Appointments to the Senate

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced today that His Excellency the Governor General has agreed to summon Eugene Whelan of Ontario and Léonce Mercier of Quebec to the Senate of Canada.

The appointments are effective tomorrow.

Biographies are attached.

PMO Press Office: (613) 957-5555

Born in Amherstberg, Ontario on July 11, 1924, Eugene Whelan was a farmer and municipal politician before being elected to the House of Commons in 1962. He was subsequently re-elected in 1963, 1965, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1979, and 1980. He was appointed Minister of Agriculture in 1972, a post he retained for more than ten years through the duration of the Trudeau government.

Since leaving Parliament in 1984, Mr. Whelan has served as Canada's first ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and as a consultant in agriculture and agri-food policy.

Léonce Mercier was born on August 11, 1926, in Kénogami, Quebec. He is a businessman who has served his community by making an important contribution to the political process as a political organizer at both the federal and provincial level in Quebec.

He was Director General of the Liberal Party of Canada (Quebec) from 1978 to 1985. He was also Director of the eastern region for the Quebec Liberal Party.

Mr. Mercier was Sales Manager at an automobile dealership in Chicoutimi from 1956 to 1996. He and his wife Micheline live in Saint-Élie d'Orford.


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