Education and Local Politics
Thompson received a Bachelor of Arts from Brandon College, which he attended with Tommy Douglas and Stanley Knowles in the late twenties. Upon graduation he went on to study law at the University of Manitoba, graduating in 1933 with an LLB. While there he was a member of the top debating team with his debating partner and future Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) leader Lloyd Stinson.
After graduation the young lawyer settled back in Elkhorn and built up his law practice. Active in the Elkhorn community, Thompson was a municipal councillor from 1933 to 1939. Turning to national politics, he campaigned in the 1940 federal election as a "National Government" (i.e., Conservative) candidate, but lost to Liberal James Ewen Matthews.
Shortly after marrying Lorraine Dutton of Virden in 1942, Thompson joined the Royal Canadian Air Force where he served for three years as a leading airman during World War II. After the war Thompson again focused on local politics in Elkhorn and was elected and served as a school trustee from 1945 to 1947, and then spent 6 years as Mayor of Elkhorn from 1947 to 1953 (his father, Wellington John Thompson, had also been Mayor of Elkhorn in 1922, and was editor of the local newspaper, The Elkhorn Advocate).
Read more about this topic: John Thompson (Manitoba Politician)
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