[2] Hlynka was a founding member of the conservative Ukrainian National Federation of Canada (UNF) in 1932 and served for a time as its acting General Secretary.
Hylnka received the greatest number of votes in a field of five candidates, and was confirmed by the Advisory Board after a formal interview.
The second-place candidate, Paul Lesiuk, officially challenged the Advisory Board's decision, and Hlynka's candidacy had to be reaffirmed by Alberta Premier William Aberhart and his cabinet.
Hlynka was the only person of Ukrainian background in parliament from 1940 to 1945, and received extensive coverage from the national press as a community representative[8] Hlynka was a strong supporter of Canada's involvement in World War II, and worked with the Ukrainian Canadian Committee to campaign for a "yes" vote in Canada's 1942 plebiscite on conscription.
[12] Citing the Atlantic Charter, Hlynka argued that the Ukrainian people had a right to self-determination and that an independent Ukraine would help create stability in a post-war Europe.
[13] This proposal was denounced in the Edmonton Journal, which argued that the Soviet Union was playing a vital role in the war effort and could not have its territorial integrity threatened.
[11] He traveled to Europe after the end of the war in 1945, and undertook a fact-finding tour of the camps operated by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA).
He then played a leading role in the public campaign for immigration law reform, which culminated in Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's decision in 1947 to open Canada's borders to able-bodied displaced persons from Europe.
[18] In 1949, he refused to campaign against Nicholas Bachynsky, a prominent Ukrainian Canadian and Liberal-Progressive politician, in Manitoba's provincial election.
In a parliamentary debate, fellow MP Dorise Nielsen accused him of publishing "vicious anti-Semitism" during his time as a newspaper editor.
Hlynka responded that he had never "written anything or said anything which was anti-Semitic" in his life, although he added that "[c]ertain individuals contributed to my publication and I published the things which I felt would be of interest to my people.
While acknowledging it as "an encouraging start to the publishing program of the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies at the University of Manitoba", he also criticized the fact that it was intended more as a tribute than as a comprehensive historical biography.
Melnycky notes that the editors sometimes avoid serious discussion of controversial issues (including the accusations of anti-Semitism), and adds that there is "a certain amount of hyperbole" in the text.