Province unfairly cancelled former PC leadership candidate’s polar bear off-road tour licences, judge rules

A Court of King’s Bench judge has ordered the NDP government to reconsider granting permits to an ecotourism company that has been prevented from offering polar bear sightseeing tours off road outside of Churchill.

On Friday, Justice Shawn Greenberg ruled the province acted improperly when it decided to not renew permits to Lazy Bear Expeditions for the 2025-26 polar bear viewing season that would have allowed the company to operate tundra vehicles off road in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area.

Lazy Bear lost two of its six ecotourism licences early in 2025. Owner Wally Daudrich, who lost his bid to become leader of the Progressive Conservative party last year, has claimed the company lost the licences to appease his competitors. The remaining licences allow Lazy Bear to operate tours in a part of the area that has roads, but fewer polar bears.

Greenberg found the provincial wildlife branch’s decision to rescind the permits was not reasonable.

The province has claimed cutting the number of permits was done to protect polar bears, but Greenberg said there’s no evidence to suggest that’s the case.

“None of the material in the record supports a need to reduce the number of tundra vehicles in order to address conservation issues,” she wrote.

“Moreover, the timing of (Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie’s) decision to rescind Lazy Bear’s permit also raises questions as to the true purpose of the decision. In my view, the real purpose in rescinding Lazy Bear’s permit was to address the litigation by Lazy Bear’s competitors.”

She quashed the province’s decision to rescind the permits and sent the matters back to Bushie to reconsider, noting that any limits on the number of permits issued should be based on relevant legislation.

Two other companies, Great White Bear Tours and Frontier North Adventures, have had permits for a combined 18 off-road vehicles for years. The province capped the number at 18 in 1984.

In 2020, after several years of applying, Lazy Bear was issued permits to operate two tundra vehicles in the off-road area, raising the total number to 20. The company was informed in February last year its permits would not be renewed.

The two competing companies were unhappy with the decision to grant Lazy Bear permits in 2020. Great White Bear began litigation, Greenberg said, which she pointed to as the real reason Lazy Bear’s permits were being rescinded.

Greenberg found the evidence suggested the number of vehicles viewing polar bears is actually contentious only on the roads east of Churchill, where many tour companies operate with conventional vehicles, rather than in the off-road areas. She noted two lodges on the tundra operated by Frontier North and Great White Bear during the viewing season seem to pose more of a threat than vehicles.

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Late last month, Daudrich and Lazy Bear filed a new lawsuit against the Manitoba government, wildlife officials and NDP cabinet ministers over the issue.

In the new filing, Daudrich alleges the province colluded or conspired with the two firms to destroy his company’s position in the lucrative polar bear viewing tour market.

Further, Daudrich claims, officials punished or put him and his company at a disadvantage “for no lawful purpose including on the basis of their perceived political beliefs and associations.”

Daudrich alleges that includes his prior candidacy for the PC leadership and “false accusations” that Lazy Bear received its off-road permits in 2020 from the PC government “through alleged inappropriate means.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.