. I will not tolerate it. The candidate in Victoria-Beacon Hill is no longer a Conservative candidate. If elected, he will not serve in the (caucus),” he said in a statement.

Agou, in the now-deleted posts, had commented on a post of a car crashing into a crowd of pro-Palestine protesters in Lausanne, Switzerland, last year, saying: “He should have reversed too!” He also posted a meme of U.S. President Donald Trump looking out the window of a plane, remarking on how Pakistan looked like a “sh–hole”, only to be informed that it was London.

NDP candidate for Surrey City Centre, Amna Shah, called on Doerkson to oust Agou for his “horrific racism.”

Agou was supposed to meet with residents from his riding in Victoria at a café on Thursday, but was intercepted by CTV news and other journalists on the way, and ended up walking past the café to his car and drove away. He didn’t answer questions about the social media posts, whether he had posted them, if he supported Palestinian protests or the Pakistani community, only telling CTV’s Rob Buffam he would “look into it.”

Agou’s bio and name have been removed from the B.C. Conservatives’ website, and he has not said whether he would continue to run as an independent in the riding.