Saskatchewan provincial politics He was originally elected to the Legislative Assembly in the
1995 general election as a
Liberal member. He left the party to join the NDP in 1998, recontesting his seat in a
by-election in which he attained 93.64 per cent of the vote, the second highest margin of victory ever attained by an electoral candidate in the province. He was swiftly placed in the cabinet by then Premier Roy Romanow. Belanger was re-elected in every provincial election to follow, most recently in the
2020 general election. Belanger was a candidate in the
2001 Saskatchewan New Democratic Party leadership election, which was held after
Roy Romanow announced his intention to resign as premier and party leader. He placed seventh, and
Lorne Calvert was subsequently elected leader. During his time as an MLA, Belanger served for almost a decade as a key member of the Roy Romanow and Lorne Calvert governments, including serving as minister for the Environment and Resource Management, associate minister for Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs, and minister of Northern Affairs. Prior to his election to the Saskatchewan legislature, Belanger served as mayor of
Île-à-la-Crosse from 1988 to 1994 and worked as a journalist and administrator for
MBC Radio. On August 15, 2021 he resigned from the legislature to run in the
2021 Canadian federal election, as a federal Liberal in Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River. He was defeated by Conservative candidate Gary Vidal. He was subsequent elected to again serve as mayor of
Île-à-la-Crosse in 2024.
Federal politics Belanger ran in the
2021 Canadian federal election, under the
Liberal Party in Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River. The federal Liberals again chose Belanger as their candidate in Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River ahead of the
2025 Canadian federal election. On May 13, 2025, he was appointed Secretary of State (Rural Development). ==Personal life==