Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party leadership candidate Wally Daudrich joked to a group of party members this week he could reduce homelessness in Winnipeg by letting polar bears loose downtown.

Daudrich, who operates ecotours to view polar bears east of Churchill, on the coast on Hudson Bay, made the comment as a joke during an appearance at a Winnipeg hotel on Wednesday night.

“We have a homeless crisis here in Winnipeg. I always say where I come from in Churchill, we don’t have any homeless people. Anybody take a guess why?” he asked, eliciting laughs.

“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,” Daudrich said, referring to the Manitoba Legislature.