Hanger came to the House of Commons when he won the largest plurality of votes in Calgary Northeast in the 1993 Canadian federal election.
He was seen as one of the more radical members of the Reform Party, with these views culminating in March 1996 when he announced that he supported corporal punishment and had booked a trip to Singapore to investigate its use of caning in deterring crime.
[1] Hanger was the Official Opposition critic for Citizenship and Immigration (2001–2004), with special responsibility for Foreign Credentials (2004).
In the summer of 2001, Hanger was the first Alliance MP to be suspended from caucus for criticizing the leadership of Stockwell Day.
[2] However, he did not become a member of the Democratic Representative Caucus, as he accepted the September 10, 2001, reinstatement offer that was made to all the dissident MPs.