A PC member’s take on Daudrich’s disqualification

Those who pay attention to Manitoba politics will no doubt be aware of a little dust-up happening within the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba. In short, the party has decided to prevent Wally Daudrich from seeking the party’s nomination in the constituency of Turtle Mountain, close to where he lives.

Many supporters of Daudrich have taken to social media to criticize the decision. After all, he has spent months campaigning for this nomination and has sold countless memberships, thereby bringing more members to the PC Party. A common question within these complaints is, “Why is the party blocking Daudrich from becoming a PC Party candidate in a seat he is likely to win?”

Well, allow me to speculate on what, to me, is an obvious issue for Daudrich, the PC Party of Manitoba, and conservative politics in Manitoba more generally.

In February 2025 I attended one of Daudrich’s “meet and greet” events to hear from him during the PC Party leadership race.

At this meeting, Daudrich said the following, unprompted: “We have a homelessness crisis in Winnipeg. I always say where we come from in Churchill we don’t have any homeless people. Anybody take a guess why? When there are serious repercussions for a bad lifestyle, people smarten up very quickly. So my plan is to import 10 polar bears and let them go in front of ‘the Ledge.’”

So, a prominent member of the PC Party of Manitoba publicly stated he would release polar bears in front of the Manitoba legislature in response to a homeless crisis in Winnipeg … because people will smarten up if they face repercussions for a “bad lifestyle.”

As a committed volunteer at and donor to Siloam Mission, I don’t take kindly to an aspiring politician reducing a humanitarian tragedy to a joke, let alone implying that homelessness can be solved by threatening human beings with polar bears. Upon hearing Daudrich’s remarks, and seeing one of his supporters post video of the remarks on Facebook, I contacted reporters and provided them with the instructions on where to find said video.

Suffice it to say — reactions to the ensuing news coverage from people outside the political bubble of a leadership race were striking, and largely unanimous. How could any political party seek to form government in Manitoba led by someone who will joke about threatening people with polar bears?

Whenever the next provincial election is called, we can expect the NDP to argue that it deserves a second mandate to continue building on what it has started. Opposition parties such as the PC Party of Manitoba will need to argue that the NDP’s efforts in its first term in government have not been successful.

Furthermore, to change who gets to form government in Manitoba, the PCs and other parties will have to present platforms and promises that would (in their minds) lead to better outcomes than the current NDP approach.

Now … how does a joke about releasing polar bears in front of the legislature address that issue? It does not — regardless of whether the remark is attributed to a party leader or a party candidate.

People struggling with homelessness in Manitoba aren’t struggling due to a lack of consequences.

I have seen first-hand what severe frostbite does to those suffering from homelessness.

I recognize that seniors with mobility issues rely on Siloam for meals as they cannot afford the cost of rent and groceries. These individuals (and more) are living with the consequences of homelessness every day, while burnt-out staff and volunteers at places such as Siloam Mission work to help them get their lives rebuilt from the ground up. Chronic homelessness is not a “lifestyle choice,” but a failure of government and society to ensure a safety net exists to catch those who have fallen in life.

Homelessness is not solved by threatening people with polar bears (either for real or as a joke).

Homelessness is solved by ensuring people have access to housing, like the many residents of communities in northern Manitoba (including Churchill) who live in units provided by Manitoba Housing. Yes — one of the reasons Wally Daudrich may not see as many homeless people in parts of northern Manitoba is due to a larger supply of government-owned housing as a share of the overall housing stock.

Now, I am not a prominent member of the PC Party, so I cannot say for certain what reason(s) were ultimately used by the party to block Daudrich’s nomination. But I can say this — any political party that wants a chance to form government in Manitoba has to have a realistic plan for how to address the homelessness crisis in Winnipeg and in smaller communities across the province.

Joking about releasing polar bears in downtown Winnipeg is not such a plan and I would like to think the PC Party leadership knows they need to do better than this.

Thomas Rempel-Ong is a volunteer at Siloam Mission.