Harry Harapiak

Who was Harry Harapiak?

Harry Myrislaw Harapiak was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1981 to 1990, and was a cabinet minister in the New Democratic Party government of Howard Pawley. His brother Leonard Harapiak was also a cabinet minister in the Pawley administration, and his sister Rosann Wowchuk was a cabinet minister in the governments of Gary Doer and Greg Selinger and retired before the 2011 Manitoba election.

The son of William John Harapiak and Mary Philipchuk, Harry Harapiak was born in Cowan, Manitoba and was educated there, at Minitonas College and at Coniston Continuation; he did not attend university. In the 1950s, he left the family farm to work at the Inco mines in Sudbury. He married Carol Anne Eastwood in 1962 in Coniston, Ontario and they had five children together - Marianne, Mark, Christine, Kelly and Chad. He returned to farming in Manitoba the following year. After a few years of subsistence farming, he began work with the Canadian National Railway. Harry served as a Kelsey School Board trustee in The Pas, Manitoba from 1973 to 1981.