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About Len Harapiak
- Leonard Harapiak (July 4, 1942-) is a Manitoba politician.
- He served in the 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.
- 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 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, 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 Ministry of Agriculture.After Pawley's government lost a vote of confidence in 1988, Harapiak ran for the Manitoba NDP leadership and did better than expected.
- 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.
- He was defeated by Tory Parker 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 in Gary Doer's government in 1999. He is also the brother of agronomist John Harapiak and Harry Harapiak.
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