Voters in northern Saskatchewan will see a familiar face on the campaign trail during this federal election.
Buckely Belanger the former longtime Saskatchewan NDP MLA for Athabasca is standing for the federal Liberals in Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River.
Belanger said the current campaign is different then those he has run in the past due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID-19 obviously prevents us from doing a lot of door knocking, but you look at the network of people that we’ve developed over the years in terms of being able to communicate through the phone, social media is also a good platform,” he said.
Since he’s been out campaigning, Belanger said he’s been hearing about a range of issues from infrastructure to mental health and the way the Catholic Church has conducted itself with unmarked graves coming to light. He added his campaign has been busy since the writ dropped.
“We’ve been traveling everyday, we’ve been talking to people everyday and I think that’s what the people in Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River want, is they want a hard working MP,” he said.
Belanger explained his transition from being an elected member of the provincial legislature to a candidate for parliament began after the last provincial election when he began reaching out to the federal government to see what supports they could provide for communities in the north.
“They engaged back, we had conversations with different ministers on different issues and it really worked out well,” he said.
Eventually, Belanger was contacted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who understood the issues and what Belanger was looking to accomplish.
Saskatchewan not having a member of parliament as part of the government caucus is something Belanger thinks has affected the entire province in a negative way.
“All they’re doing is they’re stopping federal programs from coming in to help Saskatchewan,” he said.
The decision to leave provincial politics was one his former provincial caucus colleagues understood. He added he was thanked for his years of service and his former colleagues wished him well.
“This is something that I had to do, there’s no question about it in my mind, it’s an opportunity and when you have the opportunity to bring change to northern Saskatchewan people, you do not pass that up,” he said.