Career
His background was in research, consulting and fundraising. Born in Gimli, Manitoba, Thorkelson became active with the Progressive Conservative party"s as a youth auxiliary leader and as an assistant to John Allen Fraser, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans in the mid-1980s under the Brian Mulroney government. Thorkelson was elected to Parliament in the 1988 federal election at the Edmonton—Strathcona electoral district for the Progressive Conservative party.
He served in the 34th Canadian Parliament but lost to Hugh Hanrahan of the Reform Party in the 1993 federal election.