Buckley Belanger makes a speech following his election win on Monday. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

politics

Liberals Belanger promises bold new path in North Sask. after election win

Apr 30, 2025 | 1:25 PM

“It is clear that the North wants a new path.”

Those are the words of Liberal MP-elect Buckley Belanger, who easily won over voters in the 2025 federal election earlier this week. In the Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River riding, which encompasses Saskatchewan’s Northern Administration District, he won his seat with 65 per cent of the 9,027 votes cast.

Belanger is a longtime Saskatchewan politician having first become an MLA for the Liberals in 1995, before joining the NDP in 1998. He continued in that role until his resignation in 2021 to run as a Liberal in that year’s federal election, where he lost to the Conservative’s Gary Vidal. Vidal decided not to run in Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River riding following electoral district changes in 2024.

“I think Northern Saskatchewan has always been a mix of Liberal and NDP supporters,” Belanger explained. “Many folks have always supported the Liberals federally in Northern Saskatchewan and many of them then vote NDP provincially.”

Belanger explained as an MP, he will focus on the four distinct areas of the riding equally. That includes the Far North, North Central, and West and East sides. He said each of those area have specific needs that he wants to address.

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In doing so, Belanger is promising to work hard, be aggressive, to stay humble, and to never forget where he comes from.

“We got that consistent message from a lot of people and we plan on following that advice, we plan on looking at that regional perspective just to make sure our strategy is complete, and finally, engage the mayors and chiefs and Métis leaders in the northern part of Saskatchewan, to sit amongst them and have a summit, and say ‘where do we go from here?’”

The Liberals will lead a minority government after winning 169 ridings throughout Canada. They were followed by 144 for the Conservatives, 22 for the Bloc Québécois, seven for the NDP and one for the Greens. Belanger noted as the only Liberal to earn a seat in Saskatchewan, he doesn’t feel isolated at all.

“It’s actually an excellent opportunity,” he remarked.

“These Conservative MPs have gone out to Ottawa to bring back information and they shift through that information and the only share the information that they want to share, and too often, we don’t hear about some of the opportunity that the federal government is offering Saskatchewan. Too often, we only hear their perspective, and we have eight people saying the same thing over and over to Saskatchewan, well then Saskatchewan starts to believe a lot of the rhetoric.”

Belanger pledges to build a brave and bold new path in Northern Saskatchewan. He said his leadership will be a journey of economic and social justice by bringing northerners opportunities in a resource rich part of the province.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com