Wynnyk attended
Royal Roads Military College and the
Royal Military College of Canada, and he was commissioned into the
Canadian Military Engineers in 1986. He became commanding officer of
1 Combat Engineer Regiment in
Edmonton in 1997, commander of
1 Area Support Group in 2004 and Assistant Commanding General at the
Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan in March 2009. In his speech during the ceremony, Wynnyk gave credit to his parents for supporting him on the path to this point in his career. "My mom Joan, who is here today, has watched and supported my journey in uniform from
cub scout, to
army cadet, to
reservist, to
regular officer," he said. About his late father Walter, Wynnyk said, "As both my high school principal and the
commanding officer of my army cadet corps, it was he who encouraged me to embark upon a career of military service. In July 2019, Wynnyk resigned as Vice Chief of the Defence Staff after he claimed that Chief of the Defence Staff General
Jonathan Vance planned to replace him as the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff with Vice-Admiral
Mark Norman. Wynnyk then claimed these plans were reversed when Vice-Admiral Norman settled with the government and retired from the military. Wynnyk was the fifth vice-chief to serve under Vance. ==Post-military career==