Dave MacKenzie (politician)

David MacKenzie
Member of Parliament
for Oxford
In office
June 28, 2004 – January 28, 2023
Preceded byJohn Baird Finlay
Succeeded byArpan Khanna
Chair of the Standing Committee on
Justice
In office
June 21, 2011 – February 3, 2013
MinisterRob Nicholson
Preceded byEd Fast
Succeeded byMike Wallace (politician)
Personal details
Born (1946-06-12) June 12, 1946 (age 78)
London, Ontario, Canada
Political partyConservative
SpouseLynda MacKenzie
ChildrenDeb Tait[1]
ResidenceWoodstock, Ontario
Professionpolice officer

David MacKenzie (born June 12, 1946) is a Canadian politician. He is a former member of the House of Commons of Canada, representing the riding of Oxford, Ontario as a Conservative from 2004 to 2023.

Career

Born in London, Ontario, MacKenzie served with the Woodstock City Police from 1967 to 1997, and was Chief of Police from 1987 to 1997. In 1997, he became the General Manager of Roetin Industries Canada.

He first ran for parliament in the federal election of 1997 as a Progressive Conservative, losing to Liberal John Finlay by 1,575 votes. He ran again in the election of 2000, and lost to Finlay by roughly the same margin. The national Progressive Conservative Party had a weak organization in Ontario during this period, and that Mackenzie's vote totals were well above the party's provincial average and that in both 1997 and 2000, the right wing vote was split between the Progressive Conservatives and Reform who later became the Canadian Alliance.

In 2002, MacKenzie was the Bosnia and Herzegovina trainer for the National Democratic Institute in Washington, D.C.

The Progressive Conservatives merged with the Canadian Alliance as the Conservative Party of Canada in early 2004, and Mackenzie joined the new party. Finlay did not run in the 2004 election, and MacKenzie defeated new Liberal candidate Murray Coulter by about 6,500 votes. After the election, he was named as his party's associate critic for National Defence. In the 2006 federal election, MacKenzie was re-elected to his Oxford seat, beating Liberal candidate Greig Mordue by a wide margin. With the Conservative Party of Canada forming a minority government, MacKenzie was selected as parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Public Safety.

In December 2022, MacKenzie announced that he would retire as MP by the end of January 2023.[2] In February 2023, Mackenzie sent a letter to Anthony Rota, Speaker of the house, Caroline Simard, Commissioner of Election Canada, Robert Batherson, president of the Conservative Party, Kevin Price, chair of the party's candidate selection committee, and Mike Crase, the executive director of the party, arguing that the party violated their own nomination rules by allegedly supporting Arpan Khanna to be the party nominee. Mackenzie believes that Andrew Scheer violated House of Commons rules by parliamentary resources to record the endorsement video for Khanna. MacKenzie also questioned Khanna ties to the riding since Khanna was also the party candidate for Brampton North during the 2019 election. Mackenize's daughter, Deb Tait is also running for the party nomination.[3] Tait lost to Khanna, and MacKenzie is backing David Hilderley, who is running for the Liberal Nomination, by arguing that the Conservative Party operates differently from Stephen Harper or Peter Mackay.[4]

The by-election to replace him in parliament is scheduled for June 19, 2023.[5] Citing concerns with the Conservative nomination process, MacKenzie endorsed Liberal candidate David Hilderley.[4]

