The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.1977, Blaðsíða 40

38
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
AUTUMN 1977
in the book. They are as delightful for us
as they must have been for Tolkien’s
children.
Any child would be happy to receive
letters and drawings such as these each
year from the North Pole. Few, however,
have a parent like Tolkien who could
write them. For those who do not, this
book will do much to make amends. It
can be read to children or read by chil-
dren and the drawings can be enjoyed
by all.
It will make a marvellous Christmas
present for children and an equally
good one for adults who have not lost
the ability to take pleasure in such
things. Parents who do buy it for their
children will certainly want some time
to read it themselves before it goes under
the tree, and they will just as certainly
return to it themselves many times in
years ahead.
—Winnipeg Free Press
DRAFTER OF LAWS ASSIGNED
TO HELP SAVE CONFEDERATION
Thorson . . . new constitutional advisor.
OTTAWA(CP)—The man who has
written most of the federal laws since
Pierre Elliott Trudeau entered federal
politics in 1965 now has been assigned
by the prime minister to help chart the
constitutional future of the country.
Trudeau last Thursday named
Donald Scarth Thorson his special con-
stitutional adviser, saying this signified
to Quebec that “we are willing and able
to discuss contitutional change.”
If anyone in the country is able, it
should be the 51-year old Thorson, who
has been deputy minister of justice
since 1973 and a federal lawyer for 20
years.
He has been chief draftsman of the
Canada Pension Plan, the present
Divorce Act, The Official Languages
Act, the major tax changes of the early
1970s.
He was chief legislative counsel in
the justice department while Trudeau
and John Turner were justice ministers.
As such, he advised them on dozens of
constitutional problems involving the
law, including his own father’s unsuc-
cessful assault on the language law.
His father is J. T. Thorson, an 88-
year old who made legal history by win-
ning the right to challenge the consti-
tutional validity of the Official Lang-
uages Act. Representing former Monc-
ton, N.B. Mayor Leonard Jones, now an
independent member of Parliament,
the elder Thorson fought the language
law to the Supreme Court of Canada
and lost.