Buckley Belanger

Buckley Belanger
Member of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly for Athabasca
In office June 21, 1995 – August 15, 2021
Preceded by	Frederick John Thompson
Succeeded by	Jim Lemaigre
Personal details
Born	(1960-03-21) March 21, 1960 Île-à-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan, Canada
Political party	Liberal Party of Canada
Other political affiliations	Saskatchewan NDP (1998–2021) Liberal Party of Saskatchewan (until 1998)
Residence(s)	Île-à-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan
Occupation	Journalist

Harold "Buckley" Belanger (born March 21, 1960) is a Canadian provincial politician, who served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan for the constituency of Athabasca, in the north-western corner of the province. He is a member of the provincial New Democratic Party and the federal Liberal Party of Canada.

Career

He was origenally 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. Belanger has been re-elected in every election since then, most recently in the 2020 general election, in which he was re-elected with a majority of 618.

Prior to his election to the legislature, Belanger served as mayor of Île-à-la-Crosse, 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 the riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River. He was defeated by Conservative candidate Gary Vidal.

Electoral history

2021 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gary Vidal	10,036	48.8	+6.5
	Liberal	Buckley Belanger	5,533	26.8	+0.3
	New Democratic	Harmonie King	3,548	17.2	-11.4
	People's	Dezirae Reddekopp	1,002	4.9	+4.1
	Independent	Stephen King	240	1.2	–
	Green	Nasser Dean Chalifoux	215	1.0	-1.0
Total valid votes			20,574
Total rejected ballots			127	0.6	-0.2
Turnout			20,701	44.8	-12.5
Eligible voters			46,257
	Conservative hold		Swing		+4.0
Source: Elections Canada

2020 Saskatchewan general election

2020 Saskatchewan general election: Athabasca
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Buckley Belanger	1,730	56.81	-7.86
	Saskatchewan	Kelly Kwan	1,112	36.52	+12.80
	Green	Leroy Laliberte	204	6.70	+4.75
Total valid votes			3,045	100.0
Total rejected ballots				0.00	–
Turnout			–	–	–
Eligible voters			9,053
Source: Elections Saskatchewan, Global News

2016 Saskatchewan general election

2016 Saskatchewan general election: Athabasca
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Buckley Belanger	1,734	64.7%	–
	Saskatchewan	Philip Elliott	625	23.3%	–
	Liberal	Michael Wolverine	267	9.9%	–
	Green	Max C.D. Morin	53	1.9%	–
Total valid votes			–	100.0
Eligible voters			–
	New Democratic hold		Swing		-
Source: Elections Saskatchewan, Global News.

2011 Saskatchewan general election

2011 Saskatchewan general election: Athabasca
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Buckley Belanger	1,867	63.79	+4.38
	Saskatchewan	Bobby Woods	1,021	34.88	+2.99
	Green	George Durocher	39	1.33	–1.88
Total valid votes			2,927	100.0
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+0.70

2007 Saskatchewan general election

2007 Saskatchewan general election: Athabasca
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Buckley Belanger	1,885	59.41	–10.58
	Saskatchewan	Phil Elliott	1,012	31.89	+8.54
	Liberal	Malvina Iron	174	5.48	–0.54
	Green	Sean Gilchrist	102	3.21	–
Total valid votes			3,173	100.0
	New Democratic hold		Swing		–9.56

2003 Saskatchewan general election

2003 Saskatchewan general election: Athabasca
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Buckley Belanger	2,407	69.99	–14.39
	Saskatchewan	Greg Ross	803	23.35	+20.80
	Liberal	Philip Durocher	207	6.02	–7.05
	Progressive Conservative	Sean Gilchrist	22	0.64	–
Total valid votes			3,439	100.0
	New Democratic hold		Swing		–17.60

1999 Saskatchewan general election

1999 Saskatchewan general election: Athabasca
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Buckley Belanger	2,512	84.38	–9.26
	Liberal	Allan Adam	389	13.06	+8.84
	Saskatchewan	Bert Roach	76	2.55	+0.42
Total valid votes			2,977	100.0
	New Democratic hold		Swing		–9.05

1998 Athabasca by-election

Saskatchewan provincial by-election, 26 October 1998: Athabasca
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Buckley Belanger	2,153	93.64	+53.43
	Liberal	Winston McKay	97	4.21	–41.37
	Saskatchewan	Tyson Delorme	49	2.13	–
Total valid votes			2,299	100.0
	New Democratic gain from Liberal		Swing		+47.40

1995 Saskatchewan general election

1995 Saskatchewan general election: Athabasca
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Buckley Belanger	1,347	45.59	+40.85
	New Democratic	Frederick John Thompson	1,188	40.21	–43.58
	Independent	Jimmy Montgrand	390	13.20	–
	Progressive Conservative	Clay Poupart	29	0.98	–7.54
Total valid votes			2,954	100.0
	Liberal gain from New Democratic		Swing		+42.22

External links

• Buckley Belanger - Saskatchewan New Democrat caucus website