Buckley Belanger is the sole Liberal MP in Saskatchewan. (Liberal Party of Canada)

By Derek Cornet

federal politics

Sask. Liberal MP appointed secretary of state for rural development

May 14, 2025 | 2:03 PM

Liberal MP Buckley Belanger has been named the Secretary of State for Rural Development.

Belanger, who serves as the MP for Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River in Northern Saskatchewan, was appointed to the role by Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday.

“The prime minister wants to make sure that he doesn’t have a large cabinet and being construed as bloated and big,” Belanger remarked.

“What happens as a result of that is a lot of ministers have some heavy, heavy loads. What he has done is complimented some of the ministers with the secretary of states that have specific tasks. The best way to describe it is the prime minister has a very heavy agenda in terms of leading trade and discussions, not only with the U.S., but with the European community as well. He’s also got a domestic agenda. A lot of ministers have these great responsibilities, so he wants to make sure that domestic agenda is also achieved.”

Belanger explained rural development has a fully-fledged office with its own deputy-minister and a number of staff. They will be collaborating with multiple departments to pursue and build upon work that can be achieved in that area.

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Belanger believes he was appointed to the position because the prime minister wants Saskatchewan sitting at the cabinet table.

“We have the portability and the nimbleness to go to different departments and engage them on a number of initiatives that we want to pursue when it comes to rural Canada, in general, and more specifically when it comes to Saskatchewan and Western Canada,” he said.

King Charles III will be in Canada on May 27 to open the sitting at the House of Commons and deliver the Throne Speech. Belanger thinks it’s a good opportunity for Canadians to celebrate their national identity.

“My job as a Saskatchewan MP, and especially a Northern Saskatchewan MP, is to tell the people of Northern Saskatchewan and the province that this is a great country and we can certainly move things forward and we plan on doing that,” he noted.

“We’re excited; we wanted this job, and we are going to make a difference.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com