He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1949 to 1962, initially for the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and later for its successor party, the NDP.
He was also president of the Winnipeg Ukrainian and Professional Business Men's Club, and the Manitoba Teachers' Society.
[1] Hawryluk finished fourth on the first ballot, and was declared elected on the eighth count.
He defeated Bill Kardash,[1] the last Communist to serve in the Manitoba legislature, by 825 votes.
He lost his seat in the 1962 election to Mark Smerchanski, a Liberal Party[1] organizer who was also a prominent member of Winnipeg's Ukrainian community.