Susan Whelan

Susan Elizabeth Whelan, (; born May 5, 1963, in Windsor, Ontario) is a former Liberal Member of Parliament (MP). Whelan, a lawyer, first won a seat in the House of Commons in the 1993 election representing Essex—Windsor. In 1997 and 2000 she was elected to represent Essex. In 2002, she was appointed Minister for International Cooperation by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

In 2004, Whelan was defeated by Jeff Watson of the Conservative Party. She unsuccessfully tried to win back the seat in the elections of 2006 and 2008.

Susan Whelan's late father, the Honourable Eugene Whelan, was an MP for the same area from 1962 to 1984 and served as Minister of Agriculture in the cabinet of Pierre Trudeau from 1972 to 1984.

Whelan shares her father's passionate interest in Canadian agriculture, having made Agriculture and Rural Development one of the key elements of policy during her tenure as minister.

After she left parliament in 2004, Whelan instructed part-time at the University of Windsor in the political science department and represented the Ambassador Bridge company when it was opposing construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

On June 1, 2009 Whelan was named chief executive officer for the Ontario division of the Canadian Cancer Society. She resigned on September 30 of the same year, following a diagnosis of breast cancer, in order to focus on her recovery.

Whelan was previously the executive director of rare Charitable Research Reserve in Cambridge, Ontario, and maintains a law practice in Windsor.

Electoral record