Conservatives drop Windsor’s Mark McKenzie over death penalty comments

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The Conservative Party of Canada dropped Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore candidate and city councillor Mark McKenzie on Tuesday over controversial comments that surfaced on the campaign trail.

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In a podcast from February 2022, before he was a politician, McKenzie expressed support for the death penalty and appeared to include then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a list of people who should be executed.

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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was asked about McKenzie during a campaign stop in St. John’s, N.L.

“We fired him. He’s gone,” Poilievre said. “Unacceptable.”

McKenzie made the questionable comments on the Mark and Chris Podcast, a segment of which was obtained by the Star.

“I’m also in favour of public hangings. I think they need to bring that back,” McKenzie said on the episode. “I want the public hanging because it’s longer.”

“I think they should bring back the electric chair as well, but again, only if you’re like a million per cent positive.”

In the podcast, McKenzie called for Canadian serial killer Paul Bernardo to receive the death penalty.

“Just f****** kill that guy. Why are my tax dollars going to keep that guy alive? Charles Manson, like, people like that. Jeffery Dahmer, you know what I’m saying? If you’re 100 per cent certain. (Jeffery) Epsteins, y’know? This is what I’m saying — Justin Trudeau.”

McKenzie laughed after making the statement.

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Most episodes of the now defunct podcast have been removed from the web.

McKenzie, the rookie Ward 4 councillor who only just held his official campaign kick-off event on Saturday, is no longer listed as a candidate on the Conservative Party of Canada’s website.

In a phone interview with the Star on Tuesday, McKenzie said he’d received a call from a Conservative Party of Canada representative that morning. The person asked him to send a copy of the controversial podcast episode, he said.

According to McKenzie, before he could transfer the file, the person called back and said the party had decided not to move forward with him as a candidate.

“It’s disappointing,” he said.

McKenzie said he regrets “the way that it came out and the way that it was said” on a “comedy podcast,” but he affirmed that he supports harsher penalties for child predators, rapists, and violent criminals.

“It was all as a joke, and we were laughing the whole time and clearly not serious at all. But looking back, it was tasteless.”

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McKenzie said he was “doing what I needed to do to support my family, to support my wife and son” after being laid off from his job as a radio host during the pandemic.

The podcast, he said, had advertisers, “and we were doing what our advertisers wanted us to do.”

McKenzie had “dealt with” the podcast, which he called “pretty public knowledge,” when he ran for city council in the fall of 2022. He said a few residents asked him about it. He “put it into context” for them, explaining that it was a joke.

McKenzie thanked his supporters, including volunteers who’ve answered phones, assembled lawn signs, and knocked on doors for him.

“I’m sorry I let you down, and I’m sorry the party let you down — that’s what I’m hearing from a lot of people. They’re saying, ‘We still support you, Mark,’ and they’re disappointed with the party’s decision.”

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Some Conservative members previously expressed disappointment when the party’s national leadership bypassed the traditional nomination process and appointed McKenzie as the candidate in the riding held by Liberal incumbent Irek Kusmierczyk. Liberal Leader Mark Carney on March 23 had called a snap federal election for April 28.

Several people at McKenzie’s campaign office appeared in denial when asked by the Star for comment Tuesday morning, insisting the news was not yet official or verified.

But the Conservative Party of Canada’s official campaign website has removed Mark McKenzie from its list of candidates running in this month’s election.

McKenzie’s removal from the campaign trail comes one day after Markham-Unionville Liberal candidate Paul Chiang stepped aside. In January, Chiang made comments to Chinese-language media that a political opponent should be turned over to Chinese officials in exchange for a bounty.

During a campaign stop in Winnipeg, Man., on Tuesday, Liberal Party Leader Mark Carney said he accepted Chiang’s resignation on Monday night.

“His comments were deeply troubling and regrettable. We will move on with looking for another candidate for Markham.”

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