Before his election to public office, Hayer was a Surrey businessperson, assistant publisher of the Indo-Canadian Times, Kwantlen University College Governor, and real estate agent, and worked in the restaurant, newspaper, construction, transportation, and forestry industries.
After defeating Doug McCallum, the mayor of Surrey, for the BC Liberal party nomination, Hayer competed for and was elected as the first member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for the riding of Surrey-Tynehead.
[5][6] In 2010, an official with the Dashmesh Darbar Gurdwara (Sikh temple) that is extremely vocal in their support for the Khalistani separatist movement, advised Hayer and moderate Federal Sikh politician Ujjal Dosanjh that their attendance at an annual Sikh religious parade would be at their own risk; this prompted a police investigation, and prompted then-Premier Gordon Campbell to ask temple officials to apologize and Surrey mayor Dianne Watts to consider a review of the status of the following year's parade.
"Part of that decision was that if re-elected as MLA in May 2013, and then left to run as an MP in 2015, it would have triggered an expensive by-election which would be costly for my constituents & that would have been the wrong thing to do for my community," noted Hayer.
[7] Hayer's attempt to be nominated by the Conservative Party of Canada for the 2015 federal election in the riding of Cloverdale—Langley City was defeated in November 2014 by Dean Drysdale.
[8] On 19 July 2021, Hayer announced he had been nominated by the Conservative Party of Canada for the 2021 Canadian federal election in the riding of Fleetwood—Port Kells.
[12] In 2008, Hayer was included by the Vancouver Sun in its list of the 100 topmost influential Canadians of South Asian descent making a difference in BC.
[citation needed] In 2017, Hayer was honoured with the presentation of his 3rd Paul Harris Award on 10 July 2017, by Surrey Rotary Officers.