The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1955, Síða 32

30
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Spring 1955
the course of his public life and led
him several years ago to active partic-
ipation in the activities of the Winni-
peg Chamber of Commerce, of which
he became president in 1953. It also
led him to the national presidency,
where he becomes spokeman for bus-
iness and professional men across Can-
ada who share his belief that business
and industry still have much to con-
tribute to the development of this
country.
“Solly” Thorvaldson is a native of
Riverton, Manitoba, to which small
town his parents came just before the
turn of the century. His father, Sveinn
Thorvaldson, typical of many of his
countrymen who had come to make
their homes in Canada, believed that
good citizenship meant giving as well
as receiving. He took an active and
enlightened part in local and provin-
cial politics.
With this home background, “Solly”
Thorvaldson attended public school
in Riverton, collegiate at Saskatoon
and the universities of Manitoba and
Saskatchewan. In 1925, lie was called
to the Manitoba Bar and became a
member of an old and distinguished
Winnipeg law firm. Here, he gained
distinction in the fields of commercial
and tax law. During this period he
also developed an interest in the work
of the Chamber of Commerce, serving
as chairman of its legislation com-
mittee, a member of the executive and
finally, last year, as president. In 1944
he helped to form the Income Tax
Payers’ Association, forerunner of the
Canadian Tax Foundation.
Today, Mr. Thorvaldson is senior
partner in the Winnipeg law firm of
Thorvaldson, Eggertson, Bastin and
Stringer, president of the Internation-
al Loan Company and the North
American Trust Company, a director
of Western Gypsum Products Limited,
and other companies. Business as-
sociates and acquaintances in Winni-
peg regard him as a first class execu-
tive and refer to his chief character-
istic as being a natural friendliness
which carries all the marks of sincerity
and none of the artificial breeziness
of the professional back-slapper. His
business interest extends far beyond
the strictly legal aspects to include
marketing, finance, industrial and
human relations.
Because political activity attracts
more public interest than even the
most important or involved business
service, “Solly” Thorvaldson is better
known in Winnipeg as a defender of
individual rights than he is a business
executive. In 1932, just seven years
cut of law school, he made his first
bid for election to the Manitoba
House. Like his father, he ran for of-
fice as a Conservative and was nom-
inated in the predominantly Icelandic
community of Gimli.
Conservatism was not too popular
in Manitoba in 1932, however, and
young Thorvaldson was defeated. But
even as a busy lawyer, he still found
time to speak out for the things in
which he believed and was in constant
demand as a speaker for the party he
supported. In 1941 after being elected
as one of the ten members from Win-
nipeg, he rose in the House to make
his maiden speech.
Politically, Mr. Thorvaldson was
never too comfortable in the Mani-
toba House. The spirit of the House
many times ran counter to the new
member’s fundamental belief in ind-
ividual initiative. And as a lawyer, he
had a keen awareness of how and
where some of our basic freedoms can
be abridged.
The spectacle of an individual
member speaking up in the House in
defence of individual rights, the