Eugene Whelan

The Honourable Eugene Whelan
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Essex South
In office 1962–1968
Preceded by	Richard Thrasher
Succeeded by	District was abolished in 1966
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Essex (renamed Essex—Windsor in 1972)
In office 1968–1984
Preceded by	District was created in 1966
Succeeded by	Steven Langdon
Senator for South Western Ontario
In office August 9, 1996 – July 11, 1999
Appointed by	Jean Chrétien
Warden of Essex County, Ontario
In office 1962–1963
Personal details
Born	(1924-07-11)July 11, 1924 Amherstburg, Ontario
Died	February 19, 2013(2013-02-19) (aged 88) Amherstburg, Ontario
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Elizabeth Pollinger
Children	Theresa Whelan, Susan Whelan, Cathy Whelan
Residence	Amherstburg, Ontario
Cabinet	Minister of Agriculture (1972-1979 & 1980-1984)

Eugene "Gene" Francis Whelan, PC OC CD PAg, LLD, /ˈhwiːlən/, ((1924-07-11)July 11, 1924 – (2013-02-19)February 19, 2013) was a Canadian politician, sitting in the House of Commons from 1962 to 1984, and in the Senate from 1996 to 1999. He was also Minister of Agriculture under Pierre Trudeau from 1972 to 1984, and became one of Canada’s best-known politicians. During his career, he would meet Queen Elizabeth II, help Canada beat U.S. president Richard Nixon to the punch in “opening up” China, and play a catalyzing role in the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War.

Born in Amherstburg, Ontario, the son of Charles B. Whelan and Frances L. Kelly, he was educated in Windsor and Walkerville. In 1960, Whelan married Elizabeth Pollinger. He died at his home in Amherstburg on February 19, 2013 following complications from a stroke. In an editorial immediately following his death, the Windsor Star said:

He was folksy, flamboyant and colourful. He was the farmer in the iconic green Stetson. He was blunt and rough around the edges. At times he was the antithesis of all things politically correct.

And, while nobody said it in so many words, he was also the guy who made being minister of agriculture seem almost sexy. Perhaps that’s because being in a Pierre Trudeau government was sexy in itself. Regardless, Whelan is likely the only MP to hold that post and have his name remembered because of it.

Political career

Whelan entered municipal politics at age 21, first as school trustee for the separate school board of Anderdon Township, and then as councillor and eventually reeve of the township council, becoming warden of the Essex County council in 1962. During that time, he also worked as a farmer and was a director and president of the Harrow Farmer’s Co-operative, served on the Board of United Co-operatives of Ontario and was a founding member of the Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Ontario assembly in 1959.

Whelan first won a seat in the House of Commons in the 1962 election representing the southwestern Ontario riding of Essex, and held it until his retirement in 1984.

In 1972, Whelan became Minister of Agriculture in the cabinet of Pierre Trudeau, and held the position until Trudeau's retirement in 1984 except during the 1979-1980 Joe Clark government. During his time as Minister, he promoted the extension of national marketing boards — previously implemented with the creation of the Canadian Dairy Commission in 1970 — to eggs in 1972, turkey in 1974, and chicken in 1978, which were placed under the supervision of the National Farm Products Council. For those commodities not under supply management, he fought to maintain a level playing field in world markets at a time of heavy subsidization in other countries. He was successful in getting the Canadian government to increase its support for farmers, through amendments to the Agricultural Stabilization Act and the introduction of the Western Grain Stabilization Act. In 1977, the Advance Payments for Crops Act was passed, which guaranteed loans to producers requiring advance payments for perishable crops. He opened markets in the Soviet Union for Canadian wheat, and established legislation to protect fruit and vegetable growers from processor bankruptcies. He also restricted the powers of the Canadian Wheat Board, allowing private-sector feed grain trading and interprovincial movement of feed.

Whelan was one of Pierre Trudeau's best constitutional campaigners. However, in 1976 angry Quebec dairy farmers threw diluted milk on Whelan after cabinet refused to approve dairy subsidies to compensate farmers in a collapsed world market. Whelan said this refusal helped elect the Parti Quebecois in rural ridings that fall.

He became a well-known figure because of his his green stetson hat and being an ardently vociferous advocate for the agricultural sector with a habit for plain-spokenness (which occasionally got him in trouble). In response to complaints voiced over the cost of food, wishing to stress that the average farmer received little profit in producing, he said:

The cost of cars, fur coats, housing, booze, travel goes up and who gets excited? Nobody, because they don’t buy these things every day. Potatoes go up a few cents and my God, everybody’s crying.

During his last term as Minister of Agriculture, Whelan became good friends with Aleksandr Yakovlev, then the USSR's Ambassador to Canada, as both men were ardent agriculturalists. The relationship became so close that Pierre Trudeau called him in to give assurance that he had not divulged any national secrets, as Whelan was a member of the Cabinet defence committee. When Mikhail Gorbachev, then Soviet Minister of Agriculture, came to Canada in 1983, Yakovlev connected Gorbachev with Whelan, who arranged a three-week tour across Canada for both Soviet officials, accompanied fully by Whelan. In 2013, Jean Chrétien recalled Gorbachev experiencing Canada up close, when the tour came to Windsor:

“He came to Windsor and introduced him to the life of a Canadian,” Chretien said. “He was amazed at the food processing in Canada, to have all the food available so quickly. Later on, they were driving and he was marvelling to see two cars in front of every house.”

The group stopped in front of one blue-collar home.

“Gorbachev said, ‘Do you know them?’ And Gene said, ‘I don’t know them, but they know me,’” Chretien recalled. “So they knocked on the door and went into the house. Gorbachev was very impressed by that.”

