- Len Harapiak
Leonard Harapiak (
July 4 ,1942 -) is aManitoba politician. He served in the NDP government ofHoward Pawley , and narrowly lost the party's leadership toGary Doer in 1988.A school principal and part-time farmer, Harapiak first ran for the Manitoba NDP in 1977 in the north-western riding of Swan River. He was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate
Douglas Gourlay , but nonetheless impressed many in the party's leadership. Due to a physical resemblance, he was dubbed the "Ukrainian Bobby Kennedy", and was considered as a leadership candidate in 1979 whenEdward Schreyer resigned. He declined this offer.Harapiak lost to Gourlay for a second time in 1981. He finally won the Swan River riding in 1986, defeating Gourlay by 65 votes. He joined
Howard Pawley 's cabinet immediately after the election, being sworn in asMinister of Natural Resources onApril 17 ,1986 . OnSeptember 21 ,1987 , he was moved to the Ministry of Agriculture.After Pawley's government lost a vote of confidence in 1988, Harapiak ran for the Manitoba NDP leadership as an opponent of the party's establishment. He believed he had a chance of winning after placing a strong second on the first ballot, but was defeated by
Gary Doer on the third by 21 votes (seeNew Democratic Party of Manitoba leadership conventions ). He was defeated by ToryParker Burrell in the general election which followed.Harapiak subsequently left politics, and worked as a director at the
Winnipeg Technical Centre . His sister,Rosann Wowchuk , was appointed as a cabinet minister inGary Doer 's government in 1999.He is also the brother of agronomist
John Harapiak andHarry Harapiak .
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