Windsor city councillor Mark McKenzie is facing scrutiny after comments he made in a 2022 podcast resurfaced this week — including a joke about public hangings and a reference to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as someone who should receive the death penalty.
The controversy led to McKenzie’s removal as the Conservative candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore on Tuesday. Now, attention is turning to his role on city council, as a petition calling for his resignation began circulating online this morning.
In the episode, McKenzie and his co-host were discussing whether Canada should reinstate the death penalty for violent criminals.
While listing infamous offenders like Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer, McKenzie added Trudeau’s name as part of what he later described as a running joke — a comment he now calls tasteless and something he said under the guise of a radio “character.”
According to former city councillor Rino Bortolin, there are limited tools available under Ontario law to remove an elected municipal official from office.
“If he’s not suitable to run federally for a party, why should he be okay to remain on city council?” said Bortolin. “But under Ontario law, it’s very difficult to unseat somebody who was elected to a council seat.”
“There isn’t any formal process to remove the person from the seat unless they did something illegal and were going to prison,” he added.
One avenue for accountability is through Windsor’s integrity commissioner. Residents can file a complaint, triggering an investigation and — if warranted — penalties such as a 90-day suspension of pay or removal from committee assignments.
But the integrity commissioner does not have the authority to force a resignation.
Bortolin said the decision could ultimately rest with voters in Ward 4 during the next municipal election.
“The ultimate test will be an election,” he said. “If he decides to run again, it will be the people of Ward 4 that have the decision to make whether they want him back or not.”
According to McKenzie, the decision to drop him from the Conservative ticket came just minutes after party officials first contacted him about the podcast episode.
“I got a call [Tuesday] morning at 7:30 a.m. from party headquarters, and they said, ‘We have a concern. There’s a podcast. It came out back in 2022 and this is what it says. We have the transcript and we’ve heard the audio,‘” McKenzie said.
“They called back a few minutes later, and said, ‘Don’t worry about sending it. We’ve already made our decision. You are not going to be the candidate moving forward. Don’t speak to the media.’ That’s it. Then, they pretty much just hung up the phone.”
McKenzie said he was disappointed by the party’s response, especially given that he had disclosed his broadcasting background during the nomination process.
“It was a character. Everybody knows when you’re listening to somebody on the radio, it’s a character. You ramp it to 1,000, right? It’s not who I really am,” he said.
McKenzie said he has no plans to resign from council.
“I still am on city council. I was elected on city council,” he said. “This stuff came out before I was on city council, and people knew when I was knocking on the doors that this audio was out there. So I’m not going to hide from anything.”
He also claimed the creators of the petition, which had 350 signatures as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, have been critical of him since his election.
“The individuals who are attacking me, who started this petition — they’ve been attacking me since day one of being elected,” McKenzie said.
When asked if he intends to remain in the federal race as an independent candidate, McKenzie said he has not yet made any final decisions.
