That larger-than-life Man in the Green Stetson

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Colourful, argumentative and in Canadians' faces, Eugene Whelan would have loved the outpouring of memories and praise at his funeral in February, a eulogy to a bygone era

by BARRY WILSON

Deep into his 1986 ghostwritten autobiography, former agriculture minister Eugene Whelan acknowledged that his wife Liz had received too little recognition. "We don't talk enough about Liz in the book," he wrote (with the help of Rick Archbold). "She'd say that's because I'm too busy talking about myself as usual."

Indeed, Gene Whelan loved the spotlight, loved the sound of his own voice, loved to read his own press clippings. So he would have loved the outpouring of memories and praise after his Feb. 19 death at age 88.

Media reviews were positive, dwelling more on his larger-than-life persona as the Man in the Green Stetson than on his ministerial record.

His funeral was nothing less than a eulogy to a bygone era, a time of towering figures and great political battles. His green Stetson, given to Whelan in Swan River, Man., in 1974, adorned the coffin at the Amherstburg Baptist church.

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien told stories about being a unilingual francophone MP elected in 1962 with Whelan and learning his legendary fractured English from Gino, not known for his eloquence.

Daughter Susan, later an MP, said her dad was a role model. "It was challenging to follow in your shoes. I never even tried to fill your hat."

Whelan's passing, along with that of former Conservative agriculture minister John Wise a month before, really did turn out the light on the last vestiges of an era.

Between them, Whelan and Wise held the agriculture minister's chair for almost 14 years, from 1972 to 1986. They were from the same southwest Ontario rural municipal politics milieu. They liked one another. But in a way, Whelan stood out like no agriculture minister of his generation.

He was one of the most recognizable ministers in Pierre Trudeau's governments, not just for his hat and fractured English, but also for his role in defending farmers and staring down Food Prices Review Board chair Beryl Plumptre in the mid-1970s over food price hikes.

His policies were often controversial, including his staunch defense of the emerging supply management sector in its early years and his failed and unpopular attempt (at least among cattlemen) to promote supply management for that sector.

He didn't always win his battles – failing to extend marketing boards to cattle, losing a fight to create a "farmers' bank" and seeing his dream of an agricultural export Crown corporation, Canagrex, sabotaged by Liberal colleagues in cabinet and then the subsequent Progressive Conservative government.

Then came 1984 when he came last in a bid to become federal Liberal leader, was dropped from cabinet by winner John Turner, appointed ambassador to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and then fired from the job by the new PC government. Whelan groused that he had been fired by two prime ministers.

But for all those setbacks, Whelan was the third-longest-serving agriculture minister in Canadian history and created a profile for the portfolio no one ever has matched.

He was colourful, argumentative, entertaining and in Canadians' faces. Ministers since then often have done yeoman's work but never attained the profile.

When he was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2001, Whelan's citation read: "a colourful, outspoken, strong and determined advocate for Canadian farmers."
That was Gene Whelan. BF

Barry Wilson is a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery specializing in agriculture.