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Edward Whelan (1824 – December 10, 1867) was one of
Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
's delegates to the Québec Conference and one of the Fathers of the
Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Canada, Dom ...
. Whelan was also a journalist, orator and advocate for responsible government.


Early years

Edward Whelan was born in 1824 in
Ballina, County Mayo Ballina ( ; ) is a town in north County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies at the mouth of the River Moy near Killala Bay, in the Moy valley and Parish of Kilmoremoy, with the Ox Mountains to the east and the Nephin Beg Range, Nephin ...
, in
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. At 7 years old, his family and him all moved to Halifax,
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
in 1831. Growing up in Halifax, he was greatly influenced by
Joseph Howe Joseph Howe (December 13, 1804 – June 1, 1873) was a Nova Scotian journalist, politician, public servant, and poet. Howe is often ranked as one of Nova Scotia's most admired politicians and his considerable skills as a journalist and writer ha ...
, where he worked as a printing apprentice, as well as Father Richard Baptist O’Brien, a dynamic Irish priest who was a gifted orator as well as Whelan's teacher at St. Mary's School in Halifax. These two influences led Whelan to abandon his studies at the age of 18 to take up a position as editor of ''The Register'', an Irish-Catholic, Liberal newspaper


Journalism career

Edward Whelan was a Canadian journalist who worked for a newspaper known as The Register who's target audience was Irish Roman Catholics.


Political career

In August 1846, Whelan was elected as an assemblyman for St. Peters in Kings County. He remained an assemblyman until the last year of his life but had sporadic attendance. Critics of Whelan point out that his political voice lacked the passion and genius that was apparent in his printed work. In the fall of 1846, Whelan sought to embark on yet another newspaper venture, namely the ''Examiner''. This publication nearly failed, but he managed to keep it going. Whelan then devoted much of 1850 to speak at meetings regarding the concept of
responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...
. This led to Whelan's rise in stature and in April 1851, Whelan was named to the Executive Council and also appointed the
Queen's Printer The King's Printer (known as the Queen's Printer during the reign of a female monarch) is typically a bureau of the national, state, or provincial government responsible for producing official documents issued by the King-in-Council, Ministers o ...
. Within this new government role, Whelan spent much of his time defending the major Liberal reforms regarding the Free Education Act, extension of the franchise, and the Land Purchase Act. These Liberal reforms were not without controversy, and Whelan took the brunt of the criticism.


Confederation

In 1864, the union of the
British North American British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...
colonies was the topic of the day. Though the Liberals were against confederation, Whelan supported confederation as he saw it as an opportunity for PEI to gain more control of its own affairs. Whelan was chosen to be one of the delegates to the Quebec Conference. Attending this conference made Whelan an even stronger proponent. Despite his advocacy, few politicians and residents were persuaded and Whelan became disillusioned.


End of political career

Whelan's stance on
Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
as well as other issues, led him to become isolated within the Liberal party. In the election of 1867, Whelan was defeated for the first time in 21 years. There is no single cause for his defeat. He had lost support from his traditional supporters by denouncing the Tenant League and
Fenianism The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...
. Moreover, his support of Confederation was unpopular with the people of PEI. On all three of these issues, his opponent, Edward Reilly, had the edge. However, Whelan believed that the defeat came from the disapproval of the newly appointed cleric of St. Peters, Father William Phelan, a supporter of Reilly. Whelan felt that the clergy had unduly influenced the election. Whelan felt very bitter about this defeat and by the autumn of 1867 his health slowly got worse. Whelan died on December 10, 1867.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whelan, Edward 1824 births 1867 deaths 19th-century Irish people 19th-century Canadian politicians Politicians from County Mayo Fathers of Confederation Irish emigrants to pre-Confederation Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island Liberal Party MLAs Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) People from Ballina, County Mayo