Hayhurst first ran a seat in the House of Commons of Canada in the 1930 Canadian federal election as a Liberal candidate in the Wetaskiwin district.
Paul Lesiuk, a teacher of Ukrainian background, actually received the greatest number of votes, but the board decided to give the nomination to Hayhurst, the second-place candidate.
[1] He narrowly defeated Co-operative Commonwealth Federation incumbent Michael Luchkovich in a hotly contested five-way race.
He occasionally made parliamentary statements in support of Ukrainian national aspirations, but had difficulty communicating with his constituents.
Many Ukrainian members of the Social Credit party asked him to seek re-election in Athabaska rather than run again in Vegreville in the 1940 federal election.