B.C. Conservatives drop candidate after offensive social media posts
Joachim Agou has been dropped as the B.C. Conservative candidate for Victoria-Beacon Hill. Party leader Lorne Doerkson said that "there is no excuse for this" after offensive social media posts came to light. The B.C. NDP had called for Agou to be fired over "absolutely horrific racism."
Joachim Agou would not answer questions from reporters on Thursday
Katie DeRosa · CBC News
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The B.C. Conservatives have dropped Joachim Agou as the party's candidate for the Victoria-Beacon Hill riding after offensive social media posts.
In a social media post from from Sept. 7, 2025, that showed video of a car ramming into a group of pro-Palestinian protesters in Switzerland, Agou is seen in a screenshot commenting, "He should have reversed too!!!"
In November 2024, Agou also shared a meme that showed U.S. President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and right-wing European leaders that said "Make the west great again."
He also shared a meme on June 26, 2025 that showed Trump looking out from Air Force One.
It read "'Trump: My God, Pakistan looks like a shithole.' 'That's London Mr. President.'"
One of the controversial social media posts shared by Joachim Agou. (X)
The posts have since been deleted.
Agou refused to answer questions from reporters for several minutes on Thursday. He was set to meet with Victoria residents during a meet-and-greet at a café on Victoria's Fort Street.
The candidate would not say if he posted the tweets, if he subsequently deleted the tweets, if he would resign or if he regretted the comments.
He passed by the coffee shop without stopping, and walked several blocks to his car before driving away.
B.C. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson dropped Agou as a candidate a little more than an hour after reporters asked him about the social media posts. (Nav Rahi/CBC)
Asked about the posts during an 11 a.m. news conference in Surrey, B.C. Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson initially said he wasn't aware of the posts.
When a CBC reporter read the posts in detail, Doerkson said he "of course" disagreed with the comments and promised to look into the candidate the "second I leave this podium." An hour and a half later, Agou was removed as a candidate.
"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]," Doerkson said in a statement.
The B.C. NDP candidate for Surrey City Centre, Amna Shah, had called for Agou to be fired for the "absolutely horrific racism" in the posts.
Shah slammed Agou for "attacking the Pakistani community as 'a sh*thole,' joking about killing protestors, celebrating white supremacist figures."
This is the first time the B.C. Conservatives have had to remove a candidate during this campaign.
In Agou's bio, which has since been deleted from the B.C. Conservative website, he's described as a "test and evaluation engineer in the defence sector [who] runs a Victoria engineering consulting and media company."
It's unclear if Agou will run as an Independent candidate.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katie DeRosa is the provincial affairs reporter for CBC British Columbia. She is based in Victoria. You can contact her at katie.derosa@cbc.ca.
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