At the end of that tour, the Whelans hosted a farewell reception for Gorbachev at their Amherstburg home. It was at this reception, in the evening of 19 May 1983, that Yakovlev and Gorbachev took a private walk into a corner of the Whelans' back yard, had an earnest discussion, and resolved that the old ways in the USSR had to end. According to Yakovlev's own words, this was where perestroika was born, with 80% of its features covered in that brief time in Whelan's back yard.

In an interview years later, Yakovlev recalled:

At first we kind of sniffed around each other and our conversations didn't touch on serious issues. And then, verily, history plays tricks on one, we had a lot of time together as guests of then Liberal Minister of Agriculture Eugene Whelan in Canada who, himself, was too late for the reception because he was stuck with some striking farmers somewhere. So we took a long walk on that Minister's farm and, as it often happens, both of us suddenly were just kind of flooded and let go. I somehow, for some reason, threw caution to the wind and started telling him about what I considered to be utter stupidities in the area of foreign affairs, especially about those SS-20 missiles that were being stationed in Europe and a lot of other things. And he did the same thing. We were completely frank. He frankly talked about the problems in the internal situation in Russia. He was saying that under these conditions, the conditions of dictatorship and absence of freedom, the country would simply perish. So it was at that time, during our three-hour conversation, almost as if our heads were knocked together, that we poured it all out and during that three-hour conversation we actually came to agreement on all our main points.

Whelan ran to succeed Trudeau at the 1984 Liberal leadership convention, but came in last. When he announced that he was running, he said:

I don't think there is any politician that is as well known in the world as I am.

In 1996, Whelan was appointed to the Senate by Jean Chrétien, and served in the chamber until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in 1999.

International appointments

He served as president of the United Nations World Food Council from 1983 to 1985.

Eugene Whelan was appointed as Canadian ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, prompting Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leader Brian Mulroney to promise to rescind the appointment if he became Prime Minister. Mulroney won the 1984 election, and recalled Whelan as one of his first acts of office.

Honours

The following honours were conferred on Whelan:

• In 1983, an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Windsor.
• In 1987, Officer of the Order of Canada.
• In 2001, induction into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame
• In 2001, induction into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame

In 1984, the Woodslee soil substation of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre, located at Woodslee, Ontario, was renamed as the Honourable Eugene F. Whelan Experimental Farm.

Family

Whelan had three daughters, of whom Susan Whelan was elected to the House of Commons in 1993 in her father's old riding and, in 2002, became Minister of International Trade in Chrétien's cabinet. She was dropped from Cabinet when Paul Martin became prime minister. Whelan had a brother, Edward, who served in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.

Electoral record

Essex South

1962 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	WHELAN, Eugene	11,397	48.7	+13.6
	Progressive Conservative	THRASHER, Richard D.	10,409	44.4	-16.8
	New Democratic	CERVIN, Val	1,342	5.7	+2.0
	Unknown	BACKER, Jack	284	1.2	+1.2
Total valid votes			23,432	100.0%

1963 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	WHELAN, Eugene F.	12,947	50.7	+2.0
	Progressive Conservative	THRASHER, Richard Devere	12,178	47.7	+3.3
	Social Credit	BACKER, Jack	419	1.6	-4.1
Total valid votes			25,544	100.0%

1965 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	WHELAN, Eugene F.	12,887	53.1	+2.4
	Progressive Conservative	THRASHER, Richard D.	10,072	41.5	-6.2
	New Democratic	BERTRAND, Donald E.	1,329	5.4	+3.8
Total valid votes			24,288	100.0%

Essex

1968 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Eugene Whelan	14,707	49.7%	-3.4
	New Democratic	Ralph N. Wensley	9,399	31.8%	+26.4
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Taylor	5,485	18.5%	-23.0
Total valid votes			29,591	100.0%

Essex-Windsor

1972 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Eugene Whelan	19,793	48.0%	-1.7%
	New Democratic	Ralph N. Wensley	16,503	40.0%	+8.3%
	Progressive Conservative	Edmund A. Michael	4,929	12.0%	-6.6%
Total valid votes			41,225	100.0%

1974 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Eugene Whelan	24,357	55.2%	+7.1%
	New Democratic	Charles Brooks	15,656	35.5%	-4.6%
	Progressive Conservative	Dennis Herring	4,148	9.4%	-2.6%
Total valid votes			44,161	100.0%

1979 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Eugene Whelan	20,373	44.3%	-10.9%
	New Democratic	Steven Langdon	18,603	40.4%	+5.0%
	Progressive Conservative	Kathy Flood	6,875	14.9%	5.6%
	Marxist–Leninist	Pete Ewart	144	0.3%
Total valid votes			45,995	100.0%

1980 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Eugene Whelan	24,651	51.3%	+7.0%
	New Democratic	Steven Langdon	19,123	39.8%	-0.7%
	Progressive Conservative	Kathy Flood	4,184	8.7%	-6.2%
	Marxist–Leninist	Peter Ewart	103	0.2%	-0.1%
Total valid votes			48,061	100.0%

Further reading

• Eugene Whelan; Rick Archbold (1986). Whelan: The Man in the Green Stetson. Toronto: Irwin Publishing. p. 322. ISBN 0-7725-1621-9.
• "Eugene F. Whelan fonds". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved February 20, 2013.
• "Photos: Senator Eugene Whelan". Windsor Star. February 20, 2013. Retrieved February 20, 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
• "Photos: Eugene Whelan: The Early Years". Windsor Star. February 20, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)