Electoral record

2021 Canadian federal election: Oxford
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Dave MacKenzie 29,146 47.05 -1.09 $32,605.67
Liberal Elizabeth Quinto 12,720 20.53 +1.24 $25,550.39
New Democratic Matthew Chambers 11,325 18.28 -1.93 $3,373.85
People's Wendy Martin 6,595 10.65 +7.73 $15,390.08
Green Bob Reid 1,683 2.72 -5.12 $0.00
Christian Heritage Allen Scovil 479 0.77 -0.85 $5,613.11
Total valid votes/Expense limit 61,948 99.39 $123,152.84
Total rejected ballots 379 0.61 -0.25
Turnout 62,327 64.89 -1.04
Eligible voters 96,055
Conservative hold Swing -1.17
Source: Elections Canada[6]
2019 Canadian federal election: Oxford
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Dave MacKenzie 29,310 48.14 +2.46 $49,710.46
New Democratic Matthew Chambers 12,306 20.21 +3.66 none listed
Liberal Brendan Knight 11,745 19.29 -12.90 $3,866.13
Green Lisa Birtch-Carriere 4,770 7.83 +4.31 none listed
People's Wendy Martin 1,774 2.91 - $6,624.90
Christian Heritage Melody Aldred 986 1.62 -0.45 $3,632.07
Total valid votes/expense limit 60,891 99.14
Total rejected ballots 528 0.86 +0.44
Turnout 61,419 65.92 -2.00
Eligible voters 93,166
Conservative hold Swing -0.60
Source: Elections Canada[7][8]
2015 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Dave MacKenzie 25,966 45.7 -13.27
Liberal Don McKay 18,299 32.2 +22.66
New Democratic Zoe Kunschner 9,406 16.5 -8.95
Green Mike Farlow 2,004 3.5 -0.83
Christian Heritage Melody Ann Aldred 1,175 2.1 +0.49
Total valid votes/Expense limit 56,850 100.0     $220,268.26
Total rejected ballots 241
Turnout 57,041 68.36 +6.16
Eligible voters 83,431
Conservative hold Swing -17.96
Source: Elections Canada[9][10]
2011 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Dave MacKenzie 27,973 58.90 +6.23 $56,267
New Democratic Paul Arsenault 12,164 25.61 +7.59 $14,065
Liberal Tim Lobzun 4,521 9.52 -9.86 $13,495
Green Mike Farlow 2,058 4.33 -3.24 $12,611
Christian Heritage John Markus 776 1.63 -0.70 $1,478
Total valid votes/Expense limit 47,492 100.00   $85,881.86
Total rejected ballots 179 0.38 -0.05
Turnout 47,671 62.60 +3.58
Eligible voters 76,149
2008 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Conservative Dave MacKenzie 23,330 52.67 +6.13 $57,473
Liberal Martha Dennis 8,586 19.38 -8.70 $50,017
New Democratic Diane Abbott 7,982 18.02 +0.65 $9,242
Green Cathy Mott 3,355 7.57 +4.43 $2,819
Christian Heritage Shaun MacDonald 1,036 2.33 -0.55 $14,229
Total valid votes/Expense limit 44,289 100.00 $82,866
Total rejected ballots 145 0.33 -
Turnout 44,434 59.02
Conservative hold Swing +7.4
2006 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Dave MacKenzie 23,140 46.54 +1.6
Liberal Greig Mordue 13,961 28.08 -2.4
New Democratic Zoé Dorcas Kunschner 8,639 17.37 +2.9
Green Ronnee Sykes 1,566 3.14 -1.2
Christian Heritage John Markus 1,434 2.88 -0.4
Marijuana James Bender 771 1.55 -0.1
Libertarian Kaye Sargent 204 0.41 -0.1
Total valid votes 49,715 100.00
Total rejected ballots 164 0.33
Turnout 49,879 67.14
2004 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Dave MacKenzie 20,606 44.9 -12.5
Liberal Murray Coulter 14,011 30.5 -5.0
New Democratic Zoé Dorcas Kunschner 6,673 14.5 -5.3
Green Irene Tietz 1,951 4.3
Christian Heritage Leslie Bartley 1,534 3.3
Marijuana James Bender 794 1.7
Libertarian Kaye Sargent 226 0.5
Canadian Action Alex Kreider 108 0.2 -0.3
Total valid votes 45,903 100.0

Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.

2000 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Baird Finlay 15,181 35.6 -0.4
Progressive Conservative Dave MacKenzie 13,050 30.6 -1.9
Alliance Patricia Smith 11,455 26.8 +5.8
New Democratic Shawn Rouse 2,254 5.3 -2.2
Independent John Thomas Markus 536 1.3
Canadian Action Alex Kreider 227 0.5 +0.1
Total valid votes 42,703 100.0

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997 election.

1997 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John Baird Finlay 16,281 36.0 -4.9
Progressive Conservative Dave MacKenzie 14,706 32.5 +10.1
Reform Bill Irvine 9,533 21.1 -5.7
New Democratic Martin Donlevy 3,406 7.5 +2.5
Christian Heritage John Zekveld 956 2.1 +0.1
Canadian Action Alex Kreider 192 0.4
Natural Law Jim Morris 181 0.4 -0.1
Total valid votes 45,255 100.0

References

  1. ^ Bowie, Tara (7 January 2013). "No Winners in Laneway Dispute". Woodstock Sentinel-Review. PostMedia. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Veteran Oxford MP Dave MacKenzie stepping down".
  3. ^ "'It pains me to do this': former Tory MP MacKenzie blasts Poilievre and Scheer for favouring Oxford, Ont., nomination candidate". The Hill Times. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Former Ontario Tory MP backing Liberal in byelection in riding". The Globe and Mail. 24 April 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  5. ^ "4 federal byelections set for June in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  6. ^ "forty-fourth general election 2021 — Poll-by-poll results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  7. ^ "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  9. ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Oxford, 30 September 2015
  10. ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived August 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine