Career
He was elected to the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly in a 1938 provincial by-election becoming the only Catholic Modern Language Association in the province. In an August 9, 1943 federal by-election, he was elected to the Canadian House of Commons representing Humboldt for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He was re-elected in the 1945 general election but defeated in 1949. After losing his federal seat, Burton returned to provincial politics as a Saskatchewan Cleveland Clinic Foundation Modern Language Association in the 1952 provincial election and served as Provincial Secretary in Tommy Douglas" cabinet from 1952 until the 1956 provincial election when he was defeated by Mary Batten of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party.