He was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1969 to 1977, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Edward Schreyer.
[2] He first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1958 as a candidate of the CCF in Ethelbert Plains, but lost to Liberal-Progressive incumbent Michael Hryhorczuk by 981 votes.
[3] He NDP formed a minority government after this election, and Burtniak was appointed Minister of Tourism and Recreation on July 15, 1969.
[1] Burtniak defeated Tory candidate Art Rampton by 999 votes in the 1973 election,[3] and was retained as Highways Minister in the Schreyer government's second term.
[1] The NDP were defeated in the provincial election of 1977, and Burtniak narrowly lost his seat to Tory candidate James Galbraith.