Salome Halldorson

Elin Salome Halldorson (December 29, 1887 – May 31, 1970) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1936 to 1941 as a member of the Social Credit League. She was the second woman and the first woman of Icelandic origin to serve in the provincial legislature.

Halldorson was born to Halldor Halldorson and Kristin Palsdottir in Lundar, Manitoba. She was educated at Wesley College in Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree. Halldorson worked as a teacher of languages, teaching Latin, French and German from 1918 to 1938 at Jon Bjarnason Academy, a private school started by the Icelandic Lutheran Church in 1913.

She was elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1936 provincial election, defeating Liberal-Progressive incumbent Skuli Sigfusson by 156 votes in the constituency of St. George. She was the first woman elected to the legislature since the resignation of Edith Rogers in 1932.

The Social Credit League won only five seats (out of 55) in this election, but held the balance of power by maintaining John Bracken's Liberal-Progressive government in office. In 1940, the party formally entered an all-party coalition government with the Liberal-Progressives, Conservatives and Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. Independent Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Lewis Stubbs was initially the only legislator not to join the government.

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