Kathy Borrelli to be new Conservative candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore
Borrelli previously ran for the Conservatives in the riding in 2021
The Conservative Party of Canada has a new but familiar candidate for the federal riding of Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore: Kathy Borrelli.
Borrelli replaces Mark McKenzie, who was removed as the party's candidate for the riding due to controversial past comments on the death penalty.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, her name was still not listed on Elections Canada web page for the riding.
But Borrelli's husband — former city councillor Paul Borrelli, who is president of the Conservative electoral district association for Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore — announced his wife's candidacy in a Facebook post, and Kathy Borrelli verbally confirmed her candidacy to CBC Windsor.
It's not clear what process resulted in Borrelli becoming the candidate to replace McKenzie. Prior to McKenzie's appointment in late March, Borrelli was among the area's CPC members who sought the candidacy.
Several members had also publicly stated their hopes to replace McKenzie, such as Tige Melton and Victor Green.
Kathy Borrelli previously ran as the CPC candidate for the Windsor-Tecumseh riding in Canada's 2021 federal election.
She came in third in that race, with her 14,605 votes placing her a few thousand votes behind Cheryl Hardcastle for the NDP and the victor — Irek Kusmierczyk for the Liberals.
McKenzie was pushed out of the candidacy for Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore as a result of the emergence of an excerpt from a February 2022 comedy podcast.
On the podcast, McKenzie stated he was in favour of the death penalty, laughed about public hangings and the electric chair, and suggested Justin Trudeau as someone deserving the death penalty.
Nominations for candidates in all ridings closes April 7.
