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Serving Agriculture:
Canada's Ministers of Agriculture

Eugene Francis Whelan

Birthplace

Federal Constituency

Education

Professional Background

Political Affiliation

"Paper doesn't feed cows and it doesn't feed people."
-- Eugene Whelan

Political Career

Whelan learned about grassroots democracy from his experiences in municipal politics, working his way from the local separate school board in 1945 to township council and the Essex County road committee in the 1950s and eventually serving as warden of Essex County in 1962. After an early defeat in the provincial election of 1959, he was elected MP for Essex South in the general election of 1962 and held the seat until he retired from politics.

Agriculture and resource issues were Whelan's consistent focus as an MP; he became involved in politics because "he wanted farmers to have a bigger say". He chaired the House of Commons' agriculture committee (1965-68) and served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of fisheries and forestry (1968-70). After the 1972 election he was appointed minister of agriculture, a post he held for the next 12 years, except for the nine-month tenure of Joe Clark's Conservative government in 1979-80.

Whelan took a particular interest in international parliamentary and agriculture organizations, representing Canada at the founding conference of the United Nations World Food Council (1974) and serving as its president (1983-85). As both a minister and an MP, he was active in foreign aid and agricultural development issues and participated in several trade missions and in conferences of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Whelan ran unsuccessfully for the Liberal leadership in June 1984. He decided not to contest the 1984 election and became an agriculture and agri-food policy consultant, continuing his involvement in international agriculture issues. On his retirement in July 1984, he was appointed the first Canadian ambassador and permanent representative to the FAO in Rome. His appointment was cancelled by the Conservatives that October because they felt it was an example of Liberal patronage. He accepted a Senate appointment in August 1996.

Industry Issues

Whelan's government introduced food price controls to offset inflation. Even though the Food Prices Review Board blamed marketing boards and not supermarkets for high prices, Whelan championed farmers' rights to good prices. He saw their problems as, not overproduction, but producing the wrong things for the wrong market.

Departmental Developments

By 1977, the food systems approach had permeated management across the department. The Food Systems Branch was absorbed into the Regional Development Branch. The other five branches were also realigned to promote a "food policy" orientation. A further reorganization in 1978 created the Policy, Planning and Evaluation Branch as a liaison between domestic and international development issues. More and more, the department's work overlapped with food policy work in other departments, and Whelan worked to establish collaborative policies.

Whelan's commitment to international agriculture and his strong personal concern about the potential famine conditions in Africa led to increased departmental participation in many CIDA-approved agricultural research and development projects.

Whelan spent a lot of time in direct contact with departmental staff and is still remembered as one of the most popular and respected ministers. Whelan says, "When I arrived in 1972 I was handed one of the finest outfits in the government... Since Confederation, Agriculture had been the most decentralized department of government... we were doing it before anyone was talking about it".

Accomplishments as Minister

• Whelan was committed to supply management and marketing boards, particularly for the dairy industry. He proclaimed the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency in 1973 and the National Turkey Marketing Agency in 1974 and created the National Chicken Broiler Agency in 1976. He was unsuccessful in achieving marketing boards for other commodities.
• The New Crop Development Fund (1973) helped develop new crops and varieties.
• Whelan wanted to establish a farmers' bank. Although he didn't achieve this goal, amendments to the Farm Credit Act (1975, 1978) raised the ceiling for borrowing.
• The Advance Payments for Crops Act (1977) guaranteed loans to producers requiring advance payments for perishable crops.
• Whelan worked with farm organizations to create CANAGREX, the Canadian Agricultural Export Corporation, as a federal Crown corporation in 1983.

Worth Noting

• Whelan was one of Pierre Trudeau's best constitutional campaigners. But 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 says this refusal helped elect the Parti Quebecois in rural ridings that fall (half of Canada's dairy farmers are from Quebec).
• Mikhail Gorbachev, as Minister of Agriculture for the USSR, visited Canada at Whelan's invitation in 1983 -- his only major trip to a western country before becoming General Secretary of the Communist party.
• Whelan, "The Great Canadian Farmer", was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 1987.
• The Hon. Eugene F. Whelan Experimental Farm near Woodslee, part of the Harrow Research Station, recognizes his contributions.