A Conservative candidate says he has been removed by the party over past comments he made in a podcast suggesting former prime minister Justin Trudeau should face the death penalty.
Mark McKenzie, who was seeking a seat in the Ontario riding of Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore, told Global News in an interview Tuesday that the remarks he says he made while co-hosting a comedy podcast in 2022 were “all a joke” and he regrets making them.
In the podcast, McKenzie also voiced his support for public hangings.
Mackenzie, who is a city councillor in Windsor, Ont., said his comments were taken out of context, adding that he doesn’t stand by them.
“My co-host at the time was not a big fan of Justin Trudeau, so we jokingly said about public hangings in other countries. It was all a joke. It was a comedy podcast, right?” McKenzie said.
He said he was disappointed to hear that the party no longer wants him to be a candidate, but admitted that his “off-the-cuff” remark was “in poor taste.”
“I got a call this morning from some party officials and they asked about the podcast. They said, ‘Well, do you remember it?? And I said, ‘Well, yeah, I said that.’ And they said, ‘Did you disclose it?’ I said yes, it was disclosed. I said I put everything on my application like that I had this podcast that I was on the radio,” he said.
“I said, ‘I don’t have somewhere where I can give you unless you want a hard drive with two, 300 gigs worth of audio from my past 20 years which some of that you know we didn’t even have audio files when I got into radio is still reel to reel. So I said, ‘You know I’m sure there’s a lot out there.'”
McKenzie said he received a call from the party Tuesday morning asking about his podcast and the comments he made.
Shortly afterwards, before he says he had time to send them the audio files, McKenzie received another call from top party brass informing him that he was no longer the party’s candidate in the riding, he said.
McKenzie alluded to his time as a radio host for a Bell Media-owned radio station, where he said he was encouraged to be “edgy.”
McKenzie made the comments in his podcast, where he said advertisers encouraged him to take a similar tone.
“It was during a very controversial time in our country with the lockdowns and everything like that,” he said.
“Looking back now, I shouldn’t have said especially the public hangings and that type of stuff,” McKenzie said, adding that he does not support the practice.
CTV News first reported on Mackenzie’s removal on Tuesday after it said it has obtained audio of the episode that was released in February 2022.
It was around the time when the so-called “Freedom Convoy” movement, protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other public health measures like lockdowns, had blockaded downtown Ottawa and border crossings.
McKenzie said he had hoped to speak with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to apologize, but said he hasn’t heard from the party since the morning.
He also said he offers an apology to Trudeau for his comments.
Global News has reached out to the Conservative Party for comment, but did not get a response by the time of publication.
The controversy comes a day after another federal candidate, Liberal Paul Chiang, announced he was stepping down as the candidate in the Markham-Unionville riding following comments he made in January that Conservative Joe Tay should be turned over to Chinese officials in return for a bounty.
Carney had said prior to that decision that the remarks were “deeply offensive” but that Chiang “has my confidence.”
At a campaign stop in Edmonton Tuesday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was asked about the controversies surrounding the Liberal and Conservative candidates.
He said so far, his party has not had any similar circumstances.
“If things arise, though, we will make the best decision for our country, for our democracy, and so we’ll be prepared to do that,” Singh said.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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