Jack Burnett Murta was born May 13, 1943 in Carman, Manitoba, the son of John James Murta and Jean (Burnett) Murta. He received his elementary and high school education in Graysville, a hamlet near the family farm, and graduated from the Diploma course in Agriculture at the University of Manitoba in 1964. He married Ida Judith Scott on October 23, 1965 and they had two children together, Scott Burnett and Tracy Judith. They divorced in 1977. Murta married Lynda E. (Morris) Grayson-Bell on May 27, 1977. They had three children together, Meaghan, Shevaughn and Liam.

Murta was first elected to the House of Commons, as a Progressive Conservative, for Lisgar riding on November 16, 1970 in a by-election following the death of the previous incumbent, George Muir. Murta was re-elected in the general elections of 1972, 1974, 1979, 1980, and 1984.

Before the formation of the Conservative government in 1979, Murta served as opposition critic for agriculture, then transportation, air transportation, and international trade. Under Prime Minister Joe Clark he became Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and chaired the Emergency Grain Movement Task Force. During this period he became active in the Canada-United States Interparliamentary Group especially in its Committee on wheat. Back in opposition, Murta was named in 1981 to the Sub-Committee on Latin America and the Caribbean, and in 1982 to the Board of Directors of the Parliamentary Centre for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. Under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney he was sworn in as a Privy Councillor with his appointment as Minister of State for Multiculturalism (September 1984-August 1985). Subsequently he served as Minister of State (Tourism) (August 1985-June 1986).