He was a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of BC, representing the provincial riding of Maple Ridge-Mission from 2001 to 2009, and Abbotsford-Mission from 2009 to 2013.

As part of the British Columbia Liberal Party caucus, he served as Minister of State for Mining from 2009 to 2011 under Premier Gordon Campbell.

Hawes was born in Edmonton, Alberta,[1] and joined Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) as a loans officer in 1972.

He was re-elected to represent the new riding of Abbotsford-Mission in 2009,[3] and was named to Premier Gordon Campbell's cabinet as Minister of State for Mining.

[6] He instead ran for his previous position as mayor of Mission in the 2014 municipal election, defeating incumbent Ted Adlem.