Ward 4 city councillor Mark McKenzie is officially out as the Conservative candidate in the riding of Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore.
"From what I understand my name will no longer be on the ballot," says McKenzie. "I have officially withdrawn as a candidate."
McKenzie says he withdrew as the party's candidate on Wednesday after signing a resignation form and handing it in to Elections Canada.
He tells AM800 news, he had some demands for the party before he officially resigned.
McKenzie says the party met his demands which included payment to all his vendors, payment to all his staff and anyone who made a donation to his campaign would get a full refund.
He says he was not going to withdraw until the party met his demands and feels his demands were reasonable.
"From what I understand was that if I didn't withdraw, I actually still would have been on the ballot as the Conservative party candidate," he says. "So I was the only one who could actually do that. The party couldn't even just take me off and have me listed as an independent, it had to come from me and so I had some demands from the party before I did that but I did end up doing that."
McKenzie says the party promised to meet his demands.
"They rushed and got everything done within a days time and I said okay, now that you've done that all give you my word that I will resign and withdraw from the race and so I did sign that piece of paper and handed it in to Elections Canada yesterday," says McKenzie.
As AM800 news reported on Tuesday, the Conservatives dumped McKenzie for comments he made on a 2022 podcast about public hangings.
McKenzie joked on the podcast that former prime minister Justin Trudeau should receive the death penalty.
The episode of the "Mark and Chris Podcast" was released at the end of the Freedom Convoy in February 2022 that took over downtown Ottawa for three weeks amid political division over pandemic restrictions and mandates.
McKenzie says he did disclose the podcast to the party and says he will not be running as an independent.
He says he will be staying on as the ward 4 councillor in Windsor.