The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1955, Side 31

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
29
The President of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce
G. S. Tliorvaldson, Q.C.
Gunnar Solmundur “Solly” Thor-
valdson, Q.C., newly elected president
of The Canadian Chamber of Com-
merce, has already begun to establish
precedents. He iis the first practising
lawyer to be president of this nation-
wide business organization. He is the
first Icelandic Canadian to hold the
Chamber’s top position.
He is also a firm and outspoken
individualist who regards the parli-
amentary tradition of Canada and of
his parents’ homeland, Iceland, as
something worth preserving. And he
is alarmed at the growing trend
towards giving state interests prec-
edence over rights of the individual.
In his native Manitoba, “Solly”
I horvaldson is one of a large group
°f Icelandic Canadians who have won
distinction in education, the law and
public service.
Teachers, deans of colleges, leaders
of the bar, members of parliament,
cabinet ministers, and hockey and
basketball players are among the Ice-
landic colony’s contributions to its
adopted country. “Solly” Thorvaldsen
ranks high in three categories. He has
been and still is a leader of the Mani-
toba Bar; he will long be remembered
in Manitoba as a fearless, independent
and outspoken member of the Legi-
slature; and for four years he was
captain of the University of Manitoba
basketball team playing in competition
with the Dominion champion Winni-
peg Toilers in what was then regarded
as the basketball capital of Canada.
Fifty-three years old and a young-
looking man of varied social, political
and athletic interests, “Solly” Thor-
valdson by his own admission is a
poor golfer', a good billiard player and
a businessman’s lawyer. He prefers the
quiet, constructive atmosphere of the
corporation board room to the oratory,
pleading and excitement of the court.
He regards the law as a protection
for individual freedom not as a means
for wielding government controls.
From Iceland with its thousand
years of parliamentary history he in-
herits a respect for government by
publicly-supported law. He believes
that while parliaments are necessary
to preserve our freedoms, the great
opportunity lies in the realms of bus-
iness and industry w’here man can
exercise his ingenuity and employ his
talents and energy to create his own
future. This philosophy has directed
1 On the front cover of the November, 1954
issue of Canadian Business is displayed a
picture of G. S. Thorvaldson Q.C., president
of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. This
article is re-printed from the same issue by
the kind permission of the publishers.