Former agriculture minister leaves a long legacy
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
by BETTER FARMING STAFF
Eugene Whelan, one of the principal architects of Canada’s supply management system, died Tuesday at the age of 88 due to complications from a stroke.
Whelan was at the helm of the federal ministry of agriculture during the 1970s when dairy, egg, chicken and turkey farmers agreed to limit production based on quotas and market demand in return for stable prices.
One of the more memorable political photographs from that period showed Whelan being doused with milk during a 1976 protest on Parliament Hill by Quebec dairy farmers. They were angry that Pierre Trudeau’s cabinet refused Quebec’s demand for more dairy subsidies in the face of a world market collapse.
Elected in 1962 as the Liberal member of Parliament for Essex-Windsor, it took 10 years for him to be appointed to the cabinet as agriculture minister. However, once in he served almost continuously for 12 years from 1972 to 1984 when the Liberals were swept from power. He was appointed to the Senate in 1996.
Known to Canadians as a Stetson-wearing friend to the farmer, Whelan was born in 1924 in Amherstburg near Windsor. His father was a farmer and municipal politician but he died when Eugene was just six. The family farm was lost during the Great Depression.
Whelan quite school at 16 and worked briefly as a tool and die maker before returning to farming. He won a school board election at the age of 21 and went on to become reeve and warden of Essex County before being elected to Parliament in 1962. He was first appointed to the Cabinet in 1972 by Pierre Trudeau.
In a bid for Liberal leadership in 1984, he came in last in a field of seven on the first ballot. He threw his support behind Jean Chretien who lost that leadership race to John Turner. After dropping Whelan from Cabinet in 1984, Turner appointed him ambassador to the United Nations food and agriculture organization in Rome. That appointment was rescinded the same year by Brian Mulroney. BF