Editing Len Harapiak

{{short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = 
| name                = Len Harapiak
| caption             = 
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|1942|7|4}}
| birth_place         = 
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| residence           = 
| office              = Member of the [[Legislative Assembly of Manitoba]] for [[Swan River (electoral district)|Swan River]]
| term_start          = March 18, 1986
| term_end            = April 26, 1988
| predecessor         = [[Douglas Gourlay]]
| successor           = [[Parker Burrell]]
| party               = [[New Democratic Party of Manitoba]]
| religion            = 
| occupation          = School principal, farmer, politician
}}
'''Leonard Harapiak''' (born July 4, 1942) is a [[Manitoba]] politician.<ref name=lam/>  He served in the [[New Democratic Party of Manitoba|NDP]] government of [[Howard Pawley]], and narrowly lost the party's leadership to [[Gary 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 (electoral district)|Swan River]].  He was defeated by [[Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba|Progressive Conservative]] candidate [[Douglas Gourlay]], but nonetheless impressed many in the party's leadership.  Due to a physical resemblance, he was dubbed the "Ukrainian [[Robert F. Kennedy|Bobby Kennedy]]", and was considered as a leadership candidate in 1979 when [[Edward 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,<ref name=lam/> defeating Gourlay by 65 votes.  He joined [[Howard Pawley]]'s cabinet immediately after the election, being sworn in as [[Minister of Natural Resources]] on April 17, 1986.  On September 21, 1987, he was moved to the [[Minister of Agriculture|Ministry of Agriculture]].<ref name=lam>{{Cite web
 |url=https://www.gov.mb.ca/hansard/members/mla_bio_living.html 
 |title=Leonard Harapiak 
 |work=The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba 
 |access-date=13 November 2010 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330171632/http://www.gov.mb.ca/hansard/members/mla_bio_living.html 
 |archive-date=30 March 2014 
}}</ref>

After Pawley's government lost a vote of confidence in 1988, Harapiak [[1988 New Democratic Party of Manitoba leadership election|ran for the Manitoba NDP leadership]] and did better than expected.<ref name="isbn0-8020-8753-1">{{cite book |author1=Rastin, Sandra |author2=Reshef, Yonatan |title=Unions in the time of revolution: government restructuring in Alberta and Ontario |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |year=2003 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/unionsintimeofre0000resh/page/254 254]–5 |isbn=0-8020-8753-1 |url= https://archive.org/details/unionsintimeofre0000resh|url-access=registration }}</ref>  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.<ref name="isbn0-88755-704-X">{{cite book |author=Adams, Christopher P. |title=Politics in Manitoba: parties, leaders, and voters |publisher=University of Manitoba Press |location=[Winnipeg] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-88755-704-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mLQ3Nhdnv5sC&pg=PA126}}</ref>  He was defeated by [[Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba|Tory]] [[Parker Burrell]] in the general election which followed.

Harapiak subsequently left politics, and worked as a director at the [[Winnipeg Technical Centre]].<ref>{{Cite web
 |url= https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/press/top/2001/11/2001-11-16-06.html
 |title= Doer Announces Appointment of Members To Premier's Economic Advisory Council
 |work= Legislative Electronic Publications
 |access-date= 13 November 2010
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121010031546/http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/press/top/2001/11/2001-11-16-06.html
 |archive-date= 10 October 2012
 |url-status= dead
 }}</ref>  His sister, [[Rosann Wowchuk]], was appointed as a cabinet minister in [[Gary Doer]]'s government in 1999.

He is also the brother of agronomist John Harapiak and [[Harry Harapiak]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harapiak, Len}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:New Democratic Party of Manitoba MLAs]]
[[Category:Members of the Executive Council of Manitoba]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Ukrainian descent]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba]]