WINNIPEG - A candidate for leadership of the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives says he won't apologize for making a joke about tackling homelessness by letting polar bears roam free in Winnipeg.

“I always say where I come from in Churchill, we don’t have any homeless people. Anybody take a guess why?” Daudrich is heard saying on a video of the meeting posted on social media.

“When there’s 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 (legislature) … and let them have at ‘er.”