This sub-series consists of correspondence, communiques, memos, briefing papers and the like prepared for the Minister. The files deal with issues that were assigned to staffers in Whelan's office, dealing with matters such as seed plant breeding, farm bankruptcies in Canada, contaminated milk (and the response to it by departmental staff as well as Whelan's staffers), F.C.C. assistance to farmers and the like. Presumably, these were files that required more than ordinary action.
There is Liberal Party material here, such as the convention of 1980, with significant policy positions set out, for eg., trade with the US.
There is some high-level material here, showing the inter-mix between political and departmental response aspects of various issues within Whelan's responsibility area. For eg, in file 11, volume 77, there is material on the BC crops damage and insurance issue in the early 1980s, and matters under the farm improvement loans act. There are reports to the Minister by staffers who attended functions and performed follow-up to gauge the Minister's impress upon relevant constituencies, such as Jake Vanderschaaf's report on a follow-up visit to the BC Tree Fruit Industry in 1983. There is a 1982 memo to G. Lussier, DM at Agriculture, on the Interdepartmental Crow Communications Committee. All these issues were potentially "hot", and the file provides information on how they were handled, both administratively and politically, and what follow-up was made.
There is occasional gloss on some of the memos, briefings and correspondence in Whelan's hand.