Irek Kusmierczyk (born January 16, 1978) is a

Polish-Canadian Polish Canadians () are citizens of Canada with Polish ancestry, and Poles who immigrated to Canada from abroad. At the 2016 Census, there were 1,106,585 Canadians who claimed full or partial Polish heritage. History The first Polish immigra ...

politician who was elected to represent the riding of Windsor—Tecumseh in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

in the

2019 Canadian federal election The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Members of the House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the maximum four-year term under a 2007 amendment to the ''Canada Elections Act'', ...

. Prior to his election in the House of Commons, he was a city councillor for the

Windsor City Council The Windsor City Council is the governing body of Windsor, Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory ...

representing Ward 7. He received his PhD in political science from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

, an MA in Central and Eastern European Studies from

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

an MSc in government from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, and a Bachelor of Journalism from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

. He worked in government at the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

as an

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

of Canada Fellow and published a book chapter on cross-border environmental cooperation between local governments around the Great Lakes basin. He worked on Species-at-Risk remediation around Ojibway Park as part of the Windsor Essex Parkway Project. Kusmierczyk was born in

Kraśnik Kraśnik is a town in southeastern Poland with 35,602 inhabitants (2012), situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, historic Lesser Poland. It is the seat of Kraśnik County. The town of Kraśnik as it is known today was created in 1975, after the mer ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, the son of Richard Kusmierczyk. His family arrived in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1983 as political refugees after his father was imprisoned as a member of the

Solidarity movement Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

, which opposed the communist dictatorship and established the first free and independent trade union in communist

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

. They immediately settled in Windsor where his father worked as an engineer in the automotive industry. In the

2025 Canadian federal election The 2025 Canadian federal election was held on April 28, 2025, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons to the 45th Canadian Parliament. Governor General Mary Simon issued the writs of election on March 23, 2025, afte ...

, he was unseated in Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore by Conservative candidate

Kathy Borrelli Kathy Borrelli is a Canadian politician from the Conservative Party of Canada. She was elected Member of Parliament for Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore in the 2025 Canadian federal election. Borrelli previously ran in the 2021 Canadian federal e ...

. After an initial

Elections Canada Elections Canada () is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering elections in Canada, Canadian federal elections and Referendums in Canada, referendums. History Elections Canada is an agency of the Parliament of Canada, and reports ...

validation reduced the loss from 233 votes to 77 – 7 short of the automatic 1/1000 votes cast

judicial recount An election recount is a repeat tabulation of votes cast in an election that is used to determine the correctness of an initial count. Recounts will often take place if the initial vote tally during an election is extremely close. Election reco ...

threshold – Kusmiercyk sought and obtained an order for such a recount to be held. On May 23, the recount concluded, affirming Borrelli's victory, but reducing the margin of victory to four votes.

Electoral record

Federal

Municipal

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusmierczyk, Irek 1978 births Alumni of the London School of Economics Carleton University alumni Living people Liberal Party of Canada MPs People from Kraśnik Polish emigrants to Canada Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Vanderbilt University alumni Windsor, Ontario city councillors 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada