SLOBODIAN: Is Manitoba NDP trying to destroy this Conservative's business?

Is a recent move by Manitoba’s NDP government an effort to protect its political future — or the disputed dwindling number of polar bears on the western Hudson Bay?Premier Wab Kinew stands accused of weaponizing government by using “lawfare” to target a Progressive Conservative (PC) leadership candidate’s polar bear tour business generating $10 million annually in a struggling provincial economy.Of 20 permits issued to three companies for 2025 polar bear viewing tundra tour vehicles to operate on the coastal plains of the Churchill Wildlife Management Area (WMA) where the bears gather before ice freezes on Hudson Bay, two were recently rescinded.They belonged to Wally Daudrich who owns Lazy Bear Lodge and Expeditions in Churchill that offers wildlife and adventure tours. .It’s bad optics.Daudrich is in a two-way PC leadership race. Based on the ratio of 7,500 new memberships sold to Daudrich supporters, he may be positioned to defeat ex-pro football player MLA Obby Khan to become opposition leader on April 26.Daudrich was blindsided by a February 27 letter from Maria Arlt, director of the Wildlife Branch of Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures, saying his tundra buggies permits were revoked.Concerns cited? A decreased polar bear population, a need to protect the “sensitive tundra ecosystem,” and “safety risks” tour vehicles present the habitat.Logic melts away faster than climate fearmongers claim northern ice does. If it’s so dire, don’t the intact permits of Lazy Bear’s competitors Frontiers North Adventures and Great White Bear Tours pose a risk?The Western Standard reached out to Arlt for comment.“Those other companies together have 18 permits, many more than what would be needed to maintain their business presence. But they're taking away only the two I have,” Daudrich told the Western Standard.“The bureaucracy is being weaponized by Wab Kinew against me. This is dirty politics … a pre-emptive strike… lawfare imported from the United States…,” he said in reference to multiple failed lawsuits designed to take down President Donald Trump.“I’d say that the premier knows full well what he's doing. This is no accident. There was no call to us saying ‘Yeah, we're considering cutting back permits.’ What they're trying to do is cut us off below the kneecaps because we've got a 2025 fall season almost full.”Thousands of booked 2025 Lazy Bear tours are impacted. Bookings stretch into 2026 for Daudrich’s polar bear tour business bringing in “close to $10 million one season.”Daudrich pointed to the tariff war threatening to devastate Manitoba’s weak economy.“Our premier is taking (US) liquor off the shelves … then, on the other hand, he wants to cancel permits.”“If we're dealing with the threat of tariffs with the US, why would we want to destroy a business that's bringing in US money and foreign money from other countries into Manitoba?”“For a company that's bringing in tens of millions of dollars of foreign capital, what in the world are you thinking other than the fact that he's a socialist and doesn’t want his competitor to win a contest? Frankly, I think it's actually helping me.”Daudrich will fight the decision.“We’ll put a statement of claim forward as well as a request for a judicial review as well as a request for an injunction. I'm going to be suing the province for loss of income.”“They think I’ll be intimidated by this. It just helps me to double down on what I’m doing.”Daudrich is a socialist’s nightmare. He advocates religious freedom and parental rights. He wants to get woke out of schools, tear down barriers to business and job growth, and unlock Manitoba’s natural resources. He aims to get the PC’s back on track. He’s a harsh critic of COVID mandates and wants amnesty declared for unpaid COVID tickets and paid fines reimbursed. He opposes the carbon tax.His message resonates with Manitobans feeling NDP buyer’s remorse in what the PC’s call an “economic storm.” Under the NDP inflation, hydro bills, grocery prices, crime, and unemployment soared. Education and healthcare remained stagnant. NDP policies drove the province to last place in national business rankings.Daudrich is a political threat.But are polar bear health and lives threatened by slow-moving tour vehicles?“NDP gov't excuse for attacking my business is nonsense. A majority of calories consumed by #PolarBear is Seal, and that is eaten while on the ice. If ice pack is reduced, that has nothing to do with tourists watching them on shore,” Daudrich posted on X March 5th..Has the population decreased or is migration not properly tracked?Findings of a 2021 Government of Nunavut survey referred to by Wildlife to justify rescinding Lazy Bear’s permits seem selective.“This decision is intended to align with Manitoba’s conservation priorities for polar bears and the protection of the sensitive tundra ecosystem,” wrote Wildlife’s Arlt.Lazy Bear was issued permits in 2020. Great White Bear unsuccessfully went to court to revoke them, arguing they were issued in a “discriminatory” and “unfair manner.”“There's been a long-standing feud between the three operators. They don't like me. I'm running for leadership of the PC Party, so Wab doesn't like me,” said Daudrich. “So, you have those two forces working in concert. That's the weaponization of the bureaucracy against me.”Arlt claimed the government is committed to “restoring a fair and transparent allocation process for the future.” She added “thank you for your understanding.” Well, it would be rude to forget one’s manners when dealing a guy a severe financial blow.Arlt wrote the pre-2020 plan setting a limit of 18 vehicle allocations “remains important in light of the continued decline in the Western Hudson Bay polar bear population.”“Additionally, concerns about the potential habituation of polar bears to vehicles, which poses safety risks, further underscore the necessity of this limit.”She pointed to the 2021 Nunavut aerial survey of the Western Hudson Bay polar bear subpopulation.“The results of this survey, along with the demographic and body condition data collected annually by Environment and Climate Change Canada, indicate that totalabundance of polar bears of this subpopulation continues to decline.”And that it’ll only get worse with “climate change.”Two less Daudrich tundra buggies will sure fix that!Authors of the survey were “unable to definitively conclude” whether their observed declining bear population “was the result of reduced survival and recruitment, movement of bears into neighboring subpopulation (emigration), or harvest pressure.” They deemed it “plausible” all factors contributed.Daudrich argued the “province is relying on data that’s not there.”“They cited a study they used to say the number of polar bears has gone down over a period of whatever it was,10 years.”“What they fail to show is the study took two bear populations, the western Hudson Bay and the southern Hudson Bay, which traditionally was considered one population.”“Then they noted that on the western Hudson Bay, there were 224 less bears. Remember, this is just not an arbitrary border between Ontario and Manitoba. The bears don’t respect that. But then the southern Hudson Bay population gained 223 bears.”“The fact that the numbers were so close indicates that there was simply a migration. They’re on sea ice all the time. The ice is moving. It goes back and forth.”He pointed to genetic testing involving bears hit with a dart that takes a blood sample, then it releases itself that indicates migration is a factor.“I believe it was 22% of the bears that they tagged on the southern Hudson Bay population had been caught and tagged in the western Hudson Bay population.”Daudrich claimed the poor health of the bears is “false as well,” based on data from researchers now on the ice.“They’ve seen mothers with three cubs which indicates that the population is actually growing and healthy because most mothers will have one or two cubs, that's the norm. I've seen as many as five cubs with the mom.”“What the province is doing is creating a narrative that is false, saying the bearer populations are down when they're actually not.”Whatever the bear population, nothing justifies taking down a man’s family-owned business built over decades of hard work. It gives the impression dirty lawfare politics may be at play.