Makarchuk was born in Saskatchewan in 1929.[2] In 1959, as a first year student at the University of Toronto, Makarchuk offered to underwrite a Canadian intercollegiate hockey championship between the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's ice hockey team and University of SaskatchewanHuskies as there was no national playoff between eastern and western Canadian regional hockey champions. The University of Saskatchewan accepted the offer but it was rejected by the University of Toronto.[3][4] A national university hockey championship, the University Cup was ultimately established in 1963. He then moved to Ontario and worked as a journalist for the Brantford Expositor.
He was elected to the provincial riding of Brantford to the Ontario legislature in 1967.[8] He served a term before being defeated in 1971 by Progressive ConservativeDick Beckett.[9] He was then elected to Brantford city council as an alderman in 1972.
Makarchuk returned to Brantford City Council by winning a seat in the 1982 municipal election, serving for a three-year term as councillor for ward 4 before retiring from politics in 1985.