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28 million rotten eggs

Broadcast Date: Sept. 12, 1974

Twenty-eight million eggs have gone rotten, and the news is creating a real stink. The eggs were improperly stored for months, and the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency has had them bulldozed. Some angry consumers are calling for agriculture minister Eugene Whelan's resignation. But Whelan says he's more popular than ever. In this clip, CBC Television's Bill Harrington puts Whelan's claim to the smell test to see if "the whiff of rotten eggs" has damaged his popularity.

Harrington trails the charismatic minister to farm festivals in southern Ontario to get local opinions on the man and the scandal. His investigative techniques include interviewing the son of the "Grape Prince", and surreptitiously dancing his interview subjects over to Whelan's banquet table. Predictably, neither Harrington nor Whelan can resist a few bad egg puns along the way.

28 million rotten eggs

• Eugene Whelan, popular for his straightforward style and trademark Stetson hat, was an Ontario farmer and member of Parliament for Windsor, Ont. from 1962 to 1984. He became Pierre Trudeau's agriculture minister in 1972.

• Whelan was a key figure in the 1974 rotten egg scandal, referred to by some as "egg-gate." The roots of the scandal can be traced to his ministry's creation of the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency (CEMA). CEMA set provincial quotas for egg production, bought eggs from farmers and sold them at fixed (and higher) prices.

• The new system was very controversial. Farmers got higher prices – 20 cents more per dozen by 1974 (though they had to pay CEMA a levy of 6.5 cents per dozen.) But the egg agency immediately ran into problems. Buying eggs from farmers and selling the excess at a loss to bulk buyers and abroad, it racked up a $10 million debt. CEMA soon had to be bailed out by the federal government, which bought 40 million eggs for the World Food Program.

• In stores, egg prices doubled, due in part to the high consumer prices set by the agency. Angry consumers, already increasingly concerned about cholesterol, bought fewer eggs – by some estimates, two dozen less per person per year by 1974.
• The egg agency ended up putting millions of unsold eggs into cold storage and rented warehouses. Stored as long as six months in questionable facilities, millions of eggs began to rot.

• In August of 1974, inspectors ordered the destruction of nine million eggs that were stored in warehouses rented from Quebec apple growers. The eggs had high bacteria counts that made them "unfit for human consumption" and were buried by bulldozers.
• In early September another six and a half million rotten eggs were found. Three million had been sold to a Toronto food processor, with the remaining eggs rotting in Ontario warehouses.

• By the end of September the number of rotten eggs had climbed to 28 million. Agriculture officials admitted mismanagement, but pointed out that Canada produced 5.7 billion eggs each year. They said the wastage was proportionally small, equaling only three days' production.
• The egg fiasco prompted a public showdown between public officials. Beryl Plumptre, chair of the Food Prices Review Board, said the agency was turning Canadian consumers into victims.

• Plumptre was supported by Consumer Affairs Minister André Ouellet. But Agriculture Minister Eugene Whelan defended the egg marketing agency, saying that its critics didn't know what they were talking about.
• When questioned about the feuding ministers, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said it was merely a sign of democracy in action. "I'm very glad Mr. Ouellet is fighting for consumers and that Mr. Whelan is fighting for farmers," Trudeau said. "That's their jobs."

• Consumers called the destruction of so many eggs a "scandalous waste" at a time when the cost of eggs and baked goods was soaring, and there was a famine in Africa.
• The Canadian Egg Marketing Agency was restructured, and climbed out of debt in 1976. It continues to manage egg production and marketing in Canada.

• With the exception of Joe Clark's 1979-80 government, Eugene Whelan stayed Minister of Agriculture until 1984. He finished last in a leadership bid to replace the retiring Trudeau that year. He was briefly made Canada's ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, but was immediately recalled when Brian Mulroney took office.
• Whelan was appointed to the Senate in 1996, and served there until 1999, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75.

• You can watch two more items on the unfolding egg scandal. On Sept. 13, 1974, CBC Television recorded a news report about the egg scandal and excerpts from a press conference by egg marketing officials.

28 million rotten eggs

Medium: Television

Program: 24 Hours

Broadcast Date: Sept. 12, 1974

Guest(s): Eugene Whelan

Reporter: Bill Harrington

Duration: 3:45

Last updated:
Aug. 14, 2008