Maxime Bélanger
His Excellency Maxime Bélanger | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Second Minister of Ainin | |
| Assumed office 17 June 2015 | |
| President | Cao Nima |
| Prime Minister | Marianne de Lotbinière |
| Preceded by | Mohammad Almasi |
| Secretary of State for Finance Treasurer of Ainin | |
| Assumed office 17 June 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | Marianne de Lotbinière |
| Preceded by | David Saint-Denis |
| Secretary of State for Public Safety and Civil Defence Constable of Ainin | |
| In office 1 April 2014 – 14 February 2015 | |
| President | Stéphane Mann |
| Prime Minister | Caroline Évaline |
| Preceded by | Carmen Celice |
| Succeeded by | Gauthier Dieudonné |
| Deputy for Tourres's 2nd district | |
| Assumed office 3 June 2002 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 June 1952 Amis, Saltèrne―Détroit |
| Nationality | Aininian |
| Political party | Citizens' Alliance (2015-present) Democratic (before 2015) |
| Spouse | Marie Bélanger |
| Alma mater | University of Talon |
| Profession | Banking executive |
Maxime Paul Bélanger (born 3 June 1952) is an Aininian politician and the incumbent Deputy Prime Minister of Ainin. He is also the first and current leader of the Citizens' Alliance, a centrist political party that currently forms a governing grand coalition with Prime Minister Marianne de Lotbinière's Social Democratic Party.
Born in 1952 in Amis to an upper-class family, Bélanger worked in finance from a young age. After graduating from the University of Talon with a degree in business administration, he accepted a position at the bank where his father held a senior managerial position, the National Agricultural Bank. He quickly rose through the ranks and, by 1980, he was the head of operations for the bank in Huimont. He was appointed as national chief operating officer in 1994, a position he held until 1999, when the bank merged with the Bank of Beaurepaire to form BNA Beaurepaire. While invited to remain in the new entity as COO, he instead sought political office and was elected as a deputy in his adopted hometown of Tourres during the 2002 election. With his party, the Rally of the Democrats, in opposition for the next twelve years, he took on a prominent role as leader of the party's centrist faction.
Upon the Democrats gaining power in 2014, he became Minister of Public Safety and Civil Defence under Prime Minister Caroline Évaline. After the government collapsed in the wake of the West Aininian crisis, he resigned his cabinet post and left the party along with 45 other centrist Democratic deputies to form the Citizens' Alliance, of which he was acclaimed as leader. In the subsequent 2015 snap election, the Alliance won 130 of 452 seats to become the second-largest party in a hung parliament with a Social Democratic plurality. Shunning the Democrats, the Alliance instead formed a grand coalition with the Social Democrats and the Bloc for Rural Development. As part of the agreement, he was slated to become President of Ainin, but the Democratic-controlled House of Censure rejected his candidacy. Instead, he became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
He is a self-described radical centrist and has been characterised as neoliberal for his promotion of economic liberalism and his criticism of Ainin's large public sector. He has also been described as a civil libertarian for his liberal social policies and belief in small government.