The Conservative candidate in the southwestern Ontario riding of Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore is no longer running in this federal election campaign over past comments.
Mark McKenzie is a city councillor and former radio personality in Windsor.
“The comments are clearly unacceptable. Mr. McKenzie will not be the Conservative candidate,” a party spokesperson said.
The development was first reported by CTV News during the second week of campaigning for the April 28 election.
The broadcaster said it unearthed a 2022 podcast recording during which McKenzie expressed support for public hangings and jokingly suggested Justin Trudeau, the Liberal prime minister at the time, should receive the death penalty.
McKenzie was no longer listed as a candidate on the party’s website as of Tuesday morning.
CBC News has emailed and texted McKenzie for comment but he hadn’t responded by publication time.
However, in an interview with radio station AM800, he called the party’s decision disappointing and hoped it would revisit the decision.
McKenzie said he is not in favour of public hangings, but questioned why taxpayer dollars are being used to keep infamous killers alive. He also said his Trudeau comment was a joke.
The deadline for the party to name a new candidate is April 7. McKenzie’s name still appears on the Elections Canada website as a candidate.
Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore is a newly redrawn riding that includes part of Windsor and neighbouring communities.
Liberal Irek Kusmierczyk, who has represented the riding since 2019, is seeking re-election. Alex Ilijoski of the New Democratic Party, Nick Babic of the People’s Party of Canada and Beth St. Denis of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada have also declared they’re running.
Lydia Miljan, a professor of political science at the University of Windsor, noted McKenzie was able to get through the party’s vetting process despite these comments, but acknowledged the Conservatives took swift action.
“Nonetheless, the party did the right thing by saying, ‘OK, we know it now and you are not fit to stand for our party,'” she said.
Chris Tolmie was McKenzie’s co-host on the podcast in question. He said their dialogue was intended to be humorous.
“Obviously, in hindsight, a lot of people have not found that funny,” he said, adding that in today’s political climate, he’s not surprised.
“Words have consequences … If people want to hold him to a standard and don’t believe he should represent Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore, or the Conservative Party, that’s up to them.
“For the most part, the podcast was comedy and joking. Was he serious at the time? You’d have to ask him specifically, but in my mind, I was never serious on that podcast.”
