A lawyer by training, Bellemare first ran for a seat on the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton council (RMOC) in 1994. He was successful, defeating long-standing councillor Fiona Faucher. When the RMOC was abolished with the creation of the larger city of Ottawa in 2000, Bellemare was elected to the Ottawa City Council. In council, he is one of the strongest proponents of official bilingualism and tax cuts. He has also been a longtime opponent of Ottawa's O-Train light rail program and voted for the cancellation of the north-south line extension to Barrhaven which would have been completed and in operation starting in 2009.[citation needed]
