Lögberg-Heimskringla - 31.10.1980, Blaðsíða 1

SeSlabMiki I.lind. JíH 8
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Austurstraeti 111»
Reykjavik, Iceland
LOGBERG
Stofnað 14. janúar 1888
HEIMSKRINGLA
Stofnað 9. september 1886
Lögberg-
Heimskringla
94. ARGANGUR
WINNIPEG, FOSTUDAGUR 31. OKTOBER 1980
NUMBER 34
Iceland's Minister of Culture
and Education in Winnipeg
Iceland's Minister of Culture and
Education, the Honourable Mr. Ingvar
Gíslasón, his wife Ólöf Auður, and the
Minister's executive assistant Bjarni
Gunnarsson arrived in Winnipeg on
Sunday, October 26.
As has been noted earlier in Lögberg
Heimskringla, the Minister and his
wife are here as the guests of the
University of Manitoba. The visitors
have had a busy schedule during their
stay in Winnipeg. On Monday, Oc*
tober 27 they attended a luncheon at
the Holiday Inn in downtown Win-
nipeg given in their honour by
Honourable Ministers of Culture and
Education in the Manitoba Provincial
Cabinet, Norma Price and Keith
Cosens.
On Tuesday, they visited Selkirk and
Gimli. Upon their return to Winnipeg
a dinner was tendered in their honour
by the Minister's relatives in the home
of Mrs. Ruby Dawson.
On Wednesday evening, October 29,
Minister Gíslason delivered a public
lecture at the University of Manitoba
on University Education in Iceland . Its
Strengths and Weaknesses. On Thurs-
day evening, Lögberg-Heimskringla
sponsored a reception for the Icelandic
visitors at the Carleton Club in Win-
nipeg. Tonight, Friday, October 31, the
Minister and his party will be meeting
with University of Manitoba President'
Ralph Campbell and qther members of
the university executive. During his
stay in Winnipeg, Mr. Gíslason has
had numerous formal and informal
discussions on Icelandic-Canadian
cultural relations.
The history of the present Ministry
of Culture and Education in Iceland
goes back to 1904 when a separate
Division of Educational and Judicial
J.B. Thorsteinsson to head
energy conservation section
John B. Thorsteinsson, district
maintenance supervisor for Govern-
ment Services and a former vice-
president of the electrical manufactur-
ing firm of FPE Pioneer Limited, has
been named chief of the province's
energy conservation section.
Energy and Mines Minister Don
Craik said that in his new capacity Mr.
Thorsteinsson will be responsible for
the development and direction of
energy conservation programs in
Manitoba, as well as for conservation
programs under the Canada-Manitoba
energy agreement.
This includes managing the joint
"energy bus" program — involving use
of a computer-equipped bus to conduct
energy audits in industrial plants and
commercial buildings to help pinpoint
over-uses of energy and to advise on
corrective action.
Mr. Thorsteinsson is a 1953 graduate
in electrical engineering from the Uni-
versity of Manitoba. In 1954 he joined
Pioneer Electric, a new Manitoba firm
which rgsearch and manufactured ma-
jor electrical products such as trans-
formers and switch gear. He was
elected a vice-president of the firm
during its re-organization in 1965, and
remained with them until 1975.
In the past few years, as district
maintenance supervisor based in Bran-
don, Mr. Thorsteinsson has been
responsible for the operation and
maintenance of various provincial
hospitals, correctional institutions and
government buildings in southwest
Manitoba.
During the last war, Mr. Thors-
teinsson was on active service with the
Canadian navy and served in the
reserve in the post-war period, retiring
in 1972 with the rank of commander.
J.B. Thorsteinsson
Sigurður Þorkelsson receives his award in the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavlk.
Ingvar Gíslason, Iceland's Minister
of Culture and Education.
Affairs was created within the
country's first Ministry positioned in
Reykjavík. In 1947, a special Ministry
of Culture and Education (Menntamála-
ráðuneytið) was established and has
remained unchanged ever since.
The main difference between the of-
fice of Iceland's Ministry of Culture
and Education and comparable port-
folios in the Canadian provinces is that
in Iceland the Minister himself is more
deeply involved in the executive phase
of - the operations of virtually all
cultural and educational institutions in
his country. To give only one example,
he personally appoints the majority of-
officers of cultural and educational
establishments (i.e. principals,
teachers, university professors, State
Broadcasting and T.V. personnel, etc.).
As a result, his office is an onerous
one, even under the most favourable
circumstances.
Lögberg-Heimskringla welcomes the
Icelandic visitors and wishes them
well in the futúre.
Gos í Kröflu
Enn eitt gos í Kröflu hófst í s.l. viku.
Nákvæmar fréttir hafa ekki enn borist
hingað til Winnipeg, en samkvæmt
þeim upplýsingum sem við höfum
mun hér ekki vera um stórvægileg
eldsumbrot að ræða. Nánar verður sagt
frá gosinu í næsta blaði.
U.S. Coast Guard
honours Icelanders
The U.S. Coast Guard and its af-
filiaté AMVER recently awarded
several honours to navigation experts
in Iceland, one of which was The
Distinguished Public Service Award
given to Sigurður Þorkelsson, Director
of the Technical Division of the Ice-
landic State Telephone and Postal Ser-
vices. The recipient of the highest
civilian award from the U.S. Coast
Guard, Þorkelsson has made outstand-
ing contributions in the field of radio
monitoring on North Atlantic routes.